Glycopolymeric inhibitors of β‐glucuronidase. III. Configurational effects of hydroxy groups in pendant glyco‐units in polymers upon inhibition of β‐glucuronidase

Two kinds of new glycopolymers, (P(VB‐1‐GlcaH‐co‐AAm), 9 ) and (P(VB‐1‐Glco‐co‐AAm), 10 ), were synthesized through the radical copolymerization of styrene derivatives bearing pendant D ‐glucaric and D ‐gluconic moieties, N‐(p‐vinylbenzyl)‐1‐D ‐glucaramide (VB‐1‐GlcaH, 7 ), and N‐(p‐vinylbenzyl)‐D ‐gluconamide (VB‐1‐Glco, 8 ), with acrylamide (AAm). Glycopolymer 9 bearing the pendant glucaric moiety at the first position inhibited the hydrolysis of a model compound for xenobiotics‐β‐glucuronide conjugates, p‐nitrophenyl β‐D ‐glucuronide, uncompetitively, in contrast to the competitive inhibition in the presence of the corresponding isomeric glycopolymer bearing the pendant D ‐glucaric unit at the sixth position (P(VB‐6‐GlcaH‐co‐AAm), 3 ) reported in our previous article. On the other hand, another copolymer 10 bearing the gluconic moiety was found not to inhibit the hydrolysis as well as the corresponding copolymer bearing pendant gulonic unit (P(VB‐6‐Glco‐co‐AAm), 4 ). These results indicate that the hydrolysis is influenced not only by existence of pendant carboxyl units but also by the direction on the linkage of the glyco‐units to the polymer frame. Therefore the configurational position of hydroxy groups in pendant glyco‐units in macromolecular inhibitors may be essential for the interaction with β‐glucuronidase. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 4895–4903, 2006     

Spectrophotometric determination of anthracycline anticancer agents with aluminum(III) and chromazurol S in a nonionic surfactant micellar medium.

A simple and highly sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of anthracycline anticancer agents, such as Daunorubicin hydrochloride (DAU), was established by using aluminum(III) and Chromazurol S (CAS) in a nonionic surfactant micellar medium. In the case of determination of DAU, the apparent molar absorptivity was 1.3 x 10(5) dm3 mol(-1) cm(-1) at 615 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the concentration range of 0.028 - 2.82 microg ml(-1) for DAU. Owing to no need for solvent extraction, this method could be applied to assays of DAU and related drugs in pharmaceutical preparations.     

Spurious Shell Closures in the Relativistic Mean Field Model

Following a previous systematic theoretical study of the ground-state properties of over 7000 nuclei from the proton drip line to the neutron drip line in the relativistic mean field model [Prog. Theor. Phys. 113 （2005） 785], which is in fair agreement with existing experimental data, we observe a few spurious shell closures, i.e. proton shell closures at Z = 58 and Z = 92. These spurious shell closures are found to persist in all the effective forces of the relativistic mean field model, e.g. TMA, NL3, PKDD and DD-ME2.     

Seven novel seco-prezizaane-type sesquiterpenes from the pericarps of Illicium merrillianum

Seven new seco-prezizaane-type sesquiterpenes were isolated from the methanol extract of the pericarps of Illicium merrillianum. Their structures were elucidated as 3-deoxypseudoanisatin (1), 2beta-hydroxy-3,6-dedioxypseudoanisatin (2), 8alpha-hydroxy-10-deoxycyclomerrillianolide (3), 10beta-hydroxypseudoanisatin (4), 10beta-hydroxycyclopseudoanisatin (5), 1,6-dihydroxy-3-deoxyminwanensin (6), and 8-deoxymerrilliortholactone (7) by analyses of their spectroscopic data and chemical transformation. Compounds 4 and 5 as well as 6 and 7 coexist as a keto/acetal equilibrated mixture in methanol solution.     

On the dimension to represent a graph by a unit distance graph

It is proved that if a graphG has maximum degreed, then its vertices can be represented by distinct unit vectors inR ^2d so that two vectors are orthogonal if and only if the corresponding vertices are adjacent. As a corollary it follows that if a graph has maximum degreed, then it is isomorphic to a unit distance graph inR ^2d.     

A threshold for the size of random caps to cover a sphere

Consider a unit sphere on which are placed N random spherical caps of area 4p(N). We prove that if % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGGipm0dc9vqaqpepu0xbbG8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaWaa0aaaeaaca% qGSbGaaeyAaiaab2gaaaWaaeWaaeaacaWGWbWaaeWaaeaacaWGobaa% caGLOaGaayzkaaGaai4Taiaad6eacaGGVaGaaeiBaiaab+gacaqGNb% Gaaeiiaiaad6eaaiaawIcacaGLPaaacqGH8aapcaaIXaaaaa!454E!\[\overline {{\rm{lim}}} \left( {p\left( N \right)\cdotN/{\rm{log }}N} \right) < 1\], then the probability that the sphere is completely covered by N caps tends to 0 as N , and if % MathType!MTEF!2!1!+-% feaafeart1ev1aaatCvAUfeBSjuyZL2yd9gzLbvyNv2CaerbuLwBLn% hiov2DGi1BTfMBaeXatLxBI9gBaerbd9wDYLwzYbItLDharqqtubsr% 4rNCHbGeaGGipm0dc9vqaqpepu0xbbG8F4rqqrFfpeea0xe9Lq-Jc9% vqaqpepm0xbba9pwe9Q8fs0-yqaqpepae9pg0FirpepeKkFr0xfr-x% fr-xb9adbaqaaeGaciGaaiaabeqaamaabaabaaGcbaWaaWaaaeaaca% qGSbGaaeyAaiaab2gaaaWaaeWaaeaacaWGWbWaaeWaaeaacaWGobaa% caGLOaGaayzkaaGaai4Taiaad6eacaGGVaGaaeiBaiaab+gacaqGNb% Gaaeiiaiaad6eaaiaawIcacaGLPaaacqGH+aGpcaaIXaaaaa!4551!\[\underline {{\rm{lim}}} \left( {p\left( N \right)\cdotN/{\rm{log }}N} \right) > 1\], then for any integer n>0 the probability that each point of the sphere is covered more than n times tends to 1 as N .     

Minimum concave cost production system: A further generalization of multi-echelon model

We will consider a concave minimization problem associated with a series production system in which raw material is processed inm consecutive facilities. The products at some facility are either sent to the next facility or stocked in the warehouse. The amount of demand for the final products during periodi, i = 1,,n, are known in advance. Our problem is to minimize the sum of processing, holding and backlogging cost, all of which are assumed to be concave.The origin of this model is the classical economic lot size problem of Wagner and Whitin and was extensively studied by Zangwill. This model is very important from the theoretical as well as practical point of view and this is one of the very rare instances in which polynomial time algorithm has been constructed for concave minimization problems.The purpose of this paper is to extend the model further to the situation in which time lag is associated with processing at each facility. We will propose an efficient O(n ⁴ m) algorithm for this class of problems.     

Metal components analysis of metallothionein-III in the brain sections of metallothionein-I and metallothionein-II null mice exposed to mercury vapor with HPLC/ICP-MS

Mercury vapor is effectively absorbed via inhalation and easily passes through the blood–brain barrier; therefore, mercury poisoning with primarily central nervous system symptoms occurs. Metallothionein (MT) is a cysteine-rich metal-binding protein and plays a protective role in heavy-metal poisoning and it is associated with the metabolism of trace elements. Two MT isoforms, MT-I and MT-II, are expressed coordinately in all mammalian tissues, whereas MT-III is a brain-specific member of the MT family. MT-III binds zinc and copper physiologically and is seemed to have important neurophysiological and neuromodulatory functions. The MT functions and metal components of MTs in the brain after mercury vapor exposure are of much interest; however, until now they have not been fully examined. In this study, the influences of the lack of MT-I and MT-II on mercury accumulation in the brain and the changes of zinc and copper concentrations and metal components of MTs were examined after mercury vapor exposure by using MT-I, II null mice and 129/Sv (wild-type) mice as experimental animals. MT-I, II null mice and wild-type mice were exposed to mercury vapor or an air stream for 2 h and were killed 24 h later. The brain was dissected into the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, and the hippocampus. The concentrations of mercury in each brain section were determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The concentrations of mercury, copper, and zinc in each brain section were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The mercury accumulated in brains after mercury vapor exposure for MT-I, II null mice and wild-type mice. The mercury levels of MT-I, II null mice in each brain section were significantly higher than those of wild-type mice after mercury vapor exposure. A significant change of zinc concentrations with the following mercury vapor exposure for MT-I, II null mice was observed only in the cerebellum analyzed by two-way analysis of variance. As for zinc, the copper concentrations only changed significantly in the cerebellum. Metal components of metal-binding proteins of soluble fractions in the brain sections were analyzed by size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) connected with ICP-MS. From the results of HPLC/ICP-MS analyses, it was concluded that the mercury components of MT-III and high molecular weight metal-binding proteins in the cerebellum of MT-I, II null mice were much higher than those of wild-type mice. It was suggested that MT-III is associated with the storage of mercury in conditions lacking MT-I, and MT-II. It was also suggested that the physiological role of MT-III and some kind of high molecular weight proteins might be impaired by exposure to mercury vapor and lack of MT-I and MT-II.