Abolition of peroxiredoxin-5 mitochondrial targeting during canid evolution.

in PloS one (2013), 8(9), 72844

In human, the subcellular targeting of peroxiredoxin-5 (PRDX5), a thioredoxin peroxidase, is dependent on the use of multiple alternative transcription start sites and two alternative in-frame translation ... [more ▼]

In human, the subcellular targeting of peroxiredoxin-5 (PRDX5), a thioredoxin peroxidase, is dependent on the use of multiple alternative transcription start sites and two alternative in-frame translation initiation sites, which determine whether or not the region encoding a mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) is translated. In the present study, the abolition of PRDX5 mitochondrial targeting in dog is highlighted and the molecular mechanism underlying the loss of mitochondrial PRDX5 during evolution is examined. Here, we show that the absence of mitochondrial PRDX5 is generalized among the extant canids and that the first events leading to PRDX5 MTS abolition in canids involve a mutation in the more 5' translation initiation codon as well as the appearance of a STOP codon. Furthermore, we found that PRDX5 MTS functionality is maintained in giant panda and northern elephant seal, which are phylogenetically closely related to canids. Also, the functional consequences of the restoration of mitochondrial PRDX5 in dog Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells were investigated. The restoration of PRDX5 mitochondrial targeting in MDCK cells, instead of protecting, provokes deleterious effects following peroxide exposure independently of its peroxidase activity, indicating that mitochondrial PRDX5 gains cytotoxic properties under acute oxidative stress in MDCK cells. Altogether our results show that, although mitochondrial PRDX5 cytoprotective function against oxidative stress has been clearly demonstrated in human and rodents, PRDX5 targeting to mitochondria has been evolutionary lost in canids. Moreover, restoration of mitochondrial PRDX5 in dog MDCK cells, instead of conferring protection against peroxide exposure, makes them more vulnerable. [less ▲]

About AI and Arts

Speeches/Talks (2021)

From a technical point of view, one can say that there have been extraordinary developments in the broad areas of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science that increasingly determine our lives. Think, for ... [more ▼]

From a technical point of view, one can say that there have been extraordinary developments in the broad areas of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science that increasingly determine our lives. Think, for example, of the many intelligent assistants that are playing an ever greater role in road traffic, in hospitals and in many other areas of application. Art is affected by this as well, because the computer-assisted and AI-supported implementation of creative ideas and thoughts and experimentation with new things have led to innovative results. [less ▲]

About Pedagogization: From the Perspective of the History of Education

in Depaepe, Marc (Ed.) Between Educationalization and Appropriation - Selected Writings on the History of Modern Educational Systems (2012)

For history researchers, it is not a needless luxury to consider from time to time the content and the significance of the basic concepts they use, certainly if they have the ambition to interpret and/or ... [more ▼]

For history researchers, it is not a needless luxury to consider from time to time the content and the significance of the basic concepts they use, certainly if they have the ambition to interpret and/or explain history in addition to purely describing it. This self-reflection, compelled by the annually recurring dialogue with educational philosophers (cf. Smeyers & Depaepe, 2006),2 need not necessarily place an emphasis on philosophical abstraction but can just as well start from an examination of the history of one’s own research. Such an approach need not succumb to navel-gazing. Instead, such historical self-reflection possibly points to the creeping (and thereby largely unconscious) shifts in meaning that accompany various fashions (consider the swirling “turns” of recent years), which affect the social scientific vocabulary (historiographic, philosophical, pedagogical, psychological sociological, etc.). By rendering such developments explicit, the epistemological wrestling with the stream of experiences we call 'history', a process that can be chaotic, may in the future perhaps be somewhat less sloppy. Admittedly, even the most critical concepts that emerged from our own work were not always used with methodological care and/or theoretical purity. [less ▲]

About the Choquet integral as a tool to aggregate utilities in the presence of interacting points of view

Scientific Conference (1999, August)

One basic assumption to consider an additive utility function is the preferential independence. When interacting criteria are considered, this condition might be violated and a substitute to the classical ... [more ▼]

One basic assumption to consider an additive utility function is the preferential independence. When interacting criteria are considered, this condition might be violated and a substitute to the classical weighted mean has to be adopted. The Choquet integral seems to be an adequate aggregation operator that extends the weighted mean and the ordered weighted average (OWA). The axiomatics that supports the Choquet integral is presented as well as its behavioral analysis with regards to veto and favor effects, degree of disjunction and measure of dispersion. One illustrative example of its application in the field of MCDM is provided. [less ▲]

About the flexibility of the minus sign in solving equations

in Proceedings of the 26th International conferecne for the Psychology of M athematics Education (PME 26) (2002)

About Time Variations of Gravity

in Computational Seismology and Geodynamics (2001)

Advances in gravity instrumentation have allowed for the determination of the absolute acceleration of gravity to a precision of 3–5 μGal and observations of tidally driven changes in gravity on the order ... [more ▼]

Advances in gravity instrumentation have allowed for the determination of the absolute acceleration of gravity to a precision of 3–5 μGal and observations of tidally driven changes in gravity on the order of nanogals. With observations of gravity and changes in gravity at these levels of precision we are able to investigate problems such as the resonance of the Earth's liquid inner core, to discriminate between the various ocean tidal models, understand the effects of atmospheric pressure loading on gravity observations, and perhaps to measure ice mass changes in Greenland. In this paper, we report on some of our results using absolute and superconducting gravimeter data. We describe a project to establish a site for international comparisons of absolute gravimeters in Luxembourg. [less ▲]

Abrogation, ou vers un nouvel objet juridique non identifié : l’Etat à deux Constitutions

Article for general public (2014)

Abschlussbericht des vom Forschungsausschuss der Universität des Saarlandes geförderten Forschungsprojekts "Widersprüche in Personenbeschreibungen: Wie beeinflusst die Textkohärenz das Verstehen inkonsistenter Personmerkmale?"

Report (2005)

Abschlussbericht zum Forschungsprojekt Arbeitsplatzbezogene Ängste und Arbeitsplatzphobie bei Patienten in der psychosomatischen und kardiologischen Rehabilitation.

Book published by Berlin: DRV Bund (2009)

L'absence d'autorité de chose jugée « des demandes plus amples et contraires »

in Recueil Dalloz (2013)