Nicotinamide Prevents Ultraviolet Radiation-induced Cellular Energy Loss

UV radiation is carcinogenic by causing mutations in the skin and also by suppressing cutaneous antitumor immunity. We previously found nicotinamide (vitamin B3) to be highly effective at reducing UV-induced immunosuppression in human volunteers, with microarray studies on in vivo irradiated human skin suggesting that nicotinamide normalizes subsets of apoptosis, immune function and energy metabolism-related genes that are downregulated by UV exposure. Using human adult low calcium temperature keratinocytes, we further investigated nicotinamide’s effects on cellular energy metabolism. We found that nicotinamide prevented UV-induced cellular ATP loss and protected against UV-induced glycolytic blockade. To determine whether nicotinamide alters the effects of UV-induced oxidative stress posttranslationally, we also measured UV-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS). Nicotinamide had no effect on ROS formation, and at the low UV doses used in these studies, equivalent to ambient daily sun exposure, there was no evidence of apoptosis. Hence, nicotinamide appears to exert its UV protective effects on the skin via its role in cellular energy pathways.     

Micro-bore titanium housed polymer monoliths for reversed-phase liquid chromatography of small molecules

A new method for the fixation of polymethacrylate monoliths within titanium tubing of up to 0.8 mm I.D. for use as a chromatographic column under elevated temperatures and pressures is described. The preparation of butyl methacrylate–ethylene dimethacrylate-based monolithic stationary phases with desired porous structures was achieved within titanium tubing with pre-oxidised internal walls. The oxidised titanium surface was subsequently silanised with 3-trimethoxysilylpropyl methacrylate resulting in tight bonding of butyl methacrylate porous monolith to the internal walls, providing stationary phase stability at column temperatures up to 110 °C and at operating column pressure drops of >28 MPa. The titanium housed monoliths exhibited a uniform and dense porous structure, which provided peak efficiencies of up to 59,000 theoretical plates per meter when evaluated for the separation of small molecules in reversed-phase mode, under optimal conditions (achieved at 15 μL/min and temperature of 110 °C for naphthalene with a retention factor, k = 0.58). The developed column was applied to the reversed-phase isocratic separation of a text mixture of pesticides.     

Efficient on-column conversion of IgG1 trisulfide linkages to native disulfides in tandem with Protein A affinity chromatography

Protein trisulfide linkages are generated by the post-translational insertion of a sulfur atom into a disulfide bond. Molecular heterogeneity was detected in a recombinant IgG₁ monoclonal antibody (mAb) and attributed to the presence of a protein trisulfide moiety. The predominant site of trisulfide modification was the bond between the heavy and light chains. The trisulfide was eliminated during purification of the IgG₁ mAb via a cysteine wash step incorporated into Protein A affinity column chromatography. Analysis of the cysteine-treated mAb by electrophoresis and peptide mapping indicated that the trisulfide linkages were efficiently converted to intact disulfide bonds (13% trisulfide decreased consistently to 1% or less) without disulfide scrambling or an increase in free sulfhydryls. The on-column trisulfide conversion caused no change in protein folding detectable by hydrogen/deuterium exchange or differential scanning calorimetry. Consistent with this, binding of the mAb to its antigen in vitro was insensitive to the presence of the trisulfide modification and to its removal by the on-column cysteine treatment. Similar, high efficiency trisulfide conversion was achieved for a second IgG₁ mAb using the column wash strategy (at least 7% trisulfide decreased to 1% or less). Therefore, trisulfide/disulfide heterogeneity can be eliminated from IgG₁ molecules via a convenient and inexpensive procedure compatible with routine Protein A affinity capture.     

Controlled removal of overpainting and painting layers under the action of UV laser radiation

Laser material removal applied to selective overpaintings and subsequent painting layers detachment was studied in order to select the best cleaning practice of painted artworks. The ablation depth as a function of incident laser fluence/intensity and irradiation pulse number was considered as a reference parameter. We have measured the ablation depth with both a contact microprofilometer and a white light interferometer as a function of laser irradiation parameters. The measurements have evidenced that the ablation depth in our experiments varied between 2 and 100 μm making possible selective removal of painting.     

Electronic structures of N- and C-doped NiO from first-principles calculations

The large intrinsic band gap of NiO has hindered severely its potential application under visible-light irradiation. In this Letter, we have performed first-principles calculations on the electronic properties of N- and C-doped NiO to ascertain if its band gap may be narrowed theoretically. It was found that impurity bands driven by N 2p or C 2p states appear in the band gap of NiO and that some of these locate at the conduction band minimum, which leads to a significant band gap narrowing. Our results show that N-doped NiO may serve as a potential photocatalyst relative to C-doped NiO, due to the presence of some recombination centres in C-doped NiO.     

A note on Cesàro-Orlicz sequence spaces

The condition δ₂ in Cesàro-Orlicz sequence spaces equipped with the Luxemburg norm is discussed. The comparison theorem for these spaces is presented. Some counterexamples are provided.     

Cauchy, Ferrers-Jackson and Chebyshev polynomials and identities for the powers of elements of some conjugate recurrence sequences

In this paper some decompositions of Cauchy polynomials, Ferrers-Jackson polynomials and polynomials of the form x ²ⁿ + y ²ⁿ , n ∈ ℕ, are studied. These decompositions are used to generate the identities for powers of Fibonacci and Lucas numbers as well as for powers of the so called conjugate recurrence sequences. Also, some new identities for Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind are presented here.