Application of Automatic Chromatic Dispersion Compensation for Realization of All-Optical Network

We have studied the algorithm for the automatic chromatic dispersion compensation using bit error rate (BER) and Q-factor optimization for realization of dynamically reconfigurable all-optical network. We have made sure good performance using the compensation system by laboratory experiments.     

Two-step photoionization of cold atoms by two-color evanescent-light waves and application to atom detection with high spatial resolution

We consider a new scheme of optically ionizing atoms with 10-nm-order spatial resolution. In this method, two-color near-field lights are generated on a narrow slit illuminated by two-color evanescent lights via total-internal reflection of two-wavelength light beams. In order to illustrate the feasibility, we first obtain the ionization cross section from two-step photionization of cold Rb atoms by two-color evanescent lights on a plane surface of a prism. Then, we numerically estimate the ionization efficiency as a function of the slit width using Bethe formula. The scheme is useful for detecting ground-state atoms under less perturbation by scattered light.     

Improved method for measurement of rhodanese activity using methanethiosulfonate as sulfur donor substrate and its application to human serum.

We have developed a sensitive method for the measurement of rhodanese activity in human serum which is based on the colorimetric method for the determination of thiocyanate produced from methanethiosulfonate and cyanide as substrates. Thiocyanate gives a red complex with ferric ion in an acidic condition. The present method is about 70-fold more sensitive than the conventional method using cyanide and thiosulfate as substrates and correlates well (r = 0.997) with the conventional method in bovine liver rhodanese. Within-run precision of the method is 0.91% for 420 units/l serum and the calibration curve is linear up to 1850 units/l. The normal value for human serum, determined by the present method on 31 healthy persons, was 20.9 +/- 20.0 units/l (mean +/- 2S.D.). Rhodanese activity was clearly elevated in some serum samples which were observed at abnormal values in some biochemical diagnostic tests and showed significant positive correlations with guanase activity (r = 0.728, p less than 0.01) and glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase activity (r = 0.625, p less than 0.01).     

Studies on the syntheses of heterocyclic compounds. CLXXIV. An approach to the synthesis of oxyacanthine and berbamine

Schotten-Baumann reaction of the amine (X) with 4-benzyloxy-3,4′-oxydiphenylacetyl chloride (XI) gave two amides, (XIIa) and (XIIb), which were cyclized to give the corresponding 3,4-dihydroisoquinolines, respectively. Methylation of the above 3,4-dihydro-isoquinolines, followed by hydrolysis, afforded the compounds having the same composition as berbamine (Ia) and oxyacanthine (Ib), whose structures are under examination.     

Factors affecting polyhydroxybutyrate biosynthesis in the marine photosynthetic bacteriumRhodopseudomonas sp. strain W-1S

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - A marine photosynthetic bacterium,Rhodopseudomonas sp. strain W-1S, accumulated polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) to 56% of the dry cell weight under microaerobic...     

Anticoagulant activity of immobilized thrombomodulin

Bovine lung thrombomodulin was partially purified, and immobilized on agarose gel (Sepharose 4B). Immobilized thrombomodulin inhibited the procoagulant activity of thrombin, and enhanced the thrombin-catalyzed protein C activation. The plasma recalcification time test showed that immobilized thrombomodulin prolonged plasma clotting time. It is suggested that the immobilization of thrombomodulin will provide an antithrombogenic biomaterial able to convert thrombin from a procoagulant to an anticoagulant enzyme.     

Pentamethylcyclopentadienide in organic synthesis: nucleophilic addition of lithium pentamethylcyclopentadienide to aromatic aldehydes and carbon-carbon bond cleavage of the adducts affording the parent aldehydes

Treatment of aromatic aldehyde with lithium pentamethylcyclopentadienide provided the corresponding carbinol in excellent yield. The carbinol returns to the parent aldehyde and pentamethylcyclopentadiene upon exposure to an acid or due to heating. The combination of the two reactions can represent a protection of aromatic aldehyde.     

Total synthesis of gambierol

[structure: see text] The first total synthesis of gambierol, a marine polycyclic ether toxin, has been achieved. The synthesis features the Pd(PPh3)4/CuCl/LiCl-promoted Stille coupling for the stereoselective construction of the sensitive triene side chain that includes a conjugated (Z,Z)-diene moiety.     

Cloning and sequence analysis of the poly(3-hydroxyalkanoic acid)-synthesis genes ofPseudomonas acidophila

Pseudomonas acidophila can grow with CO₂ as a sole carbon source by the possession of a recombinant plasmid that clones genes that confer chemolithoautotrophic growth ability derived from the H₂-oxidizing bacteriumAlcaligenes hydrogenophilus. H₂-oxidizing bacteria produce poly(3-hydroxybutyric acid) (PHB) from CO₂, but recombinant P.acidophila can produce the more useful biopolymer poly(3-hydroxyalkanoic acid) (PHA). In this study, thepha genes ofP. acidophila were cloned and a sequence analysis was carried out. A gene library was constructed using the cosmid vector pVK102. A recombinant cosmid carrying thepha genes was selected by the complementation of a PHB-negative mutant ofAlcaligenes eutrophus H16. The resulting recombinant cosmid pIK7 contained a 14.8-kb DNA insert. Subcloning was done, and the recombinant plasmid pEH74 was selected by hybridization with theA. eutrophus H16pha genes.Escherichia coli possessing pEH74 produced PHB, indicating that pEH74 contained thepha genes ofP. acidophila. The nucleotide sequences of the PHA-synthesis genesphaA (3-ketothiolase),phaB (acetoacetyl-CoA reductase), andphaC (PHA synthase) in pEH74 were determined. The homologies ofphaA, phaB, andphaC betweenP. acidophila andA. eutrophus H16 were 64.7, 76.1, and 56.6%, respectively.

     

Distributed computing and NMR constraint-based high-resolution structure determination: applied for bioactive Peptide endothelin-1 to determine C-terminal folding

Distributed computing has been implemented to the solution structure determination of endothelin-1 to evaluate efficiency of the method for NMR constraint-based structure calculations. A key target of the investigation was determination of the C-terminal folding of the peptide, which had been dispersed in previous studies of NMR, despite its pharmacological significances. With use of tens of thousands of random initial structures to explore the conformational space comprehensively, we determined high-resolution structures with good convergences of C-terminal as well as previously defined N-terminal structures. The previous studies had missed the C-terminal convergence because of initial structure dependencies trapped in localized folding of the N-terminal region, which are strongly constricted by two disulfide bonds.