Comment on the paper: “Forced oscillation of certain neutral hyperbolic equations with continuous distributed deviating arguments” [Math. Comput. Modeling 49 (2009) 1211–1220]

In recent years, many results on oscillation criteria of second-order nonlinear neutral delay differential equations with distributed deviating argument have been obtained, but some of these criteria are incorrect due to a mistake in a crucial auxiliary result. We give two counterexamples.     

Novel structurally characterized o-semiquinonato PCP-pincer nickel complexes

Structural study of dialkyl (PCP)-pincer o-semiquinonato nickel complexes indicated sloped relative positions of bi- and tri-dentate ligands. It became bright confirmation of propositions made on the base of their EPR spectra followed by molecular modelling.     

Sonochemical immobilization of silver nanoparticles on porous polypropylene

Silver nanoparticles were immobilized on the surface of polypropylene (PP) porous beads by an ultrasound‐assisted reduction method. The structure and properties of the silver–PP composite were characterized with XRD, TEM, HRSEM, EDX, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy. Water‐soluble polymers such as PEG, PVA, and PVP were used as stabilizing agents for preventing the agglomeration of the silver nanoparticles. With PVP, a homogeneous distribution of silver nanocrystals, 50 nm in size, on the PP surface was achieved. The mechanism proposed for the silver anchoring to the inert polymer accounts for a localized melting of the PP. The beads of the silver PP composite demonstrated good stability and high antibacterial activity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1719–1729, 2008     

The rheology of hydrogels based on chitosan–gelatin (bio)polyelectrolyte complexes

Influence of the chitosan concentration in the low-concentrated acidic hydrogels formed by (bio)polyelectrolyte chitosan–gelatin complexes (at a constant gelatin concentration of 1%) was studied by shearing in steady flow and linear oscillations. These complexes, including native gelatin, demonstrate clearly expressed viscoelastic properties. Viscoelastic properties correlated well with the non-Newtonian behavior of hydrogels (according to the Cox–Merz rule). Increasing the chitosan concentration (from 0.1% to 0.6%) results in exponential growth of the apparent viscosity, yield stress, and storage modulus. However, a further increase in chitosan concentration to 0.8% leads to a reduction in these rheological parameters due to the electrostatic repulsion of similarly charged polyelectrolyte complexes under the high concentration of these complexes. The macro-rheological properties of chitosan–gelatin gels are mainly determined by the colloidal structure of sol-precursors in solutions. The yield stress dependence on the radius of the dispersed particles is of square type. Electron photomicrographs showed that the introduction of even small quantities of chitosan leads to radical changes in the supramolecular structure of the gelatin gel.     

DFT study of polymorphism of the DNA double helix at the level of dinucleoside monophosphates

We apply DFT calculations to deoxydinucleoside monophosphates (dDMPs) which represent minimal fragments of the DNA chain to study the molecular basis of stability of the DNA duplex, the origin of its polymorphism and conformational heterogeneity. In this work, we continue our previous studies of dDMPs where we detected internal energy minima corresponding to the “classical” B conformation (BI‐form), which is the dominant form in the crystals of oligonucleotide duplexes. We obtained BI local energy minima for all existing base sequences of dDMPs. In the present study, we extend our analysis to other families of DNA conformations, successfully identifying A, BI, and BII energy minima for all dDMP sequences. These conformations demonstrate distinct differences in sugar ring puckering, but similar sequence‐dependent base arrangements. Internal energies of BI and BII conformers are close to each other for nearly all the base sequences. The dGpdG, dTpdG, and dCpdA dDMPs slightly favor the BII conformation, which agrees with these sequences being more frequently experimentally encountered in the BII form. We have found BII‐like structures of dDMPs for the base sequences both existing in crystals in BII conformation and those not yet encountered in crystals till now. On the other hand, we failed to obtain dDMP energy minima corresponding to the Z family of DNA conformations, thus giving us the ground to conclude that these conformations are stabilized in both crystals and solutions by external factors, presumably by interactions with various components of the media. Overall the accumulated computational data demonstrate that the A, BI, and BII families of DNA conformations originate from the corresponding local energy minimum conformations of dDMPs, thus determining structural stability of a single DNA strand during the processes of unwinding and rewinding of DNA. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 110:2548–2559, 2010     

Millimeter-scale contact printing of aqueous solutions using a stamp made out of paper and tape

This communication describes a simple method for printing aqueous solutions with millimeter-scale patterns on a variety of substrates using an easily fabricated, paper-based microfluidic device (a paper-based "stamp") as a contact printing device. The device is made from inexpensive materials, and it is easily assembled by hand; this method is thus accessible to a wide range of laboratories and budgets. A single device was used to print over 2500 spots in less than three minutes at a density of 16 spots per square centimetre. This method provides a new tool to pattern biochemicals-reagents, antigens, proteins, and DNA-on planar substrates. The accuracy of the volume of fluid delivered in simple paper-to-paper printing is low, and although the pattern transfer is rapid, it is better suited for qualitative than accurate, quantitative work. By patterning the paper to which the transfer occurs using wax printing or an equivalent technique, accuracy increases substantially.     

Redox electrodeposition polymers: adaptation of the redox potential of polymer-bound Os complexes for bioanalytical applications

The design of polymers carrying suitable ligands for coordinating Os complexes in ligand exchange reactions against labile chloro ligands is a strategy for the synthesis of redox polymers with bound Os centers which exhibit a wide variation in their redox potential. This strategy is applied to polymers with an additional variation of the properties of the polymer backbone with respect to pH-dependent solubility, monomer composition, hydrophilicity etc. A library of Os-complex-modified electrodeposition polymers was synthesized and initially tested with respect to their electron-transfer ability in combination with enzymes such as glucose oxidase, cellobiose dehydrogenase, and PQQ-dependent glucose dehydrogenase entrapped during the pH-induced deposition process. The different polymer-bound Os complexes in a library containing 50 different redox polymers allowed the statistical evaluation of the impact of an individual ligand to the overall redox potential of an Os complex. Using a simple linear regression algorithm prediction of the redox potential of Os complexes becomes feasible. Thus, a redox polymer can now be designed to optimally interact in electron-transfer reactions with a selected enzyme.