RECONSTITUTION OF ALLOPHYCOCYANIN FROM Mastigocladus laminosus WITH ISOLATED LINKER POLYPEPTIDE

The core linker polypeptide Lc 8.9 was isolated from Mastigocladus laminosus and purified on a preparative scale. A method for the reconstitution of allophycocyanin (AP)—linker complexes from isolated polypeptides was developed. The complex (αAP(βAP)3 Lc 8.9 was reconstituted and compared to (αAPβAP) and (αAPβAP)3 by sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation, absorption, fluorescence emission and circular dichroism spectroscopy. Differences in the spectra of reconstituted and of directly isolated AP complexes are discussed

Bacteriochlorophyll aggregates in positively charged micelles

Micellar complexes were prepared from bacteriochlorophyll a and bacteriopheophytin a with the cationic detergents, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide and cetylpyridinium chloride. These complexes have spectroscopic properties (absorption, circular dichroism) which are very different from the ones formed with non-ionic detergents like Triton X-100, and also with anionic detergents. Bacteriochlorophyll a forms two complexes: One is blue-shifted and has excitonically coupled Qy transitions. The second one is extremely red-shifted. The unusual properties are suggested to result from interactions of the positively charged head-group of the detergent with the tetrapyrrole

Electronic and magnetic properties of substitutional Mn clusters in (Ga,Mn)As

The magnetization and hole distribution of Mn clusters in (Ga,Mn)As are investigated by all-electron total energy calculations using the projector augmented wave method within the density-functional formalism. It is found that the energetically most favorable clusters consist of Mn atoms surrounding one center As atom. As the Mn cluster grows the hole band at the Fermi level splits increasingly and the hole distribution gets increasingly localized at the center As atom. The hole distribution at large distances from the cluster does not depend significantly on the cluster size. As a consequence, the spin-flip energy differences of distant clusters are essentially independent of the cluster size. The Curie temperature $T_C$ is estimated directly from these spin-flip energies in the mean field approximation. When clusters are present estimated $T_C$ values are around 250 K independent of Mn concentration whereas for a uniform Mn distribution we estimate a $T_C$ of about 600 K.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; Revised manuscript 26. May 200

Multiple criteria decision analysis under uncertainty in sustainable construction : a neutrosophic modified best-worst method

Capturing uncertainty in multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is not a new theme but a largely developing topic which is in close connection with uncertainty theories such as fuzzy set and grey systems theories. Due to growing complexity of construction processes mainly because of implementation of sustainability aspects it would be necessary to take advantage of a novel MCDA methodology as an efficient tool to handle the uncertainty in sustainable construction decision making. In this study, we utilise a novel neutrosophic modified best-worst method (NM-BWM) to deal with the uncertainty in decision making in the context of sustainable construction. The method is an integration of neutrosophic set theory (NST) and the modified best-worst method (M-BWM). The NST can provide insights on efficient uncertainty handling of decision makers (DMs) subjective judgements. The BWM is a MCDA method which utilises two vectors of pairwise comparisons (the best criterion to others and others to the worst criterion) to obtain the weights of evaluation criteria. Merits of the BWM include its capability in effectively remedying the inconsistency derived from pairwise comparisons as well as simplicity and less pairwise comparisons compared to other similar methods like analytic hierarchy process (AHP). We show the applicability of the method in a case study with focus on the implementation of sustainable construction

Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy Markers LAMP2A and HSPA8 in Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer after Neoadjuvant Therapy.

In recent years autophagy has attracted the attention of researchers from many medical fields, including cancer research, and certain anti-macroautophagy drugs in combination with cytotoxic or targeted therapies have entered clinical trials. In the present study, we focused on a less explored subtype of autophagy, i.e., chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), with the key proteins LAMP2A and HSPA8 (HSC70), and their immunohistochemical evaluation with previously extensively validated antibodies. We were interested in whether the marker expression is influenced by the antecedent therapy, and its correlation with survival on a cohort of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after neoadjuvant therapy and matched primary resected tumors. In concordance with our previous study, we did not find any intratumoral heterogeneity, nor correlation between the two parameters, nor correlation between the markers and any included pathological parameters. Surprisingly, the expression of both markers was also independent to tumor response or administered neoadjuvant treatment. In the survival analysis, the results were only significant for LAMP2A, where higher levels were associated with longer 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival for the mixed group of adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0019 respectively) as well as the squamous cell carcinoma subgroup (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001 respectively). LAMP2A was also an independent prognostic marker in univariate and multivariate analysis

Tryptic phosphopeptides from whole casein. I. Preparation and analysis by fast protein liquid chromatography

Tryptic phosphopeptides were obtained from whole bovine casein by chromatography on the anion exchange resin QAE-Sephadex A 25. Salt gradient elution of the column allowed separation of non-phosphorylated peptides from phosphorylated species. The preparations obtained contained at least seven distinct phosphopeptides of which the following casein fragments were identified: αs1(43-58):2P, αs1(59-79): 5P, αs2(46-70): 4P, β(1-28): 4P, β(2-28): 4P, and β(33-48): 1P. Fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) on Mono Q HR 5/5 resin showed that the phosphopeptides were eluted in the same order as from the QAE-Sephadex resin. However, on the analytical column HR 5/5 the fragments αs1(59-79): 5P and β(2-28): 4P, having the same net charge under the conditions of chromatography, co-eluted, whereas they were at least partly separated on the preparative column HR 16/10. Following enzymic dephosphorylation, the peptides eluted at lower salt strength in the gradient. FPLC on Mono Q resin thus permitted dephosphorylation to be monitored and intermediates between the parent species and the fully dephosphorylated peptide to be identifie