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We have studied the mechanism of A- 769662, a new activator of AMP- activated protein kinase ( AMPK). Unlike other pharmacological activators, it directly activates native rat AMPK by mimicking both effects of AMP, i. e. allosteric activation and inhibition of dephosphorylation. We found that it has no effect on the isolated alpha subunit kinase domain, with or without the associated autoinhibitor

A numerical method for the transient moisture flow in porous cellulosic materials like paper and wood is presented. The derivation of the model is based on mass conservation for a mixture containing a vapour phase and an adsorbed water phase embedded in a porous solid material. The principle of virtual moisture concentrations in conjunction with a consistent linearization procedure is used to prod

The objective was to investigate definitions of frailty used in studies of multi-component health promotion and disease-preventive (HPDP) intervention programmes for community-dwelling frail elderly persons and to review the content, organisation and effects of HPDP interventions. A systematic review of 19 articles was made, and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Healt

Steroid injections are often employed as an alternative treatment for radicular pain in patients with degenerative spinal disorders. Prospective randomised studies of the lumbar spine reveal contradictory results and non-randomised and most often retrospective studies of the cervical spine indicate pain reduction from steroid injections. No prospective randomised study on transforaminal steroid in

Charge-charge interactions in proteins are important in a host of biological processes. Here we use C-13 NMR chemical shift data for individual aspartate and glutamate side chain carboxylate groups to accurately detect site-specific protonation equilibria in a variant of the B1 domain of protein G (PGB1-QDD). Carbon chemical shifts are dominated by changes in the electron distribution within the s

Despite significant advances in the understanding and modelling of turbulent combustion, no general model has been proposed for simulating flames in industrial combustion devices. Recently, the increase in computational possibilities has raised the hope of directly solving the large turbulent scales using large eddy simulation (LES) and capturing the important time-dependant phenomena. However, th

Unilateral removal of the pelvic ganglion affected the bladder-half on the denervated side more profoundly than that on the non-denervated side. At an early stage (3-7 days) the former was heavier, had a lower choline acetyltransferase activity, developed less tension to nerve stimulation and, in course of time, became more sensitized to methacholine in vitro than the latter. At a late stage (30-6

An all-solid-state fast-tuning lidar transmitter for range- and temporally resolved atmospheric gas concentration measurements has been developed and thoroughly tested. The instrument is based on a commercial optical parametric oscillator (OPO) laser system, which has been redesigned with piezoelectric transducers mounted on the wavelength-tuning mirror and on the crystal angle tuning element in t

Secretory lysosomes of natural killer (NK) cells combine storage, regulated secretion and lysosomal activity. We asked whether one could target exogenous proteins to the secretory lysosomes of NK-cells for final delivery into a tumor site upon degranulation. cDNAs for both soluble and transmembrane (tm) proteins were expressed in the human YT-Indy NK-cell line. Targeting of a soluble TNF receptor

The mobilization of fatty acids from rat and human fat cells is selective according to molecular structure, and notably carbon atom chain length. This study aimed at examining whether the release of individual fatty acids from triacylglycerols (TAG) by hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) plays a role in the selectivity of fatty acid mobilization. Recombinant rat and human HSL were incubated with a lipi

Due to increasing demand for software project managers in industry, efforts are needed to develop the management-related knowledge and skills of the current and future software workforce. In particular, university education needs to provide to their computer science and software engineering (SE) students not only technology-related skills but, in addition, a basic understanding of typical phenomen

We consider a family of differential equations that describes traveling waves in a reaction-diffusion equation modeling oxidation of carbon oxide on a platinum surface, near the onset of spatio-temporal chaos. The organizing bifurcation for the bifurcation structure with small carbon oxide pressures, turns out to be a codimension 3 bifurcation involving a homoclinic orbit to an equilibrium undergo

A charging unit for unipolar charging of cloud and fog droplets has been developed and calibrated regarding ion current, angular distribution of ions, mean droplet charge and droplet charge distribution. The charger is part of the droplet aerosol analyser, which is an instrument used for characterisation of droplets and interstitial particles in atmospheric clouds and fog. Three different calibrat

A capacitive immunosensor based on a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of thiourea on gold electrode has been developed. Anti-carcinoembryonic antigen (anti-CEA) was immobilized on a self-assembled thiourea monolayer (SATUM) via covalent coupling. Under optimum conditions, the decrease in capacitive signal when carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) standard was injected could be determined with a detection

Monoclonal antibodies for targeting cytotoxic conjugates to tumor cells are currently being evaluated together with extracorporeal affinity adsorption. The aim of the adsorption was to reduce undesired side effects in normal organs and to increase the tumor-to-normal tissue ratios. This technique is also applicable to several other therapeutic areas such as immune-mediated disorders, that is, auto