Cereal processing at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Turkey.

We analyze the processing of cereals and its role at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Anatolia (10th / 9th millennium BC), a site that has aroused much debate in archaeological discourse. To date, only zooarchaeological evidence has been discussed in regard to the subsistence of its builders. Göbekli Tepe consists of monumental round to oval buildings, erected in an earlier phase, and smaller rectangular buildings, built around them in a partially contemporaneous and later phase.

Endocannabinoids in Body Weight Control.

Maintenance of body weight is fundamental to maintain one's health and to promote longevity. Nevertheless, it appears that the global obesity epidemic is still constantly increasing. Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are lipid messengers that are involved in overall body weight control by interfering with manifold central and peripheral regulatory circuits that orchestrate energy homeostasis.

Structure-Based Design of Non-natural Macrocyclic Peptides That Inhibit Protein-Protein Interactions.

Macrocyclic peptides can interfere with challenging biomolecular targets including protein-protein interactions. Whereas there are various approaches that facilitate the identification of peptide-derived ligands, their evolution into higher affinity binders remains a major hurdle. We report a virtual screen based on molecular docking that allows the affinity maturation of macrocyclic peptides taking non-natural amino acids into consideration.

Cell Permeable Stapled Peptide Inhibitor of Wnt Signaling that Targets β-Catenin Protein-Protein Interactions.

The Wnt signaling pathway plays a critical role in cell proliferation and differentiation, thus it is often associated with diseases such as cancers. Unfortunately, although attractive, developing anti-cancer strategy targeting Wnt signaling has been challenging given that the most attractive targets are involved in protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Here, we develop a stapled peptide inhibitor that targets the interaction between β-catenin and T cell factor/lymphoid enhancer-binding factor transcription factors, which are crucially involved in Wnt signaling.

Protease-Resistant and Cell-Permeable Double-Stapled Peptides Targeting the Rab8a GTPase.

Small GTPases comprise a family of highly relevant targets in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry research and have been considered "undruggable" due to the persisting lack of effective synthetic modulators and suitable binding pockets. As molecular switches, small GTPases control a multitude of pivotal cellular functions, and their dysregulation is associated with many human diseases such as various forms of cancer. Rab-GTPases represent the largest subfamily of small GTPases and are master regulators of vesicular transport interacting with various proteins via flat and extensive protein-protein interactions (PPIs).

Accuracy of the Emotion Thermometers (ET) screening tool in patients undergoing surgery for upper gastrointestinal malignancies.

Distress is common in patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Most conventional scales are too long for routine clinic use. We tested the Emotion Thermometers (ET) tool, a brief visual-analogue scale.

Identification of a T7 RNA polymerase variant that permits the enzymatic synthesis of fully 2'-O-methyl-modified RNA.

T7 RNA polymerase is an important biocatalyst that is used in diverse biotechnological applications such as in vitro transcription or protein expression. The enzyme displays high substrate specificity which is payed by significant limitations regarding incorporation of synthetic nucleotide analogs. Of specific interest is enzymatic synthesis of 2'-O-methyl-modified RNA as these nucleic acids exhibit improved biochemical and pharmacokinetic properties that make them attractive for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.