Background: Ice-binding proteins improve the cold tolerance of cells by inhibiting ice growth and recrystallization. Results: Crystal structure and mutagenesis data of LeIBP suggests the B face as an ice-binding site. Conclusion: LeIBP structure adopts a ␤-helical fold and the aligned Thr/Ser/Ala residues are critical for ice binding. Significance: LeIBP structure can serve as a structural model for a large number of IBPs.

Creatine kinase is a member of the phosphagen kinase family, which catalyzes the reversible phosphoryl transfer reaction that occurs between ATP and creatine to produce ADP and phosphocreatine. Here, three structural aspects of humanbrain-type-creatine-kinase (hBB-CK) were identified by X-ray crystallography: the ligand-free-form at 2.2 Å ; the ADPMg 2+ , nitrate, and creatine complex (transition-state-analogue complex; TSAC); and the ADP-Mg 2+ -complex at 2.0 Å . The structures of ligand-bound hBB-CK revealed two different monomeric states in a single homodimer. One monomer is a closed form, either bound to TSAC or the ADP-Mg 2+ -complex, and the second monomer is an unliganded open form. These structural studies provide a detailed mechanism indicating that the binding of ADP-Mg 2+ alone may trigger conformational changes in hBB-CK that were not observed with muscle-type-CK.

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An enzymatic reaction with supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) as the reaction medium was investigated. Lipase could catalyze the batch type reaction of hydrolysis and interesterification (acidolysis) in SCCO2at 50°C and 29.4 MPa. The time course of interesterification was influenced by the water content as well as by the kind of reaction medium. The initial velocities of hydrolysis and interesterification were greater in SCCO2than in rc-hexane when the water content increased. A part of this difference in reaction velocity was supposed to be due to water, a modifier of the solvent, the solubility of which in SCCO2was estimated to be a hundred times that in rc-hexane.

It was evaluated the inhibitory action of quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranoside (QGC) on reflux esophagitis and gastritis in rats. QGC was isolated from the herba of Rumex Aquaticus. Reflux esophagitis or gastritis was induced surgically or by administering indomethacin, respectively. Oral QGC decreased ulcer index, injury area, gastric volume, and acid output and increased gastric pH as compared with quercetin. Furthermore, QGC significantly decreased gastric lesion sizes induced by exposing the gastric mucosa to indomethacin. Malondialdehyde levels were found to increase significantly after inducing reflux esophagitis, and were reduced by QGC, but not by quercetin or omeprazole. These results show that QGC can inhibit reflux esophagitis and gastritis in rats.

H 2 O 2 has been shown to act as a signaling molecule involved in many cellular functions such as apoptosis and proliferation. In the present study, we characterized the effects of H 2 O 2 on the activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and examined the factors involved in the process of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)

1 We examined whether extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF-EMF) affect the basal level of cardiovascular parameters and influence of drugs acting on the sympathetic nervous system. 2 Male rats were exposed to sham control and EMF (60 Hz, 20 G) for 1 (MF-1) or 5 days (MF-5). We evaluated the alterations of blood pressure (BP), pulse pressure (PP), heart rate (HR), and the PR interval, QRS interval and QT interval on the electrocardiogram and dysrhythmic ratio in basal level and dysrhythmia induced by beta-adrenoceptor agonists. 3 In terms of the basal levels, there were no statistically significant differences among control, MF-1 and MF-5 in PR interval, QRS interval, mean BP, HR and PP. However, the QT interval, representing ventricular repolarization, was significantly reduced by MF-1 (P < 0.05). 4 (-)-Dobutamine (beta1-adrenoceptor-selective agonist)-induced tachycardia was significantly suppressed by ELF-EMF exposure in MF-1 for the increase in HR (DeltaHR), the decrease in QRS interval (DeltaQRS) and the decrease in QT (DeltaQT) interval. Adrenaline (nonselective beta-receptor agonist)-induced dysrhythmia was also significantly suppressed by ELF-EMF in MF-1 for the number of missing beats, the dysrhythmic ratio, and the increase in BP and PP. 5 These results indicated that 1-day exposure to ELF-EMF (60 Hz, 20 G) could suppress the increase in HR by affecting ventricular repolarization and may have a down-regulatory effect on responses of the cardiovascular system induced by sympathetic agonists.

In this paper, we demonstrate, for the first time, the manufacture of a CuInSe 2 thin film whose absorber layer is coated using an electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) technique; its complete transformation into a working device with measured conversion efficiency is presented. ESD is superior to pneumatic spraying because it produces nano-scaled, self-dispersive (non-agglomerating), highly wettable (electrowetting) and adhesive droplets to yield a uniform coating on a substrate. Furthermore, ESD's extremely low material consumption rate holds promises for practical use in the solar cell industry. Copper and indium salts are added to various solvents, which are electrostatically sprayed onto a molybdenum-coated soda-lime glass substrate. The effect of substrate temperature on the thin film characteristics is examined. Our cell is completed by adding CdS and ZnO layers onto the CuInSe 2 absorber layer. Light illuminated current-density voltage (J-V) characteristics demonstrate a power conversion efficiency of η = 1.75% ± 0.09 with an open-circuit voltage of V OC = 0.23 V, a short-circuit current density of J SC = 21.72 mA/cm 2 , and fill factor of FF = 0.34.