Structural hierarchies and interactions in the tendon composite

Tendon functions by transmitting tensile loads from muscle to bone. Morphologically, it can be described as a macromolecular multicomposite material, basically consisting of collagen fibrils held together by a soft, hydrated matrix material. Recently, tendon has been deformed beyond the "in vivo" elastic limit and by cyclical loading systematically damaged. Using high-resolution electron microscopy, decomposition of the collagen fibril into subfibrils (15 nm diameter) and microfibrils (3.5 nm diameter) has been noted. The interfacial adhesion between such units is strongly dependent on age, and is probably related with crosslinking phenomena observed by biochemical methods. In addition, tendon collagen contains a considerable amount of water throughout the entire structure which strongly affects its overall mechanical behavior. The various bound states of water have been identified using primarily dynamic mechanical spectroscopy coupled with more conventional methods of structural characterization.Published in Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 4, pp. 693–701, July–August, 1976.     

Precise Quantification of Molybdate In Vitro by the FRET-Based Nanosensor ‘MolyProbe’

Molybdenum (Mo) is an essential trace element in all kingdoms of life. Mo is bioavailable as the oxyanion molybdate and gains biological activity in eukaryotes when bound to molybdopterin, forming the molybdenum cofactor. The imbalance of molybdate homeostasis results in growth deficiencies or toxic symptoms within plants, fungi and animals. Recently, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) methods have emerged, monitoring cellular and subcellular molybdate distribution dynamics using a genetically encoded molybdate-specific FRET nanosensor, named MolyProbe. Here, we show that the MolyProbe system is a fast and reliable in vitro assay for quantitative molybdate determination. We added a Strep-TagII affinity tag to the MolyProbe protein for quick and easy purification. This MolyProbe is highly stable, resistant to freezing and can be stored for several weeks at 4 °C. Furthermore, the molybdate sensitivity of the assay peaked at low nM levels. Additionally, The MolyProbe was applied in vitro for quantitative molybdate determination in cell extracts of the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the fungus Neurospora crassa and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Our results show the functionality of the Arabidopsis thaliana molybdate transporter MOT1.1 and indicate that FRET-based molybdate detection is an excellent tool for measuring bioavailable Mo.     

Memoryless near-collisions via coding theory

We investigate generic methods to find near-collisions in cryptographic hash functions. We introduce a new generic approach based on methods to find cycles in the space of codewords of a code with low covering radius. We give an analysis of our approach and demonstrate it on the SHA-3 candidate TIB3.