Approximate Entropy of Brain Network in the Study of Hemispheric Differences

Human brain, a dynamic complex system, can be studied with different approaches, including linear and nonlinear ones. One of the nonlinear approaches widely used in electroencephalographic (EEG) analyses is the entropy, the measurement of disorder in a system. The present study investigates brain networks applying approximate entropy (ApEn) measure for assessing the hemispheric EEG differences; reproducibility and stability of ApEn data across separate recording sessions were evaluated. Twenty healthy adult volunteers were submitted to eyes-closed resting EEG recordings, for 80 recordings. Significant differences in the occipital region, with higher values of entropy in the left hemisphere than in the right one, show that the hemispheres become active with different intensities according to the performed function. Besides, the present methodology proved to be reproducible and stable, when carried out on relatively brief EEG epochs but also at a 1-week distance in a group of 36 subjects. Nonlinear approaches represent an interesting probe to study the dynamics of brain networks. ApEn technique might provide more insight into the pathophysiological processes underlying age-related brain disconnection as well as for monitoring the impact of pharmacological and rehabilitation treatments.     

Bounds on the inverses of nonnegative triangular matrices with monotonicity properties

Some bounds on the entries and on the norm of the inverse of triangular matrices with nonnegative and monotone entries are found. All the results are obtained by exploiting the properties of the fundamental matrix of the recurrence relation which generates the sequence of the entries of the inverse matrix. One of the results generalizes a theorem contained in a recent article of one of the authors about Toeplitz matrices.     

Thermal analysis study on vaporization of some analgesics. Acetanilide and derivatives

The thermal behaviour of acetanilide (Ac) and two of its analogues, namely the para-ethoxyacetanilide (p-Eto Ac) and the para-bromoacetanilide (p-Br Ac), which are used as analgesics in the pharmaceutical industry was studied with a simultaneous TG/DSC unit. The examined analgesics showed two endothermic DSC peaks due to melting and vaporization. By combining the experimental TG data with the corresponding reference vapour pressure data obtained with the Antoine equation the plot of P versus v was derived. From the slope of this equation the constant k-value was determined for Ac. Then, using the same k-value the vapour pressures of p-Eto Ac and p-Br Ac were determined in the same temperature range. The vaporization enthalpies for all the studied compounds were obtained from different methods and a very good agreement was found. Vaporization follows a zero-order kinetics. The activation energy of vaporization (E_vap) was calculated from the dynamic TG experiments, using the Arrhenius equation.     

Coordination properties of 6-deoxy-6-[1-(2-amino) ethylamino]-β-cyclodextrin and the ability of its copper(II) complex to recognize and separate amino acid enantiomeric pairs

The functionalized cyclodextrin 6-deoxy-6-[1-(2-amino)ethylamino]--cyclodextrin was synthesized, and an NMR, EPR, pH-metric, and calorimetric investigation was carried out in aqueous solution in order to ascertain its behaviour towards protonation and copper(II) complex formation. The thermodynamic parameters of the ternary complex formation with alanine, phenylalanine and tryptophan enantiomeric pairs were also determined (25° C andI=0.1 mol dm^–3). No thermodynamic enantioselectivity was observed in these systems, while a chiral, though poor, discrimination was observed in LEC: c.d. spectra also show enantiomeric stereoselectivity. The results of the present investigation, compared with previously reported results, suggest the occurence of acis-complex trans-complex equilibrium in such systems.     

Thermodynamics of Dipeptides in Water. Influence of the hydrophobic forces of the side-chains on the dissociation processes for some series of dipeptides

A calorimetric study has been carried out on the dissociation processes in water of both the free α-amino group belonging to the amino terminal residue and the free α-carboxyl groups belonging to the carboxyl terminal residue for a series having phenylalanine as the first common term. These thermodynamic quantities have been compared with those of the proton dissociation processes related to the same groups of the corresponding singleα-amino acids. The dissociation process values of this series have also been considered in connection with those obtained from others series of dipeptides previously studied, in an effort to compare the alkyl groups and benzene ring hydrophobic effects on the salvation processes of the zwitterions, undissociated molecules and ionic forms. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Heavy metal biosorption by bacterial cells

Microbial biomass provides available ligand groups on which metal ions bind by different mechanisms. Biosorption of these elements from aqueous solutions represents a remediation technology suitable for the treatment of metal-contaminated effluents. The purpose of the present investigation was the assessment of the capability of Brevibacterium sp. cells to remove bivalent ions, when present alone or in pairs, from aqueous solutions, using immobilized polyacrylamide cells of the microorganism in a flow-through system. The biosorption capacity of Brevibacterium cells was studied for lead, cadmium and copper. The metal cell binding capacity followed the order Cu > Pb > Cd, based on estimated q_max. These values, expressed as mmol metal/g dry weight cells, were 0.54 for Cu, 0.36 for Pb and 0.14 for Cd. Polyacrylamide-gel immobilized cells were effective in Pb, Cu and Cd removal. Lead removal was not affected by the presence of Cd and Cu; lead instead inhibited Cd and Cu removal. The desorption of the metal, by fluxing a chelating solution, restored the metal binding capacity of the cells, thus affording the multiple use of the same biomass in the remediation treatment. Received: 31 July 1997 / Revised: 22 December 1997 / Accepted: 30 December 1997     

Thermal denaturation of bovine serum albumin and its oligomers and derivativespH dependence

In a previous paper, we report a preliminary DSC study on bovine (BSA) and human (HSA) serum albumins. However, at accurate HPLC analysis the commercial proteins show three peaks: Fraction V-I, probably globulins (as declared by the producers), Fraction V-II (about 15–18% of the product) and Fraction V-III that represents pure BSA or HSA. A hypothesis is that the Fraction II is a covalent dimer, or trimer or a mixture of both, generated during the scalf-life of the commercial product. Denaturation enthalpies of the purified Fraction V-III and Fraction V-II of BSA, have been determined calorimetrically, at changing thepH, and the results of both compared with those obtained on the untreated protein. Few calorimetric experiments have been also carried on a BSA monomer derivative with sulphidril group protected. Computer program have been developed for the deconvolution of exo- and endothermic effects and for the analysis of thermal denaturation profiles.     

Isoelectric focusing in low-denaturing media: visualization in renal disease of variation of the isoelectric point of albumin not related to a remarkable conformational variation

The isoelectric properties of serum and urinary albumin from normal subjects and patients with nephrotic syndrome have been investigated in various conditions of denaturation, obtained by using urea (0-8 M) as a support in isoelectric focusing. In normal human serum, albumin is rather acidic (pI = 4.7) when focused in glycerol while the denatured form obtained by exposing the protein to 8 M urea has a much higher pI (6.1). Albumin from nephrotic patients is acidic in glycerol but at very low levels of urea (2M) it shifts from pI 4.7 to pI 6.1; the same effect has been induced by treating albumin with activated charcoal at low pH. In order to obtain more information on urea-induced changes, we have recorded the circular dichroic spectra of albumin when exposed to the concentration of urea used in gels, and we found that no conformational transition occurs for urea concentrations less than 5 M. Taken together, these observations reveal that variation of the pI of albumin in nephrotic syndrome occurs mainly due to a dissociating effect of urea on charged substances bound to this protein.     

Significance of Non-isothermal Kinetic Data. A statistical study

Arrhenius parameters values, in non-isothermal kinetic vaporisation processes for a series of compounds with related structures, have been calculated. This was made using a method of calculation that allows to find the most probable vaporisation mechanisms. According to this method DTG curves were compared with some theoretical ones reported in literature, whose shape results to be only a function of the mechanisms. In this way the choice of the mathematical functions which can be inserted in the kinetic equations, was influenced by the shape of the DTG plots and other thermal analysis signals thus allowing to choose the most probable mechanisms. The kinetic parameters derived from these mechanisms were compared, using statistical analysis, with those obtained from another method of calculation based on ‘a priori’ vaporisation mechanism chosen for the investigated liquid–gas transition. The standard deviations of the slope and of the intercept, together with the standard deviation and the square correlation coefficient (r ²) of the linear regression equations related to the mechanisms of the two methods were calculated. Student t-test, Fisher F-test, confidence intervals (c.i.) and residuals valueswere also given. Statistical analysis shows that the mechanisms obtained with the former method (diffusive and geometrical models) and the related Arrhenius parameters result to be more significant (in terms of probability) than the corresponding quantities of the latter for which a first-order model was chosen. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.