Aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) composed by UCON (ethylene oxide/propylene oxide copolymer) and potassium phosphate salts were for the first time evaluated in the recovery of Peniophora cinerea laccase from complex fermented medium. The ATPSs were obtained by combining the random copolymer UCON with KH2PO4, potassium phosphate buffer pH 7 or K2HPO4. According to the results, protein partition...

The many thousands of Aboriginal rock art sites extending across Australia represent an important cultural record. The styles and materials used to produce such art are of great interest to archaeologists and those concerned with the protection of these significant works. Through an analysis of the mineral pigments utilised in Australian rock art, insight into the age of paintings and practices...

A visual pigment is composed of retinal bound to its apoprotein by a protonated Schiff base linkage. Light isomerizes the chromophore and eventually causes the deprotonation of this Schiff base linkage at the meta II stage of the bleaching cycle. The meta II intermediate of the visual pigment is the active form of the pigment that binds to and activates the G protein transducin, starting the vi...

Many workers have observed that in obstructive jaundice and hepatitis hyperbilirubinaemia is due mainly to a rise in those pigments which give a " direct " reaction in the van den Bergh test. Cole, Lathe, and Billing (1954) have shown that there are two water-soluble pigments which give this reaction. They appear to be chemically related to bilirubin, but their exact structure is still unknown ...

By comparing the published DNA sequences for (a) the genes encoding the human visual color pigments (red, green, and blue) with (b) the genes encoding human, bovine, and Drosophila rhodopsins, a phylogenetic tree for the mammalian pigment genes has been constructed. This evolutionary tree shows that the common ancestor of the visual color pigment genes diverged first from that of the rhodopsin ...

Pigment epithelium-derived factor, a potent angiogenesis inhibitor in the eye, is also expressed in the prostate. Prostate size and angiogenesis is increased in pigment epithelium-derived factor knockout mice, and pigment epithelium-derived factor is down-regulated in some prostate cancers. To investigate whether pigment epithelium-derived factor expression correlates with tumor progression, we...

Microtubule (MT)-based organelle transport is driven by MT motor proteins that move cargoes toward MT minus-ends clustered in the cell center (dyneins) or plus-ends extended to the periphery (kinesins). Cells are able to rapidly switch the direction of transport in response to external cues, but the signaling events that control switching remain poorly understood. Here, we examined the signalin...

We appreciate the interest of Pang and Freund in our recently published manuscript, ‘‘Acute Retinal Pigment Epitheliitis: Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Finding in 18 Cases.’’ Because of similarities in the clinical features of acute retinal pigment epitheliitis and pachychoroid pigment epitheliopathy, they have questioned that ‘‘pachychoroid (pachy-[prefix]:thick) pigment epithli...

Rhodopsin is formed by the condensation of opsin with a cis isomer of retinene, called neo-b. The bleaching of rhodopsin releases all-trans retinene which must be isomerized back to neo-b in order for rhodopsin to regenerate. Both retinene isomers are in equilibrium with the corresponding isomers of vitamin A, through the alcohol dehydrogenase system. An enzyme is found in cattle retinas and fr...

We propose a generic pigment model suitable for digital painting in a wide range of genres including traditional Chinese painting and water-based painting. The model embodies a simulation of the pigment-water solution and its interaction with the brush and the paper at the level of pigment particles; such a level of detail is needed for achieving highly intricate effects by the artist. The simu...