MnCo1.9Fe0.1O4 spinel protection layer on commercial ferritic steels for interconnect applications in solid oxide fuel cells

In solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for operating temperatures of 800 °C or below, the interconnection plates can be made from stainless steel. This is a big economic advantage, but energy losses can be caused by undesirable reactions between the alloys and other SOFC components. The use of coatings on interconnect stainless steels can reduce this degradation. A MnCo_1.9Fe_0.1O₄ (MCF) spinel not only significantly decreases the contact resistance between a La_0.8Sr_0.2FeO₃ cathode and a stainless steel interconnect, but also acts as a diffusion barrier to prevent Cr outward migration through the coating. The level of improvement in electrical performance depends on the ferritic substrate composition. For Crofer22APU and F18TNb, with a Mn concentration of 0.4 and 0.12 wt%, respectively, the reduction in contact resistance is significant. In comparison, limited improvement is achieved by application of MCF on IT-11 and E-Brite containing no Mn. No influence of the minor additions of Si or Al is observed on contact resistance. The MCF protection layer bonds well to the stainless steel substrates under thermal cycling, but the thermal expansion difference is too large between the La_0.8Sr_0.2Co_0.75Fe_0.25O₃ contact layer used and Crofer22APU and IT-11.     

Antioxidant activity of several marine skin gelatins

Gelatins obtained from the skins of tuna and halibut, and from the tunics of jumbo flying squid were hydrolysed by Alcalase to produce antioxidant peptides. Hydrolysis yielded an increase in the antioxidant capacity of gelatins of around two-fold when measured by the Fe reducing capacity (FRAP) method and even more when measured by the ABTS radical scavenging method. When both squid and tuna gelatins were hydrolysed with different enzymes (collagenase, trypsin, pepsin), Alcalase and pepsin gave the hydrolysates with the highest and lowest ABTS radical scavenging ability, respectively. FRAP assay showed that the squid hydrolysates prepared using Alcalase were the most effective in reducing ferric ions, whereas trypsin gave rise to the tuna hydrolysates with the highest iron reducing ability. When the amino acid composition of the gelatins was related to the antioxidant properties, ABTS radical scavenging was observed to be negatively correlated to the total content of hydrophobic amino acids and imino acids in all the samples, while Fe reducing power (FRAP) was strongly correlated with Hyl and degree of hydroxylation.     

Effect of heating temperature and sodium chloride concentration on ultrastructure and texture of gels made from giant squid (Dosidicus gigas) with addition of starch,l-carrageenan and egg white

This paper seeks to compare the ultrastructure of gels made from frozen muscle of giant squid (Dosidicus gigas) at various temperatures with a number of different rheological parameters, with reference to a variety of added ingredients (non-muscle proteins and hydrocolloids) and to NaCl concentration. Interesting data on gel rheological properties were found where formulae containedl-carrageenan, starch and egg white, with a low salt concentration (1.5%). This seems to be because carrageenan forms an independent network which supports the principal structure formed by the fish protein; starch is incorporated into the network and retains water; and egg white forms a supplementary network which helps to improve rheological properties.     

Optimization of lateral interaction in accumulative computation on GPU-based platform

The Journal of Supercomputing - The lateral interaction in accumulative computation (LIAC) algorithm is a biologically inspired method that allows us to detect moving objects from image sequences...     

Metal-Bound Methisazone; Novel Drugs Targeting Prophylaxis and Treatment of SARS-CoV-2, a Molecular Docking Study

SARS-CoV-2 currently lacks effective first-line drug treatment. We present promising data from in silico docking studies of new Methisazone compounds (modified with calcium, Ca; iron, Fe; magnesium, Mg; manganese, Mn; or zinc, Zn) designed to bind more strongly to key proteins involved in replication of SARS-CoV-2. In this in silico molecular docking study, we investigated the inhibiting role of Methisazone and the modified drugs against SARS-CoV-2 proteins: ribonucleic acid (RNA)-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp), spike protein, papain-like protease (PlPr), and main protease (MPro). We found that the highest binding interactions were found with the spike protein (6VYB), with the highest overall binding being observed with Mn-bound Methisazone at −8.3 kcal/mol, followed by Zn and Ca at −8.0 kcal/mol, and Fe and Mg at −7.9 kcal/mol. We also found that the metal-modified Methisazone had higher affinity for PlPr and MPro. In addition, we identified multiple binding pockets that could be singly or multiply occupied on all proteins tested. The best binding energy was with Mn–Methisazone versus spike protein, and the largest cumulative increases in binding energies were found with PlPr. We suggest that further studies are warranted to identify whether these compounds may be effective for treatment and/or prophylaxis.     

Viscoelastic properties of caseinmacropeptide isolated from cow,ewe and goat cheese whey

Caseinmacropeptide (CMP) is a C‐terminal glycopeptide released from κ‐casein by the action of chymosin during cheese‐making. It is recognised as a bioactive peptide and is thought to be an ingredient with a potential use in functional foods. CMP occurs in sweet cheese whey and whey protein concentrate (WPC). Its composition is variable and depends on the particular whey source and the fractionation technology employed in the isolation. There were no significant (P < 0.05) differences in the relative apparent viscosities between species of CMPs (cow, ewe and goat). Analyses at different pH (2, 4, 7, 10), ionic strength (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.7 as NaCl molarity) and protein concentration (50, 100 and 200 g kg^?1) at temperatures from 10 to 90 °C carried out found pH 7 and high protein concentration (200 g kg^?1) conditions to be the best for CMP solutions to keep low and constant relative viscosity values with increasing temperature up to 75 °C. The viscoelastic properties–storage modulus, loss modulus and phase angle–of the different CMPs and WPC solutions were determined. Heat‐induced rheological changes in CMP solutions occurred at moderate temperatures (40–50 °C) with no appreciable differences in viscosity. Gelation took place significantly (P < 0.05) earlier in goat CMP (41 °C), followed by cow CMP (44 °C), ewe CMP (47 °C) and WPC (56 °C). Heating at 90 °C showed that WPC required significantly (P < 0.05) longer times to form gels (>5 min) than the CMPs (<5 min). WPC gels had higher (>20°) phase angle than CMP (<20°), which could be associated with untidy structures, limiting elastic properties of the gel. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Algebras difusas

Resumen En este trabajo se propone una estructura de álgebra difusa (borrosa) basada en la distinción entre difusidad extensiva y comprehensiva, desarrollando y conectando los trabajos de Nahmias sobre variables difusas, de Klement sobre medibilidad difusa y de Nowakowska sobre estructuras de conceptos.      

Contribution of planar scintigraphy and SPECT with Ga-67 in the diagnosis of infectious complications after median sternotomy]

A phage-displayed combinatorial peptide library was used to define the specificity of one of the three Src homology 3 (SH3) domains in a novel cytoskeletal protein, named CAP, for Cbl Associated Protein. The C-terminal SH3 domain was used to affinity select peptides with the consensus, PXPPXRXSSL, from a library of X6PXXPX6 peptides. Peptide sequences resembling this consensus were identified in two signal transduction proteins, c-Cbl and son-on-sevenless (Sos), previously shown to interact with the C-terminal SH3 domain of CAP. Genetic fusion of 16 and 14 amino acid segments of c-Cbl and Sos, respectively, to bacterial alkaline phosphatase confirmed that these segments were potential ligand sites for the C-terminal SH3 domain of CAP. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis of the c-Cbl peptide ligand confirmed that most of the residues, which were conserved among the peptide ligands selected from the combinatorial peptide library, contributed to binding to the C-terminal SH3 domain of CAP.     

Regioselectivity of the enzymatic transgalactosidation of D- and L-xylose catalysed by beta-galactosidases

The regioselectivity of enzymatic transgalactosidation depends on the source of the beta-galactosidase used. When the galactosyl acceptor only contains secondary hydroxyl groups, e.g., D- or L-xylose, it is possible to find an enzyme that catalyses preferentially the synthesis of any of the three regioisomers 4-, 3- and 2-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-D-xylose (1, 2 and 3, respectively) or 4-, 3- and 2-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-L-xylose (4, 5 and 6, respectively). Enriched mixtures in 1, 2 or 3 were obtained using beta-galactosidases from Escherichia coli, bovine testes or Aspergillus oryzae, respectively, by transgalactosidation reaction of O-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside and D-xylose, and enriched mixtures in 4, 5 or 6 were obtained in a similar way using beta-galactosidases from Aspergillus oryzae, lamb small-intestine (intestinal lactase-phloridzin hydrolase) or Saccharomyces fragilis, respectively, using L-xylose as acceptor.     

Phosphorylation down-regulates the store-operated Ca2+ entry pathway of human neutrophils

We have reported previously that the chemotactic peptide N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP) inhibits transiently Ca2+ entry through the plasma membrane Ca2+ pathway activated by emptying the intracellular Ca2+ stores (Montero, M., García-Sancho, J., and Alvarez, J. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 13055-13061). We show here that calyculin A and okadaic acid, inhibitors of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A, prevent the spontaneous reversion of the fMLP-induced inhibition of the entry of Ca2+ and Mn2+ (used as a Ca2+ surrogate), leading to a permanently inhibited Ca2+ entry pathway. At high concentrations or long incubation times the phosphatase inhibitors were even able to inhibit the store-operated Ca2+ entry pathway (SOCP) in the absence of fMLP. Inhibition of SOCP by phorbol dibutyrate, which is not reversible, was not modified by phosphatase inhibitors. These results provide additional support for the view that fMLP inhibits SOCP through phosphorylation of either the SOCP protein or a regulatory protein and indicate that dephosphorylation mediated by protein phosphatases 1 and/or 2A restores the activity of SOCP after inhibition by fMLP. The time course of the inhibition of SOCP by fMLP was similar to the one reported previously for the transient fMLP-induced phosphorylation of a 47-kDa protein involved in the generation of respiratory burst, which was similarly affected by the phosphatase inhibitors.