Assessment of Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase1 (PARP1) expression and activity in cells purified from blood and milk of dairy cattle

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PAR) is a post-translational protein modification catalysed by enzyme member of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) family. The activation of several PARPs is triggered by DNA strand breakage and the main PARP enzyme involved in this process is PARP1. Besides its involvement in DNA repair, PARP1 is involved in several cellular processes including transcription, epigenetics, chromatin re-modelling as well as in the maintenance of genomic stability. Moreover, several studies in human and animal models showed PARP1 activation in various inflammatory disorders. The aims of the study were (1) to characterize PARP1 expression in bovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and (2) to evaluate PAR levels as a potential inflammatory marker in cells isolated from blood and milk samples following different types of infection, including mastitis. Our results show that (i) bovine PBMC express PARP1; (ii) lymphocytes exhibit higher expression of PARP1 than monocytes; (iii) PARP1 and PAR levels were higher in circulating PBMCs of infected cows; (iv) PAR levels were higher in cells isolated from milk with higher Somatic Cell Counts (SCC > 100,000 cells/mL) than in cells from milk with low SCCs. In conclusion, these findings suggest that PARP1 is activated during mastitis, which may prove to be a useful biomarker of mastitis

Wiederbelebung einer Utopie : Probleme und Perspektiven slavischer Plansprachen im Zeitalter des Internets ; am Beispiel von Slovio, Slovianski und Novosloviensky jezyk

Slavische Plansprachen (auch: künstliche oder konstruierte slavische Sprachen) sind ein Bereich, mit dem sich die slavische Sprachwissenschaft bisher nur wenig befasst hat. Projekte für eine gemeinsame slavische Sprache existieren jedoch bereits seit dem 17. Jahrhundert, angefangen von Juraj Križanićs Ruski jezik (1666) bis hin zu Slovan von Arnost Eman Židek (1940), darunter auch einige, die bisher noch keine Aufmerksamkeit von wissenschaftlicher Seite erhalten haben. Interessant ist das slavische Plansprachenschaffen aktuell vor allem durch die Tatsache, dass es seit den 1990er Jahren mit der zunehmenden Verbreitung des Internets einen neuen Aufschwung erlebt, der sich vor allem in den drei sehr umfangreichen Projekten Slovio (1999), Slovianski (2006) und Novosloviensky jezyk (2010) zeigt. Neben einer ausführlichen Einbettung in den historischen Kontext des slavischen Plansprachenschaffens werden diese drei Projekte im Hinblick auf Schriftsystem, Grammatik und Zusammensetzung des Lexikons vergleichend untersucht. Außerdem stellt sich die Frage, ob sie als Hinweise auf einen neu erblühenden Panslavismus gesehen werden können und welche Chancen auf praktische Umsetzung man ihnen im Rahmen der derzeitigen europäischen Sprachenpolitik einräumen kann. Das theoretische Grundgerüst stützt sich sowohl auf Erkenntnisse der slavischen Sprachwissenschaft als auch auf Methoden und Termini der Interlinguistik.Slavic planned languages (also: Slavic artificial or constructed languages) are a field of Slavic linguistics which has not been addressed much in the literature so far. However, projects for a common Slavic language have been existing since the 17th century, from Juraj Križanić’s Ruski jezik (1666) to Arnost Eman Židek’s Slovan (1940), among them also projects which have not yet received any scientific attention. Currently, the construction of Slavic languages is especially intriguing because it has been living through a small boom since the growing use of the internet in the 1990s. This can particularly be seen from the three very elaborate projects Slovio (1999), Slovianski (2006) and Novosloviensky jezyk (2010). Apart from embedding them into the historical context of Slavic language construction, these three projects are compared regarding their writing systems, grammars and the composition of their lexicon. Besides, the questions arise whether they can be seen as hints at a new bloom of Pan-Slavism, and which chances for practical use they can be assigned in the context of contemporary European language policy. Theoretically, the study is based both on findings of Slavic linguistics and methods and terminology of Interlinguistics

MARC-y MARC and the Coding Bunch

MARC records were identified, isolated from the other search results, then analyzed and individually coded. Coding identified where search terms appeared in a record, determined whether search terms were present in full or in part within those fields, and ascertained what prominent categories of fields were missing from records. Analysis of results ultimately showed that including notes and summaries into catalog records is important for content retrieval, while subject headings were not as impactful for access, but may be valuable to a subset of users who take the additional step of viewing the complete records

Rocking Aspergillus: morphology-controlled cultivation of Aspergillus niger in a wave-mixed bioreactor for the production of secondary metabolites

Background Filamentous fungi including Aspergillus niger are cell factories for the production of organic acids, proteins and bioactive compounds. Traditionally, stirred-tank reactors (STRs) are used to cultivate them under highly reproducible conditions ensuring optimum oxygen uptake and high growth rates. However, agitation via mechanical stirring causes high shear forces, thus affecting fungal physiology and macromorphologies. Two-dimensional rocking-motion wave-mixed bioreactor cultivations could offer a viable alternative to fungal cultivations in STRs, as comparable gas mass transfer is generally achievable while deploying lower friction and shear forces. The aim of this study was thus to investigate for the first time the consequences of wave-mixed cultivations on the growth, macromorphology and product formation of A. niger. Results We investigated the impact of hydrodynamic conditions on A. niger cultivated at a 5 L scale in a disposable two-dimensional rocking motion bioreactor (CELL-tainer®) and a BioFlo STR (New Brunswick®), respectively. Two different A. niger strains were analysed, which produce heterologously the commercial drug enniatin B. Both strains expressed the esyn1 gene that encodes a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase ESYN under control of the inducible Tet-on system, but differed in their dependence on feeding with the precursors d-2-hydroxyvaleric acid and l-valine. Cultivations of A. niger in the CELL-tainer resulted in the formation of large pellets, which were heterogeneous in size (diameter 300–800 μm) and not observed during STR cultivations. When talcum microparticles were added, it was possible to obtain a reduced pellet size and to control pellet heterogeneity (diameter 50–150 μm). No foam formation was observed under wave-mixed cultivation conditions, which made the addition of antifoam agents needless. Overall, enniatin B titres of about 1.5–2.3 g L−1 were achieved in the CELL-tainer® system, which is about 30–50% of the titres achieved under STR conditions. Conclusions This is the first report studying the potential use of single-use wave-mixed reactor systems for the cultivation of A. niger. Although final enniatin yields are not competitive yet with titres achieved under STR conditions, wave-mixed cultivations open up new avenues for the cultivation of shear-sensitive mutant strains as well as high cell-density cultivations.DFG, 325093850, Open Access Publizieren 2017 - 2018 / Technische Universität Berli

On Your MARC, Get Set, Code!

How are MARC records performing in our search environment? This presentation will look at the process and results of a research project that analyzed how users’ search terms matched up with MARC fields, as well as how and where MARC records were displayed in search results lists. Presenters will discuss the process, the results of the project, and outline how attendees can implement similar research projects at their institutions, including tools and techniques they can use to analyze how their own records are surfacing in a search environment

A Tale of Two Levels: Analyzing the Discoverability and Impact of Item-Level Description in EAD Finding Aids

As part of a multi-faceted research project examining user engagement with various types of descriptive metadata, Utah State University Libraries Cataloging and Metadata Services unit (CMS) investigated the discoverability of local Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids. The research team put two versions of the same finding aid online with one described at the file (box or folder) level and the other at the item level. Over a year later, the team pulled the analytics for each guide and assessed which descriptive level was most frequently accessed. The research team also looked at the type of search terms patrons utilized and where in the finding aid they were located. Usage data shows that personal names are the most common type of search term, search terms are most commonly found in the Collection Inventory, and that the availability of item-level description improves discovery by an average of 6,100% over file-level descriptions

Analyzing Discoverability in an MPLP World: How Levels of Description Impact Findability

Libraries and archives have differing opinions on how much effort to put into content description. Yet, descriptive practices meant to reduce processing time and increase exposure to collections can have unintended impacts on long-term user discovery. This project tests minimal and full description to determine the effects on discoverability

Microbial cultivation in rocking single-use bioreactors

The application of single-use bioreactors (SUB) for microbial cultivation, especially of reactor designs beyond the traditional stirred tank, is usually regarded as crucial. Especially the usually low gas mass transfer coefficients are insufficient, however this is not true for 2-dimensionally rocking motion bioreactors like the CELL-tainer®. Volumetric gas mass transfer coefficients (kLa-values) of 600 h-1 are achieved (fig. 1), which allow bacterial fed-batch cultivations up to a cell density of 50 gL-1 at growth rates of 0.3 h-1 w/o any oxygen blending (Junne et al, Chem Eng Technol 2013, 85, p. 57-66). One major asset in this respect are the low maximum shear forces in comparison to stirred tank reactors. This feature might be beneficial when shear sensitive microbes are cultivated, like marine phototrophic and heterotrophic microalgae and filamentous organisms. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Gewalt durch Frauen in Familien- und Paarbeziehungen

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es zu beantworten, welche Faktoren dazu beitragen, dass Frauen in Familien- und Paarbeziehungen in unterschiedlichen Kontexten Gewalt ausüben. Hierzu sollen neue Erkenntnisse gewonnen und bestehende Erkenntnisse zu Gewalt von Frauen in heterosexuellen Paarbeziehungen, gegen Kinder und in der informellen Pflege verknüpft werden. Um die Forschungsfrage zu beantworten, wird die Gewalt durch Frauen übergeordnet betrachtet und anhand von Literaturanalysen und Expert*inneninterviews in den gewählten Kontexten untersucht. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse aus beiden Erhebungsmethoden werden für die jeweiligen Kontexte zusammengefasst und anschließend in einer Synthese zusammengeführt. Die Ergebnisse der qualitativen Studie zeigen, dass die Ursachen von Gewalt durch Frauen multifaktoriell und Ebenen übergreifend sind. Die Gewalt kommt in sämtlichen Schichten und Formen vor. Sie kann als Reaktionsverhalten auftreten, durch Belastungen entstehen und ist abhängig von der Beziehung zum Gegenüber und der erlernten und erlebten Gewaltkultur. Das gesellschaftliche Rollenbild und die Vorstellung von Weiblichkeit konnten als weitere gewaltbedingende Ursache identifiziert werden, welche einen starken Einfluss auf die Art der Ausübung und den Umgang mit der Gewalt durch Frauen hat. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass die Faktoren von Gewalt durch Frauen in Familien- und Paarbeziehungen vielschichtig und komplex sind und genaue Entstehungszusammenhänge sowohl auf individueller als auch auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene untersucht werden müssen. Hierzu appelliert die Studie, dass tiefergehende Forschungen zu Ursachenzusammenhängen und zusätzlichen Gewaltkontexten durchgeführt werden müssen, um den Diskurs zu Gewalt durch Frauen zu enttabuisieren und zu entstigmatisieren. Nur durch ein prozesshaftes, wissenschaftlich fundiertes Vorgehen können passende Präventionsangebote und Unterstützungsleistungen für gewaltausübende Frauen entwickelt werden