Towards an efficient liquid organic hydrogen carrier fuel cell concept

The high temperature required for hydrogen release from Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC) systems has been considered in the past as the main drawback of this otherwise highly attractive and fully infrastructure-compatible form of chemical hydrogen storage. According to the state-of-the art, the production of electrical energy from LOHC-bound hydrogen, e.g. from perhydro-dibenzyltoluene (H18DBT), requires provision of the dehydrogenation enthalpy (e.g. 65 kJ mol-1(H2) for H18-DBT) at a temperature level of 300 °C followed by purification of the released hydrogen for subsequent fuel cell operation. Here, we demonstrate that a combination of a heterogeneously catalysed transfer hydrogenation from H18-DBT to acetone and fuel cell operation with the resulting 2-propanol as a fuel, allows for an electrification of LOHC-bound hydrogen in high efficiency (> 50 %) and at surprisingly mild conditions (temperatures below 200 °C). Most importantly, our proposed new sequence does not require an external heat input as the transfer hydrogenation from H18-DBT to acetone is almost thermoneutral. In the PEMFC operation with 2-propanol, the endothermal proton release at the anode is compensated by the exothermic formation of water. Ideally the proposed sequence does not form and consume molecular H2 at any point which adds a very appealing safety feature to this way of producing electricity from LOHC-bound hydrogen, e.g. for applications on mobile platforms.Fil: Sievi, Gabriel. Forschungszentrum Jülich; AlemaniaFil: Geburtig, Denise. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Skeledzic, Tanja. Forschungszentrum Jülich; AlemaniaFil: Bösmann, Andreas. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Preuster, Patrick. Forschungszentrum Jülich; AlemaniaFil: Brummel, Olaf. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Waidhas, Fabian. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Montero, María de Los Angeles. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Química Aplicada del Litoral. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Química Aplicada del Litoral.; ArgentinaFil: Khanipour, Peyman. Forschungszentrum Jülich; AlemaniaFil: Katsounaros, Ioannis. Forschungszentrum Jülich; AlemaniaFil: Libuda, Jörg. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; AlemaniaFil: Mayrhofer, Karl J. J.. Forschungszentrum Jülich; AndorraFil: Wasserscheid, Peter. Universitat Erlangen-Nuremberg; Alemani

Consumption patterns of sweet drinks in a population of Australian children and adolescents (2003–2008)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intake of sweet drinks has previously been associated with the development of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. The present study aimed to assess the consumption pattern of sweet drinks in a population of children and adolescents in Victoria, Australia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data on 1,604 children and adolescents (4–18 years) from the comparison groups of two quasi-experimental intervention studies from Victoria, Australia were analysed<it>.</it> Sweet drink consumption (soft drink and fruit juice/cordial) was assessed as one day’s intake and typical intake over the last week or month at two time points between 2003 and 2008 (mean time between measurement: 2.2 years).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Assessed using dietary recalls, more than 70% of the children and adolescents consumed sweet drinks, with no difference between age groups (p = 0.28). The median intake among consumers was 500 ml and almost a third consumed more than 750 ml per day. More children and adolescents consumed fruit juice/cordial (69%) than soft drink (33%) (p < 0.0001) and in larger volumes (median intake fruit juice/cordial: 500 ml and soft drink: 375 ml). Secular changes in sweet drink consumption were observed with a lower proportion of children and adolescents consuming sweet drinks at time 2 compared to time 1 (significant for age group 8 to <10 years, p = 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proportion of Australian children and adolescents from the state of Victoria consuming sweet drinks has been stable or decreasing, although a high proportion of this sample consumed sweet drinks, especially fruit juice/cordial at both time points.</p

A molecular model for the role of SYCP3 in meiotic chromosome organisation.

The synaptonemal complex (SC) is an evolutionarily-conserved protein assembly that holds together homologous chromosomes during prophase of the first meiotic division. Whilst essential for meiosis and fertility, the molecular structure of the SC has proved resistant to elucidation. The SC protein SYCP3 has a crucial but poorly understood role in establishing the architecture of the meiotic chromosome. Here we show that human SYCP3 forms a highly-elongated helical tetramer of 20 nm length. N-terminal sequences extending from each end of the rod-like structure bind double-stranded DNA, enabling SYCP3 to link distant sites along the sister chromatid. We further find that SYCP3 self-assembles into regular filamentous structures that resemble the known morphology of the SC lateral element. Together, our data form the basis for a model in which SYCP3 binding and assembly on meiotic chromosomes leads to their organisation into compact structures compatible with recombination and crossover formation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02963.00

Beverage consumption among European adolescents in the HELENA study

Our objective was to describe the fluid and energy consumption of beverages in a large sample of European adolescent

Selective Hydrogenation of Acrolein Over Pd Model Catalysts: Temperature and Particle-Size Effects

In this work, the selectivity in hydrogenation of acrolein over Fe 3 O 4 -supported Pd nanoparticles is investigated as a function of nanoparticle size in the 220-270 K temperature range. While Pd(111) shows nearly 100% selectivity towards the desired hydrogenation of the C=O bond to produce propenol, Pd nanoparticles were found to be much less selective towards this product. In-situ detection of surface species using infrared-reflection absorption spectroscopy shows that the selectivity towards propenol critically depends on the formation of an oxopropyl spectator species. While an overlayer of oxopropyl species is effectively formed on Pd(111) turning the surface highly selective for propenol formation, this process is strongly hindered on Pd nanoparticles by acrolein decomposition resulting in CO formation. We show that the extent of acrolein decomposition can be tuned by varying the particle size and the reaction temperature. As a result, significant production of propenol is observed over 12 nm Pd nanoparticles at 250 K, while smaller (4 and 7 nm) nanoparticles did not produce propenol at any of the temperatures investigated. The possible origin of particle size dependence of propenol formation is discussed. This work demonstrates that the selectivity in hydrogenation of acrolein is controlled by the relative rates of acrolein partial hydrogenation to oxopropyl surface species and of acrolein decomposition, which has significant implications for rational catalyst design

Segmental Duplications Arise from Pol32-Dependent Repair of Broken Forks through Two Alternative Replication-Based Mechanisms

The propensity of segmental duplications (SDs) to promote genomic instability is of increasing interest since their involvement in numerous human genomic diseases and cancers was revealed. However, the mechanism(s) responsible for their appearance remain mostly speculative. Here, we show that in budding yeast, replication accidents, which are most likely transformed into broken forks, play a causal role in the formation of SDs. The Pol32 subunit of the major replicative polymerase Polδ is required for all SD formation, demonstrating that SDs result from untimely DNA synthesis rather than from unequal crossing-over. Although Pol32 is known to be required for classical (Rad52-dependant) break-induced replication, only half of the SDs can be attributed to this mechanism. The remaining SDs are generated through a Rad52-independent mechanism of template switching between microsatellites or microhomologous sequences. This new mechanism, named microhomology/microsatellite-induced replication (MMIR), differs from all known DNA double-strand break repair pathways, as MMIR-mediated duplications still occur in the combined absence of homologous recombination, microhomology-mediated, and nonhomologous end joining machineries. The interplay between these two replication-based pathways explains important features of higher eukaryotic genomes, such as the strong, but not strict, association between SDs and transposable elements, as well as the frequent formation of oncogenic fusion genes generating protein innovations at SD junctions

FACT Prevents the Accumulation of Free Histones Evicted from Transcribed Chromatin and a Subsequent Cell Cycle Delay in G1

The FACT complex participates in chromatin assembly and disassembly during transcription elongation. The yeast mutants affected in the SPT16 gene, which encodes one of the FACT subunits, alter the expression of G1 cyclins and exhibit defects in the G1/S transition. Here we show that the dysfunction of chromatin reassembly factors, like FACT or Spt6, down-regulates the expression of the gene encoding the cyclin that modulates the G1 length (CLN3) in START by specifically triggering the repression of its promoter. The G1 delay undergone by spt16 mutants is not mediated by the DNA–damage checkpoint, although the mutation of RAD53, which is otherwise involved in histone degradation, enhances the cell-cycle defects of spt16-197. We reveal how FACT dysfunction triggers an accumulation of free histones evicted from transcribed chromatin. This accumulation is enhanced in a rad53 background and leads to a delay in G1. Consistently, we show that the overexpression of histones in wild-type cells down-regulates CLN3 in START and causes a delay in G1. Our work shows that chromatin reassembly factors are essential players in controlling the free histones potentially released from transcribed chromatin and describes a new cell cycle phenomenon that allows cells to respond to excess histones before starting DNA replication

Amplification of a Zygosaccharomyces bailii DNA Segment in Wine Yeast Genomes by Extrachromosomal Circular DNA Formation

We recently described the presence of large chromosomal segments resulting from independent horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events in the genome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, mostly of wine origin. We report here evidence for the amplification of one of these segments, a 17 kb DNA segment from Zygosaccharomyces bailii, in the genome of S. cerevisiae strains. The copy number, organization and location of this region differ considerably between strains, indicating that the insertions are independent and that they are post-HGT events. We identified eight different forms in 28 S. cerevisiae strains, mostly of wine origin, with up to four different copies in a single strain. The organization of these forms and the identification of an autonomously replicating sequence functional in S. cerevisiae, strongly suggest that an extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) molecule serves as an intermediate in the amplification of the Z. bailii region in yeast genomes. We found little or no sequence similarity at the breakpoint regions, suggesting that the insertions may be mediated by nonhomologous recombination. The diversity between these regions in S. cerevisiae represents roughly one third the divergence among the genomes of wine strains, which confirms the recent origin of this event, posterior to the start of wine strain expansion. This is the first report of a circle-based mechanism for the expansion of a DNA segment, mediated by nonhomologous recombination, in natural yeast populations