Magnetic resonance studies of laryngeal tumors implanted in nude mice: effect of treatment with bleomycin and electroporation

Recently, a new type of cancer treatment has been introduced that combines pulsed electric fields (PEF) with anticancer drugs. The proposed mode of action is that PEF create transient pores in the membranes which allow entry of drugs into the cells. This method increases cytotoxicity of some anticancer drugs like bleomycin (BLM) by 2-3 orders of magnitude, which, in turn, reduces systemic drug dosage without decreasing efficacy. In the present study, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to determine changes in apparent water self-diffusion coefficients (ADC) and spin-lattice (T(1)) and spin-spin (T(2)) relaxation times that occur in an animal laryngeal tumor (HEp-2 cells) model with BLM delivered by PEF. A Bruker 14 Tesla (600 MHz) wide-bore spectrometer with micro-imaging capability was used to generate all the data. Mice carrying approximately 8 mm tumors were treated with several combinations of drug and PEF. All measurements were made on tumor samples excised from mice 24 and 48 hours after treatment with (i) saline, intratumor injection (i.t.), (ii) BLM, i.t., (iii) saline with PEF, and (iv) BLM, i.t., followed by PEF. Although T(1) does not differ between the controls (i, ii, and iii) and full treatment (iv) 6.72 +/- 0.20 s vs. 6.31 +/- 1.7 s, T(2) for (iv) at 24 hours is significantly different from the controls 52.4 +/- 0.91 ms vs. 46.5 +/- 1.54 ms. T(2) differences between treatment and controls disappear at 48 hours. ADC increases significantly from 24 to 48 hours (7.31 +/- 0.16 x 10(-6) to 8.28 +/- 0.28 x 10(-6) cm(2)/sec, p = 0.05). Longer T(2) values may reflect early apoptosis and tumor death when the tumor is structurally less dense. Higher ADC's, associated with the periphery of the tumors and the central region, may indicate loose structural organization and necrosis resulting from the combination treatment.     

An Unusual Observation in the Synthesis of Thiozoles

Dibromoacetyl benzene derivatives on condensation with thiourea give 2-amino-4-arylthiazoles instead of the expected 2-amino-4-aryl-5-bromothiazoles. Attempts have been made to find the reaction pathway.     

Some Simple Derivations of k[x,y]

It is shown that the derivation y ^r ? _x  + (xy ^s  + g)? _y , where 0 ≤ r < s are integers, is a simple derivation of k[x, y], the polynomial ring in two variables over a field k of characteristic zero.     

Titania-silica nanoparticles ensemblies assisted heterogeneous catalytic strategy for the synthesis of pharmacologically significant 2,3-diaryl-3,4-dihydroimidazo[4,5-b]indole scaffolds

Present paper elicits the multicomponent reaction (MCR) strategy assisted by titania nanoparticles hosted on silica (TiO₂.SiO₂ NPs) as heterogeneous catalyst to synthesize a series of pharmacologically significant 2,3-diaryl-3,4-dihydroimidazo[4,5-b]indole derivatives. To the best of our information, the use of isatin as one of the precursors was hitherto unreported. The decrease in reaction time, low catalyst loading, high product yield (up to 92%), and excellent reusability of the catalyst (up to 7 cycles) put this protocol under the umbrella of green chemistry tenets. Characterization of catalysts was achieved through a number of techniques viz., energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of adsorbed pyridine, temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia, and porosity measurements by nitrogen adsorption (Brunauer–Emmett–Teller [BET] method). Also, the structures of synthesized compounds were corroborated on the basis of FTIR, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), mass, and elemental analyses data.     

Isolation of dithiocarbazate salts as oxinato-complexes of titanium(IV), zirconium(IV) and hafnium(IV)

Summary Ionic chelate complexes of the type, [(⁵-R)₂ML][dtz] [R=cyclopentadienyl (Cp) or indenyl (C₉H₇); M=Ti^IV, Zr^IV or Hf^IV; HL=oxine; dtz=phenyldithiocarbazate (PhNHNHCS₂)] have been synthesised and characterised. Conductance measurements indicate that the complexes are 11 electrolytes. From i.r. and u.v. spectral studies we conclude that the oxinato-group is chelating. Consequently there is tetrahedral coordination around the metal ion.¹H and¹³C N.m.r. studies are consistent with the stoichiometries. X-ray powder diffraction studies have been made for [(⁵-Cp)₂ZrL][dtz]. For [(⁵-Cp)₂TiL][dtz] and [(⁵-Cp)₂ZrL][dtz] thermal (t.g. and d.t.a.) and mass spectral studies have been carried out.     

Conformational study of cis-1,4-di-tert-butylcyclohexane by dynamic NMR spectroscopy and computational methods. Observation of chair and twist-boat conformations

[reaction: see text] Low-temperature 13C NMR spectra of cis-1,4-di-tert-butylcyclohexane (1) showed signals for the twist-boat (1a) and chair (1b) conformations. 13C NMR signals were assigned to specific carbons based on the different populations, different symmetries (time-averaged C(2v) for 1a and time-averaged C(s) for 1b), and calculated chemical shifts (GIAO, HF/6-311+G*). In addition to slow ring inversion and interconversion of the chair and twist-boat conformations, slow rotation of the tert-butyl groups was found. Most of the expected 13C peaks were observed. Free-energy barriers of 6.83 and 6.35 kcal/mol were found for interconversion of 1a (major) and 1b (minor) at -148.1 degrees C. Conformational space was searched with Allinger's MM3 and MM4 programs, and free energies were obtained for several low-energy conformations 1a-c. Calculations were repeated with ab initio methods up to the HF/6-311+G* level. Molecular symmetries, relative free energies, relative enthalpies and entropies, frequencies, and NMR chemical shifts were obtained. A boat conformation (1d; C(2v) symmetry) was generated and optimized as a transition state by ab initio, MM3, and MM4 calculations.     

O,O′-Dimethyl diphenyldithiophosphates of titanium(IV): synthesis,spectroscopic, DFT and biological studies

Dimethyl diphenyldithiophosphate complexes of titanium(IV), [(C₅H₅)₂Ti{S₂P(OAr)₂}_nCl_2-n] (Ar?= 2,4-(CH₃)C₆H₃, 2,5-(CH₃)C₆H₃, 3,4-(CH₃)C₆H_3, 3,5-(CH₃)C₆H_3, 3-CH₃-4-Cl-C₆H₃O; n?=?1 and 2) have been synthesised and characterised by various physicochemical techniques along with computational analysis of the complexes (2), (9) and (10) using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT). Comparison of antimicrobial activity of the free ligands and complexes has shown that the complexes are more effective than the free ligands. The in vitro cytotoxic by using a MTT staining method with RAW 264.7 cells (mouse macrophages) have been investigated. On the basis of analytical and DFT data, a distorted trigonal bipyramidal around titanium(IV) may be assigned to the complexes (1–5) and distorted octahedral geometries for the complexes (6–10).     

A Class of Simple Derivations of k[x,y]

If k is a field of characteristic zero, c ∈ k?{0}, s, t ≥ 1, and r ≥ 0 are integers, then it is shown that the k-derivation y ^r ? _x  + (y ^s x ^t  + c)? _y of the polynomial algebra k[x, y] is simple.