@article{LeonCalvijoLealCastroAlmanzarReinaetal.2015, author = {Le{\´o}n-Calvijo, Mar{\´i}a A. and Leal-Castro, Aura L. and Almanzar-Reina, Giovanni A. and Rosas-P{\´e}rez, Jaiver E. and Garc{\´i}a-Casta{\~n}eda, Javier E. and Rivera-Monroy, Zuly J.}, title = {Antibacterial activity of synthetic peptides derived from lactoferricin against Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212}, series = {BioMed Research International}, journal = {BioMed Research International}, number = {453826}, doi = {10.1155/2015/453826}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-144591}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Peptides derived from human and bovine lactoferricin were designed, synthesized, purified, and characterized using RP-HPLC and MALDI-TOF-MS. Specific changes in the sequences were designed as (i) the incorporation of unnatural amino acids in the sequence, the (ii) reduction or (iii) elongation of the peptide chain length, and (iv) synthesis of molecules with different number of branches containing the same sequence. For each peptide, the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212 was evaluated. Our results showed that Peptides I.2 (RWQWRWQWR) and I.4 ((RRWQWR)\(_{4}\)K\(_{2}\)Ahx\(_{2}\)C\(_{2}\)) exhibit bigger or similar activity against E. coli (MIC 4-33 μM) and E. faecalis (MIC 10-33 μM) when they were compared with lactoferricin protein (LF) and some of its derivate peptides as II.1 (FKCRRWQWRMKKLGA) and IV.1 (FKCRRWQWRMKKLGAPSITCVRRAE). It should be pointed out that Peptides I.2 and I.4, containing the RWQWR motif, are short and easy to synthesize; our results demonstrate that it is possible to design and obtain synthetic peptides that exhibit enhanced antibacterial activity using a methodology that is fast and low-cost and that allows obtaining products with a high degree of purity and high yield.}, language = {en} } @article{ReichmuthHenningPinneletal.2018, author = {Reichmuth, Anne and Henning, Lea and Pinnel, Nicole and Bachmann, Martin and Rogge, Derek}, title = {Early detection of vitality changes of multi-temporal Norway spruce laboratory needle measurements—the ring-barking experiment}, series = {Remote Sensing}, volume = {10}, journal = {Remote Sensing}, number = {1}, doi = {10.3390/rs10010057}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-159253}, pages = {57}, year = {2018}, abstract = {The focus of this analysis is on the early detection of forest health changes, specifically that of Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.). In this analysis, we planned to examine the time (degree of early detection), spectral wavelengths and appropriate method for detecting vitality changes. To accomplish this, a ring-barking experiment with seven subsequent laboratory needle measurements was carried out in 2013 and 2014 in an area in southeastern Germany near Alt{\"o}tting. The experiment was also accompanied by visual crown condition assessment. In total, 140 spruce trees in groups of five were ring-barked with the same number of control trees in groups of five that were selected as reference trees in order to compare their development. The laboratory measurements were analysed regarding the separability of ring-barked and control samples using spectral reflectance, vegetation indices and derivative analysis. Subsequently, a random forest classifier for determining important spectral wavelength regions was applied. Results from the methods are consistent and showed a high importance of the visible (VIS) spectral region, very low importance of the near-infrared (NIR) and minor importance of the shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectral region. Using spectral reflectance data as well as indices, the earliest separation time was found to be 292 days after ring-barking. The derivative analysis showed that a significant separation was observed 152 days after ring-barking for six spectral features spread through VIS and SWIR. A significant separation was detected using a random forest classifier 292 days after ring-barking with 58\% separability. The visual crown condition assessment was analysed regarding obvious changes of vitality and the first indication was observed 302 days after ring-barking as bark beetle infestation and yellowing of foliage in the ring-barked trees only. This experiment shows that an early detection, compared with visual crown assessment, is possible using the proposed methods for this specific data set. This study will contribute to ongoing research for early detection of vitality changes that will support foresters and decision makers.}, language = {en} } @article{AshrafYasrebiHertleinetal.2017, author = {Ashraf, Kerolos and Yasrebi, Kaveh and Hertlein, Tobias and Ohlsen, Knut and Lalk, Michael and Hilgeroth, Andreas}, title = {Novel effective small-molecule antibacterials against \(Enterococcus\) strains}, series = {Molecules}, volume = {22}, journal = {Molecules}, number = {12}, doi = {10.3390/molecules22122193}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-172628}, year = {2017}, abstract = {\(Enterococcus\) species cause increasing numbers of infections in hospitals. They contribute to the increasing mortality rates, mostly in patients with comorbidities, who suffer from severe diseases. \(Enterococcus\) resistances against most antibiotics have been described, including novel antibiotics. Therefore, there is an ongoing demand for novel types of antibiotics that may overcome bacterial resistances. We discovered a novel class of antibiotics resulting from a simple one-pot reaction of indole and \(o\)-phthaldialdehyde. Differently substituted indolyl benzocarbazoles were yielded. Both the indole substitution and the positioning at the molecular scaffold influence the antibacterial activity towards the various strains of \(Enterococcus\) species with the highest relevance to nosocomial infections. Structure-activity relationships are discussed, and the first lead compounds were identified as also being effective in the case of a vancomycin resistance.}, language = {en} }