Determination of tobramycin in human serum by capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

A study on the determination of the antibiotic tobramycin by CE with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection is presented. This method enabled the direct quantification of the non-UV-absorbing species without incurring the disadvantages of the indirect approaches which would be needed for optical detection. The separation of tobramycin from inorganic cations present in serum samples was achieved by optimizing the composition of the acetic acid buffer. Field-amplified sample stacking was employed to enhance the sensitivity of the method and a detection limit of 50 microg/L (S/N = 3) was reached. The RSDs obtained for migration time and peak area using kanamycin B as internal standard were typically 0.12 and 4%, respectively. The newly developed method was validated by measuring the concentration of tobramycin in serum standards containing typical therapeutic concentrations of 2 and 10 mg/L. The recoveries were 96 and 97% for the two concentrations, respectively.     

Nonlinear Taylor stability of viscoelastic fluids

Using Stuart's energy method, the torque on the inner cylinder, for a second order fluid, in the supercritical regime is calculated. It is found that when the second normal stress difference is negative, the flow is more stable than for a Newtonian fluid and the torque is reduced. If the second normal stress difference is positive, then the flow is more stable and there is no torque reduction. Experimental data related to the present work are discussed.Nomenclature a amplitude of the fundamentals - A _ij ⁽¹⁾ , A _ij ⁽²⁾ first and second Rivlin-Ericksen tensors - d r ₂–r ₁ - D d/dx - E - F - g _ij metric tensor - G torque on the inner cylinder in the supercritical regime - h height of the cylinders - k ₀ /d ² - k ₁ /d ² - I ₁ - I ₂ - I ₃ - I ₄ - r ₁, r ₂ radii of inner and outer cylinders respectively - r ₀ 1/2(r ₁+r ₂) - R Reynolds number ₁ r ₁ d/ ₀ - R _c critical Reynolds number - T Taylor number r _{1 1} ² d ^{3 2}/ ₀ ² *) - T _c critical Taylor number - u ₁, v ₁, w ₁ Fundamentals of the disturbance - u _i , v _i , w _i , (i>1) harmonics - mean velocity (not laminar velocity) - u –u ₁/ar _{1 1} - v v ₁/Rar _{1 1} - x (r–r ₀)/d - , material constants - 0 viscosity - wave number d - density - ₁ angular velocity of inner cylinder - tilde denotes complex conjugate     

Carbon nanotube-enhanced separation of DNA fragments by a portable capillary electrophoresis system with contactless conductivity detection

It was demonstrated that separation of DNA fragments by a CE-contactless conductivity detection system (CE-CCD) could be enhanced with multiple-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNs) as buffer additive. For HaeIII digest of PhiX174 DNA, optimized MWCN concentration was obtained when the MWCN was above its threshold concentration, at which MWCN could form a network in the buffer as pseudostationary phase to provide additional interaction sites. In the case of larger DNA, MWCN near or below its threshold concentration was enough to provide great improvement of the resolution, which was shown by the separation of the 2-Log DNA ladder. Furthermore, the buffer containing MWCN could provide a more stable baseline in the CE-CCD system, owing to less fluctuation of its conductivity. Compared with CE-UV, CE-CCD with MWCN could provide lower LODs as well as better resolution.     

Effect of a radial temperature gradient on the stability of the flow of a second-order fluid between two co-axial cylinders

Summary It has been found that the effect of a radial temperature gradient on the Taylor stability problem for a viscoelastic fluid and for a Newtonian fluid is the same.

---

Résumé On montre que l'effet d'un gradient de la température radial sur le problème de stabilité de Taylor pour un fluide viscoélastique est semblable à celui d'un fluide Newtonien.

     

Scaffold Effects on Osteogenic Differentiation of Equine Mesenchymal Stem Cells: An In Vitro Comparative Study

The in vitro viability, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization of four different equine mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from bone marrow, periosteum, muscle, and adipose tissue are compared, when they are cultured with different collagen‐based scaffolds or with fibrin glue. The results indicate that bone marrow cells are the best source of MSCs for osteogenic differentiation, and that an electrochemically aggregated collagen gives the highest cell viability and best osteogenic differentiation among the four kinds of scaffolds studied.

     

Cleavage of a PN Bond in a Urea‐Containing (Ph2P(R)PPh2)‐Bridged Dinuclear Gold(I) Thiolate Complex by Fluoride and a Mechanistic Insight

A urea‐containing, (Ph₂P(R)PPh₂)‐bridged, dinuclear, gold(I) thiolate complex, [Au₂{Ph₂PN(C₆H₄OMe‐4)PPh₂}(SC₆H₄NHCONHC₆H₅)₂] ( 1 ) was designed and synthesized and its photophysical and anion recognition properties studied. The results show that 1 has a high selectivity toward F^?. Upon addition of F^?, the yellow solution was decolorized, and drastic changes of emission and ¹H and ³¹P{¹H} NMR signals were observed. Interestingly, these changes are attributed to fluoride‐assisted P?N bond hydrolysis, instead of the expected hydrogen‐bonding interactions with the urea receptor. Similar changes were observed for two other basic anions, AcO^? and H₂PO₄^?, but to a much lesser extent; and these anions were found to bind to the urea receptor at the same time. On the other hand, Cl^? was found to only bind to the urea moiety through hydrogen‐bonding interactions. Further studies with the control complex [Au₂{Ph₂PN(C₆H₄OMe‐4)PPh₂}Cl₂] ( 2 ) indicate that F^? assists the hydrolysis process via cleavage of the P?N bond. DFT calculations were performed to study the reaction mechanism for the fluoride‐assisted P?N bond hydrolysis of 2 ; these provide a better insight into the role of fluoride in the hydrolysis.     

On Frobenius algebras and the quantum Yang-Baxter equation

It is shown that every Frobenius algebra over a commutative ring determines a class of solutions of the quantum Yang-Baxter equation, which forms a subbimodule of its tensor square. Moreover, this subbimodule is free of rank one as a left (right) submodule. An explicit form of a generator is given in terms of the Frobenius homomorphism. It turns out that the generator is invertible in the tensor square if and only if the algebra is Azumaya.

     

The effect of protein structural conformation on nanoparticle molecular imprinting of ribonuclease A using miniemulsion polymerization

One of the major difficulties faced in the molecular imprinting of proteins is the inherently fragile and flexible nature of the protein template which makes it incompatible with most polymerization systems. Miniemulsion polymerization is a possible approach for preparing molecularly imprinted nanoparticles, and in this study, the method of initiation, the high-shear homogenization, and the surfactant used for the polymerization reaction had been considered as possible factors that can denature the template protein, ribonuclease A (RNase A). The conformation of the protein in a miniemulsion was studied using circular dichroism (CD). It was found that redox initiation was more suitable for protein imprinting and that the addition of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) as a co-surfactant had proved to be effective in preserving the template protein structural integrity. On the basis of the results of the study, polymeric nanoparticles imprinted with RNase A were prepared via miniemulsion polymerization using methyl methacrylate (MMA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the functional and cross-linker monomers, respectively, with the conditions of the polymerization system optimized to best preserve the integrity of the protein template. In the subsequent investigation for the recognition properties of the prepared nanoparticles through batch and competitive rebinding tests, the imprinted nanoparticles prepared through the conventional (nonoptimized) miniemulsion polymerization lacked the target specificity as displayed by those prepared under the optimized conditions. This illustrated the importance of protein structural integrity in protein imprinting.     

Synthesis,characterization and antibacterial properties of Schiff bases and Schiff base metal complexes derived from 2,3-diamino- pyridine

New copper(II), zinc(II) and nickel(II) Schiff base complexes derived from 2,3-diaminopyridine (DAPY) and selected aldehydes, namely salicylaldehyde (SalH), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (4-OHBenz) and 4-nitrobenzaldehyde (4-NO₂Benz), and one mixed Schiff base, DAPY-{4-OHBenz}{SalH} were prepared and characterized by a combination of elemental analyses, i.r. and n.m.r. spectra, and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The Schiff bases and some of the metal complexes display antibacterial properties.