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Increased plastic recycling is necessary to reduce environmental impacts related to manufacturing and end-of-life of plastic products, however, mechanical recycling (MR) - currently the most widespread recycling option for plastic waste - is limited by quality requirements for inputs and reduced quality of outputs. In this study, pyrolysis of plastic waste is assessed against MR, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) and fuel substitution through climate footprint assessment (CFA) based on primary data from pyrolysis of plastic waste sourced from Danish waste producers. Results of the CFA are scaled to the Danish plastic waste resource in an impact assessment of current Danish plastic waste management, and scenarios are constructed to assess reductions through utilization of pyrolysis. Results of the CFA show highest benefits utilizing pyrolysis for monomer recovery (-1400 and -4800 kg CO2e per ton polystyrene (PS) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), respectively) and MR for single polymer polyolefins (-1000 kg CO2e per ton PE). The two management options perform similarly with mixed plastic waste (200 kg CO2e per ton plastic waste). MSWI has the highest impact (1600-2200 kg CO2e per ton plastic waste) and should be avoided when alternatives are available. Scaling the results of the CFA to the full Danish plastic waste resource reveals an impact of 0.79 Mt CO2e in year 2020 of current plastic waste management. Utilizing pyrolysis to manage MR residues reduces the system impact by 15%. Greater reductions are possible through increased separation of plastic from residual waste. The best performance is achieved through a combination of MR and pyrolysis.

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AIM: Cardiac remodelling is associated with changes in contractile proteins and their performance, alterations in energy production and intracellular calcium homeostasis, as well as changes in extracellular matrix proteins. Some of these processes may be mediated through the gp130 receptor complex. Patients with heart failure have increased cardiac gene expression of leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a cytokine that signals through the gp130 receptor. The aim of this study was to identify alterations in gene expression in LIF-stimulated neonatal cardiomyocytes. METHODS: Cardiomyocytes were isolated from 1- to 3-day-old Wistar rats and stimulated for 48 h with LIF. Gene expression was examined by repeated cDNA filter array analysis (n = 5) and key results verified by complementary methods. RESULTS: In LIF-stimulated cultures we observed increased cell area and changes in gene expression. The intracellular signal regulators signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV, protein kinase Cdelta and the transcription factor ID1 were upregulated. Adenylyl cyclase V was downregulated. LIF also induced altered expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1. Receptor genes for tumour necrosis factor, interleukin-4, neurotensin and somatostatin were upregulated. Finally, LIF reduced the expression of components in the adenosine triphosphate synthase complex, epidermal fatty acid-binding protein and insulin-like growth factor-binding proteins 1 and 6. CONCLUSIONS: Array analysis revealed changes in mRNA levels of several genes not previously associated with activation of the gp130/LIF receptor complex. Our findings indicate a role for LIF in regulation of cardiomyocyte energy metabolism.

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N-(1-alkenyl) derivatives of 2,4-pyrimidinediones (6-9) were prepared in a one pot synthesis from aldehydes and the nucleobases using trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TfOTMS) as coupling reagent. Presilylation of the above nucleobases, and N6-benzoyladenine, with excess N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide (BSA) followed by addition of one mol eq. TfOTMS yielded the N-(1-trimethylsilyloxyalkyl) derivatives 1-5.

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Protected N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-N-(nucleobase-acetyl)aminomethanephosphonic+ ++ acid (6a-d) of all four DNA nucleobases have been prepared and oligomerized by solid-phase synthesis. Four DNA decamers containing 1-10 of these 'PPNA' monomers were prepared and evaluated by Tm measurements (medium salt) for binding to their DNA and RNA complements. One central modification reduced the binding strongly (delta Tm = -10 degrees C), but contiguous PPNA monomers gave smaller effects, and the all-PPNA decamer bound to RNA with a delta Tm of -1.2 degrees C per modification. Thus PPNA oligomers are inferior DNA and RNA binders compared to the closely related and strongly binding PNA oligomers.

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Thioguanine derivatives with reactive ester groups at positions 6, 7, or 9 of the purine ring were synthesized and coupled to a protein carrier. The purified protein derivative of tuberculin was used as the carrier for immunizing bacillus Calmette-Guerin primed mice. This led to high antibody titers against the homologously coupled hapten, and spleen cells from the immunized mice were used to produce monoclonal antibodies against thioguanine. All monoclonal antibodies were selected for their ability to recognize free thioguanine and were analyzed for their fine specificity by inhibition experiments with a panel of thiopurine derivates. The specificity of the monoclonal antibodies showed a strong dependence on the coupling position of the thioguanine. Within each group of monoclonal antibodies, raised against one of the three different conjugates, there was a high degree of heterogeneity, with antibodies differing in their binding according to the substitution on the thioguanine analogues used in the inhibition experiments. This panel of antibodies may be used for quantitative assays of thiopurines and their metabolites in patients undergoing treatment with thioguanine, 6-mercaptopurine, and azathioprine.

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Much attention has been focused on the study of protein interactions with radioiodinated photo-crosslinking reagents, and pitfalls in using this methodology are discussed. A new photochemical and cleavable heterobifunctional crosslinking reagent, succinimidyl N-14-(2-hydroxybenzoyl)-N-11-(4-azidobenzoyl)-9-oxo-8,11,14-triaza -4,5- dithiatetradecanoate (SHAD) was prepared, and its potential as a label transfer reagent was tested in model systems. SHAD was radioiodinated, and the labeled reagent (125I-SHAD) was converted to an amide (125I-HADM, as a mimicry of conjugation to protein 1) and photolyzed. When compared to the widely used SASD reagent (sulfosuccinimidyl 2-[[(4-azidosalicyl)-amino]ethyl]-1,3- dithiopropionate, Pierce), SHAD has a number of decisive advantages. The amide of 125I-SASD (125I-ASDM) was generated and photolyzed, and it was found that at least 50% of the radioactivity is released from 125I-ASDM after 3 min of irradiation, whereas only approximately 10% is liberated from 125I-HADM under similar conditions. Furthermore, 125I-HADM was photolyzed in the presence of excess amine (mimicry of crosslinking to protein 2), and the product was cleaved by reduction (mimicry of label transfer). The transformations in the course of photolysis were monitored by UV spectroscopy and TLC analysis, and a high degree of reagent cleavage upon reduction was demonstrated. 125I-SHAD was used to crosslink Lys78-plasminogen and fibrin. 125I-SHAD was conjugated to Lys78-plasminogen in the dark. Fibrinogen and thrombin were added, and Lys78-plasminogen was crosslinked to the fibrin clot by exposure to light.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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Quinolylmethylisothioronium salts (1a and 4a) cleave DNA upon irradiation. The cleavage is more than 10-fold enhanced by piperidine treatment and subsequently shows a high preference for guanines. Photolysis of 1a, 2a and 4a in water at lambda greater than 300 nm resulted in photoheterolysis. Irradiation of 1a in 2-propanol gave only products from photohomolysis, irradiation of 1a in methanol and 2a and 4a in 2-propanol resulted in products from both photoheterolysis and photohomolysis. Quantum yields for the disappearance of 1a in water and 2-propanol were determined. The presence or absence of oxygen had no effect in water, whereas oxidation products were observed upon irradiation in methanol and 2-propanol in the presence of oxygen. The guanine specific DNA photoreaction is proposed to take place by alkylation at N7 via the quinolylmethyl carbocation and thus to represent a photoalkylation.

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The intensive use of cleavable cross-linking reagents to study macromolecular biological interactions has shown a demand for optimizing these reagents in such a way that the involved macromolecules remain intact. The present work focuses on the development of selenium linkers that are cleavable by mild oxidation. The efficiency of cross-linking and subsequent cross-linker cleavage with a new series of such homo- or heterobifunctional cross-linking reagents have been tested in a simple model system, consisting of albumin and cytochrome c. Resultant, or residual, covalent complex formation is examined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. From this work it can be concluded that diallyl selenides are readily cleaved by mild oxidation, whereas dialkyl selenides and benzyl alkyl selenides can only be cleaved when the alkyl part of the selenide has an electron-withdrawing group next to the beta-carbon from selenium.

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The article presents a model for organized prenatal care in a district of 45,000 people. General practitioners, midwives and an obstetrician share responsibility for pregnant women in the region. The general practitioners have primary responsibility for the prenatal care, but all the pregnant women are offered consultation with the midwife twice and with the obstetrician once during the pregnancy. The midwives give general information on pregnancy and birth, and also take part in the ultrasonographic screening program. The obstetrician provides individual care to women with risk pregnancies, or in the event of complications. This system offers similar prenatal care to all pregnant women in the area without interfering with their personal wishes.

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The long-wavelength ultraviolet (lambda approximately 420 nm) radiation induced reaction between 6-azido-2-methoxy-9-acridinylamines and supercoiled plasmid DNA results in single strand scissions and formation of covalent adducts (ratio approximately 1:10). By treating azidoacridine-photomodified DNA with piperidine at 90 degrees C, additional strand scissions are observed in a complex sequence dependent manner with an overall preference for T greater than or equal to G greater than C much greater than A. The resulting DNA fragments migrate as 5'-phosphates in polyacrylamide gels. Photofootprinting of the binding site of RNA-polymerase on promoter DNA is demonstrated with an azido-9-acridinylamino-octamethylene-9-aminoacridine. Similar experiments using 9-amino-6-azido-2-methoxyacridine indicate that this reagent recognizes changes in the DNA conformation induced by RNA polymerase binding, in relation to open complex formation.

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We have found that di-, tri-, tetra-, and hexa-9-acridinylamines are so efficiently associated with DNA during electrophoresis in polyacrylamide or agarose gels that they retard its migration. The retardation is roughly proportional to the reagent to base pair ratio, and the magnitude of the retardation indicates that a combined charge neutralization/helix extension mechanism is mainly responsible for the effect. Furthermore, DNA sequence dependent differences are observed. Thus, the pUC 19 restriction fragments (HaeIII or AluI), which in the native state comigrate upon gel electrophoretic analysis, could be separated in the presence of a diacridine, and specific DNA fragments responded differently to different diacridines. These results suggest that the effect also is due to a contribution from the DNA conformation and that the DNA conformation dynamics are influenced differently upon binding of different diacridines. We foresee three applications of this observation: (1) in analytical gel electrophoretic separation of otherwise comigrating DNA molecules, (2) in studies of polyintercalator-DNA interaction, and (3) in measurements of polyintercalator-induced DNA unwinding.

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Since N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) in cell membrane glucocalyx mediates or modulates a variety of actions, such as mediator release, we examined a possible modulating role of this amino sugar in histamine release from human basophil leukocytes. Removal of NANA from the cell membrane by the enzyme neuraminidase caused a dose-dependent histamine release. Removal of smaller amounts of NANA enhanced histamine release induced by anti-IgE, Concanavalin A and the calcium ionophore A23187, and reduced the interval between addition of antigen and initiation of histamine release. Pretreatment with free NANA had the opposite effects, i.e. a diminished and delayed maximal histamine release. The hypothesis that NANA in the cell membrane modulates the cellular response to stimulation was further substantiated by demonstrating that the altered response was reflected by a change in the sensitivity of the cell to extracellular calcium. NANA in the cell membrane glucocalyx thus seems to modulate the basophil response to stimulation by modulating transmembraneous calcium transport.

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