Lysozyme refolding at high concentration by dilution and size—exclusion chromatography

This study of renaturation by dilution and size exclusion chromatography (SEC) addition of urea to improve yield as well as the initial and final protein concentrations showed that although urea decreased the rate of lysozyme refolding, it could suppress protein aggregation to sustain the pathway of correct refolding at high protein concentration; and that there existed an optimum urea concentration in renaturation buffer. Under the above conditions, lysozyme was successfully refolded from initial concentration of up to 40 mg/mL by dilution and 100 mg/mL by SEC, with the yield of the former being more than 40% and that of the latter being 34.8%. Especially, under the condition of 30 min interval time, i.e. tau > 2(t(R2) - t(R1)), the efficiency was increased by 25% and the renaturation buffer could be recycled for SEC refolding in continuous operation of downstream process.     

Spatial aggregations for spatial based decision 

For spatial based decision making such as choice of best place to construct a new department store, spatial data warehousing system is required more and more previous spatial data warehousing systems; however, provided decision making of nonspatial data on a map and so those cannot support enough spatial based decision making. The spatial aggregations are proposed for spatial based decision making in spatial data warehouses. The meaning of aggregation operators for applying spatial data was modified and new spatial aggregations were defined. These aggregations can support hierarchical concept of spatial measure. Using these aggregations, the spatial analysis classified by nonspatial data is provided. In case study, how to use these aggregations and how to support spatial based decision making are shown.     

土法造纸木素降解之探索──Ⅱ.嫩毛竹自然制浆过程中的化学成分变化及其分析方法

对江西三处嫩毛竹自然制浆过程中的化学成分变化进行了测定，得知在此过程中，嫩竹木素下降50％～70％；半纤维素下降20％～30％；纤维素含量相对提高25％～45％。不同的土法制浆工艺得到不同质量的纸张，其化学成分也有明显差异。同时在实验室模拟了嫩竹发酵过程，对其化学成分变化进行了监测。结果表明，经2．5％石灰液浸泡嫩竹70d（室温），木素含量下降45％左右，半纤维素变化很小；用天然水浸泡嫩竹70d（室温），半纤维素略有下降，木素则几乎没变，先用石灰水预浸3周，再改用自选的芽抱菌液浸泡嫩竹，经1周就达制浆水平，木素下降59％。还对分析方法做了些探索。     

DEVELOPMENT OF REALISTIC QUALITY LOSS FUNCTIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

1. Introduction A manufactured item usually has some characteristics, which are required to have some values for the proper functioning of the item. These characteristics are referred to as quality characteristics and the ideal value for each quality characteristic is called a target value. Usually, a range of values containing the target value are specified for each quality characteristic of the item, within which the item is classified as non-defective. Otherwise, the item is defective. A s…     

Homologues of Twisted gastrulation are extracellular cofactors in antagonism of BMP signalling

Twisted gastrulation (TSG) is involved in specifying the dorsal-most cell fate in Drosophila embryos, but its mechanism of action is poorly understood. TSG has been proposed to modify the action of Short gastrulation (SOG), thereby increasing signalling by the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) Decapentaplegic. SOG, an inhibitor of BMP signalling, is in turn inactivated by the protease Tolloid. Here we identify Tsg gene products from human, mouse, Xenopus, zebrafish and chick. Expression patterns in mouse and Xenopus embryos are consistent with in vivo interactions between Tsg, BMPs and the vertebrate SOG orthologue, chordin. We show that Tsg binds both the vertebrate Decapentaplegic orthologue BMP4 and chordin, and that these interactions have multiple effects. Tsg increases chordin's binding of BMP4, potentiates chordin's ability to induce secondary axes in Xenopus embryos, and enhances chordin cleavage by vertebrate tolloid-related proteases at a site poorly used in Tsg's absence; also, the presence of Tsg enhances the secondary axis-inducing activity of two products of chordin cleavage. We conclude that Tsg acts as a cofactor in chordin's antagonism of BMP signalling.     

The effect of nicotine on ethanol-induced gastric ulcers in rats

Summary Nicotine, in concentrations of 5 and 25 g/ml drinking water, given ad libitum for 10 days, dose-dependently increased lesion formation and worsened ethanol-induced ulceration in rat stomachs. Daily fluid intake and b.wt gain were not adversely affected by nicotine pretreatment.The authors are grateful to Mr C.T. Luk for his skilled technical assistance.