Oat (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Avena sativa</Emphasis>) Seed Extract as an Antifungal Food Preservative Through the Catalytic Activity of a Highly Abundant Class I Chitinase

Extracts from different higher plants were screened for the ability to inhibit the growth of Penicillium roqueforti, a major contaminating species in industrial food processing. Oat (Avena sativa) seed extracts exhibited a high degree of antifungal activity and could be used directly on rye bread to prevent the formation of P. roqueforti colonies. Proteins in the oat seed extracts were fractionated by column chromatography and proteins in fractions containing antifungal activity were identified by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and database searches. Identified antifungal candidates included thaumatin-like proteins, 1,3-beta-glucanase, permatin precursor, pathogenesis-related protein type 1, and chitinases of class I and II. Class I chitinase could be specifically removed from the extracts and was found to be indispensable for 50% of the P. roqueforti inhibiting activity. The purified class I chitinase has a molecular weight of approximately 34 kDa, optimal chitinase activity at pH 7, and exists as at least two basic isoforms (pI values of 7.6 and 8.0). Partial sequencing of the class I chitinase isoforms by LC-MS/MS revealed a primary structure with high similarity to class I chitinases of wheat (Triticum aestivum), barley (Hordeum vulgare), and rye (Secale cereale). Oat, wheat, barley, and rye seed extracts were compared with respect to the abundance of the class I chitinase and decrease in antifungal activity when class I chitinase is removed. We found that the oat seed class I chitinase is at least ten times more abundant than the wheat, barley, and rye homologs and that oat seed extracts are highly active toward P. roqueforti as opposed to extracts of other cereal seeds.     

Brønsted Acid Catalysis—Controlling the Competition between Monomeric versus Dimeric Reaction Pathways Enhances Stereoselectivities

Chiral phosphoric acids (CPA) have become a privileged catalyst type in organocatalysis, but the selection of the optimum catalyst is still challenging. So far hidden competing reaction pathways may limit the maximum stereoselectivities and the potential of prediction models. In CPA-catalyzed transfer hydrogenation of imines, we identified for many systems two reaction pathways with inverse stereoselectivity, featuring as active catalyst either one CPA or a hydrogen bond bridged dimer. NMR measurements and DFT calculations revealed the dimeric intermediate and a stronger substrate activation via cooperativity. Both pathways are separable: Low temperatures and high catalysts loadings favor the dimeric pathway (ee up to −98 %), while low temperatures with reduced catalyst loading favor the monomeric pathway and give significantly enhanced ee (92–99 % ee; prior 68–86 % at higher temperatures). Thus, a broad impact is expected on CPA catalysis regarding reaction optimization and prediction.     

Vitamin D analysis in plasma by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with C(30) reversed phase column and UV detection--easy and acetonitrile-free

Two physiologically important forms of vitamin D exist: vitamin D₂ and vitamin D₃, which by liver based hydroxylase enzymes are converted to 25-hydroxyvitamin D₂ and 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃, respectively. These hydroxylated metabolites of vitamin D are measured in plasma to assess the vitamin D status of animals and humans. Therefore cheap and reliable analytical methods are very much in demand in nutritional and physiological research. After saponification and extraction of plasma or serum samples the current method uses reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography on a C₃₀ column and with UV detection at 265 nm for quantifying vitamin D₂, vitamin D₃, 25-hydroxyvitamin D₂, and 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃. The method proved versatile with respect to plasma lipid content, sample amount, and plasma concentration of the vitamin D metabolites as it was tested using plasma from six different species: cattle, pigs, poultry, mink, horses, and humans. In cattle plasma recoveries were between 86.6 and 101.0%, within day error between 0.9 and 5.9%, and between day error between 0.2 and 1.7%. However, depending on species and sample amount error percentages varied. When running the method on standard reference material^® 972 “Vitamin D in human serum” from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) (Gaithersburg, USA) the results for 25-hydroxyvitamin D₂ and 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ concentrations were within the boundaries provided by NIST, reflected by Z-scores between 0.1 and 0.9.     

Computer-aided quality assurance and certification of reference materials in the DANREF network

A network between 6 Danish laboratories with experience in quality assurance and quality control has been established with the aim of supporting the use and production of high-quality certified reference materials in Denmark. One of the tasks of the network was to develop a PC-program for computer-aided quality assurance and certification of reference materials produced by the network laboratories. This paper describes the design and features of the DANREF PC-program and shows examples of computer-aided evaluation of selected studies on reference materials. The program provides the network laboratories with the possibility to carry out harmonized statistical evaluation and documentation of homogeneity, stability and intercomparison studies in accordance with international guidelines and standards, e.g. ISO guide 35.     

On the representation of zero in floating-point arithmetic

Two representations of zero in floating-point arithmetic are considered in relation to a summation with correction for rounding errors. The common representation with exponent zero is shown in this case to be better than the academic representation where the exponent depends on the history of the zero.     

Molecular characterization and temporal expression profiling of presenilins in the developing porcine brain

Background  

The transmembrane presenilin (PSEN) proteins, PSEN1 and PSEN2, have been proposed to be the catalytic components of the γ-secretase protein complex, which is an intramembranous multimeric protease involved in development, cell regulatory processes, and neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease. Here we describe the sequencing, chromosomal mapping, and polymorphism analysis of PSEN1 and PSEN2 in the domestic pig (Sus scrofa domesticus).     

Doubly radiative neutron capture by 2H, 3He, 16O and 208Pb

Cross-sections for doubly radiative thermal neutron capture on ²H, ³He, ¹⁶O and²⁰⁸Pb are calculated to be 21, 1200, 41 and 50 nb, corresponding to branching ratios of σ(n, γγ)/σ(n, γ) = 4.0 × 10^?5, ～ × 10^?2, 2.2 × 10^?4 and 1.0 × 10^?4, respectively.     

Representation of projectors involving Minkowski inverse in Minkowski space

A certain class of results about the different representations of Oblique projectors is present in the literature. These results represent Oblique projectors as the functions of orthogonal projectors with given onto and along spaces. But these results are valid under the restriction that the functions of orthogonal projectors involved are invertible. In this paper we extend and generalize these results. The extension lies in making a transition from Euclidean space to Minkowski space M and the generalization is obtain by voiding the invertibility condition and use of the Minkowski inverse. Furthermore, the nobility lies in utilizing the m-projectors instead of the regular orthogonal projectors.     

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