Octadecylamine as chemical modifier for tuned hydrophobicity of surface modified cellulose: toward organophilic cellulose nanocrystals

Cellulose - A novel, environmentally friendly and simple method for chemical functionalization of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) to produce organophilic cellulose nanocrystals (CNC-ODA) is herein...     

Design,Synthesis, and Validation of a Novel [11C]Promethazine PET Probe for Imaging Abeta Using Autoradiography

Promethazine, an antihistamine drug used in the clinical treatment of nausea, has been demonstrated the ability to bind Abeta in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease. However, so far, all of the studies were performed in vitro using extracted tissues. In this work, we report the design and synthesis of a novel [¹¹C]promethazine PET radioligand for future in vivo studies. The [¹¹C]promethazine was isolated by RP-HPLC with radiochemical purity >95% and molar activity of 48 TBq/mmol. The specificity of the probe was demonstrated using human hippocampal tissues via autoradiography.     

Discovery of New Coumarin-Based Lead with Potential Anticancer,CDK4 Inhibition and Selective Radiotheranostic Effect: Synthesis, 2D & 3D QSAR,Molecular Dynamics,In Vitro Cytotoxicity,Radioiodination, and Biodistribution Studies

Novel 6-bromo-coumarin-ethylidene-hydrazonyl-thiazolyl and 6-bromo-coumarin-thiazolyl-based derivatives were synthesized. A quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) model with high predictive power r² = 0.92, and RMSE = 0.44 predicted five compounds; 2b, 3b, 5a, 9a and 9i to have potential anticancer activities. Compound 2b achieved the best ΔG of –15.34 kcal/mol with an affinity of 40.05 pki. In a molecular dynamic study 2b showed an equilibrium at 0.8 Å after 3.5 ns, while flavopiridol did so at 0.5 Å after the same time (3.5 ns). 2b showed an IC₅₀ of 0.0136 µM, 0.015 µM, and 0.054 µM against MCF-7, A-549, and CHO-K1 cell lines, respectively. The CDK4 enzyme assay revealed the significant CDK4 inhibitory activity of compound 2b with IC₅₀ of 0.036 µM. The selectivity of the newly discovered lead compound 2b toward localization in tumor cells was confirmed by a radioiodination biological assay that was done via electrophilic substitution reaction utilizing the oxidative effect of chloramine-t. ¹³¹I-2b showed good in vitro stability up to 4 h. In solid tumor bearing mice, the values of tumor uptake reached a height of 5.97 ± 0.82%ID/g at 60 min p.i. ¹³¹I-2b can be considered as a selective radiotheranostic agent for solid tumors with promising anticancer activity.     

Protective Effects of Thymoquinone,an Active Compound of Nigella sativa,on Rats with Benzo(a)pyrene-Induced Lung Injury through Regulation of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation

Benzopyrene [B(a)P] is a well-recognized environmental carcinogen, which promotes oxidative stress, inflammation, and other metabolic complications. In the current study, the therapeutic effects of thymoquinone (TQ) against B(a)P-induced lung injury in experimental rats were examined. B(a)P used at 50 mg/kg b.w. induced lung injury that was investigated via the evaluation of lipid profile, inflammatory markers, nitric oxide (NO), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. B(a)P also led to a decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD) (34.3 vs. 58.5 U/mg protein), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (42.4 vs. 72.8 U/mg protein), catalase (CAT) (21.2 vs. 30.5 U/mg protein), and total antioxidant capacity compared to normal animals. Treatment with TQ, used at 50 mg/kg b.w., led to a significant reduction in triglycerides (TG) (196.2 vs. 233.7 mg/dL), total cholesterol (TC) (107.2 vs. 129.3 mg/dL), and inflammatory markers and increased the antioxidant enzyme level in comparison with the group that was administered B(a)P only (p < 0.05). B(a)P administration led to the thickening of lung epithelium, increased inflammatory cell infiltration, damaged lung tissue architecture, and led to accumulation of collagen fibres as studied through haematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Sirius red, and Masson’s trichrome staining. Moreover, the recognition of apoptotic nuclei and expression pattern of NF-κB were evaluated through the TUNEL assay and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The histopathological changes were found to be considerably low in the TQ-treated animal group. The TUNEL-positive cells increased significantly in the B(a)P-induced group, whereas the TQ-treated group showed a decreased apoptosis rate. Significantly high cytoplasmic expression of NF-κB in the B(a)P-induced group was seen, and this expression was prominently reduced in the TQ-treated group. Our results suggest that TQ can be used in the protection against benzopyrene-caused lung injury.     

Effect of substitution of blast-furnace slag by fired drinking water sludge on the properties of pozzolanic cement pastes

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The effect of fired drinking water sludge (FDWS) as a mineral admixture on the physico-mechanical properties and the fire resistance of pozzolanic...     

An Efficient Labelling Approach to Harness Backbone and Side‐Chain Protons in 1H‐Detected Solid‐State NMR Spectroscopy

¹H‐detection can greatly improve spectral sensitivity in biological solid‐state NMR (ssNMR), thus allowing the study of larger and more complex proteins. However, the general requirement to perdeuterate proteins critically curtails the potential of ¹H‐detection by the loss of aliphatic side‐chain protons, which are important probes for protein structure and function. Introduced herein is a labelling scheme for ¹H‐detected ssNMR, and it gives high quality spectra for both side‐chain and backbone protons, and allows quantitative assignments and aids in probing interresidual contacts. Excellent ¹H resolution in membrane proteins is obtained, the topology and dynamics of an ion channel were studied. This labelling scheme will open new avenues for the study of challenging proteins by ssNMR.     

Improved general correlation for critical heat flux during upflow in uniformly heated vertical tubes

An improved version of the author's earlier correlation for CHF in vertical tubes is presented. It is compared with data that include 23 fluids (water, refrigerants, cryogens, chemicals, and liquid metals), tube diameters 0.315 to 37.5 mm, tube length 1.3 to 940 times diameter, mass flux 4 to 29051 kg/m²s, reduced pressures 0.0014 to 0.96, inlet quality −4 to +0.85, and critical quality −2.6 to +1. These data, from 62 independent sources, are also compared with Katto's general correlation and those of Bowring for water and Subbotin for helium. The present correlation shows much better agreement with data.     

On Weitzenböck curvature operators

The Weitzenböck curvature operators are the curvature terms of order zero that appear in the well‐known classical Weitzenböck formula. In this paper, we use the formalism of double forms to prove a simple formula for these operators and to study their geometric properties.