Proton magnetic resonance of the bovine spleen green heme-protein

AbstractThe ferric spleen green heme-protein exhibits hyperfine-shifted proton resonances between 90 and 20 ppm for the high-spin resting form and the chloride complex, and between 46 and −9.4 ppm for the low-spin nitrite complex. The proton NMR spectral profile of the enzyme is similar to that of lactoperoxidase, but different from those of common heme-proteins. The appearance of a resonance at 76 ppm in the ferrous enzyme shows the presence of a proximal histidine residue linked to the iron. The proton relaxation rates of bulk water indicate that chloride binds to the sixth position of the iron in the chloride complex of the enzyme

Direct-Reading, Time-Resolving Technique in Emission Spectroscopy and its Application to the Analysis of Iron, Steel and Iron Ores

An attempt of the time-resolution of emission spectra was carried out using a simple pulse generator by impressing a gate pulse on the dynodes of a photo-multiplier tube in the direct-reading spectrometer. Examinations were made on the variation of the intensity of spectral line with time in various atmospheres and it was confirmed that the after-glow is the longest in an argon atmosphere. The possibility of avoiding the effect of an interfering spectral line lying close to the analytical line was examined and this was proved to be possible with the analytical line of Si I 2881.58A and the interfering line of Cr II 2881.93A. The analytical line of calcium, Ca II 3933.67A, is interfered by Fe I 3933.61A and the effect of the spectral line of iron was avoided by the use of the time-resolving technique. This permitted the rapid determination of 0.001～0.1% of calcium in iron ores by the direct-reading spectrographic analysis

Electronic Structures of N-doped Graphene with Native Point Defects

Nitrogen doping in graphene has important implications in graphene-based devices and catalysts. We have performed the density functional theory calculations to study the electronic structures of N-doped graphene with vacancies and Stone-Wales defect. Our results show that monovacancies in graphene act as hole dopants and that two substitutional N dopants are needed to compensate for the hole introduced by a monovacancy. On the other hand, divacancy does not produce any free carriers. Interestingly, a single N dopant at divacancy acts as an acceptor rather than a donor. The interference between native point defect and N dopant strongly modifies the role of N doping regarding the free carrier production in the bulk pi bands. For some of the defects and N dopant-defect complexes, localized defect pi states are partially occupied. Discussion on the possibility of spin polarization in such cases is given. We also present qualitative arguments on the electronic structures based on the local bond picture. We have analyzed the 1s-related x-ray photoemission and adsorption spectroscopy spectra of N dopants at vacancies and Stone-Wales defect in connection with the experimental ones. We also discuss characteristic scanning tunneling microscope (STM) images originating from the electronic and structural modifications by the N dopant-defect complexes. STM imaging for small negative bias voltage will provide important information about possible active sites for oxygen reduction reaction.Comment: 40 pages, 2 tables, 16 figures. The analysis of Clar sextets is added. This version is published on PHYSICAL REVIEW B 87, 165401(2013

Software Defined Media: Virtualization of Audio-Visual Services

Internet-native audio-visual services are witnessing rapid development. Among these services, object-based audio-visual services are gaining importance. In 2014, we established the Software Defined Media (SDM) consortium to target new research areas and markets involving object-based digital media and Internet-by-design audio-visual environments. In this paper, we introduce the SDM architecture that virtualizes networked audio-visual services along with the development of smart buildings and smart cities using Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart building facilities. Moreover, we design the SDM architecture as a layered architecture to promote the development of innovative applications on the basis of rapid advancements in software-defined networking (SDN). Then, we implement a prototype system based on the architecture, present the system at an exhibition, and provide it as an SDM API to application developers at hackathons. Various types of applications are developed using the API at these events. An evaluation of SDM API access shows that the prototype SDM platform effectively provides 3D audio reproducibility and interactiveness for SDM applications.Comment: IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC2017), Paris, France, 21-25 May 201

Pharmacogenomic-guided clozapine administration based on HLA-DQB1, HLA-B and SLCO1B3-SLCO1B7 variants: an effectiveness and cost-effectiveness analysis.

The identification of pharmacogenetic factors that increase the susceptibility to clozapine-induced agranulocytosis or granulocytopenia (CIAG) has received increasing interest. The SLCO1B3-SCLO1B7 variant (rs149104283) and single amino acid changes in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) HLA-DQB1 (126Q) and HLA-B (158T) were associated with an increased risk of CIAG. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of adding the SLCO1B3-SCLO1B7 to HLA variants as a new pharmacogenomic (PGx) approach and explored the evolution of a cohort of schizophrenic patients taking long-term clozapine as a third-line antipsychotic medication. The decision model included probabilistic and deterministic sensitivity analyses to assess the expected costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The current monitoring scheme was compared with the PGx-guided strategy, where all patients underwent pre-emptively a genetic test before taking clozapine, over 10 years. By adding the SLCO1B3-SCLO1B7 variant into HLA variants, CIAG sensitivity increased from 36.0% to 43.0%, the specificity decreased from 89.0% to 86.9%, and the probability of cost-effectiveness improved from 74.1% to 87.8%. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was £16,215 per QALY and remained below the conventional decision threshold (£30,000 or US$50,000 per QALY). Therefore, the SLCO1B3-SCLO1B7 variant, as an additional risk allele to HLA variants, increases preemptive test sensitivity and improves the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of PGx-guided clozapine administration

Sulfonamides identified as plant immune-priming compounds in high-throughput chemical screening increase disease resistance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant activators are agrochemicals that protect crops from diseases by activating the plant immune system. To isolate lead compounds for use as practical plant activators, we screened two different chemical libraries composed of various bioactive substances by using an established screening procedure that can selectively identify immune-priming compounds. We identified and characterized a group of sulfonamide compounds – sulfameter, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfabenzamide, and sulfachloropyridazine – among the various isolated candidate molecules. These sulfonamide compounds enhanced the avirulent Pseudomonas-induced cell death of Arabidopsis suspension cell cultures and increased disease resistance in Arabidopsis plants against both avirulent and virulent strains of the bacterium. These compounds did not prevent the growth of pathogenic bacteria in minimal liquid media at 200 μM. They also did not induce the expression of defense-related genes in Arabidopsis seedlings, at least not at 24 and 48 h after treatment, suggesting that they do not act as salicylic acid analogs. In addition, although sulfonamides are known to be folate biosynthesis inhibitors, the application of folate did not restore the potentiation effects of the sulfonamides on pathogen-induced cell death. Our data suggest that sulfonamides potentiate Arabidopsis disease resistance by their novel chemical properties