Impairment of mitochondrial calcium handling in a mtSOD1 cell culture model of motoneuron disease

Background  

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons (MN) in the brain stem and spinal cord. Intracellular disruptions of cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium have been associated with selective MN degeneration, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The present evidence supports a hypothesis that mitochondria are a target of mutant SOD1-mediated toxicity in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) and intracellular alterations of cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium might aggravate the course of this neurodegenerative disease. In this study, we used a fluorescence charged cool device (CCD) imaging system to separate and simultaneously monitor cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium concentrations in individual cells in an established cellular model of ALS.     

Validation of protein structural models using THz spectroscopy: a promising approach to solve three-dimensional structures

Terahertz (THz) spectroscopy is a promising technique for the study of protein structure and internal flexibility. Here, we used THz spectroscopy and molecular modeling for bovine serum albumin (BSA) structure investigation. BSA molecule was built using homology modeling methods and 30 different more relaxed models were obtained by molecular dynamics simulations of the hydrated protein. As the experimental and simulated THz spectra are linear, we compared them by comparing the slopes of the lines that fit them. Six BSA structures had slope values in the range given by the slope of the experimental spectrum $\pm $  0.2 and a total of sixteen BSA structures had slope values in the 0.6 interval near the experimental slope value. BSA average structures were calculated over the six and the sixteen identified BSA molecules. Based on the similarity with the crystal structure of BSA, we validated the average structure calculated over the sixteen BSA conformations. The comparison with the crystal structure showed that the structure validated using THz spectroscopy is a coarse model of BSA, as its root-mean-square deviation relative to the crystal structure is 1.9 Å. The regions from our model that present the highest deviation from the crystal structure are exterior loops. The results presented here show that using THz spectroscopy and molecular modeling is a promising approach to determine the structure of proteins.     

Immobilized TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles produced by flame spray for photocatalytic water remediation

Anatase/rutile mixed-phase titanium dioxide (TiO₂) photocatalysts in the form of nanostructured powders with different primary particle size, specific surface area, and rutile content were produced from the gas-phase by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP) starting from an organic solution containing titanium (IV) isopropoxide as Ti precursor. Flame spray-produced TiO₂ powders were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and BET measurements. As-prepared powders were mainly composed of anatase crystallites with size ranging from 7 to 15 nm according to the synthesis conditions. TiO₂ powders were embedded in a multilayered fluoropolymeric matrix to immobilize the nanoparticles into freestanding photocatalytic membranes. The photocatalytic activity of the TiO₂-embedded membranes toward the abatement of hydrosoluble organic pollutants was evaluated employing the photodegradation of rhodamine B in aqueous solution as test reaction. The photoabatement rate of best performing membranes significantly overcomes that of membranes produced by the same method and incorporating commercial P25-TiO₂.     

Complexation of Dimethyl 2,3-Naphthalenedicarboxylate with 2-hydroxypropyl-α-, -β- and -γ-cyclodextrins in Aqueous Solution by Fluorescence,Circular Dichroism and Molecular Mechanics

Fluorescence, circular dichroism and molecular mechanics have been used to study the complexation of 2,3-dimethyl naphthalenedicarboxylate with 2-hydroxypropyl-α-, -β and -γ-cyclodextrins (HPCDs) in aqueous solution. Emission spectra upon excitation of the naphthalenedicarboxylate group show two bands whose intensity ratio R is quite sensitive to polarity. From the change of R and lifetimes averages <τ> with HPCD concentration and temperature were obtained the stoichiometry, the association constants and the enthalpy and entropy changes during the complexation. R, <τ> and the fluorescence anisotropies (r) extrapolated at [HPCD]→∞ allows us to estimate the polarity and microviscosity of the media surrounding the guest when complexed. In addition, the analysis of quenching and induced circular dichroism experiments and molecular mechanics calculations in the presence of water, provide information about the forces responsible for the complexation and the geometry of the complexes.     

Association Phenomena of Poly(arylene ether sulfone)s in Dimethylformamide

Three poly(arylene ether sulfone)s (two polymers and one copolymer) containing diphenylfluorene, phenolphthalein and 2,4-bis[(4-chlorophenyl)sulfonyl]-1-(phenyltio) benzene)] units were synthesized by the classical Williamson polyetherification reaction. The association phenomenon in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was investigated by different methods: gel permeation chromatography (GPC), viscosity, atomic force microscopy (AFM), fluorescence spectroscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Both AFM and DLS measurements evidenced the formation of aggregates with spherical or ellipsoidal shape at a concentration around 0.05 wt.%. This behavior could be explained by dipole-dipole interactions between macromolecular chains, probably with the participation of solvent molecules, and by H-bonds involving hydroxyl end groups.     

Entanglement as a Semantic Resource

The characteristic holistic features of the quantum theoretic formalism and the intriguing notion of entanglement can be applied to a field that is far from microphysics: logical semantics. Quantum computational logics are new forms of quantum logic that have been suggested by the theory of quantum logical gates in quantum computation. In the standard semantics of these logics, sentences denote quantum information quantities: systems of qubits (quregisters) or, more generally, mixtures of quregisters (qumixes), while logical connectives are interpreted as special quantum logical gates (which have a characteristic reversible and dynamic behavior). In this framework, states of knowledge may be entangled, in such a way that our information about the whole determines our information about the parts; and the procedure cannot be, generally, inverted. In spite of its appealing properties, the standard version of the quantum computational semantics is strongly “Hilbert-space dependent”. This certainly represents a shortcoming for all applications, where real and complex numbers do not generally play any significant role (as happens, for instance, in the case of natural and of artistic languages). We propose an abstract version of quantum computational semantics, where abstract qumixes, quregisters and registers are identified with some special objects (not necessarily living in a Hilbert space), while gates are reversible functions that transform qumixes into qumixes. In this framework, one can give an abstract definition of the notions of superposition and of entangled pieces of information, quite independently of any numerical values. We investigate three different forms of abstract holistic quantum computational logic.     

A 119Sn Mössbauer Spectroscopic Investigation of Tin Complexes with Amidines

Several novel tin(IV) adducts of amidines, [SnClPh₃L], [SnCl₂Ph₂L] and [SnBr₄L] {L=N,N-diphenylacetamidine (Hdpac) or N,N-diphenylbenzamidine (Hdpba)}, were prepared and investigated by Mössbauer spectroscopy which was an important tool for the elucidation of bonding and structural features. The resulting Mössbauer data also led to the conclusion that the tin(IV) centre for the adduct [SnClPh₃L] is pentacoordinated in a trigonal bipyramidal arrangement and hexacoordinated for [SnCl₂Ph₂L] and [SnBr₄L] in a geometric patterns of an octahedral. The amidines act as monodentate ligands to the metal centre for the former and bidentate for the latter.