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    In vitro assembly of plasmid DNA for direct cloning in Lactiplantibacillus plantarum WCSF1
    (San Francisco, California, US : PLOS, 2023) Blanch-Asensio, Marc; Dey, Sourik; Sankaran, Shrikrishnan
    Lactobacilli are gram-positive bacteria that are growing in importance for the healthcare industry and genetically engineering them as living therapeutics is highly sought after. However, progress in this field is hindered since most strains are difficult to genetically manipulate, partly due to their complex and thick cell walls limiting our capability to transform them with exogenous DNA. To overcome this, large amounts of DNA (>1 μg) are normally required to successfully transform these bacteria. An intermediate host, like E. coli, is often used to amplify recombinant DNA to such amounts although this approach poses unwanted drawbacks such as an increase in plasmid size, different methylation patterns and the limitation of introducing only genes compatible with the intermediate host. In this work, we have developed a direct cloning method based on in-vitro assembly and PCR amplification to yield recombinant DNA in significant quantities for successful transformation in L. plantarum WCFS1. The advantage of this method is demonstrated in terms of shorter experimental duration and the possibility to introduce a gene incompatible with E. coli into L. plantarum WCFS1.
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    Correcting systematic errors by hybrid 2D correlation loss functions in nonlinear inverse modelling
    (San Francisco, California, US : PLOS, 2023) Mayerhöfer, Thomas G.; Noda, Isao; Pahlow, Susanne; Heintzmann, Rainer; Popp, Jürgen
    Recently a new family of loss functions called smart error sums has been suggested. These loss functions account for correlations within experimental data and force modeled data to obey these correlations. As a result, multiplicative systematic errors of experimental data can be revealed and corrected. The smart error sums are based on 2D correlation analysis which is a comparably recent methodology for analyzing spectroscopic data that has found broad application. In this contribution we mathematically generalize and break down this methodology and the smart error sums to uncover the mathematic roots and simplify it to craft a general tool beyond spectroscopic modelling. This reduction also allows a simplified discussion about limits and prospects of this new method including one of its potential future uses as a sophisticated loss function in deep learning. To support its deployment, the work includes computer code to allow reproduction of the basic results.
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    Intestinal flow rates, absorption of felodipine from the small intestine and attributes of chyme collected at midgut from Labradors
    (Tübingen : Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen, 2023) Diebold, Steffen M.
    The objectives of the present study were (1) to investigate gastrointestinal hydrodynamics of Labradors as a model for human midgut (2) to examine various attributes of intestinal fluids in vivo and (3) to study the influence of hydrodynamics on the dissolution and absorption of a poorly soluble drug from various suspensions. Gastrointestinal flow rates were determined volumetrically using an aspiration method. Isotonic saline and 20 % glucose solutions were used to alter gastrointestinal hydrodynamics. Felodipine, a BCS class II substance, was suspended in these fluids. Osmolality, pH, bile acid concentration and drug solubility in various chyme samples were determined. Blood plasma levels of felodipine were recorded while gastrointestinal dissolution was ongoing. Fluid recovery at midgut fistula was significantly higher (>100 %) for glucose 20 % than for isotonic saline solutions (70 %). After administration of 200 ml glucose 20 % the (overall) grand median of differential gastrointestinal flow rates (DFR) was 8.3 ml/min.. Individual spike flow ranged from 20 up to 60 ml/min. Corresponding flow rates after administration of 200 ml isotonic saline were 35.0 ml/min. for the grand median including individual spike flows beyond 100 ml/min.. Within and between-dog variability in flow rate data was similar. In general, glucose solutions released more evenly. Following oral administration of glucose solution 20 % osmolality of intestinal fluids decreased within 40 min. from about 1000 mOsm. towards more physiological values of about 350 mOsm.. Saturation solubility of felodipine (Cs) in jejunal chyme after administration of either solution (saline or glucose) was determined to be about 10 (µg/ml) on average (median), exposing high variability with time! The intestinal solubility varied greatly within the course of an experiment. However, a strong correlation was observed between the aspirated fluid volume and the dissolved amount of felodipine confirming the well known relationship of Noyes, Whitney, Nernst and Brunner in-vivo. Grand median of pH in jejunal chyme of labradors was determined to be 6.68. Median values range from 4.38-7.62. The pharmacokinetic data showed a slight trend to differences based on particle size and on fluid administered.