Immobilized Biomaterials—Techniques and Applications

The immobilization of enzymes, cofactors and whole cells offers the potential of economical exploitation of biomaterial activity. Enzymes or cells can be immobilized by binding to carriers through adsorption or covalent linkages or by entrapment in a polymer matrix or microencapsulation. The development of immobilized biomaterial systems requires the involvement of biochemical, kinetics and reactor design principles. Examples of commercial scale applications of immobilized biomaterial systems are the production of a fructose-rich syrup from starch and the synthesis of L -amino acids by selective hydrolysis of N-acyl-D ,L -amino acids.     

Towards the Efficiency of Pharmacologically Active Quinoid Compounds: Electron Transfer and Formation of Reactive Oxygen Species

In this review article, the structure, properties, stability and biological application of redox-active quinones are presented. A series of quinoid molecules is evaluated in terms of their ability to act as electron-transfer active compounds using cyclovoltammetric, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and spin-trapping techniques. Redox potentials and electron distribution of the intermediate radical anions are shown to be decisive factors for the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Mechanisms of ROS generation in dark by biological electron-transfer reaction or under photoexcitation have been proposed and experimentally verified. For site-specific damage of tumors, some quinone derivatives were covalently bound with the luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LH–RH or GnRH) that produces specific complexes with receptors on the surface of cancer cells. The properties of obtained conjugates to be bound with the different lines of cancer cells (αT3-1, M2R, LNCaP) were tested. EPR was used for the estimation of efficacy of ROS production by the conjugates in solution and in the complex with cancer cells. The toxicity of these conjugates as well as their stability in the stimulated oxidative stress were tested. The proposed approach could be useful in creating a new family of addressed anticancer drugs, including compounds for the treatment of tumors by photodynamic therapy.     

Searching for quark matter with dileptons and photons: From SPS to relativistic heavy-ion collider

The heavy-ion programme at the CERN SPS, which started back in ’86, has produced a wealth of very interesting and intriguing results in the quest for the quark-gluon plasma. The highlights of the programme on dilepton and direct photon measurements are reviewed emphasizing the most recent results obtained in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV. Prospects from RHIC are discussed.     

A construction of maximally recoverable codes

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - We construct a family of linear maximally recoverable codes with locality r and dimension $$r+1.$$ For codes of length n with $$r\approx n^\alpha , 0\le \alpha \le...     

Crystallographic and magnetic structure of HAVAR under high-pressure using diamond anvil cell (DAC)

Annealed (H1) and cold-rolled (H2) HAVAR has been studied using high-pressure synchrotron X-ray diffraction. A structural phase transformation was discovered at ～13 GPa at ambient temperature, transforming from m ??3 m (S.G. 225) to P 63/m m c (S.G. 194) symmetry. The transition was not reversible on pressure release. The low-pressure cubic phase was found to be more compressible than the high-pressure hexagonal phase. Conventional Mössbauer and NFS shows that the HAVAR is not magnetic at room temperature and no splitting is observed. The SQUID indicates a huge difference in the temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility between the cold Rolled HAVAR compared to the annealed HAVAR.     

Exact scaling relations in relativistic hydrodynamic turbulence

We consider the steady state statistics of turbulence in general classes of dissipative hydrodynamic equations, where the fluctuations are sustained by a random source concentrated at large scales. It is well known that in some particular cases, such as non-relativistic incompressible turbulence, a Kolmogorov-type exact scaling relation for a correlation function holds. We show that all such scaling relations follow from a general relation on the current-density correlation function. The derivation does not require an energy cascade picture and suggests that this traditional interpretation of the Kolmogorov relation for incompressible turbulence may be misleading. Using this we derive exact scaling results for compressible turbulence in relativistic hydrodynamics, which reduce in the slow motion limit to the Kolmogorov relation. We discuss the experimental implications of the results.