Optimal control and sensitivity analysis of SIV→HIV dynamics with effects of infected immigrants in sub‐Saharan Africa

Regional migration has become an underlying factor in the spread of HIV transmission. In addition, immigrants with HIV status has contributed with high‐risk of sexually transmitted infection to its “destination” communities and promotes dissemination of HIV. Efforts to address HIV/AIDS among conflict‐affected populations should be properly addressed to eliminate potential role of the spread of the disease and risk of exposure to HIV. Motivated from this situation, HIV‐infected immigrants factor to HIV/SIV transmission link will be investigated in this research and examine its potential effect using optimal control method. Nonlinear deterministic mathematical model is used which is a multiple host model comprising of humans and chimpanzees. Some basic properties of the model such as invariant region and positivity of the solutions will be examined. The local stability of the disease‐free equilibrium was examined by computing the basic reproduction number, and it was found to be locally asymptotically stable when ?₀<1 and unstable otherwise. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the parameters that help most in the spread of the virus. Pontryagin's maximum principle is used to obtain the optimality conditions for controlling the disease spread. Numerical simulation was conducted to obtain the analytical results. The results shows that combination of public health awareness, treatment, and culling help in controlling the HIV disease spread.     

Numerical evaluation of a method for determining extensional viscosity of fluids using contraction flow analysis

We report an evaluation of the use of Binding's method (Ref 11) for determining extensional viscosity values from capillary die rheometry entrance pressure drop data. A constitutive relation defining the fluid's rheological behaviour is first postulated, from which the pressure drop in a contraction region is calculated by numerical simulation for a range of flow rates. Extensional viscosity estimates are then made from the simulated pressure drop data using Binding's method, and these estimates are compared with the exact extensional viscosity determined from the constitutive relation. A highly accurate augmented spectral method is used to perform the numerical simulation. The Binding estimates obtained are good for certain types of fluid, but poor for others. A simple empirical correction of the Binding method, however, is found to give good agreement in all the cases studied.     

Radioprotective Effects of Kelulut Honey in Zebrafish Model

Large doses of ionizing radiation can damage human tissues. Therefore, there is a need to investigate the radiation effects as well as identify effective and non-toxic radioprotectors. This study evaluated the radioprotective effects of Kelulut honey (KH) from stingless bee (Trigona sp.) on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Viable zebrafish embryos at 24 hpf were dechorionated and divided into four groups, namely untreated and non-irradiated, untreated and irradiated, KH pre-treatment and amifostine pre-treatment. The embryos were first treated with KH (8 mg/mL) or amifostine (4 mM) before irradiation at doses of 11 Gy to 20 Gy using gamma ray source, caesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs). Lethality and abnormality analysis were performed on all of the embryos in the study. Immunohistochemistry assay was also performed using selected proteins, namely γ-H2AX and caspase-3, to investigate DNA damages and incidences of apoptosis. KH was found to reduce coagulation effects at up to 20 Gy in the lethality analysis. The embryos developed combinations of abnormality, namely microphthalmia (M), body curvature and microphthalmia (BM), body curvature with microphthalmia and microcephaly (BMC), microphthalmia and pericardial oedema (MO), pericardial oedema (O), microphthalmia with microcephaly and pericardial oedema (MCO) and all of the abnormalities (AA). There were more abnormalities developed from 24 to 72 h (h) post-irradiation in all groups. At 96 h post-irradiation, KH was identified to reduce body curvature effect in the irradiated embryos (up to 16 Gy). γ-H2AX and caspase-3 intensities in the embryos pre-treated with KH were also found to be lower than the untreated group at gamma irradiation doses of 11 Gy to 20 Gy and 11 Gy to 19 Gy, respectively. KH was proven to increase the survival rate of zebrafish embryos and exhibited protection against organ-specific abnormality. KH was also found to possess cellular protective mechanism by reducing DNA damage and apoptosis proteins expression.     

Seimatoric acid and colletonoic acid:Two new compounds from the endophytic fungi,Seimatosporium sp.and Colletotrichum sp.

A new metabolite,named seimatoric acid(1),representing a new oxobutanoic acid derivative has been isolated from Seimatosporium sp., in addition to four known compounds viz.,2-hydroxymethyl-4β,5α,6β-trihydroxycyclohex-2-enone(2),(-)-phyllostine(3),(+)-epiepoxydon(4) and(+)-epoxydon monoacetate(5).Similarly one new benzoic acid derivative,named colletonoic acid(6) was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of Colletotrichum sp.The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by detailed ~1 H NMR,~(13)C NMR,COSY,HMQC.HMBC spectroscopic analysis,and HR-E1-MS.Seimatoric acid(1)was also isolated from another taxonomical unidentified fungal strain 4295 in ourgroup.The structures of the known compounds were elucidated by their spectral data comparison to literature data.Preliminary studies showed that colletonoic acid(6) showed good antibacterial,antifungal,and antialgal activities.     

Kinetics and mechanism of oxidation of some nickel(II)–imine–oxime complexes by peroxodisulfate in aqueous acidic solutions

The kinetics of the oxidation of [Ni(II)(H₂L¹)](ClO₄)₂, (H₂L¹ = 3,8-dimethyl-4,7-diaza-3,7-decadiene-2,9-dione dioxime) and [Ni(II)(HL²)]ClO₄, (H₂L² = 3,9-dimethyl-4,8-diaza-3,8-undecadiene-2,10-dione dioxime) by peroxodisulfate anion (PDS) in aqueous media at 298.0 K have been studied. The kinetics of oxidation of both Ni(II) complexes was found to be first order in the complex concentration. The dependence of the pseudo-first-order rate constant, k _obs, for both complexes showed first-order dependence on PDS concentration. The kinetics of oxidation of [Ni(II)(H₂L¹)]²⁺ complex showed a complex dependence on [H⁺] over the pH range of 4.98–7.50, whereas that of [Ni(II)(HL²)]⁺ is independent of pH over the pH range of 5.02–7.76. The value of k _obs, for both complexes, decreased with increasing ionic strength consistent with the involvement of oppositely charged ions in the rate-determining step. The effect of ionic strength is more pronounced for [Ni(II)(H₂L¹)]²⁺–PDS reaction than for [Ni(II)(HL²)]⁺–PDS reaction, confirming the higher charges of the latter.     

Synthesis, <Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Glucuronidase</Emphasis> Inhibition,and Molecular Docking Studies of 1,2,4-Triazole Hydrazones

A series of 1,2,4-triazole hydrazones 1–25 has been synthesized and characterized using different spectroscopic techniques including FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, and ESI MS spectrometry. The synthetic derivatives were evaluated for their β-glucuronidase enzyme inhibition properties. Among them, 17 compounds demonstrated potential inhibitory activity towards β-glucuronidase with IC₅₀ values ranging between 2.50 and 53.70 µM. Compounds 1 having IC₅₀?=?2.50?±?0.01 µM was found to be the most active compound of the series and showed remarkable activity and found to be far more potent than the standard d-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC₅₀?=?48.4?±?1.25 µM). Furthermore, the possible binding interaction of active compounds was explored by in silico studies. These compounds can be used for anti-diabetic drug development process.     

A Conductive polylactic acid/polyaniline porous scaffold via freeze extraction for potential biomedical applications

This paper reports for the first time a simple yet effective method for fabricating a conductive and highly porous scaffold material made up of polylactic acid (PLA) and conducting polyaniline (PANI). The electrical percolation state was successfully obtained at 3 wt% of PANI inclusions and reached a conductivity level of useable tissue engineering applications at 4 wt%. In addition, preliminary bioactivity test results indicated that the protonating agent could form a chelate at the scaffold surface leading to good in-vitro apatite forming ability during biomimetic immersion. This new conductive scaffold has potential as a suitable biomedical material that requires electrical conductivity.     

Unusual conversion of substituted-3-formylchromones to 3-(5-phenyl-3H-[1,2,4]dithiazol-3-yl)chromen-4-ones: a facile and efficient route to novel 1,2,4-dithiazoles

Substituted 3-formylchromones react with 2-phenyl-4-dimethylamino-1-thia-3-azabuta-1,3-diene (4) or thio-benzamide (7) by heating their toluene solution in a sealed tube to give novel substituted 3-(5-phenyl-3H-[1,2,4]dithiazol-3-yl)chromen-4-ones (6a-e) in high yields.     

Chemically stable silver nanoparticle-crosslinked polymer microspheres

Stabilization of metal nanoparticles (MNP) is a prerequisite for any application in sensor design, optoelectronics, catalysis, spectroscopic labeling, and nanomedicine. However, MNPs produced by most currently available synthetic approaches tend to undergo aggregation into large clusters, thus reducing their accessibility and compromising properties associated with their nanoscale dimensions. To circumvent the agglomeration problem and enhance their chemical and physical stability, we developed an efficient strategy for the preparation of MNP/polymer composites in which silver nanoparticles coated with 4-mercaptomethylstyrene act as crosslinkers in a suspension polymerization. The resulting microspheres were characterized by Raman, SERS and XPS spectroscopies, DSC, SEM and TEM. Their chemical and physical stability was also established.