The importance and structural diversity of chiral amines is well‐demonstrated by the myriad nonenzymatic methods for their chemical production. In nature, the production of amines is performed by transamination rather than by reduction of an imine precursor derived from the corresponding ketone. Imine reductases, however, show great potential in the reduction of cyclic imines that are stable towards hydrolysis in aqueous reaction media. Here, we report the catalytic activity of two S‐selective imine reductases towards 3,4‐dihydroisoquinolines and 3,4‐dihydro‐β‐carbolines and their activity in the direct reductive amination of ketone substrates. The crystal structures of the enzyme from Streptomyces sp. GF3546 in complex with the cofactor NADPH and from Streptomyces aurantiacus in native form have been solved and refined to a resolution of 1.9 Å.

Many protist plankton are mixotrophs, combining phototrophy and phagotrophy. Their role in freshwater and marine ecology has emerged as a major developing feature of plankton research over recent decades. To better aid discussions, we suggest these organisms are termed “mixoplankton”, as “planktonic protist organisms that express, or have potential to express, phototrophy and phagotrophy”. The term “phytoplankton” then describes phototrophic organisms incapable of phagotrophy. “Protozooplankton” describes phagotrophic protists that do not engage in acquired phototrophy. The complexity of the changes to the conceptual base of the plankton trophic web caused by inclusion of mixoplanktonic activities are such that we suggest that the restructured description is termed the “mixoplankton paradigm”. Implications and opportunities for revision of survey and fieldwork, of laboratory experiments and of simulation modelling are considered. The main challenges are not only with taxonomic and functional identifications, and with measuring rates of potentially competing processes within single cells, but with decades of inertia built around the traditional paradigm that assumes a separation of trophic processes between different organisms. In keeping with the synergistic nature of cooperative photo- and phagotrophy in mixoplankton, a comprehensive multidisciplinary approach will be required to tackle the task ahead.

A personalized lifestyle programme based on a WB and an APP was not superior to a standard lifestyle programme at promoting weight loss in obese children.

Many attempts to modulate leukocyte-endothelial interaction to prevent or reduce excessive inflammatory reactions were made in the past. However, the basic regulatory principles of the endothelial inflammatory process remain unclear. It seems that the inhibition of individual components of the inflammatory cascade, for example, by a single antibody against an adhesion molecule, may not be enough to achieve a sustained effect on vascular inflammation.In the past years, microRNAs have been identified as important regulators of gene expression in a wide range of Molecular Medicine© 2017 American Heart Association, Inc. Rationale:The interaction of circulating cells within the vascular wall is a critical event in chronic inflammatory processes, such as atherosclerosis, but the control of the vascular inflammatory state is still largely unclear.Objective: This study was undertaken to characterize the function of the endothelial-enriched microRNA miR-100 during vascular inflammation and atherogenesis. Methods and Results:Based on a transcriptome analysis of endothelial cells after miR-100 overexpression, we identified miR-100 as a potent suppressor of endothelial adhesion molecule expression, resulting in attenuated leukocyte-endothelial interaction in vitro and in vivo as shown by flow cytometry and intravital imaging. Mechanistically, miR-100 directly repressed several components of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1-signaling, including mammalian target of rapamycin and raptor, which resulted in a stimulation of endothelial autophagy and attenuated nuclear factor κB signaling in vitro and in vivo. In a low-density lipoprotein receptordeficient atherosclerotic mouse model, pharmacological inhibition of miR-100 resulted in enhanced plaque lesion formation and a higher macrophage content of the plaque, whereas a systemic miR-100 replacement therapy had protective effects and attenuated atherogenesis, resulting in a decrease of plaque area by 45%. Finally, analysis of miR-100 expression in >70 samples obtained during carotid endarterectomy revealed that local miR-100 expression was inversely correlated with inflammatory cell content in patients. Conclusions: In summary, we describe an anti-inflammatory function of miR-100 in the vascular response to injury and inflammation and identify an important novel modulator of mammalian target of rapamycin signaling and autophagy

Changes in body composition related to LD in HAART-treated children are frequent, precocious, and progressive. Duration of HAART negatively influences visceral adiposity and peripheral fat loss.

In children and adolescents, obesity is characterized by the activation of the inflammasome and by an alteration of gut permeability. Successful lifestyle modification is effective in reducing inflammation, suggesting that inhibition of the inflammasome may be a potential therapeutic strategy in obesity.

A Body Shape Index (ABSI) and normalized hip circumference (Hip Index, HI) have been recently shown to be strong risk factors for mortality and for cardiovascular disease in adults. We conducted an observational cross-sectional study to evaluate the relationship between ABSI, HI and cardiometabolic risk factors and obesity-related comorbidities in overweight and obese children and adolescents aged 2–18 years. We performed multivariate linear and logistic regression analyses with BMI, ABSI, and HI age and sex normalized z scores as predictors to examine the association with cardiometabolic risk markers (systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose and insulin, total cholesterol and its components, transaminases, fat mass % detected by bioelectrical impedance analysis) and obesity-related conditions (including hepatic steatosis and metabolic syndrome). We recruited 217 patients (114 males), mean age 11.3 years. Multivariate linear regression showed a significant association of ABSI z score with 10 out of 15 risk markers expressed as continuous variables, while BMI z score showed a significant correlation with 9 and HI only with 1. In multivariate logistic regression to predict occurrence of obesity-related conditions and above-threshold values of risk factors, BMI z score was significantly correlated to 7 out of 12, ABSI to 5, and HI to 1. Overall, ABSI is an independent anthropometric index that was significantly associated with cardiometabolic risk markers in a pediatric population affected by overweight and obesity.

The tetranuclear Cu Z cluster is the unique active site of nitrous oxide reductase, the enzyme that catalyzes the reduction of nitrous oxide to dinitrogen as the fi nal reaction in bacterial denitrifi cation. Three-dimensional structures of orthologs of the enzyme from a variety of different bacterial species were essential steps in the elucidation of the properties of this center. However, while structural data fi rst revealed and later confi rmed the presence of four copper ions in spectroscopically distinct forms of Cu Z , the exact structure and stoichiometry of the cluster showed signifi cant variations. A ligand bridging ions Cu Z1 and Cu Z2 was initially assigned as a water or hydroxo species in the structures from Pseudomonas nautica (now Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus ) and Paracoccus denitrifi cans . This ligand was absent in a structure from ' Achromobacter cycloclastes ' , and could be reconstituted by iodide that acted as an inhibitor of catalysis. A recent structure of anoxically isolated nitrous oxide reductase from Pseudomonas stutzeri revealed the bridging ligand to be sulfi de, S 2-, and showed an unprecedented side-on mode of nitrous oxide binding to this form of Cu Z .