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144 records returned

On the Origin of The Origin.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19718621 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Sermonti G Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

The fractal geometry of life.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The extension of the concepts of Fractal Geometry (Mandelbrot [1983]) toward the life sciences has led to significant progress in understanding complex functional properties and architectural / morphological / structural features characterising cells and tissues during ontogenesis and both normal and pathological development processes. It has even been argued that fractal geometry could provide a coherent description of the design principles underlying living organisms (Weibel [1991]). Fractals fulfil a certain number of theoretical and methodological criteria including a high level of organization, shape irregularity,...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Losa GA Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

The effector T helper cell triade.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
T lymphocytes play crucial role in immune responses. Effector T helper (Th) cells derive from progenitor naïve CD4+ T cells, after maturational process induced by antigenic stimulation. Their commitment depends on complex interactions with antigen-presenting cells in a permissive milieu, including antigenic type and load, costimulatory molecules and cytokine signaling. Committed CD4+ T cells may differentiate into Th1, Th2, TH17 phenotypes (the effector Th cell triade), with distinct cytokine products and biological functions, or evolve into the inducible regulatory T (Treg) lineage, with immunomodulatory function...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Fietta P, Delsante G Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Binary particle swarm optimization algorithm with mutation for multiple sequence alignment.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is a fundamental and challenging problem in the analysis of biologic sequence. The MSA problem is hard to be solved directly, for it always results in exponential complexity with the scale of the problem. In this paper, we propose mutation-based binary particle swarm optimization (M-BPSO) for MSA solving. In the proposed M-BPSO algorithm, BPSO algorithm is conducted to provide alignments. Thereafter, mutation operator is performed to move out of local optima and speed up convergence. From simulation results of nucleic acid and amino acid sequences, it is shown that the proposed M-BPSO ...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Hai-Xia L, Wen-Bo X, Jun S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Alexandr oparin and the origin of life on Earth.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In the long essay here examined, the Soviet biochemist A. Oparin elaborated and proposed in a coherent and exhaustive way the three main historical phases characterising the origin of life on Earth from an entirely inorganic environment: i) formation of simple organic molecules; ii) appearance of macromolecules interacting with an aqueous substrate so as to form primitively organised microstructures; iii) constitution of metabolically active protocells working as thermodynamically open system. On the whole, Oparin described a biochemical adventure marked by chemico-physics and natural selection, this latter working on ...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Pennazio S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Meaningful Crosstalk between Biologists and Physical Scientists Is Essential for Modern Biology to Progress.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The advances in biological sciences have been phenomenal since the structure of DNA was decoded, especially if one considers the input from physical sciences, not only in terms of analytical tools, but also understanding and solving some of the key problems in biology. In this article, I trace briefly the history of this transition, from physical sciences to biology, and argue that progress in modern biology can be accelerated if there is far more meaningful crosstalk between the biologists and the physical scientists, simply because biology has become far more complex and interdisciplinary, and the need for such cross...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Dev SB Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Scientific Information: Between Hierarchy and Anarchy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 19048469 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - December 4, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Traverso S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Don't Wander Off the Subject.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 18600629 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - July 6, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Sermonti G Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Chance vs. Necessity in Living Systems: A False Antinomy.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The concepts of order and randomness are crucial to understand 'living systems' structural and dynamical rules. In the history of biology, they lay behind the everlasting debate on the relative roles of chance and determinism in evolution. Jacques Monod [1970] built a theory where chance (randomness) and determinism (order) were considered as two complementary aspects of life. In the present paper, we will give an up to date version of the problem going beyond the dichotomy between chance and determinism. To this end, we will first see how the view on living systems has evolved from the mechanistic one of the 19th cent...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - July 6, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Buiatti M, Buiatti M Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Exploring Poly-beta-hydroxy-butyrate Metabolism Through Network-based Extreme Pathway Analysis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of this article is to obtain a more detailed insight into poly-beta-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) metabolism through network-based metabolic pathway analysis. We employ extreme pathways to perform this study, because calculating and interpreting extreme pathways is a promising way for pathway analysis and metabolic engineering. After giving an in silico model of butanoate metabolism of Bacillus thuringiensis 97-27 (btk), extreme pathways were calculated and classified. Furthermore, the type I and II extreme pathways were further classified and analyzed in detail based on their structure and functional capabilities. B...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - July 6, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Ding D, Ding Y, Cai Y, Chen S, Xu W Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Ancient Fossil Specimens of Extinct Species Are Genetically More Distant to an Outgroup than Extant Sister Species Are.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
There exists a remarkable correlation between genetic distance as measured by protein or DNA dissimilarity and time of species divergence as inferred from fossil records. This observation has provoked the molecular clock hypothesis. However, data inconsistent with the hypothesis have steadily accumulated in recent years from studies of extant organisms. Here the published DNA and protein sequences from ancient fossil specimens were examined to see if they would support the molecular clock hypothesis. The hypothesis predicts that ancient specimens cannot be genetically more distant to an outgroup than extant sister spec...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - July 6, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Huang S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

On the Origin of Eukaryotic Cytoskeleton.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The origin of eukaryote-specific cytoskeletal proteins is an issue which is closely related to the origin of the domain Eukarya. As nearly all of these proteins are not found in prokaryotes, the prokaryotic origin of eukaryotic cytoskeletal network suggested by most models is questionable. Eukaryotic cytoskeletal proteins might descend from subpopulations of pre-cells co-existing with Bacteria and Archaea prior to the origin of eukaryotes. The pre-karyote (the host for a-proteobacterial ancestors of mitochondria) might have already possessed eukaryotic-like cytoskeleton. A possible role for viruses in the origin of euk...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - July 6, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Vesteg M, Krajcovic J Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Natural Computing and Biological Evolution: A New Paradigm.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
After a brief outline of the available hypotheses on the mechanism of biological evolution, attention is called on the global nature of the variations leading to the generation of new species. Integrated changes may hardly be attributed to beneficial random mutations of single traits even if assisted by a phylogenetic elimination of poorly adapted individuals. Rather, integrated variations are likely to reflect the outcome of cybernetic algorithms (natural computing) operating on organism's resources and impending environmental changes. As all organisms are endowed with computing capacities that modulate and integrate ...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - July 6, 2008 Category: Biology Authors: Giuditta A Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

A Streetcar Named Desire.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 17987557 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 9, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Sermonti G Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Biologists and the "Impossible Puzzle"Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 17592816 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - June 27, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Traverso S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Agricultural Diversification: the Potential for Underutilised Crops in Africa's Changing Climates.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Two of the greatest challenges currently facing humanity are the potential consequences of climate change and the actual consequences of reduced agricultural diversity. This paper considers the consequences of both climate change and reduced agricultural diversity on global food security and nutrition. The inextricable link between climate change and crop diversity is examined, particularly in the context of crop production in Africa where most agricultural diversity exists and where climate change will have most impact. The Green Revolution, often seen as a model for increasing global agricultural productivity, is rec...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Azam-Ali S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Role of flavonoids and vitamins in cancer.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In conclusion, in this review we describe the role of flavonoids and vitamins in cancer. PMID: 17592818 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Castellani ML, Shaik YB, Shanmugham LN, Frydas S, Madhappan B, Salini V, Vecchiet J, Mastrangelo F, Riccioni G, Conti F, Perrella A, Conti P, Tetè S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Unresolved problems on the origin and early evolution of land plants.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The origin of land plants or embryophytes from the Charophyceae is generally accepted today by the botanists. In fact, numerous morphological, cytological, ultrastructural, biochemical and molecular characters are shared in these organisms. A fundamental problem is still constituted by the evolution of the sporophyte, i.e. the appearance of two different phase cycles (gametophyte/sporophyte alternance), although two theories ("antithetic" and "homologous") try to explain this evolutionary event.However, another phylogenetic dilemma is represented, in my opinion, either by the formation of bryophytes or by the transitio...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Bennici A Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

The history of the mendelian gene.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The concept of heredity arose when the ancient philosophers and scientists felt the need to explain the variation and organic evolution phenomena. The ideas about inheritance developed before Mendel were significant in the construction of the Mendelian concept of gene. From Mendelian hereditary principles to molecular genetics there have been many different concepts and also many definitions of gene. In the first corpuscular concept of gene, mutation was quite crucial to explain the different alternative genotype and phenotype expression in the progeny. From the rediscovery of Mendelian Principles to 1961, Morgan's ide...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Frías L D Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

On the evolution and dynamics of biological networks.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Large numbers of interacting non-genic molecules regulate metabolism and embryonic morphogenesis through often unspecific mechanisms. This lack of specificity suggests that the prevailing viewpoint, that such ordered processes result from the direct control of genes and their products irrespective of local molecular dynamics, is incomplete. Proposed here is a hypothetical type of control dynamics, called indirect, that is exhibited in natural biological networks of interacting and adapting elements. Evidence in the literature suggests that ordinary interactions among such elements - including organisms, cells and molec...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Hollenberg D Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Genetics and virology: two interdisciplinary branches of biology.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Genetics has a tradition that dates back to the Ancient Greeks. It developed, between insight and contradiction, from the post-Renaissance to the mid-1800s, when Mendel and Darwin gave it the first experimental and conceptual bases. From 1910, genetics became a true experimental discipline of Biology thanks to the work of Morgan's group. On the contrary, virology is a relatively young discipline which had origin only after the success of the "germ theory" of Pasteur and Koch, by the hypothesis of the contagium vivum fluidum of Beijerinck, in 1898. In spite of their historical difference, the modern development of the t...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Pennazio S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

On the origin of meiosis and sex.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The pre-karyote (the host for alpha-proteobacteria) is not assumed to have had a fusion prohibiting cell surface, and thus unlike prokaryotes could have practiced sex. A single DNA damage checkpoint control might have been the only checkpoint pathway regulating the ancient pre-karyotic cell cycle from which the modern eukaryotic cell cycle evolved. This single checkpoint would allow the cell division only when all the pre-karyote genome was completely replicated without mistakes. If the restart of DNA replication was impossible after DNA damage, the last chance to survive for this in S-phase blocked pre-karyote would b...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 1, 2007 Category: Biology Authors: Vesteg M, Krajcovic J Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Bacteriophage research: its deeper significance for science.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Lieber MM PMID: 17183765 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - December 25, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

[In Process Citation]Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Biondi E Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in western societies affecting up to 15 million individuals worldwide.It leads to death after a progressive memory deficit and cognitive impairment accompanied by the appearance of two pathological hallmarks in specific brain areas: neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques. Cholesterol homeostasis may play a key role in AD pathogenesis and this is supported by the demonstration that cholesterol-rich membrane domain, so-called Rafts,are disorganized in affected brains. Retrospective clinical studies indicate that individuals chro...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - December 23, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

New Biology, Old Metaphors.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Traverso S PMID: 17115366 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

Our mate animals.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Passantino A, De Vico G PMID: 17115367 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

Expanding the cell theory.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Liu Y PMID: 17115368 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

[Il ruolo del colesterolo nella neuropatogenesi dell'Alzheimer.]Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Biondi E PMID: 17115369 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

Relevance of Plant Lectins in Human Cell Biology and Immunology.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Shanmugham LN, Castellani ML, Salini V, Falasca K, Vecchiet J, Conti P, Petrarca C Protein-carbohydrate interactions are used for intercellular communication. Mammalian cells are known to bear a variety of glycoconjugates. Lectins, first discovered in plants, are proteins which can specifically bind carbohydrates. Given the high affinity of plant lectins for carbohydrates, they have always been important as molecular tools in the identification, purification and stimulation of specific glycoproteins on human cells. Lectins have provided important clues to the repertoire of carbohydrate structures in animal cel...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

On the Unfitness of Natural Selection to Explain Sexual Reproduction, and the Difficulties that Remain.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: van Rossum J In its essence, the explanatory potential of the theory of natural selection is based on the iterative process of random production and variation, and subsequent non-random, directive selection. It is shown that within this explanatory framework, there is no place for the explanation of sexual reproduction. Thus in Darwinistic literature, sexual reproduction - one of nature's most salient characteristics - is often either assumed or ignored, but not explained. This fundamental and challenging gap within a complete naturalistic understanding of living beings calls for the need of a cybernetic accou...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

A theoretical framework for defining some concepts in evolution.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We present a theoretical framework for biological evolution with the intention of giving precise mathematical definitions of some concepts in evolutionary biology such as fitness, evolutionary pressure, specialization and natural selection. In this framework, such concepts are identified with well-known mathematical terms within the theory of dynamical systems. We also discuss some more general implications in evolution; for instance, the fact that our model naturally exhibits a frequency spectrum of the type 1/f for low frequencies of evolutionary events. PMID: 17115372 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

The History of Hesperopithecus: The Human-Ape Link that Turned Out to Be a Pig.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Bergman G The History of Hesperopithecus: The Human-Ape Link that Turned Out to Be a PigAbstract. Nebraska Man was a fossil discovery that was regarded by several leading experts as important in understanding evolutionary history. The only evidence for this anthropod was a single tooth (which turned out to be a pigs' tooth). The discovery and controversy surrounding the Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus haroldcookii hominoidea) fossil find and its importance in history are reviewed. Its supporters' writings reveal the critical role that preconceptions played in interpreting the limited evidence. Nebraska Man provi...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

The geometric side for an axiomatic theory of evolution.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Bocci C, Freguglia P In this paper we present a geometric model for a proposal of axiomatization of Evolution Theory. For this aim, we use suitable tools of Geometry and Topology. In particular, we define the concept of fertility factor as a main instrument for the studying of speciation. This concept, in our opinion, has an important biological meaning. PMID: 17115374 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

The specificity enigma: from mechanics to poiesis.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Authors: Neuman Y Biological specificity is usually described in terms of the lock-and-key metaphor. However, this metaphor is to a certain extent misleading and does not grasp the complexity underlying biological specificity. The failure of the lock-and-key metaphor makes it difficult to understand immune recognition. This is the reason why immune specificity has been described as the "Specificity Enigma." In this article, I point at three important differences between biological specificity and mechanical specificity, and suggest an alternative lens through which immune specificity can be considered. PMID: 171153...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - November 24, 2006 Category: Biology Source Type: journals

Getting rid of origins.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 17299694 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Ebach MC, Morrone JJ Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Unequal Crossing-over: A Molecular Mechanism Involved in Inbreeding Depression?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 17299695 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Salvi S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

The Impact of GMOs on Poor Countries: A Threat to the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The first of the Millennium Development Goals - halve the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015 - is essential for eradicating poverty, as most of the poor live in rural areas.The role of agriculture is, therefore, key to the fight against poverty.Nevertheless, over the last years rich countries diminished their official development assistance for agricultural development and some of them proposed and pushed for a new model of agriculture based on biotechnology. Such a new model of agriculture is presented by its supporters as a means to contribute to the elimination of poverty, as it intends to maximise ...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Francescon S Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Ecology through Time, an Overview.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This brief review is an attempt to condense the major events in the history of Ecology into short 10 sections. In little more than two generations, a new science has emerged and developed into a fundamental part of our lives, spurred on by increasing interest in "natural systems" and concerns over the environmental changes we are witnessing. Ecology, rather neglected until the early decades of last century, flourished and established itself as mature science during the mid-1900s, producing many theories, models, hypothesis and trends of thought. Ecology deals with interacting natural systems and eclectically applies to...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Santangelo G, Bramanti L Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Pangenesis as a source of new genetic information. The history of a now disproven theory.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Evolution is based on natural selection of existing biological phenotypic traits. Natural selection can only eliminate traits. It cannot create new ones, requiring a theory to explain the origin of new genetic information. The theory of pangenesis was a major attempt to explain the source of new genetic information required to produce phenotypic variety. This theory, advocated by Darwin as the main source of genetic variety, has now been empirically disproved. It is currently a theory mainly of interest to science historians. PMID: 17299698 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Bergman G Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Algebraic and geometric tools in phylogenetics.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this expository work we describe the main aspects of the so-called Phylogenetic Algebraic Geometry which concerns with the study of algebraic varieties representing statistical models of evolution. In particular, we mainly describe how this field of research can be used to infer phylogenies. PMID: 17299699 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Bocci C Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Chaos in biology.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This paper presents a brief and pedagogical account of the relevance of chaos theory in biology. A few caveats to avoid misleading interpretations are underlined, for instance the required determinism and stationarity of the experimental time series. The selective advantage offered by a properly controlled chaotic dynamics is discussed on the examples of cardiac rhythm and brain dynamics. PMID: 17299700 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: A Lesne A Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Modeling Acquired Immunity as an Outcome of the Interaction between Host-related Factors and Potential Antigen Repertoires.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In an attempt to understand why different organisms defend against potential antigens differently, the influence of possible interactions between host-related factors and respective antigen repertoires on the complexity of host defense mechanisms was investigated. A compartmental model coupling these two variables was developed and tested. Data analysis suggests that the more complex the organism, the larger the size of its antigen repertoire. The two variables seem to advance in a parallel fashion suggesting that they could reach a state of equilibrium. Therefore, host-related factors may play a role in determining th...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Hamad M, Elkarmi A Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

On the origin of eukaryotes and their endomembranes.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A novel hypothesis for the origin of eukaryotes is presented. It is assumed that the universal ancestor was bounded by two membranes of heterochiral lipid composition. We propose that the pre-karyote (the hypothetical host entity for a-proteobacteria), though sharing a common ancestor with Archaea, was bounded by two membranes. The hypothesis suggests that an a-proteobacterial symbiont was enclosed in the pre-karyote intermembrane space. In this view, the eukaryotic nuclear membrane and endomembrane system arose from the pre-karyote inner membrane while the eukaryotic plasma membrane arose from the pre-karyote outer me...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - September 1, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Vesteg M, Krajcovic J, Ebringer L Tags: Riv Biol Source Type: journals

Collateral damages of pseudo-scientific quarrels.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 16791786 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Traverso S Source Type: journals

Artificial classification and the study of human variation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 16791787 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Strkalj G Source Type: journals

Did Mendel actually trick?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 16791788 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Pennazio S Source Type: journals

Does the physical state of the cytoplasm globally control cellular activity?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
PMID: 16791789 [PubMed - in process] (Source: Rivista di Biologia)
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Traverso S Source Type: journals

Persistence of transgenic and not transgenic extracellular DNA in soil and bacterial transformation.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The study of the fate of transgenic and not transgenic extracellular DNA in soil is of extreme relevance because the soil extracellular DNA pool represents a genetic reservoir that could be utilized as a source of food by any heterotrophic microorganism or genetic information by recipient eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Several data have clearly evidenced that extracellular DNA could persist in soil for long time maintaining a sufficient integrity of the molecule. Recent microcosm studies under laboratory conditions have evidenced that extracellular DNA molecule could be leached or raised up by capillarity. The persi...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Pietramellara G, Ceccherini MT, Ascher J, Nannipieri P Source Type: journals

Many ways to die: passive and active cell death styles.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In multicellular organisms, cells may undergo passive, pathological death in response to various environmental injuries, or actively decide to self-destroy in order to ensure proper physiological morphogenesis, preserve tissue homeostasis and eliminate abnormal cells. While the passive cell demise occurs in an accidental, violent and chaotic way, corresponding to "necrosis", the active auto-elimination, defined "programmed cell death" (PCD), is executed in planned modalities. Different PCD pathways have been described, such as apoptosis, autophagic death, para-apoptosis and programmed necrosis. However, death patterns ...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Fietta P Source Type: journals

Complexity and information in regular and random phyllotactic patterns.Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In biology, the theory of information has been used to study the degree of order of many living systems. Different concepts of entropy have been applied to the analysis of phyllotaxis. In the present paper we will determine the degree of order of disorganized patterns by using informational entropy concepts deduced from the work of Brillouin, Shannon, and Yagil. As case studies, we will apply these concepts of entropy to the disorganized patterns found in mutants of Arabidopsis. The calculation of entropy gives a precise idea of the degree of order of a phyllotactic system. PMID: 16791792 [PubMed - in process] (Sou...
Source: Rivista di Biologia - January 14, 2006 Category: Biology Authors: Barabé D, Jeune B Source Type: journals