Influence of Cross-Sectional Uncertainty on Sensitivity Studies of DUNE and T2HK Experiments

International Journal of Theoretical Physics - We successfully realized symmetric and asymmetric cyclic quantum teleportation by using different controllers for each receiver. In this study, Alice...     

Mass spectrometry combined with affinity probes for the identification of CP4 EPSPS in genetically modified soybeans

Sample preparation methods used for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) analysis are often time consuming, require extensive manual manipulation, and result in limited amounts of purified protein, which may complicate the detection of low‐abundance GM protein. A robust sample pretreatment method prior to mass spectrometry (MS) detection of the transgenic protein (5‐enolpyruvylshikimate‐3‐phosphate synthase [CP4 EPSPS]) present in Roundup Ready soya is investigated. Liquid chromatography‐multiple reaction monitoring tandem MS (nano LC‐MS/MS‐MRM) was used for the detection and quantification of CP4 EPSPS. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and concanavalin A (Con A)‐immobilized Sepharose 4B were used as selective probes for the separation of the major storage proteins in soybeans. AuNPs that enable the capture of cysteine‐containing proteins were used to reduce the complexity of the crude extract of GM soya. Con A‐sepharose was used for the affinity capture of β‐conglycinin and other glycoproteins of soya prior to enzymatic digestion. The methods enabled the detection of unique peptides of CP4 EPSPS at a level as low as 0.5% of GM soya in MRM mode. Stable‐isotope dimethyl labeling was further applied to the quantification of GM soya. Both probes exhibited high selectivity and efficiency for the affinity capture of storage proteins, leading to the quantitative detection at 0.5% GM soya, which is a level below the current European Union's threshold for food labeling. The square correlation coefficients were greater than 0.99. The approach for sample preparation is very simple without the need for time‐consuming protein prefractionation or separation procedures and thus presents a significant improvement over existing methods for the analysis of the GM soya protein.     

A DFT study of the conformational and electronic properties of echinatin,a retrochalcone,and its anion in the gas phase and aqueous solution

Structural Chemistry - Echinatin (Ech), a characteristic retrochalcone isolated from liquorice, a widely used herbal medicine, has been investigated in detail in terms of its conformational and...     

Intraspecific competition of predator for prey with variable rates in protected areas

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this present study, we systematically explore the periodicity (almost periodic nature) of a dynamical system in time-varying environment, which portrays a special case of...     

Enhancing the Viscosity-Sensitive Range of a BODIPY Molecular Rotor by Two Orders of Magnitude

Molecular rotors are a class of fluorophores that enable convenient imaging of viscosity inside microscopic samples such as lipid vesicles or live cells. Currently, rotor compounds containing a boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) group are among the most promising viscosity probes. In this work, it is reported that by adding heavy-electron-withdrawing −NO₂ groups, the viscosity-sensitive range of a BODIPY probe is drastically expanded from 5–1500 cP to 0.5–50 000 cP. The improved range makes it, to our knowledge, the first hydrophobic molecular rotor applicable not only at moderate viscosities but also for viscosity measurements in highly viscous samples. Furthermore, the photophysical mechanism of the BODIPY molecular rotors under study has been determined by performing quantum chemical calculations and transient absorption experiments. This mechanism demonstrates how BODIPY molecular rotors work in general, why the −NO₂ group causes such an improvement, and why BODIPY molecular rotors suffer from undesirable sensitivity to temperature. Overall, besides reporting a viscosity probe with remarkable properties, the results obtained expand the general understanding of molecular rotors and show a way to use the knowledge of their molecular action mechanism for augmenting their viscosity-sensing properties.     

A mild oxidation of deactivated naphthalenes and anthracenes to corresponding para-quinones by N-bromosuccinimide

A new method to synthesize 1,4-naphthoquinone and 9,10-anthraquinone from naphthalene and anthracene functionalized with either –CHO or –COOH groups, using N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) in aqueous N,N-dimethylformamide at 75–80 °C, has been developed. Further, –CN and –CONH₂ functionalized naphthalenes and anthracenes can also be transformed into respective para-quinones in a one pot reaction, after successive acid hydrolysis and subsequent reaction with NBS. We believe that the present finding may serve as a valuable alternative to the classical approaches for the synthesis of polycyclic quinones from polyaromatic carbaldehydes through Dakin oxidation followed by further oxidation of the resulting hydroquinone by heavy metal oxides.     

Synthesis of bioactive heterocycles using reusable heterogeneous catalyst HClO4–SiO2 under solvent-free conditions

We are reporting a simple, efficient and green protocol for the synthesis of chromenes and dihydropyrimidines (products of Knoevenagel and Biginelli reaction, respectively) by the use of silica-supported perchloric acid (HClO₄–SiO₂) as an effective heterogeneous catalyst. Short reaction times, high product yields, simple procedure and reusability of the catalyst are the superior characteristics of this protocol.     

Presence of pesticides in breast milk and infants’ formulae in Himachal Pradesh,India

This study documents the levels of pesticide residues in milk samples of mothers from Himachal Pradesh, India, and time trend comparison of pesticide load based on various studies conducted around the world. The regional difference in xenobiotic levels of breast milk varied with demographic characteristics of mothers and altitudinal variations. The single or multiple pesticides contamination of p,p′-DDE, p,p′-DDT and chlorpyrifos was revealed in 27.45% mothers’ milk samples. Among these p,p′-DDE was the major contaminant found in 26.79% samples followed by p,p′-DDT (1.31%) and chlorpyrifos (0.65%). However, residues of other 26 pesticides comprising organochlorines, organophosphorus and synthetic pyrethroids included in this study were below detectable limit (BDL). The determination of a low DDT/DDE ratio (0.050) indicated past exposure of mothers to DDT from the environment. The pesticide residues level in samples drawn from 14 branded infant formulae was BDL. The calculated infants’ daily intake (DI) of DDT was 0.0015 mg kg^?1 body weight per day compared with a decade-old study (0.021 mg kg^?1 body weight per day) suggesting a sharp decline in the residue levels of these pesticides in the Himalayan region. The trend comparison with past studies conducted around the world indicate a decline in the levels of organochlorine pesticide residues in mothers’ milk and further drop of DI in infants. However, such comparisons confer very limited utilisation of data generated on pesticide load in mothers’ milk and simultaneous infants’ DI due to lack of proper research protocol.     

Beta-amino acid-containing hybrid peptides--new opportunities in peptidomimetics

Hybrid peptides consisting of alpha-amino acids with judiciously placed beta-amino acids show great promise as peptidomimetics in an increasing range of therapeutic applications. This reflects a combination of increased stability, high specificity and relative ease of synthesis.     

Chiral discrimination of D- and L-amino acids using iodinated tyrosines as chiral references: Effect of iodine substituent

L-Tyrosine and iodinated L-tyrosines, i.e., 3-iodo-L-tyrosine and 3,5-diiodo-L-tyrosine, are successfully used as chiral references for the chiral discrimination of aliphatic, acidic, and aromatic amino acids. Chiral discrimination is achieved by investigating the collision-induced dissociation spectra of the trimeric complex [Cu(II)(ref)(2)(A) - H](+) ion generated by electro spraying the mixture of D- or L-analyte amino acid (A), chiral reference ligand (ref) and M(II)Cl(2) (M = Ni and Cu). The relative abundances of fragment ions resulted by the competitive loss of reference and analyte amino acids are considered for measuring the degree of chiral discrimination by applying the kinetic method. The chiral discrimination ability increases as the number of iodine atom increases on the aromatic ring of the reference and the discrimination is better with Cu when compared with Ni. A large chiral discrimination is obtained for aliphatic and aromatic amino acids using iodinated L-tyrosine as the reference. Computational studies on the different stabilities of the diastereomeric complexes also support the observed differences measured by the kinetic method. The suitability of the method in the measurement of enantiomeric excess over the range of 2% to 100% ee with relative error 0.28% to 1.6% is also demonstrated.