Comparison of the inhibition by phospho(enol)pyruvate and phosphoglycolate of phosphofructokinase from B. stearothermophilus

A comparison between the inhibition by phospho(enol)pyruvate (PEP) versus the inhibition by phosphoglycolate (PG) of phosphofructokinase (PFK) from Bacillus stearothermophilus is presented. Both inhibitors act by decreasing the apparent affinity displayed by the enzyme for its substrate fructose 6-phosphate (Fru-6-P) while having little effect on Vmax. However, the two ligands differ in both their affinity for the enzyme and their effectiveness at antagonizing the subsequent binding of Fru-6-P. Although PG binds with approximately 10-fold lower affinity, it antagonizes the binding of Fru-6-P 3.5-fold more strongly than does PEP. Moreover, the enthalpy and entropy contributions to the coupling free energy between inhibitor and Fru-6-P, from which these antagonisms derive, reveal even greater differences between the ligands. These data indicate, therefore, that the changes in the structure of PFK from B. stearothermophilus that result from PG binding, which have been determined by X-ray crystallography (T. Schirmer and P. R. Evans, 1990 Nature 343, 140-145), may not be comparable to those that result from PEP binding and consequently do not represent the generic "T-state," as has been presumed.     

3 Laser transmission joining in microtechnology

The laser is a joining tool which is particularly suitable for the application in microtechnology. The process variant laser transmission joining can be used both for welding thermoplastics and bonding of silicon and glass. The investigations presented in this paper cover detailed examinations of both processes. Concerning laser transmission welding of plastics it is examined how far the content of carbon black in the material influences the formation of the weld seam. It is shown that the optical depth of penetration, the weld seam width as well as the formation of the weld morphology differ with varying content of carbon black. Selective laser radiation bonding (SLB) is a novel method for joining silicon and glass based on the transmission heating of the interface of both joining partners and the thermo-chemical principles of silicon direct bonding. SLB shows advantages in reference to the thermal load of sensitive components like sensors and to the selectivity of the joining geometry. In this study the principle method of SLB and the latest advances like the integration of the thermal process control in the laser processing head will be presented. Also experimental test results of the process with constant laser power and thermal process control and the comparison of them will be shown.An erratum to this article can be found at     

Knowledge-based risk evaluation during the offer calculation of customised products

The individualisation of products is a hybrid business strategy, which increases the competitiveness of production enterprises. But the inherent risks of order processing for customised products jeopardises the successful and economical implementation of this strategy: A potential risk exists within the calculation of the total costs due to incomplete information about the product and the production processes during the offer specification process as well as due to the temporal fluctuations of the prices and costs after the offer specification. This paper analyses the risks and existing methods regarding risks in offer calculation processes. The approach developed here proposes a knowledge-based system for the evaluation and configuration of risks during the order processing of individualised products. Based on a classification of the immanent risks, an evaluation method is introduced which is implemented in a knowledge-based system. The methods developed for calculation and interpretation allow for a good analysis of the risk situation of individualised products.     

Grasping devices and methods in automated production processes

In automated production processes grasping devices and methods play a crucial role in the handling of many parts, components and products. This keynote paper starts with a classification of grasping phases, describes how different principles are adopted at different scales in different applications and continues explaining different releasing strategies and principles. Then the paper classifies the numerous sensors used to monitor the effectiveness of grasping (part presence, exchanged force, stick-slip transitions, etc.). Later the grasping and releasing problems in different fields (from mechanical assembly to disassembly, from aerospace to food industry, from textile to logistics) are discussed. Finally, the most recent research is reviewed in order to introduce the new trends in grasping. They provide an outlook on the future of both grippers and robotic hands in automated production processes.     

The design of an animal PET: flexible geometry for achieving optimal spatial resolution or high sensitivity

We present the design of a positron emission tomograph (PET) with flexible geometry dedicated to in vivo studies of small animals (TierPET). The scanner uses two pairs of detectors. Each detector consists of 400 small individual yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP) scintillator crystals of dimensions 2 x 2 x 15 mm3, optically isolated and glued together, which are coupled to position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMT's). The detector modules can be moved in a radial direction so that the detector-to-detector spacing can be varied. Special hardware has been built for coincidence detection, position detection, and real-time data acquisition, which is performed by a PC. The single-event data are transferred to workstations where the radioactivity distribution is reconstructed. The dimensions of the crystals and the detector layout are the result of extensive simulations which are described in this report, taking into account sensitivity, spatial resolution and additional parameters like parallax error or scatter effects. For the three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction a genuine 3-D expectation-maximization (EM)-algorithm which can include the characteristics of the detector system has been implemented. The reconstruction software is flexible and matches the different detector configurations. The main advantage of the proposed animal PET scanner is its high flexibility, allowing the realization of various detector-system configurations. By changing the detector-to-detector spacing, the system is capable of either providing good spatial resolution or high sensitivity for dynamic studies of pharmacokinetics.     

Effect of plasma and LPS on respiratory burst of neutrophils in septic patients

OBJECTIVE: To compare the respiratory burst of neutrophils in sepsis and control patients using lipopolysaccharide (LPS), autologous plasma, and a combination of the two. DESIGN: Prospective, consecutive case study. SETTING: A 16-bed intensive care unit (ICU) in a university teaching hospital. INTERVENTIONS: None. PATIENTS: Plasma was obtained from 23 healthy patients scheduled for minor surgery immediately prior to induction of anesthesia (controls) and from 23 ICU patients within 24 h of diagnosis of sepsis or septic shock. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Respiratory burst was determined by lucigenin chemiluminescence expressed as mean +/- SEM of peak values of relative light units per neutrophil. There were no significant differences between neutrophils of septic patients and controls for the stimuli saline, phorbol myristate acetate, formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, and LPS alone. Septic patients showed a lower respiratory burst than controls (p < 0.05) under the following stimuli: plasma alone (5911 +/- 803 vs 15,397 +/- 3038) and LPS and plasma combined (13,857 +/- 1537 vs 23,026 +/- 2640). However, when stimulated with plasma after priming with LPS, septic patients elicited a higher value than control subjects (11,373 +/- 1758 vs 5987 +/- 1234, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: (1) Some components of the plasma of septic patients may have a profound effect on neutrophil response; (2) plasma as a respiratory burst stimulus differentiates between sepsis and non-sepsis samples better than other common stimuli; (3) precautions must be taken when using plasma together with LPS because of the different response depending on whether LPS-priming precedes the plasma stimulus or both are introduced simultaneously and whether septic or nonseptic plasma is used.