The advantage of using carbon nanotubes compared with edge plane pyrolytic graphite as an electrode material for oxidase-based biosensors

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are promising materials for use in amperometric biosensors. The defect sites at their ends, and on their sidewalls, are considered to be edge plane-like defects and show high electrocatalytic activity toward several biological molecules. However, electrocatalytic activity toward H(2)O(2) has not been compared among bamboo-structured CNTs (BCNTs), which have many defect sites; hollow-structured CNTs (HCNTs), which have few defect sites; edge plane pyrolytic graphite (EPG); and traditional glassy carbon (GC). The advantages of using CNTs in electrodes for biosensors are still equivocal. To confirm the utility of CNTs, we analyzed the electrochemical performance of these four carbon electrodes. The slope of the calibration curve for H(2)O(2) at potentials of both +0.6 V and -0.1 V obtained with a BCNT paste electrode (BCNTPE) was more than 10 times greater than the slopes obtained with an HCNT paste electrode and a GC electrode, reflecting the BCNT's larger number of defect sites. Although the slope with the EPG electrode (EPGE) was about 40 times greater than that with BCNTPE at +0.6 V, the slopes with these two carbon electrodes were nearly equivalent at -0.1 V. EPGE demonstrated excessive electrochemical activity, detecting currents on the basis of consumption of oxygen and oxidation of ascorbic acid, even at -0.1 V. In contrast, BCNTPE could dominantly detect a cathodic current for H(2)O(2) at -0.1 V, even when interfering molecules were added. BCNTPE possesses appropriate electrochemical activity and is an effective electrode materials for developing interference-free oxidase-based biosensors operated by the application of an appropriate potential.     

Comparative analysis of binding energy of chymostatin with human cathepsin A and its homologous proteins by molecular orbital calculation

Cathepsin A is a mammalian lysosomal enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of the carboxy-terminal amino acids of polypeptides and also regulates beta-galactosidase and neuraminidase-1 activities through the formation of a multienzymic complex in lysosomes. Human cathepsin A (hCathA), yeast carboxypeptidase (CPY), and wheat carboxypeptidase II (CPW) belong to the alpha/beta-hydrolase fold family. They have structurally similar active-site clefts, but there are small differences in the amino acid residues comprising their active sites that might determine the substrate specificity and sensitivity to microbial inhibitors including chymostatin. To examine the selectivity and binding mechanism of chymostatin as to hCathA, CPY, and CPW at the atomic level, we analyzed the interaction energy between chymostatin and each protein quantitatively by semiempirical molecular orbital calculation AM1 with the continuum solvent model. We predicted the electrostatic repulsion between the P3 cyclic arginine residue of the inhibitor and the Arg344 in the S3 active subsite of hCathA. Genetic conversion of Arg344 of the wild-type hCathA to Ile also caused an increase in its sensitivity to chymostatin, which was correlated with the decrease in the interaction energy calculated with the molecular orbital method. The present results suggest that such molecular calculation should be useful for evaluating the interactions between ligands, including inhibitors and homologous enzymes, in their docking models.     

Staminolactones A and B and norstaminol A: three highly oxygenated staminane-type diterpenes from Orthosiphon stamineus

[formula: see text] Staminolactones A (1) and B (2) and norstaminol A (3), three highly oxygenated staminane-type diterpenes having mild cytotoxic activities against highly liver-metastatic colon 26-L5 carcinoma cells, were isolated from the aerial part of the Vietnamese medicinal plant Orthosiphon stamineus (Lamiaceae). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of the extensive spectral analyses.     

Convergent synthesis of the F-K ring segment of brevetoxin B

A convergent synthesis of the F-K ring segment of brevetoxin B has been achieved via the intramolecular allylation of an α-chloroacetoxy ether and subsequent ring-closing metathesis.     

Epicalyxin F and calyxin I: two novel antiproliferative diarylheptanoids from the seeds of Alpinia blepharocalyx

[formula: see text] Epicalyxin F (1) and calyxin I (2), two novel diarylheptanoids, were isolated from a residual fraction of an EtOH extract of Alpinia blepharocalyx. Calyxin I (2) represented a new carbon skeleton, and epicalyxin F (1) possessed potent antiproliferative activity toward HT-1080 fibrosarcoma and colon 26-L5 carcinoma with ED50 values of 1.71 and 0.89 microM, respectively.     

Quadranosides VI-XI, six new triterpene glucosides from the seeds of Combretum quadrangulare

Six new triterpene glucosides, quadranosides VI-XI (1-6), belonging to three different [ursane- (1-4), oleanane- (5) and lupane-type (6)] triterpene classes, have been isolated from a MeOH extract of the seeds of Combretum quadrangulare KURZ (Combretaceae), together with nine known compounds, rosamutin (7), 28-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-6beta,23-dihydroxytormentic acid (8), arjunetin (9), arjunglucoside II (10), combreglucoside (11), chebuloside II (12), vitexin (13), (+)-catechin (14) and (-)-epigallocatechin (15). The structures of these compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis.     

PHYTOCHROME-MEDIATED PHOTOTROPISM AND DIFFERENT DICHROIC ORIENTATION OF Pr AND Pfr IN PROTONEMATA OF THE FERN ADIANTUM CAPILLUS-VENERIS L.

Abstract— Single-celled protonemata of Adiantum capillus-veneris were cultured under continuous red light for 6 days and then in the dark for 15 h. Brief local exposure of a flank (5 times 20 /mi) of the subapical region of a protonema to a microbeam of red light effectively induced a phototropic response toward the irradiated side. The degree of the response was dependent upon the fluence of the red light. Red/far-red reversibility was typically observed in this photoreaction, showing that phytochrome was the photo-receptive pigment. When the flank was irradiated with a microbeam of linearly polarized red and far-red light, red light with an electrical vector parallel to the cell surface was most effective. However, the far-red light effect was most prominent when its electrical vector was normal to the cell surface. These polarized light effects indicate the different dichroic orientation of P_r (red-light-absorbing form of phytochrome) and P_r (far-red-light-absorbing form of phytochrome) at the cell flank.     

On Wainer's notation for a minimal subrecursive inaccessible ordinal

We show the following results on Wainer's notation for a minimal subrecursive inaccessible ordinal τ: First, we give a constructive proof of the collapsing theorem. Secondly, we prove that the slow-growing hierarchy and the fast-growing hierarchy up to τ have elementary properties on increase and domination, which completes Wainer's proof that τ is a minimal subrecursive inaccessible. Our results are obtained by showing a strong normalization theorem for the term structure of the notation. MSC: 03D20, 03F15.