József Kovács

Recombinant human tumor necrosis factor α constricts pial arterioles and increases blood-brain barrier permeability in newborn piglets

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of central nervous system infections. We investigated the effect of intracisternal injection of recombinant human TNF alpha (50-50,000 IU) on pial vasoreactivity and blood-brain barrier permeability in newborn piglets. The cytokine administration resulted in arterial vasoconstrictions, blood-brain barrier opening for Na-fluorescein (mol. wt. 376 Da) and increased Na-fluorescein uptake in brain regions examined (parietal and occipital cortex, cerebellum, pons/medulla, periventricular white matter) in a dose-dependent manner. TNF alpha may be involved in the pathophysiology of neonatal brain injuries.

P-GRADE: a grid programming environment

P-GRADE provides a high-level graphical environment to develop parallel applications transparently both for parallel systems and the Grid. P-GRADE supports the interactive execution of parallel programs as well as the creation of a Condor, Condor-G or Globus job to execute parallel programs in the Grid. In P-GRADE, the user can generate either PVM or MPI code according to the underlying Grid where the parallel application should be executed. PVM applications generated by P-GRADE can migrate between different Grid sites and as a result P-GRADE guarantees reliable, fault-tolerant parallel program execution in the Grid. The GRM/PROVE performance monitoring and visualisation toolset has been extended towards the Grid and connected to a general Grid monitor (Mercury) developed in the EU GridLab project. Using the Mercury/GRM/PROVE Grid application monitoring infrastructure any parallel application launched by P-GRADE can be remotely monitored and analysed at run time even if the application migrates among Grid sites. P-GRADE supports workflow definition and co-ordinated multi-job execution for the Grid. Such workflow management can provide parallel execution at both inter-job and intra-job level. Automatic checkpoint mechanism for parallel programs supports the migration of parallel jobs inside the workflow providing a fault-tolerant workflow execution mechanism. The paper describes all of these features of P-GRADE and their implementation concepts.

Solution pH: A Selectivity Switch in Aqueous Organometallic Catalysis—Hydrogenation of Unsaturated Aldehydes Catalyzed by Sulfonatophenylphosphane–Ru Complexes

The equilibribrium distribution of water-soluble ruthenium hydrides [HRuCl(tppms)3 ] and [H2 Ru(tppms)4 ] (tppms = (3-sulfonatophenyl)diphenylphosphane) in the reaction with H2 is governed by the pH value. As a consequence, the selectivity in the hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde for reaction at C=C or C=O can be completely inverted by changing the pH value (see drawing below).

Enantioselective hydride transfer hydrogenation of ketones catalyzed by [(η6-p-cymene)Ru(amino acidato)Cl] and [(η6-p-cymene)Ru(amino acidato)]3(BF4)3 complexes

The new complexes (RRuSC, SRuSC)-[(η6-pCym)Ru(l-Aze)Cl] (6a, b), (RRuSC, SRuSC)-[(η6-pCym)Ru(l-Pip)Cl] (7a, b), (RRuRRuRRuSCSCSCSNSNSN, SRuSRuSRuSCSCSCSNSNSN)-[{(η6-pCym)Ru(l-Aze)}3](BF4)3 (8a, b) and (RRuRRuRRuSCSCSCSNSNSN, SRuSRuSRuSCSCSCSNSNSN)-[{(η6-pCym)Ru(l-Pip)}3](BF4)3 (9a, b) (l-Aze=l-2-azetidinecarboxylate, l-Pip=l-2-piperidinecarboxylate) were prepared, characterized and used, together with the known [{(η6-pCym)Ru(l-Pro)}3](BF4)3, 5 and [{(η6-pCym)Ru(l-Ala)}3](BF4)3, 10 (l-Pro=l-prolinate, l-Ala=l-alaninate), in hydride transfer reduction of acetophenone, a series of substituted acetophenones and several other ketones with moderate to high conversions and enantioselectivities up to 86% e.e.

The effects of pH on the molecular distribution of water soluble ruthenium(II) hydrides and its consequences on the selectivity of the catalytic hydrogenation of unsaturated aldehydes

Abstract The effect of pH on the formation and equilibrium distribution of the water soluble ruthenium hydrides [HRuCl(TPPMS) 2 ] 2 , [HRuCl(TPPMS) 3 ] and [H 2 Ru(TPPMS) 4 ] (TPPMS=(3-sulfonatophenyl)diphenylphosphine sodium salt) was studied in aqueous solution by pH-potentiometric and 1 H and 31 P NMR methods. Depending on the pH, [RuCl 2 (TPPMS) 2 ] 2 and its hydrido-derivatives hydrolyse extensively, giving rise to formation of hydroxo-ruthenium complexes. It was established that at pH≤3.3 the dominant ruthenium(II) species was [HRuCl(TPPMS) 3 ], while at pH≥7 it was [H 2 Ru(TPPMS) 4 ]. While [HRuCl(TPPMS) 3 ] catalyzed the slow, selective hydrogenation of the CC bond in trans -cinnamaldehyde, [H 2 Ru(TPPMS) 4 ] was found an active and selective catalyst for CO reduction. Consequently, the selectivity of the hydrogenation of trans -cinnamaldehyde could be completely inverted by minor changes in the solution pH, shifting the equilibrium between [HRuCl(TPPMS) 3 ] and [H 2 Ru(TPPMS) 4 ].

EDGeS: Bridging EGEE to BOINC and XtremWeb

Desktop Grids, such as XtremWeb and BOINC, and Service Grids, such as EGEE, are two different approaches for science communities to gather computing power from a large number of computing resources. Nevertheless, little work has been done to combine these two Grid technologies in order to establish a seamless and vast Grid resource pool. In this paper we present the EGEE Service Grid, the BOINC and XtremWeb Desktop Grids. Then, we present the EDGeS solution to bridge the EGEE Service Grid with the BOINC and XtremWeb Desktop Grids.

Unprotected sugar phosphinimines: A facile route to cyclic carbamates of amino sugars

Abstract Unprotected sugar phosphinimines were prepared from various azido sugars by reaction with triphenylphosphine and were converted by carbon dioxide into cyclic carbamates of amino sugars. The reaction could be carried out more conveniently in a one-pot process without isolation of the phosphinimines. The 13 C-and 31 P-n.m.r. data for N -(β- d -glucopyranosyl)triphenylphosphine imide ( 2 ) revealed an unexpected conformation of the phosphinimine moiety (proposed as a “reverse exo-anomeric effect”) stabilised by an interaction with HO-2.

SZTAKI Desktop Grid (SZDG): A Flexible and Scalable Desktop Grid System

SZTAKI Desktop Grid (SZDG) is an extension of BOINC in order to make it more flexible, versatile and scalable in terms of enabling the interconnection of different BOINC projects and execution of parameter sweep applications from a generic, high level user interface without the intervention of the BOINC project administrator. The paper describes the main concepts and features of SZDG. Among the many novel features the two most important will be described in detail. First, the paper describes those extensions that enable the easy development and execution of parameter sweep applications on SZDGs. The second part of the paper describes how SZDGs can be organized into a hierarchical interconnection scheme that enables to use SZDGs as building blocks to create higher level SZDGs.

SZTAKI Desktop Grid: a Modular and Scalable Way of Building Large Computing Grids

So far BOINC based desktop grid systems have been applied at the global computing level. This paper describes an extended version of BOINC called SZTAKI desktop grid (SZDG) that aims at using desktop grids (DGs) at local (enterprise/institution) level. The novelty of SZDG is that it enables the hierarchical organisation of local DGs, i.e., clients of a DG can be DGs at a lower level that can take work units from their higher level DG server. More than that, even clusters can be connected at the client level and hence work units can contain complete MPI programs to be run on the client clusters. In order to easily create master/worker type DG applications a new API, called as the DC-API has been developed. SZDG and DC-API has been successfully applied both at the global and local level, both in academic institutions and in companies to solve problems requiring large computing power.

Procedure for Neonatal Screening for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia due to 21-Hydroxylase Deficiency

The value of screening of neonates for congenital adrenal hyperplasia is not universally accepted. Procedures for screening are recommended here in order to provide a structure to the testing and ultimately bring together data that will allow the effect of screening to be judged for benefit or dismissed as no better than clinical recognition of the disease state.