Parameter identification of thermophilic anaerobic degradation of valerate

The considered mathematical model of the decomposition of valerate presents three unknown kinetic parameters, two unknown stoichiometric coefficients, and three unknown initial concentrations for biomass. Applying a structural identifiability study, we concluded that it is necessary to perform simultaneous batch experiments with differenitial conditions for estimating these parameters. Four simultaneous batch experiments were conducted at 55°C, characterized by four different initial acetate concentrations. Product inhibition of valerate degradation by acetate was considered. Practical identification was done optimizing the sum of the multiple determination coefficients for all measured state viariables and for all experiments simultaneously. The estimated values of kinetic parameters and stoichiometric coefficients were characterized by the parameter correlation matrix, the confidence interval, and the student's t-test at 9% significance level with positive results except for the saturation constant, for which more eperiments for improving its identifiability should be conducted. In this article, we discussekinetic parameter estimation methods.     

A stereochemical anomaly: the cyclised (R)-AMPA analogue (R)-3-hydroxy-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo[5,4-c]pyridine-5-carboxylic acid [(R)-5-HPCA] resembles (S)-AMPA at glutamate receptors

(RS)-3-Hydroxy-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo[5,4-c]pyridine-5-carboxylic acid (5-HPCA)(), which is a conformationally constrained cyclised analogue of AMPA has previously been described as causing glutamate receptor mediated excitations of spontaneously firing cat spinal interneurons in a similar fashion to AMPA. We have now prepared the enantiomers of through chiral chromatographic resolution of (RS)-3-(carboxymethoxy)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo[5,4-c]pyridine-5-carboxylic acid () followed by a stereoconservative hydrolysis resulting in the enantiomers of with high enantiomeric excess (% ee [greater-than-or-equal] 99). The absolute configurations indicated by an X-ray analysis of (-)- monohydrate were confirmed by comparing observed and ab initio calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra and by stereoconservative synthesis of (S)- from (S)-AMPA, the pharmacologically active form of AMPA. The pharmacological effects at native and cloned (GluR1-4) AMPA receptors were shown to reside exclusively with (R)-(+)-, in striking contrast to the usual stereoselectivity trend among AMPA receptor agonists. The reasons for this anomalous behaviour became clear upon docking both enantiomers of to the agonist binding site of GluR2.     

Preparation and Evaluation of [18F]AlF-NOTA-NOC for PET Imaging of Neuroendocrine Tumors: Comparison to [68Ga]Ga-DOTA/NOTA-NOC

Background: The somatostatin receptors 1–5 are overexpressed on neuroendocrine neoplasms and, as such, represent a favorable target for molecular imaging. This study investigates the potential of [¹⁸F]AlF-NOTA-[1-Nal³]-Octreotide and compares it in vivo to DOTA- and NOTA-[1-Nal³]-Octreotide radiolabeled with gallium-68. Methods: DOTA- and NOTA-NOC were radiolabeled with gallium-68 and NOTA-NOC with [¹⁸F]AlF. Biodistributions of the three radioligands were evaluated in AR42J xenografted mice at 1 h p.i and for [¹⁸F]AlF at 3 h p.i. Preclinical PET/CT was applied to confirm the general uptake pattern. Results: Gallium-68 was incorporated into DOTA- and NOTA-NOC in yields and radiochemical purities greater than 96.5%. NOTA-NOC was radiolabeled with [¹⁸F]AlF in yields of 38 ± 8% and radiochemical purity above 99% after purification. The biodistribution in tumor-bearing mice showed a high uptake in tumors of 26.4 ± 10.8 %ID/g for [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-DOTA-NOC and 25.7 ± 5.8 %ID/g for [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-NOTA-NOC. Additionally, [¹⁸F]AlF-NOTA-NOC exhibited a tumor uptake of 37.3 ± 10.5 %ID/g for [¹⁸F]AlF-NOTA-NOC, which further increased to 42.1 ± 5.3 %ID/g at 3 h p.i. Conclusions: The high tumor uptake of all radioligands was observed. However, [¹⁸F]AlF-NOTA-NOC surpassed the other clinically well-established radiotracers in vivo, especially at 3 h p.i. The tumor-to-blood and -liver ratios increased significantly over three hours for [¹⁸F]AlF-NOTA-NOC, making it possible to detect liver metastases. Therefore, [¹⁸F]AlF demonstrates promise as a surrogate pseudo-radiometal to gallium-68.     

The impact of metrological traceability on the validity of creatinine measurement as an index of renal function

When the calibration of a routine measurement procedure is traced back to metrological higher order, a significant discrepancy can occur between the analytical conditions of the routine measurement and the analytical conditions that were used in the clinical studies upon which the decision-making criteria are based. This can lead to serious interpretation errors with possible dramatic consequences for patients. The calibration of the creatinine Jaffé method is an excellent example of the importance of medical traceability. The compensated Jaffé method correlated accurately with the reference method and the compensated Jaffé creatinine clearance (CrCl), Cockroft and Gault and MDRD with the ⁵¹Cr EDTA clearance. The Schwartz estimate based upon the compensated Jaffé and enzymatic method overestimated, while uncompensated Jaffé slightly underestimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR). The situation in children is complex since serum creatinine concentrations are much lower in infants, rendering tubular secretion relatively more important. Low-molecular weight proteins have been suggested to replace serum creatinine as a marker for GFR. -trace protein, cystatin C, and ₂-microglobulin showed good correlation with GFR. However, care should be taken in patients presenting with some malignant tumors, since significant increases of cystatin C in patients with metastatic melanoma or colorectal cancer has been reported.Presented at the 9th Conference on Quality in the Spotlight, 18-19 March 2004, Antwerp, Belgium     

The Impact of Voice Disorders Among Teachers: Vocal Complaints, Treatment-Seeking Behavior, Knowledge of Vocal Care, and Voice-Related Absenteeism

Objectives

Teachers are at increased risk for developing voice disorders. Occupational risk factors have been extensively examined; however, little attention has been paid to the consequences of the vocal complaints. The objective of this study was to investigate the knowledge that teachers have about vocal care, treatment-seeking behavior, and voice-related absenteeism.

Methods

The study group comprised 994 teachers and 290 controls whose jobs did not involve vocal effort. All participants completed a questionnaire inquiring about vocal complaints, treatment-seeking behavior, voice-related absenteeism, and knowledge about vocal care. Comparisons were made between teachers with and without vocal complaints and with the control group.

Results

Teachers reported significantly more voice problems than the control population (51.2% vs 27.4%) (χ² = 50.45, df = 1, P < 0.001). Female teachers reported significantly higher levels of voice disorders than their male colleagues (38% vs 13.2%, χ² = 22.34, df = 1, P < 0.001). Teachers (25.4%) sought medical care and eventually 20.6% had missed at least 1 day of work because of voice problems. Female teachers were significantly more likely to seek medical help (χ² = 7.24, df = 1, P = 0.007) and to stay at home (χ² = 7.10, df = 1, P = 0.008) in comparison with their male colleagues. Only 13.5% of all teachers received information during their education.

Conclusions

Voice disorders have an impact on teachers' personal and professional life and imply a major financial burden for society. A substantial number of teachers needed medical help and was obligated to stay at home because of voice problems. This study strongly recommends the implementation of vocal education during the training of teacher students to prepare the vocal professional user.     

Stable Subconstructs: A Correction and New Results

In Lowen and Wuyts (Appl Categ Struct 8:235–245, 2000) the authors studied the simultaneously concretely reflective and concretely coreflective subconstructs of the category Ap of approach spaces. For the sake of shortness we call such subconstructs stable. Using a technique introduced in Herrlich and Lowen (1999) it was possible to explicitly describe such stable subconstructs by a condition on the objects which used certain subsets of [0, ∞ ]. Thus each stable subconstruct Ap _m described in [9] corresponds to the subset {0} ∪ [m, ∞ ] ⊂ [0, ∞ ] for m ∈ [0, ∞ ]. Although this characterization is correct, Theorem 4.7 in [9] stating that the subconstructs Ap _m were the only stable subconstructs of Ap is not. The main results, which together prove that the only stable subconstructs are those where a restriction is put on the range of the distances of the objects, are upheld, but it turns out that not only the sets {0} ∪ [m, ∞ ], but actually each closed subsemigroup of [0, ∞ ] determines a stable subconstruct (albeit again in exactly the same way as characterized in [9]). In the first part of our paper, Sections 1 and 2, we develop the general technique, which is totally different to the one from [3], and in Theorem 2.13 we prove the main result for the case of approach spaces. The technique which we develop is also applicable to other cases. Thus, in Section 3, more precisely in Theorems 3.9 and 3.11, we give the complete solution to the corresponding characterization problem for the constructs pq Met ^∞ of pseudo-quasi-metric spaces and p Met ^∞ of pseudometric spaces and in Section 4 we briefly sketch how the technique can be adapted and used to also completely solve the problem in the case of more general types of approach spaces and metric spaces. At the same time, in all cases, we are able to give necessary and sufficient conditions under which two stable subconstructs of one of these topological constructs are concretely isomorphic. It turns out that in all cases there are 2^à₀2^{\aleph_0} non-concretely isomorphic stable subconstructs.     

Dipole moments of compounds containing a cobalttin bond

The molecular electric dipole moments are reported for the series of tin-substituted tetracarbonyl cobalt compounds R_nY_m?nSn{Co(CO)₄}_4?m (m = 1–3; n ? m; R = alkyl, phenyl; Y = halogen). The effect of the substituents at the tin atom on the nature of the CoSn bond is established on calculating the (CO)₄CoSn group dipole moments. It is shown that the charge transfer in the CoSn bond is mainly determined by the inductive properties of the ligands attached to tin.