Dominulin A and B: Two new antibacterial peptides identified on the cuticle and in the venom of the social paper wasp Polistes dominulus using MALDI-TOF, MALDI-TOF/TOF, and ESI-ion trap

Two new antibacterial peptides, denominated as Dominulin A and B, have been found on the cuticle and in the venom of females of the social paper wasp Polistes dominulus. The amino acidic sequence of the two peptides, determined by mass spectrometry, is INWKKIAE VGGKIL SSL for Dominulin A (MW = 1854 Da) and INWKKIAEIGKQVL SAL (MW = 1909 Da) for Dominulin B. Their presence on the cuticle was confirmed using MALDI-TOF by means of micro-extractions and direct analyses on body parts. The presence in the venom and the primary structure of the dominulins suggest their classification in the mastoparans, a class of peptides found in the venom of other Aculeate hymenoptera. Their antimicrobial action against Gram+ and Gram- bacteria fits in the range of the best natural antimicrobial peptides. Dominulins can represent an important defense of the colony of Polistes dominulus against microbial pathogens.     

New isosteres of (R)-2-methylhomoserine and (R)-2-methylaspartic acid by alkylation of a chiral imine leading stereoselectively to a quaternary stereogenic center

Imines obtained from either chiral 3-amino-4-silyloxymethylpyrrolidin-2-one 5a or 5b underwent alkylation to give, in good yield and total stereoselection, the corresponding 3,3,4-trisubstituted pyrrolidin-2-ones 8a–d where both the amino and the silyloxymethyl groups lie cis to each other, as shown by ¹H NMR spectroscopic data and NOE experiments. By removal of both the imino group and the chiral inducer from 8b, the pyrrolidin-2-one 12, an isostere of (R)-2-methylhomoserine 2 and the pyrrolidin-2-one 14, an isostere of (R)-2-methylaspartic acid 4 were obtained straightforwardly.     

Approximation by means of nonlinear Kantorovich sampling type operators in Orlicz spaces

In this paper we introduce a nonlinear version of the Kantorovich sampling type series in a nonuniform setting. By means of the above series we are able to reconstruct signals (functions) which are continuous or uniformly continuous. Moreover, we study the problem of the convergence in the setting of Orlicz spaces: this allows us to treat signals which are not necessarily continuous. Our theory applies to L^p-spaces, interpolation spaces, exponential spaces and many others. Several graphical examples are provided.     

Raman Spectra of Poly(p‐phenylenevinylene)s with Fluorinated Vinylene Units: Evidence of Inter‐ring Distortion

Ring the changes : Experimental Raman spectra of fluorinated and non‐fluorinated polyphenylenevinylenes are assigned according to quantum chemical calculations for oligomer model systems (see picture). Characteristic differences in the spectra can be traced back to strong inter‐ring distortion of the fluorinated compounds.

     

3‐D viscous Cahn–Hilliard equation with memory

We deal with the memory relaxation of the viscous Cahn–Hilliard equation in 3‐D, covering the well‐known hyperbolic version of the model. We study the long‐term dynamic of the system in dependence of the scaling parameter of the memory kernel ε and of the viscosity coefficient δ. In particular we construct a family of exponential attractors, which is robust as both ε and δ go to zero, provided that ε is linearly controlled by δ. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Central potentials with closed cruise orbits

A particle will be said to be in cruise motion if it is nonholonomically constrained to have constant speed. When the particle is placed in a central force field, the resulting mechanical system is known to be integrable. Cruise orbits in a central force field may be closed (periodic in time) or not, depending on the potential and on the speed. Here we give a constructive characterization of all central potentials for which all cruise motions of a given speed are closed. As a consequence, we also give a new proof of the fact that for any such potential the set of speeds for which all cruise motions are closed has always empty interior.     

Degradable Elastomers: Is There a Future in Tyre Compound Formulation?

Problems related to non-biodegradable waste coming from vulcanized rubber represent one of the pre-eminent challenges for modern society. End-of-life tyres are an important source of this typology of waste and the increasingly high accumulation in the environment has contributed over the years to enhance land and water pollution. Moreover, the release into the environment of non-degradable micro-plastics and other chemicals as an effect of tyre abrasion is not negligible. Many solutions are currently applied to reuse end-of-life tyres as a raw material resource, such as pyrolysis, thermo-mechanical or chemical de-vulcanisation, and finally crumbing trough different technologies. An interesting approach to reduce the environmental impact of vulcanised rubber wastes is represented by the use of degradable thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) in tyre compounds. In this thematic review, after a reviewing fossil fuel-based TPEs, an overview of the promising use of degradable TPEs in compound formulation for the tyre industry is presented. Specifically, after describing the properties of degradable elastomers that are favourable for tyres application in comparison to used ones, the real scenario and future perspectives related to the use of degradable polymers for new tyre compounds will be realized.     

Identification and structural characterization by LC-ESI-IONTRAP and LC-ESI-TOF of some metabolic conjugation products of homovanillic acid in urine of neuroblastoma patients

The levels of urinary catecholamine metabolites, such as homovanillic acid (HVA) and vanillylmandelic acid, are routinely used as a clinical tool in the diagnosis and follow-up of neuroblastoma (NB) patients. Recently, in the Clinical Pathology Laboratory Unit of G. Gaslini Children Hospital, a commercial method that employs liquid chromatography coupled to electrochemical detection (LC-EC) has been introduced for the measurement of these metabolites in the routine laboratory practice. Using this LC-EC method, an unknown peak could be observed only in samples derived from NB patients. To investigate the nature of this peak, we used a combination of liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-TOF-MS) and liquid chromatography-ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-IT-MS). The first approach was used to obtain the elemental composition of the ions present in this new signal. To get additional structural information useful for the elucidation of unknown compounds, the ion trap analyzer was exploited. We were able to identify not just one, but three unknown signals in urine samples from NB patients which corresponded to three conjugated products of HVA: HVA sulfate and two glucuronoconjugate isomers. The enzymatic hydrolysis with β-glucuronidase confirmed the proposed structures, while the selective alkaline hydrolysis allowed us to distinguish the difference between phenol- and acyl-glucuronide of HVA. The latter was the unknown peak observed in LC-EC separations of urine samples from NB patients.     

Gas-phase doubly charged complexes of cyclic peptides with copper in +1, +2 and +3 formal oxidation states: formation, structures and electron capture dissociation

Copper complexes with a cyclic D-His-β-Ala-L-His-L-Lys and all-L-His-β-Ala-His-Lys peptides were generated by electrospray which were doubly charged ions that had different formal oxidation states of Cu(I), Cu(II) and Cu(III) and different protonation states of the peptide ligands. Electron capture dissociation showed no substantial differences between the D-His and L-His complexes. All complexes underwent peptide cross-ring cleavages upon electron capture. The modes of ring cleavage depended on the formal oxidation state of the Cu ion and peptide protonation. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations, using the B3LYP with an effective core potential at Cu and M06-2X functionals, identified several precursor ion structures in which the Cu ion was threecoordinated to pentacoordinated by the His and Lys side-chain groups and the peptide amide or enolimine groups. The electronic structure of the formally Cu(III) complexes pointed to an effective Cu(I) oxidation state with the other charge residing in the peptide ligand. The relative energies of isomeric complexes of the [Cu(c-HAHK + H)](2+) and [Cu(c-HAHK - H)](2+) type with closed electronic shells followed similar orders when treated by the B3LYP and M06-2X functionals. Large differences between relative energies calculated by these methods were obtained for open-shell complexes of the [Cu(c-HAHK)](2+) type. Charge reduction resulted in lowering the coordination numbers for some Cu complexes that depended on the singlet or triplet spin state being formed. For [Cu(c-HAHK - H)](2+) complexes, solution H/D exchange involved only the N-H protons, resulting in the exchange of up to seven protons, as established by ultra-high mass resolution measurements. Contrasting the experiments, DFT calculations found the lowest energy structures for the gas-phase ions that were deprotonated at the peptide C(α) positions.     

Specific Heat Capacity and Thermal Conductivity Measurements of PLA-Based 3D-Printed Parts with Milled Carbon Fiber Reinforcement

This research focuses on the thermal characterization of 3D-printed parts obtained via fused filament fabrication (FFF) technology, which uses a poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-based filament filled with milled carbon fibers (MCF) from pyrolysis at different percentages by weight (10, 20, 30 wt%). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal conductivity measurements were used to evaluate the thermal characteristics, morphological features, and heat transport behavior of the printed specimens. The experimental results showed that the addition of MCF to the PLA matrix improved the conductive properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs were used to obtain further information about the porosity of the systems.