Application of capillary immunoelectrophoresis revealed an age‐ and gender‐dependent regulated expression of PrPC in liver

The cellular prion protein (PrPC) is a glycoprotein, anchored to the plasma membrane and abundantly expressed in the central nervous system. The expression of PrPC in the peripheral tissues is low and only little information is available on its functions in the nonneuronal tissues. The antioxidant function of PrPC during the activation of hepatic stellate cells has already been reported. Therefore, the aim of the study was to expand our knowledge on the functions of PrPC by detailed characterization of its expressional profile in the liver. In a combined strategy by using capillary immunoelectrophoresis and standard techniques, we have shown a sexually dimorphic expression of PrPC in mice and human liver tissues. Further, we showed a significant age‐dependent upregulation of PrPC expression in the liver of 14‐ and 9‐month‐old mice as compared to 3 months of age. Therefore, this study may provide new insights into the gender‐specific role of PrPC in the liver, which may further be linked to its protective role against oxidative stress during aging. In addition, the current study also shows an application of immunoelectrophoresis with a low coefficient of variation to analyze the miniscule amount of PrPC in the mouse liver tissue.     

Incorporation of azo group at axial position of silatranes: synthesis,characterization and antimicrobial activity

4‐Aminoazobenzene‐derived silatranes bearing urea and aminosuccinimide as linker groups at the axial position are reported. The urea functionality is introduced in a silane ( 2 ) by the rearrangement reaction between 3‐isocyanatopropyltriethoxysilane and 4‐aminoazobenzene. N‐(3‐silatranylpropyl)‐N′‐[(p‐phenyldiazenyl)phenyl]urea and N‐[3‐(3,7,10‐trimethylsilatranyl)propyl]‐N′‐[(p‐phenyldiazene)phenyl]urea were prepared by transesterification reaction of 2 with triethanolamine and trisisopropanolamine, respectively. An efficient method for C? N bond formation is described for the synthesis of 3‐(silatranylpropyl)amino‐N‐[(p‐phenyldiazene)phenyl]pyrrolidine‐2,5‐dione and 3‐[(3,7,10‐trimethylsilatranyl)propyl]amino‐N‐[(p‐phenyldiazene)phenyl]pyrrolidine‐2,5‐dione via aza‐Michael addition reaction of aminopropylsilatranes with 4‐(N‐maleimido)azobenzene under mild conditions. All the compounds were well characterized using elemental analysis, spectroscopic techniques, thermogravimetric analysis and X‐ray diffraction. UV–visible spectroscopy indicates that the 4‐aminoazobenzene‐derived silatranes are capable acetate receptors. The synthesized compounds were screened for possible antimicrobial properties with the results showing a modest activity. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modeling and simulation of long reach high speed inter-satellite link (ISL)

A hybrid OFDM–IsOWC system incorporating diverse modulation schemes like optical double side band (ODSB), optical tandem side band (OTSB) and optical single side band (OSSB) is carried out to optimize a long reach high speed inter-satellite link (ISL) with acceptable SNR and BER. The proposed system is also reported under the influence of antenna efficiency and pointing error at varied values of power levels. Simulations point toward that the proposed hybrid OFDM–OSSB–IsOWC transmission system promises significantly enhanced ISL link compared to conventional IsOWC systems.     

Modeling and simulation of FBG based OCDMA-IsOWC system

Photonics have evolved from protracted fibers to dominant wireless system to look at the use of hybrid optical-wireless communication system into space technology. Inter-satellite optical wireless communication (IsOWC) systems, one of the important applications of optical-wireless communication, will be deployed in space in the near future. A significant improvement in BER at 5 Gbps is achieved along with the maximum length of ISL link between the two satellites by incorporating OFDM scheme in IsOWC systems than that of conventional IsOWC systems [9]. The work is further extended in this paper to prolong the ISL link with acceptable BER at 10 Gbps between two satellites in space by employing code division multiple access (CDMA) scheme due to its robustness against narrowband interference and an inherent low power spectral density. In this work, we have designed a model of FBG based CDMA-IsOWC system to establish a prolonged ISL link at data rate of 10 Gbps with SNR of 20 dB. Further, a comparison is also reported between our proposed FBG based CDMA-IsOWC system and OFDM-IsOWC system.     

Performance analysis of different modulation formats in 4-channel CATV transmission system using OADM

In this paper we have analyzed the performance of different modulation formats for a four-channel WDM CATV system using optical ad drop multiplexers and the impact of frequency and wavelength on Q-value, and eye opening is observed for added and dropped channels at different lengths.     

A Mixed-Valence and Mixed-Spin Molecular Magnetic Material: [MnIIL]6[MoIII(CN)7][MoIV(CN)8]2⋅19.5 H2O

Long-range ferromagnetic ordering at 3 K is observed for the title compound, which may be considered as a fully localized mixed-valence species (Mo³⁺ and Mo⁴⁺) as well as a mixed-spin species (low-spin and high-spin Mn²⁺ ions). Its two-dimensional structure consists of heart-shaped 48-membered rings, and each ring contains 16 metal centers (see picture).     

In vivo feasibility study of ultrasound potentiated collagenase therapy of chronic total occlusions

Arterial chronic total occlusions (CTOs) pose considerable challenges for percutaneous interventions, due primarily to the presence of stiff proximal fibrous caps (PFCs) which act as a barrier to the penetration of guide wires. A new approach under development for improving the success rate of guide wire crossing in CTOs is to employ collagenase to degrade the mechanical integrity of the PFCs. This has been shown to be feasible in preclinical work and in a Phase 1 clinical trial. In a recent study we demonstrated using ex vivo experimental CTO specimens that ultrasound-stimulated microbubbles (USMBs) could potentiate the effects of collagenase and result in increased mechanical degradation of the PFCs of CTOs. Here we report the results of the first in vivo study examining the feasibility of this approach, which demonstrates that the force required to puncture through the PFCs of CTOs is reduced with combined USMB + collagenase treatments relative to collagenase only treatments. This approach has the potential to further improve the efficacy of the emerging technique of collagenase facilitation of percutaneous interventions for CTO.     

Reversible Fluorescent Probes for Biological Redox States

The redox chemistry of the cell is key to its function and health, and the development of chemical tools to study redox biology is important. While fluxes in oxidative state are essential for healthy cell function, a chronically elevated oxidative capacity is linked to disease. It is therefore essential that probes of biological redox states distinguish between these two conditions by the reversible sensing of changes over time. In this review, we discuss the current progress towards such probes, and identify key directions for future research in this nascent field of vital biological interest.     

Analyzing fragment production in mass-asymmetric reactions as a function of density dependent part of symmetry energy

We performed a theoretical investigation of different mass-asymmetric reactions to access the direct impact of the density-dependent part of symmetry energy on multifragmentation. The simulations are performed for a specific set of reactions having same system mass and N/Z content, using isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics model to estimate the quantitative dependence of fragment production on themass-asymmetry factor (τ) for various symmetry energy forms. The dynamics associated with different mass-asymmetric reactions is explored and the direct role of symmetry energy is checked. Also a comparison with the experimental data (asymmetric reaction) is presented for a different equation of states (symmetry energy forms).