Chemical Composition,Antioxidant, Antibacterial,and Antibiofilm Activities of Backhousia citriodora Essential Oil

The essential oil of Backhousia citriodora, commonly known as lemon myrtle oil, possesses various beneficial properties due to its richness in bioactive compounds. This study aimed to characterize the chemical profile of the essential oil isolated from leaves of Backhousia citriodora (BCEO) and its biological properties, including antioxidant, antibacterial, and antibiofilm activities. Using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, 21 compounds were identified in BCEO, representing 98.50% of the total oil content. The isomers of citral, geranial (52.13%), and neral (37.65%) were detected as the main constituents. The evaluation of DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power showed that BCEO exhibited strong antioxidant activity at IC₅₀ of 42.57 μg/mL and EC₅₀ of 20.03 μg/mL, respectively. The antibacterial activity results showed that BCEO exhibited stronger antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) than against Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). For the agar disk diffusion method, S. epidermidis was the most sensitive to BCEO with an inhibition zone diameter of 50.17 mm, followed by S. aureus (31.13 mm), E. coli (20.33 mm), and K. pneumoniae (12.67 mm). The results from the microdilution method showed that BCEO exhibited the highest activity against S. epidermidis and S. aureus, with the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 6.25 μL/mL. BCEO acts as a potent antibiofilm agent with dual actions, inhibiting (85.10% to 96.44%) and eradicating (70.92% to 90.73%) of the biofilms formed by the four tested bacteria strains, compared with streptomycin (biofilm inhibition, 67.65% to 94.29% and biofilm eradication, 49.97% to 89.73%). This study highlights that BCEO can potentially be a natural antioxidant agent, antibacterial agent, and antibiofilm agent that could be applied in the pharmaceutical and food industries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report, on the antibiofilm activity of BCEO against four common nosocomial pathogens.     

Crystal structure and physical characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-(3,3-dimethylbutyl)-<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-α-aspartyl-<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-phenylalanine,the hydrolysis product of neotame

The hydrolysis product of neotame, N-(3,3-dimethylbutyl)-l--aspartyl-l-phenylalanine (DMBAP), was crystallized from water as an anhydrate with a melting point at 197C with decomposition. Its crystal structure was determined by single crystal X-ray diffractometry. The crystal is orthorhombic with space group P2₁2_₁2₁ with Z=4 and one molecule per asymmetric unit. The cell constants are a=5.520 (2) Å, $b=10.608$ (5) Å and c= 31.92 (2) Å. The ¹³C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of DMBAP is compared with those of neotame monohydrate and neotame methanol solvate.     

Two diastereomers of 2-[[β-(N-phenylamino)-α-methylphenethyl]-methylamino]-N,N-dimethylacetamide

The structures of two diastereomers ((1R,2R) and (1R,2S)) of the title compound have been determined. The molecular conformation of the (1R,2R) isomer is heavily influenced by strong intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the secondary and tertiary amine groups (N(1)…N(2) 2.629(8) Å; N(4)…N(5) 2.628(8) Å). In the (1R,2S) isomer no intramolecular interaction is observed, but somewhat weaker intermolecular hydrogen bonding does occur between the secondary amine and the carbonyl group of a neighboring molecule (N(1)…O(1) 2.960(6) Å) related by a 2₁ screw operation along thea-axis (x1/40). No close intermolecular contacts are observed for the (1R,2R) isomer. Crystal data for (1R,2R); monoclinic,P2₁ (No. 4),a=18.588(5),b=16.743(4),c=6.062(1) Å, β=97.26(2)^o,V=1871.5(8) A³, Z=4,D _cale=1.16 g/cm³. Crystal data for (1R,2S): orthorhombic,P2₁2₁2₁ (No. 19),a=8.008(2),b=9.985(3),c=23.458(5)Å,V=1875.8(6) ų, Z=4,D _cale=1.15 g/cm³.     

Machine-learning classifiers for imbalanced tornado data

Learning from imbalanced data, where the number of observations in one class is significantly larger than the ones in the other class, has gained considerable attention in the machine learning community. Assuming the difficulty in predicting each class is similar, most standard classifiers will tend to predict the majority class well. This study applies tornado data that are highly imbalanced, as they are rare events. The severe weather data used herein have thunderstorm circulations (mesocyclones) that produce tornadoes in approximately 6.7 % of the total number of observations. However, since tornadoes are high impact weather events, it is important to predict the minority class with high accuracy. In this study, we apply support vector machines (SVMs) and logistic regression with and without a midpoint threshold adjustment on the probabilistic outputs, random forest, and rotation forest for tornado prediction. Feature selection with SVM-recursive feature elimination was also performed to identify the most important features or variables for predicting tornadoes. The results showed that the threshold adjustment on SVMs provided better performance compared to other classifiers.     

Strong electric field modulation of transport in PVDF/MWCNT nanocomposite near the percolation threshold

A nanocomposite comprising of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) embedded in ferroelectric Poly(vinylidene fluoride) PVDF polymer matrix is examined for electric field induced transport modulation. The pulsed laser deposition (PLD) grown thin films of the nanocomposite with different MWCNT content were characterized. When used as a channel layer in a field effect transistor configuration, a strong electric field modulation of the transport was realized just below the percolation threshold. We believe that this nanocomposite non-percolating channel concept can provide several opportunities for FET devices for organic electronics.     

Phospholamban generates cation selective ion channels

Phosholamban (PLN) is involved in the contractility of cardiac muscles by regulating the intracellular calcium concentration (Ca(2+)(cyt)) of cardiac myocytes. This occurs via a modulation of the sarco-/endoplasmic CaATPase (SERCA). In spite of high-resolution structures the molecular mode of PLN action is yet not known. In the present paper we readdress the question whether PLN proteins can generate ion channel activity. Reconstitution of PLN in planar lipid bilayers reveals single channel fluctuations, which are characterized by two conductance levels, long open/closed dwell times, moderate selectivity between monovalent cations and no perceivable Ca(2+) permeability. The PLN generated channel activity could be inhibited by a PLN antibody (abPLN) implying that the channel activity is indeed due to the inherent channel function of the PLN protein.     

Energetics of small hydrogen-vacancy clusters in bcc iron

Hydrogen may be trapped in voids in iron, leading to undesirable material properties. In this paper, the energetics of small hydrogen-vacancy clusters in body centered cubic iron are investigated. Results from two interatomic potentials are compared. We use molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods to find the minimum energy configurations of voids of up to ten vacancies containing up to 50 hydrogen atoms with ratios of hydrogen to vacancy of 10 or less. The formation energies and binding energies of defects to these clusters are calculated. Our results indicate that the hydrogen stabilizes bubbles by causing vacancies to be more tightly bound to clusters, while neighboring irons are less tightly bound. Hydrogen itself becomes less well bound to clusters as the inventory increases. The more physically relevant potential indicates a maximum supported ratio of hydrogen atoms to vacancies of about 4.     

The Reaction of Silyl Enol Ethers With Ethyl Azodicarboxylate and 4-Phenyl-1,2,4-Triazoline-3,5-Dione

The ene-type reaction between silyl enol ethers and azodiesters yields α-keto 4-phenyl 1,2,4 triazolidine-3,5-dione in the case of 1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione. and α-keto dicarbo-ethoxyhydrazides in the case of diethyl azodicarboxylate. These reactions proceed in qcod yield and offer potential routes to α-nitrogen substituted ketones.     

Hydrodynamic permeability of biporous membrane

This paper concerns the hydrodynamic permeability of biporous medium built up by porous cylindrical particles located in another porous medium by using cell model technique. It is continuation of the previous work of authors where biporous membrane was built up by porous spherical particles embedded in accompanying porous medium. Four known boundary conditions, namely, Happel’s, Kuwabara’s, Kvashnin’s and Cunningham/Mehta-Morse’s, are considered on the outer surface of the cell. The variation of hydrodynamic permeability of biporous medium (membrane) with viscosity ratio, Brinkman constants, and solid fraction are presented and discussed graphically. Comparison of the resulting hydrodynamic permeability is undertaken. Some previous results for dimensionless hydrodynamic permeability have been verified.     

A dynamic unreliability assessment and optimal maintenance strategies for multistate weighted k‐out‐of‐n:F systems

In this paper, a dynamic evaluation of the multistate weighted k‐out‐of‐n:F system is presented in an unreliability viewpoint. The expected failure cost of components is used as an unreliability index. Using failure cost provides an opportunity to employ financial concepts in system unreliability estimation. Hence, system unreliability and system cost can be compared easily in order to making decision. The components' probabilities are computed over time to model the dynamic behavior of the system. The whole system has been assessed by recursive algorithm approach. As a result, a bi‐objective optimization model can be developed to find optimal decisions on maintenance strategies. Finally, the application of the proposed model is investigated via a transportation system case. Matlab programming is developed for the case, and genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimization model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.