Development of fish gelatin-based artificial fish baits incorporating bioattractants from seafood processing waste

The study dealt with evolving an artificial fish bait by incorporating bioattractant concentrates derived from seafood processing wastes by enzymatic hydrolysis namely fish waste concentrate (FWC), squid waste concentrate (SWC), and shrimp processing concentrate (SPWC). They were characterized based on amino acid content and presence of different functional groups using FTIR. Among them, SWC was found to have the highest amino acid content of 60.85mg/100 mg followed by FWC (42.21mg/100 mg) and SPWC (24.82mg/100 mg). The developed artificial fish baits were subjected to protein leaching, solubility in seawater besides testing for acceptability by the red snapper. The study revealed that the bait incorporated with SWC at 3% level was found be the most ideal, with the protein leaching rate of 24.82 mg/g/h, solubility rate of 36.6 mg/g/h and the attractability score of 29/30. The amino acid leaching rate was 3.11 mg/h/100 mg and it was found to contain five amino acids such as glycine, proline, glutamic acid, alanine and serine. The study revealed that the hydrolyzed squid waste concentrate can be incorporated at 3% (w/w) with fish gelatin based biomatrix during gelation to prepare artificial bait.     

Synthesis,anti‐inflammatory activity,and molecular docking study of novel azo bis antipyrine derivatives against cyclooxygenase‐2 enzyme

We have synthesized a new series of azo‐bis antipyrine derivatives from a one‐pot multicomponent Knoevenagel/Michael addition reaction of antipyrine, with a diversity of azo aldehydes in ethanol and L‐Proline as a catalyst under reflux condition. The anti‐inflammatory activity of the final products was assessed using the inhibition of albumin denaturation technique. Compound 3f showed an inhibitory effect with IC₅₀ values of 3.6 μM with respect to the standard anti‐inflammatory drug Aspirin, with IC₅₀ values of 2 μM. In addition, molecular docking was performed to confirm the in vitro results against the enzymatic inhibition activity of COX‐2 enzymes in which compound 3f showed good binding affinity with an inhibition constant (Ki) of 1.79 nM.     

On the Role of Symmetry in Vibrational Strong Coupling: The Case of Charge‐Transfer Complexation

It is well known that symmetry plays a key role in chemical reactivity. Here we explore its role in vibrational strong coupling (VSC) for a charge‐transfer (CT) complexation reaction. By studying the trimethylated‐benzene–I₂ CT complex, we find that VSC induces large changes in the equilibrium constant K_DA of the CT complex, reflecting modifications in the ΔG° value of the reaction. Furthermore, by tuning the microfluidic cavity modes to the different IR vibrations of the trimethylated benzene, ΔG° either increases or decreases depending only on the symmetry of the normal mode that is coupled. This result reveals the critical role of symmetry in VSC and, in turn, provides an explanation for why the magnitude of chemical changes induced by VSC are much greater than the Rabi splitting, that is, the energy perturbation caused by VSC. These findings further confirm that VSC is powerful and versatile tool for the molecular sciences.     

Mean amplitudes of vibration in some tetrahedral tetrahalogeno complexes

The Cyvin method, utilizing symmetry coordinates, has been employed here to compute the mean-square amplitude quantities, generalized mean-square amplitudes (mean-square parallel amplitudes, mean-square perpendicular amplitudes and mean cross products) and mean amplitudes of vibration for the bonded as well as non-bonded atom pairs at the temperaturesT=298°K andT=500°K for the tetrahedral tetrahalogeno complexes of zinc, cadmium, gallium, indium, thallium and arsenic. The non-linear behaviour of the mean amplitudes of vibration in terms of the electronegativities of the central atoms has been discussed, followed by a discussion on the replacement of peripheral atoms.     

Structural and functional analogue of the active site of polysulfide reductase from Wolinella succinogenes

Synthesis of [PPh4]2[Mo(SPh)2(S2C2(CN)2)2] (2) from [PPh4]2[MoO(S2C2(CN)2)2] (1) has been achieved to mimic the postulated [Mo(S)6] core of polysulfide reductase with two thiolates and two bis(ene-dithiolate) ligands. Compound 2 reacts with polysulfide to yield H2S, modeling the function of polysulfide reductase. The facile conversion of 2 back to 1 in moist solvent suggests that the interconversion of the [MoIV = O] and [MoIV - X] (X = O-Ser, S-Cys, Se-Cys) moieties might occur in the DMSO reductase class of enzymes under appropriate hydrophobic/hydrophilic conditions.     

Determination of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde in roots of Decalepis hamiltonii (Wight & Arn.) and Hemidesmus indicus R.Br

The roots of Decalepis hamiltonii and Hemidesmus indicus are aromatic and possess the crystalline compound 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde as the major compound (> 90%) in their volatile oils. A gas chromatographic procedure was developed for the assay of 2-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde in both fresh and dried roots of different origin. Benzyl butyrate was used as the internal standard. Among the methods tried, steam hydrodistillation was suitable for extraction of the volatile oils. The quantity of this aromatic compound varied from 0.03 to 0.54%.     

Measurement of internal stresses via the polarization in epitaxial ferroelectric films

The relations between electrical and mechanical properties of constrained ferroelectric films are analyzed. It is shown that the internal stresses and the elastic constants can be determined through the measurement of the electrical response. The change in the polarization is proportional to internal stresses due to film-substrate misfit, whereas the linear electrical and electromechanical responses to external field do not depend on the misfit and are determined by the film constraint. The theoretical results are successfully applied to PbZr 0.2Ti 0.8O (3) films on (001) LaAlO (3) substrate which exhibit a considerable increase in the saturation polarization due to epitaxial stresses. Significant recovery in the piezoelectric constant and susceptibility is theoretically predicted and experimentally verified for specific film configurations which reduce the degree of constraint. The concept presented in this Letter can be expanded to constrained ferromagnetic and superconductor films.     

The use of fractional orders in the determination of birefringence of highly dispersive materials by the channelled spectrum method

The channelled spectrum employing polarized light interference is a very convenient method for the study of dispersion of birefringence. However, while using this method, the absolute order of the polarized light interference fringes cannot be determined easily. Approximate methods are therefore used to estimate the order. One of the approximations is that the dispersion of birefringence across neighbouring integer order fringes is negligible. In this paper, we show how this approximation can cause errors. A modification is reported whereby the error in the determination of absolute fringe order can be reduced using fractional orders instead of integer orders. The theoretical background for this method supported with computer simulation is presented. An experimental arrangement implementing these modifications is described. This method uses a Constant Deviation Spectrometer (CDS) and a Soleil Babinet Compensator (SBC).