The conversion of aliphatic nitriles by the arylacetonitrilase from
Pseudomonas fluorescens
EBC191 (NitA) was analyzed. The nitrilase hydrolysed a wide range of aliphatic mono- and dinitriles and ...showed a preference for unsaturated aliphatic substrates containing 5–6 carbon atoms. In addition, increased reaction rates were also found for aliphatic nitriles carrying electron withdrawing substituents (e.g. chloro- or hydroxy-groups) close to the nitrile group. Aliphatic dinitriles were attacked only at one of the nitrile groups and with most of the tested dinitriles the monocarboxylates were detected as major products. In contrast, fumarodinitrile was converted to the monocarboxylate and the monocarboxamide in a ratio of about 65:35. Significantly different relative amounts of the two products were observed with two nitrilase variants with altered reaction specifities. NitA converted some aliphatic substrates with higher rates than 2-phenylpropionitrile, which is one of the standard substrates for arylacetonitrilases. This indicated that the traditional classification of nitrilases as “arylacetonitrilases”, “aromatic” or “aliphatic” nitrilases might require some corrections. This was also suggested by the construction of some variants of NitA which were modified in an amino acid residue which was previously suggested to be essential for the conversion of aliphatic substrates by a homologous nitrilase.
To evaluate the role of quantitative elastography of the cervix in the prediction of successful labor induction compared to the Bishop score (BS) and ultrasound cervical length (CL).
A prospective ...pilot study was conducted between July 2010 and June 2011 in patients without preterm membrane rupture undergoing labor induction with vaginal prostaglandins. Before starting induction, the BS, functional CL and cervical tissue strain (TS) were assessed. TS assessment was performed twice using the Tissue Doppler Imaging (TDI) software. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated for the prediction of the following endpoints: active labor achievement (success vs. failure, time interval < 24 h and < 48 h), vaginal delivery (success vs. failure, time interval < 36 h and < 72 h) and total amount of prostaglandins used for labor induction (< 6 mg and < 12 mg).
We analyzed 77 patients with a mean gestational age of 39.7 ± 1.5 weeks of gestation and a mean strain of 0.75 ± 0.17. The TS significantly predicted a failure of labor induction, which occurred in 4 cases, both in mono- and multivariate analysis, independently of the functional cervical length (TS 0.6 ± 0.1). No correlation was found between the TS and other outcomes. The Bishop score and functional cervical length were found to predict only an early response to labor induction (time to active labor < 24 h, time to vaginal delivery < 36 h and PG usage < 6 mg). The diagnostic accuracy was slightly but not significantly improved if both TS and CL were considered.
Preliminary data show the possible usefulness of quantitative cervical elastography in the prediction of labor induction failure.
A parasitoid, Anagyrus lopezi (De Santis) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) was introduced from Thailand into Indonesia in early 2014 to control the cassava mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti Matile-Ferrero ...(Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). To determine its potential uses and effect on non-target species, behavioural observation of the parasitoids were made on four species of mealybugs, i.e. P. manihoti, Paracoccus marginatus Williams-Granara de Willink, Pseudococcus jackbeardsleyi Gimpel-Miller, and Ferrisia virgata Cockerell (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae). For that purposes, a set of tests were conducted wich includes host susceptability, preference, and suitability. Tests were conducted by exposing a female parasitoid to 3rd instar nymphs of each mealybug species in a petri dish. For susceptability test, parasitoid A. lopezi encounterend P. manihoti more often (13.70 ± 7.18 visits per 30 minutes) as compared to P. marginatus (985 ± 10.24), P. jackbeardsleyi (6.60 ± 3.62), and F. virgata (5.75 ± 4.09). So did ovipositor probing occurred more on P. manihoti (8.20 ± 5.68 probes per 30 minutes) than on P. marginatus (0.70 ± 1.84), P. jackbeardsleyi (0.35 ± 0.68), and F. virgata (0.10 ± 0.45). For preference test, host encounter and ovipositor probing by the parasitoid were more common on P. manihoti as opposed to other mealybug species. Out of four mealybug species tested, P. manihoti was the only suitable host for parasitoid development, with the number of progenies emerged 7.40 ± 2.17 individuals per 3 female parasitoids exposed in 24 hour. Host specifity exhibited by parasitoid A. lopezi may prevent adverse effect to other mealybug species inhabiting cassava fields.
Basically, the concept of a Z-number relates to the issue of reliability of information. Existing studies on operations over Z-numbers are based on classical interval and fuzzy arithmetic. Operation ...over a set of Z-numbers produces a Z-number with a very lengthy supports of its components. This result some times is practically unsuitable for users. The second limitation here is that some fundamental properties of operations over real numbers are lost. All the existing works on computation of Z-numbers are characterized by increasing of entropy. In particular, these approaches are not able to account for informativeness of computation results. An importance of informativeness of Z-numbers was first mentioned by Zadeh. This paper describes some preliminary investigations on informativeness of Z-number calculus by using concept of specifity and concept of horizontal membership functions. We propose a strategy for optimizing informativeness of Z-number operations with desired degree of specificity. Validity of the proposed approach is illustrated in an examples.
•Purification and characterization of Lip1, Lip2, Lip3 from G. candidum 4013.•Structures of Lip1 and Lip2 were demonstrated.•The new Lip3 was confirmed by Edman degradation ...procedure.•Biotechnological applications of pure immobilized lipases were studied.•Resolution of trans-2-(4-methoxybenzyl)-1-cyclohexyl acetate by Lip3.
Simple purification steps were used to purify two lipases (Lip1 and Lip2) and one novel lipase (Lip3) produced by Geotrichum candidum 4013. The octyl-Sepharose at low ionic strength was used to adsorbe Lip2 and novel Lip3, by addition of octadecyl-Sepabeads the Lip1 was also adsorbed from the crude mixture. Desorption of proteins with a Triton X-100 gradient or 1% (v/v) Triton X-100 permitted to fully purify Lip1, Lip2 and Lip3 lipases.
The identification of Lip1 and Lip2 was confirmed by using mass spectrometry approach and their characterization by molecular modeling approach. CD spectra and fluorescence showed differences in the secondary and tertiary structure; the apparent difference was the presence of 4 extra loops in Lip2 in contrast to Lip1 structure. The Edman degradation together with mass spectrometry revealed the presence of unique peptide AVGGGATLPEK in the novel lipase Lip3. The catalytic properties of the lipases were tested through hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl esters, triacylglycerols and peracetylated thymidine esters. The enantioselectivity potential of purified lipases was studied for the hydrolyses of trans-2-(4-methoxybenzyl)-1-cyclohexyl acetate, where Lip3 was the only active lipase with an excellent selectivity (eep>99%, E=372). The all three purified lipases from G. candidum 4013 have shown promising catalytic properties with biotechnological application.
The carbohydrate specificities of
Dioclea grandiflora
lectins DGL-I
1
and DGL-II, and
Galactia lindenii
lectin II (GLL-II) were explored by use of remodeled glycoproteins as well as by the lectin ...hemagglutinating activity against erythrocytes from various species with different glycomic profiles. The three lectins exhibited differences in glycan binding specificity but also showed overlapping recognition of some glycotopes (
i.e
. Tα glycotope for the three lectins; IIβ glycotope for DGL-II and GLL-II lectins); in many cases the interaction with distinct glycotopes was influenced by the structural context,
i.e
., by the neighbouring sugar residues. Our data complement and expand the existing knowledge about the binding specificity of these three Diocleae lectins, and taken together with results of previous studies, allow us to suggest a functional map of the carbohydrate recognition which illustrate the impact of modification of basic glycotopes enhancing, permiting, or inhibiting their recognition by each lectin.
Research on the Happy Victimizer Phenomenon has mainly focused on preschool and schoolchildren, with a few studies also including adolescents and young adults. The main finding is that young ...children, despite knowing that harming someone is wrong, ascribe positive feelings to perpetrators and offer hedonistic justifications, interpreted as a lack of moral motivation. Only at age 9 or 10 do almost all children ascribe negative feelings to perpetrators. According to the developmental transition hypothesis, the phenomenon should disappear in late childhood. However, reasoning patterns resembling that of the Happy Victimizer have been found in studies with adolescents and young adults, challenging that hypothesis. We present findings from four studies involving adolescents and young adults to give an overview of the patterns found and the measurement approaches used. Finally, we critically discuss the limitations of those studies and raise some core theoretical and methodological issues that remain to be resolved, some of them being addressed in the remaining papers of this special issue. The four studies and the paper are innovative in that: (1) situational factors are included in the measurement of the moral reasoning patterns; (2) new reasoning patterns are identified in the context of an extended measurement approach; and (3) the moral reasoning patterns are investigated in their own right and not used as potential explanatory variables for behaviour, as has been the main focus of research on the Happy Victimizer Phenomenon so far.
In this study, polyphenol oxidase (PPO) from corn tassel was extracted and partially purified through (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and gel filtration chromatography. Optimal temperatures for subsrates ...catechol and 4-methyl catechol were 40 °C and 30 °C, respectively. The optimal pH values were 8.0 for catechol and 6.0 for 4-methyl catechol. Catechol was the most suitible substrate (Km: 3.48 mM, Vmax: 1.0 Abs./ min.). The moleculer mass of PPO was determined as 158 kDa. In this work, sodium azide, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) were found to inhibit the enzyme activity as 26.6 %, 22.2 % and 12.2 % ratio, respectively. Besides, the effects of carbohydrates such as sucrose, fructose, ribose and glucose on PPO activity were investigated. The enzyme was found to be activated 17 % by fructose and ribose, 16 % by glucose and 4 % by sucrose.
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