Concentration‐dependent surface‐enhanced Raman scattering and molecular dynamic study of dimethyl formamide

A concentration‐dependent Raman study of dimethyl formamide (DMF) in Ag nanocolloidal solution was carried out in order to observe the effect of concentration on the surface enhancement mechanism. The Raman spectra in the region 900–2200 cm⁻¹ comprising four prominent Raman modes were measured experimentally and analyzed at five different concentrations: 1, 3, 5, 7, 10 mM , and in neat DMF. In order to find the possible configurations of DMF + Ag complexes, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out taking one, three and five Ag atom clusters. The Raman spectra of unconjugated DMF, DMF + Ag and DMF + 3Ag complexes were calculated theoretically to assign the vibrational modes under consideration more accurately and to understand the wavenumber shift and change in intensity observed in experimental measurements. Water present in the colloidal solution may also conjugate with DMF and its complexes with Ag. In order to see the influence of water on the wavenumber shift and intensity changes, we have also obtained the optimized structures and Raman modes of DMF + water and DMF + water + Ag complexes. Good agreement between the experimental and theoretical wavenumber shifts has been obtained by using B3LYP functional theory and CEP‐31G basis set for the DMF + Ag complex. The experimental results suggest that the SERS enhancement is concentration‐dependent. The concentration‐dependent linewidth shows the existence of the phenomena of motional narrowing and diffusion dynamics in the colloidal solution. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of tyrosine kinase inhibitors from Panax bipinnatifidus and Panax pseudoginseng for RTK—HER2 and VEGFR2 receptors,by in silico approach

Molecular Diversity - Breast and stomach cancer is reported as a leading cause for human mortality across the world. The overexpression of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) proteins, namely the human...     

Microwave assisted synthesis,docking and antimalarial evaluation of hybrid PABA-substituted 1,3,5-triazine derivatives

A series of novel PABA-substituted 1,3,5-triazine derivatives were developed via microwave assisted synthesis and subsequently tested for antimalarial activity against chloroquine sensitive 3D7 strain of Plasmodium falciparum using chloroquine as standard. Antimalarial screening result showed that synthesized compounds exhibited IC₅₀ in the range of 4.46 to 79.72 μg mL⁻¹. Among the tested compounds, 4c and 4f showed significant antimalarial activity with low binding energies (BE) -172.32 and 160.41 kcal mol⁻¹ via interacting with Arg122 through the involvement of COOH of the phenyl linked to 1,3,5-triazine. In conclusion, these core scaffolds can be used for future antimalarial drug development.     

Shooting at the poachers while the rhinos drown: Managing short‐ and long‐term threats to endangered wildlife in conservation reserves

This paper addresses management challenges associated with conserving endangered wildlife facing multiple threats from illegal poaching, habitat encroachment, and climate and land‐use change‐induced flooding. While poaching and encroachment challenges in conservation parks are of immediate nature, climate‐related risks exist in the long term. The park manager faces a utility function that includes as its arguments local community’s incomes, benefits to the larger society from preserving threatened species and the financial costs of monitoring and land‐use change efforts. Using the case of single‐horned rhinos in the Kaziranga National Park, India, an optimal mix of monitoring and land‐use changes is designed in presence of tradeoffs between short‐ and long‐term management efforts. As monitoring only addresses immediate challenges associated with poaching and encroachment, long‐term climatic risks remain ignored. Land‐use management offers risk‐protection as well as risk‐insurance benefits with respect to climate change‐induced flooding of the park. Recommendations for Resource Managers

• It is important to incorporate both short‐ and long‐term risks posed to endangered wildlife while investing in conservation efforts. There may exist a tradeoff between mitigating short‐ and long‐run risks due to financial and physical resource constraints. However, ignoring long‐term risks to wildlife habitats can jeopardize past conservation efforts.
• Land‐use management, both within and outside of conservation reserves, enhances resilience to climatic shocks through reducing flooding risks and must be an essential part of wildlife conservation efforts.
• Conservation efforts ignoring local community welfare considerations can become suboptimal as they lead to reduced cooperation and potential conflicts. When wildlife conservation efforts account for local community welfare implications, optimal management plans could result in lower species abundance in the short term. However, increasing the park size through additional land enrollment can mitigate some of this tradeoff.

     

Non-prehensile manipulation of a devil-stick: planar symmetric juggling using impulsive forces

Nonlinear Dynamics - Juggling a devil-stick can be described as a problem of non-prehensile manipulation. Assuming that the devil-stick remains confined to the vertical plane, the problem of...     

Synthesis and coating of silica supported Nickel Oxide particles over ceramic pre-forms through sol–gel derived layered double hydroxides

Silica supported Nickel Oxide fine particles have been synthesized through sol–gel derived Ni–Al Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) and coated over honeycomb ceramic pre-forms through dip-coating technique. The powder products of supported materials have low crystallinity, negative zeta potential, exhibit high dispersibility and suitable for further processing by coating techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns have shown that there is an increase of basal spacing by 3.02 Å in acetylacetonate intercalated LDH. The particles of <2 μm size increase with the rise of LDH component in the composite. The particles of NiO structure formed on decomposition of composites have crystallite size <20 nm. Due to the interlayer reduction of NiO crystallites, the unsupported LDH on calcination gives Ni⁰ particles of size around 4.18 nm. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) patterns of coated supported suspensions over ceramic substrates show formation of thin, crack free coats with uniform distribution of particles.     

Anti-neoplastic effects of gallic acid, a major component of Toona sinensis leaf extract, on oral squamous carcinoma cells

Extract of Toona sinensis (TS) has been reported to have various effects on cultured cell lines, including anti-proliferative activity in cancer cells. We have studied the effects of TS on various human oral squamous carcinoma cell lines (HOSCC), including UM1, UM2, SCC-4, and SCC-9. These cell lines were treated with TS leaf extract and screened for viability, apoptosis, necrosis, and apoptotic gene expression. Normal human oral keratinocytes (NHOK) served as a control for cytotoxic assays. Viability of TS-treated HOSCC was reduced, whereas that of NHOK was not affected. FACScan analysis revealed that the leaf extract induced apoptosis or a combination of apoptosis and necrosis, depending on cell type. Microarray and semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis for apoptotic-related gene expression revealed that 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid (gallic acid, one of the major bioactive compounds purified from TS extract) up-regulated pro-apoptotic genes such TNF-α, TP53BP2, and GADD45A, and down-regulated the anti-apoptotic genes Survivin and cIAP1, resulting in cell death. This study suggests that gallic acid, the major bioactive compound present, is responsible for the anti-neoplastic effect of Toona sinensis leaf extract.     

Pyridinium amide-based simple synthetic receptor for selective recognition of dihydrogenphosphate

A new fluorescent receptor 1 built on biphenyl motif has been designed and synthesized. Pyridinium amide moiety in 1 acts as binding site and shows selective complexation of isophthalate and under the mastery of biphenyl spacer. Binding-induced increase in emission was used to determine the selectivity and sensitivity of 1 toward a series of anions such as different dicarboxylates, , , and . The binding characteristics were established by ¹H NMR, UV-vis, and fluorescence spectroscopic methods.