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Operating shared resource laboratories (SRLs) in times of pandemic is a challenge for research institutions. In a multiuser, high-turnover working space, the transmission of infectious agents is difficult to control. To address this challenge, imaging core facility managers being members of German BioImaging discussed how shared microscopes could be operated with minimal risk of spreading SARS-CoV-2 between users and staff. Here, we describe the resulting guidelines and explain their rationale, with a focus on separating users in space and time, protective face masks, and keeping surfaces virus-free. These recommendations may prove useful for other types of SRLs. © 2020 The Authors. Cytometry Part A published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of International Society for Advancement of Cytometry. published

Mg2FeD6 is successfully synthesised with various degrees of purity using reactive ball milling and annealing under low pressure deuterium conditions to a maximum of 10 bar. The deuteride of the low cost ternary metal hydride Mg2FeH6, is synthesised to enable further characterisation studies such as isotopic exchange behaviour. Both on laboratory and industrial scales, keeping the pressure low reduces the need for expensive compression systems and also minimises the quantity of gas necessary for use; therefore it is important to assess synthesis under these cost effective conditions. This is especially the case when using a specialised gas such as high purity deuterium. The maximum pressure chosen is 10 bar, to comply with the High Pressure Safety Act in Japan. This Safety Act limits the use of any gas including hydrogen and deuterium to 10 bar eliminating the use of traditional synthesis methods for Mg2FeH6 or Mg2FeD6 synthesis at high pressure (120 bar). Ball milling parameters such as milling times, ball to powder ratios as well as sintering times were altered to achieve improved Mg2FeD6 yields under these low pressure conditions.

Modern communication systems and information technology create significant new threats to information privacy. In this paper, we discuss the need for proper privacy protection in cooperative intelligent transportation systems (cITS), one instance of such systems. We outline general principles for data protection and their legal basis and argue why pure legal protection is insufficient. Strong privacy-enhancing technologies need to be deployed in cITS to protect user data while it is generated and processed. As data minimization cannot always prevent the need for disclosing relevant personal information, we introduce the new concept of mandatory enforcement of privacy policies. This concept empowers users and data subjects to tightly couple their data with privacy policies and rely on the system to impose such policies onto any data processors. We also describe the PRECIOSA Privacy-enforcing Runtime Architecture that exemplifies our approach. Moreover, we show how an application can utilize this architecture by applying it to a pay as you drive (PAYD) car insurance scenario.

Mediator of RNA polymerase II transcription subunits (MEDs) serve to promote the assembly, activation, and regeneration of transcription complexes on core promoters during the initiation and re-initiation phases of transcription. There are no studies on the Mediator complex during development of endothelial progenitors (EPCs). Here, we have analysed all known MEDs during the differentiation of EPCs, by expression profile studies at RNA level and, for a limited subset of MED subunits, also at protein level. Since beneficial effects of l-arginine on EPCs have been described, we have also examined its effect on the expression of Mediator subunit coding genes. Through RT-PCR we have found increased expression for MED12 and decreased levels for MED30 after l-arginine treatment; Western blot analysis do not agree entirely with the RNA data in the identification of a putative protein product. Furthermore, we have analysed the three-dimensional nuclear positions of MED12 and MED30 genes in the presence of l-arginine treatment. Our major finding is the identification of a novel transcript of MED30, termed MED30 short (MED30s) generating by alternative splicing. Our results showed that the mRNA of this novel isoform is present only in circulating cells, but it is not expressed in cultured adherent cells. These findings are broadly relevant and will contribute to our understanding of the role of Mediator in eukaryotic gene expression. Despite the need to confirm the in vivo presence of the protein of this novel isoform, the presence of this novel RNA raises the possibility of regulating pathophysiological mechanism in progenitors. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.