Two crystal structures of Trichoderma reesei hydrophobin HFBI--the structure of a protein amphiphile with and without detergent interaction.

Hydrophobins are small fungal proteins that are highly surface active and possess a unique ability to form amphiphilic membranes through spontaneous self-assembly. The first crystal structure of a hydrophobin, Trichoderma reesei HFBII, revealed the structural basis for the function of this amphiphilic protein--a patch consisting of hydrophobic side chains on the protein surface. Here, the crystal structures of a native and a variant T.

Common-sense descriptions of depression as social representations.

Background: Major depression is such a prevalent illness worldwide that practically everyone has either direct or indirect experience of it. It is important, then, from both practical and theoretical points of view, to examine this particular experience and related conceptions.

Aim: Drawing on the theory of social representations, this research set out to examine the ways in which people define depression in terms of the symptoms they attribute to people they know personally and consider to suffer from depression.

Northern environment predisposes birches to ozone damage.

Ozone sensitivity of silver birch ( BETULA PENDULA Roth) has been thoroughly investigated since early 1990's in Finland. In our long-term open-field experiments the annual percentage reduction in basal diameter and stem volume increment were the best non-destructive growth indicators for ozone impact when plotted against AOTX. Remarkable differences in defence strategies, stomatal conductance, and defence compounds (phenolics), clearly indicate that external exposure indices are ineffective for accurate risk assessment for birch.

Ab initio study on the adsorption of hydrated Na+ and Ag+ cations on a Ag(111) surface.

The interactions of Na(+) and Ag(+) cations with an Ag(111) surface in the presence and absence of water molecules were investigated with cluster models and ab initio methods. The Ag surface was described with two-layered Ag(10) and Ag(18) cluster models, and MP2/RECP/6-31+G(d) was used as the computational method. The effect of the basis set superposition error (BSSE) was taken into account with counterpoise (CP) correction.

Ab initio studies on nanoscale friction between graphite layers: effect of model size and level of theory.

Ab initio methods were used to investigate the nanoscale friction between two graphite layers placed in contact. The interaction energies were calculated for four two-layer models in series, C(6(n+1))2H(6n+1))-C(6)(n)2H(6)(n) with n = 1, 2, 3, and 4, and additionally for C(54)H(18)-C(6)H(6) and C(150)H(30)-C(6)H(6). The study was done with the Hartree-Fock method using basis sets 3-21G and 6-31G and with the second-order Møller-Plesset theory using basis set 6-31G.

Quantum chemical interaction energy surfaces of ethylene and propene dimers.

Ab initio studies of nonbonding interactions for ethylene and propene dimers were conducted at the MP2/6-311+G(2df,2pd) level. The dimers were attractive in all of the orientations studied; however, the attraction was <0.1 kcal/mol for ethylene D2h and C2h dimers, for which the pi-electron clouds or H atoms interact closely.

The subtle effects of iron-containing metal surfaces on the reductive carbonylation of RuCl3.

The use of iron-containing metal surfaces, Fe, Fe-Cr-alloy and stainless steel, for the synthesis of mixed metal Ru-Fe compounds has been studied. The studied process was reductive carbonylation of RuCl3 in the presence of a metal surface. Reactions were carried out in ethanol solutions under 10-50 bar carbon monoxide pressure at 125 degrees C using an autoclave.

Description of Wiener bounds of multicomponent composites by barycentric coordinates.

Wiener bounds for effective complex permittivity of multicomponent composites are treated by use of barycentric coordinates, a convex hull, and conformal mapping in a complex plane. Depending on the complexity of the multiphase system, the bounds provide singly or multiply connected regions that can be used in estimating the limits of the effective permittivity of the composite. The present modeling is important, e.

Synthesis, ocular effects, and nitric oxide donation of imidazole amidoximes.

Novel 1-R-imidazole-5-amidoximes and 1-R-5-cyano-imidazole-4-amidoximes (R: H, Me, Bn) were prepared from their corresponding nitriles and were tested for their efficacy to lower intraocular pressure (IOP) in rabbits. The ability of these compounds to donate nitric oxide (NO) was studied by observing the stimulation of formation of cyclic guanosine-3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP) in the incubation of porcine iris-ciliary body. In the incubation experiments, 1-methylimidazole-5-amidoxime and 1(H)-imidazole-4(5)-amidoxime stimulated formation of cGMP indicating NO donating ability of these compounds.

The complexation of two different ammonium ions with resorcarenes in protic solvent medium investigated by electrospray ionisation Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

The complexations of two ammonium ions (guests) with two resorcarenes (hosts) were investigated using electrospray ionisation Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Although the two guests and the two hosts were noticeably similar, the quantity of the corresponding supramolecular complexes formed varied significantly due to the differences in host conformations and guest ability to form non-covalent interactions.

Spacing of silver birch seedlings grown in containers of equal size affects their morphology and its variability.

Silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) seedlings were grown individually in containers arranged in rows radiating from a central point (Nelder plot) at densities spanning the range from 207 to 891 plants m(-2). Height of one set of seedlings was measured at weekly intervals and additional seedlings were harvested each week for dry mass and leaf area measurements. Height and shoot:root dry mass ratio increased with plant density.

Adaptations to fasting in a terrestrial mustelid, the sable (Martes zibellina).

The aim of this study was to investigate whether the actively wintering Palearctic sable Martes zibellina has evolved physiological adaptations to tolerate nutritional scarcity. Sixteen farm-bred male sables were divided into a fed control group and an experimental group fasted for 4 days. The rate of weight loss in the sable was similar to other medium-sized mustelids.

Fatty acid profiles and relative mobilization during fasting in adipose tissue depots of the American marten (Martes americana).

The American marten (Martes americana) is a boreal forest marten with low body adiposity but high metabolic rate. The study describes the FA composition in white adipose tissue depots of the species and the influence of food deprivation on them. American marten (n = 8) were fasted for 2 d with 7 control animals.

Laccase-catalyzed polymerization of two phenolic compounds studied by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight and electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry with collision-induced dissociation experiments.

Enzymatic oxidation of two phenolic compounds [syringic acid (3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxybenzoic acid) and 2,6-dimethylphenol] was studied. The products of laccase- and laccase-mediator-catalyzed oxidation reactions were monitored by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) and further analyzed by electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (ESI-FTICR) MS with collision-induced dissociation (CID) experiments. For the oligomers of syringic acid, some variability was observed in MALDI-TOF analysis.

Producing illumination-independent additively mixed colors by diffractive optics.

We apply transmission gratings under Littrow incidence to produce polychromatic colors by additive color mixing. Parametric optimization of gratings is employed to produce high efficiency. In addition, we show that the system can yield the same color from a wide variety of spectra; i.

White LED light coupling into light guides with diffraction gratings.

Radial diffractive gratings are used to couple light of a white LED into a light guide. Theoretical coupling efficiencies are evaluated with rigorous diffraction theory in a pure conical mounting. It is shown that when the refractive index of the grating increases from 1.

Electromagnetic field computation in semiconductor laser resonators.

An electromagnetic method based on rigorous diffraction theory of gratings is applied to the analysis of fields in semiconductor laser cavities. The method is based on the Fourier modal method; it is fully rigorous for infinitely periodic resonators and highly accurate for single resonators when absorbing boundary conditions are applied. Fundamental-mode intracavity and near-field distributions are evaluated for some selected geometries, and resonance frequencies are predicted.

Reanalysis of the Grønnerød (2003) Rorschach temporal stability meta-analysis data set.

I reanalyzed the Grønnerød (2003) Rorschach temporal stability meta-analysis data with a theoretically driven hierarchical regression analysis. I also examined the intrarater reliability of initial coding decisions and verified their consistency. In the new regression analyses, retest period strengthened its influence on stability, whereas methodological factors showed a tendency toward influence.

Local and average gloss from flat-faced sodium chloride tablets.

The purpose of this study was to detect local gloss and surface structure changes of sodium chloride tablets. The changes in surface structure were reflected by gloss variation, which was measured using a diffractive optical element-based glossmeter (DOG). By scanning a surface area, we constructed a 2-dimensional gloss map that characterized the tablet's surface structure.

Hydrophobin HFBII in detail: ultrahigh-resolution structure at 0.75 A.

Hydrophobins are small proteins secreted by filamentous fungi that have a unique ability to spontaneously form amphiphilic layers. Hydrophobins have only recently been structurally characterized through the first crystal structure determination of a protein of this class, Trichoderma reesei hydrophobin HFBII [Hakanpää, Paananen et al. (2004), J.

Complex formation between a tetramesityl sulfonated resorcarene and alkylammonium ions: a mass spectrometric study of noncovalent interactions.

Noncovalent complex formation between a tetramesityl sulfonated tetramethyl resorcarene and primary, secondary, and tertiary alkylammonium ions was investigated by electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Competition measurements, collision-induced dissociation, and gas-phase hydrogen/deuterium (H/D)-exchange reactions were employed to elucidate the interactions involved in complexation, the stability of the complexes, and the position of the guest with relation to the resorcarene. The complex formation ability of tetramesityl sulfonated resorcarene and the stability of the compexes were compared with the corresponding properties of tetratosylium tetraethyl resorcarene, which has been studied previously.

Quantum chemical treatment of large nanotubes via use of line group symmetry: structural preferences of magnesium dichloride nanotubes.

Nanotubes with diameters in the magnitude of 10 nm can be treated by quantum chemical methods, made possible by utilization of line group symmetries. The methodology presented here is applied for magnesium dichloride nanotubes. The structural preferences of MgCl2 nanotubes are strongly dependent on the tube diameter.