Radioactivity measurements in epiphytic lichens of Uludağ Mountain in Western Anatolia

Activity concentrations of gross-β, naturally occurring ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ²¹⁰Pb, ⁷Be and anthropogenic ¹³⁷Cs in epiphytic lichens collected from Uluda? Mountain are presented and discussed with the aim of evaluating potential usability of lichens as a biomonitor. The activity concentrations of gross-β, ¹³⁷Cs, ⁴⁰K, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ²¹⁰Pb and ⁷Be in the lichen samples were found to be in the range of 177–707, 4.05–94.26, 86–211, below detection limit (BDL)—19.2, BDL—14.0, 229–872, and 72.1–220.7 Bq kg^?1 in dry weight, respectively. ¹³⁷Cs content in collected epiphytic lichens was in descending order: Parmelia sulcata > Lobaria pulmonaria > Pseudevernia furfuracea > Usnea filipendula. The best biomonitor for ¹³⁷Cs among the lichen species used in this study was determined as Parmelia sulcata. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated between ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K activity concentrations using a statistical package program (SPSS ver. 17.0) and a negative correlation value (R = ?0,323, p = 0,222) was obtained. The highest ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th activity concentrations were found in Bo?azova Yaylas? which has a geological structure including granitic rocks. It was found that ¹³⁷Cs and ⁷Be activity concentrations in species demonstrated an inverse behaviour. The effect of mean annual precipitation and temperature on ⁷Be activity concentration was determined using multi regression analysis. Also, correlations between the ¹³⁷Cs and ⁷Be, and ⁴⁰K and ⁷Be were investigated.     

Anticancer Aminoferrocene Derivatives Inducing Production of Mitochondrial Reactive Oxygen Species

Elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and deficient mitochondria are two weak points of cancer cells. Their simultaneous targeting is a valid therapeutic strategy to design highly potent anticancer drugs. The remaining challenge is to limit the drug effects to cancer cells without affecting normal ones. We have previously developed three aminoferrocene (AF)-based derivatives, which are activated in the presence of elevated levels of ROS present in cancer cells with formation of electron-rich compounds able to generate ROS and reduce mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). All of them exhibit important drawbacks including either low efficacy or high unspecific toxicity that prevents their application in vivo up to date. Herein we describe unusual AF-derivatives lacking these drawbacks. These compounds act via an alternative mechanism: they are chemically stable in the presence of ROS, generate mitochondrial ROS in cancer cells, but not normal cells and exhibit anticancer effect in vivo.     

Molecularly Imprinted Supermacroporous Cryogels for Myoglobin Recognition

Myoglobin is a primary iron, and oxygen-binding protein of muscle tissues and levels can be an important diagnostic biomarker for acute myocardial infarction, myocardial necrosis, or other cardiac diseases. The establishment of myoglobin recognition systems is important because of its protein’s structural and functional values in physiology, biochemistry, and diagnostic value in some damaged muscle tissue and cardiac diseases. For this purpose, we used molecular imprinting technique for myoglobin recognition from aqueous solutions and human plasma. In the first step, myoglobin-imprinted poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) cryogels (MGb-MIP) were prepared, and optimum myoglobin adsorption conditions were determined. Selectivity experiments have been done with the competitive proteins, and myoglobin adsorption from IgG and albumin-free human plasma was studied. The purity of the desorbed samples was determined with SDS-PAGE. The desorption efficiency and reusability of the MGb-MIP cryogels were tested, and it was shown that without any significant loss in the adsorption capacity, MGb-MIP cryogels can be used a number of times for myoglobin recognition and separation.     

An Air‐Stable Heterobimetallic Si2M2 Tetrahedral Cluster

Air‐ and moisture‐stable heterobimetallic tetrahedral clusters [Cp(CO)₂MSiR]₂ (M=Mo or W; R=SitBu₃) were isolated from the reaction of N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC) stabilized silyl(silylidene) metal complexes Cp(CO)₂M=Si(SitBu₃)NHC with a mild Lewis acid (BPh₃). Alternatively, treatment of the NHC‐stabilized silylidene complex Cp(CO)₂W=Si(SitBu₃)NHC with stronger Lewis acids such as AlCl₃ or B(C₆F₅)₃ resulted in the reversible coordination of the Lewis acid to one of the carbonyl ligands. Computational investigations revealed that the dimerization of the intermediate metal silylidyne (M≡Si) complex to a tetrahedral cluster instead of a planar four‐membered ring is due to steric bulk.     

Rugged modules: The opposite of flatness

Relative notions of flatness are introduced as a mean to gauge the extent of the flatness of any given module. Every module is thus endowed with a flatness domain and, for every ring, the collection of flatness domains of all of its modules is a lattice with respect to class inclusion. This lattice, the flatness profile of the ring, allows us, in particular, to focus on modules which have a smallest flatness domain (namely, one consisting of all regular modules.) We establish that such modules exist over arbitrary rings and we call them Rugged Modules. Rings all of whose (cyclic) modules are rugged are shown to be precisely the von Neumann regular rings. We consider rings without a flatness middle class (i.e., rings for which modules must be either flat or rugged.) We obtain that, over a right Noetherian ring every left module is rugged or flat if and only if every right module is poor or injective if and only if R = S×T, where S is semisimple Artinian and T is either Morita equivalent to a right PCI-domain, or T is right Artinian whose Jacobson radical properly contains no nonzero ideals. Character modules serve to bridge results about flatness and injectivity profiles; in particular, connections between rugged and poor modules are explored. If R is a ring whose regular left modules are semisimple, then a right module M is rugged if and only if its character left module M⁺ is poor. Rugged Abelian groups are fully characterized and shown to coincide precisely with injectively poor and projectively poor Abelian groups. Also, in order to get a feel for the class of rugged modules over an arbitrary ring, we consider the homological ubiquity of rugged modules in the category of all modules in terms of the feasibility of rugged precovers and covers for arbitrary modules.     

Capacitive Sensor to Monitor Enzyme Activity by Following Degradation of Macromolecules in Real Time

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - A capacitive sensor was developed to analyze the presence and enzymatic activity of a model protease from standard solutions by following the degradation of...     

Microwave-assisted synthesis and characterization of a new soluble metal-free and metallophthalocyanines peripherally fused to four 18-membered tetrathiadiaza macrocycles

Preparation of some novel symmetrically tetrasubstituted metal-free phthalocyanine (6) and metallophthalocyanines (7-10) containing four 18-membered tetrathiadiaza macrocycles moieties on peripheral positions has been achieved by cyclotetramerization reaction of phthalonitrile derivative (5) in a multi-step reaction sequence. Metal-free phthalocyanine (6) was synthesized by microwave irradiation of 13,24-bis[(4-methylphenyl)sulfonyl]-6,7,14,15,23,24-hexahydro-13H,22H-tribenzo[b,h,n][1,4,10,13,7,16]tetrathiadiazacyclo-octadecine-18,19-dicarbonitrile (5) in 2-(dimethylamino)ethanol. The metallophthalocyanines (7-10) were prepared by the reaction of the phthalonitrile compound (5) with NiCl₂, Zn(CH₃COO)₂, CoCl₂, CuCl₂ salts, respectively, by microwave irradiation in 2-(dimethylamino)ethanol for at 175 °C, 350 W. The new compounds were characterized by IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, UV-Vis, elemental analysis and MS spectra data.     

A new polymeric phthalocyanine containing 16-membered tetrathia macrocyclic moieties by microwave irradiation: Synthesis and characterization

Tetranitrile monomer (3) was synthesized by nucleophilic aromatic substitution of 1,5,9,13-tetrathiacyclohexadecane-3,11-diol (1) onto 4-nitrophthalonitrile (2). The metal-free phthalocyanine polymer (4) was prepared by the reaction of a tetranitrile monomer with 4-({11-[3-cyano-4-(cyanomethyl)phenoxy]-1,5,9,13-tetrathiacyclohexadecan-3-yl}oxy)phthalonitrile in 2-(dimethylamino)ethanol. Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(I)-phthalocyanine polymers were prepared by the reaction of the tetranitrile compound with the chlorides of Ni(II), Co(II) and Cu(I) in DMAE. Zn(II)-phthalocyanine polymer was prepared by the reaction of the tetranitrile compound with the acetates of Zn(II) in DMAE. The new compounds were characterized by a combination of IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, UV-Vis, elemental analysis and MS spectral data.     

Asymmetrically tetra-substituted phthalocyanine derivatives: synthesis,photophysical and photochemical properties

Transition Metal Chemistry - The syntheses of highly soluble asymmetrically substituted metal free and zinc phthalocyanine derivatives bearing three 4-(4-(5-phenyl-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)phenoxy) and...     

Difference thresholds for vibration of the foot: Dependence on frequency and magnitude of vibration

The smallest change in vibration intensity for the change to be perceptible (i.e. intensity difference threshold) has not previously been reported for vibration of the foot. This study investigated the influence of vibration magnitude and vibration frequency on intensity difference thresholds for the perception of vertical sinusoidal vibration of the foot. It was hypothesised that relative intensity difference thresholds (i.e. Weber fractions) for 16-Hz vibration mediated by the non-Pacinian I (NPI) channel would differ from relative intensity difference thresholds for 125-Hz vibration mediated by the Pacinian (P) channel. Absolute thresholds, difference thresholds, and the locations of vibration sensation caused by vertical vibration of the right foot were determined for 12 subjects using the up-down-transformed-response method together with the three-down-one-up rule. The difference thresholds and locations of sensation were obtained at six reference magnitudes (at 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 30 dB above absolute threshold—i.e. sensation levels, SL). For 16-Hz vibration, the median relative difference thresholds were not significantly dependent on vibration magnitude and were in the range 0.19 (at 30 dB SL) to 0.27 (at 9 dB SL). For 125-Hz vibration, the median relative difference thresholds varied between 0.17 (at 9 dB SL) and 0.34 (at 30 dB SL), with difference thresholds from 6 to 12 dB SL significantly less than those from 18 to 30 dB SL. At vibration magnitudes slightly in excess of absolute thresholds (i.e. 6-12 dB SL) there were no significant differences between Weber fractions obtained from the P channel (at 125 Hz) and the NPI channel (at 16 Hz). At 24 and 30 dB SL, the 125-Hz Weber fractions were significantly greater than the 16-Hz Weber fractions. Differences in the 125-Hz Weber fractions may have been caused by a reduction in the discriminability of the P channel at high levels of excitation, resulting in one or more NP channel mediating the difference thresholds at magnitudes greater than 18 dB SL. At high magnitudes, a change of channel mediating the Weber fractions may have been responsible for different Weber fractions with 16- and 125-Hz vibration.