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Today, "social policy" is an expression used across the globe to denote a broad range of issues, such as old age security, health, housing and so on. But historically, "social policy" had a distinct European origin and a distinct meaning. I maintain that "social policy" and the "welfare state" are more than a list of social services, and also have strong socio-cultural underpinnings that account for the diversity of social policy. The idea of "social policy" emerged in mid-nineteenth-century Germany against the backdrop of secularization and functional differentiation of modern society. I then pinpoint the twentieth-century move from "social policy" to the broader cultural idea of a universalistic "welfare state." The idea emerged internationally as early as the 1940s, even before the post-WWII rise of national welfare states, which, as I argue, differ according to national notions of "state" and "society." To this end, I compare the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, and two non-welfare states, the United States and the Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Plant expression systems offer a valuable alternative to traditional systems for the production of recombinant biopharmaceuticals. A highly efficient polyethyleneglycol (PEG)-mediated transient expression system for secreted recombinant proteins in plants has been developed. The human vascular endothelial growth factor 121 (rhVEGF) has been successfully expressed and efficiently secreted into the culture medium by transiently transformed moss protoplasts. In order to obtain secretion efficiency data, different expressed signal peptides were analysed and time course studies were performed with expression constructs containing different promoters. The transformation procedure was optimised for high level expression (up to 10μg/ml) and successfully performed even with a transgenic glyco-engineered strain lacking plant-specific immunogenic sugar residues in N-glycans. The amount of rhVEGF was produced in such quantity that it allowed for the analysis of biological activity, silver-staining and Western blotting, revealing the correct formation and processing of the homodimer. This fast and flexible transient expression system enables feasibility studies and construct optimisation to be concluded within a few days, thus avoiding the time consuming step of having to generate stably transformed lines. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A 36-kDa diheme c-type cytochrome abundant in Fe(III)-respiring Geobacter sulfurreducens, designated MacA, was more highly expressed during growth with Fe(III) as the electron acceptor than with fumarate. Although MacA has homology to proteins with in vitro peroxidase activity, deletion of macA had no impact on response to oxidative stress. However, the capacity for Fe(III) reduction was greatly diminished, indicating that MacA, which is predicted to be localized in the periplasm, is a key intermediate in electron transfer to Fe(III). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the purification and characterization of an enzyme from Geobacter sulfurreducens that catalyzes the reduction of soluble iron (Fe [III]) with nicotinamide adenine diphosphate (NADPH) as the electron donor. Dissimilatory Fe(III) reduction in the degradation of natural and contaminant organic matter under anaerobic conditions; Localization of NADPH-dependent Fe(III) reductase.

3-month-old infants' perception of "camouflaged" forms that are only visible when moving was studied. Displays were used in which figure and ground had an identical random dot texture, and no edge indicated the form of the figure. The form was invisible when stationary. Discrimination of 2 different forms was tested (a) when the forms were visible only through motion, and (b) when the forms appeared as stationary white figures on black ground. The babies discriminated the forms in both conditions. Furthermore, when infants were habituated to one of the moving forms and subsequently presented with the same and a new static form, they looked longer at the new form. This indicates that they recognized the static form as either the same or different from the moving form seen before, although the optical sources of information were completely different. At 3 months, infants can therefore effectively use kinetic information to organize the visual input in higher-order structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author notes that despite the work of Troeltsch and Weber, later sociology did not provide substantial treatment of the organizational aspects of religious phenomena. This shortcoming both on the theoretical and empirical level can perhaps be explained by the fact that churches have a tendency to conceal the problems of their organization behind a quasi-theology, and sociologists do not always avoid the images and interpretations that the churches provide of themselves. The author then cites three reasons which seem to militate in favor of a more thorough analysis of the organizational and bureaucratic aspects of the churches' activity. He also proposes several ways of reflecting on the faithful's changing perception of the Catholic Church as well as its democratization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ether-cleaving O-demethylase from the strictly anaerobic homoacetogen Acetobacterium dehalogenans catalyses the methyltransfer from 4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-benzoate (vanillate) to tetrahydrofolate. In the first step a vanillate :corrinoid protein methyltransferase (methyltransferase I) mediates the methylation of a 25-kDa corrinoid protein with the cofactor reduced to cob(I)alamin. The methyl group is then transferred to tetrahydrofolate by the action of a methylcorrinoid protein :tetrahydrofolate methyltransferase (methyltransferase II). Using primers derived from the amino-terminal sequences of the corrinoid protein and the vanillate :corrinoid protein methyltransferase (methyltransferase I), a 723-bp fragment was amplified by PCR, which contained the gene odmA encoding the corrinoid protein of O-demethylase. Downstream of odmA, part of the odmB gene encoding methyltransferase I was identified. The amino acid sequence deduced from odmA showed about 60 % similarity to the cobalamin-binding domain of methionine synthase from Escherichia coli (MetH) and to corrinoid proteins of methyltransferase systems involved in methanogenesis from methanol and methylamines. The sequence contained the DXHXXG consensus sequence typical for displacement of the dimethylbenzimidazole base of the corrinoid cofactor by a histidine from the protein. Heterologous expression of odmA in E. coli yielded a colourless, oxygen-insensitive apoprotein, which was able to bind one mol cobalamin or methylcobalamin/mol protein. Both of these reconstituted forms of the protein were active in the overall O-demethylation reaction. OdmA reconstituted with hydroxocobalamin and reduced by titanium(III) citrate to the cob(I)alamin form was methylated with vanillate by methyltransferase I in an irreversible reaction. Methylcobalamin carrying OdmA served as methyl group donor for the methylation of tetrahydrofolate by methyltransferase II. This reaction was found to be reversible, since methyltransf... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ether-cleaving O-demethylase isolated from syringate-grown cells of Acetobacterium dehalogenans (formerly named strain MC) consists of four proteins, components A, B, C and D. The enzyme system converts only phenyl methyl ethers with a hydroxyl group in the ortho position to the methoxyl moiety. The presence of a carboxyl group in the aromatic compound was not required for O-demethylase reaction. Component B mediated the conversion of vanillate to 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate in the presence of the Ti(III)-reduced corrinoid-containing component A. After addition of component D and tetrahydrofolate, methyl tetrahydrofolate was formed from vanillate in stoichiometric amounts. Titanium(III) citrate as a reductant could be replaced by H[sub 2], methyl viologen or ferredoxin, partially purified hydrogenase, purified component C obtained from A. dehalogenans, and ATP. From these findings, it was deduced that component B serves as vanillate : corrinoid protein methyltransferase (methyltransferase I) mediating the methyl transfer from vanillate to the reduced corrinoid protein component A. Component D functions as methylcorrinoid protein : tetrahydrofolate transferase (methyltransferase II). The role of component C is probably that of an activating protein reversing accidental oxidation of the protein-bound cob(I)alamin to cob(II)alamin in the presence of ATP and reducing equivalents supplied by the enzymatic oxidation of hydrogen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: To provide a better understanding of cognitive functioning, motor outcome, behavior and quality of life after childhood stroke and to study the relationship between variables expected to influence rehabilitation and outcome (age at stroke, time elapsed since stroke, lateralization, location and size of lesion). Methods: Children who suffered from stroke between birth and their eighteenth year of life underwent an assessment consisting of cognitive tests (WISC-III, WAIS-R, K-ABC, TAP, Rey-Figure, German Version of the CVLT) and questionnaires (Conner's Scales, KIDSCREEN). Results: Twenty-one patients after stroke in childhood (15 males, mean 11;11 years, SD 4;3, range 6;10-21;2) participated in the study. Mean Intelligence Quotients (IQ) were situated within the normal range (mean Full Scale IQ 96.5, range IQ 79-129). However, significantly more patients showed deficits in various cognitive domains than expected from a healthy population (Performance IQ p = .000; Digit Span p = .000, Arithmetic's p = .007, Divided Attention p = .028, Alertness p = .002). Verbal IQ was significantly better than Performance IQ in 13 of 17 patients, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. Symptoms of ADHD occurred more often in the patients' sample than in a healthy population (learning difficulties/inattention p = .000; impulsivity/hyperactivity p = .006; psychosomatics p = .006). Certain aspects of quality of life were reduced (autonomy p = .003; parents' relation p = .003; social acceptance p = .037). Three patients had a right-sided hemiparesis, mean values of motor functions of the other patients were slightly impaired (sequential finger movements p = .000, hand alternation p = .001, foot tapping p = .043). In patients without hemiparesis, there was no relation between the lateralization of lesion and motor outcome. Lesion that occurred in the midst of childhood (5-10 years) led to better cognitive outcome than lesion in the very early (0-5 years) or late childhood (10-18 years). Other variables such as presence of seizure, elapsed time since stroke and size of lesion had a small to no impact on prognosis. Conclusion: Moderate cognitive and motor deficits, behavioral problems, and impairment in some aspects of quality of life frequently remain after stroke in childhood. Visuospatial functions are more often reduced than verbal functions, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. This indicates a functional superiority of verbal skills compared to visuospatial skills in the process of recovery after brain injury. Compared to the cognitive outcome following stroke in adults, cognitive sequelae after childhood stroke do indicate neither the lateralization nor the location of the lesion focus. Age at stroke seems to be the only determining factor influencing cognitive outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioresponsive polymers (BRPs) allow the detection of potentially pathogenic microorganisms. Here, peptidoglycan and cellulose based hydrogels were constructed with potential for diagnosis of wound infection or, for example, Aspergillosis, respectively. These systems respond to extracellular enzymes from microbes or enzymes secreted from the human immune system in case of infection. Laccases as ‘enhanzymes’ were incorporated into these devices for signal and stability enhancement when compared to simple dye release based systems. To retain the enhanzymes within the BRPs, they were either PEGylated laccase (Laccase_PEG) to increase size or methacrylated laccase (Laccase_MA) to allow covalent attachment to the polysaccharide matrices. PEGylation of Trametes hirsuta laccase led to a fivefold increase in size to 270kDa according to size exclusion chromatography (SEC). Likewise, successful methacrylation of the laccase was demonstrated by using reversed phase chromatography while SEC analysis proved covalent attachment of the enzyme to the methacrylated polysaccharide matrix. Upon incubation of peptidoglycan based BRPs with fluid from infected wounds, the difference to controls was four times higher for Laccase_PEG based signalling when compared to simple dye release. Similarly, the control signals (i.e. leaching) were considerably reduced in case of Laccase_MA incorporated in crosslinked peptidoglycan (PG) and carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) hydrogels for signalling. In addition, Laccase_MA catalysed colour formation enhanced the signal dramatically with factors between 100- and 600-fold. Laccase_MA was demonstrated to oxidise silica gel immobilised ferulic acid incorporated into the BRP with clearly visible colour changes of 4.5 ΔE units according the CIELab concept upon incubation by trigger enzymes as well as infected wound fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Detection of bacterial and fungal contamination is of extreme importance in the fields of medical products or food packaging. Here a diagnostic tool based on pectinase and cellulase triggered release of a dye from a crosslinked polysaccharide matrix was developed. The hydrogel-based bioresponsive matrix consisted of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) as a substrate for cellulases and polygalacturonate (PGA) as substrate for pectinases. To improve the stability of the hydrogels, methacrylic groups were inserted as crosslinking molecules. For polymerisation, two different methods were used, namely UV and thermal crosslinking. Controlled release triggered by extracellular enzymes of potentially pathogenic/contaminating microorganisms was investigated by the incorporation of Alizarin into the hydrogels. UV polymerised hydrogels turned out to be more suitable than thermal crosslinked polymers. Integration of such polymer based bioresponsive systems in medical surfaces or package systems could therefore act as an in situ monitoring system for detecting the presence of bacteria or fungi like e.g. Aspergillus species. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Enzymatic hydroxylation of polypropylene (PP) was investigated in order to increase hydrophilicity. A mutant (139-3) of the P450monooxygenase from Bacillus megaterium expressed in E. coli DH5α was purified using anion exchange chromatography. Hydroxylation of PP fabrics led to a dramatic increase of hydrophilicity as indicated by a water drop dissipation time of below 1 s compared to the hydrophobic reference material. Likewise, a 4.9 cm increase of rising height was measured which remained consistent after 144 h of storage. Similarly, enzymatic hydroxylation of PP films lead to a decrease of the WCA from 104.6° to 77.3° with no major change after exposure to air for 6 days. Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, an increase in normalized atomic concentrations of oxygen from 1.40 to 4.98% for the CO-inhibited and enzyme treated sample, respectively, was measured confirming enzymatic hydroxylation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Polysaccharide acid (PSA) based devices (consisting of alginic acid and polygalacturonic acid) were investigated for the detection of contaminating microorganisms. PSA–CaCl2 hydrogel systems were compared to systems involving covalent cross-linking of PSA with glycidylmethacrylate (PSA–GMA) which was confirmed with Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) analysis. Incubation of PSA–CaCl2 and PSA–GMA beads loaded with Alizarin as a model ingredient with trigger enzymes (polygalacturonases or pectate lyases) or bacteria lead to a smoothening of the surface and exposure of Alizarin according to Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) analysis. Enzyme triggered release of Alizarin was demonstrated for a commercial enzyme preparation from Aspergillus niger and with purified polygalacturonase and pectate lyase from S. rolfsii and B. pumilus, respectively. In contrast to the PSA–CaCl2 beads, cross-linking (PSA–GMA beads) restricted the release of Alizarin in absence of enzymes. There was a linear relation between release of Alizarin (5–348μM) and enzyme activity in a range of 0–300Uml−1 dosed. In addition to enzymes, both PSA–CaCl2 and PSA–GMA beads were incubated with Bacillus subtilis and Yersinia entercolitica as model contaminating microorganism. After 72h, a release between 10μM and 57μM Alizarin was detected. For protection of the hydrogels, an enzymatically modified PET membrane was covalently attached onto the surface. This lead to a slower release and improve long term storage stability based on less than 1% release of dye after 21 days. Additionally, this allowed simple detection by visual inspection of the device due to a colour change of the white membrane to orange upon enzyme triggered release of the dye. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Immobilisation of enzyme substrates is a powerful tool in the detection of enzymes in the chemosphere and the environment. A siloxane based strategy for the covalent immobilisation of oxidoreductase and protease substrates was developed involving activation of silica gel and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as model carriers with (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane or (3-mercaptopropyl)-trimethoxysilane (APTS, MPTS). Ferulic acid and l-Leucine-p-nitroanilide, Gly-Phe p-nitroanilide (GPpNA) and N-Succinyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Leu p-nitroanilide (SAAPLpNA) as laccase and protein substrates, respectively, were covalently attached using glutaraldehyde or carbodiimide based cross-linking strategies. In contrast to conversion in solution, immobilised SAAPLpNA was hydrolysed much faster by protease than immobilised GPpNA indicating steric hindrance with decreasing chain length between point of attachment and site of enzyme attack. Immobilised ferulic acid was oxidised by laccase both in case of MPTS and APTS-modified silica gel giving clearly visible colour changes with ΔE values of 7.2 and 2.3, respectively after 24h of incubation, where ΔE describes the distance between two colours. Similarly, clearly visible colour changes with a ΔE value of 8.6 were seen after laccase treatment of ferulic acid immobilised on APTS activated PET as carrier. Limited surface hydrolysis of PET with a cutinase enhanced coupling of APTS and ferulic acid due to a larger number of hydroxyl groups available on the surface and consequently led to a higher colour difference of ΔE =12.2 after laccase oxidation. The covalent coupling product between ferulic acid and 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane was identified by LC–MS (M+1 m/z 601) and successfully oxidised with laccase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus and cutinases from Thermobifida fusca and Fusarium solani hydrolysed poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fabrics and films and bis(benzoyloxyethyl) terephthalate (3PET) endo-wise as shown by MALDI-Tof-MS, LC–UVD/MS, cationic dyeing and XPS analysis. Due to interfacial activation of the lipase in the presence of Triton X-100, a seven-fold increase of hydrolysis products released from 3PET was measured. In the presence of the plasticizer N,N-diethyl-2-phenylacetamide (DEPA), increased hydrolysis rates of semi-crystalline PET films and fabrics were measured both for lipase and cutinase. The formation of novel polar groups resulted in enhanced dye ability with additional increase in colour depth by 130% and 300% for cutinase and lipase, respectively, in the presence of plasticizer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study on the involvement of Geobacter sulfurreducens SfrAB in acetate metabolism. It focuses on intracellular respiration-linked Fe(lll) citrate reduction in catalysis of NADPH-dependent reduction chelating Fe(III) which was previously purified from dissimilatory Fe(III)-reducing micro-organism Geobacter sulfurreducens. Reduction of chelated forms of cytoplasmic Fe(III) is suggested. But a further study showed that metabolically active spheroplast suspensions can not catalyse acetate-dependent Fe(III) citrate reduction. This is an indication of periplasmic outer-membrane components required for reduction. Results showed cytoplasmic respiration-linked reduction.

Unlabelled: An increasing number of parents turn to homeopathy for treatment of their hyperactive child. Two publications, a randomised, partially blinded trial and a clinical observation study, conclude that homeopathy has positive effects in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The aim of this study was to obtain scientific evidence of the effectiveness of homeopathy in ADHD. A total of 83 children aged 6-16 years, with ADHD diagnosed using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria, were recruited. Prior to the randomised, double blind, placebo controlled crossover study, they were treated with individually prescribed homeopathic medications. 62 patients, who achieved an improvement of 50% in the Conners' Global Index (CGI), participated in the trial. Thirteen patients did not fulfill this eligibility criterion (CGI). The responders were split into two groups and received either verum for 6 weeks followed by placebo for 6 weeks (arm A), or vice-versa (arm B). At the beginning of the trial and after each crossover period, parents reported the CGI and patients underwent neuropsychological testing. The CGI rating was evaluated again at the end of each crossover period and twice in long-term follow-up. At entry to the crossover trial, cognitive performance such as visual global perception, impulsivity and divided attention, had improved significantly under open label treatment (P<0.0001). During the crossover trial, CGI parent-ratings were significantly lower under verum (average 1.67 points) than under placebo (P =0.0479). Long-term CGI improvement reached 12 points (63%, P <0.0001).Conclusion: The trial suggests scientific evidence of the effectiveness of homeopathy in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, particularly in the areas of behavioural and cognitive functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]