Evolutionary Development and Structural Diversity of Natural Antimicrobial Peptides,Peptidometics, and Cationic Amphiphiles Based on Amino Acids

Russian Journal of General Chemistry - The review article traces the main trends of the synthetic approach to the solution of the problem of overcoming the resistance of pathogenic bacterial...     

Optimization of Transducer Location for Novel Non-Intrusive Methodologies of Diagnosis in Diesel Engines

The health monitoring has been studied to ensure integrity of design of engine structure by detection, quantification, and prediction of damages. Early detection of faults may allow the downtime of maintenance to be rescheduled, thus preventing sudden shutdown of machines. In cylinder pressure developed, vibrations and noise emissions data provide a rich source of information about condition of engines. Monitoring of vibrations and noise emissions are novel non-intrusive methodologies for which positioning of various transducers are important issue. The presented work shows applicability of these diagnosis methodologies adopted in case of diesel engines. The effects of changing various fuel injection parameters was analyzed. Scope of using non-intrusive technique has been analyzed by changing locations of microphone. Novelty of this worklies in exploring signal processing methods for various locations around the engine test set up. Various frequency ranges of contributing noise and vibration sources were identified. Time-Frequency analysis showed the onset of various cyclic. Based on the identification of various frequency bands, it is possible to device suitable filters in order to extract more information.     

Synthesis,spectral investigation and development of tetrahedral copper(II) complexes as artificial metallonucleases and antimalarial agents

Seven new copper(II) complexes of type [Cu(A)(L)]?H₂O (A = sparfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, pefloxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin; L = 5‐[(3‐chlorophenyl)diazenyl]‐4‐hydroxy‐1,3‐thiazole‐2(3H)‐thione) were synthesized and characterized using elemental and thermogravimetric analyses, and electronic, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), Fourier transform infrared and liquid chromatography–mass spectroscopies. Tetrahedral geometry around copper is assigned in all complexes using EPR and electronic spectral analyses. All complexes were investigated for their interaction with herring sperm DNA utilizing absorption titration (K_b = 1.27–3.13 × 10⁵ M^?1) and hydrodynamic volume measurement studies. The studies suggest the classical intercalative mode of DNA binding. The cleavage reaction on pUC19 DNA was monitored by agarose gel electrophoresis. The results indicate that the Cu(II) complexes can more effectively promote the cleavage of plasmid DNA. The superoxide dismutase mimic activity of the complexes was evaluated by nitroblue tetrazolium assay, and the complexes catalysed the dismutation of superoxide at pH = 7.8 with IC₅₀ values in the range 0.597–0.900 μM. The complexes were screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against five pathogenic bacteria. All the complexes are good cytotoxic agents and show LC₅₀ values ranging from 5.559 to 11.912 µg ml^?1. All newly synthesized Cu(II) complexes were also evaluated for their in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum strain (IC₅₀ = 0.62–2.0 µg ml^?1). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The spin-isospin decomposition of the nuclear symmetry energy from low to high density

The energy per particle BA in nuclear matter is calculated up to high baryon density in the whole isospin asymmetry range from symmetric matter to pure neutron matter.The results,obtained in the framework of the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation with two-and three-body forces,confirm the well-known parabolic dependence on the asymmetry parameterβ=(N?Z)/A(β^2 law)that is valid in a wide density range.To investigate the extent to which this behavior can be traced back to the properties of the underlying interaction,aside from the mean field approximation,the spin-isospin decomposition of BA is performed.Theoretical indications suggest that theβ^2 law could be violated at higher densities as a consequence of the three-body forces.This raises the problem that the symmetry energy,calculated according to theβ^2 law as a difference between BA in pure neutron matter and symmetric nuclear matter,cannot be applied to neutron stars.One should return to the proper definition of the nuclear symmetry energy as a response of the nuclear system to small isospin imbalance from the Z=N nuclei and pure neutron matter.     

Path to achieving molecular dispersion in a dense reactive mixture

A uniform dispersion of reactants is necessary to achieve a complete reaction involving multicomponents. In this study, we have examined the role of plasticizer in the reaction of two seemingly unlikely reactants: a highly crystalline hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and a strongly hydrogen bonded phenol formaldehyde resin. By combining information from NMR, infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry, we were able to determine the role of specific intermolecular interactions necessary for the plasticizer to dissolve the highly crystalline HMTA and to plasticize the phenol formaldehyde resin in this crosslinking reaction. The presence of the plasticizer increased the segmental mobility, disrupted the hydrogen bonded matrix, and freed the hydroxyl units, which further increased the solubility of the HMTA. Both the endothermic and exothermic transitions are accounted for in the calorimetric data obtained. For the first time, it is possible to obtain the effective molar ratio of each component needed to complete the crosslinking reaction efficiently. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 1519–1526     

Study of the charge-exchange reactions\pi ^ - p \to (\pi ^0 ,\eta ,\eta \prime )n at 63 GeV

Muon electron pairs were detected in an Al multiplate spark chamber, exposed to a neutrino beam from the CERN PS. The leptons were not accompanied by other particles, except occasionally by protons. The background came mainly from muon associated π⁰ production, with one decay gamma lost. It was determined empirically, together with the small contribution from υ _e reactions. For electron energies above 2 GeV the background is 5.7±1.5 events, whereas 18 (μe)-candidates have been observed. Hence the effect is established, with a rate of about 10^?4 as compared to the muonic reactions above 3 GeV. Charm creation as the origin of this (μe)-production process is excluded; heavy neutral lepton production does not fit the kinematics observed. Instead the events are compatible with the two-body decay of an object with variable invariant mass of order 1 GeV, possibly resulting from axion interactions.