Wasserkraft in Österreich — ein traditioneller Energieträger mit Zukunft

Hydropower occupies a leading position in the energy structure in Austria. No other country in the European Union has such a high percentage of hydropower in its energy structure in proportion to other energy sources. Due to the topographic basis and the engagement of a few pioneers hydropower came into this unique position. In fact, it is the most important domestic energy source in Austria. Like no other technology hydropower has been influenced in a strong way by the values and attitudes of the Austrian society depending on the prevailing lifestyle. In addition to the technological progress the social and economical framework has changed into a liberalized and deregulated electricity market. Besides automation and the improvement in efficiency, the environmental questions are the big challenges. Unconventional innovative strategies are demanded to give and keep hydropower the importance in (energy) business it deserves, especially because of its multifunctionality and its lasting effect for the following generations.     

Health human periodontal versus peri-implant gingival tissues: an immunohistochemical differentiation of the extracellular matrix

Healthy human periodontal and peri-implant (ITI Bonefit) keratinized gingival tissues were studied immunohistochemically to evaluate the possible presence of structural differences in the extracellular matrix protein localization. Collagen types I, III, IV, and VII and fibronectin showed similar distribution in these tissues. Compared to the periodontal tissues, collagen type V was localized in higher amounts in the lamina propria of the peri-implant gingival tissues. Collagen type VI stained the periodontal tissues as a delicate microfibrillar network contrasting to the not well-stained peri-implant gingival tissues. The data show that structural differences between these tissues are present. The structural differences may be responsible for the defense of peri-implant keratinized gingival connective tissues to bacterial penetration, because of the high amount of the collagen type V component, which is responsible for the higher collagenase stability.     

Hydrogen sorption performance of pure magnesium during continued cycling

Preliminary investigations of the hydrogen absorption - desorption by commercially pure magnesium powder under continuous operation show little or no reduction in hydrogen capacity up to 70 cycles and high temperature exposure exceeding 1200 h. Absorption was studied at 260°–425°C and hydrogen pressures up to 2.0 MPa above equilibrium. Desorption was with a few exceptions done at 400°C at hydrogen pressures below 150 kPa. For practical application the hydrogen exchange may be limited to 75–90% of the complete metal to stoichiometric hydride reaction. A change of the macroscopic structure of the powder into a highly porous, sintered agglomerate did not reduce the hydrogen capacity or the reaction rate. Although this change in structure caused no deterioration of the cycling performance a further development may not be acceptable. For observation over a much larger number of cyclings a fully automated, triple line cycling facility permitting simultaneous testing under different conditions has been constructed.     

Transfer of rps19 to the nucleus involves the gain of an RNP-binding motif which may functionally replace RPS13 in Arabidopsis mitochondria

The discovery of disrupted rps19 genes in Arabidopsis mitochondria prompted speculation about the transfer to the nuclear compartment. We here describe the functional gene transfer of rps19 into the nucleus of Arabidopsis. Molecular cloning and sequence analysis of rps19 show that the nuclear gene encodes a long N-terminal extension. Import studies of the precursor protein indicate that only a small part of this extension is cleaved off during import. The larger part of the extension, which shows high similarity to conserved RNA-binding domains of the RNP-CS type, became part of the S19 protein. In the Escherichia coli ribosome S19 forms an RNA-binding complex as heterodimer with S13. By using immuno-analysis and import studies we show that a eubacterial-like S13 protein is absent from Arabidopsis mitochondria, and is not substituted by either a chloroplastic or a cytosolic homologue of this ribosomal protein. We therefore propose that either a highly diverged or missing RPS13 has been functionally replaced by an RNP domain that most likely derived from a glycine-rich RNA-binding protein. These results represent the first case of a functional replacement of a ribosomal protein by a common RNA-binding domain and offer a new view on the flexibility of biological systems in using well-adapted functional domains for different jobs.     

Increased availability and open probability of single L-type calcium channels from failing compared with nonfailing human ventricle

BACKGROUND: The role of the L-type calcium channel in human heart failure is unclear, on the basis of previous whole-cell recordings. METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated the properties of L-type calcium channels in left ventricular myocytes isolated from nonfailing donor hearts (n= 16 cells) or failing hearts of transplant recipients with dilated (n=9) or ischemic (n=7) cardiomyopathy. The single-channel recording technique was used (70 mmol/L Ba2+). Peak average currents were significantly enhanced in heart failure (38.2+/-9.3 fA) versus nonfailing control hearts (13.2+/-4.5 fA, P=0.02) because of an elevation of channel availability (55.9+/-6.7% versus 26.4+/-5.3%, P=0.001) and open probability within active sweeps (7.36+/-1.51% versus 3.18+/-1.33%, P=0.04). These differences closely resembled the effects of a cAMP-dependent stimulation with 8-Br-cAMP (n= 11). Kinetic analysis of the slow gating shows that channels from failing hearts remain available for a longer time, suggesting a defect in the dephosphorylation. Indeed, the phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid was unable to stimulate channel activity in myocytes from failing hearts (n=5). Expression of calcium channel subunits was measured by Northern blot analysis. Expression of alpha1c- and beta-subunits was unaltered. Whole-cell current measurements did not reveal an increase of current density in heart failure. CONCLUSIONS: Individual L-type calcium channels are fundamentally affected in severe human heart failure. This is probably important for the impairment of cardiac excitation-contraction coupling.