New perspectives for microbial glycolipid fractionation and purification processes

Microbial glycolipids produced from renewable sources are of considerable interest in light of their promising biological activities and surfactant characteristics when compared to petroleum derived surfactants. Intense research efforts are currently being made to reduce their production costs and optimize recovery as selected mixtures through downstream processes. Due to the high complexity of natural glycolipid mixtures, efficient purification techniques are also required to examine the biological mechanisms of individual species towards human systems for their application in health-related areas. This review deals with recent advances in the development of glycolipid extraction, fractionation and purification methods, with a particular focus on solid support-free liquid-liquid separation techniques including centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) and counter-current chromatography (CCC). These techniques offer promising perspectives for the preparative or large-scale separation of glycolipids from complex crude extracts, mainly because of their flexibility in solvent system selection and applicability to a diversity of structures of any polarity.     

Modifying a graphene layer by a thymine or a uracil nucleobase: DFT studies

The hybridizations of a graphene layer by a thymine and a uracil nucleobase have been investigated by performing density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The isolated and hybrid structures have been firstly stabilized to reach the minimum energy and the electronic properties have been subsequently evaluated for the optimized structures. The structural and atomic scale parameters indicated that the tip of graphene is important in determining the properties of new hybrids. Moreover, different effects of thymine and uracil nucleobases have been identified in the hybrid structures. Quadrupole coupling constants have been evaluated to characterize the atomic scale properties, in which the most notable effects of hybridizations have been observed for the atoms close to the linking regions whereas negligible effects have been seen for other atoms.     

Grape seed extract attenuates lung parenchyma pathology in ovalbumin-induced mouse asthma model: an ultrastructural study

Due to the growing incidence of asthma and because of the non-specificity and side effects of the conventional drugs, the development of novel agents for the treatment of asthma has become considerably important. Natural plant products offer promising alternatives for the development of effective and safe treatments. Grape seed extract (GSE) is one such phytochemical supplement that has been shown to have potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of GSE to suppress lung parenchyma pathology and inflammation in ovalbumin-induced murine asthma model. Ovalbumin exposure was associated with many pathological and morphometric alterations in the lungs of asthmatic mice. The alterations involved alveolar size reduction, alveolar wall thickening, cellular infiltration and blood capillary congestion, as well as significant increase in the number of type II pneumocytes and lamellar bodies. However, GSE significantly ameliorated of the pathological changes of ovalbumin-induced asthma. The results support the possibility of GSE as an effective, safe anti-inflammatory dietary supplement to attenuate the pathogenicity of asthma. While these preliminary results appear promising, further studies are required to elucidate the precise mechanism of the modulatory effect of GSE on asthma remodeling.     

Thermodynamic behavior and stability constants of lanthanides–Schiff base complexes in mixed aqueous solvents

The stability constant of complexes of Ln³⁺ ions and butanamide-3-[(2-hydroxyphenyl methylene)amino]ethylimino N-phenyl were determined potentiometrically in 75% (v/v) dioxane?Cwater, 0.1?M (KNO₃) at different temperatures applying the Irving and Rossotti techniques. The nonlinear variation of the thermodynamic parameters (??G, ??H, and ??S) as a function of ionic potential of lanthanide elements was discussed. This behavior was explained in terms of difference in the dehydration of lighter Ln³⁺ from that of heavier ones. In different organic solvents (75% solvent?Cwater media), the stability constant values follow the order: dioxane?>?methanol?>?DMF, depending upon both the dielectric constant and the hydrogen bonding structure of the medium. The thermodynamic parameters at all complexes have been analyzed in terms of their electrostatic (el) and non-electrostatic (non) parts.     

Evaluation and modeling of the mechanical properties of graphite nanoplatelets based rubber nanocomposites for pressure sensing applications

Acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) compounds filled with different concentrations of graphite nanoplatelets were experimentally investigated. The stress–strain curves of the nanocomposites were studied, which suggest good filler–matrix adhesion. The large reinforcement effect of the filler followed the Guth model for non‐spherical particles. The effect of graphite nanoplatelets on the cyclic fatigue and hysteresis was also examined. The loading and unloading stress–strain relationships for any cycle were described by applying Ogden's model for rubber nanocomposites. With this model for incompressible materials, expressions may be developed to predict the stress–strain relationship for any given cycle. The dissipated energy increased with graphite nanoplatelets concentrations and decrease with number of cycles. The rate of damage accumulation becomes marginal after first ten cycles. The rate of damage increases as the amount of graphite nanoplatelets increase into the rubber matrix. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of the safety and antioxidant activities of Crocus sativus and Propolis ethanolic extracts

The possible toxicological effects and in vitro antioxidant activity of the ethanolic extracts of Crocus sativus and Propolis were investigated. Both extracts did not cause any mortalities or signs of toxicity in mice when administered orally at doses up to 5 g/kg b.wt. In the sub-chronic study; the tested extracts did not produce any significant change in liver and kidney functions of rats, following oral administration for 8 successive weeks at doses of 500 mg/kg b.wt. of each. Propolis showed remarkable in vitro antioxidant activity at concentrations of (40–100 mg/ml). In contrast, the ethanolic extract of C. sativus ethanolic extract showed weak antioxidant activity in concentrations of (1–10 mg/ml) while at concentrations of (20–100 mg/ml) failed to exhibit any antioxidant activity. It was concluded that: both extracts were non-toxic, as they did not cause any mortalities or signs of toxicity in mice when administered orally at doses up to 5 g/kg b.wt. Daily oral administration of C. sativus, Propolis ethanolic extracts alone or in combination for 8 successive weeks to rats was quiet safe and didn't cause any toxic changes in liver and kidney. Antioxidant study showed that Propolis ethanolic extract was a more potent antioxidant than C. sativus extract.     

Corrosion protection by sonoelectrodeposited organic films on zinc coated steel

A variety of coatings based on electrosynthesized polypyrrole were deposited on zinc coated steel in presence or absence of ultrasound, and studied in terms of corrosion protection. Cr III and Cr VI commercial passivation were used as references. Depth profiling showed a homogeneous deposit for Cr III, while SEM imaging revealed good surface homogeneity for Cr VI layers. These chromium-based passivations ensured good protection against corrosion. Polypyrrole (PPy) was also electrochemically deposited on zinc coated steel with and without high frequency ultrasound irradiation in aqueous sodium tartrate-molybdate solution. Such PPy coatings act as a physical barrier against corrosive species. PPy electrosynthesized in silent conditions exhibits similar properties to Cr VI passivation with respect to corrosion protection. Ultrasound leads to more compact and more homogeneous surface structures for PPy, as well as to more homogeneous distribution of doping molybdate anions within the film. Far better corrosion protection is exhibited for such sonicated films.     

EIT based tunable metal composite spherical nanoparticles

Optical polarizability of a composite metal–dielectric and dielectric–metal spherical nanoparticle is investigated in view of achieving all-optical tunability. In this work, the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) implemented in the shell or core of the nanoparticle is used. For the proposed nanoparticle, we show that EIT phenomenon can be utilized to tune the resonance frequency in the frequency response of polarizability. We present a quasi-static analysis for determining polarizability of the nanoparticle. According to our simulation results, all-optical tunability of polarizability can be achieved for reasonable values of optical pump power. Also, we demonstrate how the extinction quality factor and electric field distribution can be controlled for the introduced nanoparticle.