Peptide modified mesoporous silica nanocontainers

Here we report a new peptide modified mesoporous silica nanocontainer (PMSN) as a novel controlled release system. The peptides are part of a stimuli responsive nanovalve and ensure an efficient cellular uptake.     

Bacterial Lux-Fluoro test for biological assessment of pollutants in water samples from urban and rural origin

During the 20th century, population growth and urbanization, together with changes in production and consumption, have placed unprecedented demands on the quality of water. The ongoing extraordinary economic growth, industrialization, and urbanization of many developing countries results in widespread water pollution from agricultural, industrial, and domestic sources. In consequence, people consume contaminated drinking water, thereby increasing the risk of exposure not only to infectious and parasitic disease but also to a growing volume of genotoxic and cytotoxic chemicals. In light of these trends, new, rapid and low-cost approaches are urgently needed to assess the quality of water supplies. Because of their simplicity and sensitivity, bacterial tests play an important role in the detection and screening of genotoxins or cytotoxins in water. Thus, the bacterial Lux-Fluoro test, which is a combination of two bioassays that simultaneously measure the genotoxicity (SOS-Lux test) and the cytotoxicity (LAC-Fluoro test), was used to identify polluted water from samples of rural and urban sources, collected from 10 different locations in the Punjab rivers’ basin. We identified at least three samples from rural origin having a high cytotoxic potential. The highest toxicity was found for the sample obtained from a draining canal collecting runoff water from the fields. The two other highly contaminated samples identified were taken from two ponds of different villages. The water samples obtained from the Ravi river and from the water tap in a suburb of the megacity Lahore showed no sign of genotoxicity or cytotoxicity. Seven control samples with differing genotoxic and cytotoxic potency were shown for comparison.     

Ethanolysis and base promoted elimination reaction of bridgehead α-amino sulfides : 3-thioethoxy-4-azahomoadamantanes

Solvolysis of N-methyl-3-thioethoxy-4-azahomoadamantane (4c) in ethanolic sodium ethoxide followed first order kinetics. Reaction presumably proceeds via an S_N1 mechanism with resonance stabilization of the bridgehead carbonium ion by the electrons on adjacent nitrogen. Addition of ethoxide to the bridgehead carbonium ion yields N-methyl-3-ethoxy-4-azahomoadamantane (4c). Solvolysis of N-protio compound (4b) under similar conditions was much more rapid, and followed first order kinetics for both substrate and base. The mechanism apparently involves an elimination-addition pathway in which ethoxide promoted elimination of ethyl mercaptan is followed by net addition of ethanol across the bridgehead imine to form ether 4d.     

Classification of certain pairs of operators (P, Q) satisfying [P, Q] = −i Id

In a separable Hilbert space a certain class of pairs of operators (P, Q) satisfying the Born-Heisenberg commutation relation [P, Q] = ?i Id on a dense domain Ω is investigated. This class is essentially defined by requiring Q bounded and self-adjoint, P symmetric and $\text{PΩ ? Ω, QΩ ? Ω}$. We show that Q is absolutely continuous and that P can be thought of as a first order differential operator. The class considered contains the pair “angle ?” and “angular momentum L_z.” It is expected that the methods of this paper can be applied to more general classes of operators (P, Q) including the Schrödinger case.     

Protein type effects on steady-state crossflow membrane ultrafiltration fluxes and protein transmission

The permeate fluxes and percent protein transmission were evaluated for steady-state crossflow ultrafiltration of two proteins of different composition: bovine serum albumin (BSA), containing fatty acid, and “fatty-acid-poor” BSA, from which most of the fatty acids had been removed (BSA/FAP). The influences of protein concentration up to 6.5 percent w/v, transmembrane pressure, ionic environment and membrane type (i.e. nominal molecular weight cut-off) were investigated. For both BSA and BSA/FAP, the fluxes and the protein transmission were dependent on the amount of salt present. The higher fatty acid content in the BSA apparently enhanced protein-protein interaction, resulting in a more cohesive and resistant fouling layer; permeate fluxes were lower with BSA/FAP than with BSA at otherwise corresponding operating conditions. A hysteresis behaviour of the flux (J)-transmembrane pressure (TMP) relationship was observed whenever the ultrafiltration unit was operated at a TMP less than some higher value to which the membrane previously had been exposed.