'Where is the child I used to be?' Childhood remembered - Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum, Christa Wolf’s A Model Childhood and W.G. Sebald’s Austerlitz

Genes with reduced expression in Q 30 -YFP colonies versus Q 0 -YFP colonies. The table summarizes the expression differences of two data sets (Q0_3d, Q30_3d). Standard deviation and p-values were obtained as described above. Hits with a p-value greater than 0.05 are indicated in grey. (DOCX 16 kb

Patients' preference between two competing treatments: Carotid stenting and carotid surgery

There are two competing treatments for atherosclerotic stenosis of the carotid artery, a major cause of stroke carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS). There have been various studies of the comparative medical merits of both methods. However, there is a lack of research on factors affecting patients' preference, and the aim of this pilot- study was to attempt to determine the factors contributing to this. 15 patients, including International Carotid Stenting Study participants, and those from the Stroke unit ward and outpatients clinic, were given a standard questionnaire, covering safety, side- effects, personal fears and willingness to pay. After reading an information sheet, the patients were asked to fill in the questionnaire without intervention from myself. A 2 to 1 majority of interviewees stated a preference for stenting over surgery. The strongest factors in patients' choice appeared to be perceived risk, concern over side effects, and anxiety in regard to type of anaesthesia. It is clear that a larger study is required, perhaps with some modification to the questionnaire and a more representative sample of interviewees

Pyrazolopyrimidines in ‘all-natural’ products for erectile dysfunction treatment: the unreliable quality of dietary supplements

<div><p>A herbal food supplement advertised as a potency pill was screened for the presence of PDE5 inhibitors. The resulting signals were characterised by UV, LC-MS in ESI-negative mode, and NMR spectroscopy using 1D and 2D experiments. Several substances were identified, bearing the basic chemical structure of sildenafil, but were not supposed to exhibit PDE5 inhibition. These compounds may be process-related impurities or by-products of different reaction steps in the synthesis of PDE5 analogues. As they were found to be present in different capsules at different concentrations, this is an example of the unreliable quality of dietary supplements.</p></div

Principle component analysis of ¹H-NMR spectra of unstressed and HOCl-stressed <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> cell extracts.

<p>(A) PCA scores plot (on the left side) and loadings plot (on the right side) derived from ^<b>1</b>H-NMR data of methanol extracts of unstressed <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> MG1655 cells (black dots) and cells stressed for 5 min (blue dots), 10 min (green dots), 20 min (red dots), 40 min (orange dots),) and 60 min (purple dots). Each dot in the scores plot represents a certain ^<b>1</b>H-NMR spectrum (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0125823#pone.0125823.s003" target="_blank">S1 Table</a>). Each point in the loadings plot represents a spectral region (bin) on the scale of 0.05 ppm. Loadings highlighted in red boxes mark the ^<b>1</b>H-NMR peaks that were responsible for the greatest variance in the data and therefore for the group building in the scores plot. Scores and loadings for PC1 against PC2 are shown. Percentages in brackets specify the variance within all samples explained by a PC. (B) Recalculation of the PCA presented in Fig 2A by applying the same parameters and spectra; the bin at 2.67 ppm was not considered (see text for more details). (C) PCA scores plot (on the left side) and loadings plot (on the right side) derived from ^<b>1</b>H-NMR data of methanol extracts of unstressed <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> MG1655 cells (black dots) and cells stressed for 5 min (blue dots), 10 min (green dots),) and 20 min (red dots). By focusing on the early stress response of <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>, the loadings plot revealed additional outliers that contributed to the group formation in the scores plot.</p

Time-dependent GC/MS analysis of metabolites involved in various metabolic pathways.

<p>Relative concentrations of various metabolites involved in different metabolic pathways such as phosphate metabolism, organic acid metabolism and amine metabolism, identified by GC/MS analysis prior to HOCl stress (white bars) and in cells treated with 50 μM HOCl for 20 min (blue bars), 40 min (green bars), and 60 min (red bars). Concentrations are normalized to dry cell mass. Hit percentage of detected compounds compared with the NIST05 and NIST05s library is indicated in brackets after the compound name. Statistical significances are indicated as asterisks determined by Student’s t-test: *p < P<0.05; **p < P<0.01; and ***p < P<0.001. Shown is the mean ± standard deviation (n ≥ 3).</p

Model of metabolite alterations upon sub-lethal HOCl stress.

<p>Shown are the effects of HOCl stress within the first 20 min on the metabolism of <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i>. Identified metabolites are highlighted with a box. Metabolites that are downregulated are depicted in green, while upregulated metabolites are shown in red. Abbreviations: Ala, alanine; Asp, aspartate; Cit, citrate; Fum, fumarate; Glu, glutamate; GSH, glutathione; Iso-Cit, isocitrate; KG, α-ketoglutarate; Mal, malate; Met, methionine; Phe, phenylalanine; Pro, proline; Pyro-Glu, pyroglutamic acid; Succ, succinate; Succ-Coa, succinate-CoA; Ox-Succ, oxalosuccinate; Thr, threonine.</p

Stress-dependent alteration of metabolite concentrations after 20 min as determined by GC/MS and comparison with H₂O₂ exposure.

<p>Overview of the concentration alterations after HOCl exposure of metabolites included in the discussion of the main text. Comparison of metabolite levels of a previous study by Jozefczuk et al. who analyzed the metabolite alteration after H₂O₂ exposure. Alterations of the concentrations are indicated by arrows (↑ increase; ↓ decrease). For detailed information, see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0125823#pone.0125823.s004" target="_blank">S2 Table</a>.</p><p>Stress-dependent alteration of metabolite concentrations after 20 min as determined by GC/MS and comparison with H₂O₂ exposure.</p

Identification of a sub-lethal HOCl concentration.

<p>Viability of <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> MG1655 cells was analyzed in M9 minimal medium in the presence of the indicated concentrations of HOCl. Samples were removed after 10 min (A) or the indicated time points (B), serially diluted to 1:30, and spotted onto LB agar plates (1st to 5th dilution). (A) The viability was analyzed in 25 μM HOCl concentration steps. Cells were 100% viable at 0 and 25 μM HOCl. At 50 μM HOCl, they showed first indications of cell stress. Nevertheless, the cell viability remained at a high level. At 75 μM HOCl, the cells are harshly stressed and show a very low viability. (B) Cells were treated with 50 μM HOCl for various time points. The survival assay indicates cell stress; however, the viability remains high even after 60 min of HOCl treatment. The figure shown is the result of one representative experiment.</p