The use of urinary proteomics in the assessment of suitability of mouse models for ageing

Ageing is a complex process characterised by a systemic and progressive deterioration of biological functions. As ageing is associated with an increased prevalence of age-related chronic disorders, understanding its underlying molecular mechanisms can pave the way for therapeutic interventions and managing complications. Animal models such as mice are commonly used in ageing research as they have a shorter lifespan in comparison to humans and are also genetically close to humans. To assess the translatability of mouse ageing to human ageing, the urinary proteome in 89 wild-type (C57BL/6) mice aged between 8–96 weeks was investigated using capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE-MS). Using age as a continuous variable, 295 peptides significantly correlated with age in mice were identified. To investigate the relevance of using mouse models in human ageing studies, a comparison was performed with a previous correlation analysis using 1227 healthy subjects. In mice and humans, a decrease in urinary excretion of fibrillar collagens and an increase of uromodulin fragments was observed with advanced age. Of the 295 peptides correlating with age, 49 had a strong homology to the respective human age-related peptides. These ortholog peptides including several collagen (N = 44) and uromodulin (N = 5) fragments were used to generate an ageing classifier that was able to discriminate the age among both wild-type mice and healthy subjects. Additionally, the ageing classifier depicted that telomerase knock-out mice were older than their chronological age. Hence, with a focus on ortholog urinary peptides mouse ageing can be translated to human ageing

On application of bloom filters to iris biometrics

In this study, the application of adaptive Bloom filters to binary iris biometric feature vectors, that is, iris-codes, is proposed. Bloom filters, which have been established as a powerful tool in various fields of computer science, are applied in order to transform iris-codes to a rotation-invariant feature representation. Properties of the proposed Bloom filter-based transform concurrently enable (i) biometric template protection, (ii) compression of biometric data and (iii) acceleration of biometric identification, whereas at the same time no significant degradation of biometric performance is observed. According to these fields of application, detailed investigations are presented. Experiments are conducted on the CASIA-v3 iris database for different feature extraction algorithms. Confirming the soundness of the proposed approach, the application of adaptive Bloom filters achieves rotation-invariant cancellable templates maintaining biometric performance, a compression of templates down to 20–40% of original size and a reduction of bit-comparisons to less than 5% leading to a substantial speed-up of the biometric system in identification mode

Selective TEMPO-oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes in alternative organic solvents

Hinzmann A, Stricker M, Busch J, Glinski S, Oike K, Gröger H. Selective TEMPO-oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes in alternative organic solvents. European Journal of Organic Chemistry. 2020;(16):2399-2408.The TEMPO‐catalyzed oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes has emerged to one of the most widely applied methodologies for such transformations. Advantages are the utilization of sodium hypochlorite, a component of household bleach, as an oxidation agent and the use of water as a co‐solvent. However, a major drawback of this method is the often occurring strict limitation to use dichloromethane as an organic solvent in a biphasic reaction medium with water. Previous studies show that dichloromethane cannot easily be substituted because a decrease of selectivity or inhibition of the reaction is observed by using alternative organic solvents. Thus, up to now, only a few examples are known in which after a tedious optimization of the reaction dichloromethane could be replaced. In order to overcome the current limitations, we were interested in finding a TEMPO‐oxidation method in alternative organic solvents, which is applicable for various alcohol oxidations. As a result, we found a method for N‐oxyl radical‐catalyzed oxidation using sodium hypochlorite as an oxidation agent in nitriles as an organic solvent component instead of dichloromethane. Besides the oxidation of aromatic primary alcohols also aliphatic primary alcohols, secondary alcohols as well as dialcohols were successfully converted when using this method, showing high selectivity towards the carbonyl compound and low amounts of the acid side‐product

Differences in structure and dynamics of ternary Pd–Ni-based bulk metallic glasses containing sulfur or phosphorous

The composition Pd$_{31}$Ni$_{42}$S$_{27}$ has been shown to be the best glass former in the family of recently discovered glass forming PdNiS alloys. In this study, this sample system was systematically investigated using fluctuation- and correlation electron microscopy of which the results are compared to a Pd$_{40}$Ni$_{40}$P$_{20}$ bulk metallic glass that serves as a model system for metallic glasses. Strong differences in the local atomic correlations beyond the short-range order were observed, which are assumed to be a reason for their discrepancy in thermal stability. The relaxation dynamics at room temperature revealed faster dynamics in the sulfur-containing Pd$_{31}$Ni$_{42}$S$_{27}$ glass

Resonanzräume entdecken: Das MuseumsQuartier Wien als Bildungslandschaft für Kinder und Erwachsene

Eine der Exkursionen führte uns zu einem der wohl bekanntesten öffentlichen Plätze Wiens, dem MuseumsQuartier (MQ). Räumlich gesehen im Herzen der Stadt, eröffnet sich ein Blick über bedeutende Gebäude und Plätze. Hier entstand im Laufe der Zeit auf historischem Fundament eines der größten Kunst- und Kulturareale der Welt und das auf über 90.000 m² (vgl. MuseumsQuartier 2023a)

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

Connecting the complex microstructure of LDPE to its rheology and processing properties via a combined fractionation and modelling approach

Well-defined mini-plant low density polyethylene samples were fractionated preparatively according to their crystallizability via preparative temperature rising elution fractionation and according to molecular weight via preparative solvent gradient fractionation (pSGF). Rheology of the fractions was measured in both the small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) and the non-linear extension regimes. The linear and non-linear rheology of the pTREF fractions were dominated by molecular weight effects, while the impact of the higher degree of long chain branching for the pSGF fractions with higher molecular weights was observed in van Gurp–Palmen plots and in strain hardening behavior in the extensional rheology measurements. Additionally, the experimental fractionation process was mimicked via modelling. The branching topologies of the bulk samples were obtained by coupled kinetic and Monte Carlo calculations. These topologies were fractionated computationally and the result were used to predict the rheological behavior of the individual fractions by applying the BoB algorithm with no parameter adjustment. The experimental observed trends were predicted by the model and the overall agreement was acceptable. This study demonstrates, that polymer fractionation is possible on a preparative scale and allows for the polymer flow properties characterization of the individual fractions, a method that is highly relevant during processing. Moreover, the fractionation process is followed and understood from the modelling point of view

Why Are Outcomes Different for Registry Patients Enrolled Prospectively and Retrospectively? Insights from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF).

Background: Retrospective and prospective observational studies are designed to reflect real-world evidence on clinical practice, but can yield conflicting results. The GARFIELD-AF Registry includes both methods of enrolment and allows analysis of differences in patient characteristics and outcomes that may result. Methods and Results: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and ≥1 risk factor for stroke at diagnosis of AF were recruited either retrospectively (n = 5069) or prospectively (n = 5501) from 19 countries and then followed prospectively. The retrospectively enrolled cohort comprised patients with established AF (for a least 6, and up to 24 months before enrolment), who were identified retrospectively (and baseline and partial follow-up data were collected from the emedical records) and then followed prospectively between 0-18 months (such that the total time of follow-up was 24 months; data collection Dec-2009 and Oct-2010). In the prospectively enrolled cohort, patients with newly diagnosed AF (≤6 weeks after diagnosis) were recruited between Mar-2010 and Oct-2011 and were followed for 24 months after enrolment. Differences between the cohorts were observed in clinical characteristics, including type of AF, stroke prevention strategies, and event rates. More patients in the retrospectively identified cohort received vitamin K antagonists (62.1% vs. 53.2%) and fewer received non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (1.8% vs . 4.2%). All-cause mortality rates per 100 person-years during the prospective follow-up (starting the first study visit up to 1 year) were significantly lower in the retrospective than prospectively identified cohort (3.04 [95% CI 2.51 to 3.67] vs . 4.05 [95% CI 3.53 to 4.63]; p = 0.016). Conclusions: Interpretations of data from registries that aim to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with AF must take account of differences in registry design and the impact of recall bias and survivorship bias that is incurred with retrospective enrolment. Clinical Trial Registration: - URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362)