Charge regulation in biomolecular solution.

Proteins and other biomolecules contain acidic and basic titratable groups that give rise to intricate charge distributions and control electrostatic interactions. 'Charge regulation' concerns how the proton equilibria of these sites are perturbed when approached by alien molecular matter such as other proteins, surfaces and membranes, DNA, polyelectrolytes etc. Importantly, this perturbation generates a charge response that leads to attractive intermolecular interactions that can be conveniently described by a single molecular property - the charge capacitance. The capacitance quantifies molecular charge fluctuations, i.e. it is the variance of the mean charge and is an intrinsic property on par with the net charge and the dipole moment. It directly enters the free energy expression for intermolecular interactions and can be obtained experimentally from the derivative of the titration curve or theoretically from simulations. In this review, we focus on the capacitance concept as a predictive parameter for charge regulation and demonstrate how it can be used to estimate the interaction of a protein with other proteins, polyelectrolytes, membranes as well as with ligands

"Yes, I have experienced that!" - How daily life experiences may be harvested from new hearing aid users

The aim of the present pilot study was to assess daily life experiences of new hearing aid users and explore ways to utilize these assessments in a follow-up situation with the hearing care provider. The method was designed as an online pass-time activity, where the patients swipe through the randomly presented experiences, and select the ones they have had recently. The sentences were expected to evoke the memory of recent experiences and provide a language for the patients to describe these. Thirty new hearing aid users were included in the study. Data were collected over a period of two months and consisted of 453 pre-fabricated sentences representing experiences related to HA use. Each sentence correlated with one of 13 categories covering both auditory and non-auditory aspects. Data for each patient was visualized to elucidate both short- and long-term challenges and successes experienced, as well as irrelevant and not experienced situations. Presently the first three patients included in the study have completed a two-month follow-up. The overall response rate is 63% taking into account that some patients may not have started the log activity yet as the work is ongoing

Vegetation phenology gradients along the west and east coasts of Greenland from 2001 to 2015

The objective of this paper is to characterize the spatiotemporal variations of vegetation phenology along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients in Greenland, and to examine local and regional climatic drivers. Time-series from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were analyzed to obtain various phenological metrics for the period 2001–2015. MODIS-derived land surface temperatures were corrected for the sampling biases caused by cloud cover. Results indicate significant differences between West and East Greenland, in terms of both observed phenology during the study period, as well as the climatic response. The date of the start of season (SOS) was significantly earlier (24 days), length of season longer (25 days), and time-integrated NDVI higher in West Greenland. The sea ice concentration during May was found to have a significant effect on the date of the SOS only in West Greenland, with the strongest linkage detected in mid-western parts of Greenland