RNA cleavage and inhibition of protein synthesis by bleomycin

Bleomycin is a clinically used antitumor antibiotic long thought to function therapeutically at the level of DNA cleavage. Recently, it has become clear that bleomycin can also cleave selected members of all major classes of RNA. Using the computer program COMPARE to search the database established by the Anticancer Drug Screening Program of the National Cancer Institute, a possible mechanism-based correlation was found between onconase, an antitumor ribonuclease currently being evaluated in phase III clinical trials, and the chemotherapeutic agent bleomycin. Following these observations, experimentation revealed that bleomycin caused tRNA cleavage and DNA-independent protein synthesis inhibition in rabbit reticulocyte lysate and when microinjected into Xenopus oocytes. The correlation of protein synthesis inhibition to the previously reported site-specific RNA cleavage caused by bleomycin supports the thesis that RNA cleavage may constitute an important element of the mechanism of action of bleomycin.     

Magnetic property studies of manganese-phosphate complexes

Phosphoric acid forms two distinct coordination compounds with manganese salts in aqueous media, a two-dimensional layered structure, [Mn(HPO4).(H2O)3], 1, under ambient conditions, and a three-dimensional synthetic mineral, [Mn5(mu-OH2)2(HPO4)2(PO4)2(H2O)2], 2, under hydrothermal procedures, at 120 degrees C. In compound 1, the oxygen atom of the doubly deprotonated phosphoric acid interconnects the metal centers to form a layered structure. The neutral hydrophilic layers of 1 are separated by 5.5 A and may potentially intercalate hydrophilic organic guest molecules. The metal centers in 2 are octahedral and bridged by PO4(3-), HPO4(2-), and OH2 groups to form a complex three-dimensional network. XPS analysis on 1 and 2 confirms that manganese exists in the +2 oxidation state. Compound 2 is a poor ion exchanger, but some improvement is observed on partial dehydration. The magnetic properties of both 1 and 2 were studied in detail to examine the amplitude of the magnetic interactions through phosphate ligand bridges. While 1 reveals dominant antiferromagnetic interactions between the spin carriers, a complete investigation of the magnetic properties of 2 revealed its true nature to be a glassy magnet.     

A new route to alumoxane gel: a versatile precursor to gamma-alumina and alumina-based ceramic oxides

We present a new route for the preparation of gamma-alumina and YAG nanoparticles. Metal salts of ethylhexanoic acids provide good solubility in hydrocarbon solvents and allow efficient ultrasonication. The sonication product is an alumioxane gel, which can reversibly collapse and reform, depending on the solvent used. The dried gel nanoparticles are calcined at temperatures significantly lower than those used in conventional syntheses, resulting in gamma-alumina nanoparticles. This is due to the complete mixing of elements at the atomic level and the small size of the formed nanoparticles.     

A value on ′AN

We prove here the existence of a value (of norm 1) on the spaces N A and even A N, the closure in the variation distance of the linear space spanned by all games f, where is a non-atomic, non-negative finitely additive measure of mass 1 and f a real-valued function on [0,1] which satisfies a much weaker continuity at zero and one. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 90A08, 90A07This research was in part supported by the Belgian Programme on Interuniversity Poles of Attraction, initiated by the Prime Ministers Science Policy Office.     

On a superatomic Boolean algebra which is not generated by a well-founded sublattice

Let b denote the unboundedness number of ω^ω. That is, b is the smallest cardinality of a subset such that for everyg∈ω^ω there isf ∈ F such that {n: g(n) ≤ f(n)}is infinite. A Boolean algebraB is wellgenerated, if it has a well-founded sublatticeL such thatL generatesB. We show that it is consistent with ZFC that , and there is a Boolean algebraB such thatB is not well-generated, andB is superatomic with cardinal sequence 〈ℵ₀, ℵ₁, ℵ₁, 1〉. This result is motivated by the fact that if the cardinal sequence of a Boolean algebraB is 〈ℵ₀, ℵ₀, λ, 1〉, andB is not well-generated, then λ≥b.     

Multi‐functional initiator and poly(carboxybetaine methacrylamides) for building biocompatible surfaces using “nitroxide mediated free radical polymerization” strategies

Biomaterials generally suffer from rapid nonspecific protein adsorption, which initiates many deleterious host responses, and complex chemistries that are employed to facilitate cellular interactions. A chemical approach that, based upon current literature, combines a nonfouling architecture with a biomemtic cell‐adhesive end‐group, is presented. Namely, surface‐initiated polymerization of zwitterionic [poly (carboxybetaine methacrylamide)] brushes, with controlled charge densities and phosphonate head groups. Nitroxide mediated free radical polymerization (NMFRP) was employed for various reasons: reduces presence of potentially cytotoxic organometallic catalysts common in atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP); and it allows a phosphonate end‐group instead of the common brominated end‐group. Thermally oxidized silicon wafers were covalently functionalized with diethyl‐(1‐(N‐(1‐(3‐(trimethoxysilyl)propylcarbamoyl)ethoxy)‐N‐tert‐butylamino)ethyl)phosphonate. NMFRP was used to graft zwitterionic carboxybetaine methacrylamide monomers of varying inter‐charge separation. The resulting thin films were characterized using Attenuated Total Reflectance‐Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR‐FTIR) and X‐ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopy, ellipsometry, water contact angle analysis, and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of spacer group on the surface charge density was determined using zeta potential techniques. It is thought that this stratagem will facilitate the ability to tailor systematically both the interior and terminal polymer properties, providing a platform for further understanding how these conditions affect protein adsorption as well as cell‐surface interactions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Relation of structure to performance characteristics of monolithic and perfusive stationary phases

Commercially available polymer-based monolithic and perfusive stationary phases were evaluated for their applicability in chromatography of biologics. Information on bed geometry, including that from electron microscopy (EM), was used to interpret and predict accessible volumes, binding capacities, and pressure drops. For preparative purification of biologics up to at least 7 nm in diameter, monoliths and perfusive resins are inferior to conventional stationary phases due to their low binding capacities (20–30 g/L for BSA). For larger biologics, up to several hundred nanometers in diameter, calculations from EM images predict a potential increase in binding capacity to nearly 100 g/L. The accessible volume for adenovirus calculated from the EM images matched the experimental value. While the pores of perfusive resins are essentially inaccessible to adenovirus under binding conditions, under non-adsorbing conditions the accessible intrabead porosity is almost as large as the interbead porosity. Modeling of breakthrough curves showed that the experimentally observed slow approach to full saturation can be explained by the distribution of pore sizes.     

Randomly chosen chaotic maps can give rise to nearly ordered behavior

Parrondo’s paradox [J.M.R. Parrondo, G.P. Harmer, D. Abbott, New paradoxical games based on Brownian ratchets, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000), 5226–5229] (see also [O.E. Percus, J.K. Percus, Can two wrongs make a right? Coin-tossing games and Parrondo’s paradox, Math. Intelligencer 24 (3) (2002) 68–72]) states that two losing gambling games when combined one after the other (either deterministically or randomly) can result in a winning game: that is, a losing game followed by a losing game = a winning game. Inspired by this paradox, a recent study [J. Almeida, D. Peralta-Salas, M. Romera, Can two chaotic systems give rise to order? Physica D 200 (2005) 124–132] asked an analogous question in discrete time dynamical system: can two chaotic systems give rise to order, namely can they be combined into another dynamical system which does not behave chaotically? Numerical evidence is provided in [J. Almeida, D. Peralta-Salas, M. Romera, Can two chaotic systems give rise to order? Physica D 200 (2005) 124–132] that two chaotic quadratic maps, when composed with each other, create a new dynamical system which has a stable period orbit. The question of what happens in the case of random composition of maps is posed in [J. Almeida, D. Peralta-Salas, M. Romera, Can two chaotic systems give rise to order? Physica D 200 (2005) 124–132] but left unanswered. In this note we present an example of a dynamical system where, at each iteration, a map is chosen in a probabilistic manner from a collection of chaotic maps. The resulting random map is proved to have an infinite absolutely continuous invariant measure (acim) with spikes at two points. From this we show that the dynamics behaves in a nearly ordered manner. When the foregoing maps are applied one after the other, deterministically as in [O.E. Percus, J.K. Percus, Can two wrongs make a right? Coin-tossing games and Parrondo’s paradox, Math. Intelligencer 24 (3) (2002) 68–72], the resulting composed map has a periodic orbit which is stable.