Residential exposure to livestock farms and lung function in adolescence - The PIAMA birth cohort study.

Background: There is a growing interest in the impact of air pollution from livestock farming on respiratory health. Studies in adults suggest adverse effects of livestock farm emissions on lung function, but so far, studies involving children and adolescents are lacking.

Objectives: To study the association of residential proximity to livestock farms and modelled particulate matter ≤10 μm (PM) from livestock farms with lung function in adolescence.

Atmospheric dispersion and transmission of Legionella from wastewater treatment plants: A 6-year case-control study.

Unlabelled: Legionnaires Disease incidence has risen in the Netherlands in recent years. For the majority of the cases, the source of infection is never identified. Two Dutch wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have previously been identified as source of outbreaks of Legionnaires Disease (LD) among local residents.

Proximity to livestock farms and exposure to livestock-related particulate matter are associated with lower probability of medication dispensing for obstructive airway diseases.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess whether medication use for obstructive airway diseases is associated with environmental exposure to livestock farms. Previous studies in the Netherlands at a regional level suggested that asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are less prevalent among persons living near livestock farms.

Methods: A nationwide population-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 7,735,491 persons, with data on the dispensing of drugs for obstructive airway diseases in the Netherlands in 2016.

Effects of Dutch livestock production on human health and the environment.

Observed multiple adverse effects of livestock production have led to increasing calls for more sustainable livestock production. Quantitative analysis of adverse effects, which can guide public debate and policy development in this area, is limited and generally scattered across environmental, human health, and other science domains. The aim of this study was to bring together and, where possible, quantify and aggregate the effects of national-scale livestock production on 17 impact categories, ranging from impacts of particulate matter, emerging infectious diseases and odor annoyance to airborne nitrogen deposition on terrestrial nature areas and greenhouse gas emissions.

Capturing Gas Fluxes on Your Phone: An iOS- and Android-based Data-Logging Setup for EGM-4 Environmental Gas Monitoring Systems.

Mobile devices have become increasingly important for field monitoring to improve data capture efficiency, increase storage capacity, and replace heavy equipment. We introduce a quick and straightforward protocol to capture greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rates on mobile devices. We developed our setup on the widely used infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) EGM-4 by PP Systems.

Select strengths and biases of models in representing the Arctic winter boundary layer over sea ice: the Larcform 1 single column model intercomparison.

Weather and climate models struggle to represent lower tropospheric temperature and moisture profiles and surface fluxes in Arctic winter, partly because they lack or misrepresent physical processes that are specific to high latitudes. Observations have revealed two preferred states of the Arctic winter boundary layer. In the cloudy state, cloud liquid water limits surface radiative cooling, and temperature inversions are weak and elevated.

Reaction of substituted furan-2-carboxaldehydes and furo[b]pyrrole type aldehydes with hippuric acid.

4-Heteroarylidene-2-phenyl-1,3-oxazol-5(4H)-ones were prepared by reactions of hippuric acid with substituted furan-2-carboxaldehydes or furo[b]pyrrole type aldehydes. The reactivity of various furan-2-carboxaldehyde derivatives in this reaction is discussed. The effect of microwave irradiation on some condensation reactions was compared with "classical" conditions.

Tandem mass spectrometric analysis of a complex triterpene saponin mixture of Chenopodium quinoa.

A nano-HPLC electrospray ionization multi-stage tandem mass spectrometry (nLC-ESI-MS/MS) approach was applied to a complex crude triterpene saponin extract of Chenopodium quinoa seed coats. In ESI-MS/MS spectra of triterpene saponins, characteristic fragmentation reactions are observed and allow the determination of aglycones, saccharide sequences, compositions, and branching. Fragmentation of aglycones provided further structural information.

Molecular dynamics studies of a molecular switch in the glucocorticoid receptor.

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is a hormone dependent nuclear receptor that regulates gene transcription when bound to the glucocorticoid response element (GRE). The GRE acts as an allosteric effector, inducing a structural change in the GR DNA-binding domain (GR DBD) upon binding, thereby switching the GR to an active conformation. A similar conformational change can be induced by two single point mutations: Ser459Ala and Pro493Arg.

X-filtering for a range of coupling constants: application to the detection of intermolecular NOEs.

A new method for heteronuclear X-filtering is presented, which relies on repetitive applications of 90 degrees (1H)-tau(1/41J(HC))-180 degrees (1H,13C)-tau(1/41J(HC))-90 degrees (1H,13C)-PFG building blocks employing gradient-mediated suppression of magnetization built up for directly heteronuclear coupled protons. Thereby, a range of heteronuclear coupling constants can be suppressed by varying the delays of scalar coupling evolution both within and between individual transients. To achieve efficient destruction of 13C-coupled protons in macromolecular systems, the scalar coupling evolution delays were optimized using simulated annealing by including transverse relaxation effects.

Novel 12-deoxy-16-hydroxyphorbol diesters isolated from the seed oil of Jatropha curcas.

Six unstable intramolecular diterpene esters were isolated from the seed oil of Jatropha curcas. Five of these, Jatropha factors C(2)-C(6) (3-7), are new natural products, and the structure of the known Jatropha factor C(1) (2) has been revised. All compounds possess the same diterpene moiety, namely, 12-deoxy-16-hydroxyphorbol (1).

Solution structure of human apolipoprotein(a) kringle IV type 6.

The structure of apo(a) KIVT6 was investigated by two- and three-dimensional homo- and heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy. The solution structure of apo(a) KIVT6 contains only a small amount of regular secondary structure elements, comprising a short piece of antiparallel beta-sheet formed by residues Trp62-Tyr64 and Trp72-Tyr74, a short piece of parallel beta-sheet formed by the residues Cys1-Tyr2 and Thr78-Gln79, and a small 3(10)-helix within residues Thr38-Tyr40. The backbone as well as the side chains are arranged in a way similar to those of apo(a) KIVT7, apo(a) KIVT10, and plasminogen K4.

Pure-phase selective excitation in fast-relaxing systems.

Selective pulses have been used frequently for small molecules. However, their application to proteins and other macromolecules has been limited. The long duration of shaped-selective pulses and the short T(2) relaxation times in proteins often prohibited the use of highly selective pulses especially on larger biomolecules.

Solution structure of the DNA-binding domain of TraM.

The solution structure of the DNA-binding domain of the TraM protein, an essential component of the DNA transfer machinery of the conjugative resistance plasmid R1, is presented. The structure has been determined using homonuclear 2-dimensional NMR spectroscopy as well as 15N labeled heteronuclear 2- and 3-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. It turns out that the solution structure of the DNA binding domain of the TraM protein is globular and dominantly helical.

Apo(a)-kringle IV-type 6: expression in Escherichia coli, purification and in vitro refolding.

Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] belongs to the class of highly thrombo-atherogenic lipoproteins. The assembly of Lp(a) from LDL and the specific apo(a) glycoprotein takes place extracellularly in a two-step process. First, an unstable complex is formed between LDL and apo(a) due to the interaction of the unique kringle (K) IV-type 6 (T6) in apo(a) with amino groups on LDL, and in the second step this complex is stabilized by a disulfide bond between apo(a) KIV-T9 and apoB(100).

Automated Processing of Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectra.

An automated scheme is described which locates the centers of cross peaks in two-dimensional correlation spectra, even under conditions of severe overlap. Double-quantum-filtered correlation (DQ-COSY) spectra have been investigated, but the method is also applicable to TOCSY and NOESY spectra. The search criterion is the intrinsic symmetry (or antisymmetry) of cross-peak multiplets.

Conformational behaviour of the TraM headpiece.

The structure of the headpiece of the TraM protein was investigated in different solvents. The very first 22 amino acids which alternate in their hydrophilic and hydrophobic character formed a helical structure in the presence of a membrane mimetic. In water alone the structure was flexible with a small amount of helicity according to circular dichroism measurements, whereas a loop structure was observed in dimethyl sulphoxide.

Combined use of NMR, distance geometry and MD calculations for the conformational analysis of opioid peptides of the type [D(L)-Cys2, D(L)-Cys5]enkephalin.

The solution structures of a series of conformationally restricted pentapeptides with a sequence H-Tyr1-Cys2-Gly3-Phe4-Cys5-OH cyclic (2-5) disulfide, where the cysteines possess either the D or L configuration, were examined by a combined approach including NMR measurements as well as MD calculations. It turned out that at least one low energy conformer of H-Tyr1-D-Cys2-Gly3-Phe4-D-Cys5-OH cyclic (2-5) disulfide (DCDCE), as well as one conformer out of the group of calculated conformers for H-Tyr1-D-Cys2-Gly3-Phe4-Cys5-OH cyclic (2-5) disulfide (DCLCE), satisfies the NMR data obtained in this study, whereas for the derivative H-Tyr1-Cys2-Gly3-Phe4-Cys5-OH cyclic (2-5) disulfide, which contains solely L-Cys (LCLCE), there is no single structure compatible with the NMR data.

[In vitro T1- and T2-relaxation times of coagulating blood and thromboses].

A comparison between blood and thromboses is made on behalf of T1 and T2 relaxation data. Thereby, the time interval between the withdrawal and the measurement of blood forms a parameter of investigation. Among the thromboses the surgically removed ones are compared with those aggregated in blood during course of time.

Investigation of the hyaluronic acid-copper complex by N.M.R. spectroscopy.

Analysis of the 13C and 1H relaxation data of the hyaluronic acid-copper complex indicates a binding site involving the carboxyl group and O-1 of the D-glucuronic acid moiety. The paramagnetic relaxation of Cu2+ is discussed within the framework of the Solomon-Bloembergen formalism and it is shown that various atoms experience, in addition to the dipolar paramagnetic relaxation, a strong scalar relaxation contribution. E.

[Spin-lattice-relaxationtime T1 measurements of nucleosides (author's transl)].

Nucleosides and nucleotides have been investigated by means of the spin-lattice-relaxationtime T1, the measurements carried out in CDCl3 on the nucleosides adenosine (A), uridine (U) and inosine (I) indicate that the strength of H-bonding is highest in the basepair (A)--(U). The systems (A)--(A), (U)--(U), (I)--(A) and (I)--(U) however, show only a low tendency to associate. Plotting the spin-lattice-relaxationtime, of the nucleotide protons in fragments (mol weight below 40,000) originated from DNA or RNA, against increasing temperature gives a curve with a sigmoide shape and a Tm value of 80 degrees C.

[Spin-lattice-relaxationtime-T1 measurements of hyaluronic acid (author's transl)].

Reductions with [3H5NaBH4 proof that the decrease in viscosity of hyaluronic acid solutions caused by lowering the pH does not depend on a depolymerisation of hyaluronic acid. At the same time investigations at different pH-values, show a sigmoide increase of the Spin-Lattice-Relaxationtime T1. This increase depends on a progressive aggregation of the hyaluronic acid molecule.