Size dependence of transition temperature in polymer nanowires

We studied the effect of changing temperature on the mechanical properties of nanosized poly(methyl methacrylate) wires fabricated by two-photon fabrication. At around room temperature, the nanowires showed a transition temperature where the shear modulus suddenly changed. This transition temperature was observed to decrease more than 40 K by decreasing the radius of the nanowires from 450 to 150 nm. This size is several times larger in nanowires than reported values of polymer thin film thickness showing a depression of the glass transition temperature.     

Inhibitory Effects of Tunisian Marine Algal Extracts on Digestive Lipases

The lipase inhibitory activity of ethanol extracts obtained from some marine algae collected on the Tunisian coast was evaluated. Caulerpa prolifera extract markedly reduced both dog gastric (DGL) and human pancreatic lipase (HPL) activities. Generally, the inhibition reached 100% after 40 to 60 min of incubation depending on lipase types and on substrates used. Moreover, the inhibitory effect of C. prolifera extract on lipases appeared to be accelerated by adding bile salts, which likely modified the interface and allowed the inhibitory compound to inactivate the lipase. The separation of C. prolifera extract by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) resulted in eight fractions showing efficient inhibition rate against DGL, compared to the crude extract. In the case of HPL, TLC fractionation reduced the inhibitory rates, suggesting that the effect of algal extract on lipases may be caused by a synergetic action of several compounds within the extract. High-performance liquid chromatograph separation resulted in isolation of a major compound displaying high inhibition capacity of HPL activity. Caulerpa prolifera extract may therefore be useful in developing antiobesity drugs.     

Zinc oxide nanoparticles-chitosan composite film for cholesterol biosensor

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (NanoZnO) uniformly dispersed in chitosan (CHIT) have been used to fabricate a hybrid nanocomposite film onto indium-tin-oxide (ITO) glass plate. Cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) has been immobilized onto this NanoZnO-CHIT composite film using physiosorption technique. Both NanoZnO-CHIT/ITO electrode and ChOx/NanoZnO-CHIT/ITO bioelectrode have been characterized using Fourier transform-infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), cyclic voltammetry (CV), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques, respectively. The ChOx/NanoZnO-CHIT/ITO bioelectrode exhibits linearity from 5 to 300 mg dl⁻¹ of cholesterol with detection limit as 5 mg dl⁻¹, sensitivity as 1.41 × 10⁻⁴ A mg dl⁻¹ and the value of Michaelis-Menten constant (K_m) as 8.63 mg dl⁻¹. This cholesterol biosensor can be used to estimate cholesterol in serum samples.     

Target‐Induced and Equipment‐Free DNA Amplification with a Simple Paper Device

We report on a paper device capable of carrying out target‐induced rolling circle amplification (RCA) to produce massive DNA amplicons that can be easily visualized. Interestingly, we observed that RCA was more proficient on paper than in solution, which we attribute to a significantly higher localized concentration of immobilized DNA. Furthermore, we have successfully engineered a fully functional paper device for sensitive DNA or microRNA detection via printing of all RCA‐enabling molecules within a polymeric sugar film formed from pullulan, which was integrated with the paper device. This encapsulation not only stabilizes the entrapped reagents at room temperature but also enables colorimetric bioassays with minimal steps.     

Optimality conditions for nonsmooth mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints,using convexificators

In this paper, we deal with constraint qualifications, stationary concepts and optimality conditions for a nonsmooth mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC). The main tool in our study is the notion of convexificator. Using this notion, standard and MPEC Abadie and several other constraint qualifications are proposed and a comparison between them is presented. We also define nonsmooth stationary conditions based on the convexificators. In particular, we show that GS-stationary is the first-order optimality condition under generalized standard Abadie constraint qualification. Finally, sufficient conditions for global or local optimality are derived under some MPEC generalized convexity assumptions.     

Glutaric Acid Assisted Fabrication of CuO Nanostructures and their Application in Development of Highly Sensitive Electrochemical Sensor System for Carbamates

This work describes the fabrication of unique arrow head shaped CuO nanostructures using simple hydrothermal treatment method. The highly attractive features were obtained by the application of glutaric acid utilised simultaneous as template and functionalising agent. The functionalised nanostructures were known to possess excellent potential towards the electro‐catalytic oxidation of carbofuran pesticide. The generated intense electrochemical signal with lower potential value enabled sensitive and selective determination of carbofuran up to 1×10^?3 µM with wide sensing window in range of 0.01 to 0.16 µM. The feasibility of the developed sensor system for the practical application was also studied by testing its potential in real sample extracts of various vegetables. The excellent recoveries demonstrated the analytical robustness of the developed sensor system. The sensor system utilises a new and simple approach towards sensitive determination of toxic pesticides reflecting its wide spectrum application in various fields.     

Functional Convergence of Linear Processes with Heavy-Tailed Innovations

We study convergence in law of partial sums of linear processes with heavy-tailed innovations. In the case of summable coefficients, necessary and sufficient conditions for the finite dimensional convergence to an \(\alpha \)-stable Lévy Motion are given. The conditions lead to new, tractable sufficient conditions in the case \(\alpha \le 1\). In the functional setting, we complement the existing results on \(M_1\)-convergence, obtained for linear processes with nonnegative coefficients by Avram and Taqqu (Ann Probab 20:483–503, 1992) and improved by Louhichi and Rio (Electr J Probab 16(89), 2011), by proving that in the general setting partial sums of linear processes are convergent on the Skorokhod space equipped with the \(S\) topology, introduced by Jakubowski (Electr J Probab 2(4), 1997).     

Amino acid and peptide synthesis and functionalization by the reaction of thioacids with 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonamides

Readily prepared amino thioacids react at room temperature in DMF in the presence of cesium carbonate with 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonamides to give amides. When the sulfonamide is derived from an amino acid the method results in peptide bond formation, whereas the use of carbohydrate derived sulfonamides gives neoglycoconjugates.     

Improved solubilization of surface proteins from Listeria monocytogenes for 2-DE

Solubilization of bacterial surface (cell wall and membrane-associated) proteins for 2-DE is challenging, particularly in the case of Gram-positive bacteria. This is primarily due to strong protein association with the cell wall peptidoglycan and protein hydrophobicity. We solubilized surface proteins for 2-DE from the Gram-positive pathogen Listeria monocytogenes using mutanolysin, which digests cell wall peptidoglycan, and one of three different mixtures of zwitterionic detergent and chaotropes: (i) CHAPS/urea, (ii) amidosulfobetaine-14 (ASB-14)/urea/thiourea (iii) N-decyl-N,N'-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate/urea/thiourea. Cell lysis with mutanolysin followed by solubilization with ASB-14/urea/thiourea gave the highest overall protein yield with the best 2-DE resolution. Protein spot identification by MALDI-TOF/TOF-MS analysis revealed 29 characterized surface proteins of L. monocytogenes, 17 of which have not previously been reported on the surface proteome map. This is the first report describing the successful solubilization and 2-DE of L. monocytogenes proteins bound to the cell surface via an LPXTG motif or by a hydrophobic tail. The increase in surface proteome coverage obtained by mutanolysin and ASB-14/urea/thiourea solubilization suggests the utility of this method for future analytical and comparative studies of surface proteins from Listeria, and possibly other Gram-positive bacteria, using 2-DE proteomic analysis. An updated 2-DE reference map of L. monocytogenes surface proteins is presented.