Estimation of band alignment at CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4 hetero-interface by direct XPS measurements

This paper aims to estimate the band alignment to CdS/CZTS hetero-interface by direct X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. XPS was used to determinate the valence-band offset (VBO) directly by determining the valence band positions at the hetero-interface. The conduction band offset (CBO) value was estimated based on the band gap measurements by UV/Visible spectroscopy and VBO measurements. The position of valence band (VB) changes close to the CdS-CZTS interface and the CBO is cliff-like. The band alignment diagram indicates that the CdS-CZTS interface heterojunction is type II.     

Antibacterial, Anti-Chlamydial, and Cytotoxic Activities of a Marine Snail (Hexaplex trunculus) Phospholipase A2: an In Vitro Study

In order to report pharmacological characterization of marine snail (Hexaplex trunculus) hepatopancreatic phospholipase A₂ (mSDPLA₂), we have talked for the first time the antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacterial strains, anti-chlamydial activity as well as its cytotoxic activity against McCoy cell lines. mSDPLA₂, showed a high level of activity towards Gram-positive bacteria as Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Whereas Gram-negative bacteria, unfortunately, exhibited a higher resistance, mSDPLA₂ was also found to have a strong cytotoxic activity, causing significant morphological alterations of the McCoy cell lines surfaces and to be a hinder to the proliferation. Moreover, mSDPLA₂ proved to have a very potent anti-chlamydial activity. Over 95?% inhibition of chlamydial inclusions were obtained at a concentration of 10???g/ml of mSDPLA₂ after 24?h postinfection. Interestingly, at a concentration of 10???g/ml of mSDPLA₂, the proliferation of McCoy cells was not affected. Approximately 50?% inhibition of cell growth was obtained with a concentration of 37???g/mL of mSDPLA₂. mSDPLA₂ could be considered as an excellent candidate for the development of a new anti-infective agent. This enzyme showed significant antimicrobial activities.     

Structural basis of pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives as CAMKIIδ kinase inhibitors: insights from 3D QSAR,docking studies and in silico ADMET evaluation

Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CAMKIIδ) belongs to the serine/threonine kinase family, which is involved in a broad range of cellular events in cell survival and proliferation as well as a number of other signal transduction pathways. Thus, it is regarded a promising target for treatment of cancers. In the present paper, a three-dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship and molecular docking were applied to investigate a series of new CAMKIIδ inhibitors of pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives. The determination coefficient (R²) and leave-one-out cross-validation coefficient (Q²) of CoMSIA model are 0.676 and 0.956, respectively. The predictive ability of this model was evaluated by the external validation using a test set of eight compounds with a predicted determination coefficient \(R^{ 2}_{\text{test}}\) of 0.80, besides the mean absolute error of the test set was 0.328 log units. Docking results are in concordance with CoMSIA contour maps, gave the information for interactive mode exploration. Based on those satisfactory results, newly designed molecules were predicted with highly potent CAMKIIδ inhibitory activity, additionally, they have showed promising results in the preliminary in silico ADMET evaluations. This study could expand our understanding of pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives as inhibitors of CAMKIIδ and would be of great help in lead optimization for early drug discovery of highly potent CAMKIIδ inhibitors.     

Theoretical Study of Copper Acetonitrile Effects on Parr Functions Indices and Regioselectivity Using Density Functional Theory (DFT)

Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A - Copper-catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) is a straightforward way for making covalent connections between building blocks containing...     

A conductometric biosensor for the estimation of the number of cleaving sites in peptides and proteins

A conductometric enzyme biosensor using proteinase K was developed and then tested to relate its electrical signal to the number of proteinase K hydrolysis sites in bovine serum albumin (BSA) and angiotensin, a ten amino acid peptide, with one cleaving site.The conductometric sensor presents a large linear range of response for BSA and angiotensin ranging from 0.5 to 8 mg/l and from 4 to 8 mg/l, respectively. For a same tested concentration (mg/l), the response for native BSA is 12 times higher than for angiotensin. Aspartam was used as negative test and no response was obtained with the proteinase K biosensor. The conductometric sensor permitted also to detect difference on enzyme activity on native and non-native BSA, a response three times higher was obtained for non-native BSA.     

Speech enhancement in dual-microphone mobile phones using Kalman filter

In this paper, a dual-microphone speech enhancement algorithm for the mobile phones is proposed. The adopted method exploits the coherence function algorithm and the Kalman filter. This algorithm has a simple implementation that does not need a prediction of interfering signals statistics. In addition, this algorithm can be used in small devices with so closely distance between the two microphones. Moreover, the use of such algorithm allows reducing multiple noise sources at many azimuths positions. Finally, the new algorithm proves its performances referring to the perceptual evaluation of speech quality and the time domain waveforms.     

Ionophoric properties of atropine: complexation and transport of Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions across a liquid membrane

The activity of atropine on the complexation and transport of Na(+), K(+), Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) ions across a liquid membrane was investigated using a spectrophotometric method. Atropine is a natural drug that blocks muscarinic receptors. It is a competitive antagonist of the action of acetylcholine and other muscarinic agonists. Atropine is shown to extract Na(+), K(+), Mg(2+) and Ca(2+) ions from an aqueous phase into an organic one with a preference for Ca(2+) ions. According to a kinetic study, divalent cations (Mg(2+) and Ca(2+)) are more rapidly transported than monovalent ones (Na(+) and K(+)). In both complexation and transport, the flux of the ions increases with the increase of atropine concentration. Atropine might act on the membrane permeability; its complexation and ionophoric properties shed new lights on its therapeutic properties.     

Novel approach to thermal degradation kinetics of gypsum: application of peak deconvolution and Model-Free isoconversional method

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this work, we have reinvestigated the thermal degradation kinetics of synthetic gypsum (CaSO4·2H2O) using a novel approach based on peak...     

Determination of Hydroxy-2-ethylenediaminetriacetic Acid (HEEDTA) and Fe-HEEDTA in Nutrient Solutions by Ion-Pair Reversed-Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

A reversed-phase ion-pair liquid chromatography method for the accurate detection and determination of hydroxy-2-ethylenediaminetriacetic acid (HEEDTA) and Fe-HEEDTA has been developed. Three mobile phases containing 0.05 M tetrabutylammonium hydroxide, 0.05 M tetrabutylammonium bromide, or 0.05 M tetrabutylammonium bromide + phosphate buffer were employed in this method. Iron was added to each mobile phase after addition of the selected ion pair reagent to determine the amount of HEEDTA in both the free and/or the metal chelated forms at concentrations as low as 50 μM. The method depends on the formation of the iron chelate with HEEDTA in the mobile phase at pH 7. Calculation of the amounts of chelated HEEDTA with iron in the mobile phase was verified using the Geochem-PC computer program, which showed that 99.95% of HEEDTA was chelated to iron at pH 7.