Structural characteristics of the tendinous cord–papillary muscle junction in healthy and hypertensive rats

Although the myotendinous junction (MTJ) of skeletal striated muscle is well known, more detailed studies regarding the structure of the cardiac MTJ are scarce. The objective of the present study was to investigate the morphological characteristics of the MTJ in hearts of healthy and hypertensive (SHR) female rats using histological, ultrastructural and three-dimensional (SEM) methods, as well as to evaluate the expression of vinculin by immunofluorescence. In the two groups, light microscopy showed branching tendinous cords and collagen bundles penetrating the apex of the finger-like projections of the papillary muscle. SEM analysis revealed an enlarged apex of the papillary muscle in SHR which was not observed in healthy animals. The loss of force transmission appears to be compensated by the amplified connection between the papillary muscle and valvular collagen. A large number of intercalated disks close to the fiber apex, small amounts of an amorphous intercellular substance and numerous vesicles were observed in SHR. In these animals, the expression of vinculin was more marked showing a regular distribution and a pattern of transverse striations along the sarcolemma. The presence of this protein in transverse bands suggests that vinculin surrounds myofibrils in the region of the Z band. Vinculin staining was also more marked in the region of the tendinous cord–papillary muscle junctions of SHR compared to control animals. Vinculin was quantified by electrophoresis and higher amounts of this protein were observed in SHR compared to control animals.     

Banana as Adjunct in Beer Production: Applicability and Performance of Fermentative Parameters

Traditionally, the raw materials for beer production are barley, hops, water, and yeast, but most brewers use also different adjuncts. During the alcoholic fermentation, the contribution of aroma compounds from other ingredients to the final beer flavor depends on the wort composition, on the yeast strain, and mainly on the process conditions. In this context, banana can also be a raw material favorable to alcoholic fermentation being rich in carbohydrates and minerals and providing low acidity. In this work, the objective was to evaluate the performance of wort adjusted with banana juice in different concentrations. For this, static fermentations were conducted at 15 °C at pilot scale (140 L of medium). The addition of banana that changed the concentration of all-malt wort from 10 °P to 12 and 15 °P were evaluated (°P is the weight of the extract or the sugar equivalent in 100 g solution, at 20 °C). The results showed an increase in ethanol production, with approximately 0.4 g/g ethanol yield and 0.6 g/L h volumetric productivity after 84 h of processing when concentrated wort was used. Thus, it was concluded that banana can be used as an adjunct in brewing methods, helping in the development of new products as well as in obtaining concentrated worts.     

Proteomic Investigation over the Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy Mediated by Rose Bengal Against Staphylococcus aureus

In order, understanding the antimicrobial action of photodynamic therapy and how this technique can contribute to its application in the control of pathogens. The objective of the study was to employ a proteomic approach to investigate the protein profile of Staphylococcus aureus after antimicrobial photodynamic therapy mediated by rose bengal (RB-aPDT). S. aureus was treated with RB (10 nmoL L⁻¹) and illuminated with green LED (0.17 J cm⁻²) for cell viability evaluation. Afterward, proteomic analysis was employed for protein identification and bioinformatic tools to classify the differentially expressed proteins. The reduction in S. aureus after photoinactivation was ~2.5 log CFU mL⁻¹. A total of 12 proteins (four up-regulated and eight down-regulated) correspond exclusively to alteration by RB-aPDT. Functionally, these proteins are distributed in protein binding, structural constituent of ribosome, proton transmembrane transporter activity and ATPase activity. The effects of photodamage include alterations of levels of several proteins resulting in an activated stress response, altered membrane potential and effects on energy metabolism. These 12 proteins required the presence of both light and RB suggesting a unique response to photodynamic effects. The information about this technique contributes valuable insights into bacterial mechanisms and the mode of action of photodynamic therapy.     

Synthesis,characterization and antileishmanial activity of copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes with diamine ligands

Transition Metal Chemistry - A new set of copper- and zinc-diamine (N-alkylated (L1) and N,N'-dialkylated (L2)) complexes, [Cu(L1)2(NO3)2] (1), [Cu(L1)2(Cl)2].5H2O (2), [Cu(L2)2(NO3)2] (3),...     

Essential oil characterization of Ocimum basilicum and Syzygium aromaticum free and complexed with β-cyclodextrin. Determination of its antioxidant,antimicrobial, and antitumoral activities

Journal of Inclusion Phenomena and Macrocyclic Chemistry - This research evaluated the chemical composition of Ocimum basilicum and Syzygium aromaticum and to characterize their complex with...     

The effect of electrosteric interactions on the effective charge of thermoresponsive ionic microgels: Theory and experiments

In this work, the influence of counterion valence and salt concentration on the effective charge of two types of thermoresponsive ionic microgel particles has been studied. The effective charge of the microgel at different swelling states has been experimentally determined from electrophoretic mobility measurements by solving the electrokinetic equations of the solvent for a single polyelectrolyte brush in the presence of an electric field, taking into account the friction of the solvent inside the polymer network. The experimental results have been compared to those obtained by means of the Ornstein‐Zernike integral formalism within the HNC relation. Results show that microgel bare charge is screened by the combined effect of counterion condensation and permeation inside the microgel particle. In addition to the electrostatic interaction, the steric exclusion exerted by the polymer plays an important role on the local ionic concentrations, especially for shrunken configurations. This steric term is responsible for the strong increase of the microgel effective charge experimentally observed when particles shrink for temperatures above the lower critical solution temperature. We also observe that, in the internal region of the microgel, charge electroneutrality is fulfilled, so the effective charge mainly arises from the region close to the microgel surface. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016 , 54, 2038–2049.     

Pin-Collinear Body-and-Pin Frameworks and the Molecular Conjecture

T.-S. Tay and W. Whiteley independently characterized the multigraphs which can be realized as an infinitesimally rigid d-dimensional body-and-hinge framework. In 1984 they jointly conjectured that each graph in this family can be realized as an infinitesimally rigid framework with the additional property that the hinges incident to each body lie in a common hyperplane. This conjecture has become known as the Molecular Conjecture because of its implication for the rigidity of molecules in 3-dimensional space. Whiteley gave a partial solution for the 2-dimensional form of the conjecture in 1989 by showing that it holds for multigraphs G=(V,E) in the family which have the minimum number of edges, i.e. satisfy 2|E|=3|V|−3. In this paper, we give a complete solution for the 2-dimensional version of the Molecular Conjecture. Our proof relies on a new formula for the maximum rank of a pin-collinear body-and-pin realization of a multigraph as a 2-dimensional bar-and-joint framework. This work was supported by an International Joint Project grant of the Royal Society. The research of T. Jordán was also supported by the MTA-ELTE Egerváry Research Group on Combinatorial Optimization and the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund grant no. T49671.     

Synthesis and structure determination of a new microporous zeolite with large cavities connected by small pores

A new small-pore germanosilicate zeolite, named as ITQ-49, has been synthesized using a new ditetraalkylphosphonium dication as an organic structure-directing agent, and its structure has been solved by direct methods applied to the powder X-ray diffraction pattern of the calcined solid. This new zeolite crystallizes in the space group Immm with cell parameters a = 19.6007(8) ?, b = 18.3274(7) ?, and c = 16.5335(6) ?. The pore topology of ITQ-49 consists of large, nonspherical cavities that are connected to each other through small eight-membered-ring windows, resulting in a unidirectional small-pore zeolite that has a relatively large adsorption capacity. Also, ITQ-49 contains double four-membered-ring units where Ge is preferentially located, and fluoride anions are placed inside these units.     

Tailored norbornene-based copolymer with systematic variation of norbornadiene as a crosslinker obtained via ROMP with alternative amine Ru catalysts

Copolymers of norbornene (NBE) with norbornadiene (NBD) were obtained via ROMP with [RuCl₂(PPh₃)₂(L)] type complexes as initiators (1 for L = piperidine and 2 for L = 3,5-Me₂piperidine). The reactions were performed using a fixed quantity of NBE (5000 equivalents/[Ru]) for different concentrations of NBD (500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 equivalents/[Ru]) in CHCl₃, initiated with ethyl diazoacetate at room temperature. The presence of NBD in the NBE chains was characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR. Whereas the copolymer microstructure was influenced neither by the NBD quantity nor by the initiator type, the M_n and PDI values were improved when increasing the NBD quantity in the medium. When raising the NBD amount, DMA results indicated increased cross-linking with increasing T_g and E′ storage modulus, as well as the fact that SEM micrographs indicated decreased pore sizes in the porous isolated copolymers.