Manufacturing of pH sensitive PVA/PVP/MWCNT and PVA/PEG/MWCNT nanocomposites: an approach for significant drug release

The purpose of this paper is studying the effect of incorporation of Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) into two different nanocomposites in poly vinyl alcohol (PVA)/polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and PVA/Polyethylene glycol (PEG). MWCNT were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method using acetylene and Fe/Co/Al₂O₃ as carbon precursor and catalyst, respectively. Nitric acid and sulfuric acid were used for purification and functionalization of MWCNT. Afterward, highly pure and functionalized MWCNT (0, 0.02, and 0.05% w/w) were incorporated in PVA/PVP and PVA/PEG to synthesize PVA/PVP/MWCNT and PVA/PEG/MWCNT nanocomposites hydrogel membranes that cross-linked by freezing–thawing. PEG and PVP were selected in these nanocomposites as dispersion matrix for MWCNT as well as for increasing the elasticity of the nanocomposites membranes. The morphology of the hydrogels was characterized by SEM, FTIR, XRD, TGA, and the mechanical properties of the hydrogel membranes were investigated. The swelling behavior in different pH-buffer solutions was studied as well as studying weight loss percentage and swelling kinetic. The drug releasing process of the hydrogel membranes was investigated using salicylic acid as a model drug. It was found that MWCNT are dispersed well into the polymers and crystallinity, mechanical properties and thermal stability of the hydrogels contain MWCNT are better than that without MWCNT. Maximum degree of swelling was observed at pH 7 and swelling degree increases with increasing the ratio of MWCNT in the hydrogels from 0.02 to 0.05%. All hydrogel membranes followed non-Fickian mechanism and drug releasing were controlled by varying the pH and amount of MWCNT.     

Production of Terretonin N and Butyrolactone I by Thermophilic Aspergillus terreus TM8 Promoted Apoptosis and Cell Death in Human Prostate and Ovarian Cancer Cells

The anticancer activity of terretonin N (1) and butyrolactone I (2), obtained from the thermophilic fungus Aspergillus terreus TM8, was intensively studied against prostate adenocarcinoma (PC-3) and ovary adenocarcinoma (SKOV3) human cell lines. According to this study, both compounds showed potent cytotoxicity towards ovarian adenocarcinoma cells (SKOV3) with IC₅₀ 1.2 and 0.6 μg/mL, respectively. With respect to metastatic prostate cells (PC-3), the two compounds 1 and 2 showed a significantly promising cytotoxicity effect with IC₅₀ of 7.4 and 4.5 μg/mL, respectively. The tested fungal metabolites showed higher rates of early and late apoptosis with little or no necrotic apoptotic pathway in all treated prostate adenocarcinoma (PC-3) and ovary adenocarcinoma (SKOV3) human cell lines, respectively. The results reported in this study confirmed the promising biological properties of terretonin N (1) and butyrolactone I (2) as anticancer agents via the induction of cellular apoptosis. However, further studies are needed to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which cellular apoptosis is induced in cancer cells.     

Maximum principle and existence of solutions for non necessarily cooperative systems involving Schrödinger operators

In this paper, we obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for having the maximum principle and existence of positive solutions for some cooperative systems involving Schrödinger operators defined on unbounded domains. Then, we deduce the existence of solutions for semi-linear systems. Finally we discuss the generalized maximum principle (gf _q -positivity) for non cooperative systems.     

Synthesis and cytotoxic activity of new indolylpyrrole derivatives

The current approach described the synthesis of a new series of indolylpyrrole derivatives through multicomponent reaction of α-cyano chalcones, appropriate aldehydes, and ammonium acetate in refluxed acetic acid. The chemical structures of the designed compounds were confirmed with spectroscopic data and elemental analysis and then tested for their in vitro cytotoxic activity by SRB assay method towards three cell lines involving human Prostate adenocarcinoma; metastatic cells (PC-3), human ovary adenocarcinoma (SKOV3) and human dukes' type B, colorectal adenocarcinoma (LS 174 T). Most significant activity provided with compounds 5c, 5h and, 5j against prostate cancer cells (PC-3) with IC50s of 3.30 ± 0.20, 3.60 ± 0.10, and 3.60 ± 0.90 µg/ml, respectively. In human ovarian carcinoma (SKOV3), the compounds 5a, and 5i have stronger cytotoxicity with IC50s of 1.20 ± 0.04, 1.90 ± 0.50 µg/ml, respectively than the standard doxorubicin (IC50 = 2.20 ± 0.02 µg/ml). On the other hand, only compound 5a has the ability to diminish the viability of LS174T cells in an active manner with IC50 2.80 ± 0.10 µg/ml. Consequently, this effort offers groundwork for additional examination of nominated indolylpyrroles as antiproliferative agents.     

Distributed control for cooperative systems involving parabolic operators with an infinite number of variables

^** Email: serraghm{at}yahoo.com The optimal control for cooperative systems involving parabolicoperators with an infinite number of variables is considered.First the existence and uniqueness of the states are proved;then the necessary and sufficient condition for the controlto be optimal is obtained by a set of inequalities. The controlin our problems is of distributed type and is allowed to bein the Hilbert space (L²(0, T, L²()))ⁿ.     

Structural studies and mechanical properties of some borate glasses doped with different alkali and cobalt oxides

Mixed alkali borate glasses doped with CoO, have been prepared by the melt quenching technique. Elastic properties and FT-IR spectroscopic studies have been employed to study the role of CoO and the mixed alkali effect on the structure of the investigated glass system. Elastic properties and Debye temperature have been investigated using sound wave velocity measurements at 4 MHz at room temperature. The density, molar volume and glass transition temperatures were employed to investigate the structure of these glasses. Infrared spectra of these glasses revealed that the borate network is affected by the increase in the concentration of CoO content and the mixed alkali oxides. These results are interpreted in terms of the change in the topology of these glass structures. The elastic moduli are observed to increase with the increase of CoO content due to the increased average bond connectivity.     

Polymer complexes. LXXII. Spectroscopic studies,thermodynamics, DNA binding and biological activity of polymer complexes

A novel series of copper polymer complexes ( 1 – 4 ) were synthesized and characterized using various spectroscopic techniques. Spectra of all polymer complexes a tetragonal distorted geometry for the Cu(II) ion. The electronic spectra, magnetic moments and electron spin resonance results indicate tetragonal distortion geometry for the Cu(II) polymer complexes. The effects of various solvents on absorption spectra of the ligand are discussed. A prediction of the interaction of the ligand against anti‐cancer receptors was carried out using AutoDock server. The affinity of the compounds to calf thymus DNA was determined through UV–visible DNA binding titration, and intrinsic binding constant (K_b) was found to be 4.16 × 10³, 3.10 × 10⁵, 3.18 × 10⁴ and 2.91 × 10⁵ for polymer complexes 1 – 4 , respectively. The antimicrobial activity of the polymer complexes against bacterial species (Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and fungal species (Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum and Candida albicans) was investigated.     

Evaluation of the Anticancer Potential of Crude,Irradiated Cerastes cerastes Snake Venom and Propolis Ethanolic Extract & Related Biological Alterations

We aimed to evaluate the anticancer potential of crude venom (CV), γ irradiated Certastes cerastes venom (IRRV), and propolis ethanolic extract (PEE). IRRV showed a higher toxicity than CV, while CV-PEE showed higher toxicity than IRRV and CV against lung [A549] and prostate [PC3] cancer cells. Toxicity to [A549] and [PC3] cells was concentration and cell type dependent. In comparison to controls, apoptotic genes showed a significant upregulation of P53 and Casp-3 and a downregulation of Bcl-2. Also, induced elevated DNA accumulation in the [S] phase post PC3 cell treatment with IRRV and CV, as well as a significant DNA accumulation at G2/M phase after IRRV treatment of A549 cells. In contrast, PC3 cells showed a negligible cellular DNA accumulation after PEE treatment. Glutathione reductase [GR] was reduced in case of PC3 and A549 cell treated with IRRV, CV, and PEE compared with its values in untreated cell control. The Malondialdehyde [MDA] values in both cells recorded a significant elevation post IRRV treatment compared to the rest of the treatment regimen and untreated cell control. Similarly, IRRV and CV-PEE mix showed obviously higher reactive oxygen species [ROS] values than PC3 and A549 cell treatments with CV and PEE.     

Isothermal cure kinetics of uncatalyzed and catalyzed diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A/carboxylated polyester hybrid powder coating

The thermal cure behavior of diglycidyl ether bisphenol-A/carboxylated polyester hybrid powder coating system in the absence and presence of catalyst was monitored using differential scanning calorimetry. Curing temperatures were between 160 and 200?°C. The experimental results showed an autocatalytic behavior of the reaction, which could be described by the model proposed by Kamal. This model includes two rate constants k ₁ and k ₂ and two reaction orders m and n. The activation energies E _a1 and E _a2 of these rate constants were 51.7 and 42.3?kJ/mol for uncatalyzed cure reaction and 40.6 and 35.0?kJ/mol for externally catalyzed reaction. The average order of the overall reaction was found to be 2.45 and 2.72 for uncatalyzed and catalyzed system, respectively. Except for the late stage of cure reaction, the model agreed well with the experimental data, especially at high temperatures and in externally catalyzed cure reaction. A diffusion factor was introduced into the model to account for the effect of diffusion on the cure rate. The modified model greatly improved the predicated data at the late stage of cure reaction.     

Synthesis of antimicrobial agents of tetra-substituted thiophenes from ethyl 5-(2-bromoacetyl)-4-phenyl-2-(phenylamino)thiophene-3-carboxylate

5-(2-Bromoacetyl)-2,3,4-trisubstituted-thiophene was used as a synthetic intermediate to prepare a series of thiophene derivatives and thiophene incorporating oxazole, imidazole, thiazole, pyrrole, and pyridine rings via substitution and cyclo-condensation reactions. The data were extracted from the spectra of the resulting products confirmed their suggested structures. The newly synthesized compounds were screened to evaluate their in vitro antimicrobial activity vs several positive and negative gram bacteria and fungi. The screening data revealed that the thiophene derivative 7a , incorporating a thiazole ring, displayed strong activity against all tested microorganisms when compared with the antibiotics used.