Computationally identified novel diphenyl- and phenylpyridine androgen receptor antagonist structures

We have identified and profiled a set of androgen receptor (AR) binding compounds representing two nonsteroidal scaffolds from a public chemical database supplied by Asinex with virtual screening procedure incorporating our recently published 3D QSAR model of AR ligands. The diphenyl- and phenylpyridine-based compounds act as antagonists in wild-type AR in CV1 cells and also retain this antagonistic character in CV1 cells expressing T877A mutant receptor. This mutation is frequently associated with prostate cancer. Two of the compounds repress the androgen-dependent cell growth of LNCaP prostate cancer cells expressing the T877A AR mutant. Molecular modeling of the observed in vitro antagonism with induced fit docking suggests that W741 and M895 could be mechanistically involved in the initiation of the antagonism. The results indicate finding of nonsteroidal AR antagonist compounds from a public chemical database with computational methods. Compounds could serve as a novel platform to develop more potent AR antagonists with inhibitory activity in both wild-type and T877A mutant AR.     

A novel magnetic nanocatalyst Fe3O4@PEG–Ni for the green synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones

Ni-PEG (polyethylene glycol) complex supported on magnetic nanoparticle was created by grafting. The catalytic activity of Fe₃O₄@PEG–Ni was explored through one-pot green synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones and used as an efficient and recoverable nanocatalyst. FT-IR, XRD, EDS, BET, TGA, VSM and SEM techniques were employed to specify the nanocatalyst. This heterogeneous nanocatalyst demonstrated acceptable recyclability and could be reused several times with no considerable loss of its catalytic activity.     

An efficient catalytic method for the synthesis of pyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidines as biologically drug candidates by using novel magnetic nanoparticles as a reusable catalyst

A convenient method for the synthesis of pyrido[2,3‐d]pyrimidines by using the novel nano‐magnetic silica‐bonded S‐sulfonic acid[Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@(CH₂)₃S–SO₃H] as an efficient and recyclable catalyst under neat conditions is described. The major advantages of the present methodology are high yield, short reaction time, and reusability of the catalyst. Furthermore, the nano‐magnetic silica‐bonded S‐sulfonic acid was fully characterized by using various techniques such as FT‐IR, TG/DTG, DTA, EDX, μXRF, XRD, HRTEM, SEM, SEM elemental mapping, XPS, and N₂ physisorption. The results obtained from this research support the idea of rational design, synthesis, and applications of task‐specific and reusable catalysts for the preparation of various polynitrogenated heterocyclic compounds containing 1,4‐dihydropyridine moieties.     

Deactivation of Escherichia coli with different volumes in drinking water using cold atmospheric plasma

This experimental study aimed to evaluate the potential of cold atmospheric plasma jet to deactivate Escherichia coli from drinking water. We studied the effect of the volume of water samples on the performance of plasma jet on deactivation of E. coli of 1, 500, 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 cubic centimetres. The results of deactivation of E. coli in 500 and 1,000 cc water samples were the same as one cc of a water sample and we observed 8-log reduction of E. coli using 50 W. In 1,500 and 2,000 cc water samples at 8 min using a power of 50 W, 4.5 and 2.9 log reduction of E. coli was achieved and while we used 20 W, 2.5 and 1.8 log reduction of E. coli bacteria was performed. This indicated that the increasing volume of water above 1,500 cc caused the reduction of the efficiency of E. coli removal. Also, increasing power caused to increase E. coli removal efficiency. In addition, we monitored changes in pH values and temperature during experiments. Using 20 W, the temperature was increased (natural temperature of the water was 22 °C) 2 °C after 8 min while applying 50 W, the temperatures were raised 5 °C. pH of the water after 8 min in the 1,000 cc water sample, with an input power of 20 W, decreased from 7.1 to 5.5; while the input power was 50 W, pH changed from 7.1 to 4.3. With an increase in plasma irradiation time, the number of E. coli had a significant decrease per min while using in samples of 1 cc. After 8 min, we observed 4-log reductions of E. coli with the input power of 20 W and 8-log reduction of bacteria with the input power of 50 W. In 1,500 and 2,000 cc of water samples using plasma radiation for 8 min, 2.5 log and 1.8 log reduction of E. coli was achieved, respectively. This means that an increasing volume of water above 1,500 cc needs more power and time to deactivate E. coli from the water.     

Modelling and simulation of mobile jet agitator for a biogas plant

This work deals with the modeling and simulation of mixture process in a biogas plant. This mixing process involves a closed pumping procedure, which pumps the constituents of the biogas plant using jet agitators inside the tank. For this purpose, an experimental model has been designed and built in reduced scale to study the mixture process. Furthermore, this process has been simulated numerically. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Adaptive synchronization of two chaotic systems with stochastic unknown parameters

Using the Lyapunov stability theory an adaptive control is proposed for chaos synchronization between two different systems which have stochastically time varying unknown coefficients. The stochastic variations of the coefficients about their unknown mean values are modeled through white Gaussian noise produced by the Weiner process. It is shown that using the proposed adaptive control the mean square of synchronization error converges to an arbitrarily small bound around zero. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique, it is applied to the Lorenz–Chen and the Chen–Rossler dynamical systems, as some case studies. Simulation results indicate that the proposed adaptive controller has a high performance in synchronization of chaotic systems in noisy environment.     

Stabilizing unstable fixed points of discrete chaotic systems via quasi-sliding mode method

The problem of stabilizing unstable fixed points of nonlinear discrete chaotic systems, subjected to bounded model uncertainties, is investigated in this article. The theory is then generalized to include any dth-order fixed point of the system. To design a suitable controller, the theory of quasi-sliding mode control is modified and applied. Sufficient conditions for the convergence of the control algorithm are theoretically derived and it is shown that the error trajectories converge toward a bounded region around zero where the measure of the steady-state error band depends on the magnitude of the system uncertainties. As a case study, the proposed method is applied to the Henon map to stabilize its first, second, and fourth-order unstable fixed points. Simulation results show the high performance of the control technique in quenching the chaos in the presence of uncertainties.     

Isopiestic Determination of Osmotic and Activity Coefficients for Solutions of LiCl, LiBr, and LiNO3 in 2-Propanol at 25°C

The osmotic coefficients of lithium chloride, lithium bromide, and lithium nitrate in 2-propanol have been measured by the isopiestic method at 25^°C. Sodium iodide was used as the isopiestic standard. The molality ranges covered were from 0.2 to 1.5 for LiCl and LiBr, and to 1.9 mol-kg^-1 for LiNO₃. The system of equations developed by Clegg–Pitzer and Pitzer were used to fit each set of osmotic coefficients. The experimental osmotic coefficient data are successfully correlated with these models. The parameters from the fit were used to calculate the mean molal activity coefficients.     

Reversible tuning of the wettability of carbon nanotube arrays: the effect of ultraviolet/ozone and vacuum pyrolysis treatments

Among diverse types of synthetic materials, arrays of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes have attracted the most attention, mainly because of their exceptional mechanical, electrical, optical, and thermal properties. However, their wetting properties are yet to be understood. In this present study, oxygenated surface functional groups have been identified as a vital factor in controlling the wetting properties of carbon nanotube arrays. The results presented herein indeed show that a combination of ultraviolet/ozone and vacuum pyrolysis treatments can be used to vary the surface concentration of these functional groups such that the carbon nanotube array can be repeatedly switched between hydrophilic and hydrophobic.