CORE Organic Country Report Austria

In Austria research activities in the area of organic food and farming are mainly financed by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (BMLFUW). To some extent research activities are funded in cooperation with other regional government departments (“Bund-Bundesländer Kooperation”), the City of Vienna, stakeholder organisations or in cooperation with private funders

Copper(II) Complexes with Highly Water-Soluble L- and D-Proline Thiosemicarbazone Conjugates as Potential Inhibitors of Topoisomerase IIα

Two proline-thiosemicarbazone bioconjugates with excellent aqueous solubility, namely 3-methyl-(S)-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate-2-formylpyridine thiosemicarbazone (L-Pro-FTSC or (S)-H2L) and 3-methyl-(R)-pyrrolidine-2-carboxylate-2-formylpyridine thiosemicarbazone (D-Pro-FTSC or (R)-H2L) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, one- and two-dimensional 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy and ESI mass spectrometry. The complexation behavior of L-Pro-FTSC with copper(II) in aqueous solution and in 30% (w/w) dimethyl sulfoxide/water mixture has been studied via pH-potentiometry, UV−vis spectrophotometry, EPR, 1H NMR spectroscopy and spectrofluorometry. By the reaction of copper(II) acetate with (S)-H2L and (R)-H2L in water the complexes [Cu(S,R)-L] and [Cu(R,S)-L] have been synthesized and comprehensively characterized. An X-ray diffraction study of [Cu(S,R)-L] showed the formation of a square-pyramidal complex with the bioconjugate acting as a pentadentate ligand. Both copper(II) complexes displayed antiproliferative activity in CH1 ovarian carcinoma cells and inhibited the Topoisomerase IIα activity in a DNA plasmid relaxation assay

A Detailed Simulation Model to Evaluate the Crash Safety of a Li-Ion Pouch Battery Cell

In crash situations with an electric vehicle, the integrity of the battery cells is critical for the consequences of the crash. A short circuit triggered by deformation and damage of the internal cell structure can cause overheating of the battery (thermal runaway) and may result in a vehicle fire or even an explosion. Thus, for assessing the crashworthiness of electric vehicles, evaluating the deformation states of potential crash situations with respect to the occurrence of a short circuit is crucial. A particular challenge for building a cell model with acceptable computational time lies in the very different spatial scales regarding the overall cell size and the thickness of individual layers. Cells installed in vehicles have dimensions of several centimeters, whereas the thickness of the individual layers is in the micrometer range. Much research has already been conducted based on homogenized cell models that do not explicitly account for the internal layer structure, and existing material models calibrated to experimental data (e.g. [1]-[3]), while explicitly considering the layered structure is just pursued more recently (e.g. [4]-[7]). Within our contribution we introduce a detailed numerical model which, as a part of a multilevel simulation approach, can be used to evaluate the criticality of a deformation state. The model mimics the layered structure of the cell, whereby the constitutive properties were determined by in-house experiments on the respective materials. For validation, bending tests and indentation tests with different punch geometries along with CT-scans at selected indentation depths are available. Comparing the simulation results with the failure sequence and the force-displacement curve from the experiment, a closer view on critical deformations and on their respective stress states is obtained. The results indicate that in-depth understanding and modelling of the failure behavior is crucial for correctly modeling battery cells under crash loading scenarios

The thiosemicarbazone Me2NNMe2 induces paraptosis by disrupting the ER thiol redox homeostasis based on protein disulfide isomerase inhibition

Due to their high biological activity, thiosemicarbazones have been developed for treatment of diverse diseases, including cancer, resulting in multiple clinical trials especially of the lead compound Triapine. During the last years, a novel subclass of anticancer thiosemicarbazones has attracted substantial interest based on their enhanced cytotoxic activity. Increasing evidence suggests that the double-dimethylated Triapine derivative Me2NNMe2 differs from Triapine not only in its efficacy but also in its mode of action. Here we show that Me2NNMe2- (but not Triapine)-treated cancer cells exhibit all hallmarks of paraptotic cell death including, besides the appearance of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived vesicles, also mitochondrial swelling and caspase-independent cell death via the MAPK signaling pathway. Subsequently, we uncover that the copper complex of Me2NNMe2 (a supposed intracellular metabolite) inhibits the ER-resident protein disulfide isomerase, resulting in a specific form of ER stress based on disruption of the Ca2+ and ER thiol redox homeostasis. Our findings indicate that compounds like Me2NNMe2 are of interest especially for the treatment of apoptosis-resistant cancer and provide new insights into mechanisms underlying drug-induced paraptosis. © 2018, The Author(s)