A second-generation system for unbiased reading frame selection

Reading frame selection of nucleic acids has important implications for protein engineering and genomics. Current methods are limited because selection of the gene of interest inevitably depends on the solubility of its translated product. Here we report the construction of the pInSALect vector, which provides strict reading frame selection without concomitant selection for protein solubility or folding. This plasmid incorporates the cis-splicing VMA intein sequence from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to facilitate the post-translational self-excision of the protein of interest, thereby eliminating potential aggregation problems. Results from two libraries of chimeric glycinamide ribonucleotide formyltransferases confirm the superior performance of pInSALect over existing reading frame selection systems.     

Contribution a l'etude des groupements superficiels des noirs de carbone a l'aide de reactifs gazeux: Evolution de l'acidité superficielle du sphéron 6 au cours de traitements thermiques

The Spheron 6 surface acidity has been investigated by adsorption of ammonia at 70°C and microcalorimetry. The carbon samples are degassed at temperatures up to 950°C. The effects of degassing temperature on the adsorption isotherms of ammonia are shown in Fig. 2. Up to 350°C, the isotherms are characterized by a very slight decrease in the total amount adsorbed. On the contrary, these amounts considerably decrease for higher degassing temperatures. The differential heats of adsorption (Fig. 3), which are initially close to 100 kJ/mole, are shown to decrease with the amount of adsorbed ammonia: the higher the degassing temperature, the greater the decrease. By desorption, the adsorption of ammonia is found partly irreversible. By readsorption it is possible to measure the differential heat of the reversible adsorption and to deduce from it the differential heat of the irreversible adsorption (Fig. 4) as well as the amount irreversibly adsorbed, i.e. chemisorbed.The amounts of chemisorbed ammonia are found to be respectively 0.36 ± 0.01 × 10^?6 mole m² at 150°C and 0.29 ± 0.01 × 10^?6 mole m^?2 at 350°C. With the surface covering the differential heat of chemisorption of ammonia slightly decreases from 105 to 88 kJ. mole^?1.These values suggest that carboxyl groups are responsible for irreversible adsorption of ammonia. This assumption has been checked by various experiments: the irreversible uptake of ammonia lies in the same range as the number of carboxyl surface groups determined by chemical analysis of functional groups (Table 1); the evolving of H₂O during the decomposition of the ammonium salt formed by reacting with ammonia has been observed and is probably correlated with the irreversible uptake of ammonia (Fig. 8); moreover it must be pointed out that irreversible adsorption of ammonia disappears after methylation of sample by diazomethane (Figs. 5 and 6). Then, the amounts of carboxyl groups can be determined by measuring the irreversibly adsorbed ammonia.This method has been applied to the study of the thermal stability of functional groups. Carboxyl groups are shown to be quickly decomposed by heat treatment above 500–600°C (Fig. 8).It appears from our experiments that the oxidation at constant temperature followed by a cooling under nitrogen is unable to regenerate functional groups on the surface of carbon after their removal at 950°C. On the contrary, by an oxidation at decreasing temperature it is possible to regenerate functional groups because they are stabilized by the oxidising atmosphere.The groups thus created behave like those initially present on Spheron 6: particularly the graph of the thermal elimination of carbon dioxide presents two peaks (Table 2, Fig. 12). The amount of regenerated carboxyl groups is found to be 0.25 × 10^?6 instead of 0.36 × 10^?6mole m^?2 on untreated Spheron 6.     

Calories,fat and cancer

The experiments reported are part of our effort to dissociate the tumor-enhancing effects of dietary fat and high caloric intake. Rats either were fed ad libitum diets containing 4% corn oil or their calories were restricted by 40% and their diets contained 13.1% corn oil. Incidence of 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA)-induced mammary tumors was 80% in rats fed ad libitum and 20% in those fed the calorie-restricted diets. Incidence of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced colon tumors was 100% in rats fed ad libitum and 53% in those whose caloric intake was restricted by 40%. The tumor yield (tumors per tumor-bearing rat) was significantly lower in rats on caloric restriction. In another series, rats were fed diets containing 5, 15 or 20% corn oil ad libitum or were fed calorie-restricted (by 25%) diets which provided 20 or 26.6% corn oil (therefore, the same absolute amount of fat was consumed in each of the pair-fed groups). Tumor incidence and tumor yield in the two calorie-restricted groups were similar to those seen in the rats fed 5% fat ad lititum; tumor burden (total g of tumor) was 45–65% lower in the calorie-restricted rats. The data suggest that caloric intake is a more stringent determinant of tumor growth than fat intake.     

Tripodal amido complexes: molecular "claws" in main group and transition metal chemistry

The chemistry of transition metal amides has received new impetus in recent years due to the systematic exploitation of the amido function [NR(2)](-) in ligand design. A class of 3-fold symmetrical tripodal amido ligands has proved to be a valuable tool in the stabilization of early transition metal and main group metal complexes and complex fragments. Moreover, promising strategies for their use as chemical reagents and homogeneous catalysts have been developed. An overwiew of the current state of this field is given and the potential for further development will be highlighted.     

Metabolism of sitosteryl β-D-glucoside and its nutritional effects in rats

[4-¹⁴C]Sitosteryl β-D-glucoside, intragastrically administered to rats, was not absorbed by the intestinal mucosa. At three hr after the application, radioactivity was concentrated almost exclusively in the digesta of stomach, small intestine as well as cecum and colon, whereas only low proportions of radioactively labeled compounds were found in the various tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. Minor proportions of labeled metabolites of [4-¹⁴C]sitosteryl β-D-glucoside, such as sitosterol and sitosteryl esters, were formed in the small intestine in vivo and in slices of small intestine in vitro. In the tissues of cecum and colon as well as the digesta derived from them, high proportions of labeled coprositostanol, i.e. 24α-ethyl-5β-cholestan-3β-ol, that obviously had been formed by bacterial degradation of the substrate were detected. The feeding of sitosteryl β-D-glucoside (0.5 g/kg body weight×day) over a period of four weeks did not alter significantly body weights or organ weights of rats. Analyses of steryl lipids of the various organs and tissues confirmed the findings obtained with the radioactive substrate: neither sitosteryl β-D-glucoside nor sitosterol or sitosteryl esters derived therefrom had been transported in appreciable amounts to organs and tissues outside the alimentary canal during the feeding period. Minor proportions of unmetabolized sitosteryl β-D-glucoside were detected in the tissues of stomach and intestine, whereas large proportions of the substrate were found in feces of rats that had received the sitosteryl β-D-glucoside-containing diet; coprositostanol was found in feces of these animals in high proportions as well. Thus, the use of sitosteryl β-D-glucoside as emulsifier or preservative in food and feed does not appear to involve any risk. The systematic nomenclature of the sterols referred to by trivial names is, cholest-5-en-3β-ol (cholesterol); 5α-cholestan-3β-ol (5α-cholestanol); 5β-cholestan-3β-ol (5β-cholestanol, coprostanol); 24α-methylcholest-5-en-3β-ol (campesterol); 24α-methyl-5α-cholestan-3β-ol (5α-campestanol); 24α-methyl-5β-cholestan-3β-ol (5β-campestanol, coprocampestanol); 24α-methyl-cholesta-5,22-dien-3β-ol (brassicasterol); 24α-ethylcholest-5-en-3β-ol (sitosterol, β-sitosterol); 24α-ethyl-5α-cholestan-3β-ol (5α-sitostanol); 24α-ethyl-5β-cholestan-3β-cholestan-3β-ol (5β-sitostanol, coprositostanol); 24α-ethylcholesta-5,22-dien-3β-ol (stigmasterol).     

Wearable cognitive assistants in a factory setting: a critical review of a promising way of enhancing cognitive performance and well-being

Cognition, Technology & Work - Rapid technological innovations are constantly influencing the complexification and automatization of the work lines pushing human operators to use diverse...     

Guided architecture trade space exploration: fusing model-based engineering and design by shopping

Software and Systems Modeling - Advances in model-based system engineering have greatly increased the predictive power of models and the analyses that can be run on them. At the same time, designs...     

Dealuminated Y Zeolite for Water-Driven Adsorption Heat Pumps: Hydrothermal Stability

Silica gel or zeolites AlPO-5 and SAPO-34 are recommended as adsorbents in water-driven heat pumps because of their selective water uptake. Secondary energy, like solar energy, can be used for regeneration of loaded adsorbers. In case of the availability of only low energy levels, the use of dealuminated Y zeolite (DAY) is the better choice because of the infinitely variation of its hydrophilic properties by tailoring of the framework Si/Al ratio. Actual data on the hydrothermal stability of DAY are lacking. Thus, we report on the long-term behavior of DAY zeolites with different Si/Al ratios.     

纵向旋转切削加工对环形零件畸变的影响

通过旋转试验和有限元分析介绍了工件在切削加工过程中产生的畸变情况，分析了工件的装夹方式、切削速度、切削深度和进刀量对100Cr6钢环圆度的影响。通过去应力退火释放冷加工诱发的残余应力后工件的圆度与切削参数有关。另外测试了被试验环的表面残余应力，其表面残余应力与装夹方式有关。将测量的装夹力作为计算参数输入，通过有限元分析方法测试了装夹方式对工件变形的影响。协同测量结果示出了装夹方式影响工件变形的一个主要因素，表面残余应力与工件的径向变形有关，最大的拉伸应力位于夹口位置。旋转切削试验结果表明，提高切削速度圆度会稍有增加；随着切削深度的加大，圆度呈下降趋势，尽管切削力增加了；进给量的增加会导致更高的切削力，因此圆度值也增加；常规的去应力退火可使被加工环的圆度值增加。     

Support Vector machine and duration-aware conditional random field for identification of spatio-temporal activity patterns by combined indoor positioning and heart rate sensors

Tracking the spatio-temporal activity is highly relevant for domains like security, health, and quality management. Since animal welfare became a topic in politics and legislation locomotion patterns of livestock have received increasing interest. In contrast to the monitoring of pedestrians cattle activity tracking poses special challenges to both sensors and data analysis. Interesting states are not directly observable by a single sensor. In addition, sensors must be accepted by cattle and need to be robust enough to cope with a rough environment. In this article, we introduce the novel combination of heart rate and positioning sensors. Attached to neck and chest they are less interfering than accelerometers at the ankles. Exploiting the potential of such combined sensor system that records locomotion and non-spatial information from the heart rate sensor however is challenging. We introduce a novel two level method for the activity tracking focused on the duration and sequence of activity states. We combine Support Vector Machine (SVM) with Conditional Random Field (CRF) and extend Conditional Random fields by an explicit representation of duration. The SVM characterizes local activity states, whereas the CRF addresses sequences of local states to sequences incorporating spatial and non-spatial contextual knowledge. This combination provides a reliable and comprehensive identification of defined activity patterns, as well as their chronology and durations, suitable for the integration in an activity data base. This data base is used to extract physiological parameters and promises insights into internal states such as fitness, well-being and stress. Interestingly we were able to demonstrate a significant correlation between resting pulse rate and the day of pregnancy.