In addition to its normal function, the adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT) forms the inner membrane channel of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP). Binding of cyclophilin-D (CyP-D) to its matrix surface (probably on Pro(61) on loop 1) facilitates a calcium-triggered conformational change converting it from a specific transporter to a non-specific pore. The voltage dependent ...

Ants are among the most ubiquitous and harmful invaders worldwide, but there are few regional studies of their relationships with habitat and native ant communities. New Caledonia has a unique and diverse ant fauna that is threatened by exotic ants, but broad-scale patterns of exotic and native ant community composition in relation to habitat remain poorly documented. We conducted a systematic ...

Approximately 46% (75/162) or poultry enterococci collected between 1999 and 2000 exhibited high-level resistance to gentamicin (minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] > or = 500 microg/ml), kanamycin (MIC > or = 500 microg/ml), or streptomycin (MIC > or = 1000 microg/ml). Forty-one percent of the isolates were resistant to kanamycin (n = 67), whereas 23% and 19% were resistant to genramicin (n...

BACKGROUND The signal transduction mechanism linking mitochondrial ATP synthesis with cytosolic ATP utilization in heart changes during postnatal development in vivo. This maturational process occurs in parallel with accumulation of mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocator (ANT), which provides a possible site for respiratory control. We postulated that thyroid hormone regulates these matu...

Habitat complexity is a major determinant of structure and diversity of ant assemblages. Following the size-grain hypothesis, smaller ant species are likely to be advantaged in more complex habitats compared to larger species. Habitat complexity can act as an environmental filter based on species size and morphological traits, therefore affecting the overall structure and diversity of ant assem...

We report that the photosensitizer verteporfin kills lymphoma cells by an apoptotic process involving a dissipation of the mitochondrial inner transmembrane potential (deltapsim). Light-activated verteporfin-induced apoptosis was abolished by transfection with Bcl-2, a procedure reported to inhibit the mitochondrial permeability transition pore complex (PTPC). Verteporfin triggered the deltapsi...

We report that the photosensitizer verteporfin kills lymphoma cells by an apoptotic process involving a dissipation of the mitochondrial inner transmembrane potential (DCm). Light-activated verteporfininduced apoptosis was abolished by transfection with Bcl-2, a procedure reported to inhibit the mitochondrial permeability transition pore complex (PTPC). Verteporfin triggered the DCm loss in iso...

We investigated the effects of retinoic acids on mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) measured as changes in rhodamine 123 fluorescence from both isolated heart mitochondria and HeLa cells. We report that all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA), 9-cis-retinoic acid, and 13-cis-retinoic acid induce a drop in mitochondrial membrane potential in isolated mitochondria. The atRA effect was done throug...

In this paper the Constraint Satisfaction Ant Algorithm (CSAA) framework is presented. The underlying infrastructure and the ants behavior are described in detail. The CSAA framework is an ant-based system for solving discrete Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSP) and Partial Constraint Satisfaction Problems (PCSP). CSPs and PCSPs are used among others to design facility layouts and schedule w...

In this paper, we propose a new kind of ant algorithm called Ant Local Search. In most ant algorithms, the role of each ant is to build a solution in a constructive way. In contrast, we propose to consider each ant as a local search, where at each step and in concordance with all ant algorithms, each ant modifies the current solution by the use of the greedy force and the trail systems. We also...