The Hirsch Institute of Tropical Medicine

In 2013, the Hirsch Institute of Tropical Medicine was officially inaugurated as a branch of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Infectious Diseases at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf under the direction of Professor Dieter Häussinger. The HITM serves as a place of scientific medical knowledge transfer, postgraduate medical training, and of conducting scientific projects relating to tropical medicine and infectious diseases

Onwards and upwards: European Journal of Medical Research continues as an open access publication

The well-established European Journal of Medical Research has joined BioMed Central's portfolio of journals in January 2012, converting to the open access publishing model. Since its launch in 1995 the journal has been a print-only publication; from now on, it continues as an open access, online-only journal. The conversion to open access opens up the potential for the journal to become a leading, globally visible title in the field of general medicine over the coming years

Design and applications of lanthanide chelating tags for pseudocontact shift NMR spectroscopy with biomacromolecules

In this review, lanthanide chelating tags and their applications to pseudocontact shift NMR spectroscopy as well as analysis of residual dipolar couplings are covered. A complete overview is presented of DOTA-derived and non-DOTA-derived lanthanide chelating tags, critical points in the design of lanthanide chelating tags as appropriate linker moieties, their stability under reductive conditions, e.g., for in-cell applications, the magnitude of the anisotropy transferred from the lanthanide chelating tag to the biomacromolecule under investigation and structural properties, as well as conformational bias of the lanthanide chelating tags are discussed. Furthermore, all DOTA-derived lanthanide chelating tags used for PCS NMR spectroscopy published to date are displayed in tabular form, including their anisotropy parameters, with all employed lanthanide ions, C; B; -Ln distances and tagging reaction conditions, i.e., the stoichiometry of lanthanide chelating tags, pH, buffer composition, temperature and reaction time. Additionally, applications of lanthanide chelating tags for pseudocontact shifts and residual dipolar couplings that have been reported for proteins, protein-protein and protein-ligand complexes, carbohydrates, carbohydrate-protein complexes, nucleic acids and nucleic acid-protein complexes are presented and critically reviewed. The vast and impressive range of applications of lanthanide chelating tags to structural investigations of biomacromolecules in solution clearly illustrates the significance of this particular field of research. The extension of the repertoire of lanthanide chelating tags from proteins to nucleic acids holds great promise for the determination of valuable structural parameters and further developments in characterizing intermolecular interactions

Charged acrylamide copolymer gels as media for weak alignment

The use of mechanically strained acrylamide/acrylate copolymers is reported as a new alignment medium for biomacromolecules. Compared to uncharged, strained polyacrylamide gels, the negative charges of the acrylamide/acrylate copolymer strongly alter the alignment tensor and lead to pronounced electroosmotic swelling. The swelling itself can be used to achieve anisotropic, mechanical strain. The method is demonstrated for the alignment of TipAS, a 17kDa antibiotic resistance protein, as well as for human ubiquitin, where alignment tensors with an AZZ,NH of up to 60Hz are achieved at a gel concentration of 2% (w/v). The alignment can be modulated by the variation of pH, ionic strength, and gel concentration. The high mechanical stability of the swollen gels makes it possible to obtain alignment at polymer concentrations of less than 1% (w/v

Intrahepatic type II gall bladder perforation by a gall stone in a CAPD patient

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Perforation of the gall bladder represents a rare, but life-threatening complication of cholecystitis. Clinical presentation may vary between severe peritonism in acute perforation and absence of symptoms in subacute or chronic progression of perforation. Abdominal imaging like ultrasound or CT-scan are important tools for immediate diagnose of gall bladder perforation.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a 30-year old female patient with end-stage kidney disease treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) who was admitted to the emergency room with fever and mild abdominal pain. A type II gall bladder perforation by a solitary gall stone with development of a liver abscess was detected by abdominal ultrasound.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Gall bladder perforations are rare but have to be considered in patients with abdominal pain and fever. Abdominal ultrasound is a reliable tool to establish diagnosis.</p

Das Hirsch Institut für Tropenmedizin Asella, Äthiopien

Dieter Häussinger, geboren 1951, ist seit 1994 Lehrstuhlinhaber für Innere Medizin an der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf und Direktor der Medizinischen Klinik und Poliklinik für Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie und Infektiologie. Dieter Häussinger erhielt zahlreiche nationale und internationale Wissenschaftspreise, u. a. den Gottfried Wilhelm-Leibniz-Preis der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft. Er war Dekan der Medizinischen Fakultät und Vorstandsmitglied des Universitätsklinikums Düsseldorf (1998–2002), Mitglied im Medizinausschuss des Wissenschaftsrats und ist Senator der Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Leibniz, Mitglied der Nationalen Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina und der Nordrhein Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste. Er war Sprecher des Sonderforschungsbereichs (SFB) 575 „Experimentelle Hepatologie“ (2000–2011) und ist seit 2012 Sprecher der Klinischen Forschergruppe 217 „Hepatobiliärer Transport und Lebererkrankungen“ und des SFB 974 „Kommunikation und Systemrelevanz bei Leberschädigung und Regeneration“. Neben seinen Aktivitäten im Bereich der klinischen und experimentellen Hepatologie und Gastroenterologie gilt sein Engagement dem Ausbau und der Weiterentwicklung der klinischen Infektiologie. In diesem Zusammenhang erfolgte die Zertifizierung seiner Klinik als Zentrum für Infektiologie, der Aufbau einer tropenmedizinischen Ambulanz und Infektionssprechstunden, die Errichtung des Leber und Infektionszentrums mit der einzigen Sonderisoliereinheit in Nordrhein-Westfalen für hochinfektiöse Patienten sowie die Gründung des Hirsch Instituts für Tropenmedizin, welches 2013 als Außenstelle der Klinik für Gastroenterologie, Hepatologie und Infektiologie eröffnet wurde

Application of Paramagnetic Lanthanoid Chelating Tags in NMR Spectroscopy and Their Use for the Localization of Ligands Within Biomacromolecules

The application of paramagnetic lanthanoid chelating tags for the localization of ligands within biomacromolecules enables the elucidation of binding pockets and positioning of ligands within given targets of interest, a crucial prerequisite for rational drug design. This case study consists of an overview about lanthanoid chelating tags, a description of their structural properties, the induced anisotropy as well as approaches for the localization of ligands within biomacromolecules. The localization of sulfonamide inhibitors within human carbonic anhydrase II with an accuracy of up to 0.8 Å over distances of 22–38 Å using 19F pseudocontact shift is presented as a practical example

Symmetry as a new element to control molecular switches

The isomerization properties of an azocarbazole macrocycle in solution were investigated utilizing NMR spectroscopy with in situ irradiation in combination with DFT calculations. It was demonstrated that the position of azo units in a rigid macrocyclic system influences the photoisomerization pathway even if the initial all-E isomer is highly symmetric. Furthermore, the effect of ring strain on lowering the rates of thermal isomerization was demonstrated and a mechanism via an inversion-rotation proposed. The herein presented results and methods give new insights into the general nature of the azobenzene unit. In particular we illustrate the effect of symmetry changes due to macrocyclic arrangement on the photochemical and thermal isomerization properties, which will stimulate future development towards multinary molecular switches