Recovery and Purity of High Molar Mass Bio-hyaluronic Acid Via Precipitation Strategies Modulated by pH and Sodium Chloride

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The effects of ethanol/broth proportions and the number of steps at varying pH in the presence or absence of sodium chloride (NaCl) were studied as...     

Effect of pretreatment on pyrolysis products of Pennisetum purpureum Schum. by Py-GC/MS

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum.) is one such resource with a great amount of carbohydrate and lignin polymers that together represent high...     

Stability of equilibrium solutions of a double power reaction-diffusion equation with a Dirac interaction

In this paper, information about the instability of equilibrium solutions of a nonlinear family of localized reaction-diffusion equations in dimension one is provided. More precisely, explicit formulas to the equilibrium solutions are computed and, via analytic perturbation theory, the exact number of positive eigenvalues of the linear operator associated to the stability problem is analyzed. In addition, sufficient conditions for blow up of the solutions of the equation are also discussed.     

Mass‐Spectrometric Observation of Counter Anion Production in SU‐8 Exposed to UV Light and its Use for Dill C Parameter Determination

Photopolymerization is a phenomenon that is the basis of much of today's microfabrication technology and intense research is conducted to improve its control and the characteristics of end products for a variety of applications. The design of microscopic structures often relies on the accurate knowledge and modeling of photopolymer's behavior upon exposure, i.e. the Dill parameters, for each radiation species of interest and therefore the development of flexible characterization techniques is of great importance. SU‐8 is a popular compound that is representative of a whole class that relies on cationic polymerization, where an acid is obtained via photolysis of an onium salt during exposure. Here we report on the observation of SbF₆^? via laser desorption mass spectrometry on SU‐8 exposed to UV light at the wavelength of 365 nm and demonstrate that the yield of this counter‐anion as a function of exposure is consistent with the Dill C parameter value available in the literature. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 967–972     

The Cytotoxic Effect of α-Synuclein Aggregates

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder involving a functional protein, α-synuclein, whose primary function is related to vesicle trafficking. However, α-synuclein is prone to form aggregates, and these inclusions, known as Lewy bodies, are the hallmark of Parkinson's disease. α-synuclein can alter its conformation and acquire aggregating capacity, forming aggregates containing β-sheets. This protein's pathogenic importance is based on its ability to form oligomers that impair synaptic transmission and neuronal function by increasing membrane permeability and altering homeostasis, generating a deleterious effect over cells. First, we establish that oligomers interfere with the mechanical properties of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) membrane, as demonstrated by nanoindentation curves. In contrast, nanoindentation revealed that the α-synuclein monomer's presence leads to a much more resistant lipid bilayer. Moreover, the oligomers’ interaction with cell membranes can promote lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, suggesting the activation of cytotoxic events.     

The Crucial Role of Sb2F10 in the Chemical Synthesis of F2

The purely chemical synthesis of fluorine is a spectacular reaction which for more than a century had been believed to be impossible. In 1986, it was finally experimentally achieved, but since then this important reaction has not been further studied and its detailed mechanism had been a mystery. The known thermal stability of MnF₄ casts serious doubts on the originally proposed hypothesis that MnF₄ is thermodynamically unstable and decomposes spontaneously to a lower manganese fluoride and F₂. This apparent discrepancy has now been resolved experimentally and by electronic structure calculations. It is shown that the reductive elimination of F₂ requires a large excess of SbF₅ and occurs in the last reaction step when in the intermediate [SbF₆][MnF₂][Sb₂F₁₁] the addition of one more SbF₅ molecule to the [SbF₆]⁻ anion generates a second tridentate [Sb₂F₁₁]⁻ anion. The two tridentate [Sb₂F₁₁]⁻ anions then provide six fluorine bridges to the Mn atom thereby facilitating the reductive elimination of the two fluorine ligands as F₂.     

Effectiveness of Photodynamic Therapy in Elimination of HPV‐16 and HPV‐18 Associated with CIN I in Mexican Women

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT), using δ‐aminolevulinic acid (5‐ALA), in the elimination of premalignant cervical lesions in Mexican patients with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and/or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Thirty women diagnosed with CIN I and/or positive for HPV participated in the study. Topical 6% 5‐ALA in gel form was applied to the uterine cervix; after 4 h, the lesion area was irradiated with a light dose of 200 J cm^?2 at 635 nm. This procedure was performed three times at 48‐h intervals. Clinical follow‐up was performed at 3, 6, and 12 months after the initial PDT administration, by colposcopy, cervical cytology, histopathological analysis, polymerase chain reaction, and hybrid capture. Of HPV‐infected patients without evidence of CIN I, 80% cleared the infection, while HPV associated with CIN I was eliminated in 83% of patients (P < 0.05). At 12 months, CIN I had regressed in 57% of patients, although this response was not statistically significant. PDT using 6% 5‐ALA is concluded to be effective in eliminating HPV infection associated or not with CIN I.