Inhibition of prolyl oligopeptidase with a synthetic unnatural dipeptide

A new inhibitor, containing a linked proline-piperidine structure, for the enzyme prolyl oligopeptidase (POP) has been synthesised and demonstrated to bind covalently with the enzyme at the active site. This provides evidence that covalent inhibitors of POP do not have to be limited to structures containing five-membered N-containing heterocyclic rings

Fabrication of 1 kA class oxide superconducting transformer cooled by cryocooler for AC transport measurement

An AC current source of 1000 A class for AC transport measurements was designed and fabricated with using an oxide superconducting current transformer. Two cryocoolers were installed for cooling the transformer and a sample holder separately. A parallel conductor composed of six tapes was wound for a secondary winding and a transposition was performed to make the current distribution uniform in the parallel conductor. Temperatures of the transformer and the sample holder were controlled in the range of 35–50 and 25–77 K, respectively. The peak current in the secondary winding was over 1000 A in the frequency range of 1–75 Hz, when the primary peak current was 14 A