Tyrosinase biosensor response as a function of physical properties of organic solvents

The main aim was to investigate the possibility of developing a fast, easily produced biosensor capable of being used in non-aqueous solvents such as n-hexane, chloroform, mixtures thereof and water-saturated chloroform. The research also provided an experimental confirmation of several concepts, described in the literature, concerning enzymatic activity in different types of non-aqueous solvents. The results are decidedly encouraging as regards future possible uses of this sensor to determine soluble substances in non-aqueous solvents.     

Further development of catalase, tyrosinase and glucose oxidase based organic phase enzyme electrode response as a function of organic solvent properties

Using three enzyme sensors (tyrosinase, catalase and glucose oxidase), capable of functioning also in non-aqueous solvents, we found new correlations between classical indicators, e.g. the log P value of several organic solvents and new empirical indicators such as ;maximum current variation' (MCV) and above all the ;current variation rate' (CVR), the values of which may be monitored with the biosensor considered dipping directly into the organic solvent. The trend of the immobilised specific activity of the tyrosinase enzyme dipping into different organic solvents was evaluated and compared with that determined by the spectrophotometric method. Lastly, an investigation was performed to experimentally verify the relation between hydrophobicity of the solvent and its ability to draw back the water from the enzyme microenvironment using the Karl Fischer method and thermogravimetric analysis to estimate the residual water in the enzyme microenvironment after having treated the enzyme with the organic solvent, then allowing it to dry.     

Eptastigmine,nicotinamide and nicotinic acid determination using an inhibition enzyme sensor; application to pharmaceutical analysis

An enzyme inhibition biosensor, developed in our laboratory and previously used for the analysis of compounds with anticholinesterase activity (e.g. physostigmine, neostigmine, pyridostigmine nicotine and organophosphorus compounds) has now been tested for the analysis of another recently synthesized cholinesterase inhibitor, i.e. eptastigmine. In addition nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, although displaying weaker inhibition properties, were also tested in pharmaceutical products using the same inhibition enzyme sensor. The biosensor consisted of a hydrogen peroxide amperometric electrode coupled to a functionalised nylon membrane chemically bonding both the enzymes butyrylcholinesterase and choline oxidase; a butyrylcholine standard solution in glycine buffer acted as substrate. The response of the system to all the inhibitors considered was characterised completely and the analysis of several pharmaceutical formulations containing nicotinamide or nicotinic acid was also performed.     

A Note on the analytic solutions of the Camassa–Holm equation

In this Note we are concerned with the well-posedness of the Camassa–Holm equation in analytic function spaces. Using the Abstract Cauchy–Kowalewski Theorem we prove that the Camassa–Holm equation admits, locally in time, a unique analytic solution. Moreover, if the initial data is real analytic, belongs to $H^s(\mathbb{R})$ with $s>3/2$, $6u_0{6}_{L^1}<\infty$ and $u_0?u_{0xx}$ does not change sign, we prove that the solution stays analytic globally in time. To cite this article: M.C. Lombardo et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 341 (2005).     

Zero Viscosity Limit for Analytic Solutions of the Navier-Stokes Equation on a Half-Space.¶ II. Construction of the Navier-Stokes Solution

This is the second of two papers on the zero-viscosity limit for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations in a half-space in either 2D or 3D. Under the assumption of analytic initial data, we construct solutions of Navier-Stokes for a short time which is independent of the viscosity. The Navier-Stokes solution is constructed through a composite asymptotic expansion involving the solutions of the Euler and Prandtl equations, which were constructed in the first paper, plus an error term. This shows that the Navier-Stokes solution goes to an Euler solution outside a boundary layer and to a solution of the Prandtl equations within the boundary layer. The error term is written as a sum of first order Euler and Prandtl corrections plus a further error term. The equation for the error term is weakly nonlinear; its linear part is the time dependent Stokes equation. This error equation is solved by inversion of the Stokes equation, through expressing the solution as a regular (Euler-like) part plus a boundary layer (Prandtl-like) part. The main technical tool in this analysis is the Abstract Cauchy-Kowalewski Theorem. Received: 5 September 1996 / Accepted: 14 July 1997