Effect of antimicrobial peptide (AMP)–tethered stainless steel surfaces on the bacterial membrane

Bacterial colonization leading to biofilm formation on surfaces induces industry-related as well as health care–associated infections worldwide. Emerging antibiotic-resistant microbes and related persistent infections due to adherent biofilm formation on surfaces have urged the need of effective alternative solutions to eradicate prevailing problems. Antimicrobial peptides are considered as potential candidates with distinguished characteristics, namely, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, low propensity toward pathogen resistance, and low immune response. In this study, we immobilize an in-house–designed peptide, KLLLRLRKLLRR (KLR), using a 2-step functionalization strategy onto stainless steel (SS) surfaces. SS is amino-silanized using (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane followed by tethering of KLR on it via formation of the amide bond. KLR-coated SS surfaces show nearly 95–100% reduction in bacterial colonization in vitro as obtained from antibacterial susceptibility testing while being non-toxic to mammalian cells. The coating strategy does not affect the microstructure of the SS surfaces. These findings demonstrate that this tethering process is able to produce excellent antibacterial surfaces.     

Synthesis, structure, and reactions of 1-tert-butyl-2-diphenylphosphino-imidazole

Metalation reactions were studied of a sterically demanding imidazole derivative, namely, 1-tert-butylimidazole (1), with different metalation reagents and subsequent reaction with diphenylchlorophosphane. The reaction product, 1-tert-butyl-2-diphenylphosphino-imidazole (2), was subjected to oxidation and complexation reactions to yield the corresponding products Ph(2)(Imi)P-E (E = O (3), S (4), Se (5), W(CO)(5) (8)) and in the case of borane-THF the N-BH(3) coordination product 10 was obtained. The analytical data of the new compounds are discussed, including X-ray diffraction studies of 3-5.     

Synthesis of Bis(imidazole‐2‐thion‐4‐yl)phosphanes

Novel bis(imidazole‐2‐thion‐4‐yl)‐ phosphanes ( 2a–d ) were synthesized via lithiation of the precursor imidazole‐2‐thiones followed by the phosphanylation reaction. Oxidation of bis(imidazole‐2‐thion‐4‐yl)phosphane 2b–d with elemental sulfur and selenium led selectively and in good yields to the P‐thio ( 3b–d ) and P‐seleno ( 4c ) derivatives of bis(imidazole‐2‐thion‐4‐yl)phosphanes, respectively. The treatment of 2a,c with phosphorus trichloride gives the corresponding P‐chloro derivatives 5a,c . These compounds were unambiguously characterized by elemental analyses, spectroscopic and spectrometric methods, in addition by single‐crystal X‐ray structure analysis in the case of 2d . © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 00:1–7, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/hc.21043     

Synthesis, structure and reactivity of 4-phosphanylated 1,3-dialkyl-imidazole-2-thiones

Selective formation of 4-phosphanylated 1,2-dialkyl imidazole-2-thiones 3a-f has been obtained via a lithiation followed by phosphanylation reaction. The reactivity of 3a-f was examined towards oxidation and complexation reactions. All products were unambiguously characterized by elemental analyses, spectroscopic and spectrometric methods including X-ray analysis (3a, 3b, 4b, 4d, 5b, 6a and 6d).     

A mixed framework for transform domain Wyner–Ziv video coding

This paper presents a mixed framework based on an efficient intra key frame coding and an improved side information (SI) generation scheme in transform domain Wyner–Ziv (WZ) video coding. The performance of the WZ video coding strongly depends on the quality of the SI. The SI can be generated from the decoded key frames resulted from intra key frame video coding. The better the decoded key frames are the better would be the SI generation. In this paper, a Burrows–Wheeler transform (BWT) based intra-frame video coding is proposed to generate improved decoded key frames. Furthermore, an improved SI generation scheme with multilayer perceptron (MLP) is proposed. Comparative analysis with other standard techniques of WZ video coding reveals that the proposed scheme has better standing as compared to its counterparts in terms of both coding efficiency and improved perceptual quality.     

Convergence of chaotic attractors due to interaction based on closeness

Exploration of coherence phenomena in ensembles of interacting dynamical systems has been in the centre of research in social, physical, biological and technological systems for decades. But, in most of the studies, either completely percolated time- and space-static networks or temporal connectivities disregarding the systems' own dynamics have been dealt with. In this work, we examine the correlation between structural and dynamical evolution in networks of interacting dynamical systems. We specifically demonstrate the scenario of convergence of a set of chaotic attractors into a single attractor as a result of sufficient interaction based on the closeness of their own states. We characterize this occurrence through different measures, and map the collective states in network parameters' space. We further validate our proposition while exposing the whole scenario for different chaotic systems, namely Lorenz and Rössler oscillators.     

Effect of rigid boundary on propagation of torsional surface waves in porous elastic layer

The paper presents the effect of a rigid boundary on the propagation of torsional surface waves in a porous elastic layer over a porous elastic half-space using the mechanics of the medium derived by Cowin and Nunziato (Cowin, S. C. and Nunziato, J. W. Linear elastic materials with voids. Journal of Elasticity, 13(2), 125–147 (1983)). The velocity equation is derived, and the results are discussed. It is observed that there may be two torsional surface wave fronts in the medium whereas three wave fronts of torsional surface waves in the absence of the rigid boundary plane given by Dey et al. (Dey, S., Gupta, S., Gupta, A. K., Kar, S. K., and De, P. K. Propagation of torsional surface waves in an elastic layer with void pores over an elastic half-space with void pores. Tamkang Journal of Science and Engineering, 6(4), 241–249 (2003)). The results also reveal that in the porous layer, the Love wave is also available along with the torsional surface waves. It is remarkable that the phase speed of the Love wave in a porous layer with a rigid surface is different from that in a porous layer with a free surface. The torsional waves are observed to be dispersive in nature, and the velocity decreases as the oscillation frequency increases.     

Structural,dielectric and optical properties of transparent glasses and glass-ceramics of SrBi2B2O7

Optically clear glasses of SrBi₂B₂O₇ (SBBO) were fabricated via the conventional melt-quenching technique. The amorphous nature of the as-quenched samples of this compound was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) studies. Its glassy nature was established by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). However, the optical microscopy revealed the presence of isolated hexagonal shaped crystallites especially at the edges of the as-quenched glasses. The glass plates that were heat-treated around the onset of the glass transition temperature (670 K) for 12 h yielded transparent (～60% transmission) glass-ceramics of SrBi₂B₂O₇ (SBBO) with well defined microstructure. These were found to be textured associated with an orientation factor of about 0.77 (77%). The optical transmission studies carried out in the 100–1200 nm wavelength range confirmed both the as-quenched and heat-treated samples to be transparent from 400 to 1200 nm. The dielectric properties of the as-quenched as well as the heat-treated (670 K/12 h) samples were studied as a function of frequency (100 Hz–10 MHz) at various temperatures (303–873 K). The dielectric dispersion at higher temperatures in the as-quenched glass was rationalized using Jonscher’s dielectric dispersion relations. The prefactor A(T) and the exponent n(T) in the Jonscher’s expression were found to be maximum and minimum respectively around the crystallization temperature (T_cr) of the as-quenched SBBO glasses.     

Sequential Baylis-Hillman reaction and radical cyclization of furanose derivatives: expeditious approach to enantiopure benzo-fused nine-membered oxacycles

A regioselective 9-endo-trig aryl radical cyclization of d-glucose derived diastereomeric Baylis-Hillman reaction products with Bu₃SnH led to highly functionalized tricyclic benzannulated ethers incorporating cis- and trans-9,5 bicyclic systems in good yields. Degradation of one of the products afforded an enantiopure multifunctionalized benzoxonine derivative.