Substituted 5-Antipyrinylazo-4-phenyl-2-aminothiazoles as Disperse Dyes for Dyeing Polyester Fabrics

Summary. A series of some new substituted 5-antipyrinylazo-4-phenyl-2-aminothiazole disperse dyes was synthesized by diazocoupling of 4-antipyrinyldiazonium chloride with aminothiazole derivatives. The synthesized dyes were characterized by UV-Vis absorption, IR, ¹H NMR, and MS spectroscopy. The dyes gave orange to reddish-violet shades with very good depth and levelness when applied to polyester fabrics as disperse dyes and their fastness properties were evaluated on polyester fibers. Also the position of color in CIELAB coordinates (L^*, a^*, b^*, H^*, and C^*) was assessed.     

Exploring chelating features of simple diacid chelates with Hg(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) ions: theoretical study by density functional theory

Structural Chemistry - Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations at the B3LYP level were used to explore the complexation of malonic,...     

LAHS: A novel harmony search algorithm based on learning automata

This study presents a learning automata-based harmony search (LAHS) for unconstrained optimization of continuous problems. The harmony search (HS) algorithm performance strongly depends on the fine tuning of its parameters, including the harmony consideration rate (HMCR), pitch adjustment rate (PAR) and bandwidth (bw). Inspired by the spur-in-time responses in the musical improvisation process, learning capabilities are employed in the HS to select these parameters based on spontaneous reactions. An extensive numerical investigation is conducted on several well-known test functions, and the results are compared with the HS algorithm and its prominent variants, including the improved harmony search (IHS), global-best harmony search (GHS) and self-adaptive global-best harmony search (SGHS). The numerical results indicate that the LAHS is more efficient in finding optimum solutions and outperforms the existing HS algorithm variants.     

Identification of Human Kinin-Forming Enzyme Inhibitors from Medicinal Herbs

The goal of this study was to assess the pharmacological effects of black tea (Camellia sinensis var. assamica) water extract on human kinin-forming enzymes in vitro. Tea is a highly consumed beverage in the world. Factor XII (FXII, Hageman factor)-independent- and -dependent activation of prekallikrein to kallikrein leads to the liberation of bradykinin (BK) from high-molecular-weight kininogen (HK). The excessive BK production causes vascular endothelial and nonvascular smooth muscle cell permeability, leading to angioedema. The prevalence of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI)-induced angioedema appears to be through BK. Both histamine and BK are potent inflammatory mediators. However, the treatments for histamine-mediated angioedema are unsuitable for BK-mediated angioedema. We hypothesized that long-term consumption of tea would reduce bradykinin-dependent processes within the systemic and pulmonary vasculature, independent of the anti-inflammatory actions of polyphenols. A purified fraction of the black tea water extract inhibited both kallikrein and activated FXII. The black tea water extracts inhibited factor XII-induced cell migration and inhibited the production of kallikrein on the endothelial cell line. We compared the inhibitory effects of the black tea water extract and twenty-three well-known anti-inflammatory medicinal herbs, in inhibiting both kallikrein and FXII. Surprisingly, arjunglucoside II specifically inhibited the activated factor XII (FXIIa), but not the kallikrein and the activated factor XI. Taken together, the black tea water extract exerts its anti-inflammatory effects, in part, by inhibiting kallikrein and activated FXII, which are part of the plasma kallikrein–kinin system (KKS), and by decreasing BK production. The inhibition of kallikrein and activated FXII represents a unique polyphenol-independent anti-inflammatory mechanism of action for the black tea.     

Comparison of the laser ablation process on Zn and Ti using pulsed digital holographic interferometry

Pulsed digital holographic interferometry has been used to compare the laser ablation process of a Q-switched Nd-YAG laser pulse (wavelength 1064 nm, pulse duration 12 ns) on two different metals (Zn and Ti) under atmospheric air pressure. Digital holograms were recorded for different time delays using collimated laser light (532 nm) passed through the volume along the target. Numerical data of the integrated refractive index field were calculated and presented as phase maps. Intensity maps were calculated from the recorded digital holograms and are used to calculate the attenuation of the probing laser beam by the ablated plume. The different structures of the plume, namely streaks normal to the surface for Zn in contrast to absorbing regions for Ti, indicates that different mechanisms of laser ablation could happen for different metals for the same laser settings and surrounding gas. At a laser fluence of 5 J/cm², phase explosion appears to be the ablation mechanism in case of Zn, while for Ti normal vaporization seems to be the dominant mechanism.     

Spectral regression and correlation coefficients of some benzaldimines and salicylaldimines in different solvents

Sixteen Schiff bases obtained from the condensation of benzaldehyde or salicylaldehyde with various amines (aniline, 4-carboxyaniline, phenylhydrazine, 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine, ethylenediamine, hydrazine, o-phenylenediamine and 2,6-pyridinediamine) are studied with UV-vis spectroscopy to observe the effect of solvents, substituents and other structural factors on the spectra. The bands involving different electronic transitions are interpreted. Computerized analysis and multiple regression techniques were applied to calculate the regression and correlation coefficients based on the equation that relates peak position lambda(max) to the solvent parameters that depend on the H-bonding ability, refractive index and dielectric constant of solvents.     

Fej\'{e}r type inequalities for Harmonically-convex functions with applications

In this paper, a new weighted identity involving harmonically symmetric functions and differentiable functions is established. By using the notion of harmonic symmetricity, harmonic convexity and some auxiliary results, some new Fej\''{e}r type integral inequalities are presented. Applications to special means of positive real numbers are given as well.     

Effect of pulmonary surfactant and phospholipid hexadecanol tyloxapol on recombinant human-insulin absorption from intratracheally administered dry powders in diabetic rats

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the enhancement effect of the natural pulmonary surfactant (PS) or its artificial substitute, phospholipid hexadecanol tyloxapol (PHT) on the bioavailability and hypoglycemic activity of recombinant human insulin (rh-insulin) in a pulmonary delivery system. PS- or PHT-loaded insulin formulation was administered to streptozotocin induced diabetic rats, at doses of 5 U/kg, 10 U/kg and 20 U/kg insulin, respectively. The hypoglycemic effect caused by PS or PHT containing rh-insulin was analyzed and the area above the curves (AAC) of serum glucose levels versus time, the minimum glucose concentration (C(min)), the time to C(min) (T(min)) and the pharmacological availability (PA%) were derived from the serum glucose profiles. Results showed that PS and PHT caused significantly decrease in serum glucose levels. The decrease in plasma glucose levels continued for about 5 h after the nadir. The highest AAC value was obtained when 20 U/kg rh-insulin with PS or PHT as absorption enhancer was administered to rats. AAC(0-360 min) of PS- or PHT-loaded rh-insulin was 2-3 times as much as that without PS or PHT and PA% increased by 1.3-2 fold. Thus, the extent of oral absorption of insulin from PS- or PHT-loaded particles was significantly greater when compared with that without them. In addition, PHT as well as PS did not change the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity and N-acetyl-β-D-glucoaminidase (NAG) activity in bronch fluid which are sensitive indicators of acute toxicity to lung cells in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). It is concluded that PS and PHT is a promising absorption enhancer for pulmonary delivery systems of large molecule drugs as rh-insulin.