Effect of strain rate on the mechanical properties of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms

The quantification of biofilm mechanical properties can serve as a basis for understanding biofilm resilience and for developing biofilm control strategies. One aspect of tensile testing that is likely to be important for a viscoelastic material such as bacterial biofilm, but unfortunately is often overlooked (i.e., not controlled or reported), is the strain rate used during testing. Thus, we performed tensile testing on intact S. epidermidis biofilms using the microcantilever method at 12 strain rate values ranging over approximately 3 orders of magnitude (0.013-9.07 s(-1)). Ultimate or cohesive strength, elastic modulus, and toughness increased with increasing strain rate and approached a plateau at approximately 1.3 s(-1). Failure strain, on the other hand, did not exhibit any trend with strain rate. Given that the mean values of some parameters increased by as much as 1 order of magnitude over the strain rate range used in this work, we suggest that the strain rate during tensile testing should be carefully controlled and reported to facilitate comparisons among different studies. Furthermore, the quantitative expressions developed in this work that relate mechanical property values with strain rate may be useful for modeling the deformation of bacterial biofilms under applied loads.     

Application of the lithiation-borylation reaction to the rapid and enantioselective synthesis of the bisabolane family of sesquiterpenes

The expedient enantioselective synthesis of 5 bisabolane sesquiterpenes has been achieved using a common, one-pot lithiation-borylation reaction of secondary benzylic carbamates and either protodeboronation or oxidation to give the natural products in fewer than 5 steps, with high yield and >94?:?6 er.     

The total synthesis of (−)-aplysin via a lithiation–borylation–propenylation sequence

A concise, highly enantioselective synthesis of sesquiterpene natural products (?)-debromoaplysin and (?)-aplysin has been completed. The key steps included lithiation–borylation of a secondary benzylic carbamate to give a tertiary boronic ester followed by propenylation which installed the quaternary stereocenter with complete enantioselectivity. Subsequent RCM followed by deprotection and in situ cyclization led to debromoaplysin with good diastereoselectivity from which the target compound was prepared in just eight overall steps.     

Stereocontrolled asymmetric synthesis of syn-E-1,4-diol-2-enes using allyl boronates and its application in the total synthesis of solandelactone F

The solandelactones A-H comprise a novel class of oxygenated fatty acids bearing an eight-membered lactone, trans cyclopropane, and a 2-ene-1,4-diol subunit. The relative stereochemistry of the 1,4-diol subunit is anti in solandelactones A, C, E & G, and syn in solandelactones B, D, F & H. Having prepared one member of the solandelactones bearing anti stereochemistry (solandelactone E), we have targeted the syn series and developed methodology for the synthesis of enantioenriched syn-2-ene-1,4-diols. The methodology comprises asymmetric deprotonation of an alkyl 2,4,6-triisopropylbenzoate using sBuLi/sparteine, followed by addition of the α-lithiobenzoate to β-silyl vinyl boronic acid ethylene glycol ester. The boron-ate complex generated undergoes a 1,2-metallate rearrangement furnishing an intermediate allyl boronic ester which is trapped by an aldehyde in the presence of MgBr(2) to furnish anti-β-hydroxy E-allylsilanes in good yields, high diastereoselectivity and high enantioselectivity. These sensitive products were oxidized using mCPBA to the corresponding epoxides and subsequently treated with acid to furnish syn-E-2-ene-1,4-diols (~4:1 d.r.). Application of the methodology to appropriately functionalized aldehyde and ω-alkenyl 2,4,6-triisopropylbenzoate coupling partners, led to a short, highly selective route to solandelactone F (bearing a syn-E-2-ene-1,4-diol).     

Monolithic bed structure for capillary liquid chromatography

Monolithic stationary phases show promise for LC as a result of their good permeability, ease of preparation and broad selectivity. Inorganic silica monoliths have been extensively studied and applied for separation of small molecules. The presence of a large number of through pores and small skeletal structure allows the chromatographic efficiencies of silica monoliths to be comparable to columns packed with 5 μm silica particles, at much lower back pressure. In comparison, organic polymeric monoliths have been mostly used for separation of bio-molecules; however, recently, applications are expanding to small molecules as well. Organic monoliths with high surface areas and fused morphology rather than conventional globular morphology have shown good performance for small molecule separations. Factors such as domain size, through-pore size and mesopore size of the monolithic structures have been found to govern the efficiency of monolithic columns. The structure and performance of monolithic columns are reviewed in comparison to particle packed columns. Studying and characterizing the bed structures of organic monolithic columns can provide great insights into their performance, and aid in structure-directed synthesis of new and improved monoliths.     

Determination of uranium isotopes in irradiated thorium dioxide by alpha spectrometry using WinALPHA for deconvolution of complex spectra

Isotopic composition of uranium obtained from irradiated thorium dioxide was determined using alpha spectrometry by employing WinALPHA for the deconvolution of the alpha spectra recorded using electrodeposited sources. The results obtained were found to agree within 1% with those determined by thermal ionization mass spectrometry. The deconvolution methodology is important since it is possible to account for the in-growth of ²²⁸Th, which interferes in the determination of ²³²U by alpha spectrometry. The present methodology has the potential to determine isotopic composition of uranium in the irradiated thorium based nuclear fuels, employing alpha spectrometry.     

Application of Atanassov’s I-fuzzy set theory to matrix games with fuzzy goals and fuzzy payoffs

We aim to extend some results in [6, 7, 8, 2] on two person zero sum matrix games (TPZSMG) with fuzzy goals and fuzzy payoffs to I-fuzzy scenario. Because the payoffs of the matrix game are fuzzy numbers, the aspiration levels of the players are fuzzy as well. It is reasonable to believe that there is some indeterminacy in estimating the aspiration levels of both players from their respective expected pay offs. This situation is modeled in the game using Atanassov??s I-fuzzy set theory. A new solution concept is proposed for such games and a procedure is outlined to obtain the degrees of suitability of the aspiration levels for each of the two players.     

Helical peptide models for protein glycation: proximity effects in catalysis of the Amadori rearrangement.

INTRODUCTION: Non-enzymatic glycation of proteins has been implicated in various diabetic complications and age-related disorders. Proteins undergo glycation at the N-terminus or at the epsilon-amino group of lysine residues. The observation that only a fraction of all lysine residues undergo glycation indicates the role of the immediate chemical environment in the glycation reaction. Here we have constructed helical peptide models, which juxtapose lysine with potentially catalytic residues in order to probe their roles in the individual steps of the glycation reaction. RESULTS: The peptides investigated in this study are constrained to adopt helical conformations allowing residues in the i and i+4 positions to come into spatial proximity, while residues i and i+2 are far apart. The placing of aspartic acid and histidine residues at interacting positions with lysine modulates the steps involved in early peptide glycation (reversible Schiff base formation and its subsequent irreversible conversion to a ketoamine product, the Amadori rearrangement). Proximal positioning of aspartic acid or histidine with respect to the reactive lysine residue retards initial Schiff base formation. On the contrary, aspartic acid promotes catalysis of the Amadori rearrangement. Presence of the strongly basic residue arginine proximate to lysine favorably affects the pK(a) of both the lysine epsilon-amino group and the singly glycated lysine, aiding in the formation of doubly glycated species. The Amadori product also formed carboxymethyl lysine, an advanced glycation endproduct (AGE), in a time-dependent manner. CONCLUSIONS: Stereochemically defined peptide scaffolds are convenient tools for studying near neighbor effects on the reactivity of functional amino acid sidechains. The present study utilizes stereochemically defined peptide helices to effectively demonstrate that aspartic acid is an efficient catalytic residue in the Amadori arrangement. The results emphasize the structural determinants of Schiff base and Amadori product formation in the final accumulation of glycated peptides.     

Measurement of the absolute Raman scattering cross sections of sulfur and the standoff Raman detection of a 6‐mm‐thick sulfur specimen at 1500 m

The absolute Raman scattering cross sections (σ_RS) for the 471, 217, and 153 cm⁻¹ modes of sulfur were measured as 6.0 ± 1.2 × 10⁻²⁷, 7.7 ± 1.6 × 10⁻²⁷, and 1.2 ± 0.24 × 10⁻²⁶ cm² at 815, 799, and 794 nm, respectively, using a 785‐nm pump laser. The corresponding values of σ_RS at 1120, 1089, and 1081 nm were determined to be 1.5 ± 0.3 × 10⁻²⁷, 1.2 ± 0.24 × 10⁻²⁷, and 1.2 ± 0.24 × 10⁻²⁷ cm² using a 1064‐nm laser. A temperature‐controlled, small‐cavity (2.125 mm diameter) blackbody source was used to calibrate the signal output of the Raman spectrometers for these measurements. Standoff Raman detection of a 6‐mm‐thick sulfur specimen located at 1500 m from the pump laser and the Raman spectrometer was made using a 1.4‐W, CW, 785‐nm pump laser. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.