Towards recombinantly produced milk proteins: Physicochemical and emulsifying properties of engineered whey protein beta-lactoglobulin variants

DFG, 273937032, SPP 1934: Dispersitäts-, Struktur- und Phasenänderungen von Proteinen und biologischen Agglomeraten in biotechnologischen ProzessenBMBF, 031B0222, Basistechnologie Nachwuchsgruppe "Multiskalige Modellierung und Modifikation von Multienzymkomplexen als Basistechnologie für zellfreie Reaktionskaskaden" (II

A call for standardised age-disaggregated health data.

The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda calls for health data to be disaggregated by age. However, age groupings used to record and report health data vary greatly, hindering the harmonisation, comparability, and usefulness of these data, within and across countries. This variability has become especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when there was an urgent need for rapid cross-country analyses of epidemiological patterns by age to direct public health action, but such analyses were limited by the lack of standard age categories. In this Personal View, we propose a recommended set of age groupings to address this issue. These groupings are informed by age-specific patterns of morbidity, mortality, and health risks, and by opportunities for prevention and disease intervention. We recommend age groupings of 5 years for all health data, except for those younger than 5 years, during which time there are rapid biological and physiological changes that justify a finer disaggregation. Although the focus of this Personal View is on the standardisation of the analysis and display of age groups, we also outline the challenges faced in collecting data on exact age, especially for health facilities and surveillance data. The proposed age disaggregation should facilitate targeted, age-specific policies and actions for health care and disease management

Amyloid aggregation of spin-labeled β-lactoglobulin. Part II : Identification of spin-labeled protein and peptide sequences after amyloid aggregation

Site-directed spin labeling (SDSL) of natural β-lactoglobulin (β-lg) was established. Combined electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and mass spectrometric analysis following tryptic digestion demonstrated that spin labels bind site-specifically but are not directed to all five cysteine residues to various preferred and reproducible extents. MTSSL and iodoacetamido-proxyl spin label (IPSL) were 80 and 60% reliably bound to the H strand, respectively, and combined in one spectral component and buried in the protein core. After heat incubation at pH 2 and fractionation, all labeled side chains (peptides) were part of the amyloid and non-amyloid fractions, even if they could not detect amyloid structures. It was assumed that the IPSL-labeled side chains of peptides with Cys160 from random coil were incorporated into small non-amyloid aggregates in non-polar environments. After heating at pH 3.5, a rearrangement of the previous α-helix was assumed to shift from the autonomous folding domain during partial unfolding, which improved the accessibility of β-sheets to the water/DMSO-environment. β-sheets were likely densely packed by the accumulation of intermolecular β-sheets, which suggests that amyloid-like structures can be formed from building blocks of the entire primary β-lg structure. Double electron-electron resonance (DEER) confirmed that the spatial distribution of labels within the amyloid-like fraction in a one-dimensional arrangement of the entire protein aggregates was similar to a string of pearls. Thus, SDSL of proteins containing several cysteine residues can be used to gain deep insights into the aggregation mechanism of proteins under food processing conditions.</p

A novel screening method for free non-standard amino acids in human plasma samples using AccQ·Tag reagents and LC-MS/MS

There are at least 500 naturally occurring amino acids, of which only 20 standard proteinogenic amino acids are used universally across all organisms in the synthesis of peptides and proteins. Non-standard amino acids can be incorporated into proteins or are intermediates and products of metabolic pathways. While the analysis of standard amino acids is well-defined, the analysis of non-standard amino acids can be challenging due to the wide range of physicochemical properties, and the lack of both reference standards and information in curated databases to aid compound identification. It has been shown that the use of an AccQ·Tag™ derivatization kit along with LC-MS/MS is an attractive option for the analysis of free standard amino acids in complex samples because it is fast, sensitive, reproducible, and selective. It has been demonstrated that the most abundant quantitative transition for MS/MS analysis of 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC) derivatized amino acids corresponds to the fragmentation of the molecule at the 6-aminoquinoline carbonyl group producing a common m/z 171 fragment ion and occurs at similar mass spectrometry collision energy and cone voltages. In this study, the unique properties of AQC derivatized amino acids producing high intensity common fragment ions, along with chromatographic separation of amino acids under generic chromatography conditions, were used to develop a novel screening method for the detection of trace levels of non-standard amino acids in complex matrices. Structural elucidation was carried out by comparing the MS/MS fragment ion mass spectra generated with in silico predicted fragmentation spectra to enable a putative identification, which was confirmed using an appropriate analytical standard. This workflow was applied to screen human plasma samples for bioactive thiol-group modified cysteine amino acids and S-allylmercaptocysteine (SAMC), S-allylcysteine sulfoxide (SACS or alliin) and S-propenylcysteine (S1PC) are reported for the first time to be present in human plasma samples after the administration of garlic supplements

Specific surface area and saltweathering of limestones : a laboratory study

Specific surface areas (SSA) results are used to discuss results of salt weathering tests of two grainstones and a travertine. SSA was found to be especially useful in the understanding of the travertine heterogeneous behaviour (with higher SSA in the clay-richer zones) and the conclusions can be considered transferable to travertines in general. The transferability of conclusions applies insofar as in these continental limestones the terrigenous clay-rich zones, whose composition was verified by the infrared spectra, would promote mesoporous portions that favour the migration of solutions and that are, hence, more susceptible to salt weathering. SSA did not distinguish the grainstones types (Semi-rijo and Moca Creme), which present different weight loss in the salt weathering tests (higher in Moca Creme), a result explained by the predominant macroporous (IUPAC sense) character of these rocks. These results suggest that petrographic studies can be employed in the definition of groups of rocks for which SSA could be used as estimator of mass loss under salt weathering conditions . Other perspectives of the stone cycle are also referred for the travertine considering the presence of a certain amount of pores with nanometric size in this rock and the possible higher specific values of presumably clay-richer residues from its cutting.Supported by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia through Project PORENET (POCTI/CTA/44940/2002) and strategic Projects PEst-OE/CTE/UI0697/2011 and Pest-OE/CTE/UI0098/2011. Funding by the European Union (FEDER) and the national budget of the Portuguese Republic

Data source, definitions and analytic approach to assess influenza seasonality.

<p>Data source, definitions and analytic approach to assess influenza seasonality.</p

Influenza seasonality assessment for Kenya, Malaysia.

<p>Influenza seasonality assessment for Kenya, Malaysia.</p

Influenza vaccination zones.

<p>Countries with data extrapolated from neighbours are in italics.</p

Primary and secondary influenza activity in the tropics and subtropics.

<p>Primary and secondary influenza activity in the tropics and subtropics.</p

Seasonal influenza vaccination zones.

<p>Seasonal influenza vaccination zones.</p