Nutritional Value of the Duckweed Species of the Genus Wolffia (Lemnaceae) as Human Food

Species of the genus Wolffia are traditionally used as human food in some of the Asian countries. Therefore, all 11 species of this genus, identified by molecular barcoding, were investigated for ingredients relevant to human nutrition. The total protein content varied between 20 and 30% of the freeze-dry weight, the starch content between 10 and 20%, the fat content between 1 and 5%, and the fiber content was ~25%. The essential amino acid content was higher or close to the requirements of preschool-aged children according to standards of the World Health Organization. The fat content was low, but the fraction of polyunsaturated fatty acids was above 60% of total fat and the content of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids was higher than that of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids in most species. The content of macro- and microelements (minerals) not only depended on the cultivation conditions but also on the genetic background of the species. This holds true also for the content of tocopherols, several carotenoids and phytosterols in different species and even intraspecific, clonal differences were detected in Wolffia globosa and Wolffia arrhiza. Thus, the selection of suitable clones for further applications is important. Due to the very fast growth and the highest yield in most of the nutrients, Wolffia microscopica has a high potential for practical applications in human nutrition

Ermittlung und Entwicklung von Maßnahmen zum „Anstoßen“ nachhaltiger Konsummuster

Im vorliegenden Forschungsvorhaben wird das Potential von Nudges für den Bereich des nachhaltigen Konsums mit Schwerpunkt auf ökologischen Konsum untersucht. Nudges sind politische Instrumente und können als „Anstupser“ verstanden werden, die auf psychologischen und verhaltensökonomi-schen Erkenntnissen beruhen und Verhaltensänderungen bei den Steuerungsadressaten hervorrufen sollen. Im vorliegenden Bericht wird das Konzept zuerst definiert und hergeleitet. Danach werden Nudges in die ökologische Verbraucherpolitik eingeordnet. Anschließend werden in einer systemati-schen Literaturrecherche Anwendungsbeispiele dargestellt. Es folgt eine kriterienbasierte, schrittwei-se Auswahl von Nudges zum Zweck einer tieferen Analyse und potentiellen Anwendung. Selektionskri-terien sind hierbei das Kosten-Nutzen-Verhältnis der Maßnahme, die rechtliche Zulässigkeit in Deutschland, sowie die Akzeptanz bei Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern. Die schließlich fünf iden-tifizierten Good Practices entstammen den Konsumbereichen „Bauen und Wohnen“, „Mobilität“ und „Ernährung“. Auf der Grundlage von Diskussionen im Rahmen eines Multi-Stakeholder-Workshops werden diese verfeinert. Abschließend werden konkrete Umsetzungsszenarien vorgeschlagen und Handlungsempfehlungen für die Politik und Forschung abgeleitet

Modular architecture of nucleotide-binding pockets

Recently, modularity has emerged as a general attribute of complex biological systems. This is probably because modular systems lend themselves readily to optimization via random mutation followed by natural selection. Although they are not traditionally considered to evolve by this process, biological ligands are also modular, being composed of recurring chemical fragments, and moreover they exhibit similarities reminiscent of mutations (e.g. the few atoms differentiating adenine and guanine). Many ligands are also promiscuous in the sense that they bind to many different protein folds. Here, we investigated whether ligand chemical modularity is reflected in an underlying modularity of binding sites across unrelated proteins. We chose nucleotides as paradigmatic ligands, because they can be described as composed of well-defined fragments (nucleobase, ribose and phosphates) and are quite abundant both in nature and in protein structure databases. We found that nucleotide-binding sites do indeed show a modular organization and are composed of fragment-specific protein structural motifs, which parallel the modular structure of their ligands. Through an analysis of the distribution of these motifs in different proteins and in different folds, we discuss the evolutionary implications of these findings and argue that the structural features we observed can arise both as a result of divergence from a common ancestor or convergent evolution

Phosphate binding sites identification in protein structures

Nearly half of known protein structures interact with phosphate-containing ligands, such as nucleotides and other cofactors. Many methods have been developed for the identification of metal ions-binding sites and some for bigger ligands such as carbohydrates, but none is yet available for the prediction of phosphate-binding sites. Here we describe Pfinder, a method that predicts binding sites for phosphate groups, both in the form of ions or as parts of other non-peptide ligands, in proteins of known structure. Pfinder uses the Query3D local structural comparison algorithm to scan a protein structure for the presence of a number of structural motifs identified for their ability to bind the phosphate chemical group. Pfinder has been tested on a data set of 52 proteins for which both the apo and holo forms were available. We obtained at least one correct prediction in 63% of the holo structures and in 62% of the apo. The ability of Pfinder to recognize a phosphate-binding site in unbound protein structures makes it an ideal tool for functional annotation and for complementing docking and drug design methods. The Pfinder program is available at http://pdbfun.uniroma2.it/pfinder

Development of a Dipstick Assay for Detection of Leishmania-Specific Canine Antibodies

A dipstick assay, based on Leishmania infantum antigen, for the rapid detection of Leishmania-specific antibodies in canine serum samples was developed and evaluated. After determination of optimal dipstick test conditions, test performance was compared with two existing serological tests, i.e., the direct agglutination test (DAT) and the fast agglutination screening test (FAST). In the present study the dipstick test had a sensitivity of 99.2% and a specificity of 87.9%. The DAT had a sensitivity of 97.7% and a specificity of 95.2%, whereas the FAST had also a sensitivity of 97.7% and a specificity of 93.0%. High degrees of agreement were observed between the dipstick test and DAT (93.7%; κ value, 0.86), between the dipstick test and FAST (91.8%; κ value, 0.82), and between the DAT and FAST (95.2%; κ value, 0.90). The high sensitivity and ease of performance make the dipstick test very suitable for surveillance surveys

Short-term fasting in glioma patients: analysis of diet diaries and metabolic parameters of the ERGO2 trial

Purpose: The prospective, randomized ERGO2 trial investigated the effect of calorie-restricted ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting (KD-IF) on re-irradiation for recurrent brain tumors. The study did not meet its primary endpoint of improved progression-free survival in comparison to standard diet (SD). We here report the results of the quality of life/neurocognition and a detailed analysis of the diet diaries. Methods: 50 patients were randomized 1:1 to re-irradiation combined with either SD or KD-IF. The KD-IF schedule included 3 days of ketogenic diet (KD: 21–23 kcal/kg/d, carbohydrate intake limited to 50 g/d), followed by 3 days of fasting and again 3 days of KD. Follow-up included examination of cognition, quality of life and serum samples. Results: The 20 patients who completed KD-IF met the prespecified goals for calorie and carbohydrate restriction. Substantial decreases in leptin and insulin and an increase in uric acid were observed. The SD group, of note, had a lower calorie intake than expected (21 kcal/kg/d instead of 30 kcal/kg/d). Neither quality of life nor cognition were affected by the diet. Low glucose emerged as a significant prognostic parameter in a best responder analysis. Conclusion: The strict caloric goals of the ERGO2 trial were tolerated well by patients with recurrent brain cancer. The short diet schedule led to significant metabolic changes with low glucose emerging as a candidate marker of better prognosis. The unexpected lower calorie intake of the control group complicates the interpretation of the results. Clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT01754350; Registration: 21.12.2012

Calibration methods for charge integrating detectors

Since the introduction of the extremely intense X-ray free electron lasers, the need for low noise, high dynamic range and potentially fast charge integrating detectors has increased significantly. Among all the problems that research and development groups have to face in the development of such detectors, their calibration represents one of the most challenging and the collaboration between the detector development and user groups is of fundamental importance. The main challenge is to develop a calibration suite that is capable to test the detector over a wide dynamic range, with a high granularity and a very high linearity, together with a certain radiation tolerance and the possibility to well define the timings and the synchronization with the detector. Practical considerations have also to be made like the possibility to calibrate the detector in a reasonable time, the availability of the calibration source at the experimental place and so on. Such a calibration test suite is often not represented by a single source but by several sources that can cover different parts of the dynamic range and that need to be cross calibrated to have a final calibration curve. In this respect an essential part of the calibration is also to develop a mathematical model that allows calibrating the entire dynamic range, taking into account features that are calibration source and/or detector specific. The aim of this contribution is to compare the calibration for the AGIPD detector using several calibration sources such as internal current source, backside pulsing, IR pulsed laser, LED light and mono-energetic protons. The mathematical procedure used to cali-brate the different sources will be discussed in great detail showing how to take into account a few shortcomings (like pixel coupling) that are common for many charge integrating detectors. This work has been carried out in the frame of the AGIPD project for the European X-ray Free Electron Laser