Ce4Ag3Ge4O0.5 - chains of oxygen-centered OCe2Ce2/2] tetrahedra embedded in a CeAg3Ge4] intermetallic matrix

The oxidation of an intermetallic phase under high-pressure/high-temperature conditions led to the synthesis of Ce4Ag3Ge4O0.5 exhibiting OCe2Ce2/2] tetrahedral chains, in which the oxygen atoms statistically occupy the tetrahedral centres. Starting from a 1 : 1 : 1 CeAgGe precursor (NdPtSb type), a multianvil high-pressure/high-temperature experiment at 11.5 GPa and 1250-1300 degrees C revealed Ce4Ag3Ge4O0.5, crystallizing in the space group Pnma with the following lattice parameters: a = 2087.3(4), b = 439.9(1), and c = 1113.8(2) pm. Magnetic measurements showed Curie-Weiss behavior above 100 K with an experimental magnetic moment of 2.42 mu B per Ce atom, close to the value for the free Ce3+ ion, clearly indicating trivalent cerium in Ce4Ag3Ge4O0.5. Full potential GGA+U band structure calculations resulted in metallic properties and a magnetic ground state with one unpaired 4f-electron per cerium in agreement with the experiments

Application of unmanned aerial vehicles for the organization of wireless 5G networks in the system of a smart city

This article illustrates ways to solve problems in the field of urban management with using modern 5G wireless networks. We have provided an overview of UAV-aided wireless communications, highlighting the key design considerations as well as the new opportunities to be exploited. Object of analysis is the communication process of a large number of distributed users. Subject of analysis is data transmission capacity, sufficient for stable communication of users and most services, taking into account the mobility of a huge number of users. We have gave examples on UAV-aided wireless communications with the help of three use cases: UAV-aided ubiquitous coverage, UAV-aided relaying, and UAV-aided information dissemination. Furthermore, the key design considerations for UAV communications, energy consumption by the UAVs have also been discussed. Lastly, we have highlighted two key performance enhancing techniques by utilizing UAV controlled mobility

Transcriptional response of Lactococcus lactis during bacterial emulsification

Microbial surface properties are important for interactions with the environment in which cells reside. Surface properties of lactic acid bacteria significantly vary and some strains can form strong emulsions when mixed with a hydrocarbon. Lactococcus lactis NCDO712 forms oil-in-water emulsions upon mixing of a cell suspension with petroleum. In the emulsion the bacteria locate at the oil-water interphase which is consistent with Pickering stabilization. Cells of strain NCDO712 mixed with sunflower seed oil did not stabilize the oil droplets. This study shows that the addition of either ethanol or ammonium sulfate led to cell aggregation, which subsequently allowed stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions. From this, we conclude that bacterial cell aggregation is important for emulsion droplet stabilization. To determine how bacterial emulsification influences the microbial transcriptome RNAseq analysis was performed on lactococci taken from the oil-water interphase. In comparison to cells in suspension 72 genes were significantly differentially expressed with a more than 4-fold difference. The majority of these genes encode proteins involved in transport processes and the metabolism of amino acids, carbohydrates and ions. Especially the proportion of genes belonging to the CodY regulon was high. Our results also point out that in a complex environment such as food fermentations a heterogeneous response of microbes might be caused by microbe-matrix interactions. In addition, microdroplet technologies are increasingly used in research. The understanding of interactions between bacterial cells and oil-water interphases is of importance for conducting and interpreting such experiments

An organometallic chimie douce approach to new Re(x)W(1-x)O3 phases

Re(x)W(1-x)O3.H2O and Re(x)W(1-x)O3 phases are prepared by a new organometallic chimie douce concept employing the organometallic precursor methyltrioxorhenium.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Chem. Com

Key changes in bovine milk immunoglobulin G during lactation: NeuAc sialylation is a hallmark of colostrum immunoglobulin G N-glycosylation

We monitored longitudinal changes in bovine milk IgG in samples from four cows at 9 time points in between 0.5 and 28 days following calving. We used peptide-centric LC–MS/MS on proteolytic digests of whole bovine milk, resulting in the combined identification of 212 individual bovine milk protein sequences, with IgG making up >50 percent of the protein content of every 0.5 d colostrum sample, which reduced to ≤3 percent in mature milk. In parallel, we analyzed IgG captured from the bovine milk samples to characterize its N-glycosylation, using dedicated methods for bottom-up glycoproteomics employing product ion-triggered hybrid fragmentation; data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD037755. The bovine milk IgG N-glycosylation profile was revealed to be very heterogeneous, consisting of >40 glycoforms. Furthermore, these N-glycosylation profiles changed substantially over the period of lactation, but consistently across the four individual cows. We identified NeuAc sialylation as the key abundant characteristic of bovine colostrum IgG, significantly decreasing in the first days of lactation, and barely detectable in mature bovine milk IgG. We also report, for the first time to our knowledge, the identification of subtype IgG3 in bovine milk, alongside the better-documented IgG1 and IgG2. The detailed molecular characteristics we describe of the bovine milk IgG, and their dynamic changes during lactation, are important not only for the fundamental understanding of the calf’s immune development, but also for understanding bovine milk and its bioactive components in the context of human nutrition

Cell Surface Properties of Lactococcus lactis Reveal Milk Protein Binding Specifically Evolved in Dairy Isolates

Surface properties of bacteria are determined by the molecular composition of the cell wall and they are important for interactions of cells with their environment. Well-known examples of bacterial interactions with surfaces are biofilm formation and the fermentation of solid materials like food and feed. Lactococcus lactis is broadly used for the fermentation of cheese and buttermilk and it is primarily isolated from either plant material or the dairy environment. In this study, we characterized surface hydrophobicity, charge, emulsification properties, and the attachment to milk proteins of 55 L. lactis strains in stationary and exponential growth phases. The attachment to milk protein was assessed through a newly developed flow cytometry-based protocol. Besides finding a high degree of biodiversity, phenotype-genotype matching allowed the identification of candidate genes involved in the modification of the cell surface. Overexpression and gene deletion analysis allowed to verify the predictions for three identified proteins that altered surface hydrophobicity and attachment of milk proteins. The data also showed that lactococci isolated from a dairy environment bind higher amounts of milk proteins when compared to plant isolates. It remains to be determined whether the alteration of surface properties also has potential to alter starter culture functionalities

Neurofilament as a blood marker for diagnosis and monitoring of primary progressive aphasias

Objective: To assess the utility of serum neurofilament for diagnosis and monitoring of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants. Methods: We investigated neurofilament light chain (NF-L) levels in blood of 99 patients with PPA (40 with nonfluent variant PPA [nfvPPA], 38 with semantic variant PPA [svPPA], 21 with logopenic variant PPA [lvPPA]) and compared diagnostic performance with that reached by CSF NF-L, phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H), b-amyloid (Ab(1)-42), tau, and phosphorylated tau. The longitudinal change of blood NF-L levels was measured and analyzed for correlation with functional decline and brain atrophy. Results: Serum NF-L is increased in PPA compared to controls and discriminates between nfvPPA/svPPA and lvPPA with 81% sensitivity and 67% specificity (cutoff 31 pg/mL). CSF NF-L, pNF-H, tau, phosphorylated tau, and Ab1-42 achieved similar performance, and pNF-H was the only marker for discrimination of nfvPPA from svPPA/lvPPA. In most patients with nfvPPA and svPPA, but not lvPPA, serum NF-L increased within follow-up. The increase correlated with functional decline and progression of atrophy of the left frontal lobe of all patients with PPAs and the right middle frontal gyrus of patients with nfvPPA and svPPA. Conclusions: Blood level of NF-L can aid the differential diagnosis of PPA variants, especially in combination with CSF pNF-H. Because serum NF-L correlates with functional decline and atrophy in the disease course, it qualifies as an objective disease status marker. Extended follow-up studies with cases of known neuropathology are imperative

Serum neurofilament light chain in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia

Objective To determine the association of serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) with functional deterioration and brain atrophy during follow-up of patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Methods Blood NfL levels from 74 patients with bvFTD, 26 with Alzheimer disease (AD), 17 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 15 healthy controls (Con) at baseline and follow-up were determined and analyzed for the diagnostic potential in relation to functional assessment (Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes [CDR-SOB], frontotemporal lobar degeneration-related CDR-SOB, Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]) and brain volumetry. Results At baseline, serum NfL level correlated with CSFNfL (bvFTD r = 0.706, p < 0.0001;AD/MCI r = 0.666, p = 0.0003). Highest serum levels were observed in bvFTD (p < 0 0.0001 vs Con and MCI, p = 0.0078 vs AD, respectively). Discrimination of bvFTD from Con/MCI/AD was possible with 91%/74%/74% sensitivity and 79%/74%/58% specificity. At follow-up, serum NfL increased in bvFTD and AD (p = 0.0039 and p = 0.0006, respectively). At baseline and follow-up, NfL correlated with functional scores of patients with bvFTD (e.g., CDR-SOB [baseline] r = 0.4157, p = 0.0006;[follow-up] r = 0.5629, p < 0.0001) and with atrophy in the gray and white matter of many brain regions including frontal and subcortical areas (e.g., frontal lobe: r = -0.5857, p < 0.0001;95% confidence interval -0.7415 to -0.3701). For patients with AD/MCI, NfL correlated with the functional performance as well (e.g., CDR-SOB [baseline] r = 0.6624, p < 0.0001;[follow-up] r = 0.5659, p = 0.0003) but not with regional brain volumes. Conclusions As serum NfL correlates with functional impairment and brain atrophy in bvFTD at different disease stages, we propose it as marker of disease severity, paving the way for its future use as outcome measure for clinical trials. Classification of evidence This study provides Class III evidence that for patients with cognitive problems, serum NfL concentration discriminates bvFTD from other forms of dementia

Investigation of an Escherichia coli O145 outbreak in a child day-care centre - extensive sampling and characterization of eae- and stx1-positive E. coli yields epidemiological and socioeconomic insight

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>On October 29^th2009 the health authorities in the city of Trondheim, Norway were alerted about a case of Shiga toxin-positive <it>E. coli </it>(STEC) O145 in a child with bloody diarrhoea attending a day-care centre. Symptomatic children in this day-care centre were sampled, thereby identifying three more cases. This initiated an outbreak investigation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A case was defined as a child attending the day-care centre, in whom <it>eae- </it>and <it>stx</it>₁- but not <it>stx</it>₂-positive <it>E. coli </it>O145:H28 was diagnosed from a faecal sample, with multilocus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) profile identical to the index isolate. All 61 children, a staff of 14 in the day-care centre, and 74 close contacts submitted faecal samples. Staff and parents were interviewed about cases' exposure to foods and animals. Faecal samples from 31 ewes from a sheep herd to which the children were exposed were analyzed for <it>E. coli </it>O145.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sixteen cases were identified, from which nine presented diarrhoea but not haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The attack rate was 0.26, and varied between age groups (0.13-0.40) and between the three day-care centre departments (0.20-0.50), and was significantly higher amongst the youngest children. Median duration of shedding was 20 days (0-71 days). Children were excluded from the day-care centre during shedding, requiring parents to take compassionate leave, estimated to be a minimum total of 406 days for all cases. Atypical enteropathogenic <it>E. coli </it>(aEPEC) were detected among 14 children other than cases. These isolates were genotypically different from the outbreak strain. Children in the day-care centre were exposed to faecal pollution from a sheep herd, but <it>E. coli </it>O145 was not detected in the sheep.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We report an outbreak of <it>stx</it>₁- and <it>eae-</it>positive STEC O145:H28 infection with mild symptoms among children in a day-care centre. Extensive sampling showed occurrence of the outbreak strain as well as other STEC and aEPEC strains in the outbreak population. MLVA-typing of the STEC-isolates strongly indicates a common source of infection. The study describes epidemiological aspects and socioeconomic consequences of a non-O157 STEC outbreak, which are less commonly reported than O157 outbreaks.</p

iCLIP: Protein-RNA interactions at nucleotide resolution.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are key players in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Precise knowledge about their binding sites is therefore critical to unravel their molecular function and to understand their role in development and disease. Individual-nucleotide resolution UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (iCLIP) identifies protein-RNA crosslink sites on a genome-wide scale. The high resolution and specificity of this method are achieved by an intramolecular cDNA circularization step that enables analysis of cDNAs that truncated at the protein-RNA crosslink sites. Here, we describe the improved iCLIP protocol and discuss critical optimization and control experiments that are required when applying the method to new RBPs