Optimisation of the ultrasound-assisted extraction of betalains and polyphenols from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Nutrisol

The present study optimised the ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) of bioactive compounds from Amaranthus hypochondriacus var. Nutrisol. Influence of temperature (25.86–54.14 °C) and ultrasonic power densities (UPD) (76.01–273.99 mW/mL) on total betalains (BT), betacyanins (BC), betaxanthins (BX), total polyphenols (TP), antioxidant activity (AA), colour parameters (L*, a*, and b*), amaranthine (A), and isoamaranthine (IA) were evaluated using response surface methodology. Moreover, betalain extraction kinetics and mass transfer coefficients (K_La) were determined for each experimental condition. BT, BC, BX, TP, AA, b*, K_La, and A were significantly affected (p < 0.05) by temperature extraction and UPD, whereas L*, a*, and IA were only affected (p < 0.05) by temperature. All response models were significantly validated with regression coefficients (R²) ranging from 87.46 to 99.29%. BT, A, IA, and K_La in UAE were 1.38, 1.65, 1.50, and 29.93 times higher than determined using conventional extraction, respectively. Optimal UAE conditions were obtained at 41.80 °C and 188.84 mW/mL using the desired function methodology. Under these conditions, the experimental values for BC, BX, BT, TP, AA, L*, a*, b*, K_La, A, and IA were closely related to the predicted values, indicating the suitability of the developed quadratic models. This study proposes a simple and efficient UAE method to obtain betalains and polyphenols with high antioxidant activity, which can be used in several applications within the food industry.     

Wave packet dynamics of nonlinear Gazeau–Klauder coherent states of a position-dependent mass system in a Coulomb-like potential

AD = 1 position-dependent mass approach to constructing nonlinear quantum states for a modified Coulomb potential is used to generate Gazeau–Klauder coherent states. It appears that their energy eigenvalues are scaled down by the quantum number and the nonlinearity coefficient. We study the basic properties of these states, which are found to be undefined on the whole complex plane, and some details of their revival structure are discussed.     

The Picone identity: A device to get optimal uniqueness results and global dynamics in Population Dynamics

This paper infers from a generalized Picone identity the uniqueness of the stable positive solution for a class of semilinear equations of superlinear indefinite type, as well as the uniqueness and global attractivity of the coexistence state in two generalized diffusive prototypes of the symbiotic and competing species models of Lotka–Volterra. The optimality of these uniqueness theorems reveals the tremendous strength of the Picone identity.     

Design,synthesis and evaluation of novel dehydroabietic acid-dithiocarbamate hybrids as potential multi-targeted compounds for tumor cytotoxicity

In the present study, novel representatives of the important group of biologically-active, dehydroabietic acid-bearing dithiocarbamate moiety, were synthesized and characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, HR-MS. The in vitro antiproliferative activity evaluation (MTT) indicated that these compounds exhibited potent inhibitory activities in various cancer cell lines (HepG-2, MCF-7, HeLa, T-24, MGC-803). Particularly, compound III-b possessed extraordinary cytotoxicity with low micromolar IC₅₀ values ranging from 4.07 to 38.84 µM against tested cancer cell lines, while displayed weak cytotoxicity on two normal cell lines (LO-2 and HEK 293 T). Subsequently, the potential mechanisms of representative compound III-b were elementarily investigated by Transwell experiment, which showed III-b can inhibit cancer cells migration. Annexin-V/PI dual staining showed that the compound can induce HepG-2 cells apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Meanwhile this apoptosis may be related to the upregulated protein expression of cleaved-caspase 3, cleaved-caspase 9, Bax and downregulated of Bcl-2 indicated by Western Blot. Later study further confirmed that ROS levels in HepG-2 cells increased significantly with the rise of concentrations. In addition, through the network pharmacology data analyzing, the core targets and signaling pathways of compound III-b for treatment of liver neoplasms were forecasted. Molecular docking model showed that compound III-b had high affinity with hub targets (CASP3, EGFR, HSP90AA1, MAPK1, ERBB2, MDM2), suggesting that compound III-b might target the hub protein to modulate signaling activity. Taken together, these data indicated that dehydroabietic acid structural modification following the “Molecular hybridization” principle is a feasible way to discover the potential multi-targeted antitumor compounds.     

A nonlinear model for marble sulphation including surface rugosity and mechanical damage

Here we propose and analyze a mathematical model that aims to describe the marble sulphation process occurring in a given material. The model accounts for rugosity as well as for damaging effects. This model is characterized by some technical difficulties that seem hard to overcome from a theoretical viewpoint. Therefore, we introduce some physically reasonable modifications in order to establish the existence of a suitable notion of solution on a given time interval. Numerical simulations are presented and discussed, also in view of further research.     

Single-atom Fe Embedded Co3S4 for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution Reaction

Constructing atomically dispersed active sites with densely exposed and dispersed double metal-S_x catalytic sites for favorable OER catalytic activity remains rare and challenging. Herein, we design and construct a Fe₁S_x@Co₃S₄ electrocatalyst with Fe single atoms epitaxially confined in Co₃S₄ nanosheets for catalyzing the sluggish alkaline oxygen evolution reaction(OER). Consequently, in ultralow concentration alkaline solutions(0.1 mol/L KOH), such a catalyst is highly active and robust for OER with low overpotentials of 300 and 333 mV at current densities of 10 and 30 mA/cm², respectively, accompanying long-term stability without significant degradation even for 350 h. In addition, Fe₁S_x@Co₃S₄ shows a turnover frequency(TOF) value of 0.18 s⁻¹, nearly three times that of Co₃S₄(0.07 s⁻¹), suggesting the higher atomic utilization of Fe single atoms. Mössbauer and in-situ Raman spectra confirm that the OER activity of Fe₁S_x@Co₃S₄ origins from a thin catalytic layer of Co(Fe)OOH that interacts with trace-level Fe species in the electrolyte, creating dynamically stable active sites. Combined with experimental characterizations, it suggests that the most active S-coordinated dual-metal site configurations are 2S-bridged (Fe-Co)S₄, in which Co-S and Fe-S moieties are shared with two S atoms, which can strongly regulate the adsorption energy of reaction intermediates, accelerating the OER reaction kinetics.     

阳离子交换皂石黏土在基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱分析中的应用

将一种人工合成的无机聚合物——蒙脱石皂石黏土（smectite，Sm）应用于基质辅助激光解吸电离飞行时间质谱分析（matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry, MALDI-TOF-MS），以检测糖类化合物。 将传统的有机基质2，4，6-三羟基苯乙酮（trihydroxyacetophenone, THAP）与阳离子交换后的皂石黏土混合制备成新型复合基质，应用于糖类化合物的检测。通过比较不同的制样方法，测定不同分子直径的糖类化合物，发现由于受复合基质晶面间距的限制，只有小分子糖类化合物能进入晶面间隙充分接触有机基质并被离子化，从而实现对小分子糖类化合物的选择性检测。