Assessment of the Formant Frequencies in Normal and Laryngectomized Individuals Using Linear Predictive Coding

The objective of this study was to assess the difference in voice quality as defined by acoustical analysis using sustained vowel in laryngectomized patients in comparison with normal volunteers. This was designed as a retrospective single center cohort study. An adult tertiary referral unit formed the setting of this study. Fifty patients (40 males) who underwent total laryngectomy and 31 normal volunteers (18 male) participated. Group comparisons with the first three formant frequencies (F1, F2, and F3) using linear predictive coding (LPC) (Laryngograph Ltd, London, UK) was performed. The existence of any significant difference of F1, F2, and F3 between the two groups using the sustained vowel /i/ and the effects of other factors namely, tumor stage (T), chemoradiotherapy, pharyngectomy, cricothyroid myotomy, closure of pharyngoesophageal segment, and postoperative complication were analyzed. Formant frequencies F1, F2, and F3 were significantly different in male laryngectomees compared to controls: F1 (P<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test), F2 (P<0.001, Student's t test), and F3 (P=0.008, Student's t test). There was no significant difference between females in both groups for all three formant frequencies. Chemoradiotherapy and postoperative complications (pharyngocutaneous fistula) caused a significantly lower formant F1 in men, but showed little effect in F2 and F3. Laryngectomized males produced significantly higher formant frequencies, F1, F2, and F3, compared to normal volunteers, and this is consistent with literature. Chemoradiotherapy and postoperative complications significantly influenced the formant scores in the laryngectomee population. This study shows that robust and reliable data could be obtained using electroglottography and LPC in normal volunteers and laryngectomees using a sustained vowel.     

Differential thermal and thermogravimetric analyses of bound water content in cellulosic substrates and its significance during cellulose hydrolysis by alkaline active fungal cellulases

Various cellulosic substrates were examined for bound water content by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermogravimetry (TG). Samples were heated in the range of 30-100 degrees C at a rate of 3 degrees C/min. DTA vaporization curves for different cellulose samples indicated that the bound water (Wf) was vaporized at higher temperature than free water (Wf) at the surface. Weight loss was observed in two stages, corresponding to Wf and Wb in TG curves. The bound water content was dependent on the degree of crystallinity of cellulose. Among different cellulosic substrates, Walseth cellulose showed the highest bound water content, and it also was found to be the least crystalline. The alkaline-active, alkali-stable cellulase was obtained from the alkalotolerant Fusarium sp. The substrate specificity and viscometric characteristics confirmed the enzyme to be an endoglucanase. The Wb content of Walseth cellulose was lowered during the enzymatic hydrolysis. The possible application of bound water analysis in understanding the hydrolysis of cellulosic substrates of different crystallinity is discussed.     

Novel stereoselective control over cis vs trans opening of benzo[c]phenanthrene 3,4-diol 1,2-epoxides by the exocyclic N(2)-amino group of deoxyguanosine in the presence of hexafluoropropan-2-ol

We describe a novel and efficient synthesis (62-84% yields) of the eight possible, diastereomerically pure, cis and trans, R and S O(6)-allyl-protected N(2)-dGuo phosphoramidite building blocks derived through cis and trans opening of (+/-)-3alpha,4beta-dihydroxy-1beta,2beta-epoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[c]phenanthrene [BcPh DE-1 (1)] and (+/-)-3alpha,4beta-dihydroxy-1alpha,2alpha-epoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrobenzo[c]phenanthrene [BcPh DE-2 (2)] by hexafluoropropan-2-ol (HFP)-mediated addition of O(6)-allyl-3',5'-di-O-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-2'-deoxyguanosine (3) at C-1 of the epoxides. Simply changing the relative amount of HFP used in the reaction mixture can achieve a wide ratio of cis/trans addition products. Thus, the observed cis/trans adduct ratio for the reaction of DE-1 (1) in the presence of 5 equiv of 3 varied from 17/83 to 91/9 over the range of 5-532 equiv of HFP. The corresponding ratios for DE-2 (2) varied from 2/98 to 61/39 under the same set of conditions. When 1 or 2 was fused with a 20-fold excess of 3 at 140 degrees C in the absence of solvent HFP, almost exclusive trans addition (>95%) was observed for the both DEs. Through the use of varying amounts of HFP in the reaction mixture as described above, each of the eight possible phosphoramidite oligonucleotide building blocks (DE-1/DE-2, cis/trans, R/S) of the BcPh DE N(2)-dGuo adducts can be prepared in an efficient fashion. To rationalize the varying cis-to-trans ratio, we propose that the addition of 3 to 1 or 2 in the absence of solvent or in the presence of small amounts of HFP proceeds primarily via an S(N)2 mechanism to produce mainly trans-opened adducts. In contrast, increasing amounts of HFP promote increased participation of an S(N)1 mechanism involving a relatively stable carbocation with two possible conformations. One of these conformations reacts with 3 to give mostly trans adduct, while the other conformation reacts with 3 to give mostly cis adduct.     

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of β-triazolyl amino alcohols by asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of α-triazolyl amino alkanones

The synthesis of optically active β-triazolyl amino alcohols was carried out via ruthenium catalyzed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation of α-triazolyl amino alkanones. This reaction proceeds under mild reaction conditions with up to 99% yield and 99.9% enantiomeric excess (ee). This protocol was applied to the synthesis of an enantiopure antitubercular agent and its arylated product with retention in enantiomeric purity. The absolute configuration at the stereogenic center of the chiral product as found to be (S).     

Electron spin resonance in pyrolyzed lignin

An investigation has been made into electron spin resonance (ESR) occurring in the ranges of carbons prepared from periodate lignin by vacuum pyrolysis. Line shape, line width, g-factors, saturation effects, and free spin concentration have been measured and the effect of oxygen on these parameters has been examined. A g-shift and lines with inhomogeneous broadening have been observed. In the presence of oxygen the lower-temperature carbons showed an unexpected increase in the detectable free spin concentration. The discussion includes factors affecting the nature of the free spins in the pyrolyzed material.     

A simple molecular model for N-SmAd-NdRe-N1Re-SmA1 phase sequence in highly polar compounds

Our earlier model of re-entrant liquid crystalline phases exhibited by highly polar compounds, in which the mutual orientation of near-neighbour molecules can change from an antiparallel to a parallel configuration, has been extended to include both nematic and smectic interactions. We show that, as the McMillan parameter alpha is decreased, the SmA_d-SmA₁ line goes over to the SmA_d-N_1Re line, finally becoming the N_dRe-N_1Re transition line, the latter ending in a critical point. This sequence is in agreement with the predictions of Prost's Landau model as well as with an experimental result. The phase sequence N-SmA_d-N_dRe-N_1Re-SmA₁ is obtained on cooling for a range of alpha_A values.     

Ecofriendly synthesis and biological evaluation of 4-(4-nitro-phenyl)-2-phenyl-1,4-dihydro-benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester derivatives as an antitubercular agents

An ecofriendly route has been investigated for the synthesis of 4-(4-nitro-phenyl)-2-phenyl-1,4-dihydro-benzo[4,5]imidazo[1,2-a]pyrimidine-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester derivatives by one-pot, three-component condensation of ethyl benzoylacetate, aromatic aldehydes, and 2-amino benzimidazole using 260?mol% of citric acid as reaction mediator. Citric acid is an inexpensive, nontoxic, and green medium with smoothly activates the rate of reaction. The synthesized compounds were assessed for in vitro antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇RV strain using the microplate alamar blue assay (MABA). The results indicate that among all the synthesized compound series, P-4 and P-9 compounds illustrate effective activity with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 25?µg/ml.     

Glutamine: fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (GFAT): homology modelling and designing of new inhibitors using pharmacophore and docking based hierarchical virtual screening protocol

Glutamine: fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase (GFAT), also termed GFPT1 and GFAT1, catalyzes the first committed step of the hexosamine biosynthesis pathway in mammals and consequently plays an important role in type 2 diabetes. In the present study, a combination of pharmacophore modelling, homology modelling, and molecular docking analysis was performed to design new glutamine competitive inhibitors of human GFAT, and to investigate important interaction details of inhibitor molecules. A pharmacophore model of GFAT inhibitors was developed, subsequently validated, and utilized for the screening by the PHASE database to identify new molecules. Afterwards, homology modelling was performed to construct the glutamine-binding site of the GFAT protein. The modelled active site was utilized to dock the studied molecules to investigate important receptor-ligand interactions and to scrutinize database-screened molecules on the basis of essential interactions. This systematic in silico protocol helped us to identify new molecules that would be explored for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and its complications.     

Synthesis and evaluation of triphenylphosphonium conjugated 18F-labeled silica nanoparticles for PET imaging

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Accumulation of triphenylphosphonium (TPP) is normally observed in the mitochondria from the extracellular spaces due to the high difference in...     

Random matrix theory for transition strength densities in finite quantum systems: Results from embedded unitary ensembles

Embedded random matrix ensembles are generic models for describing statistical properties of finite isolated interacting quantum many-particle systems. For the simplest spinless fermion (or boson) systems, with say m$m$ fermions (or bosons) in N$N$ single particle states and interacting via k$k$-body interactions, we have EGUE(k$k$) [embedded GUE of k$k$-body interactions] with GUE embedding and the embedding algebra is U(N)$U\left(N\right)$. A finite quantum system, induced by a transition operator, makes transitions from its states to the states of the same system or to those of another system. Examples are electromagnetic transitions (then the initial and final systems are same), nuclear beta and double beta decay (then the initial and final systems are different), particle addition to or removal from a given system and so on. Towards developing a complete statistical theory for transition strength densities (transition strengths multiplied by the density of states at the initial and final energies), we have derived formulas for the lower order bivariate moments of the strength densities generated by a variety of transition operators. Firstly, for a spinless fermion system, using EGUE(k$k$) representation for a Hamiltonian that is k$k$-body and an independent EGUE(t$t$) representation for a transition operator that is t$t$-body and employing the embedding U(N)$U\left(N\right)$ algebra, finite-N$N$ formulas for moments up to order four are derived, for the first time, for the transition strength densities. Secondly, formulas for the moments up to order four are also derived for systems with two types of spinless fermions and a transition operator similar to beta decay and neutrinoless beta decay operators. In addition, moments formulas are also derived for a transition operator that removes k₀$k_0$ number of particles from a system of m$m$ spinless fermions. In the dilute limit, these formulas are shown to reduce to those for the EGOE version derived using the asymptotic limit theory of Mon and French (1975). Numerical results obtained using the exact formulas for two-body (k=2$k=2$) Hamiltonians (in some examples for k=3$k=3$ and 4$4$) and the asymptotic formulas clearly establish that in general the smoothed (with respect to energy) form of the bivariate transition strength densities take bivariate Gaussian form for isolated finite quantum systems. Extensions of these results to bosonic systems and EGUE ensembles with further symmetries are discussed.