How would an EU-membership of the Visegrád- countries affect Europe‘s economic geography?EU-membership of the Visegrád-countries

The question posed in the title of the paper is answered by simulating EU-integration of the Visegrád-countries by a spatial computable general equilibrium (SCGE) model. A two-sector model is calibrated for a system of almost 100 regions covering the whole area of Europe and a rest of world region. The sectors are a local sector, producing non-tradables under perfect competition, and a tradables sector, producing a large number of tradable varieties under monopolistic competition. Trade between regions is costly, with costs depending on geographic distance and national impediments to trade. The model is calibrated such that the equilibrium solution reproduces benchmark data about international trade and regional incomes. Economic integration is simulated by reducing impediments to trade between integrating countries and calculating a new counterfactual equilibrium.     

Interfering with the inhibitory mechanism of serpins: crystal structure of a complex formed between cleaved plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 and a reactive-centre loop peptide

BACKGROUND: Plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) is an important endogenous regulator of the fibrinolytic system. Reduction of PAI-1 activity has been shown to enhance dissolution of blood clots. Like other serpins, PAI-1 binds covalently to a target serine protease, thereby irreversibly inactivating the enzyme. During this process the exposed reactive-centre loop of PAI-1 is believed to undergo a conformational change becoming inserted into beta sheet A of the serpin. Incubation with peptides from the reactive-centre loop transform serpins into a substrate for their target protease. It has been hypothesised that these peptides bind to beta sheet A, thereby hindering the conformational rearrangement leading to loop insertion and formation of the stable serpin-protease complex. RESULTS: We report here the 1.95 A X-ray crystal structure of a complex of a glycosylated mutant of PAI-1, PAI-1-ala335Glu, with two molecules of the inhibitory reactive-centre loop peptide N-Ac-TVASS-NH2. Both bound peptide molecules are located between beta strands 3A and 5A of the serpin. The binding kinetics of the peptide inhibitor to immobilised PAI-1-Ala335Glu, as monitored by surface plasmon resonance, is consistent with there being two different binding sites. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first reported crystal structure of a complex formed between a serpin and a serpin inhibitor. The localisation of the inhibitory peptide in the complex strongly supports the theory that molecules binding in the space between beta strands 3A and 5A of a serpin are able to prevent insertion of the reactive-centre loop into beta sheet A, thereby abolishing the ability of the serpin to irreversibly inactivate its target enzyme. The characterisation of the two binding sites for the peptide inhibitor provides a solid foundation for computer-aided design of novel, low molecular weight PAI-1 inhibitors.     

Effects of combined nimodipine and metrifonate on rat cognition and cortical EEG

The present study investigated if short-term treatment with an L-type Ca2+-channel inhibitor, nimodipine, can stimulate cognitive functioning and cortical electroencephalograph (EEG) arousal, and potentiate the effect of a cholinesterase inhibitor, metrifonate. Pretraining administration of nimodipine (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, p.o.) had no effect on water maze and passive avoidance behavior of young neurologically intact controls, or water maze and passive avoidance performance failure induced by scopolamine pretreatment (i.p.; 0.4 mg/kg during the water maze and 2.0 mg/kg during the passive avoidance study), medial septal lesioning, or aging. Furthermore, nimodipine (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, p.o.) had no effect on the improvement by metrifonate (10 mg/kg, p.o.) of the water maze and passive avoidance failure induced by scopolamine pretreatment or medial septal lesioning, nor did it affect the potential of metrifonate (30 mg/kg. p.o.) to improve the water maze or passive avoidance behavior of aged rats. Finally, nimodipine (3, 10 and 30 mg/kg, p.o.) had no effect on spontaneously occurring thalamically generated neocortical high-voltage spindles or spectral EEG activity of young controls, nor did it alleviate the spectral EEG abnormality induced by scopolamine (0.2 mg/kg, i.p.) administration. Also, the combination of nimodipine 3 or 10 mg/kg and a subthreshold dose of metrifonate 10 mg/kg could not suppress high-voltage spindles or scopolamine treatment-induced spectral EEG activity abnormalities. According to the present results, short-term treatment with nimodipine does not stimulate cognitive functions or increase cortical EEG arousal, and does not block or potentiate the propensity of metrifonate to improve cognitive performance of rats.     

Influence of high titers of maternal antibody on the serologic response of infants to diphtheria vaccination at three, five and twelve months of age

Diphtheria antitoxin was determined in serum from 44 pregnant women, of whom 26 had received one injection of diphtheria toxoid during pregnancy. Their infants were vaccinated with a combined diphtheria-tetanus vaccine at 3, 5 and 12 months of age. This vaccination schedule has been used in Sweden since 1986, replacing the old schedule of vaccination at 3, 4.5 and 6 months of age originally designed for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine, which had not been used after cessation of general vaccination against pertussis in 1979. Serum samples from the infants were obtained at 3, 7 and 18 months of age. After 2 injections infants of mothers with high antitoxin titers, > or = 0.1 IU/ml, tended to have lower antitoxin titers than infants of mothers with low antitoxin concentrations (P = 0.067). All children had, however, antitoxin above the minimum protective level of 0.01 IU/ml. Median antitoxin titers were 1.6 IU/ml in both groups after the third booster injection. Four infants of mothers who had been vaccinated during pregnancy and who had titers of > or = 0.4 IU/ml did not reach the 0.1 IU/ml level after 2 injections: all 4 responded with high antitoxin titers after the third dose. Thus all infants were primed by 2 doses of vaccine, irrespective of maternal antibody concentration. The repressive effect of maternal antibody on titers noted after 2 doses was no longer observed after the third, booster dose.     

Atomic force microscopy on polymers and polymer related compounds

Summary Surface morphology and molecular arrangement have been recorded by atomic force microscopy (AFM) on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and on polycarbonate (PC) films. In a thin layer of PTFE deposited by rubbing polymer on hot glass substrate unidirectional orientation of polymer has been revealed. Individual polymer chains have been visualized. An interchain distance of .53 nm and several periodicities along the chain contours have been found-.44 nm, .62 nm and .82 nm-in accordance with a 13/6 helix.The monitoring of surface changes during thermal treatment of amorphous-bis-phenol A-PC film has been realized by AFM. Different types of surface morphology were revealed. Spherulites are formed during polymer crystallization. In most cases, however, numerous nanocrystallites appeared after thermal treatment. On their surfaces well-ordered atomic scale AFM images have been received. The arrangement of AFM patterns can be characterized by periodicities of .50 nm and .52 nm in the orthogonal directions. Polycarbonate oligomers-as the product of surface degradation-effectively might form the observed nanocrystallites.Prof. Dr. G. Zachmann zum 60. Geburtstag herzlichst gewidmetThese results were given by us first in a lecture in Baltimore, at the 5th ISPAC Symposium on May 31, 1991, and in a lecture in Santa Barbara, at the Nanoscope Users Meeting on June 25, 1991     

Zur Reaktivität von Tanninen in Abhängigkeit vom Kambialalter

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

High‐error approximate dictionary search using estimate hash comparisons

A method for finding all matches in a pre‐processed dictionary for a query string q and with at most k differences is presented. A very fast constant‐time estimate using hashes is presented. A tree structure is used to minimize the number of estimates made. Practical tests are performed, showing that the estimate can filter out 99% of the full comparisons for 40% error rates and dictionaries of up to four million words. The tree is found to be efficient up to a 50% error rate. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.