Hypoallergenic variant of the major egg white allergen Gal d 1 produced by disruption of cysteine bridges

Gal d 1 (Ovomucoid) is the most allergenic protein in the chicken egg white. Hypoallergenic variants of this allergen can be used in immunotherapy as an egg allergy treatment approach. We hypothesized that disruption of selected cysteine-cysteine disulfide bridges by mutagenesis will allow us the production of a hypoallergenic variant of the protein.

Disruption of the class IIa HDAC corepressor complex increases energy expenditure and lipid oxidation

Drugs that recapitulate aspects of the exercise adaptive response have the potential to provide better treatment for diseases associated with physical inactivity. We previously observed reduced skeletal muscle class IIa HDAC (histone deacetylase) transcriptional repressive activity during exercise. Here, we find that exercise-like adaptations are induced by skeletal muscle expression of class IIa HDAC mutants that cannot form a corepressor complex. Adaptations include increased metabolic gene expression, mitochondrial capacity, and lipid oxidation. An existing HDAC inhibitor, Scriptaid, had similar phenotypic effects through disruption of the class IIa HDAC corepressor complex. Acute Scriptaid administration to mice increased the expression of metabolic genes, which required an intact class IIa HDAC corepressor complex. Chronic Scriptaid administration increased exercise capacity, whole-body energy expenditure and lipid oxidation, and reduced fasting blood lipids and glucose. Therefore, compounds that disrupt class IIa HDAC function could be used to enhance metabolic health in chronic diseases driven by physical inactivity.

Mediatisation, marginalisation and disruption in Australian Indigenous affairs

This article considers how changing media practices of minority groups and political and media elites impact on demo-cratic participation in national debates. Taking as its case study the state-sponsored campaign to formally recognise In-digenous people in the Australian constitution, the article examines the interrelationships between political media and Indigenous participatory media—both of which we argue are undergoing seismic transformation. Discussion of constitutional reform has tended to focus on debates occurring in forums of influence such as party politics and news media that privilege the voices of only a few high-profile Indigenous media ‘stars’. Debate has progressed on the assumption that constitutional change needs to be settled by political elites and then explained and ‘sold’ to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Our research on the mediatisation of policymaking has found that in an increasingly media-saturated environment, political leaders and their policy bureaucrats attend to a narrow range of highly publicised voices. But the rapidly changing media environment has disrupted the media-driven Recognise campaign. Vigorous pub-lic discussion is increasingly taking place outside the mainstream institutions of media and politics, while social media campaigns emerge in rapid response to government decisions. Drawing on a long tradition in citizens’ media scholar-ship we argue that the vibrant, diverse and growing Indigenous media sphere in Australia has increased the accessibility of Indigenous voices challenging the scope and substance of the recognition debate. The article concludes on a cau-tionary note by considering some tensions in the promise of the changing media for Indigenous participation in the national policy conversation.

Evaluating the whole-life cost implication of revocability and disruption in office retrofit building projects

Retrofit buildings are becoming popular in the United Kingdom as well as many parts of the advanced economies. Existing whole-life costing models have however, not proven to be robust enough to deal with building retrofit scenarios. Recent research has made a case for the existence of revocability and disruption in building retrofit investments. This paper evaluates the whole-life cost implication of revocability and disruption in office retrofit building projects. The potential implication of revocability and disruption are evaluated based on probability and fuzzy logic principles respectively. Two case study projects are selected to appraise the economic potentials of revocability and disruption. It was found that the average cost of revocability relative to the initial capital cost can be up to 119% over a 60-year life. It was also found that the average cost of disruption relative to the initial capital cost can be up to 12%. Future studies will utilise sensitivity analysis in assessing the relative preference of building retrofit configurations in office building projects. The external validity of this work is moderate, as the intention is to establish analytical generalisation rather than statistical generalisation for office retrofit building projects.