Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) originate either directly from hematopoietic stem cells or from a subpopulation of monocytes. Controversial views about intracellular lipid traffic prompted us to analyze the uptake of human high density lipoprotein (HDL), and HDL-cholesterol in human monocytic EPCs. Fluorescence and electron microscopy were used to investigate distribution and intracellular ...

The “concept for the reduction of SF6 emissions in magnesium foundries” from Solvay Fluor und Derivates is a possibility for magnesium foundries to be included in the SF6 ReUse Concept. It describes the efforts that have to be taken to switch to sulphur dioxide (SO2), but how to keep the door open for continuous operating with SF6. This four-step process allows the magnesium foundry to decide o...

As reported in the recent literature on piano performance, an emphasized voice (the melody) tends to be played not only louder than the other voices, but also about 30 ms earlier (melody lead). It remains unclear whether pianists deliberately apply melody lead to separate different voices, or whether it occurs because the melody is played louder (velocity artifact). The velocity artifact explan...

INTRODUCTION Abnormalities of elastic fibers and their components have been shown to cause a number of heritable diseases, including Marfan syndrome, Williams-Beuren syndrome, cutis laxa, and many others. Though these diseases exhibit a variety of characteristics and phenotypes, cardiovascular disease involving aortic aneurysms, dissections, stenosis or vascular tortuosity is common to most of ...

Fluorescence spectroscopy is an important tool for the characterization of protein folding. Often, a protein is labeled with appropriate fluorescent donor and acceptor probes and folding-induced changes in Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) are monitored. However, conformational changes of the protein potentially affect fluorescence properties of both probes, thereby profoundly complicati...