Localization for Random Unitary Operators

We consider unitary analogs of one-dimensional Anderson models on defined by the product U _ω=D _ω S where S is a deterministic unitary and D _ω is a diagonal matrix of i.i.d. random phases. The operator S is an absolutely continuous band matrix which depends on a parameter controlling the size of its off-diagonal elements. We prove that the spectrum of U _ω is pure point almost surely for all values of the parameter of S. We provide similar results for unitary operators defined on together with an application to orthogonal polynomials on the unit circle. We get almost sure localization for polynomials characterized by Verblunsky coefficients of constant modulus and correlated random phases Mathematics Subject Classification. 82B44, 42C05, 81Q05     

Variational principle of fractional order generalized thermoelasticity

Recently, Youssef constructed a new theory of fractional order generalized thermoelasticity by taking into account the theory of heat conduction in deformable bodies, which depends upon the idea of the Riemann–Liouville fractional integral operator. In this paper, the variational theorem is obtained for the generalized thermoelasticity model for a homogeneous and isotropic body.     

Cytotoxic,Apoptosis-Inducing Activities,and Molecular Docking of a New Sterol from Bamboo Shoot Skin Phyllostachys heterocycla var. pubescens

Phytochemical screening of nonpolar fractions from the methanol extract of the Bamboo shoot skin Phyllostachys heterocycla var. pubescens resulted in the isolation of a new sterol-glucoside-fatty acid derivative (6’-O-octadeca-8″,11″-dienoyl)-sitosterol-3-O-β-d-glucoside (1), together with six known compounds. The chemical structures of the pure isolated compounds were deduced based on different spectral data. The isolated compounds were assessed to determine their cytotoxic activity, and the results were confirmed by determining their apoptotic activity. Compound 1 was more cytotoxic against the MCF-7 cells (IC₅₀ = 25.8 µM) compared to Fluorouracil (5-FU) (26.98 µM), and it significantly stimulated apoptotic breast cancer cell death with 32.6-fold (16.63% compared to 0.51 for the control) at pre-G1 and G2/M-phase cell cycle arrest and blocked the progression of MCF-7 cells. Additionally, RT-PCR results further confirmed the apoptotic activity of compound 1 by the upregulation of proapoptotic genes (P53; Bax; and caspases 3, 8, and 9) and downregulation of the antiapoptotic genes (BCL2). Finally, the identified compounds, especially 1, were found to have high binding affinity towards both tyrosine-specific protein kinase (TPK) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR-2) through the molecular docking studies that highlight its mode of action.     

Simultaneous determination of domperidone and cinnarizine in a binary mixture using derivative spectrophotometry,partial least squares and principle component regression calibration

This work is concerned with the simultaneous determination of domperidone maleate (DOM) and cinnarizine (CINN) in a binary mixture form, without previous separation, by two different techniques. The first method is the application of derivative spectrophotometry where the linearity range and percentage recoveries for DOM and CINN were 2.5-30 micro g mL(-1), 5-25 micro g mL(-1) and 100.06+/-1.157, 99.93+/-1.377, respectively. The second method depends on the application of partial least squares (PLS) and principle component regression (PCR) models. A training set consisting of 10 mixtures containing 5-20 micro g mL(-1) for each component was used for the construction of the PCR and PLS models. These models were used after their validation for the prediction of the concentration of DOM and CINN in their mixtures. The proposed procedures were successfully applied for the simultaneous determination of both drugs in laboratory prepared mixtures and in commercial tablet preparations. The validity of the proposed methods was assessed by applying the standard addition technique where the percentage recovery of the added standard was found to be 99.98+/-0.297 and 99.84+/-0.700 for DOM and CINN, respectively, using the derivative spectrophotometric method and 100.29+/-0.398 and 100.11+/-0.363 for DOM and CINN, respectively, using the PLS and PCR methods.The proposed procedures are rapid, simple, require no preliminary separation steps and can be used for routine analysis of both drugs in quality control laboratories.     

Anti-Biofilms’ Activity of Garlic and Thyme Essential Oils against Salmonella typhimurium

Biofilm control by essential oil (EO) application has recently increased to preclude biofilm production on foods and environmental surfaces. In this work, the anti-biofilm effects of garlic and thyme essential oils using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method against Salmonella typhimurium recovered from different abattoir samples were investigated along with the virulence genes (InvA, SdiA and Stn genes), and the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of S. typhimurium as well. The obtained results revealed that S. typhimurium contaminated abattoir samples to varying degrees. The InvA gene was investigated in all isolates, whereas the SdiA and Stn genes were observed in four and three isolates, respectively. Utilizing the disc diffusion method, S. typhimurium isolates demonstrated substantial resistance to most of the examined antibiotics with a high multiple antibiotic resistance index. S. typhimurium isolates demonstrated biofilm formation abilities to various degrees at varied temperatures levels (4 °C and 37 °C). In conclusion, the obtained samples from the research area are regarded as a potential S. typhimurium contamination source. Furthermore, garlic essential oil (GEO) has more potential to inhibit S. typhimurium biofilm at different sub-minimum inhibitory concentrations as compared to thyme essential oil (TEO). Therefore, these EOs are considered as potential natural antibacterial options that could be applied in food industry.     

Carnosic Acid Protects INS-1 β-Cells against Streptozotocin-Induced Damage by Inhibiting Apoptosis and Improving Insulin Secretion and Glucose Uptake

Carnosic acid (CA), a natural polyphenolic diterpene derived from Rosmarinus officinalis, has been proven to possess a broad spectrum of medicinal properties. Nevertheless, no studies on its impact on pancreatic β-cells have been conducted to date. Herein, clonal rat INS-1 (832/13) cells were pretreated with CA for 24 h and then incubated with streptozotocin (STZ) for 3 h. Several functional experiments were performed to determine the effect of CA on STZ-induced pancreatic β-cell damage, including cell viability assay, apoptosis analysis, and measurement of the level of insulin secretion, glucose uptake, malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and proteins expression. STZ treatment decreased cell survival, insulin secretion, glucose uptake, and increased apoptosis, MDA, and ROS production in INS-1 cells. Furthermore, protein expression/phosphorylation analysis showed significant down-regulation in insulin, PDX-1, PI3K, AKT/p-AKT, and Bcl₂. On the other hand, expression of BAX and BAD and cleaved PARP were significantly increased. Interestingly, preincubation with CA reversed the adverse impact of STZ at the cellular and protein expression levels. In conclusion, the data indicate that CA protects β-cells against STZ-induced damage, presumably through its modulatory effect on the different pathways, including the Pi3K/AKT/PDX-1/insulin pathway and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis.     

Delayed neutron emission probabilities and half-lives of Rb,Sr, Y,In, Cs,Ba and La precursors with A = 93–98, A = 127–131 and A = 142–148

Delayed neutron emission probabilities (P_n) for ^93–98Rb,^{97, 98}Sr,^{97, 98}Y,^127–131 In,^142–146Cs, ^{147, 148g}Ba and ¹⁴⁷La were measured at the SOLIS on-line isotope separator. The P_nvalues for ^{97, 98}Sr,^{97, 98}Y, ^{147, 148}Ba and ¹⁴⁷La were measured for the first time. Delayed neutron emission is energetically unfavourable for ¹⁴⁷Ba and ¹⁴⁸Ba precursors, according to predictions of at least four of the most common mass formulas, however, respective P_n values of (5.21 ±0.52) % and (23.9 ± 2.1 )% were determined. The P_n values were determined by counting β and neutron activities simultaneously. The energy dependence of the counting system was ～ 3 % for the relevant delayed neutron spectra range, i.e., 0–1.5 MeV. Half-lives for all precursors were measured from both β and neutron decay curves.     

High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatographic Assay of Metformin in Urine Using Ion-Pair Solid-Phase Extraction: Application for Bioavailability and Bioequivalence Study of New Microbeads Controlled Release Formulation

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A sensitive high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method was developed for the estimation of metformin in human...     

Simultaneous quantitative determination of insulin aspart and insulin degludec in human plasma using simple shoot LC method

Combining short-acting and long-acting insulin analogs was a real challenge that was overcome by NovoNordisk through the co-formulation of insulin aspart and insulin degludec in single-dosage form. The proposed study provides a simple, short, and reliable HPLC method with diode array detection that is developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of insulin aspart and insulin degludec in human plasma. The proposed method achieved good separation between the two analytes utilizing a C8 column at 35°C in a very short run time (6 min), with a simple, low-cost, and reliable extraction method through precipitation of plasma protein. Gradient elution was applied using a mobile phase consisting of 0.1 M sodium sulfate (pH 3.4) and acetonitrile. The method was validated according to EMA Guideline on Bioanalytical Validation. The proposed method had a linear range from 3.0 to 300 μg/mL for insulin aspart and from 3.5 to 300 μg/mL for insulin degludec. The intra- and inter-day precision of insulin aspart were 0.36–3.33% and 1.59–8.84%, respectively, and accuracy was between 10.06 and 3.09% The intra- and inter-day precision of insulin degludec were 0.29–1.93% and 0.89–5.14%, respectively, and accuracy was between −5.29 and 3.91%.     

Mechanochemical synthesis and giant dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12

CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ powder has been synthesized by mechanochemical milling (C-m) and solid-state reaction (C-ssr) techniques. C-m powder has a grain size of ~24 nm as determined from X-ray diffraction and FE-SEM measurements. The grain size of C-m ceramics has increased to 20 μm compared to a size of 3 μm for C-ssr ceramics after sintering at 1,050 °C for 10 h. Giant dielectric constant was observed in both ceramics with that of C-m larger than that of C-ssr. Impedance results show that the grain conductivity of C-m is more than two orders of magnitude lower than that of C-ssr, whereas its grain boundary conductivity is larger than that of C-ssr. These results are supported by the EDX results that show Cu-enriched grain boundaries in C-m ceramics.