Study of stability of variants of ovine prions with different susceptibilities to scrapie

Well-defined set of sheep PrP polymorphisms at positions 136, 154 and 171 define susceptibility to scrapie, ranging from very high susceptibility observed for V136-R154-Q171 (VRQ) variant to resistance for A136-R154-R171 (ARR).To gain insight into the mechanisms of scrapie susceptibility/resistance, the unfolding pathways of the sheep prion protein variants were analysed by differential scanning calorimetry over a wide range of pH. Thermal unfolding occurs, in the 5.0 to 6.0 pH range, through a reversible one-step process while at pH<4.5 and >6.0 unfolding intermediates are formed, which are stable in the 65–80°C range. The observed differences correlate with ovine susceptibility to scrapie.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Hypercyclicity on the Algebra of Hilbert-Schmidt Operators

We prove that the Hypercyclicity Criterion for any operator T on a Hilbert space is equivalent to the hypercyclicity of the left multiplication operator induced by T on the algebra of Hilbert-Schmidt operators.     

Time-resolved detection of melanin free radicals quenching reactive oxygen species

Melanin, a ubiquitous, heterogeneous biological polymer composed of many different monomers, contains a population of stationary, intrinsic semiquinone-like radicals. Additional extrinsic semiquinone-like radicals are reversibly photogenerated with visible or UV irradiation. The free radical chemistry of melanin is complex and not well characterized, especially the photochemistry of melanin in the presence of oxygen. To determine directly how melanin reacts in the presence of oxygen, time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectroscopy was used to examine melanin free radical chemistry in human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. A TREPR difference spectrum was used to explore the nature of melanin chemistry in the presence of oxygen. The position and symmetrical line shape of the TREPR three-dimensional difference spectrum shows that when reactive oxygen species (ROS) are scavenged, only one of the two or more chemically different melanin free radical species participates in ROS scavenging. This protective melanin radical species exists in both the extrinsic and intrinsic populations of melanin free radicals, allowing melanin to protect the RPE from toxic species in both the light and dark.     

Kinetic-spectrophotometric determination of ascorbic acid by inhibition of the hydrochloric acid-bromate reaction

A new analytical method was developed for the determination of ascorbic acid in fruit juice and pharmaceuticals. The method is based on its inhibition effect on the reaction between hydrochloric acid and bromate. The decolourisation of Methyl Orange by the reaction products was used to monitor the reaction spectrophotometrically at 510 nm. The linearity range of the calibration graph depends on bromate concentration. The variable affecting the rate of the reaction was investigated. The method is simple, rapid, relatively sensitive and precise. The limit of detection is 7.6 x 10(-6) M and calibration rang is 8 x 10(-6)-1.2 x 10(-3) M ascorbic acid. The relative standard deviation of seven replication determinations of 8 x 10(-6) and 2 x 10(-5) M ascorbic acid was 2.8 and 1.7%, respectively. The influence of potential interfering substance was studied. The method was successfully applied for the determination of ascorbic acid in pharmaceuticals.     

Syngas Production by Methane Reforming with Carbon Dioxide on Noble Metal Catalysts

A series of noble metal catalysts (Ru, Rh, Ir, Pt, and Pd) supported on alumina-stabilized magnesia (Spinel) were used to produce syngas by methane reforming with carbon dioxide. The synthesized catalysts were characterized using BET, TPR, TPO, TPH, and H2S chemisorption techniques. The activity results showed high activity and stability for the Ru and Rh catalysts. The TPO and TPH analyses indicated that the main reason for lower activity and stability of the Pd catalyst was the formation of the less reactive deposited carbon and sintering of the catalyst.     

Fritsch-Buttenberg-Wiechell rearrangement in the aliphatic series

[reaction: see text] Substituted vinylidene zinc carbenoids undergo a Fritsch-Buttenberg-Wiechell rearrangement. The migratory aptitude of the two groups R/R1 was studied by 13C labeling experiments and depends on the degree of substitution in R and R1 groups and on the presence of an oxygen atom in the allylic position.     

Highly selective spectrophotometric flow-injection determination of trace amounts of bromide by catalytic effect on the oxidation of m-cresolsulfonephthalein by periodate

A new flow-injection method is reported for the determination of bromide. The method is based on catalytic effect of bromide on the oxidation of m-cresolsulfonephthalein by periodate in acidic media. The reaction was followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in absorbance at 528 nm. The influence of pH, reagent concentration and manifold variables on the sensitivity was studied. Under optimum conditions, a calibration graph was obtained in the range of 0.160-20.00 microg ml(-1) bromides with a limit of detection of 0.150 microg ml(-1) bromide. The relative standard deviation for ten replicate measurement of 1.0 microg ml(-1) bromide was 2.1%. The influence of potential interfering ions on the selectivity was studied. The method successes to measure bromide in the presence of other halide ions. The method was used to measure bromide in river water and tap water.     

Spectrophotometric determination of manganese(VII) using benzyltriphenylphosphoniumchloride as a new reagent and application of artificial neural network to extending the dynamic range of determination

A simple and selective spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of trace amounts of manganese. The method is based on the extraction of manganese as a MnO₂-benzyltriphenylphosphoniumchloride ion pair with chloroform. An artificial neural network (ANN) has been applied to the handling of the spectrophotometric data of this complex in the organic phase to extend the dynamic range of manganese determination (0.020–6.0 μg/mL). A three-layer back-propagation network (50:75:1) was used with root-mean-square error (rmse) 0.001 and momentum (m) 0.8 overall. The application of BP-ANN makes it possible to extend the dynamic range of the determination of manganese from its narrow linear range of 0.020–2.5 μg/mL to the dynamic range 0.020–6.0 μg/mL. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

A high performance method for thermodynamic study on the binding of human serum albumin with erbium chloride

Thermodynamics of the interaction between erbium(III) chloride, Er³⁺, with human serum albumin (HSA), was investigated at pH 7.0 and in phosphate buffer by isothermal titration calorimetry. Our recently, solvation model was used to reproduce the enthalpies of HSA interaction by Er³⁺ over a broad range of metal ion concentration. The solvation parameters recovered from our new model, attributed to the structural change of HSA and its biological activity. The binding parameters for the interaction of Er³⁺ and HSA indicate that the concentrations of Er³⁺ have no significant effects on the structure of HSA.     

Application of an extended solvation theory to study on the binding of magnesium ion with myelin basic protein

Binding properties of myelin basic protein (MBP) from bovine central nervous system due to the interaction by divalent magnesium ion (Mg²⁺) was investigated at 27°C in aqueous solution using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) technique. An extended solvation model was used to reproduce the enthalpies of Mg²⁺-MBP interaction over the whole Mg²⁺ concentrations. It was found that there is a set of two identical and noninteracting binding sites for Mg²⁺ ions. The dissociation equilibrium constant is K _d=45.5 μM. The molar enthalpy of binding site is identical for both sites; ΔH=−15.24 kJ mol⁻¹. The solvation parameters recovered from the solvation model were attributed to the structural change of MBP due to the metal ion interaction.