Anticancer Effects of Propolis Extracts Obtained with the Cold Separation Method on PC-3 and DU-145 Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

Plant extracts are increasingly tested for their biological activity and interactions with neoplastic cells. One of such sources of biologically active substances is propolis. This product has been known for thousands of years and is widely used in alternative, folk medicine. Articles describing its effects on the metabolism and cell signaling pathways of neoplastic cells derived from different organs are also published more and more frequently. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the biological activity of propolis extract produced with the cold separation method into hormone-dependent and hormone-independent prostate cancer cell lines. In our study, the propolis extracts showed at least an inhibitory effect on the growth of PC-3 and DU-145 neoplastic cells. Our results suggest that propolis extracts obtained with the cold separation method may be considered as promising compounds for the production of health-promoting supplements.     

A Modular Approach to Atropisomeric Bisphosphines of Diversified Electronic Density on Phosphorus Atoms

The series of C₂-symmetric biaryl core-based non-racemic bisphosphines possessing substituents of different electronic properties: both EDG and EWG were obtained in a short sequence of good yielding transformations, started from commercial 1,3-dimethyl-2-nitrobenzene. Several different approaches leading to the desirable ligands were practically evaluated. Notably, the synthesis of the entire series of ligands could be performed with the utilization of a single early-stage precursor DIDAB (6,6′-diiodo-2,2′,4,4′-tetramethylbiphenyl-3,3′-diamine), which could be easily obtained in enantiomerically pure form. The obtained compounds at concentrations of 50 and 200 µM showed various biological activity against normal human dermal fibroblast, ranging from inactivity through time-dependent action and ending up with high toxicity.     

Diastereoselective addition of vinylmagnesium halides to variously N-mono- and N,N-diprotected l-alaninals

Diastereoselective C₂-elongation processes of N-mono- 1a-c and N,N-diprotected 1d-fl-alaninals, using vinylmagnesium bromide and chloride, are described. A substantial difference between effects of the N-protecting groups replacing either one or two amino protons was observed.     

Voltammetric study of gold-supported lipid membranes in the presence of perfluorooctanesulphonic acid

The effect of perfluorooctanesulphonic acid (PFOS) on lipid membranes was studied using supported 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) bilayer as the model membrane. Phospholipid bilayer was deposited on gold electrode using a combination of the Langmuir–Blodgett and Langmuir–Schaefer (LB/LS) techniques. Electrodes were modified with two different types of membranes: DMPC bilayers initially containing PFOS and pure DMPC bilayers later exposed to the PFOS solutions. Such approach allowed studying both the changes in membrane characteristic imposed by the perfluorinated compound present in the model membrane and the process of its incorporation into the membrane. Studies with anticancer drug doxorubicin revealed that PFOS inhibits drug transport through the phospholipid bilayer and its effect can be compared to that of cholesterol. Moreover, the different trends observed in the changes in electron transfer rate constant (k_s) calculated for ferricyanides and in peak current of hexaamineruthenium chloride showed that electrostatic interactions between electroactive probes and PFOS molecules incorporating into phospholipid bilayers play an important role and should be taken into account while explaining the interactions of perfluorooctanesulphonic acid with model biological membranes.     

Systems of Inclusions Involving Fredholm Operators of Nonnegative Index and Nonconvex-Valued Maps

We study the existence of solutions to a system of two inclusions involving Fredholm operators of nonnegative (Fredholm) index and the so-called c-admissible maps: upper semicontinuous maps with values being continuous images of cell-like sets. The presented approach resembles the substitution technique, i.e. applies the so-called solution map. The appearance of the ‘dimension defect’ reflecting the nonnegativity of Fredholm indices requires the use of algebraic tools based on the cohomotopy theory, different from the usual homological ones present in the fixed point theory. An application to boundary value problems is provided as well as the brief exposition of basic facts from the cohomotopy theory. Mathematics Subject Classifications (2000) 47H04, 47A53, 55M20, 55Q55, 34A60.     

Remarks on the r and Δ convolutions

In this paper we study the properties of the r–deformation introduced in [B1]. We observe that the associated convolution coming from the conditionally free convolution is associative only for r = 1 and r = 0. We give the realization of some r–Gaussian random variables and obtain Haagerup–Pisier–Buchholz type inequalities. We also study another convolution defined with the use of the r–deformation through a moment–cumulant formula [KY1] and show that it is associative and in general not positive. Partially sponsored with KBN grant no 2P03A00723 and RTN HPRN-CT-2002-00279.     

Simultaneous fluorescence and redox modulation in an irreversible photochrome based on a strained dibenzo-acridinium cation

A highly strained non-luminescent dibenzo-acridinium cationic compound is identified that undergoes in acetonitrile light-induced ring closure to create a highly fluorescent, planar, eight-ringed cationic anti-aromatic dye.