Light-controlled molecular tweezers capture specific amyloid oligomers

Amyloid-βpeptide(Aβ)oligomers,characteristic symptom of Alzheimer’s disease(AD),have been identified as the most neurotoxic species and significant contributors to neurodegeneration in AD.However,due to their transient and heterogeneous nature,the high-resolution structures and exact pathogenic processes of Aβ oligomers are currently unknown.Using light-controlled molecular tweezers(LMTs),we describe a method for precisely capturing specific Aβ oligomers produced from synthetic Aβ and AD animal models.Light irradiation can activate LMTs,which are composed of two Aβ-targeting pentapeptides(KLVFF)motifs and a rigid azobenzene(azo)derivative,to form a tweezer-like cis configuration that preferentially binds to specific oligomers matching the space of the tweezers via multivalent interactions of KLVFF motifs with the oligomers.Surprisingly,cis-LMTs can immobilize the captured oligomers in transgenic Caenorhabditis elegans under light irradiation.The LMTs may serve as spatiotemporally controllable molecular tools to extract specific native oligomers for the structure and function studies via reversible photoisomerization,which would improve the understanding of the toxic mechanisms of Aβoligomers and development of oligomer-targeted diagnosis and therapy.

Multi-camera systems for rehabilitation therapies:a study of the precision of Microsoft Kinect sensors

This paper seeks to determine how the overlap of several infrared beams affects the tracked position of the user, depending on the angle of incidence of light, distance to the target, distance between sensors, and the number of capture devices used. We also try to show that under ideal conditions using several Kinect sensors increases the precision of the data collected. The results obtained can be used in the design of telerehabilitation environments in which several RGB-D cameras are needed to improve precision or increase the tracking range. A numerical analysis of the results is included and comparisons are made with the results of other studies. Finally, we describe a system that implements intelligent methods for the rehabilitation of patients based on the results of the tests carried out.