Amorphous Iron Oxyhydroxide Nanosheets: Synthesis, Li Storage, and Conversion Reaction Kinetics

We present a facile approach to synthesize amorphous iron oxyhydroxide nanosheet from the surfactant-assisted oxidation of iron sulfide nanosheet. The amorphous iron oxyhydroxide nanosheet is porous and has a high surface area of 223 m(2) g(-1). The lithium storage properties of the amorphous iron oxyhydroxide are characterized: it is a conversion-reaction electrode material, and it demonstrates superior rate capabilities (e.g., discharge capacities as high as 642 mAh g(-1) are delivered at a current density of 2 C). The impedance spectroscopy analysis identifies a RC series subcircuit originated by the conversion-reaction process. Investigation of the conversion-reaction kinetics through the RC subcircuit time constant reproduces the hysteresis in the discharge/charge voltage profile. Hysteresis is then connected to underlying thermodynamics of the conversion reaction rather than to a kinetic limitation.We thank financial support from Generalitat Valenciana (ISIC/2012/008 Institute of Nanotechnologies for Clean Energies) and FP7 European project ORION (Large CP-IP 229036-2). We thank the financial support by the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) through its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) program

Is brain a gluconeogenic organ?

Glucagon increased the activities of alanine amino transferase (AAT), fructose-1:6-bisphosphatase (fru-P2ase) and glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase) in goat brain tissue by about 100%, 150% and 50% respectively. These increase in activities were reversed by β-antagonists propranolol. Well known α-agonist and antagonist like phenylephrine and phenoxybenzamine also increased AAT and G-6-Pase activities and these increased activities were reversed by propranolol. Phenylephrine and phenoxybenzamine however did not increase brain Fru-P2ase activity.However the most interesting finding is that cerebral cortical slices could produce glucose from alanine and this glucose production was enhanced by glucagon, phenylephrine and phenoxybenzamine. Propranolol reversed the effects of these agonists and antagonist to a great extent. From all these experiments we suggest brain to be a gluconeogenic organ although much less efficient than liver

Extracellular Proteome Analysis Shows the Abundance of Histidine Kinase Sensor Protein, DNA Helicase, Putative Lipoprotein Containing Peptidase M75 Domain and Peptidase C39 Domain Protein in Leptospira interrogans Grown in EMJH Medium

Leptospirosis is a re-emerging form of zoonosis that is caused by the spirochete pathogen Leptospira. Extracellular proteins play critical roles in the pathogenicity and survival of this pathogen in the host and environment. Extraction and analysis of extracellular proteins is a difficult task due to the abundance of enrichments like serum and bovine serum albumin in the culture medium, as is distinguishing them from the cellular proteins that may reach the analyte during extraction. In this study, extracellular proteins were separated as secretory proteins from the culture supernatant and surface proteins were separated during the washing of the cell pellet. The proteins identified were sorted based on the proportion of the cellular fractions and the extracellular fractions. The results showed the identification of 56 extracellular proteins, out of which 19 were exclusively extracellular. For those proteins, the difference in quantity with respect to their presence within the cell was found to be up to 1770-fold. Further, bioinformatics analysis elucidated characteristics and functions of the identified proteins. Orthologs of extracellular proteins in various Leptospira species were found to be closely related among different pathogenic forms. In addition to the identification of extracellular proteins, this study put forward a method for the extraction and identification of extracellular proteins