Intersecting Xenobiology and Neometabolism To Bring Novel Chemistries to Life

The diversity of life relies on a handful of chemical elements (carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus) as part of essential building blocks; some other atoms are needed to a lesser extent, but most of the remaining elements are excluded from biology. This circumstance limits the scope of biochemical reactions in extant metabolism – yet it offers a phenomenal playground for synthetic biology. Xenobiology aims to bring novel bricks to life that could be exploited for (xeno)metabolite synthesis. In particular, the assembly of novel pathways engineered to handle nonbiological elements (neometabolism) will broaden chemical space beyond the reach of natural evolution. In this review, xeno-elements that could be blended into nature's biosynthetic portfolio are discussed together with their physicochemical properties and tools and strategies to incorporate them into biochemistry. We argue that current bioproduction methods can be revolutionized by bridging xenobiology and neometabolism for the synthesis of new-to-nature molecules, such as organohalides.     

Enzyme activity and partial characterization of proteases obtained from Bromelia karatas fruit and compared with Bromelia pinguin proteases

Food Science and Biotechnology - The enzymatic activity and partial characterization of proteases from Bromelia karatas fruits were evaluated and compared with Bromelia pinguin proteases. The...     

Demonstration of a tool for automatic learning and re-use of knowledge in the activated sludge process.

Wastewater treatment plant operators encounter complex operational problems related to the activated sludge process and usually respond to these by applying their own intuition and by taking advantage of what they have learnt from past experiences of similar problems. However, previous process experiences are not easy to integrate in numerical control, and new tools must be developed to enable re-use of plant operating experience. The aim of this paper is to investigate the usefulness of a case-based reasoning (CBR) approach to apply learning and re-use of knowledge gained during past incidents to confront actual complex problems through the IWA/COST Benchmark protocol. A case study shows that the proposed CBR system achieves a significant improvement of the benchmark plant performance when facing a high-flow event disturbance.     

Alumina-supported catalysts for propane oxidative dehydrogenation from mixed VXM(6−X)O19 (M=W, Mo) hexametalate precursors

γ-Al₂O₃ supported vanadium oxides were modified by tungsten and molybdenum oxides in order to improve dispersion and selectivity towards olefins in propane oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH). Both vanadium–tungsten and vanadium–molybdenum catalysts were obtained by adsorption of mixed isopolyanions (VW₅O₁₉⁵⁻, V₂W₄O₁₉⁴⁻, VMo₅O₁₉⁵⁻ and V₂Mo₄O₁₉⁴⁻) from aqueous solutions. The isopolyanion solutions were characterized by UV-Vis and ⁵¹V NMR spectroscopy. Vanadium, vanadium–tungsten and vanadium–molybdenum precursors and catalysts were also characterized by UV-Vis (diffuse reflectance) and solid state ⁵¹V NMR spectroscopy. An improved selectivity to propene in the presence of tungsten and molybdenum in VO_x/γ-Al₂O₃ was observed and attributed to dilution of vanadium by tungsten or molybdenum oxides on the γ-Al₂O₃ surface.     

Josef Maria Bro?ek (1913-2004).

Presents an obituary and information about the life and accomplishments of Josef Maria Bro?ek. Born August 14, 1913, in the ancient town of Melnik, in central Bohemia, today the Czech Republic, Josef spent his childhood in Poland (Warsaw, 1913- 1915) and in Siberia (1915-1920). His education in Czechoslovakia culminated with a thesis on "Memory, Its Measurement and Structure" and a PhD awarded in June 1937. In the history of psychology, his lifetime project bore the title "Historiography of Psychology Around the World," and it covered about 20 geographical areas. Extensive attention was devoted to institutional and organizational developments as journals, academic settings, archives, museums, research groups, conferences, and institutes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implementation of RNS-Based Distributed Arithmetic Discrete Wavelet Transform Architectures Using Field-Programmable Logic

Currently there are design barriers inhibiting the implementation of high-precision digital signal processing (DSP) objects with field programmable logic (FPL) devices. This paper explores overcoming these barriers by fusing together the popular distributed arithmetic (DA) method with the residue number system (RNS) for use in FPL-centric designs. The new design paradigm is studied in the context of a high-performance filter bank and a discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The proposed design paradigm is facilitated by a new RNS accumulator structure based on a carry save adder (CSA). The reported methodology also introduces a polyphase filter structure that results in a reduced look-up table (LUT) budget. The 2C-DA and RNS-DA are compared, in the context of a FPL implementation strategy, using a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) filter bank as a common design theme. The results show that the RNS-DA, compared to a traditional 2C-DA design, enjoys a performance advantage that increases with precision (wordlength).     

Morphological changes induced by colchicine in the chick optic cup in early stages of development. A stereological study

In this study chick embryo optic cups at HH stage 13 of development were analyzed under normal conditions and after inoculation with colchicine for 1, 2, 4, and 8 h. Several changes were seen after these periods of treatment: 1) modifications of the structure, with thicker regions in the cup and a general decrease in the total volume according to the duration of exposure to the drug (about 4 times less than normal, 5,035 x 10(3) microns 3 vs 1,334 x 10(3) microns 3 after 8 h of treatment); 2) enlargement of the ventricular cavity and its closure, due to failure of approximation of retinal and pigmentary layers; 3) failure of lens development, with delay and impairment of pit formation and deformation of all structures; lens volume was less than normal (about 4 times less, 2,148 x 10(3) microns 3 vs 658 x 10(3) microns 3 after 8 h of treatment); 4) a general segregation of the cells making up the structure, principally in the more active proliferating zones. The local alterations found are described.