Electrochemical cofactor recycling of bacterial microcompartments.

Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are prokaryotic organelles that consist of a protein shell which sequesters metabolic reactions in its interior. While most of the substrates and products are relatively small and can permeate the shell, many of the encapsulated enzymes require cofactors that must be regenerated inside. We have analyzed the occurrence of an enzyme previously assigned as a cobalamin (vitamin B) reductase and, curiously, found it in many unrelated BMC types that do not employ B cofactors.

A Novel Diagnostic Feature for a Wind Turbine Imbalance Under Variable Speed Conditions.

Dependency between the conventional imbalance diagnostic feature and the shaft rotational speed makes imbalance diagnosis challenging for variable-speed machines. This paper focuses on an investigation of this dependency and on a proposal for a novel imbalance diagnostic feature and a novel simplified version for this feature, which are independent of shaft rotational speed. An equivalent mass-spring-damper system is investigated to find a closed-form expression describing this dependency.

Can endogenous ethylene glycol production occur in humans? A detailed investigation of adult monozygotic twin sisters.

Introduction: To the best of our knowledge, clinically significant endogenous ethylene glycol production has never been reported in humans, very seldom reported in other animals or microorganisms, and then only under rare and specific conditions. We describe the detailed investigations we undertook in two adult monozygotic twin sisters to ascertain whether they were producing endogenous ethylene glycol.

Methods: Two previously healthy monozygotic adult twin sisters presented with recurrent episodes of apparent ethylene glycol poisoning beginning at age 35, requiring chronic hemodialysis to remove ethylene glycol and its metabolites as well as to restore metabolic homeostasis.