Fluorescence anisotropy and light-scattering studies of the interaction of insulin with liposomes

The interaction between zinc-stabilized insulin and lecithin liposomal membranes was studied using DPH fluorescence anisotropy and light-scattering techniques. To ascertain a possible influence of a charge on the insulin molecule, experiments were performed at pH 4.5 (insulin possesses a positive charge) and at pH 7.4 (the charge of insulin is negative). Measurements at pH 4.5 revealed significant changes in scattered light intensity induced by the addition of insulin to lecithin liposomes. With increasing time of storage of liposomes the insulin effect became faster and more pronounced. At pH 7.4, significant changes in scattered light were registered only in the case of liposomes stored for 5 days. In these liposomes a peroxidation process of lecithin was revealed. No significant changes induced by insulin were observed in DPH fluorescence anisotropy either at pH 4.5 or at pH 7.4, which suggested the absence of an interaction of insulin with the hycrophobic core of liposomes. Thus, the observed changes in scattered light could be interpreted in terms of the insulin association to the liposomal surface in the case of phospholipid peroxidation and/or acidic pH.     

Cyanine-Flavonol Hybrids for Near-Infrared Light-Activated Delivery of Carbon Monoxide

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an endogenous signaling molecule that controls a number of physiological processes. To circumvent the inherent toxicity of CO, light-activated CO-releasing molecules (photoCORMs) have emerged as an alternative for its administration. However, their wider application requires photoactivation using biologically benign visible and near-infrared (NIR) light. In this work, a strategy to access such photoCORMs by fusing two CO-releasing flavonol moieties with a NIR-absorbing cyanine dye is presented. These hybrids liberate two molecules of CO in high chemical yields upon activation with NIR light up to 820 nm and exhibit excellent uncaging cross-sections, which surpass the state-of-the-art by two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the biocompatibility and applicability of the system in vitro and in vivo are demonstrated, and a mechanism of CO release is proposed. It is hoped that this strategy will stimulate the discovery of new classes of photoCORMs and accelerate the translation of CO-based phototherapy into practice.     

Studium der Stationären und Laufenden Schichtung in der Entladung in Neon Mit Hilfe eines Lokalen Hochfrequenzfeldes

Zusammenfassung Es wurde ein Verfahren zur Erregung von stationären Schichten, der Schichtungswelle und der laufenden Schichten in der Gleichstromentladung ausgearbeitet, das auf der Einwirkung eines Hochfrequenzfeldes auf einen kurzen Abschnitt der positiven Säule beruht. Dieses Verfahren wurde zum Studium aller drei angeführten Schichtungsarten in Neon benützt, insbesondere jedoch zum Studium des Zusammenhanges zwischen den laufenden und den stationären Schichten.Bei stationären Schichten wurden zweifache Strukturen festgestellt und es wurde deren Abhängigkeit vom Entladungsstrom und von der Größe des erregenden Hochfrequenzfeldes verfolgt.Bei der Schichtungswelle wurde die Stelle deren Entstehung ermittelt und es wurde nachgewiesen, daß das Hochfrequenzfeld diese Welle lokal an der Stelle dessen Einwirkung auf die positive Säule hervorruft.Bei den laufenden Schichten wurde deren Resonanzfrequenz in Abhängigkeit vom Entladungsstrom und die Abhängigkeit der Wellenlänge der Schichten von der Frequenz untersucht.Es wurde festgestellt, daß der extrapolierte Wert der Wellenlänge für die Nullfrequenz erheblich niedriger ist als die Länge der stationären Schichten. Weiter wurde eine Übereinstimmung der Frequenz der laufenden Schichten in der Schichtungswelle mit der Resonanzfrequenz der künstlich hervorgerufenen laufenden Schichten festgestellt.

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ВЛИЯНИЕ СТАРЕНИЯ НА Э ЛЕКТРИЧЕСКИЕ СВОЙСТ ВА ПОЛУПРОВОДНИКОВОЙ С ИСТЕМЫ Bi2Te3-Bi2Se3

, Bi₂Te₃-Bi₂Se₃. , , , . .

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Influence of ageing on change in electrical properties of semiconducting systems of Bi₂Te₃-Bi₂Se₃

The paper describes the effect of ageing observed on a semiconducting system Bi₂Te₃ — Bi₂Se₃. It is shown that the change in electrical conductivity and thermoelectric force, which takes place during ageing, is caused by the change in concentration of the free electrons. The influence of this process on the efficiency of equipment employing the Peltier effect is analyzed.

     

Electric and electrochemical properties of solid LiH2PO4

Electrical and electrochemical properties of solid LiH₂PO₄ conductor were investigated in the temperature range from room temperature to 373 K. It was found that high conductivity throughout the temperature range, with activation energy 17.23 kJ/mol, originates from the movement of hydrogen ions (protons). The movement of protons in the correlation with phosphate groups rotation was considered. The slopes of Tafel lines and exchange current densities both for cathodic hydrogen and anodic oxygen evolution were determined (by means of usual electrochemical kinetic methods) at various temperatures. The energy of activation at the equilibrium potentials both for the cathodic and the anodic processes have been assessed to be 17.23 kJ/mol (0.18 eV) and 2.9 kJ/mol (0.03 eV), respectively.     

The theoretical and experimental study of the ionization processes during the low energy ion sputtering

The process by which atoms are ionized as they are sputtered from a metal surface has been analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. In the theoretical part the expressions for ionization coefficient R⁺ of atoms having the ionization energy much larger than the metal work function have been derived using a molecular orbital method. The effect of the level crossing was estimated in an approximate way. In the experimental part the SIMS experiments on clean Ni and Al surfaces and on Ni surface covered with a submonolayer of adsorbed K, Na and Al are reported. It has been found and it is for the first time reported that the energy distribution of ions sputtered from a submonolayer of adatoms is independent of energy (200–2500 eV) and mass (Ar⁺ Xe⁺ of incident ions and depends only upon the adsorption energy of the adatom. The energy distribution of ions sputtered from bulk samples has been found dependent on the primary ion energy. The measurement of the absolute value of R⁺ has shown that there is a strong correlation between the number of the adatom valence d-electrons and the value of R⁺, the value of R⁺ being smaller for atoms with more d-electrons. These experimental data have been compared with the theoretical expressions and the important role of the mechanism which takes into account the bending of the adatom energy level has been assessed.     

A wider convergence area for the MSTMAOR iteration methods for LCP

In this paper, based on the Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting, we give a generalized modified Hermitian and skew-Hermitian splitting (GMHSS) method to solve singular complex symmetric linear systems, this method has two parameters. We give the semi-convergent conditions, and some numerical experiments are given to illustrate the efficiency of this method.     

Zero–One Law for some Brownian Functionals

We prove that for a>0, (B _t) one-dimensional standard Brownian motion and ₀=inf{t>0 : B _t=0} the following zero–one law is valid