Isolation of Bisphenol A-Tolerating/degrading Shewanella haliotis Strain MH137742 from an Estuarine Environment

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) occurs frequently. Once, this compound was one of the highest volume chemicals produced worldwide and used as a...     

Synthesis of methyl 2-oxo-5-vinyl-2,5-tetrahydrofuran-3-carboxylate

A synthesis of methyl 2-oxo-5-vinyl-tetrahydrofuran-3-carboxylate involving five synthetic steps from commercially available 3,4-dihydroxybutene is reported.     

Measurement of storage time, estimation of ion number and study of absorption line profile in a Paul trap

Europium (Eu⁺) ions were confined in a Paul trap and detected by non-destructive method. Storage time of Eu⁺ ions achieved in vacuum was improved by orders of magnitude employing buffer gas cooling. The experimentally detected signal was fitted to the ion response signal and the total number of ions trapped was estimated. It is found that the peak signal amplitude as well as the product of FWHM and the peak signal amplitude is proportional to the total number of trapped ions. The trapped ion secular frequency was swept at different rates and its effect on the absorption line profile was studied both experimentally and theoretically.     

An expansion in the exponent for compound binomial approximations

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, we introduce a new asymptotic expansion in the exponent for the compound binomial approximation of the generalized Poisson binomial distribution. The dependence of its accuracy on the symmetry and shifting of distributions is investigated. Second, for compound binomial and compound Poisson distributions, we present new smoothness estimates, some of which contain explicit constants. Finally, the ideas used in this paper enable us to prove new precise bounds in the compound Poisson approximation. Published in Lietuvos Matematikos Rinkinys, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 67–110, January–March, 2006.     

The excited states of pyrazine: A basis set study

Summary Multiconfigurational second order perturbation theory (CASSCF/CASPT2) has been used to investigate the dependence of computed valence excitation energies and transition moments on the basis sets. Pyrazine has been selected as the test molecule. Atomic normal orbital (ANO) type basis sets are used throughout. Contractions of the structure (4s3p1d/2s) are found to be an optimal compromise between the quality and the size of the calculations and are capable of yielding results virtually identical to more extended basis sets.     

Analysis of a finite-difference scheme for a singularly perturbed problem with two small parameters

We study a model linear convection-diffusion-reaction problem where both the diffusion term and the convection term are multiplied by small parameters ε_d and ε_c, respectively. Depending on the size of the parameters the solution of the problem may exhibit exponential layers at both end points of the domain. Sharp bounds for the derivatives of the solution are derived using a barrier-function technique. These bounds are applied in the analysis of a simple upwind-difference scheme on Shishkin meshes. This method is established to be almost first-order convergent, independently of the parameters ε_d and ε_c.     

Increased Photosensitivity in HL60 Cells Expressing Wild-Type p53

Loss of p53 function has been correlated with decreased sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiation therapy in a variety of human tumors. Comparable analysis of p53 status with sensitivity to oxidative stress induced by pho-todynamic therapy has not been reported. In the current study we examined photosensitivity in human promye-locytic leukemia HL60 cells exhibiting either wild-type p53, mutated p53 or deleted p53 expression. Experiments were performed using a purpurin, tin ethyl etiopurpurin (SnET2)-, or a porphyrin, Photofrin (PH)-based photo-sensitizer. Total SnET2 accumulation was comparable in all three cell lines. Uptake of PH was highest in cells expressing wild-type p53 but incubation conditions could be adjusted to achieve equivalent cellular PH levels during experiments that analyzed photosensitivity. Survival measurements demonstrated that HL60 cells expressing wild-type p53 were more sensitive to PH- and SnET2-mediated photosensitization, as well as to UVC irradiation, when compared to HL60 cells exhibiting deleted or mutated p53 phenotypes. A rapid apoptotic response was observed following purpurin- and porphyrin-induced photosensitization in all cell lines. Results of this study indicate that photosensitivity is increased in HL60 cells expressing wild-type p53 and that photosensitizer-medi-ated oxidative stress can induce apoptosis through a p53-independent mechanism in HL60 cells .