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The authors present relevant and widely used software for designing building services-HVAC, architectural and electrical installations. Thunderhead PyroSim, Thunderhead Ventus, Bentley AutoPIPE, Kelton Engineering FLOCALC, Bentley OpenBuildings Designer, Bentley OpenFlows HAMMER, WaterCAD, WaterGEMS, SST Systems Caepipe, Graitec ArchiWIZARD, Graitec CADKON, Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk FormIt Pro, Vent-Calc, Avenir LoopCAD, Avenir HeatCAD, ISOVER Tech Calc, Energy Soft Energy Pro, Fluid Desk Coolpack are compared, and some examples are given. For a better understanding some simullations are done. The advantages and conclusions are relevant for 2023-2024 Software Generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precocious puberty is a common cause for addressing pediatric patients in endocrinology offices, a prevalence that can be significantly influenced by environmental factors. According to studies, these factors have an impact even in the intrauterine life. Diet, especially from a qualitative point of view, defines one of the risk factors for precocious puberty and the most easily modifiable. We consider it useful to bring up the characteristics of precocious puberty and the multiple repercussions that affect both physical and mental development, with the mention that, in the absence of a prompt diagnosis and correctly performed to lead to an effective therapeutic management, these children are prone to chronic pathologies, but also to stigmatization, in the collectivities they belong to. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students newly admitted to the university must familiarize with the higher education system, must survive to the transition from pre-university system and adapt to the style of learning/organization/evaluation, basically have to adjust to student life. This change from the pre-university system to the university one has a major influence on the young person on several aspects. Some concern personal life, because it is possible for him to access a university in another city or country and then break up with his friends and his current partner. This factor, among many others, can influence school dropout. Thus, in first years of study, the Communication discipline was introduced in the faculties with a technical profile, precisely to improve and facilitate communication in the new environment in which young people develop and to encourage them to work in a team. The paper presents the analysis of the way in which the aforementioned discipline influences interpersonal communication and obviously friendship relations between new colleagues. Two questionnaires were proposed: one for initial evaluation and one after the semester passed, completed by students at the first and at last seminar. The results showed that this discipline is really important and brings added value to collegial relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, protein purification by the aid of affinity tags can be carried out with high speed and efficiency. However, in several cases, affinity tags can significantly alter the key properties of enzymes, especially activity and/or thermostability. This study focused on the purification of the non-tagged phenylalanine ammonia-lyase from Petroselinum crispum (PcPAL), as well as on the purification of the TEV (Tobacco Etch Virus) protease, the molecular scissors used to remove the affinity tag from the recombinantly expressed PcPAL. Removal of the 6xHis-tag led to a 1.5-fold increase in the specific activity of PcPAL, while the absence of the affinity tag did not significantly alter the thermostability of the protein. The purity and oligomerization state of the proteins of interest were also analyzed by size exclusion chromatography, both before and after the removal of the affinity tag, confirming the stability of the tetrameric fold of PcPAL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of commercially available lipases in various solvents using several alcohols as nucleophiles were studied for the stereoselective esterification of ibuprofen and alcoholysis of ibuprofen esters respectively. Novel methods were developed for the stereoselective synthesis of both enantiomers of the target compound. The (S)-selective alcoholysis and (R)-selective hydrolysis in a parallel kinetic resolution procedure in presence of lipase from Mucor miehei as catalyst were performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanian Journal of Civil Engineering / Revista Română de Inginerie Civilă is the property of Matrix Rom and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The gas-liquid two-phase flow is characterized by continuous and local change of surface separation of phases and by their mutual interactions. Due to the instability of the flow, heat transfer and mass, a precise analytical approach is difficult to achieve. Despite these difficulties, efforts are underway to progress from the more frequent empirical studies to reliable analytical models. This requires an accurate research of the processes involved in the two phase flow and how they interact with one another. This paper aims to determine the pressure drop for a two-phase flow in a horizontal pipe of a heating plant. The author would like to to compare the results obtained by numerical simulation with existing results in the domain. The mixture is air-water, at an environmental temperature of 25 C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanian Journal of Civil Engineering / Revista Română de Inginerie Civilă is the property of Matrix Rom and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the present study the molecular cloning, expression and purification of recombinant PcPAL, with a cleavable N-terminal His-tag is described. The PcPAL gene was cloned into pET-19b vector and transformed to different E.coli host cells. The optimization of expression and purification processes provided recombinant protein with high purity in its native, tetrameric fold with a yield of 7-8 mg protein / 1 L culture. The activity of the recombinant protein was tested towards its natural substrate L-Phe, the KM, and kcat. values suggesting excellent catalytic properties of the recombinant enzyme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the gene of phenylalanine 2,3-aminomutase from Pantoea agglomerans (PaPAM) was cloned into pET-19b vector and used for its expression in competent Escherichia coli cells. The recombinant plasmid, PaPAM-pET-19b, was transformed into competent E. coli strain BL21(DE3)pLysS cells. Overnight culture of the transformed bacteria was induced by the addition of isopropylthio-β-D-galactoside (IPTG) to the final concentrations of 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mM. Also, the effects of different temperatures (18, 25 and 30°C) and the incubation time of PaPAM were examined. The fermentation process was scaled up to 10 L fermentor. Affinity purification conditions were analyzed by SDS-PAGE. The Tm and the activity of the purified enzyme was also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the construction of three-dimensional structures of phenylalanine ammonia-lyases (PAL) and 5-methylene-3,5-dihydro-4H-imidazol-4-one MIO-enzymes, during the process of biocatalysis and bioinformatics. The article also focuses on use of structured MIO-enzymes from the Protein Data Bank was done as a base for large scale homology modeling of unstructured PAL.

The recent advances in the molecular engineering of aromatic ammonia lyases (ALs) and aminomutases (AMs) attracted increased interest towards their applications in the treatment of phenylketonuria and/or the synthesis of non-natural amino acids. Herein we describe the cloning, isolation and purification of recombinant L-phenylalanine ammonia-lyase from Rhodosporidium toruloides for future biocatalytic and therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In addition to its role in adaptive thermogenesis, brown adipose tissue (BAT) may protect from weight gain, insulin resistance/diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Prior studies have shown contradictory results regarding the influence of thyroid hormone (TH) levels on BAT volume and activity. The aim of this pilot study was to gain further insights regarding the effect of TH treatment on BAT function in adult humans by evaluating the BAT mass and activity prospectively in six patients, first in the hypothyroid and then in the thyrotoxic phase. Methods: The study subjects underwent 18F-FDG PET-CT scanning after cold exposure to measure BAT mass and activity while undergoing treatment for differentiated thyroid cancer, first while hypothyroid following thyroid hormone withdrawal at the time of the radioactive iodine treatment and then 3-6 months after starting TH suppressive treatment when they were iatrogenically thyrotoxic. We measured thermogenic and metabolic parameters in both phases. Results: All study subjects had detectable BAT under cold stimulation in both the hypothyroid and thyrotoxic state. The majority but not all (4 out of 6) subjects showed an increase in detectable BAT volume and activity under cold stimulation between the hypothyroid and thyrotoxic phase (total BAT volume: 72.0 ± 21.0 vs. 87.7 ± 16.5 mL, P = 0.25; total BAT activity 158.1 ± 72.8 vs. 189.0 ± 55.5 SUV*g/mL, P = 0.34). Importantly, circulating T3 was a stronger predictor of energy expenditure changes compared to cold-induced BAT activity. Conclusions: Iatrogenic hypothyroidism lasting 2-4 weeks does not prevent cold-induced BAT activation, while the use of TH to induce thyrotoxicosis does not consistently increase cold-induced BAT activity. It remains to be determined which physiological factors besides TH play a role in regulating BAT function.