Earth Abundant Oxidation Catalysts for Removal of Contaminants of Emerging Concern from Wastewater: Homogeneous Catalytic Screening of Monomeric Complexes.

Twenty novel Mn, Fe, and Cu complexes of ethylene cross-bridged tetraazamacrocycles with potentially copolymerizable allyl and benzyl pendant arms were synthesized and characterized. Multiple X-ray crystal structures demonstrate the cis-folded pseudo-octahedral geometry forced by the rigidifying ethylene cross-bridge and show that two cis coordination cites are available for interaction with substrate and oxidant. The Cu complexes were used to determine kinetic stability under harsh acidic and high-temperature conditions, which revealed that the cyclam-based ligands provide superior stabilization with half-lives of many minutes or even hours in 5 M HCl at 50-90 °C.

Shear wave velocity measurement of the placenta is not limited by placental location.

Introduction: Ultrasound elastography shows diagnostic promise via the non-invasive determination of placental elastic properties. A limitation is a potential for inadequate measurements from posterior placentae. This study aimed to analyse placental position's influence on measures of shear wave elastography (SWV).

Relationship between placental elastography, maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain.

Introduction: Maternal obesity is a significant risk factor for poor pregnancy outcomes. Obesity is linked to abnormalities in placental tissue at term. The purpose of this study was to correlate changes in placental stiffness, measured via ultrasound elastography, with maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index and gestational weight gain.

Changes in lymphokine receptor expression and fatty acid composition of phospholipids and triacylglycerols in rat adipocytes associated with lymph nodes following a transient immune challenge.

Single-photon counting fluorimetry was used to record the time course of the expression of interleukin-10 receptors labelled with fluorescent antibodies on the surface of adipocytes over 24h, following an immune challenge to the rat popliteal lymph node. Homologous perinodal and remote-from-node samples from the stimulated and unstimulated popliteal depots were compared in rats fed on plain chow and chow supplemented with 10% w/w suet, fish or vegetable oils. Receptor expression was maximal 6 h after stimulation, and returned to baseline after 24 h, and was similar in the stimulated and unstimulated depots.

8-Cl-adenosine is an active metabolite of 8-Cl-cAMP responsible for its in vitro antiproliferative effects on CHO mutants hypersensitive to cytostatic drugs.

8-Cl-cAMP has been undergoing clinical trials as a potential chemotherapy agent, but there is much discussion in the literature as to whether the active agent is 8-Cl-cAMP itself, or its major metabolite, 8-Cl-adenosine. 8-Cl-cAMP is susceptible to the action of serum enzymes such as phosphodiesterases, and its metabolism when administered to cancer patients raises questions as to the mechanism of action of 8-Cl-cAMP. The stability of 8-Cl-cAMP when incubated with serum, and the effects of both 8-Cl-cAMP and 8-Cl-adenosine on the proliferation of variant lines of CHO cells hypersensitive to 8-Cl-cAMP were investigated.

Hydrophobic protein that copurifies with human brain acetylcholinesterase: amino acid sequence, genomic organization, and chromosomal localization.

The mechanism of attachment of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) to neuronal membranes in interneuronal synapses is poorly understood. We have isolated, sequenced, and cloned a hydrophobic protein that copurifies with AChE from human caudate nucleus and that we propose forms a part of a complex of membrane proteins attached to this enzyme. It is a short protein of 136 amino acids and has a molecular mass of 18 kDa.

Temperature dependence of inorganic nitrogen uptake: reduced affinity for nitrate at suboptimal temperatures in both algae and bacteria.

Nitrate utilization and ammonium utilization were studied by using three algal isolates, six bacterial isolates, and a range of temperatures in chemostat and batch cultures. We quantified affinities for both substrates by determining specific affinities (specific affinity = maximum growth rate/half-saturation constant) based on estimates of kinetic parameters obtained from chemostat experiments. At suboptimal temperatures, the residual concentrations of nitrate in batch cultures and the steady-state concentrations of nitrate in chemostat cultures both increased.

A calcium pump at the higher plant nuclear envelope?

Evidence for a Ca2+-pump at the nuclear envelope (NE) in plant cells has been obtained using confocal and electron microscope immunocytochemistry and antibodies raised to a plant homologue of the mammalian SERCA pump. This is the first evidence suggesting an NE Ca2+-pump in plants. In addition to being localised with the NE in interphase, the antigen was localised to membrane derived from the NE and associated ER during mitosis, correlating with known Ca2+-pools.

Quantification of inhibin pro-alpha C-containing forms in human serum by a new ultrasensitive two-site enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Precursor forms of the alpha-subunit of inhibin are abundant in human follicular fluid and possibly plasma, although their function is uncertain. We now describe the development of a new enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to measure inhibin forms containing both the pro and alpha C regions of the alpha-subunit. The assay has a detection limit for purified human pro-alpha C of 0.

Production and characterization of separate monoclonal antibodies to human brain and erythrocyte acetylcholinesterases.

Four murine monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) of the IgM class were raised against human acetylcholinesterase (AChE; Ec 3.1.1.

Comparison of 5-aminosalicylic acid and N-acetylaminosalicylic acid uptake by the isolated human colonic epithelial cell.

Isolated human colonic epithelial cell suspensions were incubated with either 0.1 mM 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) or 0.1 mM acetylaminosalicylic acid (Ac-ASA) for up to two hours.

Characterisation and quantification of mucosal cytokine that induces epithelial histocompatibility locus antigen-DR expression in inflammatory bowel disease.

Epithelial histocompatibility locus antigen (HLA) class II expression was studied to evaluate its induction by mucosal mononuclear cells in inflammatory bowel disease and to characterise the responsible cytokine. Unstimulated cells of the HT-29 epithelial cell line did not produce class II molecules. After being stimulated with the mitogenic lectin phytohaemagglutinin mucosal mononuclear cells released a cytokine that induced epithelial HLA-DR expression.

Production of epithelial cell growth factors by lamina propria mononuclear cells.

The effects of lamina propria mononuclear cell culture supernatant on epithelial cell DNA synthesis were studied using cells isolated from patients with inflammatory bowel disease and normal controls. Supernatants from resting and phytohaemagglutinin stimulated cells were studied and supernatants that strongly promoted DNA synthesis were pooled, and growth factor activity partially characterised. The effects of recombinant interleukins-1 beta,2,3,interferon-gamma, and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor were tested in the same system.

Refinement of the localization of human butyrylcholinesterase to chromosome 3q26.1-q26.2 using a PCR-derived probe.

The gene for butyrylcholinesterase (EC 3.1.1.

Anomalous molecular form of acetylcholinesterase in cerebrospinal fluid in histologically diagnosed Alzheimer's disease.

The possibility that the different molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which can be revealed by isoelectric focusing may reflect changes in AChE in pathologically affected neurons in Alzheimer's disease was tested in a retrospective study. CSF samples obtained at necropsy from 33 patients with clinically diagnosed dementia, 9 with possible dementia, and 19 without a diagnosis of dementia were examined by isoelectric focusing. An additional band indicating an anomalous molecular form of AChE was present in CSF from 19 of 23 patients with a histological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and no other central nervous system disorder but in none of the 19 non-demented patients (without a histological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease).

Serum and tissue autoantibodies to colonic epithelium in ulcerative colitis.

Sera and colonic tissue-bound immunoglobulin extracts from patients with ulcerative colitis and disease controls were examined immunohistochemically and by killer cell cytotoxicity assay for the presence of anticolonic epithelial autoantibodies. IgG yields in the tissue extracts from patients with colitis and control subjects were similar, and the extracts were uniformly autoantibody negative. Of 41 sera from patients with inflammatory bowel disease, 'classical' anticolon antibody was present in 41% and was commoner in patients with sclerosing cholangitis.

Cellular hypersensitivity to a synthetic dodecapeptide derived from human adenovirus 12 which resembles a sequence of A-gliadin in patients with coeliac disease.

The human intestinal adenovirus serotype 12 (Ad12) may be implicated in the pathogenesis of coeliac disease by virtue of immunological cross reactivity between epitopes shared by its early region E1b protein and A-gliadin. In the present study a synthetic dodecapeptide from the corresponding viral epitope (Ad12E1b, residues 384-395) was tested for its effect on peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 22 treated and eight untreated patients with coeliac disease, 22 healthy subjects, 11 patients with ulcerative colitis, and 11 patients with Crohn's disease by an indirect leucocyte migration inhibition assay. In addition, the effect of both the viral and the gliadin synthetic peptides was studied by proliferation and migration assays simultaneously performed in an unselected subgroup of 12 treated coeliac patients and 12 healthy subjects of the study.

T lymphocyte responses to a synthetic peptide from the human intestinal adenovirus 12 in coeliac disease.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of treated coeliac patients are known to liberate leucocyte migration inhibition factor when challenged with a synthetic dodecapeptide of the E1b protein of adenovirus 12 sharing sequence homology with A gliadin. This study has compared the response of the unfractionated peripheral blood mononuclear cells with a highly purified T cell population. Coeliac mononuclear cells and T lymphocytes showed identical leucocyte migration inhibition activity.

Effect of human intestinal macrophages on immunoglobulin production by human intestinal mononuclear cells isolated from patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

The effect of macrophages on spontaneous immunoglobulin production by isolated human intestinal mononuclear cells (MNC) is unknown. Depletion of macrophages by adherence to fibronectin or by panning with macrophage-specific monoclonal antibody 3C10 lead to a significant reduction in IgA. IgG and IgM production by intestinal MNC from both normal (n = 10) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (n = 13) mucosa.

Acetylation of 5-aminosalicylic acid by isolated human colonic epithelial cells.

1. This study investigates the acetylation of 5-aminosalicylic acid by isolated human colonic epithelial cells. 2.

Immunoglobulin production by isolated intestinal mononuclear cells from patients with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

We studied immunoglobulin production by isolated intestinal mononuclear cells from 25 patients with active inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and 17 controls undergoing surgical resections for intestinal tumour or other disorders. Normal ileal intestinal mononuclear cells spontaneously produced greater amounts of IgA and IgM than did normal colon cells. In cells from patients with IBD there was a significantly reduced IgA production, but production of IgG was enhanced in both colon and ileum.