131 research outputs found

    Fosilni les Carapoxylon iz spodnjemiocenskih plasti pri Komendi

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    Pieces of fossil wood were discovered near Komenda from the Lower Miocene beds. According to microscopic wood anatomy it corresponds to the family Meliaceae and to the genus Carapoxylon. This is the first identification of Miocene hardwood from Slovenia. Fossil woods of genus Carapoxylon are most common in the Ottnangian to Badenian period in central Europe (North Alpine Molasse Basin). The nearest living relatives of Carapoxylon belong to genus Carapa, Xylocarpus and Entandrophragma

    Measurement of catestatin and vasostatin in wild boar Sus scrofa captured in a corral trap

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    Objective Our aim was to analyse the chromogranin A-derived peptides vasostatin and catestatin in serum from wild boar (Sus scrofa) captured in a corral trap. Acute capture-related stress quickly leads to a release of adrenalin and noradrenalin, but these hormones have a short half-life in blood and are difficult to measure. Chromogranin A (CgA), a glycoprotein which is co-released with noradrenalin and adrenalin, is relatively stable in circulation and the CgA-derived peptides catestatin and vasostatin have been measured in domestic species, but not yet in wildlife. Results Vasostatin and catestatin could be measured and the median (range) serum concentrations were 0.91 (0.54–2.86) and 0.65 (0.35–2.62) nmol/L, respectively. We conclude that the CgA-derived peptides vasostatin and catestatin can be measured in wild boar serum and may thus be useful as biomarkers of psychophysical stress

    Pyrrolo 3,4-g quinoxaline-6,8-dione-based conjugated copolymers for bulk heterojunction solar cells with high photovoltages

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    A new electron-deficient building block 5,9-di(thiophen-2-yl)-6H-pyrrolo[3,4-g]quinoxaline-6,8(7H)-dione (PQD) was synthesized via functionalizing the 6- and 7-positions of quinoxaline (Qx) with a dicarboxylic imide moiety. Side chain substitution on the PQD unit leads to good solubility which enables very high molecular weight copolymers to be attained. The fusion of two strong electron-withdrawing groups (Qx and dicarboxylic imide) makes the PQD unit a stronger electron-deficient moiety than if the unit had just one electron-withdrawing group, thus enhancing the intramolecular charge transfer between electron-rich and deficient units of the copolymer. Four PQD-based polymers were synthesized which feature deep-lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) levels and bathochromic absorption spectra when compared to PBDT-Qx and PBDT-TPD analogues. The copolymers incorporated with benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) units show that the 1D and 2D structural variations of the side groups on the BDT unit are correlated with the device performance. As a result, the corresponding solar cells (ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer: PC71BM/LiF/Al) based on the four copolymers feature very high open-circuit voltages (V-oc) of around 1.0 V. The copolymer PBDT-PQD1 attains the best power conversion efficiency of 4.9%, owing to its relatively high absorption intensity and suitable film morphology. The structure-property correlation demonstrates that the new PQD unit is a promising electron-deficient building block for efficient photovoltaic materials with high V-oc

    Eisenaufnahme in Astroglia-reichen Primärkulturen

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    Fe is essential for the normal functioning of cells but can also generate toxic reactive oxygen species. The metabolism of Fe has to be tightly regulated. Astrocytes are considered to play an important role in Fe-homeostasis of the brain, yet the mechanisms involved in the uptake of Fe into astrocytes remain elusive. To investigate the uptake of Fe into astrocytes, I had applied FAC to rat astrocyte-rich primary cultures (APCs). The results of this thesis show that Fe-accumulationstudies in present of phosphat can lead to artefacts, because of the formation of Fe-precipitates. In serum and phosphat-free media APCs do accumulate Fe from FAC in a Tf-independent pathway, which follows a Michaelis-Menten-Kinetic that was found to be temperature-dependent and sensitive to the extracell. concentration of divalent cations. Further experimental results suggest that the here descript Fe-accumulation pathway is most likely independent form any known Fe-transporter reported in literature
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