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Glucokinase (GK, hexokinase IV) is a unique hexokinase that plays a central role in mammalian glucose homeostasis. Glucose phosphorylation by GK in the pancreatic β-cell is the rate-limiting step that controls glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. Similarly, GK-mediated glucose phosphorylation in hepatocytes plays a major role in increasing hepatic glucose uptake and metabolism and possibly lowering hepatic glucose output. Small molecule GK activators (GKAs) have been identified that increase enzyme activity by binding to an allosteric site. GKAs offer a novel approach for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) and as such have garnered much attention. We now report the design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a novel series of 2,5,6-trisubstituted indole derivatives that act as highly potent GKAs. Among them, Compound 1 was found to possess high in vitro potency, excellent physicochemical properties, and good pharmacokinetic profile in rodents. Oral administration of Compound 1 at doses as low as 0.03mg/kg led to robust blood glucose lowering efficacy in 3week high fat diet-fed mice.

Systemically acting glucokinase activators (GKA) have been demonstrated in clinical trials to effectively lower blood glucose in patients with type II diabetes. However, mechanism-based hypoglycemia is a major adverse effect that limits the therapeutic potential of these agents. We hypothesized that the predominant mechanism leading to hypoglycemia is GKA-induced excessive insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells at (sub-)euglycemic levels. We further hypothesized that restricting GK activation to hepatocytes would maintain glucose-lowering efficacy while significantly reducing hypoglycemic risk. Here we report the discovery of a novel series of carboxylic acid substituted GKAs based on pyridine-2-carboxamide. These GKAs exhibit preferential distribution to the liver versus the pancreas in mice. SAR studies led to the identification of a potent and orally active hepatoselective GKA, compound 6 . GKA 6 demonstrated robust glucose lowering efficacy in high fat diet-fed mice at doses ⩾10 mpk, with ⩾70-fold liver:pancreas distribution, minimal effects on plasma insulin levels, and significantly reduced risk of hypoglycemia.

3,3-Disubstituted piperidine-derived trisubstituted urea entA-2b was discovered as a highly potent and selective soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitor. Despite the good compound oral exposure, excellent sEH inhibition in whole blood, and remarkable selectivity, compound entA-2b failed to lower blood pressure acutely in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). This observation further challenges the premise that sEH inhibition can provide a viable approach to the treatment of hypertensive patients.

A high-throughput axial MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer utilizing a laser with a 2 kHz pulse repetition-rate was constructed and tested. This fast mass spectrometer provided a data acquisition rate 10 times faster than a commercially available (200 Hz) axial mass spectrometer, while maintaining comparable limits of detection (200 amole of Glu fib peptide). Mass resolution, only slightly less than the commercial instrument (10,000 vs. 14,000), was sufficient for baseline resolution of isotopic clusters of peptides with m/z

Close deposition of the sample and external standard was used in axial matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS) to achieve mass accuracy equivalent to that obtained with an internal standard across the entire MALDI plate. In this work, the sample and external standard were deposited by continuous deposition in separate traces, each approximately 200 micro m wide. The dependence of the mass accuracy on the distance between the sample and standard traces was determined across a MALDI target plate with dimensions of 57.5 mm x 57.0 mm by varying the gap between the traces from 100 micro m to 4 mm. During acquisition, two adjacent traces were alternately irradiated with a 200-Hz laser, such that the peaks in the resulting mass spectra combined the sample and external standard. Ion suppression was not observed even when the peptide concentrations in the two traces differed by more than two orders of magnitude. The five peaks from the external standard trace were used in a four-term mass calibration of the masses of the sample trace. The average accuracy across the whole plate with this method was 5 ppm when peaks of the sample trace had signal-to-noise ratios of at least 30 and the gap between the traces was approximately 100 micro m. This approach was applied to determining peptide masses of a reversed-phase liquid chromatographic (LC) separation of a tryptic digest of beta-galactosidase deposited as a long serpentine trace across the MALDI plate, with accuracy comparable to that obtainable using internal calibration. In addition, the eluent from reversed-phase LC separation of a strong cation-exchange fraction containing tryptic peptides from a yeast lysate along with the closely placed external standard was deposited on the MALDI plate. The data obtained in the MS and MS/MS modes on a MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometer were combined and used in database searching with MASCOT. Since the significant score is a function of mass accuracy in the MS mode, database searching with high mass accuracy reduced the number of false positives and also added peptides which otherwise would have been eliminated at lower mass accuracy (false negatives).

Non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) with indirect detection has been applied to the determination of fatty acids (FAs) and ascorbic acid (AA), respectively. C2-C18 FAs have been separated in less than 12 min using 8-hydroxy-7-iodoquinoline sulfonic acid as chromophores in NACE with indirect absorbance. The dissociation constant (pKa) values of C8-C18 FAs obtained from the slope of the linear plot -log [(mu 0/mu)-1] vs. pH, using 20% isopropanol and 40% acetonitrile as the organic modifier in NACE, are all above about two units than those obtained in aqueous solution. NACE with indirect laser-induced fluorescence, using merocyanine 540 (MC540) as fluorophores, has been performed to the analysis of AA and its stereoisomer, isoascorbic acid (IAA), and the limits of detection of AA and IAA are 0.30 microM and 0.17 microM, respectively. This method has been applied to the determination of AA in a lemon juice spiked with IAA as the internal standard in less than 3 min and its concentration is 76.7 +/- 0.4 mM.

Single-base resolution in the separation of DNA markers V and VI was achieved in the presence of electroosmotic flow (EOF), using poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solutions containing ethidium bromide (EtB) under isocratic conditions. Furthermore, a new approach called stepwise capillary electrophoresis (SCE) has been developed for DNA analysis, including stepwise changes in PEO concentration, EtB concentration as well as both PEO and EtB concentrations, wherein the EOF was used to introduce different PEO solutions into the capillary during the separation. DNA fragments smaller than 80 bp were both detected under isocratic conditions using 20 micrograms/ml EtB, and SCE using 1 and 20 micrograms/ml EtB, but not under isocratic conditions using 1 microgram/ml EtB. Resolution and speed of the DNA separation in SCE were different from those obtained from isocratic means, indicating that DNA underwent different concentrations of PEO and EtB in SCE. For example, DNA fragments with 458 and 504 base pairs (bp) were partially resolved in SCE, but not under isocratic conditions. The results further suggest that it is worth developing gradient techniques for widening the separation range and enhancing resolution in DNA analysis.

Dynamic control and indirect absorption detection have been combined for the separation of eight small aliphatic organic acids in less than 4 min. Electroosmotic flow (EOF) coefficients in 5 mM 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulfonic acid (8-HQSA) (pH 2 42 3.00) and 3 mM 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid (BTA) solutions are 4.35 and 1.65?10 cm / V s, respectively. In the BTA system, relatively large amounts of sodium ions adsorbed into the capillary wall are the most probable reason for the small EOF, in turn causing problems for the separation of all acids. In contrast to BTA, 8-HQSA could be used for the separation of all eight organic acids. Limits of detection of analytes are at the level of several tens of mM at pH 3.00 in the 8-HQSA system. This new technique provides several features such as high speed, reasonable resolution and sensitivity, and ease of operation. © 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

The spectral features of satellite holes are used to investigate 9-aminoacridine-DNA interactions. The hole depths of the outer ring vibronic modes are reduced more than that of the inner ring vibronic modes, implying that inner ring motion is less perturbed than outer ring motion. As a result, the mode coupling between the inner ring and outer ring is reduced upon binding to DNA. However, similar hole frequency and width of the satellite hole corresponding to the NH2 mode upon binding to DNA imply that the amino group of 9-aminoacridine sits outside the DNA.

Persistent hole-burning spectra of protonated acridine, 9-aminoacridine and proflavine doped in polyvinyl alcohol films have been studied to examine how the functional group affects chromophore-glass interactions. Proton transfer between the chromophore and the matrix upon electronic excitation is proposed to be the mechanism for the hole burned spectra of the three molecules studied. The high resolution of the spectrum of 9-aminoacridine is attributed to reduction of the electron-phonon coupling strength when substituting an amino group to the C(9) position of acridine. However, when substituting two amino groups to the C(3) and C(6) positions of acridine, significant increase of the electron-phonon coupling strength decreases the spectral resolution of proflavine.

4-Substituted piperidine-derived trisubstituted ureas are reported as highly potent and selective inhibitors for sEH. The SAR outlines approaches to improve activity against sEH and reduce ion channel and CYP liability. With minimal off-target activity and a good PK profile, the benchmark 2d exhibited remarkable in vitro and ex vivo target engagement. The eutomer entA-2d also elicited vasodilation effect in rat mesenteric artery.

Spirocyclic secondary amine-derived trisubstituted ureas were identified as highly potent, bioavailable and selective soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitors. Despite good oral exposure and excellent ex vivo target engagement in blood, one such compound, rac-1a, failed to lower blood pressure acutely in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). This study posed the question as to whether sEH inhibition provides a robust mechanism leading to a significant antihypertensive effect.

Despite a lot of research efforts in baseball video processing, little work has been done in analyzing the detailed process and ball movement of the batting content. This paper proposes a novel system to automatically summarize the progress of each batting in baseball videos. Utilizing the strictly-defined specifications of the baseball field, the system recognizes the spatial patterns in each frame and identifies what region of the baseball field is currently focused. Finally, an annotation string which abstracts the batting content is generated. With the annotation strings, the system is able to make descriptions and provide exploration for baseball videos, so that users can be given a further insight into the game quickly. The experiments on broadcast baseball videos of MLB and JPB show promising results.

Despite a lot of research efforts in sports video processing, little work was done in volleyball video analysis due to the high density of players on the court and the complicated overlapping of player-player or ball-player, which lead to great complexity of object tracking for advanced analysis. For ball detection and trajectory extraction in volleyball videos, this paper presents a physics-based scheme which utilizes the motion characteristics to extract ball trajectory from lots of moving objects. The experiments of ball tracking show encouraging results. Moreover, based on game-specific properties, the ball trajectory can be exploited to recognize set types for tactics inference and to detect basic actions in the volleyball game for close-up presentation.

Due to the complexity of proteome samples, only a portion of peptides and thus proteins can be identified in a single LC-MS/MS analysis in current shotgun proteomics methodologies. It has been shown that replicate runs can be used to improve the comprehensiveness of the proteome analysis; however, high-intensity peptides tend to be analyzed repeatedly in different runs, thus reducing the chance of identifying low-intensity peptides. In contrast to commonly used online ESI-MS, offline MALDI decouples the separation from MS acquisition, thus allowing in-depth selection for specific precursor ions. Accordingly, we extended a strategy for offline LC-MALDI MS/MS analysis using a precursor ion exclusion list consisting of all identified peptides in preceding runs. The exclusion list eliminated redundant MS/MS acquisitions in subsequent runs, thus reducing MALDI sample depletion and allowing identification of a larger number of peptide identifications in the cumulative dataset. In the analysis of the digest of an Escherichia coli lysate, the exclusion list strategy resulted in a 25% increase in the number of unique peptide identifications in the second run, in contrast to simply pooling MS/MS data from two replicate runs. To reduce the increased LC analysis time for repeat runs, a four-column multiplexed LC system was developed to carry out separation simultaneously. The multiplexed LC-MALDI MS provides a high-throughput platform to utilize the exclusion list strategy in proteome analysis.

The goal of this study was the development of N-terminal tags to improve peptide identification using high-throughput MALDI-TOF/TOF MS. Part 1 of the study was focused on the influence of derivatization on the intensities of MALDI-TOF MS signals of peptides. In part 2, various derivatization approaches for the improvement of peptide fragmentation efficiency in MALDI-TOF/TOF MS are explored. We demonstrate that permanent cation tags, while significantly improving signal intensity in the MS mode, lead to severe suppression of MS/MS fragmentation, making these tags unsuitable for high-throughput MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analysis. In the present work, it was found that labeling with Alexa Fluor 350, a coumarin tag containing a sulfo group, along with guanidation of epsilon-amino groups of Lys, could enhance unimolecular fragmentation of peptides with the formation of a high-intensity y-ion series, while the peptide intensities in the MS mode were not severely affected. LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analysis of tryptic peptides from the SCX fractions of an E. coli lysate revealed improved peptide scores, a doubling of the total number of peptides, and a 30% increase in the number of proteins identified, as a result of labeling. Furthermore, by combining the data from native and labeled samples, confidence in correct identification was increased, as many proteins were identified by different peptides in the native and labeled data sets. Additionally, derivatization was found not to impair chromatographic behavior of peptides. All these factors suggest that labeling with Alexa Fluor 350 is a promising approach to the high-throughput LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analysis of proteomic samples.

This paper presents application of sequential enhanced data processing procedures to high-resolution tandem mass spectra for identification of peptides using the Mascot database search algorithm. A strategy for (1) selection of fragment ion peaks from MS/MS spectra, (2) utilization of improved mass accuracy of the precursor ions, and (3) wavelet denoising of the mass spectra prior to fragment ion selection have been developed. The number of peptide identifications obtained using the enhanced processing was then compared with that obtained using software provided by the instrument manufacturer. Approximately 9000 MS/MS spectra acquired by the Applied Biosystems 4700 TOF/TOF MS instrument were used as a model data set. After application of the new processing, an increase of 33% unique peptides and 22% protein identifications with at least two unique peptides were found. The influence of the processing on the percentage of false positives, estimated by searching against a randomized database, was estimated to increase false positive identifications from 2.7 to 3.9%, which was still below the 5% error rate specified in the Mascot search. These data processing approaches increase the amount of information that can be extracted from LC-MS analysis without the necessity of additional experiments.

A new and simple method was demonstrated for separating phi X-174/Hae III DNA restriction fragments and DNA markers V and VI, respectively, without filling capillaries with polymer solutions prior to analysis. Using this novel method, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solutions containing ethidium bromide migrated into capillaries by electroosmotic flow (EOF) during the separation. Two DNA fragments (123 and 124 bp) in markers V and VI were well-resolved. RSD values for the separation of phi X-174/Hae III DNA restriction fragments were less than 0.52% for 3 runs using a single 75-micron capillary and less than 3.96% using three different 75-micron capillaries. A highly viscous polymer solution prepared from 3% PEO was also used for separation of DNA markers V and VI. Theoretical plates up to 11.91 million/m and separation times of less than 7 min were achieved in the separation of phi X-174/Hae III DNA restriction fragments using a 10-micron capillary and a 2% PEO solution. Advantages of this method include simplicity, short separation times, the ability to use highly viscous polymer solutions for separating small DNA fragments, and the possibility of introducing several different polymer solutions into capillaries to extend the DNA separation range.

DNA fragments of 1 to 10 kbp in length were separated by capillary electrophoresis (CE), using poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) solutions in the presence of electroosmotic flow. The technique requires filling the capillary with the polymer solution by means of electroosmotic flow (EOF). Separation times of 6-7 min in PEO solutions ranging from 0.3 to 8 x 10(6) Mr at 375 V/cm were sufficient to separate the 11 components of the dsDNA ladder (0.5 to 10 kbp) by size. The migration behavior of the double-stranded (ds)DNA fragments, interpreted by "Ferguson plot analysis", in the system is indistinguishable from that previously reported for capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) in a polyacrylamide solution without EOF. Potential advantages of conducting CZE using polymer solutions in the presence of EOF are: (i) Possibility of long migration times on short columns; (ii) possibility of introducing relatively viscous, high Mr polymer solutions into narrow capillaries; (iii) possibility of establishing polymer concentration gradients in capillaries; (iv) possibility of concentrating the starting zone by balancing electrophoretic migration and electroosmotic transport.