Mass transport and charge transfer through an electrified interface between metallic lithium and solid-state electrolytes.

All-solid-state Li-ion batteries are one of the most promising energy storage devices for future automotive applications as high energy density metallic Li anodes can be safely used. However, introducing solid-state electrolytes needs a better understanding of the forming electrified electrode/electrolyte interface to facilitate the charge and mass transport through it and design ever-high-performance batteries. This study investigates the interface between metallic lithium and solid-state electrolytes.

Fluid cushion protects against thermal damage during argon plasma coagulation.

Background: Thermal damage to the muscle layer during mucosal application of argon plasma coagulation (APC) may be avoided by creating a fluid cushion within the submucosal layer, but the minimum injection volume needed or the ideal injection fluid are yet to be established. We conducted a systematic study with this aim.

Methods: All experiments were performed in an porcine gastrointestinal tract model.

In silico evaluation of geometry variations with respect to the thermal spread during coagulation of egg white using bipolar vessel sealing instruments.

Background: Bipolar vessel sealing is an efficient electrosurgical procedure for the occlusion of blood vessels particularly during minimally invasive surgery. Reliable knowledge of the thermal spread is crucial for a safe application of bipolar vessel sealing instruments when operating close to thermo-sensitive structures, such as nerves. The evolution of the thermal spread over time and space depends on a variety of parameters, such as the biological tissue, the energy applied to the tissue, and the geometry of the vessel sealing instrument.

Assessing the reproducibility of high definition urethral pressure profilometry and its correlation with an air-charged system.

Introduction: Recently, a new urodynamic method for the assessment of stress urinary incontinence called high definition urethral pressure profilometry (HD-UPP) has been introduced. This method combines a novel microtip catheter with advanced signal processing to enable spatial data location and the reconstruction of a pressure image inside the urethra. In order to assess the reproducibility of HD-UPP data, we statistically evaluate HD-UPP datasets and compare them to data from a double balloon air-charged system.

Model-Based Characterization of Inflammatory Gene Expression Patterns of Activated Macrophages.

Macrophages are cells with remarkable plasticity. They integrate signals from their microenvironment leading to context-dependent polarization into classically (M1) or alternatively (M2) activated macrophages, representing two extremes of a broad spectrum of divergent phenotypes. Thereby, macrophages deliver protective and pro-regenerative signals towards injured tissue but, depending on the eliciting damage, may also be responsible for the generation and aggravation of tissue injury.

Signal processing in urodynamics: towards high definition urethral pressure profilometry.

Background: Urethral pressure profilometry (UPP) is used in the diagnosis of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) which is a significant medical, social, and economic problem. Low spatial pressure resolution, common occurrence of artifacts, and uncertainties in data location limit the diagnostic value of UPP. To overcome these limitations, high definition urethral pressure profilometry (HD-UPP) combining enhanced UPP hardware and signal processing algorithms has been developed.

Eliminating pulse-induced artifacts in Urethral Pressure data.

Urethral Pressure Profilometry (UPP) is a tool in the diagnosis of urinary incontinence. The pressure profile along the urethra is measured by a special catheter in order to assess the contraction strength of the sphincter muscle. The use of microtip catheters with several pressure sensors and an integrated acceleration sensor enables signal reconstruction of the pressure distribution on the urethra's inside.

Modeling and Simulation of Optimal Resource Management during the Diurnal Cycle in Emiliania huxleyi by Genome-Scale Reconstruction and an Extended Flux Balance Analysis Approach.

The coccolithophorid unicellular alga Emiliania huxleyi is known to form large blooms, which have a strong effect on the marine carbon cycle. As a photosynthetic organism, it is subjected to a circadian rhythm due to the changing light conditions throughout the day. For a better understanding of the metabolic processes under these periodically-changing environmental conditions, a genome-scale model based on a genome reconstruction of the E.

High definition urethral pressure profilometry: Evaluating a novel microtip catheter.

Introduction: Urethral pressure profilometry (UPP) is used in the diagnosis of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). SUI is a significant medical, social, and economic problem, affecting about 12.5% of the population.

Interleukin-1β enhances FasL-induced caspase-3/-7 activity without increasing apoptosis in primary mouse hepatocytes.

Sustained inflammation may increase the susceptibility of hepatocytes to apoptotic cell death and therefore exacerbate liver damage. Here we report that the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1β sensitizes primary murine hepatocytes to Fas ligand (FasL)-induced caspase-3/-7 activity. This process was dependent on JNK1/2 and the BH3-only proteins Bim and Bid.

Basic regulatory principles of Escherichia coli's electron transport chain for varying oxygen conditions.

For adaptation between anaerobic, micro-aerobic and aerobic conditions Escherichia coli's metabolism and in particular its electron transport chain (ETC) is highly regulated. Although it is known that the global transcriptional regulators FNR and ArcA are involved in oxygen response it is unclear how they interplay in the regulation of ETC enzymes under micro-aerobic chemostat conditions. Also, there are diverse results which and how quinones (oxidised/reduced, ubiquinone/other quinones) are controlling the ArcBA two-component system.

Towards a systems level understanding of the oxygen response of Escherichia coli.

Escherichia coli is a facultatively anaerobic bacterium. With glucose if no external electron acceptors are available, ATP is produced by substrate level phosphorylation. The intracellular redox balance is maintained by mixed-acid fermentation, that is, the production and excretion of several organic acids.

A mathematical model of metabolism and regulation provides a systems-level view of how Escherichia coli responds to oxygen.

The efficient redesign of bacteria for biotechnological purposes, such as biofuel production, waste disposal or specific biocatalytic functions, requires a quantitative systems-level understanding of energy supply, carbon, and redox metabolism. The measurement of transcript levels, metabolite concentrations and metabolic fluxes per se gives an incomplete picture. An appreciation of the interdependencies between the different measurement values is essential for systems-level understanding.

Towards a Treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence: Application of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Regeneration of the Sphincter Muscle.

Stress urinary incontinence is a significant social, medical, and economic problem. It is caused, at least in part, by degeneration of the sphincter muscle controlling the tightness of the urinary bladder. This muscular degeneration is characterized by a loss of muscle cells and a surplus of a fibrous connective tissue.

Properties of Boolean networks and methods for their tests.

: Transcriptional regulation networks are often modeled as Boolean networks. We discuss certain properties of Boolean functions (BFs), which are considered as important in such networks, namely, membership to the classes of unate or canalizing functions. Of further interest is the average sensitivity (AS) of functions.

A rapid method for the extraction and analysis of carotenoids and other hydrophobic substances suitable for systems biology studies with photosynthetic bacteria.

A simple, rapid, and inexpensive extraction method for carotenoids and other non-polar compounds present in phototrophic bacteria has been developed. The method, which has been extensively tested on the phototrophic purple non-sulphur bacterium Rhodospirillum rubrum, is suitable for extracting large numbers of samples, which is common in systems biology studies, and yields material suitable for subsequent analysis using HPLC and mass spectroscopy. The procedure is particularly suitable for carotenoids and other terpenoids, including quinones, bacteriochlorophyll a and bacteriopheophytin a, and is also useful for the analysis of polar phospholipids.

Model-based analysis of an adaptive evolution experiment with Escherichia coli in a pyruvate limited continuous culture with glycerol.

: Bacterial strains that were genetically blocked in important metabolic pathways and grown under selective conditions underwent a process of adaptive evolution: certain pathways may have been deregulated and therefore allowed for the circumvention of the given block. A block of endogenous pyruvate synthesis from glycerol was realized by a knockout of pyruvate kinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in E. coli.

Analysing the role of UVB-induced translational inhibition and PP2Ac deactivation in NF-κB signalling using a minimal mathematical model.

Activation of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) by interleukin-1β (IL-1) usually results in an anti-apoptotic activity that is rapidly terminated by a negative feedback loop involving NF-κB dependent resynthesis of its own inhibitor IκBα. However, apoptosis induced by ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) is not attenuated, but significantly enhanced by co-stimulation with IL-1 in human epithelial cells. Under these conditions NF-κB remains constitutively active and turns into a pro-apoptotic factor by selectively repressing anti-apoptotic genes.

Integration of Boolean models exemplified on hepatocyte signal transduction.

The number of mathematical models for biological pathways is rapidly growing. In particular, Boolean modelling proved to be suited to describe large cellular signalling networks. Systems biology is at the threshold to holistic understanding of comprehensive networks.

Modeling time delay in the NFκB signaling pathway following low dose IL-1 stimulation.

Stimulation of human epithelial cells with IL-1 (10 ng/ml) + UVB radiation results in sustained NFκB activation caused by continuous IKKβ phosphorylation. We have recently published a strictly reduced ordinary differential equation model elucidating the involved mechanisms. Here, we compare model extensions for low IL-1 doses (0.

A systems biology approach to analyse leaf carbohydrate metabolism in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Plant carbohydrate metabolism comprises numerous metabolite interconversions, some of which form cycles of metabolite degradation and re-synthesis and are thus referred to as futile cycles. In this study, we present a systems biology approach to analyse any possible regulatory principle that operates such futile cycles based on experimental data for sucrose (Scr) cycling in photosynthetically active leaves of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Kinetic parameters of enzymatic steps in Scr cycling were identified by fitting model simulations to experimental data.

Tumor necrosis factor α sensitizes primary murine hepatocytes to Fas/CD95-induced apoptosis in a Bim- and Bid-dependent manner.

Unlabelled: Fas/CD95 is a critical mediator of cell death in many chronic and acute liver diseases and induces apoptosis in primary hepatocytes in vitro. In contrast, the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) fails to provoke cell death in isolated hepatocytes but has been implicated in hepatocyte apoptosis during liver diseases associated with chronic inflammation. Here we report that TNFα sensitizes primary murine hepatocytes cultured on collagen to Fas ligand (FasL)-induced apoptosis.

Mathematical modeling of the central carbohydrate metabolism in Arabidopsis reveals a substantial regulatory influence of vacuolar invertase on whole plant carbon metabolism.

A mathematical model representing metabolite interconversions in the central carbohydrate metabolism of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) was developed to simulate the diurnal dynamics of primary carbon metabolism in a photosynthetically active plant leaf. The model groups enzymatic steps of central carbohydrate metabolism into blocks of interconverting reactions that link easily measurable quantities like CO(2) exchange and quasi-steady-state levels of soluble sugars and starch. When metabolite levels that fluctuate over diurnal cycles are used as a basic condition for simulation, turnover rates for the interconverting reactions can be calculated that approximate measured metabolite dynamics and yield kinetic parameters of interconverting reactions.

ON/OFF and beyond--a boolean model of apoptosis.

Apoptosis is regulated by several signaling pathways which are extensively linked by crosstalks. Boolean or logical modeling has become a promising approach to capture the qualitative behavior of such complex networks. Here we built a large-scale literature-based Boolean model of the central intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis pathways as well as pathways connected with them.