Benzoxazolinone detoxification by N-Glucosylation: The multi-compartment-network of Zea mays L

The major detoxification product in maize roots after 24 h benzoxazolin-2(3H)-one (BOA) exposure was identified as glucoside carbamate resulting from rearrangement of BOA-N-glucoside, but the pathway of N-glucosylation, enzymes involved and the site of synthesis were previously unknown. Assaying whole cell proteins revealed the necessity of H2O2 and Fe(2+) ions for glucoside carbamate production. Peroxidase produced BOA radicals are apparently formed within the extraplastic space of the young maize root. Radicals seem to be the preferred substrate for N-glucosylation, either by direct reaction with glucose or, more likely, the N-glucoside is released by glucanase/glucosidase catalyzed hydrolysis from cell wall components harboring fixed BOA. The processes are accompanied by alterations of cell wall polymers. Glucoside carbamate accumulation could be suppressed by the oxireductase inhibitor 2-bromo-4´-nitroacetophenone and by peroxidase inhibitor 2,3-butanedione. Alternatively, activated BOA molecules with an open heterocycle may be produced by microorganisms (e.g., endophyte Fusarium verticillioides) and channeled for enzymatic N-glucosylation. Experiments with transgenic Arabidopsis lines indicate a role of maize glucosyltransferase BX9 in BOA-N-glycosylation. Western blots with BX9 antibody demonstrate the presence of BX9 in the extraplastic space. Proteomic analyses verified a high BOA responsiveness of multiple peroxidases in the apoplast/cell wall. BOA incubations led to shifting, altered abundances and identities of the apoplast and cell wall located peroxidases, glucanases, glucosidases and glutathione transferases (GSTs). GSTs could function as glucoside carbamate transporters. The highly complex, compartment spanning and redox-regulated glucoside carbamate pathway seems to be mainly realized in Poaceae. In maize, carbamate production is independent from benzoxazinone synthesis.

Neutral, heteroleptic copper(i)-4H-imidazolate complexes: synthesis and characterization of their structural, spectral and redox properties

Facile synthetic access to four novel, neutral, heteroleptic copper(i)-complexes, incorporating 4H-imidazolates as well as the phosphane ligands XantPhos and DPEPhos is reported.

[Reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament using autologous gracilis tendon in an implant-free technique on the patellar side]

OBJECTIVE

Anatomic reconstruction of the medial patellofemoral ligament using autologous gracilis tendon in an implant-free technique on the patellar side to regain patellofemoral stability.

INDICATIONS

Recurrent dislocations, primary dislocation with high risk of recurrence, and dislocations with (osteo-)chondral flake fractures. As combined approach together with other procedures (trochleoplasty, tibial tubercle osteotomy). Revisions.

CONTRAINDICATIONS

As an isolated procedure in patients with high degrees of trochlear dysplasia, chronic dislocation of the patella, and patellofemoral maltracking without instability.

SURGICAL TECHNIQUE

Harvesting of the gracilis tendon. Drilling of a V-shaped tunnel with a special aiming device in anatomic position on the medial side of the patella. Drilling of a femoral tunnel in anatomic position under fluoroscopic control. Passage of the graft, arthroscopic-guided tensioning, and femoral fixation with a biodegradable interference screw.

POSTOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

Partial weight bearing (20 kg) for 1-2 weeks. No limitation in range of motion. No orthosis. Specific sports allowed after approximately 3 months.

RESULTS

Perioperative complications associated specifically with the technique were observed in 1.0% (7 of 729 cases). In a series of 72 consecutive cases from May 2010 to October 2010, the following were recorded after 4.0 ± 0.1 years: recurrent dislocations in 3.2%, a Tegner activity score of 5.1 ± 1.8, and subjective satisfaction in 92% (follow-up rate 87.5%). No fracture of the patella was seen in any of our patients.

Detection of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in German licensed herbal medicinal teas

BACKGROUND

Because of the hepatotoxic, mutagenic, and cancerogenic effects of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) recommends not to exceed a daily PA intake of 0.007 µg/kg body weight (0.42 µg/60 kg adult). In a recent study conducted by the BfR, up to 5647 µg PA/kg dried herbal material were detected in tea products marketed as food.

PURPOSE

The present study aimed at elucidating whether medicinal teas licensed or registered as medicinal products contain PAs as well.

STUDY DESIGN

One hundred sixty-nine different commercially available medicinal teas, i.e. 19 nettle (Urtica dioica L.), 12 fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), 14 chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.), 11 melissa (Melissa officinalis L.) and 4 peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) teas as well as 109 tea mixtures were analyzed for the presence of 23 commercially available PAs.

METHOD

LC/MS was used for the determination of the PAs

RESULTS

In general, the total PA contents ranging 0-5668 µg/kg. Thirty percent of the tested single-ingredient tea products and 56.9% of the tested medicinal tea mixtures were found to contain PA concentrations above the limit of quantification (LOQ) of 10 µg/kg. In 11 medicinal teas PA contents >300 µg/kg dry herb were determined thus exceeding the recommended limit for PA intake by BfR. In addition three products of the investigated tea mixtures revealed extremely high PA contents of 4227, 5137, and 5668 µg/kg. Generally, single-ingredient tea products contained much less or even no detectable amounts of PAs when compared to the tea mixtures. PAs in the range between 13 and 1080 µg/kg were also detected in five analyzed aqueous herbal infusions of the medicinal tea mixture products with the highest PA content. Two out of the five investigated herbal infusions exceeded the recommended BfR limit for PA intake.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates clearly that also medicinal teas licensed as medicinal products may partly contain high amounts of PAs exceeding current recommendations. For that reason manufacturers are advised to carry out more rigorous quality control tests devoted to the detection of PAs. This is very important to minimize PAs in medicinal teas accounting for possible additional exposure of the consumer to PAs from other food sources (e.g. honey).

Electron and recoil ion momentum imaging with a magneto-optically trapped target

A reaction microscope (ReMi) has been combined with a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for the kinematically complete investigation of atomic break-up processes. With the novel MOTReMi apparatus, the momentum vectors of the fragments of laser-cooled and state-prepared lithium atoms are measured in coincidence and over the full solid angle. The first successful implementation of a MOTReMi could be realized due to an optimized design of the present setup, a nonstandard operation of the MOT, and by employing a switching cycle with alternating measuring and trapping periods. The very low target temperature in the MOT (∼2 mK) allows for an excellent momentum resolution. Optical preparation of the target atoms in the excited Li 2(2)P3/2 state was demonstrated providing an atomic polarization of close to 100%. While first experimental results were reported earlier, in this work, we focus on the technical description of the setup and its performance in commissioning experiments involving target ionization in 266 nm laser pulses and in collisions with projectile ions.

[Correlation between Area-Level Sociodemographic Patterns and Estimates of Need for Medical Care]

OBJECTIVE

Besides the known determinants age, sex, and morbidity, regional sociodemographic factors may be important for the level of health care needs. This study proposes a possible characterisation of area-level sociodemographic patterns and proves their association to variation in morbidity, mortality and health service utilisation.

METHODS

We used the 412 counties of Germany as unit of analysis. To describe area-level sociodemographic patterns a factor analysis was conducted on a set of 27 indicators from official statistics. Two factors were retained and rotated according to the Varimax criteria, which explained 34.2 and 33.0% of variance. Mortality, utilisation of inpatient health services as well as parameters of the nationwide outpatient claims data [relative risk score (RRS) and the level of health care use (LB)] served as determinants of need for medical care and were correlated to the extracted factors.

RESULTS

Factor 1 describes regional disparities in socio-economic and health status variables and is called socio-economic health index (SGX). Factor 2 characterises the spatial distribution of interregional migration and household size and is called urbanity index (UX). There was a strong positive correlation between SGX and RRS (r=0.77), mortality (r=0.68 and r=0.78 for overall and premature death rate) and inpatient health care use (r=0.62). UX was not correlated with RRS but weakly inversely correlated with inpatient health care use (r=-0.28). Both SGX and UX were significantly correlated to the level of outpatient health care use (r=0.39 and r=0.40). Stratification of LB by type of practitioner revealed that SGX was mainly associated with health care provided by general practitioners while UX was linked to health care provided by specialists, particularly psychotherapists.

CONCLUSIONS

The extracted factors to describe area-level sociodemographic patterns showed distinct correlations to indicators for medical care use. While SGX was mainly associated with overall morbidity, UX showed consistent relations with specific medical care needs, which may be linked to urban living conditions. Therefore, UX may refer to need for care independently from overall morbidity on the one hand and to structural specifics in health care services on the other hand. The meaning of SGX and UX needs to be further investigated taking additional determining factors into account.

[Poor medication adherence and worsening of heart failure--a vicious circle]

Despite of markedly improved options for treatment, chronic heart failure is associated with recurrent worsening of symptoms. Poor medication adherence has adverse effects on frequency and progression of congestive heart failure. There are three relevant areas of problems that could be aggravated by each other:There is the problem of changes in pharmacokinetics in worsening heart failure. Proportional to the severity of heart failure, there is an existing intestinal edema and changes of intestinal bacterial colonization that may affect a drug's absorption and, hence, its efficacy.Depression and impaired cognitive function is quite common in patients with chronic heart failure. Depression both predicts hospitalization and mortality rate as well as poor medication adherence in CHF. Compared to stable CHF patients, cognitive function deteriorates significantly while decompensation leading to impaired medication adherence.Shown by recent studies, there is a higher risk for poor medication adherence after a cardiovascular event.Poor medication adherence is associated with an increased rate of cardiovascular events not only in heart failure, but also in all cardiovascular diseases. Hence, there is a need for specific and long term interventions to improve medication adherence at an early stage.

New design of a multi-jet target for quasi phase matching

An improved dual-gas quasi-phase matching (QPM) foil target for high harmonic generation (HHG) is presented. The target can be setup with 12 individual gas inlets each feeding multiple nozzles separated by a minimum distance of 10 μm. Three-dimensional gas density profiles of these jets were measured using a Mach-Zehnder Interferometer. These measurements reveal how the jets influence the density of gas in adjacent jets and how this leads to increased local gas densities. The analysis shows that the gas profiles of the jets are well defined up to a distance of about 300 μm from the orifice. This target design offers experimental flexibility, not only for HHG/QPM investigations, but also for a wide range of experiments due to the large number of possible jet configurations. We demonstrate the application to controlled phase tuning in the extreme ultraviolet using a 1 kHz-10 mJ-30 fs-laser system where interference between two jets in the spectral range from 17 to 30 nm was observed.

Thermal properties of borate crystals for high power optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification

The potential of borate crystals, BBO, LBO and BiBO, for high average power scaling of optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifiers is investigated. Up-to-date measurements of the absorption coefficients at 515 nm and the thermal conductivities are presented. The measured absorption coefficients are a factor of 10-100 lower than reported by the literature for BBO and LBO. For BBO, a large variation of the absorption coefficients was found between crystals from different manufacturers. The linear and nonlinear absorption coefficients at 515 nm as well as thermal conductivities were determined for the first time for BiBO. Further, different crystal cooling methods are presented. In addition, the limits to power scaling of OPCPAs are discussed.

Equilibration dynamics and conductivity of warm dense hydrogen

We investigate subpicosecond dynamics of warm dense hydrogen at the XUV free-electron laser facility (FLASH) at DESY (Hamburg). Ultrafast impulsive electron heating is initiated by a ≤ 300-fs short x-ray burst of 92-eV photon energy. A second pulse probes the sample via x-ray scattering at jitter-free variable time delay. We show that the initial molecular structure dissociates within (0.9 ± 0.2) ps, allowing us to infer the energy transfer rate between electrons and ions. We evaluate Saha and Thomas-Fermi ionization models in radiation hydrodynamics simulations, predicting plasma parameters that are subsequently used to calculate the static structure factor. A conductivity model for partially ionized plasma is validated by two-temperature density-functional theory coupled to molecular dynamic simulations and agrees with the experimental data. Our results provide important insights and the needed experimental data on transport properties of dense plasmas.

Dynamics of the Tissue-Specific Metabolism of Luteolin Glucuronides in the Mesophyll of Rye Primary Leaves (Secale cereale)

Developing primary leaves of Secale cereale L. exhibit a dynamic metabolism of the major flavonoid luteolin 7-O-[β-ᴅ-glucuronosyl(1→2)β-ᴅ-glucuronide]-4′-O-β-ᴅ-glucuronide (R1). Final steps of R, biosynthesis are sequential glucuronidations of luteolin, which are catalyzed by three specific UDP-glucuronate: flavone glucuronosyltransferases. These enzymes reach highest activities at the fourth and fifth day of leaf development, coinciding with maximal R, accumulation. The activities decrease with advancing age of the leaves. In contrast, a R1-specific β-glucuronidase, responsible for the hydrolysis of glucuronic acid in position 4′, shows increasing activity up to the 5th or 6th day; but this activity, leading to luteolin 7-O-diglucuronide (R2), is not reduced in later developmental stages. In this phase of leaf development, the amount of R, drastically drops, whereas R2 accumulates only slightly. From in vitro results and from feeding experiments using [14C]cinnamic acid, a precursor of R, biosynthesis, we conclude that the anabolic sequential glucuronidation takes place in young and expanding leaf tissue, whereas deglucuronidation occurs in nearly mature and mature tissue. The three glucuronosyltransferases as well as the β-glucuronidase, and the flavonoids R1 and R2 are localized in the mesophyll.

Radiopaque Tagging Masks Caries Lesions following Incomplete Excavation in vitro

One-step incomplete excavation seals caries-affected dentin under a restoration and appears to be advantageous in the treatment of deep lesions. However, it is impossible to discriminate radiographically between intentionally left, arrested lesions and overlooked or active lesions. This diagnostic uncertainty decreases the acceptance of minimally invasive excavation and might lead to unnecessary re-treatment of incompletely excavated teeth. Radiopaque tagging of sealed lesions might mask arrested lesions and assist in discrimination from progressing lesions. Therefore, we microradiographically screened 4 substances (SnCl2, AgNO3, CsF, CsCH3COO) for their effect on artificial lesions. Since water-dissolved tin chloride (SnCl2×Aq) was found to stably mask artificial lesions, we then investigated its radiographic effects on progressing lesions. Natural lesions were incompletely excavated and radiopaque tagging performed. Grey-value differences (△GV) between sound and carious dentin were determined and radiographs assessed by 20 dentists. While radiographic effects of SnCl2×Aq were stable for non-progressing lesions, they significantly decreased during a second demineralization ( p < .001, t test). For natural lesions, tagging with SnCl2×Aq significantly reduced △GV ( p < .001, Wilcoxon). Tagged lesions were detected significantly less often than untagged lesions ( p < .001). SnCl2×Aq was suitable to mask caries-affected dentin and discriminate between arrested and progressing lesions in vitro. Radiopaque tagging could resolve diagnostic uncertainties associated with incomplete excavation.

Exploring the potential impact of hospital ward-based pharmacy interns on drug safety

Clinical pharmacists play an important role in improving drug safety on hospital wards. However, little is known about the impact of pharmacy interns. The objective of our study was, therefore, to investigate the impact of hospital ward-based pharmacy interns on drug safety. This study was conducted as part of the project "P-STAT 2: Pharmacy interns on the ward" on 14 surgical wards in seven hospitals in Germany and a total of 27 pharmacy interns participated. All patients admitted to the participating wards from 1st June 2008 until 31st October 2008 and from 1st December 2008 till 30th April 2009 were included. The pharmacy interns were involved in medication reconciliation, and identifying, resolving, and preventing drug-related problems (DRPs) using the classification system APS-Doc. A total of 6,551 patients were included. Patients received on average (+/- SD) 4.4 +/- 3.9 drugs. The pharmacy interns detected a total of 4,085 DRPs and on average 0.6 +/- 1.2 DRPs per patient. Most frequently detected DRPs were potential drug-drug interactions (n = 591, 14%), missing drug strength, when different strengths were available (n = 373, 9%), and incomplete medication record (n = 296, 7%). The pharmacy interns conducted an intervention for 98% (n = 4,011) of all DRPs. According to their documentation, 74% of the DRPs (n = 3,038) were solved. Drugs which were most often related with DRPs were simvastatin, diclofenac, and ibuprofen. This is the very first study exploring the potential impact of pharmacy interns on drug safety on surgical wards in Europe. Pharmacy interns can play an important role to improve drug safety on hospital wards.

Resolving ultrafast heating of dense cryogenic hydrogen

We report on the dynamics of ultrafast heating in cryogenic hydrogen initiated by a ≲300  fs, 92 eV free electron laser x-ray burst. The rise of the x-ray scattering amplitude from a second x-ray pulse probes the transition from dense cryogenic molecular hydrogen to a nearly uncorrelated plasmalike structure, indicating an electron-ion equilibration time of ∼0.9  ps. The rise time agrees with radiation hydrodynamics simulations based on a conductivity model for partially ionized plasma that is validated by two-temperature density-functional theory.

Consideration of international generic distribution policies on patient outcomes in the United States and Germany

Generic substitution of narrow therapeutic index drugs can have unintended consequences. Generic switching is often driven by cost incentives, regulations and supply, but may raise concerns about equal bioavailability, therapeutic equivalence and about possible confusion for the patient. Integrated systems of care with active management of patient behaviors, including adherence, may minimize the impact of switching. This article is intended to present policy drivers and potential consequences of generic switching and the role of pharmacist education in minimizing patient risk using warfarin and the pharmaceutical distribution systems of the United States and Germany as examples.