Jožef Stefan Institute

About: Jožef Stefan Institute is a facility organization based out in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Liquid crystal & Dielectric. The organization has 3828 authors who have published 12614 publications receiving 291025 citations.

Cysteine proteinases and their endogenous inhibitors: target proteins for prognosis, diagnosis and therapy in cancer (review).

Abstract: Lysosomal cysteine proteinases, the cathepsins (Cats) belong to the papain family of proteinases, sharing a similar protein structure and mechanism of action. Subtle structural differences between these enzymes give rise to important variations in substrate specificity and specificity of inhibition by their endogenous inhibitors, the cystatins, stefins and kininogens under physiological and pathological conditions. Alterations in their expression, processing and localization have been observed at various levels in malignant human tumor tissue compared to normal and benign tissue counterparts. We have proposed that an imbalance between cathepsins and cystatins, associated with metastatic tumor cell phenotype, may facilitate tumor cell invasion and metastasis. The results of clinical investigations on cysteine cathepsins and their endogenous inhibitors in human breast, lung, brain and head and neck tumors, as well as in body fluids of ovarian, uterine, melanoma and colorectal carcinoma bearing patients, have shown that these molecules are highly predictive for the length of survival and may be used for assessment of risk of relapse and death for cancer patients. Their application for diagnosis, follow-up and the anticancer therapy has also been proposed.

Utilization of various lignocellulosic biomass for the production of nanocellulose: a comparative study

Abstract: Nanocellulose was successfully extracted from five different lignocellulosic biomass sources viz. banana rachis, sisal, kapok, pineapple leaf and coir using a combination of chemical treatments such as alkaline treatment, bleaching and acid hydrolysis. The shape, size and surface properties of the nanocellulose generally depend on the source and hydrolysis conditions. A comparative study of the fundamental properties of raw material, bleached and nanocellulose was carried out by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, birefringence, X-ray diffraction, inverse gas chromatography and thermogravimetric analysis. Through the characterization of the nanocellulose obtained from different sources, the isolated nanocellulose showed an average diameter in the range of 10–25 nm, high crystallinity, high thermal stability and a great potential to be used with acid coupling agents due to a predominantly basic surface. This work provides an insight into the effective utilization of a variety of plant biomass as a potential source for nanocellulose extraction.

Performance of the DELPHI detector

Abstract: DELPHI (DEtector with Lepton, Photon and Hadron Identification) is a detector for e^+e^- physics, designed to provide high granularity over a 4\pi solid angle, allowing an effective particle identification. It has been operating at the LEP (Large Electron-Positron) collider at CERN since 1989. This article reviews its performance.

Leptoquark model to explain the B -physics anomalies, R K and R D

Abstract: We show that a model with a scalar leptoquark of hypercharge $Y=1/6$ which includes light right-handed neutrinos can successfully describe both of the $B$-physics anomalies, ${R}_{K}^{\mathrm{exp}}l{R}_{K}^{\mathrm{SM}}$ and ${R}_{D}^{\mathrm{exp}}g{R}_{D}^{\mathrm{SM}}$. We discuss the corresponding low energy effective theory and, after using the known experimental data as constraints, we show that the model is viable and that it offers several predictions which can be tested experimentally.