Synthesis and reversible hydration behavior of the thiosulfate intercalated layered double hydroxide of Zn and Al

The thiosulfate-intercalated layered double hydroxide of Zn and Al undergoes reversible hydration with a variation in the relative humidity of the ambient. The hydrated and dehydrated phases, which represent the end members of the hydration cycle, both adopt the structure of the 3R1 polytype. In the intermediate range of relative humidity values (40-60), the hydrated and dehydrated phases coexist. The end members of the hydration cycle adopt the structure of the same polytype, and vary only in their basal spacings. This points to the possibility that all the intermediate phases have a kinetic origin. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

A multi‐methods approach for assessing how conserving biodiversity interacts with other sustainable development goals in Nepal

Achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) requires a context-specific understanding of how actions to achieve one goal interact with others. We analyzed statistical data, and conducted online surveys and interviews with conservation professionals to understand how terrestrial conservation goals (SDG 15: Life on land) influence and are influenced by other goals in Nepal. Our findings suggest that SDG 15 synergized with economic growth (SDG 8), gender equality (SDG 5), water access (SDG 6), sustainable production and consumption (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13), but traded off with food security (SDG 2), energy access (SDG 7), poverty alleviation (SDG 1), and infrastructure development (SDG 9). Increased multi-sectoral collaboration between conservation and development stakeholders is urgently needed to address the negative impacts of other goals on SDG 15. Additionally, conservation measures in Nepal can benefit from being more people-focused, participatory, and contextualized to mitigate negative impacts on socioeconomic goals

Nematic suspension of a microporous layered silicate obtained by forceless spontaneous delamination via repulsive osmotic swelling for casting high-barrier all-inorganic films

Exploiting the full potential of layered materials for a broad range of applications requires delamination into functional nanosheets. Delamination via repulsive osmotic swelling is driven by thermodynamics and represents the most gentle route to obtain nematic liquid crystals consisting exclusively of single-layer nanosheets. This mechanism was, however, long limited to very few compounds, including 2:1-type clay minerals, layered titanates, or niobates. Despite the great potential of zeolites and their microporous layered counterparts, nanosheet production is challenging and troublesome, and published procedures implied the use of some shearing forces. Here, we present a scalable, eco-friendly, and utter delamination of the microporous layered silicate ilerite into single-layer nanosheets that extends repulsive delamination to the class of layered zeolites. As the sheet diameter is preserved, nematic suspensions with cofacial nanosheets of ≈9000 aspect ratio are obtained that can be cast into oriented films, e.g., for barrier applications

Segregation by thermal diffusion of an intruder in a moderately dense granular fluid

A solution of the inelastic Enskog equation that goes beyond the weak dissipation limit and applies for moderate densities is used to determine the thermal diffusion factor of an intruder immersed in a dense granular gas under gravity. This factor provides a segregation criterion that shows the transition between the Brazil-nut effect (BNE) and the reverse Brazil-nut effect (RBNE) by varying the parameters of the system (masses, sizes, density and coefficients of restitution). The form of the phase-diagrams for the BNE/RBNE transition depends sensitively on the value of gravity relative to the thermal gradient, so that it is possible to switch between both states for given values of the parameters of the system. Two specific limits are considered with detail: (i) absence of gravity, and (ii) homogeneous temperature. In the latter case, after some approximations, our results are consistent with previous theoretical results derived from the Enskog equation. Our results also indicate that the influence of dissipation on thermal diffusion is more important in the absence of gravity than in the opposite limit. The present analysis extends previous theoretical results derived in the dilute limit case [V. Garz\'o, Europhys. Lett. {\bf 75}, 521 (2006)] and is consistent with the findings of some recent experimental results.Comment: 10 figure

Renin inhibition by substituted piperidines: A novel paradigm for the inhibition of monomeric aspartic proteinases?

BackgroundThe aspartic proteinase renin catalyses the first and rate-limiting step in the conversion of angiotensinogen to the hormone angiotensin II, and therefore plays an important physiological role in the regulation of blood pressure. Numerous potent peptidomimetic inhibitors of this important drug target have been developed, but none of these compounds have progressed past clinical phase II trials. Limited oral bioavailability or excessive production costs have prevented these inhibitors from becoming new antihypertensive drugs. We were interested in developing new nonpeptidomimetic renin inhibitors.ResultsHigh-throughput screening of the Roche compound library identified a simple 3,4-disubstituted piperidine lead compound. We determined the crystal structures of recombinant human renin complexed with two representatives of this new class. Binding of these substituted piperidine derivatives is accompanied by major induced-fit adaptations around the enzyme's active site.ConclusionsThe efficient optimisation of the piperidine inhibitors was facilitated by structural analysis of the renin active site in two renin-inhibitor complexes (some of the piperidine derivatives have picomolar affinities for renin). These structural changes provide the basis for a novel paradigm for inhibition of monomeric aspartic proteinases

RNA-Seq Mapping and Detection of Gene Fusions with a Suffix Array Algorithm

High-throughput RNA sequencing enables quantification of transcripts (both known and novel), exon/exon junctions and fusions of exons from different genes. Discovery of gene fusions–particularly those expressed with low abundance– is a challenge with short- and medium-length sequencing reads. To address this challenge, we implemented an RNA-Seq mapping pipeline within the LifeScope software. We introduced new features including filter and junction mapping, annotation-aided pairing rescue and accurate mapping quality values. We combined this pipeline with a Suffix Array Spliced Read (SASR) aligner to detect chimeric transcripts. Performing paired-end RNA-Seq of the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using the SOLiD system, we called 40 gene fusions among over 120,000 splicing junctions. We validated 36 of these 40 fusions with TaqMan assays, of which 25 were expressed in MCF-7 but not the Human Brain Reference. An intra-chromosomal gene fusion involving the estrogen receptor alpha gene ESR1, and another involving the RPS6KB1 (Ribosomal protein S6 kinase beta-1) were recurrently expressed in a number of breast tumor cell lines and a clinical tumor sample