Tunable colors and conductivity by electroless growth of Cu/Cu2O particles on sol-gel modified cellulose

Nano Research - Development of colored surfaces by formation of nano-structured aggregates is a widely used strategy in nature to color lightweight structures (e.g. butterflies) without the use of...     

Alteration of the Route to Menaquinone towards Isochorismate-Derived Metabolites

Chorismate and isochorismate constitute branch-point intermediates in the biosynthesis of many aromatic metabolites in microorganisms and plants. To obtain unnatural compounds, we modified the route to menaquinone in Escherichia coli. We propose a model for the binding of isochorismate to the active site of MenD ((1R,2S, 5S,6S)-2-succinyl-5-enolpyruvyl-6-hydroxycyclohex-3-ene-1-carboxylate (SEPHCHC) synthase) that explains the outcome of the native reaction with α-ketoglutarate. We have rationally designed variants of MenD for the conversion of several isochorismate analogues. The double-variant Asn117Arg–Leu478Thr preferentially converts (5S,6S)-5,6-dihydroxycyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylate (2,3-trans-CHD), the hydrolysis product of isochorismate, with a >70-fold higher ratio than that for the wild type. The single-variant Arg107Ile uses (5S,6S)-6-amino-5-hydroxycyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylate (2,3-trans-CHA) as substrate with >6-fold conversion compared to wild-type MenD. The novel compounds have been made accessible in vivo (up to 5.3 g L⁻¹). Unexpectedly, as the identified residues such as Arg107 are highly conserved (>94 %), some of the designed variations can be found in wild-type SEPHCHC synthases from other bacteria (Arg107Lys, 0.3 %). This raises the question for the possible natural occurrence of as yet unexplored branches of the shikimate pathway.     

Lignin from Annual Plants as Raw Material Source for Flavors and Basic Chemicals

The enzymatic conversion of lignins, possibly in combination with electrochemical oxidation, makes aromatics such as syringol, guaiacol, vanillin and catechol available in the qualities required by the fragrance industry. The lignins were obtained by soda digestion from wheat straw and Miscanthus, characterized and then converted with laccases. The overall yield amounted up to 9 wt % with a product spectrum confined to four substances. Catechol was the major product, with a fraction of ≈75 %. It can easily be isolated by extraction with acetone.     

Tetrahydroindoles as Multipurpose Screening Compounds and Novel Sirtuin Inhibitors

Indoles are privileged structures in medicinal and bioorganic chemistry that are particularly well suited to serve as platforms for diversity. Among many other therapeutic areas, the indole scaffold has been used to design aromatic compounds useful to interfere with enzymes engaged in the regulation of substrate acylation status, such as sirtuins. However, the planarity of the indole ring is not necessarily optimal for all target enzymes, especially when functionalization with aromatic side chains is required. Replacement of flat scaffolds by nonplanar molecular cores dominated by sp³ hybridization is a common strategy to avoid the disadvantages associated with poor solubility and high promiscuity, while covering less-well-explored areas of chemical space. Thus, we synthesized fragment-like tetrahydroindoles suitable for fragment-based drug discovery as well as a well-characterized small library intended as multipurpose screening compounds. For proof of principle, these compounds were screened against sirtuins 1–3, enzymes known to be addressable by indoles. We found that 2,6,6-trimethyl-4-oxo-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-indole-3-carboxamides are potent and selective SIRT2 inhibitors. Compound 16 t displayed an IC₅₀ value of 0.98 μm and could serve as exquisite starting point for hit-to-lead profiling.     

Technology-transfer analysis of the materials research program “Matfo”

The commercial success of the German Federal Ministry's materials research program “Mafto” (1985–1994) was recently evaluated to determine the effectiveness of the direct-funding model in supporting innovative industrial research. Based on the results of a questionnaire, where a 97% return rate was achieved, it was found that the results obtained in 27% of the projects have already been commercialized to some degree, for 26% of the projects a commercialization of the results is planned but has not yet taken place, and for 54% of the projects no commercialization is planned. This study included only projects where at least four years had elapsed since project completion. The reasons why scientifically and technically successfully projects were not commercialized were also surveyed.     

Decision support for AIDS control programmes in Eastern Africa

The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) constitutes the worst hazard to health care systems in Eastern Africa. Misallocation of scarce resources of AIDS Control Programmes will unavoidably lead to additional infections and casualties. The following paper discusses a system dynamics model which allows to assess the impact of different interventions on a pattern population in Eastern Africa. It becomes obvious that short- and long-term consequences of these programmes differ significantly. The optimal allocation of resources, therefore, is highly complex and calls for decision support systems to sustain AIDS control programmes.     

Anthropometric data for describing the kinematics of the human hand.

The major goal of this investigation was to collect statistically-based anthropometry describing the kinematics of the human hand and to model this anthropometry as a function of external hand measurements, so that it may be predicted noninvasively. Joint centres were anatomically estimated as the centre of curvature of the head of the bone proximal to the given joint. Joint centres determined using Reuleaux's method for PIP and DIP were within 1.4 mm of this anatomical estimate. Models using bone length as the independent variable explain more than 97% of the variability in the anatomically estimated joint centre position along the mid-line of the bone. Models for estimating the lengths of the kinematic segments using external hand length as the independent variable account for between 49 and 99% of the variability in segment length. Models for estimating the axial location of the finger MCP and thumb CMC joints with respect to the distal wrist crease using external hand length as the independent variable account for between 82 and 96% of the variability in these locations. Models for estimating the radio-ulnar location of the finger MCP and thumb CMC joints with respect to the long axis of the third metacarpal using external hand breadth as the independent variable account for between 30 and 74% of the variability in these locations.     

Associated ulcerative colitis, sclerosing cholangitis, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

We report two young men with clinical and laboratory evidence of macroscopic ulcerative colitis, sclerosing cholangitis, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. The first patient presented at age 15 with vomiting, abdominal pain, weight loss, and abnormal liver function test results. Liver biopsy and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) demonstrated sclerosing cholangitis. Colonoscopy with biopsy revealed ulcerative colitis which responded to sulfasalazine. Diabetes occurred at age 18 and insulin therapy was begun. The second patient was 19 at presentation with diarrhea, hematochezia, and weight loss. Proctosigmoidoscopy revealed ulcerative colitis, and sulfasalazine led to clinical remission. Three months later he developed diabetes requiring insulin therapy. At age 28, he developed elevated alkaline phosphatase, and ERCP revealed sclerosing cholangitis. At age 37 he expired from adenocarcinoma that metastasized to the liver. Literature review revealed only one possible case report of this association with microscopic asymptomatic ulcerative colitis in that patient. Statistical analysis suggests that this association is real rather than a chance occurrence. An autoimmune process may be involved and a specific histocompatibility locus antigen (HLA) type may exert a regulatory influence.     

Lightweight coarse-grained coordination: a scalable system-level approach

In this paper, our solution to the problem of modelling functionally complex communication systems at the application level, based on lightweight coordination, is extended to seamlessly capture system-level testing as well. This extension could be realized simply by self-application: the bulk of the work for integrating system-level testing into our development environment, the ABC, concerned domain modelling, which can be done using the ABC. Therefore, the extension of the ABC to cover system-level testing was merely an application development on the basis of the ABC, illustrated here in the domain of Computer Telephony Integration. Here the adoption of a coarse-grained approach to test design, which is central to the scalability of the overall testing environment, is the enabling aspect for system-level test automation. Together with our lightweight coordination approach this induces an understandable modelling paradigm of system-wide test cases that is adequate for the needs and requirements of industrial test engineers. In particular, it enables test engineers to graphically design complex test cases that, in addition, can even be automatically checked for their intended purposes via model checking.