Heterogeneous Cu-Fe oxide catalysts for preferential CO oxidation (PROX) in H-rich process streams.

The influence of Fe loading in Cu-Fe phases and its effect on carbon monoxide (CO) oxidation in H-rich reactant streams were investigated with the catalyst material phases characterized by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies and Mössbauer Spectroscopy (MS). There was no change in the oxidation state of the Fe ions with copper or iron loading. The catalytic activity was examined in the feed consisting of H, HO and CO for the preferential CO oxidation (PROX) process.

The effect of oxidant species on direct, non-syngas conversion of methane to methanol over an FePO catalyst material.

The effect of the phase transformation of a FePO catalyst material from the tridymite-like (tdm) FePO to the α-domain (α-Fe(PO)) during the direct selective oxidation of methane to methanol was studied using oxidant species O, HO and NO. The main reaction products were CHOH, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, whereas formaldehyde was produced in rather minute amounts. Results showed that the single-step non-syngas activation of CH to oxygenate(s) on a solid FePO phase-specific catalyst was influenced by the nature of the oxidizer used for the CH turnover.

Gut microbiome identifies risk for colorectal polyps.

Objective: To characterise the gut microbiome in subjects with and without polyps and evaluate the potential of the microbiome as a non-invasive biomarker to screen for risk of colorectal cancer (CRC).

Design: Presurgery rectal swab, home collected stool, and sigmoid biopsy samples were obtained from 231 subjects undergoing screening or surveillance colonoscopy. 16S rRNA analysis was performed on 552 samples (231 rectal swab, 183 stool, 138 biopsy) and operational taxonomic units (OTU) were identified using UPARSE.

Unraveling the Arrangement of Al and Fe within the Framework Explains the Magnetism of Mixed-Metal MIL-100(Al,Fe).

Properties of mixed-metal MOFs depend on the distribution of different metals within their frameworks. Determination of this distribution is often very challenging. Using an example of aluminum- and iron-containing MIL-100, we demonstrate that Al NMR spectroscopy, when combined with first-principles calculations and magnetic, X-band electron paramagnetic resonance, Fe K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure, and Mössbauer measurements, enables one to accurately determine the arrangement of Al and Fe within the metal trimers, which are the basic building units of MIL-100.

Sonochemically assisted synthesis of zinc-doped maghemite.

Nanoparticles of zinc-doped maghemite were prepared using ultrasonic radiation. As a precursor, a suspension of maghemite in an alkaline aqueous solution of zinc nitrate at pH 9 was sonicated. The zinc-doped maghemite nanoparticles were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Mössbauer spectroscopy, high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) and SQUID magnetometry.

Multidisciplinary work on barium contamination of the karstic upper Kupa River drainage basin (Croatia and Slovenia); calling for watershed management.

The present work was designed as an extension of a previous study of a barium anomaly observed in stream sediments of the Kupa River. In its upper part the Kupa River drains a region underlain by a trans-boundary aquifer. The river is a significant water resource in a region of tourism, sport, and fishing in both Croatia and Slovenia.

Comprehensive evaluation of the association between prostate cancer and genotypes/haplotypes in CYP17A1, CYP3A4, and SRD5A2.

Genes involved in the testosterone biosynthetic pathway - such as CYP17A1, CYP3A4, and SRD5A2 - represent strong candidates for affecting prostate cancer. Previous work has detected associations between individual variants in these three genes and prostate cancer risk and aggressiveness. To more comprehensively evaluate CYP17A1, CYP3A4, and SRD5A2, we undertook a two-phase study of the relationship between their genotypes/haplotypes and prostate cancer.

Mining the human genome using microarrays of open reading frames.

To test the hypothesis that the human genome project will uncover many genes not previously discovered by sequencing of expressed sequence tags (ESTs), we designed and produced a set of microarrays using probes based on open reading frames (ORFs) in 350 Mb of finished and draft human sequence. Our approach aims to identify all genes directly from genomic sequence by querying gene expression. We analysed genomic sequence with a suite of ORF prediction programs, selected approximately one ORF per gene, amplified the ORFs from genomic DNA and arrayed the amplicons onto treated glass slides.

High-throughput quantitative histological analysis of Alzheimer's disease pathology using a confocal digital microscanner.

To develop a rapid method of quantifying immunohistochemical information in tissue sections, we tested a confocal laser fluorescence microscanner initially designed for DNA microarray analysis. This instrument collects digital images at multiple wavelengths, scans entire sections at a resolution of 5 or 10 microm in less than 10 min, and quantifies structures labeled with fluorescent or nonfluorescent probes. We assessed the microscanner by studying immunostained amyloid plaques in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain and in the brain of a transgenic mouse model of AD amyloidosis, as efforts to correlate measures of amyloid plaques in brain sections with behavioral impairments are impeded by limitations in current morphometric methods.

Analysis of mitochondrial morphology and function with novel fixable fluorescent stains.

Investigation of mitochondrial morphology and function has been hampered because photostable, mitochondrion-specific stains that are retained in fixed, permeabilized cells have not been available. We found that in live cell preparations, the CMXRos and H2-CMXRos dyes were more photostable than rhodamine 123. In addition, fluorescence and morphology of mitochondria stained with the CMXRos and CMXRos-H2 dyes were preserved even after formaldehyde fixation and acetone permeabilization.

Using dyes and filters in a fluorescent imaging system.

The FluorImager fluorescence imaging system uses monochromatic 488-nm laser light to excite fluorochromes. It contains a built-in 515-nm long-pass filter that rejects excitation laser light, but allows emission light with wavelengths longer than 515 nm to pass through. A fluorochrome appropriate for use in the system is excitable by 488-nm light and emits at least some of its fluorescence at wavelengths longer than 515 nm.

Brefeldin A causes structural and functional alterations of the trans-Golgi network of MDCK cells.

The trans-Golgi network (TGN) of MDCK cells is exquisitely sensitive to the fungal metabolite brefeldin A (BFA), in contrast to the refractory Golgi stack of these cells. At a concentration of 1 microgram/ml, BFA promoted extensive tubulation of the TGN while the medical Golgi marker alpha-mannosidase II was not affected. Tubules emerging minutes after addition of the drug contained both the apical marker influenza hemagglutinin (HA), previously accumulated at 20 degrees C, and the fusion protein interleukin receptor/TGN38 (TGG), a TGN marker that recycles basolaterally, indicating that, in contrast to TGN vesicles, TGN-derived tubules cannot sort apical and basolateral proteins.

Structural reorganization of the rough endoplasmic reticulum without size expansion accounts for dexamethasone-induced secretory activity in AR42J cells.

A striking reorganization of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) from a tubulo-vesicular (TV-RER) to a stacked cisternal (SC-RER) configuration was observed when the secretory activity of AR42J cells, a cell line derived from a rat pancreatic acinar carcinoma, was induced by dexamethasone. Treatment with 10 nM dexamethasone resulted in a 6.6-fold increase in the intracellular and a 4.

Characterization of membrane and cytoskeletal compartments in cultured parietal cells: immunofluorescence and confocal microscopic examination.

Primary cultures of rabbit gastric parietal cells respond to various gastric secretagogues as evidenced by morphological alterations and [14C]aminopyrine uptake. The availability of cultures of > 95% purity has allowed us to utilize immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy to observe the direct effect of histamine upon the distribution of membrane and cytoskeletal proteins in parietal cells. Cells cultured for 3 days were incubated for 45 min with or without 10(-4) M histamine, washed, and fixed with 3% paraformaldehyde.

New techniques lead to advances in epithelial cell polarity.

We have utilized cell surface biotinylation assays to study protein targeting signals and pathways in polarized epithelial cells. These studies have revealed that in MDCK cells, most proteins are sorted intracellularly and are targeted directly to the surface; in other cell types, protein targeting may be mediated by a selective retrieval event. Studies on both intact and permeabilized cells demonstrate that microtubules facilitate apical but not basolateral delivery.

The secretion-stimulated 80K phosphoprotein of parietal cells is ezrin, and has properties of a membrane cytoskeletal linker in the induced apical microvilli.

Stimulation of gastric acid secretion in parietal cells involves the translocation of the proton pump (H,K-ATPase) from cytoplasmic tubulovesicles to the apical membrane to form long, F-actin-containing, microvilli. Following secretion, the pump is endocytosed back into tubulovesicles. The parietal cell therefore offers a system for the study of regulated membrane recycling, with temporally separated endocytic and exocytic steps.

Response of obstructive sleep apnea to fluoxetine and protriptyline.

Protripyline is the pharmacologic agent most commonly used to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA); however, its anticholinergic side effects make it intolerable to many patients. Because serotonin may be a central respiratory stimulant and because the serotonin-uptake inhibitor, fluoxetine, is usually well tolerated, we wanted to try fluoxetine in the treatment of OSA. Therefore, we compared the effect of fluoxetine to that of protriptyline in 12 patients with OSA.

Bicarbonate transport mechanisms in rabbit ciliary body epithelium.

Sections of whole ciliary body dissected from Dutch belted rabbits were incubated with the cell entrappable pH probe BCECEF-AM. This led to a highly specific localization of epifluorescence emission at the exposed, non-pigmented cell layer (npe) of the dual layered epithelium that covers this organ. The BCECF-loaded tissue sections were superfused in a flow-through chamber and the intracellular pH (pHi) of small groups (10-20) of cells was derived from the ratio of the emission intensities derived from excitations at 490 and 440 nm.

Vectorial apical delivery and slow endocytosis of a glycolipid-anchored fusion protein in transfected MDCK cells.

To characterize the mechanisms that determine the apical polarity of proteins anchored by glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI), we studied the targeting of a GPI-anchored form of a herpes simplex glycoprotein, gD-1, in transfected MDCK cells. Using a biotin-based targeting assay, we found that GPI-anchored gD-1 was sorted intracellularly and delivered directly to the apical surface. Endocytosis of GPI-anchored gD-1 occurred slowly and preferentially from the apical domain, while transcytosis of the basolateral fraction did not occur at a significant rate (incompatible with being a precursor to the apical pool).

Membrane and protein recycling associated with gastric HCl secretion.

Stimulation of the gastric parietal cell requires massive membrane transformations as H(+)-pumps from the domain of cytoplasmic tubulovesicles are recruited into the apical plasma membrane domain. The recycling of membrane pools, through fusion and fission processes that accompany stimulation and inhibition of HCl secretion, also involves highly selective events of protein incorporation and segregation. This manuscript describes several proteins that have been identified with the apical plasma membrane from maximally stimulated parietal cells, and broadly characterizes them either as permanent resident proteins of the apical membrane, or transient proteins that move into and out of the apical membrane as the cell progresses through the secretory cycle.

Acid secretion and membrane reorganization in single gastric parietal cell in primary culture.

A digitally-enhanced videomicroscopy study of rabbit gastric parietal cells in primary culture was performed using alternate observations with differential interference contrast and fluorescence optics of cells mounted and perfused on a temperature-controlled microscope stage. The effect of histamine, a physiological effector of acid secretion, was followed. Isolated parietal cells possess an internal apical vacuole, which kept the cell in a pseudopolarized state.

Immunological localization of an 80-kDa phosphoprotein to the apical membrane of gastric parietal cells.

Monoclonal antibodies were raised against an 80-kDa phosphoprotein (80K) that is phosphorylated upon stimulation of gastric acid secretion and that copurifies with the acid-forming H+-K+-ATPase isolated from stimulated tissue. These antibodies were used to demonstrate that in the gastric mucosa 80K is limited to parietal cells and not found in surface, mucous neck, or chief cells. 80K was also found in other transporting epithelia, including intestine and kidney, but was not found in brain, liver, red blood cells, or colon.

Characterization of an 80-kDa phosphoprotein involved in parietal cell stimulation.

When isolated rabbit gastric glands were stimulated with histamine plus isobutylmethylxanthine, a redistribution of H+-K+-ATPase, from microsomes to a low-speed pellet, occurred in association with the phosphorylation of an 80-kDa protein (80K) in the apical membrane-rich fraction purified from the low-speed pellet. Histamine alone or dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (DBcAMP), but not carbachol, also stimulated both the redistribution of H+-K+-ATPase and phosphorylation of 80K. Under stimulated conditions, 80K copurified in the apical membrane fraction along with H+-K+-ATPase and actin; whereas purified microsomes from resting stomach were highly enriched in H+-K+-ATPase but contained neither 80K nor actin.

Pumps and pathways for gastric HCl secretion.

Data reviewed herein show that the HCl-secreting parietal cell is an exaggerated example of dynamic membrane transformation. Recruitment and recycling of membrane provide the means for the massive redistribution of the gastric proton pump, the H,K-ATPase, from one membrane domain (cytoplasmic tubulovesicles) to another (apical plasma membrane) as a function of parietal cell activation and inactivation. Functional activation of HCl secretion requires not only the redistribution of pump protein, but also the participation of pathways for the rapid flux of K+ and Cl- across the apical membrane.