BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common bacteria in human sepsis, a condition in which the activation of blood coagulation plays a critical pathophysiological role. During severe sepsis and septic shock microthrombi and multiorgan dysfunction are observed as a result of bacterial interference with the host defense and coagulation systems.OBJECTIVES: In the present study, staphy

The chronic inflammation in Crohn's disease may be caused by aggressive response to bacterial antigens normal to the gut. Genetic and environmental factors modify the inflammatory response evoked by damage to the mucosal gut barrier. Genetic factors may also determine the subsequent course of chronic inflammation. Further elucidation of the pathogenesis might improve our understanding of the heter

We review computational studies of three important mono-nuclear molybdenum oxo-transfer enzymes, dimethylsulfoxide reductase, sulfite oxidase and xanthine oxidase. We show that calculated energies for these reactions are very sensitive to details in the calculations, in particular to the density-functional method employed and the size of the basis set, but the treatment of dispersion and solvation

Can local communities on the margins of society be charged with the responsibility of maintaining their own social order? What type of law (if any) can bring social order to these communities? Using semi-structured interviews with social workers, police officers, lawyers and other professionals familiar with the Tottenham riots, this chapter offers an inside view into what community means in a runCan local communities on the margins of society be charged with the responsibility of maintaining their own social order? What type of law (if any) can bring social order to these communities? Using semi-structured interviews with social workers, police officers, lawyers and other professionals familiar with the Tottenham riots, this chapter offers an inside view into what community means in a run

The transient-state kinetic consequences of the coupling of a single-enzyme reaction to other metabolic reactions have been examined in generalized terms. Analytical data are presented which specify under what conditions such coupling may lead to an oscillatory transient rate behaviour of a reaction system involving an enzyme operating by a Michaelian mechanism. The results indicate that the prese

A kinetic model for photosynthetic carbohydrate formation in the chloroplast of C3 plants is presented which includes consideration of the interaction of the phosphate translocator of the chloroplast envelope with external reactants such as 3-phosphoglycerate, dihydroxyacetone phosphate, and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate in addition to inorganic (ortho)phosphate. The model is shown to account satisfa

An extension of the available kinetic theory for reactions in the transient state is presented which establishes that single‐enzyme reactions may exhibit damped oscillations under the conditions of standard kinetic experiments performed by stopped‐flow techniques. Such oscillations may occur for reasonable magnitudes of rate constants in the enzymic reaction mechanism and at physiological concentr

Control analyses and kinetic model studies have been performed in order to obtain quantitative information on the regulatory significance of 12 experimentally well‐documented inhibitory interactions of Calvin cycle intermediates with the four non‐equilibrium cycle enzymes. Evidence is presented to show that none of these interactions contributes significantly to the cycle flux control over the ran

Kinetic model studies and control analyses of the Calvin photosynthesis cycle have been performed to characterize the dependence of the cycle activity on maximum velocities and Kmvalues for the interaction of the non‐equilibrium cycle enzymes and ATP synthetase with their substrates under conditions of light and carbon dioxide saturation. The results show that Km values have no major influence on

A systematic search for possible sources of experimentally observed oscillations in the photosynthetic reaction system has been performed by application of recent theoretical results characterizing the transient‐state rate behaviour of metabolic reactions involving two independent concentration variables. All subsystems involving two independent reactants in metabolically fundamental parts of the

A generalized reaction scheme for the kinetic interaction of two reactants in a metabolic pathway has been examined in order to establish what minimal mechanistic patterns are required to support a damped oscillatory transient‐state kinetic behaviour of such a two‐component system when operating near a steady state. All potentially oscillating sub‐systems inherent in this scheme are listed and bri

The extent to which different stromal metabolites affecting ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase control the rate of photosynthetic starch production in the chloroplast of C3 plants has been examined by kinetic model studies. The results indicate that ATP, glucose 1‐phosphate, 3‐phosphoglycerate, fructose 6‐phosphate, and orthophosphate may provide significant contributions to the starch synthesis rate ch

The regulatory implications of the interaction of ribulosebisphosphate carboxylase with metabolites participating in the Calvin photosynthesis cycle has been examined by control analysis based on our recently described kinetic model for photosynthetic carbohydrate formation in the chloroplast of C3 plants. The results provide clear evidence that the Calvin cycle activity under conditions of light

A mathematical model is presented for photosynthetic carbohydrate formation in C3 plants under conditions of light and carbon dioxide saturation. The model considers reactions of the Calvin cycle with triose phosphate export and starch production as main output processes, and treats concentrations of NADPH, NAD+, CO2, and H+ as fixed parameters of the system. Using equilibrium approximations for a

A simple model based on rapid‐equilibrium assumptions is derived which relates the steady‐state activity of the Calvin cycle for photosynthetic carbohydrate formation in C3 plants to the kinetic properties of a single cycle enzyme (fructose bisphosphatase) and of the phosphate translocator which accounts for the export of photosynthate from the chloroplast. Depending on the kinetic interplay of th

The catalytic interaction of glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase with glyceraldehydes‐3‐phosphate has been examined by transient‐state kinetic methods. The results confirm previous reports that the apparent Km for oxidative phosphorylation of glyceraldehydes‐3‐phosphate decreases at least 50‐fold when the substrate is generated in a coupled reaction system through the action of aldolase on fr

The coordination chemistry of the zinc ion in the active site of alcohol dehydrogenase has been studied by the ab initio Hartree–Fock method. Geometry optimizations were performed using analytical gradients and basis sets of double‐zeta quality. Correlation effects were included at the MP2 level. The active site was modeled by Zn(HS)2XL(H2O)0–2, where X denotes ammonia or imidazole and L denotes w

A detailed parameterization is presented of a zinc ion with one histidine and two cysteinate ligands, together with one or two water, hydroxide, aldehyde, alcohol, or alkoxide ligands. The parameterization is tailored for the active site of alcohol dehydrogenase and is obtained entirely from quantum chemical computations. The force‐field reproduces excellently the geometry of quantum chemically op

The geometry of several realistic models of the metal coordination sphere in the blue copper proteins has been optimised using high-level quantum chemical methods. The results show that the optimal vacuum structure of the Cu(II) models is virtually identical to the crystal structure of oxidised blue copper proteins. For the reduced forms, the optimised structure seems to be more tetrahedral than t