Galactokinase promiscuity: a question of flexibility?

Galactokinase catalyses the first committed step of the Leloir pathway, i.e. the ATP-dependent phosphorylation of ��-D-galactose at C1-OH. Reduced galactokinase activity results in the inherited metabolic disease type II galactosaemia. However, inhibition of galactokinase is considered a viable approach to treating more severe forms of galactosaemia (types I and III). Considerable progress has been made in the identification of high affinity, selective inhibitors. Although the structure of galactokinase from a variety of species is known, its catalytic mechanism remains uncertain. Although the bulk of evidence suggests that the reaction proceeds via an active site base mechanism, some experimental and theoretical studies contradict this. The enzyme has potential as a biocatalyst in the production of sugar 1-phosphates. This potential is limited by its high specificity. A variety of approaches have been taken to identify galactokinase variants which are more promiscuous. These have broadened galactokinase's specificity to include a wide range of D- and L-sugars. Initial studies suggest that some of these alterations result in increased flexibility at the active site. It is suggested that modulation of protein flexibility is at least as important as structural modifications in determining the success or failure of enzyme engineering.

Assessing the evidence: Student response system versus computer based testing for undertaking multiple choice question assessment in undergraduate nursing education

There is a dearth of evidence focusing on student preferences for computer-based testing versus<br/>testing via student response systems for summative assessment in undergraduate education.<br/>This quantitative study compared the preference and acceptability of computer-based testing<br/>and a student response system for completing multiple choice questions in undergraduate<br/>nursing education. After using both computer-based testing and a student response system to<br/>complete multiple choice questions, 192 first year undergraduate nursing students rated their<br/>preferences and attitudes towards using computer-based testing and a student response system.<br/>Results indicated that seventy four percent felt the student response system was easy to use.<br/>Fifty six percent felt the student response system took more time than the computer-based testing<br/>to become familiar with. Sixty Percent felt computer-based testing was more users friendly.<br/>Seventy Percent of students would prefer to take a multiple choice question summative exam<br/>via computer-based testing, although Fifty percent would be happy to take using student response<br/>system. Results are useful for undergraduate educators in relation to student���s preference<br/>for using computer-based testing or student response system to undertake a summative<br/>multiple choice question exam

A ideia de Europa na imprensa desportiva portuguesa (1893-1945)

Pensar a Europa e Portugal, a partir da imprensa desportiva portuguesa, �� o principal objectivo deste trabalho, que deve ser visto como uma esp��cie de "viagem" por um tempo conturbado (1893-1945), com os principais jornais desportivos a servirem de guia. Esta longa peregrina����o de 52 anos ��� iniciada quando surge o primeiro jornal desportivo em Portugal e encerrada no ano em que termina a Segunda Guerra Mundial (altura em que este g��nero de imprensa se consolida) ��� permitiu recuperar, simultaneamente, do ba�� do esquecimento, reflex��es sobre a Europa e Portugal, e um peda��o da esquecida hist��ria da imprensa desportiva. /***Abstract - The main goal of this work is to think Europe and Portugal starting from the discourses produced in the portuguese spod press on the subject. This research must be seen as a ���journey" through a troubled time (1893-1945), with the sport newspapers as guides. It's a long way of 52 years that started when the first portuguese sport newspaper born and finished at the end of the Second World War (period when Chis kind of press was already established) permitted, at the same time, a recovery, from the chests of forgetfulness, of reflections about Europe and Portugal and a piece of forgotten sport press history.

Guerre et exil chez Louis-Ferdinand C��line

O nosso estudo incide, primordialmente, sobre as pol��micas de car��cter pol��tico e consequentes acusa����es de que Louis-Ferdinand C��line foi ��� e continua a ser ��� alvo. Tais aspectos conduzem-nos a questionar, com alguma veem��ncia e perplexidade, as raz��es da sua fuga atrav��s da Alemanha, bem como as rela����es que estabeleceu com os Nazis durante a segunda guerra mundial. Num primeiro momento, elabor��mos uma contextualiza����o de cariz temporal e factual, tentando perceber ��� qui���� explicar -, o sentido das posi����es assumidas por C��line aquando da composi����o dos seus pamphlets, marcada por uma reivindica����o violenta do seu antisemitismo e que surge, omnipresente, sob forma de cartas, entrevistas e outros escritos. Contudo, a ess��ncia do nosso trabalho consistiu numa an��lise detalhada das diferentes etapas dos anos de ex��lio do escritor, primeiro numa Alemanha devastada pela guerra, onde se refugia a partir de 17 de Junho de 1944 e mais tarde, na Dinamarca (1945-1951), de onde ter�� de responder ��s acusa����es de trai����o que lhe s��o dirigidas pela justi��a francesa, antes de um regresso sem gl��ria, a Fran��a, e de uma reabilita����o tardia e titubeante. Os escritos que constituem o corpus do nosso trabalho traduzem, de modo inequ��voco, a experi��ncia amarga e cruel dos anos de ex��lio e da lembran��a feita de dor e ��dio, que o escritor sentiu profundamente, como um espinho na pr��pria carne. Apesar do caminho tortuoso, que lhe confere uma aura de escritor ���maldito���, C��line permanece, ainda hoje, como um dos maiores g��nios da literatura francesa do s��culo XX.

Graphic design and modernisation in Greece, 1945-1970

The primary aim of this work is to give voice to the silent history of graphic design in Greece, long uncharted and undocumented in both the international forum and the local design community. This study focuses on the professional modernisation of graphic design and its role in providing the means for change in Greek society. The research is supported by interdisciplinary analysis of commercial advertisements, posters, leaflets and magazines, as well as other supporting documentation, in the historical and cultural context of Athens, Greece from 1945 to 1970. The time examined was a transitional and vociferous period in the history of Greece, one of intense and rapid economic modernisation during the post-Second World War decades from the mid-1940s to 1970. This was a time when, along with broader changes in the social, economic and political life of Greece, important developments in design education, print technology, and professional organisation marked a new age for graphic design, as a profession emerging from the broader ���graphic arts��� field (inclusive of both technological and creative processes) and claiming autonomy over the more established fine arts sector. All four chapters deal with modernisation in relation to the assumed divisions of traditional/modern, continuity/change, centre/periphery. Main areas of investigation are: trade organisation, graphic design education, advertising and urbanisation, electricity and tourism promotion. This research offers a view of the ways the ���modern��� and the condition of modernity were experienced in the case of Greece through certain applications of graphic design and its agents of influence: graphic designers, artists, managers, publishers, the state and private entrepreneurs. The research benefited significantly from a number of interviews with design professionals and related individuals. The present endeavour has a modest aim: to enable understanding of how and why Greek graphic design at the time came to be, and to stress the validity of the visual as a means of historical documentation.

Speech of Mr. C. G. Memminger, on the question of rechartering the bank of the state of South Carolina: delivered in the House of Representatives, December 9, 1848

This speech by Mr. Memminger offers resolutions on the issue of rechartering the bank of the state of South Carolina. The issues presented are the Bank of the State is founded on an erroneous policy, unwise for a state to engage in banking, not practical to recharter the Bank of the State and a special committee of each house should be appointed to advise how to carry out these resolutions at the next session.

Speech of Mr. Calhoun, of South Carolina, on the slavery question. Delivered in the Senate of the United States, March 4, 1850

The speech addresses the question, how can the union be preserved? He goes on to explain the threats to the union and give suggestions for how the threats can be handled.

Open-domain web-based multiple document : question answering for list questions with support for temporal restrictors

Tese de doutoramento, Inform��tica (Ci��ncias da Computa����o), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ci��ncias, 2015

A question of tomorrow: Blanchot, surrealism and the time of the fragment

This article offers a close critical reading of Blanchot's essay on Surrealism, 'Tomorrow at Stake', raising a series of questions concerning the time of 'Surrealist experience' and its relation to those temporal structures inscribed within the concepts of modernity, the avant-garde, and (art) history itself. It is argued, through a posited connection to Romantic conceptions of the fragment, that those 'reflexes of the future' which for Surrealism determine the value of the present, may be understood, philosophically, in relation to diverse conceptions of the 'openness' of the question, in turn suggesting a more complex understanding of Surrealism's 'avant-garde' character.

Andor Foldes, Lecture-Recital, July 27, 1945

Concert program for Andor Foldes, July 27, 1945