Simultaneous Determination of Antimony and Lead in Gunshot Residue by Cathodic Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetric Methods

Differential pulse cathodic adsorptive stripping (DPCAdSV) and square wave cathodic adsorptive stripping (SWCAdSV) voltammetric methods were developed for the determination of antimony and lead in gunshot residues. Linear working ranges for DPCAdSV and SWCAdSV methods were (2.0×10^?9–5.0×10^?7) M and (2.0×10^?9–7.0×10^?7) M for antimony and 2.0×10^?9–3.0×10^?7 M (both methods) for lead. The detection of antimony limits were found to be 1.3×10^?9 M for DPCAdSV and 7.3×10^?10 M for SWCAdSV while the corresponding values for lead were 3.0×10^?9 M and 5.8×10^?10 M. Antimony and lead contents obtained by these methods in gunshot residues are in good agreement with those obtained by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometric method within a confidence limit of 95%.     

Sesame workshop/school on bioinformatics and structural modelling

The potential of X-rays for the non-invasive investigation of the interior of bulky samples has long been recognized and their penetration depth is presently widely exploited [1 Hounsfield, G. N. 1973. Br J Radiol, 46: 1016–1022. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]]. Although initially third generation synchrotron sources were almost exclusively the realm of academic scientific experiments, the use of synchrotron light for industrial research is becoming increasingly important and relevant for both technology development and non-destructive testing, in particular when the requirements in terms of spatial, temporal, and density resolution are exceptional.     

Synthetic Strategies of Pyrimidine-Based Scaffolds as Aurora Kinase and Polo-like Kinase Inhibitors

The past few decades have witnessed significant progress in anticancer drug discovery. Small molecules containing heterocyclic moieties have attracted considerable interest for designing new antitumor agents. Of these, the pyrimidine ring system is found in multitude of drug structures, and being the building unit of DNA and RNA makes it an attractive scaffold for the design and development of anticancer drugs. Currently, 22 pyrimidine-containing entities are approved for clinical use as anticancer drugs by the FDA. An exhaustive literature search indicates several publications and more than 59 patents from the year 2009 onwards on pyrimidine derivatives exhibiting potent antiproliferative activity. These pyrimidine derivatives exert their activity via diverse mechanisms, one of them being inhibition of protein kinases. Aurora kinase (AURK) and polo-like kinase (PLK) are protein kinases involved in the regulation of the cell cycle. Within the numerous pyrimidine-based small molecules developed as anticancer agents, this review focuses on the pyrimidine fused heterocyclic compounds modulating the AURK and PLK proteins in different phases of clinical trials as anticancer agents. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of synthetic strategies for the preparation of pyrimidine derivatives and their associated biological activity on AURK/PLK. It will also present an overview of the synthesis of the heterocyclic-2-aminopyrimidine, 4-aminopyrimidine and 2,4-diaminopyrimidine scaffolds, and one of the pharmacophores in AURK/PLK inhibitors is described systematically.     

Sodium channel Na<Subscript>v</Subscript>1.7 immunoreactivity in painful human dental pulp and burning mouth syndrome

Background  

Voltage gated sodium channels Na_v1.7 are involved in nociceptor nerve action potentials and are known to affect pain sensitivity in clinical genetic disorders.     

Amperometric Biosensors for Tyramine Determination Based on Graphene Oxide and Polyvinylferrocene Modified Screen‐printed Electrodes

A comparison of the analytical characteristics of two tyramine biosensors, based on graphene oxide (GRO) and polyvinylferrocene (PVF) modified screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCE), is reported. Diamine oxidase (DAOx) or monoamine oxidase (MAOx) was immobilized onto the PVF/GRO modified SPCE to fabricate the biosensors. Surface characteristics and electrochemical behaviour of the modified SPCEs were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Electrode surface composition and experimental variables such as pH and working potential were optimized in order to ensure a high performance. Under optimum experimental conditions, both DAOx/PVF/GRO/SPCE and MAOx/PVF/GRO/SPCE biosensors exhibited wide linear dynamic ranges for tyramine from 9.9×10^?7 to 1.2×10^?4 M and from 9.9×10^?7 to 1.1×10^?4 M, respectively. MAOx/PVF/GRO/SPCE biosensor showed higher sensitivity (11.98 μA mM^?1) for tyramine determination than the DAOx/PVF/GRO/SPCE biosensor (7.99 μA mM^?1). The substrate specifity of the biosensors to other biogenic amines namely histamine, putrescine, spermine, spermidine, tryptamine, β‐phenylethylamine and cadaverine was also investigated. The developed biosensors were successfully used for tyramine determination in cheese sample.     

Blending Optimization of Non-Dioctyl Phthalate Plasticized Poly (vinyl chloride) Formulations

The use of non-ortho-phthalate plasticizers in poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) packaging materials and medical devices has been in increasing demand due to worldwide regulatory trends to minimize or eliminate phthalate plasticizers (particularly di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) or dioctyl phthalate (DOP)) in the PVC industry. This study evaluates the dry-blending cycle time of a suspension grade PVC formulated with various non-DOP plasticizers, di-(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHT or DOTP), tris (2-ethylhexyl) trimellitate (TEHTM or TOTM) and alkyl sulphonic phenyl ester (ASE), and compares them with the DOP standard. A design of experiments was also conducted to study the critical dry-blending parameters for optimization of PVC formulated with only DEHT. Effects of PVC temperature (measured during plasticizer addition to the blender), plasticizer pre-heat temperature, plasticizer and lubricant concentrations and the method of plasticizer addition on the dry-blending cycle time and peak amperage of the blender were studied. The blending cycle time is shown to be related to the resultant plasticizer efficiency and the peak amperage is related to the power consumption (the energy required to mix the PVC).     

Generation of Extra-Ordinary Mode Radiation by an Electrostatic Pump in a Two-Electron-Temperature Plasma

Coherent wave-wave coupling can produce radiation with a high efficiency. Recently, there has been a great deal of interest in the study of electro-magnetic wave generation in magnetized plasmas. We have investigated theoretically the effect of finite ion temperature on the parametric instability of an electro-static upperhybrid pump into an X-mode nonthermal radiation and low frequency ion waves in a two electron temperature plasma. The latter may include the lower-hybrid, the electron-acoustic and the ion-cyclotron waves. The loss cone distribution existing permanently at low altitudes acts as a free energy source generating the upper-hybrid waves. The upper-hybrid waves can also be present because of a linear instability produced by runaway electrons. Nonlinear dispersion relation and the growth rates are derived for each case using the hydrodynamical model. We find extra numerical factor arising due to the ions of finite temperature in the growth rate expression. This study may be useful in magnetosphere, auroral ionosphere, solar wind, solar radio bursts, and laboratory plasmas where ion has finite temperature and electrons have two distinct energy distributions.     

Liquid-membrane electrode sensitive to ammonia and aliphatic amines based on 1-[(2-oxyphenyl)iminomethly]-2-oxybenzene-O,O',N-ammin-nickel(II) complex

In this study, an ammonia-gas-sensing liquid-state membrane electrode based on 1-[(2-oxyphenyl)iminomethyl]-2-oxybenzene-O,O',N-ammin-nickel(II) (Ni(II)-Schiff base) as an ionophore was developed. This membrane electrode gave a very good performance and exhibited linear response with near-Nernstian slope of 50.7+/-0.5 mV per decade, within a concentration range of 1.0x10(-1)-1.0x10(-3) M. The electrode performance depends on the pH of the test solution and the optimum pH range was 10.0-11.5. The effect of concentration of internal solutions in the electrode was also investigated. The selectivity properties of the electrode towards aliphatic amines at a pH value of 10.2 were investigated with the mixed-solution method. Furthermore, the response time and lifetime of the electrode prepared were determined.     

Metal-Containing Phthalocyanines Substituted with One Branched Bulky Moiety and Six Alkylthio Groups

 Unsymmetrically substituted metal-phthalocyanines composed of three hexylthio groups and one 1-chloro-3,4-dicyano-6-[2-(2-pyridylmethylamino)phenylthio]benzene moiety was prepared by cyclization of the reactants in the presence of the anhydrous metal salts Zn(CH₃COO)₂, NiCl₂, and CoCl₂. The new unsymmetric phthalocyanines are very soluble in common organic solvents. The compounds were characterised by their elemental analyses, IR, ¹H NMR, MS and UV/Vis spectra.