Direct monitoring of biocatalytic deacetylation of amino acid substrates by H NMR reveals fine details of substrate specificity.

Amino acids are key synthetic building blocks that can be prepared in an enantiopure form by biocatalytic methods. We show that the l-selective ornithine deacetylase ArgE catalyses hydrolysis of a wide-range of N-acyl-amino acid substrates. This activity was revealed by 1H NMR spectroscopy that monitored the appearance of the well resolved signal of the acetate product.

Ross River virus disease in inland NSW: higher than average notifications in 2007-08.

This study showed that Ross River virus notifications in the Greater Western Area Health Service of NSW were higher in 2007-08 than any other financial year for the 1997-2009 period. The study also examined the epidemiology of those notifications. Notification and population data were retrieved from the NSW Health Notifiable Diseases Database and HOIST Populations Library respectively.