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BACKGROUND. Gadobutrol and gadoterate are widely used macrocyclic gadolinium-based contrast agents. Given gadobutrol's higher T1 relaxivity, a reduced gadobutrol dose should achieve essentially equivalent diagnostic efficacy as a standard dose of gadoterate. OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to show efficacy of a 25% reduced dose of gadobutrol is noninferior to 100% standard dose of gadoterate for contrast-enhanced MRI of the CNS. METHODS. In this international prospective multicenter open-label crossover trial (LEADER-75 [Lower Administered Dose With Higher Relaxivity: Gadovist vs Dotarem]), adult patients with known or suspected CNS pathology underwent contrast-enhanced brain MRI with standard-dose gadoterate (0.1 mmol/kg); if an enhancing lesion was identified, a second MRI with reduced-dose gadobutrol (0.075 mmol/kg) was performed within 15 days of the first MRI. Three radiologists independently reviewed images to score three primary efficacy measures: subjective lesion enhancement, lesion border delineation, lesion internal morphology. A noninferiority analysis used readers' mean scores of the primary efficacy measures. Noninferiority of reduced-dose gadobutrol to standard-dose gadoterate for primary efficacy measures was defined as the difference in score between reduced-dose gadobutrol images and unenhanced images achieving at least 80% of the difference in score between standard-dose gadoterate images and unenhanced images. A post hoc analysis was performed to directly compare contrast-enhanced images for equivalence. Secondary efficacy variables included the number of lesions detected, reader confidence, diagnostic performance for malignancy, and reader preference in side-by-side comparison. RESULTS. The efficacy analysis included 141 patients (78 men, 63 women; mean age, 58.5 ± 13.5 [SD] years). Improvement of reduced-dose gadobutrol over unenhanced images was noninferior to improvement of standard-dose gadoterate over unenhanced images using a 20% noninferiority margin for all three primary efficacy measures using mean readings (p ≤ .025). In the post hoc analysis, the mean reading for the three primary efficacy measures differed by less than 1% between reduced-dose gadobutrol and standard-dose gadoterate, supporting equivalence of all measures using a narrow ± 5% margin (p ≤ .025). The total number of lesions detected by mean reading was 301 for reduced-dose gadobutrol versus 291 for standard-dose gadoterate. Mean reader confidence was 3.3 ± 0.6 for reduced-dose gadobutrol versus 3.3 ± 0.6 for standard-dose gadoterate. Sensitivity (58.7%), specificity (91.8%), and accuracy (70.2%) for malignancy from majority reading were identical for reduced-dose gadobutrol and standard-dose gadoterate. Reader preference was not different (95% CI, -0.10 to 0.11). CONCLUSION. A 25% reduced dose of gadobutrol is noninferior to standard-dose gadoterate for contrast-enhanced brain MRI. CLINICAL IMPACT. Use of reduced-dose gadobutrol should be considered for brain MRI, particularly in patients undergoing multiple contrast-enhanced examinations. TRIAL REGISTRATION. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03602339; EU Clinical Trials Register EudraCT 2018-00690-78.

Since Sorensen and Bjerrum defined the pH scale, we have relied on two methods for determining pH, the colorimetric or the electrochemical. For pH electrodes, calibration is easy as a linear response is observed in the interesting pH range from 1 to ∼12. For colorimetric sensors, the response follows the sigmoidal Bjerrum diagram of an acid–base equilibrium. Thus, calibration of colorimetric sensors is more complex. Here, seven pH responsive fluorescent dyes based on the same diazaoxatriangulenium (DAOTA) fluorophore linked to varying receptor groups were prepared. Photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) quenching from appended aniline or phenol receptors generated the pH response of the DAOTA dyes, and the position of the pKa value of the dye was tuned using the Hammett relationship as a guideline. The fluorescence intensity of the dyes in a sol–gel matrix environment was measured as a function of pH in universal buffer, and it was found that the dyes behave as perfect pH responsive probes under these condi...

Background: Continuous engineering practices, such as continuous integration and continuous deployment, see increased adoption in modern software development. A frequently reported challenge for adopting these practices is the need to make sense of the large amounts of data that they generate.Goal: We consider the problem of automatically grouping logs of runs that failed for the same underlying reasons, so that they can be treated more effectively, and investigate the following questions: (1) Does an approach developed to identify problems in system logs generalize to identifying problems in continuous deployment logs? (2) How does dimensionality reduction affect the quality of automated log clustering? (3) How does the criterion used for merging clusters in the clustering algorithm affect clustering quality?Method: We replicate and extend earlier work on clustering system log files to assess its generalization to continuous deployment logs. We consider the optional inclusion of one of these dimensionality reduction techniques: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI), and Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF). Moreover, we consider three alternative cluster merge criteria (Single Linkage, Average Linkage, and Weighted Linkage), in addition to the Complete Linkage criterion used in earlier work. We empirically evaluate the 16 resulting configurations on continuous deployment logs provided by our industrial collaborator.Results: Our study shows that (1) identifying problems in continuous deployment logs via clustering is feasible, (2) including NMF significantly improves overall accuracy and robustness, and (3) Complete Linkage performs best of all merge criteria analyzed.Conclusions: We conclude that problem identification via automated log clustering is improved by including dimensionality reduction, as it decreases the pipeline's sensitivity to parameter choice, thereby increasing its robustness for handling different inputs.

This paper presents the goals, service design approach, and the results of the project “Accessible Tourism around Lake Constance”, which is currently run by different universities, industrial partners and selected hotels in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. In the 1st phase, interviews with different persons with disabilities and elderly persons have been conducted to identify the barriers and pains faced by tourists who want to spend their holidays in the region of Lake Constance as well as possible assistive technologies that help to overcome these barriers. The analysis of the interviews shows that one third of the pains and barriers are due to missing, insufficient, wrong or inaccessible information about the accessibility of the accommodation, surroundings, and points of interests during the planning phase of the holidays. Digital assistive technologies hence play a major role in bridging this information gap. In the 2nd phase so-called Hotel-Living-Labs (HLL) have been established where the identified assistive technologies can be evaluated. Based on these HLLs an overall service for accessible holidays has been designed and developed. In the last phase, this service has been implemented based on the HLLs as well as the identified assistive technologies and is currently field tested with tourists with disabilities from the three participated countries.

A new four-component organically modified silicate (ORMOSIL) material was developed with optical pH sensors in mind. Through a sol–gel process, the porosity of an ORMOSIL framework was optimized to allow rapid diffusion of protons, ideal for fast response to pH in an optical sensor. The optically transparent material was produced by catalyzing the dual polymerization of 3-(glycidoxy)propyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) and propyltriethoxysilane (PrTES) with boron trifluoride diethyl etherate. The performance of the resulting material in fluorescence based optical pH sensors was evaluated by incorporation of active dye components in the inorganic polymer framework. It is demonstrated that the material has a short response time (t90 < 30 s) and high stability in medium and during storage, and resulting sensor spots are biocompatible. It is concluded that this ORMOSIL material has excellent properties for optical pH sensors.

Since Sørensen and Bjerrum defined the pH scale, we have relied on two methods for determining pH, the colorimetric or the electrochemical. For pH electrodes, calibration is easy as a linear response is observed in the interesting pH range from 1 to ∼12. For colorimetric sensors, the response follows the sigmoidal Bjerrum diagram of an acid-base equilibrium. Thus, calibration of colorimetric sensors is more complex. Here, seven pH responsive fluorescent dyes based on the same diazaoxatriangulenium (DAOTA) fluorophore linked to varying receptor groups were prepared. Photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) quenching from appended aniline or phenol receptors generated the pH response of the DAOTA dyes, and the position of the p K

The very limited class of fluorophores, with a long fluorescence lifetime (>10 ns) and fluorescence beyond 550 nm, has been expanded with two benzo-fused triangulenium derivatives and two cationic [5]-helicene salts. The syntheses of the benzo-bridged dioxa- and diazatriangulenium derivatives (BDOTA+ and BDATA+, respectively) required two different synthetic approaches, which reflect the structural and physiochemical impact on the reactivity of [5]-helicenium precursors. Spectroscopic investigations show that the introduction of the benzo bridge into the triangulenium chromophore significantly redshifts the absorption and emission while maintaining fluorescence lifetimes above 10 ns. The combination of a high quantum yield, long fluorescence lifetime, and emission above 600 nm is possible only if the structural aspects of the triangulenium framework are perfectly harmonized to secure a low rate of nonradiative deactivation. The new benzo bridge may be a general motif to obtain red-shifted derivatives of other dye classes.

Continuous engineering (CE) practices, such as continuous integration and continuous deployment, have become key to modern software development. They are characterized by short automated build and test cycles that give developers early feedback on potential issues. CE practices help to release software more frequently, and reduces risk by increasing incrementality. However, effective use of CE practices in industrial projects requires making sense of the vast amounts of data that results from the repeated build and test cycles. The goal of this paper is to investigate to what extent these data can be treated more effectively by automatically grouping logs of runs that failed for the same underlying reasons, and what effort reduction can be achieved. To this end, we replicate and extend earlier work on system log clustering to evaluate its efficacy in the CE context, and to investigate the impact of five alternative log vectorization techniques. We built a prototype tool that is used to conduct an empirical case study on continuous deployment logs provided by our industrial collaborator. Questions to be answered include: (1) Can we reduce the effort needed to discover all latent issues in a set of failing runs? (2) How to best leverage the contrast between passing and failing runs to increase accuracy? (3) What trade-offs are there between effort reduction and accuracy? We present a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the results of our study. We conclude by evaluating the trade-offs, and give recommendations for applying this approach in practice.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of gadobutrol enhanced preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in 2 prospective studies.Approval of ethics committees and informed consent from patients were obtained. Both Gadobutrol-Enhanced MR Mammography (GEMMA) trials followed a standardized protocol using 1.5 T scanners. After unenhanced scans, patients received 0.1 mmol/kg of gadobutrol for the dynamic study. Six independent blinded readers, 3 for GEMMA1 and 3 for GEMMA2, assessed unenhanced images and, 2 or more weeks apart, contrast-enhanced plus unenhanced breast MRI images (CE-BMRI), using a standard 5-region scheme. Another 6 independent readers (3 for each study) evaluated mammograms alone. Sensitivity was calculated taking into account the identification of regions harboring malignancies (within-patient sensitivity), whereas specificity was based on cancer-free breasts. The first patient from each center was used for site qualification and blinded reader training and excluded from the efficacy analyses. Reference standard was pathology for regions harboring malignancy and a combination of negative pathology, mammography, and ultrasound for cancer-free regions.Of 906 breast cancer patients enrolled in 13 countries in the 2 studies, 865 received gadobutrol and 787 were evaluated for diagnostic performance (390 in GEMMA1 and 397 in GEMMA2). Within-patient sensitivity, that is, the detection rate of malignant disease extent per patient, ranged from 80% to 89% for CE-BMRI and was significantly superior to unenhanced breast MRI alone (37%-73%) and to mammography alone (68%-73%) for all readers in both trials. Specifity of the CE-BMRI ranged from 83% to 95%.In a very large multicenter preoperative setting, gadobutrol-enhanced breast MRI demonstrated high levels of sensitivity and specificity, consistent with published data on breast MRI.

Knowledge of the molecular basis for contact inhibition of growth, an in vitro property differentiating benign from malignant cells and correlated with in vivo growth control, could provide new targets for reestablishing control of malignant cell proliferation. We previously reported a soluble Contact Inhibitory Factor (CIF) in culture medium from a revertant contact inhibited melanoma cell line that restored contact-, serum-, and anchorage-dependent growth control to melanoma cells, closely linked to reversal of multiple malignant properties and whose contact inhibitory effects extended to a wide spectrum of other cancers. We now report identification, purification, and synthesis of the molecule, CIF, responsible for restoring contact inhibition: a structurally novel cyclic decapeptide dimer. Its discovery has both clinical and theoretical implications. Availability of CIF should not only facilitate evaluation of its therapeutic potential but also may provide the key to its target and the sequence of molecular events linking contact inhibition to broad phenotypic reversal. CIF may be the ligand for a widely distributed contact inhibitory checkpoint, one that is defective in cancer cells but pharmacologically correctible by CIF, and controlling replication at a single locus, potentially simplifying treatment. CIF is the first cell-derived peptide that restores contact inhibition of growth to melanoma and a wide spectrum of other cancers, with an obligatory link in melanoma to reversal of multiple aspects of the malignant phenotype. It suggests the possibility of an alternative approach to treatment of intractable melanoma and other cancers: broad-spectrum, endogenous peptide-based control of malignancy through phenotypic reversal that tilts the biologic balance to favor host recapture of control over tumor. Citation Format: Martin Rosenberg, Jennifer R. Bethard, Linda Aronoff, George Lipkin. A novel melanoma-derived cyclic decapeptide dimer mediates restoration of contact inhibition of growth and reversal of the malignant phenotype [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Melanoma: From Biology to Target; 2019 Jan 15-18; Houston, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(19 Suppl):Abstract nr A31.

Time-resolved fluorescence offers many advantages over normal steady-state detection and becomes increasingly important in bioimaging. However, only very few fluorophores with emission in the visible range and fluorescence lifetimes above 5 ns are available. In this work, we prepare a series of new aza/oxa-triangulenium dyes where one of the usual oxa or aza bridges is replaced by an isopropyl bridge. This leads to a significant redshift of fluorescence with only moderate reductions of quantum yields and a unique long fluorescence lifetime. The fluorescence of the isopropyl bridged diazatriangulenium derivative CDATA+ is red-shifted by 50 nm (1400 cm−1) as compared to the oxygen-bridged DAOTA+ chromophore and has intense emission in the red region (600–700 nm) with a quantum yield of 61%, and a fluorescence lifetime of 15.8 ns in apolar solution. When the CDATA+ dye is used as cell stain, high photostability and efficient time-gated cell imaging is demonstrated.

The vinylheptafulvene (VHF) to dihydroazulene (DHA) electrocyclization is known to proceed from an s-cis conformation of VHF and cannot occur from the more stable s-trans conformation. Locking the VHF in the s-cis conformation by the introduction of a dihydronaphthalene (DHN) unit has been found to greatly enhance the speed of this reaction. Thus, the half-life was reduced by more than a factor of 150000 in cyclohexane and by a factor of approximately 950000 in ethanol. In addition, the characteristic absorption of the photoactive DHA isomer, now annulated to DHN, exhibited a desired redshift relative to the parent compound. Here, we present the synthesis and study of these DHN-DHA/VHFs, including a protocol for the incorporation of a pseudo-halide to enable the further functionalization of the molecule by metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions. For proof-of-concept, two different sulfur end-groups were incorporated as anchoring groups for potential molecular electronics applications.

Azaoxatriangulenium (ADOTA) has been shown to be highly emissive despite a moderate molar absorption coefficient of the primary electronic transition. As a result, the fluorescence lifetime is ~20 ns, longer than all commonly used red fluorescent organic probes. The electronic transitions in ADOTA are highly polarised (r 0 = 0.38), which in combination with the long fluorescence lifetime extents the size-range of biomolecular weights that can be detected in fluorescence polarisation-based experiments. Here, the rotational dynamics of bovine serum albumin (BSA) are monitored with three different ADOTA derivatives, differing only in constitution of the reactive linker. A detailed study of the degree of labelling, the steady-state anisotropy, and the time-resolved anisotropy of the three different ADOTA-BSA conjugates are reported. The fluorescence quantum yields (ϕ fl) of the free dyes in PBS solution are determined to be ~55%, which is reduced to ~20% in the ADOTA-BSA conjugates. Despite the reduction in ϕ fl, a ~20 ns intensity averaged lifetime is maintained, allowing for the rotational dynamics of BSA to be monitored for up to 100 ns. Thus, ADOTA can be used in fluorescence polarisation assays to fill the gap between commonly used organic dyes and the long luminescence lifetime transition metal complexes. This allows for efficient steady-state fluorescence polarisation assays for detecting binding of analytes with molecular weights of up to 100 kDa.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the potential risk of gadobutrol-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with moderate to severe renal impairment for the development of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF). Materials and Methods: We performed a prospective, international, multicenter, open-label study in 55 centers. Patients with moderate to severe renal impairment scheduled for any gadobutrol-enhanced MRI were included. All patients received a single intravenous bolus injection of gadobutrol at a dose of 0.1 mmol/kg body weight. The primary target variable was the number of patients who develop NSF within a 2-year follow-up period. Results: A total of 908 patients were enrolled, including 586 with moderate and 284 with severe renal impairment who are at highest risk for developing NSF. The mean time since renal disease diagnosis was 1.83 and 5.49 years in the moderate and severe renal impairment cohort, respectively. Overall, 184 patients (20.3%) underwent further contrast-enhanced MRI with other gadolinium-based contrast agents within the 2-year follow-up. No patient developed symptoms conclusive of NSF. Conclusions: No safety concerns with gadobutrol in patients with moderate to severe renal impairment were identified. There were no NSF cases.

Excited State Aromaticity and Antiaromaticity : Opportunities for Photophysical and Photochemical Rationalizations

Purpose Gadobutrol is a 1.0 M macrocyclic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent. A study was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of gadobutrol-enhanced versus unenhanced imaging for central nervous system (CNS) lesion visualization and detection. Materials and Methods An international, multicenter, open-label, Phase III clinical trial. Patients underwent unenhanced and gadobutrol 1.0 M-enhanced (0.1 mmol/kg BW) MR imaging using a standardized protocol. Unenhanced and combined unenhanced/gadobutrol-enhanced images were scored by three independent, blinded readers for degree of lesion enhancement, border delineation, internal morphology, and total number of lesions detected (primary efficacy variables). Exact match of the MR diagnoses with the final clinical diagnosis, detection of malignant CNS lesions, and confidence in diagnosis were secondary efficacy variables. Results Of 343 enrolled patients, 321 were evaluated for efficacy. All primary efficacy endpoints were met: superiority was demonstrated for gadobutrol-enhanced versus unenhanced MR images (P

Understanding protein function and interaction is central to the elucidation of biological processes. Systematic analysis of protein interactions have shown that the eukaryotic proteome is highly interconnected and that biological function frequently depends on the orchestrated action of many proteins. Perturbation of these functions or interactions can lead to various disease states and pharmacologic intervention can result in corrective therapies. The fact that proteins rarely act in isolation, but rather comprise complex machines that stably and/or transiently interact with many different partners at different times, demands the need for robust tools that allow comprehensive global analyses of these events. Here we describe a powerful protein fusion technology, the HaloTag platform, and how it enables the study of many facets of protein biology by offering a broad choice of applications. We review the development of the key aspects of the technology and it's performance in both in vitro and in vivo applications. In particular, we focus on HaloTag's multifunctional utility in protein imaging, protein isolation and display, and in the study of protein complexes and interactions. We demonstrate it's potential to help elucidate important facets of proteomic biology across complex biological systems at the biochemical, cell-based and whole animal level.

We describe how a new fluorescent dye, methyl ADOTA (N-methyl-azadioxatriangulenium tetrafluoroborate), is an improvement on dyes reported previously for measuring silica nanoparticle size in sols using the decay of fluorescence anisotropy. Me(thyl)-ADOTA possesses the unusual combination of having a red emission and a long fluorescence lifetime of ~ 20 ns, leaving it better-placed to reveal particle sizes at the upper end of the 1-10 nm measurement range. For stable LUDOX colloids, Me-ADOTA is shown to offer higher measurement precision in ≤ 1/30th of the measurement time required for dyes previously used. In measurement times of only ~ 20 mins nanoparticle radii for LUDOX SM-AS, AM and AS-40 of 4.6 ± 0.3 nm, 5.9 ± 0.2 nm and 11.1 ± 1.1 nm, are in good agreement with two of the manufacturer’s values of 3.5 nm, 6 nm and 11 nm respectively. Unlike the Si-ADOTA (N-(4-(triethoxysilylethyl)urea-phenyl-) ADOTA tetrafluoroborate) derivative containing a reactive trimetoxysilane group, Me-ADOTA is shown to not induce aggregation of colloidal silica. Measurements on nanoparticles growing in an acidic silica hydrogel at pH 0.94, prior to the gel time of ~ 50 hr, reveals an average nanoparticle size up to ~ 6.3 nm, significantly larger than the 4.5 nm reported previously. The difference is most certainly due to the longer fluorescence lifetime of Me-ADOTA (~ 20 ns) revealing the presence of larger particles. Studies of growing silica clusters in an alcogel of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) were able to resolve a monotonically increasing average radius of 1.42 ± 0.10 nm to 1.81 ± 0.14 nm over a period of 48 hr. We have also assessed a carboxylic acid derivative of ADOTA (N-(3-carboxypropylene)-ADOTA tetrafluoroborate - Acid-ADOTA) using dSTORM super-resolution microscopy. Although demonstrating high photochemical stability and blinking, its lower brightness and relative propensity to aggregate limits Acid-ADOTA’s use for dSTORM.

DTrace, short for “dynamic tracing”, is a powerful diagnostic tool and tracing framework. It is invaluable for performance monitoring, tuning, and for getting insights into almost any aspect of a running system. In this paper we investigate how we can leverage the DTrace operating system-level instrumentation framework [9] to conduct runtime verification. To this end, we develop graphviz2dtrace, a tool for producing monitor scripts in DTrace’s domain-specific scripting language D for specification formulas written in \(\text{ LTL }_{3}\), a three-valued variety of the well-known Linear Temporal Logic. We evaluate the tool by analyzing a small stack-implementation and a multi-process system.

We have investigated the deep-UV photoinduced, homolytic bond cleavage of amyl nitrite to form NO and pentoxy radicals. One-color multiphoton ionization with ultrashort laser pulses through the S(2) state resonance gives rise to photoelectron spectra that reflect ionization from the S(1) state. Time-resolved pump-probe photoionization measurements show that upon excitation at 207 nm, the generation of NO in the v = 2 state is delayed, with a rise time of 283 (16) fs. The time-resolved mass spectrum shows the NO to be expelled with a kinetic energy of 1.0 eV, which is consistent with dissociation on the S(1) state potential energy surface. Combined, these observations show that the first step of the dissociation reaction involves an internal conversion from the S(2) to the S(1) state, which is followed by the ejection of the NO radical on the predissociative S(1) state potential energy surface.

The photoelectron spectrum shows that multiphoton ionization of amyl nitrite, C(5)H(11)ONO, using ultrafast laser pulses deposits up to 3.7 eV of energy into internal degrees of freedom. As a result, the molecules fragment to produce various daughter ions of masses 87, 71, 60, 57, 41, 30, 29, and 27. Absorption of an additional photon with 3 eV of energy by the ions yields transients with picosecond decay times, revealing the time scale of the decomposition dynamics of the initially prepared parent ion. Each mass peak has a distinct time constant, in the range of 1.2 to 7.9 ps, emphasizing the dependence of the fragmentation mechanism on the ion internal energy.

Aromaticity has importance for proton and hydride affinities in the singlet ground state (S(0)) of annulenyl anions and cations so that, e.g., cyclopentadiene is an acidic hydrocarbon. For the lowest pipi* excited triplet state (T(1)), Baird's rule concludes that annulenes with 4n pi-electrons are aromatic and those with 4n+2 pi-electrons are antiaromatic, opposite to Huckel's rule for aromaticity in S(0). Our hypothesis is now that the relative magnitudes of proton and hydride affinities of annulenyl anions and cations reverts systematically as one goes from S(0) to T(1) as a result of the opposite electron counting rules for aromaticity in the two states. Using quantum chemical calculations at the G3(MP2)//(U)B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) level we have examined the validity of this hypothesis for eight proton and eight hydride addition reactions of anions and cations, respectively, of annulenyl and benzannulenyl type. We categorize the (4n+2)pi-electron systems in S(0) and the 4npi-electron systems in T(1) to be of A-character and 4npi-electron systems in S(0) and (4n+2)pi-electron systems in T(1) to be of AA-character (A, aromatic; AA, anti/nonaromatic). The average proton affinities of anions of A- and AA-characters in S(0) are 1447 and 1521 kJ/mol, respectively, and in T(1) they are 1365 and 1493 kJ/mol. The average hydride affinities of A- and AA-character cations in S(0) are 826 and 996 kJ/mol, and in T(1) they are 790 and 879 kJ/mol, respectively. Thus, the calculated proton and hydride affinities are in general lower for anions and cations of A-character than for those of AA-character, in good support of our hypothesis. The findings could likely be applied in synthetic organic photochemistry and other areas where excited state acid-base chemistry plays a role.

The mechanistic aspects of the photo induced reactions of gaseous amyl nitrite have been investigated using ab initio calculations. We show that the C 5 H 11 O–NO bond dissociation mechanism is different on the S 1 and S 2 surfaces, respectively. The subsequent conformational changes in the ground state 1-pentoxy radical involves several barriers. Interestingly, we show that the intramolecular 1,5-H transfer in the 1-pentoxy radical proceeds in the opposite direction on the S 1 state compared to the S 0 reaction. Moreover, the results show that the excited state reaction of the alkoxy radical may be a proton transfer that proceeds on a repulsive surface.

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) synthase, a member of the family of acyl-condensing enzymes, catalyzes the first committed step in the mevalonate pathway and is a potential target for novel antibiotics and cholesterol-lowering agents. The Staphylococcus aureus mvaS gene product (43.2 kDa) was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, purified to homogeneity, and shown biochemically to be an HMG-CoA synthase. The crystal structure of the full-length enzyme was determined at 2.0-A resolution, representing the first structure of an HMG-CoA synthase from any organism. HMG-CoA synthase forms a homodimer. The monomer, however, contains an important core structure of two similar alpha/beta motifs, a fold that is completely conserved among acyl-condensing enzymes. This common fold provides a scaffold for a catalytic triad made up of Cys, His, and Asn required by these enzymes. In addition, a crystal structure of HMG-CoA synthase with acetoacetyl-CoA was determined at 2.5-A resolution. Together, these structures provide the structural basis for an understanding of the mechanism of HMG-CoA synthase.

Regulated antisense RNA enables the construction of a defined set of conditional growth-defective/lethal strains. In this study, we expanded the regulated antisense RNA interference technology and developed a high-throughput screening strategy to identify the potential drug targets of novel antimicrobials. To prove this concept, the specific antisense sublibrary of different essential open reading frames were pooled in the presence of an inducer, and treated with or without sublethal levels of mupirocin, triclosan, or gentamicin. Antisense RNA-expressing strains that were sensitized for increased susceptibility to the antibiotics were selectively detected via DNA subtractive hybridization, microarray, and whole-cell analyses. No strain was identified as supersensitive to gentamicin because there was no target-specific antisense strain in this sublibrary. In contrast, strains expressing antisense to isoleucine tRNA synthetase (ileS) and enoyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase (fabI) were specifically identified as having increased susceptibility to mupirocin and triclosan, respectively. These results demonstrated that ileS and fabI antisense strains showed significant increases of susceptibility only to their specific inhibitors. This data demonstrates that a regulated antisense RNA expression library provides an effective tool to assist in the identification of potential targets for novel antibacterial agents.

The yycFG two-component signal transduction system (TCSTS) has been shown to be essential to the viability of several gram-positive bacteria. However, the function of the gene pair remains unknown. Interestingly, while both components are essential to Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis, only the response regulator (yycF) is essential to Streptococcus pneumoniae. To study this essential TCSTS further, the S. pneumoniae and S. aureus truncated YycG histidine kinase and full-length YycF response regulator proteins were characterized at a biochemical level. The recombinant proteins from both organisms were expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. The YycG autophosphorylation activities were activated by ammonium. The apparent Km (ATP) of S. aureus YycG autophosphorylation was 130 µM and S. pneumoniae was 3.0 µM. Each had similar kcat values of 0.036 and 0.024 min–1, respectively. Cognate phosphotransfer was also investigated indicating different levels of the phosphorylated YycG intermediates during the reaction. The S. pneumoniae YycG phosphorylated intermediate was not detectable in the presence of its cognate YycF, while phosphorylated S. aureus YycG and YycF were detected concurrently. In addition, noncognate phosphotransfer was demonstrated between the two species. These studies thoroughly compare the essential YycFG TCSTS from the two species at the biochemical level and also establish methods for assaying the activities of these antibacterial targets.

Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have made it possible to elucidate the entire genomes of pathogenic bacteria, and advancements in bioinformatic tools have driven comparative studies of these genome sequences. These evaluations are dramatically increasing our ability to make valid considerations of the limitations and advantages of particular targets based on their predicted spectrum and selectivity. In addition, developments in gene knockout technologies amenable to pathogenic organisms have enabled new genes and gene products critical to bacterial growth and pathogenicity to be uncovered at an unprecedented rate. Specific target examples in the areas of cell wall biosynthesis, aromatic amino acid biosynthesis, cell division, two component signal transduction, fatty acid biosynthesis, isopreniod biosynthesis and tRNA synthetases illustrate how aspects of the above capabilities are impacting on the discovery and characterization of novel antibacterial targets. An example of a novel inhibitor of bacterial fatty acid biosynthesis discovered from high throughput screening processes is described, along with its subsequent chemical optimization. Furthermore, the application and importance of technologies for tracking the mode of antibacterial action of these novel inhibitors is discussed.

A genomics-based approach was used to identify the entire gene complement of putative two-component signal transduction systems (TCSTSs) in Streptococcus pneumoniae. A total of 14 open reading frames (ORFs) were identified as putative response regulators, 13 of which were adjacent to genes encoding probable histidine kinases. Both the histidine kinase and response regulator proteins were categorized into subfamilies on the basis of phylogeny. Through a systematic programme of mutagenesis, the importance of each novel TCSTS was determined with respect to viability and pathogenicity. One TCSTS was identified that was essential for the growth of S. pneumoniaeThis locus was highly homologous to the yycFG gene pair encoding the essential response regulator/histidine kinase proteins identified in Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. Separate deletions of eight other loci led in each case to a dramatic attenuation of growth in a mouse respiratory tract infection model, suggesting that these signal transduction systems are important for the in vivo adaptation and pathogenesis of S. pneumoniae. The identification of conserved TCSTSs important for both pathogenicity and viability in a Gram-positive pathogen highlights the potential of two-component signal transduction as a multicomponent target for antibacterial drug discovery.

OBJECTIVE. We evaluated the value of directed biopsy for the detection of prostate cancer during contrast-enhanced endorectal sonography. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Forty patients were evaluated with harmonic gray-scale sonography. The evaluation was performed before administration of contrast agent, during continuous IV infusion of perflutren lipid microspheres, and again during bolus administration of the microspheres. Sextant biopsy sites were scored prospectively on a six-point scale for suggestion of malignancy at baseline during contrast infusion and after bolus administration. An additional directed core was obtained at 20 of the sextant biopsy sites based on contrast-enhanced imaging. RESULTS. Cancer was identified in 30 biopsy sites in 16 of the patients (40%). A suspicious site identified during contrast-enhanced transrectal sonography was 3.5 times more likely to have positive biopsy findings at than an adjacent site that was not suggestive of malignancy ( p < 0.025). When a suspicious site was evaluated with an additional biopsy core, the site was five times more likely to have a biopsy with positive findings than a standard sextant site ( p < 0.01). We found no difference in diagnostic accuracy between continuous infusion of contrast material and bolus administration. CONCLUSION. Contrast-enhanced transrectal sonography improves the sonographic detection of malignant foci in the prostate. The performance of multiple biopsies of suspicious enhancing foci significantly improves the detection of cancer. There is no advantage to additional examination of the gland after bolus administration of contrast material.

Purpose Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the central nervous system (CNS) with gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) is standard of care for CNS imaging and diagnosis because of the visualization of lesions that cause blood–brain barrier breakdown. Gadobutrol is a macrocyclic GBCA with high concentration and high relaxivity. The objective of this study was to compare the safety and efficacy of gadobutrol 1.0 M vs unenhanced imaging and vs the approved macrocyclic agent gadoteridol 0.5 M at a dose of 0.1 mmol/kg bodyweight. Materials and Methods Prospective, multicenter, double-blind, crossover trial in patients who underwent unenhanced MRI followed by enhanced imaging with gadobutrol or gadoteridol. Three blinded readers assessed the magnetic resonance images. The primary efficacy variables included number of lesions detected, degree of lesion contrast-enhancement, lesion border delineation, and lesion internal morphology. Results Of the 402 treated patients, 390 patients received study drugs. Lesion contrast-enhancement, lesion border delineation, and lesion internal morphology were superior for combined unenhanced/gadobutrol-enhanced imaging vs unenhanced imaging ( P < 0.0001 for all). Compared with gadoteridol, gadobutrol was non-inferior for all primary variables and superior for lesion contrast-enhancement, as well as sensitivity and accuracy for detection of malignant disease. The percentage of patients with at least one drug-related adverse event was similar for gadobutrol (10.0%) and gadoteridol (9.7%). Conclusion Gadobutrol is an effective and well-tolerated macrocyclic contrast agent for MRI of the CNS. Gadobutrol demonstrates greater contrast-enhancement and improved sensitivity and accuracy for detection of malignant disease than gadoteridol, likely because of its higher relaxivity.

2,3,5,6-Tetraethyl-1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes with either four chloro (1a), methyl (1b), or trimethylsilyl (TMS) (1c) substituents at the two silicon atoms were examined in an effort to design rigid compounds with strong neutral cross-hyperconjugation between pi- and sigma-bonded molecular segments arranged into a cycle. Remarkable variations in the lowest electronic excitation energies, lowest ionization energies, and the first oxidation potentials were observed upon change of substituents, as determined by gas phase ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), and cyclic voltammetry. A particularly strong neutral cyclic cross-hyperconjugation was observed in 1c. Its lowest electron binding energy (7.1 eV) is distinctly different from that of 1b (8.5 eV). Molecular orbital analysis reveals a stronger interaction between filled pi(C=C) and pi(SiR2) group orbitals in 1c than in 1a and 1b. The energy shift in the highest occupied molecular orbital is also reflected in the first oxidation potentials as observed in the cyclic voltammograms of the respective compounds (1.47, 0.88, and 0.46 V for 1a, 1b and 1c, respectively). Furthermore, 1,4-disilacyclohexadiene 1c absorbs strongly at 273 nm (4.55 eV), whereas 1a and 1b have no symmetry allowed excitations above 215 nm (below 5.77 eV). Thus, suitably substituted 1,4-disilacyclohexa-2,5-dienes could represent novel building blocks for the design of larger cross-hyperconjugated molecules as alternatives to traditional purely cross-p-conjugated analogues, and could allow for design of molecules with properties that are not accessible to those that are exclusively pi-conjugated.

Comprehensive genomic analysis of the important human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus was achieved by a strategy involving antisense technology in a regulatable gene expression system. In addition to known essential genes, many genes of unknown or poorly defined biological function were identified. This methodology allowed gene function to be characterized in a comprehensive, defined set of conditionally growth-defective/lethal isogenic strains. Quantitative titration of the conditional growth effect was performed either in bacterial culture or in an animal model of infection. This genomic strategy offers an approach to the identification of staphylococcal gene products that could serve as targets for antibiotic discovery.

Systematic analysis of the entire two-component signal transduction system (TCSTS) gene complement of Staphylococcus aureus revealed the presence of a putative TCSTS (designated SrhSR) which shares considerable homology with the ResDE His-Asp phospho-relay pair of Bacillus subtilis. Disruption of the srhSR gene pair resulted in a dramatic reduction in growth of the srhSR mutant, when cultured under anaerobic conditions, and a 3-log attenuation in growth when analyzed in the murine pyelonephritis model. To further understand the role of SrhSR, differential display two-dimensional gel electrophoresis was used to analyze the cell-free extracts derived from the srhSR mutant and the corresponding wild type. Proteins shown to be differentially regulated were identified by mass spectrometry in combination with protein database searching. An srhSR deletion led to changes in the expression of proteins involved in energy metabolism and other metabolic processes including arginine catabolism, xanthine catabolism, and cell morphology. The impaired growth of the mutant under anaerobic conditions and the dramatic changes in proteins involved in energy metabolism shed light on the mechanisms used by S. aureus to grow anaerobically and indicate that the staphylococcal SrhSR system plays an important role in the regulation of energy transduction in response to changes in oxygen availability. The combination of proteomics, bio-informatics, and microbial genetics employed here represents a powerful set of techniques which can be applied to the study of bacterial gene function.

Conditional expression systems were utilized for the ectopic induction of essential genes in Staphylococcus aureus. Resulting strains were then subjected to allelic-replacement mutagenesis of the native allele under inducing conditions for expression of the ectopic copy of the gene. This strategy produced test strains whereby cellular viability was uniquely dependent on the presence of inducer and provided a direct and absolute confirmation of genetic essentiality for each locus. The procedure is particularly useful for genes that are difficult to analyze by conventional inactivation strategies due to either small size or complex genomic organization.

Meat-eating primates avoid scavenging for dietary protein and micronutrients even when carrion is relatively fresh. Chimpanzees, baboons, and modern hunter-gatherers supplement their diets of high-energy, low-protein fruit with protein obtained from leaves, insects, and animal prey. Most primates, especially leaf-eating primates, digest the cellulose cell walls of ingested plant material in a well developed caecum and/or large intestine through fermentation caused by enzymes released by their normal gut flora. The primate digestive strategy combines a rapid passage through the stomach and prolonged digestion in the ileum of the small intestine and caecum, and this combination increases the likelihood of colonization of the small intestine by ingested bacteria that are the cause of gastrointestinal disease. Carrion is very quickly contaminated with a high bacterial load because the process of dismemberment of a carcass exposes the meat to the bacteria from the saliva of the predator, from the digestive tra...

The mevalonate pathway and the glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (GAP)–pyruvate pathway are alternative routes for the biosynthesis of the central isoprenoid precursor, isopentenyl diphosphate. Genomic analysis revealed that the staphylococci, streptococci, and enterococci possess genes predicted to encode all of the enzymes of the mevalonate pathway and not the GAP-pyruvate pathway, unlike Bacillus subtilis and most gram-negative bacteria studied, which possess only components of the latter pathway. Phylogenetic and comparative genome analyses suggest that the genes for mevalonate biosynthesis in gram-positive cocci, which are highly divergent from those of mammals, were horizontally transferred from a primitive eukaryotic cell. Enterococci uniquely encode a bifunctional protein predicted to possess both 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase and acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activities. Genetic disruption experiments have shown that five genes encoding proteins involved in this pathway (HMG-CoA synthase, HMG-CoA reductase, mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase) are essential for the in vitro growth of Streptococcus pneumoniae under standard conditions. Allelic replacement of the HMG-CoA synthase gene rendered the organism auxotrophic for mevalonate and severely attenuated in a murine respiratory tract infection model. The mevalonate pathway thus represents a potential antibacterial target in the low-G+C gram-positive cocci.

The Rev protein of human immunodeficiency virus is a nuclear shuttling protein that promotes nuclear export of mRNAs that encode the viral structural proteins Gag, Pol, and Env. Rev binds to a highly structured RNA motif, the Rev-responsive element (RRE), that is present in all Rev-responsive viral transcripts and facilitates their entry into a nuclear export pathway by recruiting cellular export factors. In mammalian and yeast cells, the principal export receptor engaged by Rev has been identified as the importin/transportin family member CRM1/exportin 1. CRM1 binds directly to a leucine-rich nuclear export sequence (NES) present in Rev, and similar motifs have been identified in a variety of cellular nuclear shuttling proteins. We and our colleagues previously demonstrated that, in transfected Drosophila cells, HIV-1 Rev is fully functional and promotes expression of the viral envelope glycoprotein. We now demonstrate that the fundamental mechanism of Rev action in insect cells is identical to that observed in the mammalian systems. In particular, we show that Drosophila cells express a leptomycin B-sensitive homologue of human CRM1 that supports Rev-dependent gene expression and is required for nuclear export of NES-containing proteins in insect cells.