Prevalence of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria from Conjunctival Flora in an Eye Infection Prone Breed (Saint Bernard)

The conjunctival bacterial resident and opportunistic flora of dogs may represent a major source of dissemination of pathogens throughout the environment or to other animals and humans. Nevertheless, contamination with bacteria from external sources is common. In this context, the study of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pattern may represent an indicator of multidrug resistant (MDR) strains exchange. The present study was focused on a single predisposed breed—Saint Bernard. The evaluated animals were healthy, but about half had a history of ocular disease/treatment. The swabs collected from conjunctival sacs were evaluated by conventional microbiological cultivation and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). The most prevalent Gram-positive was Staphylococcus spp.; regardless of the history, while Gram-negative was Pseudomonas spp.; exclusively from dogs with a history of ocular disease/treatment. Other identified genera were represented by Bacillus, Streptococcus, Trueperella, Aeromonas and Neisseria. The obtained results suggest a possible association between the presence of mixed flora and a history of ocular disease/treatment. A high AMR was generally observed (90%) in all isolates, especially for kanamycin, doxycycline, chloramphenicol and penicillin. MDR was recorded in Staphylococcus spp. and Pseudomonas spp. This result together with a well-known zoonotic potential may suggest an exchange of these strains within animal human populations and the environment.     

Terpyridine-Functionalized Calixarenes: Synthesis,Characterization and Anion Sensing Applications

Lanthanide complexes have been developed and are reported herein. These complexes were derived from a terpyridine-functionalized calix[4]arene ligand, chelated with Tb³⁺ and Eu³⁺. Synthesis of these complexes was achieved in two steps from a calix[4]arene derivative: (1) amide coupling of a calix[4]arene bearing carboxylic acid functionalities and (2) metallation with a lanthanide triflate salt. The ligand and its complexes were characterized by NMR (¹H and ¹³C), fluorescence and UV-vis spectroscopy as well as MS. The photophysical properties of these complexes were studied; high molar absorptivity values, modest quantum yields and luminescence lifetimes on the ms timescale were obtained. Anion binding results in a change in the photophysical properties of the complexes. The anion sensing ability of the Tb(III) complex was evaluated via visual detection, UV-vis and fluorescence studies. The sensor was found to be responsive towards a variety of anions, and large binding constants were obtained for the coordination of anions to the sensor.     

Comparative Studies on Analytical,Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Activities of a Series of Vegetal Extracts Prepared from Eight Plant Species Growing in Romania

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - Given the large applicability in both pharmaceutical and cosmetic field, this work was aimed at analytical (high-performance...     

Pattern Recognition of Sweeteners in Biological Fluids,Beverages, and Ketchup using Stochastic Sensors

Three stochastic sensors based on nanodiamond (nDP) paste modified with α, β, and γ‐cyclodextrin were designed and characterized for pattern recognition of aspartame, acesulfame K and sodium cyclamate in beverages, ketchup, and biological fluids. The linear concentration ranges obtained for acesulfame K (between 1.00×10^?10 mol L^?1and 1.00×10^?3 mol L^?1), for aspartame (between 1.00×10^?12 mol L^?1 and 1.00×10^?3 mol L^?1) and for sodium cyclamate (between 4.97×10^?12 mol L^?1 and 4.97×10^?3 mol L^?1) allow their assay in biological fluids, beverages and ketchup. The lowest limits of quantification were obtained using the stochastic sensor based on γ‐CD/nDP: for acesulfame K 1.00×10^?10 mol L^?1, for aspartame 1.00×10^?12 mol L^?1 and for sodium cyclamate 4.97×10^?12 mol L^?1. All three stochastic sensors revealed very high values of sensitivities. The proposed method was reliable for qualitative and quantitative assay of aspartame, acesulfame K and sodium cyclamate in beverages, ketchup, and in biological fluids such as urine.     

Synthesis of New Phenolic Derivatives of Quinazolin-4(3H)-One as Potential Antioxidant Agents—In Vitro Evaluation and Quantum Studies

Considering the important damage caused by the reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) species in the human organism, the need for new therapeutic agents, with superior efficacy to the known natural and synthetic antioxidants, is crucial. Quinazolin-4-ones are known for their wide range of biological activities, and phenolic compounds display an important antioxidant effect. Linking the two active pharmacophores may lead to an increase of the antioxidant activity. Therefore, we synthesized four series of new hybrid molecules bearing the quinazolin-4-one and phenol scaffolds. Their antioxidant potential was evaluated in vitro, considering different possible mechanisms of action: hydrogen atom transfer, ability to donate electrons and metal ions chelation. Theoretical quantum and thermodynamical calculations were also performed. Some compounds, especially the ortho diphenolic ones, exerted a stronger antioxidant effect than ascorbic acid and Trolox.     

Mapping the phase diagram of single DNA molecule force-induced melting in the presence of ethidium

When a single DNA molecule is stretched beyond its normal contour length, a force-induced melting transition is observed. Ethidium binding increases the DNA contour length, decreases the elongation upon melting, and increases the DNA melting force in a manner that is consistent with the ethidium-induced changes in duplex DNA stability known from thermal melting studies. The DNA stretching curves map out a phase diagram and critical point in the force-extension-ethidium concentration space. Intercalation occurs between alternate base pairs at low forces and between every base pair at high forces.     

Entire regularizations of strongly continuous groups and products of analytic generators

Using entire regularizations of groups, we give a characterization of their analytic generators which we apply to the study of products of such generators.

     

Protein–Inorganic Array Construction: Design and Synthesis of the Building Blocks

Herein we describe the design and synthesis of the first series of di‐functional ligands for the directed construction of inorganic‐protein frameworks. The synthesized ligands are composed of a metal‐ion binding moiety (terpyridine‐based) conjugated to an epoxysuccinyl peptide, known to covalently bind active cysteine proteases through the active‐site cysteine. We explore and optimize two different conjugation chemistries between the di‐functionalized metal‐ion ligand and the epoxysuccinyl‐containing peptide moiety: peptide‐bond formation (with limited success) and Cu^I‐catalysed click chemistry (with good results). Further, the complexation of the synthesized ligands with Fe^II and Ni^II ions is investigated: the di‐functional ligands are confirmed to behave similarly to the parent terpyridine. As designed, the peptidic moiety does not interfere with the complexation reaction, in spite of the presence of two triazole rings that result from the click reaction. ES‐MS together with NMR and UV/Vis studies establish the structure, the stoichiometry of the complexation reactions, as well as the conditions under which chemically sensitive peptide‐containing polypyridine ligands can undergo the self‐assembly process. These results establish the versatility of our approach and open the way to the synthesis of di‐functional ligands containing more elaborated polypyridine ligands as well as affinity labels for different enzyme families. As such, this paper is the first step towards the construction of robust supramolecular species that cover a size‐regime and organization level previously unexplored.     

Family constraining of iterative algorithms

In constraining iterative processes, the algorithmic operator of the iterative process is pre-multiplied by a constraining operator at each iterative step. This enables the constrained algorithm, besides solving the original problem, also to find a solution that incorporates some prior knowledge about the solution. This approach has been useful in image restoration and other image processing situations when a single constraining operator was used. In the field of image reconstruction from projections a priori information about the original image, such as smoothness or that it belongs to a certain closed convex set, may be used to improve the reconstruction quality. We study here constraining of iterative processes by a family of operators rather than by a single operator.     

CaL-B a highly selective biocatalyst for the kinetic resolution of furylbenzthiazole-2-yl-ethanols and acetates

A highly stereoselective enzymatic kinetic resolution of novel various substituted racemic furylbenzthiazole-2-yl-ethanols and their acetates has been developed. Both processes, the enzymatic acylation of the racemic alcohols and the enzymatic methanolysis of racemic acetates yielded highly enantiomerically enriched (ee >98%) resolution product, when CaL-B was used as a biocatalyst in acetonitrile. The absolute configuration of the obtained (R)-(+)-1-(5-(4-chlorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)furan-2-yl)ethanol was determined by a detailed ¹H NMR study of rac- and (+)-1-(5-(4-chlorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)furan-2-yl)ethanol Mosher derivatives.