TY - JOUR A1 - Reisgen, Uwe A1 - Schleser, Markus A1 - Abdurakhmanov, Aydemir A1 - Gumenyuk, Andrey T1 - Measuring of plasma properties induced by non-vacuum electron beam welding JF - Physics of plasma N2 - Electron beam plasma measurement was realised by means of DIABEAM system invented by ISF RWTH Aachen. The Langmuir probe method is used for measurement. The relative simplicity of the method and the possibility of dispersion of high power on the probe allow its application for the investigation of high-power electron beams. The key element of the method is a rotating thin tungsten wire, which intersects the beam transversely on its axis and collects part of the current by itself. The signals, which are registered in the DIABEAM as a voltage, were taken in the form of amplitude. The conversion of the probe current into the distribution along the beam radius was realised using the Abel’s method. A voltage-current characteristic was built for the beam current. The local electron density as well as the electron temperature, the floating potential and the plasma potential were measured and calculated by means of this characteristic. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3675874 SN - 1089-7674 (E-Journal); 1070-664X (Print) VL - 19 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - AIP Publishing CY - Melville, NY ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reisgen, Uwe A1 - Schleser, Markus A1 - Mokrov, Oleg A1 - Zabirov, Alexander A1 - Füssel, Uwe A1 - Schnick, Michael A1 - Hertel, Martin A1 - Jaeckel, Sebastian T1 - Modelling and visualisation of the GMA process JF - Welding and Cutting Y1 - 2012 SN - 1612-3433 VL - 11 IS - 4 SP - 242 EP - 249 PB - DVS Verlag CY - Düsseldorf ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Reisgen, Uwe A1 - Schleser, Markus A1 - Abdurakhmanov, Aydemir A1 - Turichin, Gleb A1 - Valdaitseva, Elena A1 - Bach, Friedrich-Wilhelm A1 - Hassel, Thomas A1 - Beniyashi, Alexander T1 - Investigation of factors influencing the formation of weld defects in non-vacuum electron beam welding JF - The Paton welding journal N2 - The influence of welding condition parameters and properties of material on formation of defects, such as humping and undercuts, in non-vacuum electron beam welding was investigated. The influence of separate welding parameters on the quality of welds was determined. Y1 - 2012 SN - 0957-798X VL - 2012 IS - 2 SP - 11 EP - 18 PB - Paton Publishing House CY - Kiev ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hötter, Jan-Steffen A1 - Fateri, Miranda A1 - Gebhardt, Andreas T1 - Selective laser melting of metals: desktop machines open up new chances even for small companies JF - Advanced materials research N2 - Additive manufacturing (AM) of metal parts by using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) has become a powerful tool mostly in the area of automotive, aerospace engineering and others. Especially in the field of dentistry, jewelry and related branches that require individualized or even one-of-a-kind products, the direct digital manufacturing process opens up new ways of design and manufacturing. In these fields, mostly small and medium sized businesses (SME) are operating which do not have sufficient human and economic resources to invest in this technology. But to stay competitive, the application of AM can be regarded as a necessity. In this situation a new desktop machine (Realizer SLM 50) was introduced that cost about 1/3 of a shop floor SLM machine and promises small quality parts. To find out whether the machine really is an alternative for SMEs the University of Applied Science, Aachen, Germany, designed, build and optimized typical parts from the dentistry and the jewelry branches using CoCr and silver material, the latter being new with this application. The paper describes the SLM procedure and how to find and optimize the most important parameters. The test is accompanied by digital simulation in order to verify the build parameters and to plan future builds. The procedure is shown as well as the resulting parts made from CoCr and silver material. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMR.622-623.461 SN - 1662-8985 (E-Journal); 1022-6680 (Print) VL - 622-623 SP - 461 EP - 465 PB - Trans Tech Publ. CY - Baech ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boettcher, Martin A1 - Haselhuhn, Angelika A1 - Jakse, Gerhard A1 - Brehmer, Bernhard A1 - Kirschner-Hermanns, Ruth T1 - Overactive bladder syndrome: an underestimated long-term problem after treatment of patients with localized prostate cancer? JF - BJU international N2 - In this study we observed courses of micturition symptoms and differentiated degrees of symptoms for each point in time while also considering the impact of bothersomeness. Our data show that not only significantly more patients who have undergone BT suffer from OAB than those who have undergone RP, but also that those affected show significantly higher values for severity of OAB symptoms throughout the whole observation period of 36 months. Our data analysis further shows that variability of OAB symptoms as well as fluctuation of severity of OAB symptoms vary to a significantly higher degree after BT than after RP. Looking only at mean figures at a given point in time clearly underestimates the underlying problem. This fact is not reflected in the literature. KW - quality of life KW - prostate cancer KW - prostatectomy KW - incontinence KW - brachytherapy Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2011.10623.x SN - 1365-2176 (E-Journal); 1464-410X (E-Journal); 0007-1331 (Print); 1464-4096 (Print) VL - 109 IS - 12 SP - 1824 EP - 1830 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ribitsch, D. A1 - Heumann, S. A1 - Karl, W. A1 - Gerlach, J. A1 - Leber, R. A1 - Birner-Gruenberger, R. A1 - Gruber, K. A1 - Eiteljoerg, I. A1 - Remler, P. A1 - Siegert, Petra A1 - Lange, J. A1 - Maurer, Karl-Heinz A1 - Berg, G. A1 - Guebitz, G. M. A1 - Schwab, H. T1 - Extracellular serine proteases from Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: Screening, isolation and heterologous expression in E. coli JF - Journal of biotechnology N2 - A large strain collection comprising antagonistic bacteria was screened for novel detergent proteases. Several strains displayed protease activity on agar plates containing skim milk but were inactive in liquid media. Encapsulation of cells in alginate beads induced protease production. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia emerged as best performer under washing conditions. For identification of wash-active proteases, four extracellular serine proteases called StmPr1, StmPr2, StmPr3 and StmPr4 were cloned. StmPr2 and StmPr4 were sufficiently overexpressed in E. coli. Expression of StmPr1 and StmPr3 resulted in unprocessed, insoluble protein. Truncation of most of the C-terminal domain which has been identified by enzyme modeling succeeded in expression of soluble, active StmPr1 but failed in case of StmPr3. From laundry application tests StmPr2 turned out to be a highly wash-active protease at 45 °C. Specific activity of StmPr2 determined with suc-l-Ala-l-Ala-l-Pro-l-Phe-p-nitroanilide as the substrate was 17 ± 2 U/mg. In addition we determined the kinetic parameters and cleavage preferences of protease StmPr2. KW - Alginate beads KW - Stenotrophomonas maltophilia KW - Detergent protease Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiotec.2011.09.025 SN - 1873-4863 (E-Journal); 0168-1656 (Print) VL - 157 IS - 1 SP - 140 EP - 147 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schmitz, Philipp A1 - Weber, Martin T1 - Buying and selling behavior of individual investors in option-like securities JF - Die Betriebswirtschaft : DBW N2 - We analyze the trading behavior of individual investors in option-like securities, namely bankissued warrants, and thus expand the growing literature of investors behavior to a new kind of securities. A unique data set from a large German discount broker gives us the opportunity to analyze the trading behavior of 1,454 investors, making 89,958 transactions in 6,724 warrants on 397 underlyings. In different logit regression, we make use of the facts that investors can speculate on rising and falling prices of the underlying with call and put warrants and that we also have information about the stock portfolios of the investors. We report several facts about the trading behavior of individual investors in warrants that are consistent with the literature on the behavior of individual investors in the stock market. The warrant investors buy calls and sell puts if the price of the underlying has decreased over the past trading days and they sell calls and buy puts if the price of the underlying has increased. That means, the investors follow negative feedback trading strategies in all four trading categories observed. In addition, we find strong evidence for the disposition effect for call as well as put warrants, which is reversed in December. The trading behavior is also influenced if the underlying reaches some exceptionally prices, e.g. highs, lows or the strike price. We show that hedging, as one natural candidate to buy puts, does not play an important role in the market for bank-issued warrants. KW - Bank-issued Warrants KW - Disposition Effect KW - Negative Feedback Trading KW - Trading Behavior KW - Individual Investors Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2055088 SN - 0342-7064 VL - 72 IS - 5 SP - 409 EP - 426 PB - Schäffer-Poeschel CY - Stuttgart ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Leidinger, Rafael A1 - Noisten, Thomas A1 - Wollert, Jörg T1 - Realtime automation networks in moVing industrial environments JF - Journal of systemics, cybernetics and informatics N2 - The radio-based wireless data communication has made the realization of new technical solutions possible in many fields of the automation technology (AT). For about ten years, a constant disproportionate growth of wireless technologies can be observed in the automation technology. However, it shows that especially for the AT, conventional technologies of office automation are unsuitable and/or not manageable. The employment of mobile services in the industrial automation technology has the potential of significant cost and time savings. This leads to an increased productivity in various fields of the AT, for example in the factory and process automation or in production logistics. In this paper technologies and solutions for an automation-suited supply of mobile wireless services will be introduced under the criteria of real time suitability, IT-security and service orientation. Emphasis will be put on the investigation and development of wireless convergence layers for different radio technologies, on the central provision of support services for an easy-to-use, central, backup enabled management of combined wired / wireless networks and on the study on integrability in a Profinet real-time Ethernet network. KW - PROFINET KW - Distributed Control Systems, KW - Industrial Automation Technology, KW - 802.15.4 KW - Bluetooth KW - Wireless Networks Y1 - 2012 SN - 1690-4532 VL - Vol. 10 IS - Iss. 2 SP - 52 EP - 56 PB - IIIC CY - Orlando ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mottaghy, Darius A1 - Dijkshoorn, Lydia T1 - Implementing an effective finite difference formulation for borehole heat exchangers into a heat and mass transport code JF - Renewable Energy N2 - We present an effective finite difference formulation for implementing and modeling multiple borehole heat exchangers (BHE) in the general 3-D coupled heat and flow transport code SHEMAT. The BHE with arbitrary length can be either coaxial or double U-shaped. It is particularly suitable for modeling deep BHEs which contain varying pipe diameters and materials. Usually, in numerical simulations, a fine discretization of the BHE assemblage is required, due to the large geometric aspect ratios involved. This yields large models and long simulation times. The approach avoids this problem by considering heat transport between fluid and the soil through pipes and grout via thermal resistances. Therefore, the simulation time can be significantly reduced. The coupling with SHEMAT is realized by introducing an effective heat generation. Due to this connection, it is possible to consider heterogeneous geological models, as well as the influence of groundwater flow. This is particularly interesting when studying the long term behavior of a single BHE or a BHE field. Heating and cooling loads can enter the model with an arbitrary interval, e.g. from hourly to monthly values. When dealing with large BHE fields, computing times can be further significantly reduced by focusing on the temperature field around the BHEs, without explicitly modeling inlet and outlet temperatures. This allows to determine the possible migration of cold and warm plumes due to groundwater flow, which is of particular importance in urban areas with a high BHE installation density. The model is validated against the existing BHE modeling codes EWS and EED. A comparison with monitoring data from a deep BHE in Switzerland shows a good agreement. Synthetic examples demonstrate the field of application of this model. KW - Borehole heat exchanger KW - Finite differences KW - Heat transport Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2012.02.013 SN - 0960-1481 VL - 45 SP - 59 EP - 71 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Henken, F. E. A1 - Oosterhuis, K. A1 - Öhlschläger, Peter A1 - Bosch, L. A1 - Hooijberg, E. A1 - Haanen, J. B. A. G. A1 - Steenbergen, R. D. M. T1 - Preclinical safety evaluation of DNA vaccines encoding modified HPV16 E6 and E7 JF - Vaccine N2 - Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (hrHPV) can result in the formation of anogenital cancers. As hrHPV proteins E6 and E7 are required for cancer initiation and maintenance, they are ideal targets for immunotherapeutic interventions. Previously, we have described the development of DNA vaccines for the induction of HPV16 E6 and E7 specific T cell immunity. These vaccines consist of ‘gene-shuffled’ (SH) versions of HPV16 E6 and E7 that were fused to Tetanus Toxin Fragment C domain 1 (TTFC) and were named TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH. Gene-shuffling was performed to avoid the risk of inducing malignant transformation at the vaccination site. Here, we describe the preclinical safety evaluation of these candidate vaccines by analysis of their transforming capacity in vitro using established murine fibroblasts (NIH 3T3 cells) and primary human foreskin keratinocytes (HFKs). We demonstrate that neither ectopic expression of TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH alone or in combination enabled NIH 3T3 cells to form colonies in soft agar. In contrast, expression of HPV16 E6WT and E7WT alone or in combination resulted in effective transformation. Similarly, retroviral transduction of HFKs from three independent donors with both TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH alone or in combination did not show any signs of immortalization. In contrast, the combined expression of E6WT and E7WT induced immortalization in HFKs from all donors. Based on these results we consider it justified to proceed to clinical evaluation of DNA vaccines encoding TTFC-E6SH and TTFC-E7SH in patients with HPV16 associated (pre)malignancies. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2012.04.013 SN - 0264-410X VL - 30 IS - 28 SP - 4259 EP - 4266 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Immel, Timo A1 - Grützke, Martin A1 - Späte, Anne-Katrin A1 - Groth, Ulrich A1 - Öhlschläger, Peter A1 - Huhn, Thomas T1 - Synthesis and X-ray structure analysis of a heptacoordinate titanium(IV)-bis-chelate with enhanced in vivo antitumor efficacy JF - Chemical Communications N2 - Chelate stabilization of a titanium(IV)–salan alkoxide by ligand exchange with 2,6-pyridinedicarboxylic acid (dipic) resulted in heptacoordinate complex 3 which is not redox-active, stable on silica gel and has increased aqueous stability. 3 is highly toxic in HeLa S3 and Hep G2 and has enhanced antitumor efficacy in a mouse cervical-cancer model. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C2CC31624B SN - 1364-548X VL - 48 IS - 46 SP - 5790 EP - 5792 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ferrein, Alexander A1 - Steinbauer, Gerald A1 - Vassos, Stavros T1 - Action-Based Imperative Programming with YAGI N2 - Many tasks for autonomous agents or robots are best described by a specification of the environment and a specification of the available actions the agent or robot can perform. Combining such a specification with the possibility to imperatively program a robot or agent is what we call the actionbased imperative programming. One of the most successful such approaches is Golog. In this paper, we draft a proposal for a new robot programming language YAGI, which is based on the action-based imperative programming paradigm. Our goal is to design a small, portable stand-alone YAGI interpreter. We combine the benefits of a principled domain specification with a clean, small and simple programming language, which does not exploit any side-effects from the implementation language. We discuss general requirements of action-based programming languages and outline YAGI, our action-based language approach which particularly aims at embeddability. Y1 - 2012 N1 - Cognitive Robotics AAAI Technical Report WS-12-06 SP - 24 EP - 31 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kurulgan Demirci, Eylem A1 - Demirci, Taylan A1 - Linder, Peter A1 - Trzewik, Jürgen A1 - Gierkowski, Jessica Ricarda A1 - Gossmann, Matthias A1 - Kayser, Peter A1 - Porst, Dariusz A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Temiz Artmann, Aysegül T1 - rhAPC reduces the endothelial cell permeability via a decrease of contractile tensions induced by endothelial cells JF - Journal of Bioscience and Bioengineering N2 - All cells generate contractile tension. This strain is crucial for mechanically controlling the cell shape, function and survival. In this study, the CellDrum technology quantifying cell's (the cellular) mechanical tension on a pico-scale was used to investigate the effect of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on human aortic endothelial cell (HAoEC) tension. The LPS effect during gram-negative sepsis on endothelial cells is cell contraction causing endothelium permeability increase. The aim was to finding out whether recombinant activated protein C (rhAPC) would reverse the endothelial cell response in an in-vitro sepsis model. In this study, the established in-vitro sepsis model was confirmed by interleukin 6 (IL-6) levels at the proteomic and genomic levels by ELISA, real time-PCR and reactive oxygen species (ROS) activation by florescence staining. The thrombin cellular contraction effect on endothelial cells was used as a positive control when the CellDrum technology was applied. Additionally, the Ras homolog gene family, member A (RhoA) mRNA expression level was checked by real time-PCR to support contractile tension results. According to contractile tension results, the mechanical predominance of actin stress fibers was a reason of the increased endothelial contractile tension leading to enhanced endothelium contractility and thus permeability enhancement. The originality of this data supports firstly the basic measurement principles of the CellDrum technology and secondly that rhAPC has a beneficial effect on sepsis influenced cellular tension. The technology presented here is promising for future high-throughput cellular tension analysis that will help identify pathological contractile tension responses of cells and prove further cell in-vitro models. KW - Cell permeability KW - Cellular force KW - Endothelial cells KW - Recombinant activated protein C KW - Lipopolysaccharide KW - Contractile tension KW - CellDrum Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiosc.2012.03.019 SN - 1347-4421 VL - 113 IS - 2 SP - 212 EP - 219 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oertel, Mario A1 - Bung, Daniel Bernhard T1 - Initial stage of two-dimensional dam-break waves: laboratory versus VOF JF - Journal of hydraulic research N2 - Since several decades, dam-break waves have been of main research interest. Mathematical approaches have been developed by analytical, physical and numerical models within the past 120 years. During the past 10 years, the number of research investigations has increased due to improved measurement techniques as well as significantly increased computer memories and performances. In this context, the present research deals with the initial stage of two-dimensional dam-break waves by comparing physical and numerical model results as well as analytical approaches. High-speed images and resulting particle image velocimetry calculations are thereby compared with the numerical volume-of-fluid (VOF) method, included in the commercial code FLOW-3D. Wave profiles and drag forces on placed obstacles are analysed in detail. Generally, a good agreement between the laboratory and VOF results is found. KW - VOF KW - PIV KW - physical model KW - numerical model KW - drag force KW - dam-break Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00221686.2011.639981 SN - 1814-2079 (E-Journal); 0022-1686 (Print) VL - 50 IS - 1 SP - 89 EP - 97 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nguyen, Nhu Huynh A1 - Duong, Minh Tuan A1 - Tran, Thanh Ngoc A1 - Pham, Phu Tinh A1 - Grottke, O. A1 - Tolba, R. A1 - Staat, Manfred T1 - Influence of a freeze–thaw cycle on the stress–stretch curves of tissues of porcine abdominal organs JF - Journal of Biomechanics N2 - The paper investigates both fresh porcine spleen and liver and the possible decomposition of these organs under a freeze–thaw cycle. The effect of tissue preservation condition is an important factor which should be taken into account for protracted biomechanical tests. In this work, tension tests were conducted for a large number of tissue specimens from twenty pigs divided into two groups of 10. Concretely, the first group was tested in fresh state; the other one was tested after a freeze-thaw cycle which simulates the conservation conditions before biomechanical experiments. A modified Fung model for isotropic behavior was adopted for the curve fitting of each kind of tissues. Experimental results show strong effects of the realistic freeze–thaw cycle on the capsule of elastin-rich spleen but negligible effects on the liver which virtually contains no elastin. This different behavior could be explained by the autolysis of elastin by elastolytic enzymes during the warmer period after thawing. Realistic biomechanical properties of elastin-rich organs can only be expected if really fresh tissue is tested. The observations are supported by tests of intestines. KW - Autolysis KW - Decomposition KW - Freeze–thaw process KW - Spleen KW - Liver Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2012.07.008 SN - 1873-2380 VL - 45 IS - 14 SP - 2382 EP - 2386 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Trenz, Eva A1 - Lohmann, Philipp A1 - Frotscher, Ralf A1 - Klinge, Uwe A1 - Tabaza, Ruth A1 - Kirschner-Hermanns, Ruth T1 - New measurements to compare soft tissue anchoring systems in pelvic floor surgery JF - Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials N2 - Suburethral slings as well as different meshes are widely used treating stress urinary incontinence and prolaps in women. With the development of MiniSlings and special meshes using less alloplastic material anchorage systems become more important to keep devices in place and to put some tension especially on the MiniSlings. To date, there are many different systems of MiniSlings of different companies on the market which differ in the structure of the used meshes and anchors. A new objective measurement method to compare different properties of MiniSling systems (mesh and anchor) is presented in this article. Ballistic gelatine acts as soft tissue surrogate. Significant differences in parameters like pull-out strength of anchors or shrinkage of meshes under loading conditions have been determined. The form and size of the anchors as well as the structural stability of the meshes are decisive for a proper integration. The tested anchorings sytems showed markedly different mechanical function at their respective load bearing capacity. As the stable fixation of the device in tissue is a prerequisite for a permanet reinforcement, the proposed test system permits further optimisation of anchor and mesh devices to improve the success of the surgical treatment Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.b.32654 SN - 1552-4981 VL - 100B IS - 4 SP - 924 EP - 933 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, NJ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Novacek, V. A1 - Tran, Thanh Ngoc A1 - Klinge, U. A1 - Tolba, R. H. A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Bronson, D. G. A1 - Miesse, A. M. A1 - Whiffen, J. A1 - Turquier, F. T1 - Finite element modelling of stapled colorectal end-to-end anastomosis : Advantages of variable height stapler design JF - Journal of Biomechanics N2 - The impact of surgical staplers on tissues has been studied mostly in an empirical manner. In this paper, finite element method was used to clarify the mechanics of tissue stapling and associated phenomena. Various stapling modalities and several designs of circular staplers were investigated to evaluate the impact of the device on tissues and mechanical performance of the end-to-end colorectal anastomosis. Numerical simulations demonstrated that a single row of staples is not adequate to resist leakage due to non-linear buckling and opening of the tissue layers between two adjacent staples. Compared to the single staple row configuration, significant increase in stress experienced by the tissue at the inner staple rows was observed in two and three rows designs. On the other hand, adding second and/or third staple row had no effect on strain in the tissue inside the staples. Variable height design with higher staples in outer rows significantly reduced the stresses and strains in outer rows when compared to the same configuration with flat cartridge. KW - Variable height stapler design KW - Anastomotic leakage KW - Finite element modelling KW - End-to-end colorectal anastomosis KW - Surgical staplers Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2012.07.021 SN - 1873-2380 VL - 45 IS - 115 SP - 2693 EP - 2697 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bassam, Rasha A1 - Hescheler, Jürgen A1 - Temiz Artmann, Aysegül A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Digel, Ilya T1 - Effects of spermine NONOate and ATP on the thermal stability of hemoglobin JF - BMC Biophysics N2 - Background Minor changes in protein structure induced by small organic and inorganic molecules can result in significant metabolic effects. The effects can be even more profound if the molecular players are chemically active and present in the cell in considerable amounts. The aim of our study was to investigate effects of a nitric oxide donor (spermine NONOate), ATP and sodium/potassium environment on the dynamics of thermal unfolding of human hemoglobin (Hb). The effect of these molecules was examined by means of circular dichroism spectrometry (CD) in the temperature range between 25°C and 70°C. The alpha-helical content of buffered hemoglobin samples (0.1 mg/ml) was estimated via ellipticity change measurements at a heating rate of 1°C/min. Results Major results were: 1) spermine NONOate persistently decreased the hemoglobin unfolding temperature T u irrespectively of the Na + /K + environment, 2) ATP instead increased the unfolding temperature by 3°C in both sodium-based and potassium-based buffers and 3) mutual effects of ATP and NO were strongly influenced by particular buffer ionic compositions. Moreover, the presence of potassium facilitated a partial unfolding of alpha-helical structures even at room temperature. Conclusion The obtained data might shed more light on molecular mechanisms and biophysics involved in the regulation of protein activity by small solutes in the cell. KW - Nitric Oxide Donor KW - NONOate KW - Circular Dichroism KW - Nitric Oxide Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/2046-1682-5-16 SN - 2046-1682 VL - 5 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mansurov, Z. A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Biisenbaev, M. A1 - Savistkaya, I. A1 - Kistaubaeva, A. A1 - Akimbekov, Nuraly S. A1 - Zhubanova, A. T1 - Bio-composite material on the basis of carbonized rice husk in biomedicine and environmental applications JF - Eurasian Chemico-Technological Journal Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.18321/ectj105 SN - 2522-4867 VL - 14 IS - 2 SP - 115 EP - 131 PB - Institute of Combustion Problems CY - Almaty ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Scheer, Nico A1 - Kapelyukh, Yury A1 - McEwan, Jillian A1 - Beuger, Vincent A1 - Stanley, Lesley A. A1 - Rode, Anja A1 - Wolf, C. Roland T1 - Modeling Human Cytochrome P450 2D6 Metabolism and Drug-drug Interaction by a Novel Panel of Knockout and Humanized Mouse Lines JF - Molecular Pharmacology N2 - The highly polymorphic human cytochrome P450 2D6 enzyme is involved in the metabolism of up to 25% of all marketed drugs and accounts for significant individual differences in response to CYP2D6 substrates. Because of the differences in the multiplicity and substrate specificity of CYP2D family members among species, it is difficult to predict pathways of human CYP2D6-dependent drug metabolism on the basis of animal studies. To create animal models that reflect the human situation more closely and that allow an in vivo assessment of the consequences of differential CYP2D6 drug metabolism, we have developed a novel straightforward approach to delete the entire murine Cyp2d gene cluster and replace it with allelic variants of human CYP2D6. By using this approach, we have generated mouse lines expressing the two frequent human protein isoforms CYP2D6.1 and CYP2D6.2 and an as yet undescribed variant of this enzyme, as well as a Cyp2d cluster knockout mouse. We demonstrate that the various transgenic mouse lines cover a wide spectrum of different human CYP2D6 metabolizer phenotypes. The novel humanization strategy described here provides a robust approach for the expression of different CYP2D6 allelic variants in transgenic mice and thus can help to evaluate potential CYP2D6-dependent interindividual differences in drug response in the context of personalized medicine. Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1124/mol.111.075192 SN - 1521-0111 VL - 81 IS - 1 SP - 63 EP - 72 PB - ASPET CY - Bethesda, Md. ER -