Preparation and antimicrobial properties of LL‐37 peptide immobilized lignin/caprolactone polymer film

The use of biopolymers has gained priority in tissue engineering and biotechnology, both as dressing material and for enhancing treatment efficiency. There is a demand for new biopolymers designed with protease inhibitors and antimicrobials. LL‐37 is an important antimicrobial peptide in human skin and exhibits a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and viral pathogens. Using lignin which is an abundant carbohydrate polymer in nature and a polyacrylic acid, we prepared a lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film by plastifying caprolactone and polyacyrlic acid. Lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film was activated with CDI and then immobilized LL‐37 peptide. The structure was elucidated in terms of its functional groups by attenuated total reflectance‐fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐FTIR), and the morphology of the lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) before and after the immobilization process. The amount of LL‐37 immobilized was determined by ELISA method. It was found that 97% of LL‐37 peptide was successfully immobilized onto the lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film. Antimicrobial activity was determined in the lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film samples by quantitative antimicrobial activity method. According to the results, LL‐37 immobilized lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film samples were effective on test organisms; Gram‐positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram‐negative Escherichia coli. In bio‐compatibility assays, the ability to support tissue cell integration was detected by using 3 T3 mouse fibroblasts. Samples were examined under transverse microscope, non‐immobilized sample showed a huge cellular death, whereas LL‐37 immobilized lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film had identical cellular growth with the control group. This dual functional lignin/caprolactone biodegradable film with enhanced antibacterial properties and increased tissue cell compatibility may be used to design new materials for various types of biological applications.     

Renal-related perinephric fluid collections: MRI findings

We retrospectively reviewed MR studies on 10 patients with renal-related perinephric fluid collections who underwent MRI in three institutions between January 2001 and August 2004. All patients underwent MRI of the abdomen and T1-weighted, T2-weighted and serial contrast-enhanced images, including delayed-phase contrast-enhanced images 10-12 min after contrast injection, were obtained. Perinephric fluid collections in 5 patients revealed MRI findings of simple fluid content (i.e., hypointense on T1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images). In another 5 patients, a complex perinephric fluid content (i.e., mixed hyper/hypointense on T1-weighted images and mixed hypo/hyperintense on T2-weighted images compatible with blood breakdown products and pus) was observed. In 5 patients, contrast extravasation on late-phase images that was compatible with urine leak was demonstrated. Our results suggest that MRI may determine the content of perinephric fluid collections on noncontrast T1-weighted and T2-weighted images and that contrast extravasation on late-phase images is associated with urine extravasation from renal collecting systems.     

QCD sum rule analysis of the coupling constant g ωσγ

We employ QCD sum rules to calculate the coupling constant g by studying the three point -correlation function. Our result complements the analysis of this coupling constant utilizing the experimental value of the ⁰⁰ decay rate studied within the framework of chiral perturbation theory including vector meson and meson intermediate states.     

General analysis of the rare B<Subscript>c</Subscript>→D<Subscript>s</Subscript><Superscript>*</Superscript>ℓ<Superscript>+</Superscript>ℓ<Superscript>-</Superscript> decay beyond the standard model

The general analysis of the rare B_c→D_s ^*ℓ⁺ℓ^- decay is presented by using the most general, model independent effective Hamiltonian. The dependencies of the branching ratios and of the longitudinal, normal and transversal polarization asymmetries for ℓ^- and the combined asymmetries for ℓ^- and ℓ⁺ on the new Wilson coefficients are investigated. Our analysis shows that the lepton polarization asymmetries are very sensitive to the scalar and tensor type interactions, which will be very useful in looking for new physics beyond the standard model.     

Acoustic Analysis Findings in Objective Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to identify the effects of objective laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) on the acoustic parameters of patients by comparing their voice samples with that of control subjects. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective study in two tertiary reference hospitals. METHODS: 48 consecutive patients with symptoms related to LPR and 64 control subjects were included in the study. Suspected LPR patients underwent a 24-hour ambulatory pH monitoring, and 25 (52%) of them were shown to have objective LPR. Acoustical evaluation results of objective LPR patients were compared with that of symptomatic LPR patients and control subjects. RESULTS: All frequency perturbation values obtained from objective and symptomatic LPR patients were higher than the control subjects (P<0.01). Mean fundamental frequency, amplitude perturbation measures, and noise-to-harmonics ratio were not significantly different between groups. CONCLUSION: LPR patients have significantly different frequency perturbation values than control subjects.     

Analysis of variance and linear contrasts in experimental design with generalized secant hyperbolic distribution

We consider one-way classification model in experimental design when the errors have generalized secant hyperbolic distribution. We obtain efficient and robust estimators for block effects by using the modified maximum likelihood estimation (MML) methodology. A test statistic analogous to the normal-theory F statistic is defined to test block effects. We also define a test statistic for testing linear contrasts. It is shown that test statistics based on MML estimators are efficient and robust. The methodology readily extends to unbalanced designs.     

Seasonal Changes in Copper and Cobalt Concentrations of Pinus nigra L.,Cedrus libani and Cupressus arizonica Leaves to Monitor the Effects of Pollution in Elazig(Turkey)

The aim of this study is to examine seasonal changes in Cu and Co concentrations of three plant species for monitoring the effects of pollution in Elazig,Turkey.For this purpose,the leaves of the Pinus nigra L.,Cedrus libani and Cupressus arizonica together with soil samples were collected from different points depending on traffic intensity,nearness the city center and cement factory as well as control location during different months of the year.Flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer(FAAS) was used for measurement of the metals in clear digests after the dry ashing method.Copper and Co concentrations were in the ranges from 1.3to 2.6mg.kg-1 and相似文献   

Investigation of phase-equivalent potentials by a halo transfer reaction

Using the supersymmetric quantum mechanics, we investigate the wave function-sensitive properties of the supersymmetric potentials which have received a lot of attention in the literature recently. We show that a superdeep potential and its phase-equivalent shallow-partner potential give very similar rms radius values for the weakly bound systems such as the deuteron and ¹¹Be nuclei. Although the corresponding eigenstates differ in the node-number, our investigation on the ¹¹Be(p, d )¹⁰Be single nucleon halo transfer reaction at 35 MeV show that also other physical quantities such as the cross-section angular distributions calculated using these wave functions reflect the nodal structure rather weakly. This lends support to two nearly equivalent treatments of the Pauli principle. Received: 15 May 2000 / Accepted: 14 September 2000     

A review on design criteria for vortex tubes

In this study, the past investigations of the design criteria of vortex tubes were overviewed and the detailed information was presented on the design of them. Vortex tubes were classified and the type of them was described. All criteria on the design of vortex tubes were given in detail using experimental and theoretical results from the past until now. Finally, the criteria on the design of them are summarized.     

Retrieving seasonally adjusted quarterly growth rates from annual growth rates that are reported quarterly

Most macroeconomic time series are reported on a quarterly basis. However, in many cases, official statistical agencies report annual (or ‘year-on-year’) growth rates rather than the quarterly data themselves. In this paper, we demonstrate how to recover seasonally adjusted quarterly growth rates from annual growth rates that are reported quarterly. As an illustration, we apply the technique to the highly seasonal UK Retail Sales series. Using only the annual growth rates calculated from the underlying data, we find that our procedure generates estimated seasonally adjusted quarterly growth rates that are almost indistinguishable from the ‘true’ seasonally adjusted quarterly growth rates.