Mobile Phone Call Data as a Regional Socio-Economic Proxy Indicator

The advent of publishing anonymized call detail records opens the door for temporal and spatial human dynamics studies. Such studies, besides being useful for creating universal models for mobility patterns, could be also used for creating new socio-economic proxy indicators that will not rely only on the local or state institutions. In this paper, from the frequency of calls at different times of the day, in different small regional units (sub-prefectures) in Côte d''Ivoire, we infer users'' home and work sub-prefectures. This division of users enables us to analyze different mobility and calling patterns for the different regions. We then compare how those patterns correlate to the data from other sources, such as: news for particular events in the given period, census data, economic activity, poverty index, power plants and energy grid data. Our results show high correlation in many of the cases revealing the diversity of socio-economic insights that can be inferred using only mobile phone call data. The methods and the results may be particularly relevant to policy-makers engaged in poverty reduction initiatives as they can provide an affordable tool in the context of resource-constrained developing economies, such as Côte d''Ivoire''s.     

Biotechnological production of unnatural L-amino acids from D,L-5-monosubstituted hydantions. I. Derivatives of L-phenylalanine

Summary Resting cells of a mutant ofArthrobacter sp. (DSM 3747) were used for the bioconversion of D,L-5-benzylhydantoin and related compounds to the corresponding L-amino acids. After optimization of the reaction conditions in shake flask experiments, bioconversions were performed in a preparative scale in a 2-l-bioreactor under nitrogen atmosphere. Specific productivities of 0.4 (p-NO₂-L-phenylalanine) up to 3.9 mM amino acid x g cell dry mass^–1 x h^–1 (p-Cl-L-phenylalanine) were obtained. D,L-5-p-COOH-Benzylhydantoin, D,L-5-phenylhydantoin and D,L-5-p-OH-phenylhydantoin were not accepted as substrates.     

Anion inhibition studies of a beta carbonic anhydrase from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae

An anion inhibition study of the β-class carbonic anhydrase, AgaCA, from the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae is reported. A series of simple as well as complex inorganic anions, and small molecules known to interact with CAs were included in the study. Bromide, iodide, bisulphite, perchlorate, perrhenate, perruthenate, and peroxydisulphate were ineffective AgaCA inhibitors, with K_Is?>?200?mM. Fluoride, chloride, cyanate, thiocyanate, cyanide, bicarbonate, carbonate, nitrite, nitrate, sulphate, stannate, selenate, tellurate, diphosphate, divanadate, tetraborate, selenocyanide, and trithiocarbonate showed K_Is in the range of 1.80–9.46?mM, whereas N,N-diethyldithiocarbamate was a submillimolar AgaCA inhibitor (K_I of 0.65?mM). The most effective AgaCA inhibitors were sulphamide, sulphamic acid, phenylboronic acid and phenylarsonic acid, with inhibition constants in the range of 21–84?µM. The control of insect vectors responsible of the transmission of many protozoan diseases is rather difficult nowadays, and finding agents which can interfere with these processes, as the enzyme inhibitors investigated here, may arrest the spread of these diseases worldwide.     

Die Datenbanken PaleoTax und Goniat - Vorstufen eines paläontologischen Informationssystems

The database systems PaleoTax and GONIAT provide detailed information on literature, taxonomy, morphology and occurrence of fossil invertebrate groups. PaleoTax is designed for Mesozoic corals, GONIAT for Paleozoic ammonoids, but both can be modified to cover other fossil groups. Both systems use dBASE format, but with different database structures. PaleoTax aims at the complete storage of all available objective data, GONIAT provides determinations based upon morphologic criteria, and includes information on geographic distribution and stratigraphic range of every taxon. A combination of both systems could lead to the establishment of a comprehensive paleontological information system useful for research and practical stratigraphic applications.     

Ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency in a female patient with a de novo deletion of the paternal X chromosome

Summary A girl with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency was investigated for molecular and cytogenetic abnormalities that might explain this phenotype. Analysis with polymorphic DNA markers indicated that the patient did not inherit paternal alleles of the OTC locus, but that she did inherit the proximal locus DXS7 and the long arm of chromosome X. High-resolution cytogenetic analysis of the patient indicated a deletion of Xp11.4-p21, whereas both parents had normal karytoypes. Since the mother might be heterozygous according to biochemical tests, a second mutation within the maternal OTC gene cannot be excluded.