Photochemical dehydrogenation, ring contraction, and ring expansion of hydrogenated derivatives of benzoxazino-benzoxazine, quinoxalino-quinoxaline, and bibenzothiazole.

The photochemical properties of the title compounds have been investigated and compared. The benzoxazino-benzoxazine derivatives 1 are photochemically converted into hydrogenated oxazole derivatives. In some cases this ring contraction is accompanied by a dehydrogenation reaction whereby the heterocyclic ring system becomes aromatic. Hydrogenated quinoxalino-quinoxalines also undergo a photodehydrogenation reaction and become aromatic. However, a ring contraction yielding the imidazolyl system does not take place. The only investigated sulfur-containing analog has different properties. The stable form is the bibenzothiazole 23 which contains a five-membered heterocyclic ring system. Photochemically 23 rearranges under ring expansion to give the benzothiazino-benzothiazine 24

Commercial Bank Financing for Industrial Development

Has industrial development in South Dakota been hampered by financial constraints? Will the capital sufficient for future industrial financing needs be available? Focusing on commercial banks and their role in financing industrial development, the study which this bulletin reports specifically sought: 1 . to describe the structure, past, and probable future growth of manufacturing and processing industries in South Dakota. 2. to determine to what extent industrial firms are hampered by lack of funds for construction of new facilities, for expansion of present facilities, and for operating expenses; and to determine the basis of restriction. 3. to determine the present role of commercial banks in financing industrial development. 4. to determine attitudes that bankers have toward industrial development within their community and their attitudes and policies in financing this development. 5. to explore the potential and future role of the commercial banks in financing industrial development

Towards a consistent mechanism of emulsion polymerization—new experimental details

The application of atypical experimental methods such as conductivity measurements, optical microscopy, and nonstirred polymerizations to investigations of the ‘classical’ batch ab initio emulsion polymerization of styrene revealed astonishing facts. The most important result is the discovery of spontaneous emulsification leading to monomer droplets even in the quiescent styrene in water system. These monomer droplets with a size between a few and some hundreds of nanometers, which are formed by spontaneous emulsification as soon as styrene and water are brought into contact, have a strong influence on the particle nucleation, the particle morphology, and the swelling of the particles. Experimental results confirm that micelles of low-molecular-weight surfactants are not a major locus of particle nucleation. Brownian dynamics simulations show that the capture of matter by the particles strongly depends on the polymer volume fraction and the size of the captured species (primary free radicals, oligomers, single monomer molecules, or clusters)

Application of the Adjusted Weak Axiom of Profit Maximization to New Zealand Dairy Farming

The weak axiom of profit maximization is a nonparametric, empirical approach that has been used in the United States to analyze dairy farmers’ production and profit behavior under input and output price changes to determine whether farmers effectively respond to these changes. The expectation is that profit calculated using the current year’s input and output combination will be greater than that calculated from the previous year’s combination with current prices more often than due to chance. This approach was replicated using New Zealand dairy farm data (1,785 pairs of records over five years). Current year’s profits were significantly greater in two of the years and less in two years and in total. New Zealand’s pasture-based systems mean that this approach has limitations in evaluating farmers’ input and output decisions in response to price changes. Factors such as climatic impacts on pasture availability (a volatile input not included in the data set), and hence purchased feed requirements, affected the results. Farmer responses to costs and prices were not readily differentiated from other factors that affected input decisions or output. Results were interpreted with respect to climate, production, and income and cost changes, both nationally and regionally, with some interesting observations on farmer responses to variability

Polyamide capsules via soft templating with oil drops—1. Morphological studies of the capsule wall

Poly(terephthalamide) microcapsules can be reproducibly and easily prepared by interfacial polycondensation around emulsion droplets in water. Oil drops of cyclohexane/chloroform mixture stabilized with poly(vinyl alcohol) containing terephthaloylchloride serve as soft template. The interfacial polycondensation starts immediately after addition of an amine mixture (hexamethylenediamine/diethylenetriamine). Light and scanning electron microscopy prove the formation of capsules with size distribution in the range from a few up to 100 µm depending on particular composition of the reaction mixture. The morphology of the capsule wall is characterized by precipitated particles. If instead of pure organic solvents a reactive oil phase is used as template, the capsules can serve in subsequent reactions as templates for the synthesis of composite particles. In this way, styrene can be radically polymerized inside the capsule leading to composite capsules. The capsule morphology is determined by the partition of all components between all phases

Differential effects of Akkermansia-enriched fecal microbiota transplant on energy balance in female mice on high-fat diet

Estrogens protect against weight gain and metabolic disruption in women and female rodents. Aberrations in the gut microbiota composition are linked to obesity and metabolic disorders. Furthermore, estrogen-mediated protection against diet-induced metabolic disruption is associated with modifications in gut microbiota. In this study, we tested if estradiol (E2)-mediated protection against obesity and metabolic disorders in female mice is dependent on gut microbiota. Specifically, we tested if fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from E2-treated lean female mice, supplemented with or without Akkermansia muciniphila, prevented high fat diet (HFD)-induced body weight gain, fat mass gain, and hyperglycemia in female recipients. FMT from, and cohousing with, E2-treated lean donors was not sufficient to transfer the metabolic benefits to the E2-deficient female recipients. Moreover, FMT from lean donors supplemented with A. muciniphila exacerbated HFD-induced hyperglycemia in E2-deficient recipients, suggesting its detrimental effect on the metabolic health of E2-deficient female rodents fed a HFD. Given that A. muciniphila attenuates HFD-induced metabolic insults in males, the present findings suggest a sex difference in the impact of this microbe on metabolic health.Peer reviewe

Evaluation of the Influenza A Replicon for Transient Expression of Recombinant Proteins in Mammalian Cells

Recombinant protein expression in mammalian cells has become a very important technique over the last twenty years. It is mainly used for production of complex proteins for biopharmaceutical applications. Transient recombinant protein expression is a possible strategy to produce high quality material for preclinical trials within days. Viral replicon based expression systems have been established over the years and are ideal for transient protein expression. In this study we describe the evaluation of an influenza A replicon for the expression of recombinant proteins. We investigated transfection and expression levels in HEK-293 cells with EGFP and firefly luciferase as reporter proteins. Furthermore, we studied the influence of different influenza non-coding regions and temperature optima for protein expression as well. Additionally, we exploited the viral replication machinery for the expression of an antiviral protein, the human monoclonal anti-HIV-gp41 antibody 3D6. Finally we could demonstrate that the expression of a single secreted protein, an antibody light chain, by the influenza replicon, resulted in fivefold higher expression levels compared to the usually used CMV promoter based expression. We emphasize that the influenza A replicon system is feasible for high level expression of complex proteins in mammalian cells