Two-dimensional position sensitive neutron detector

Pramana - A two-dimensional position sensitive neutron detector has been developed. The detector is a3He + Kr filled multiwire proportional counter with charge division position readout and has a...     

Development of a method to determine albendazole and its metabolites in the muscle tissue of yellow perch using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

An HPLC method was developed for the determination of albendazole (ABZ) and its metabolites, a sulfoxide (ABZSO), a sulfone (ABZSO2), and albendazole-2-aminosulfone (ABZ-2-NH2SO2), from yellow perch muscle tissue with adhering skin. The muscle tissue samples were made alkaline with potassium carbonate and extracted with ethyl acetate, followed by a series of liquid-liquid extraction steps. After solvent evaporation, the residue was reconstituted in the initial mobile phase combination of the gradient. The mobile phase consisted of a buffer, 50 mM ammonium acetate (pH = 4.0) in 10% methanol-water, and 100% acetonitrile. The gradient was from 20% acetonitrile to 85% acetonitrile. The analytes were chromatographed on an RP Luna C18(2) column and detected by fluorescence with excitation and emission wavelengths of 290 and 330 nm, respectively. The average recoveries from fortified muscle tissue for ABZ (20-100 ppb), ABZ-SO (20-200 ppb), ABZSO2 (8-100 ppb), and ABZ-2-NH2SO2 (20-100 ppb) were 85, 95, 101, and 86%, respectively, with corresponding CV values of 9, 3, 6, and 4%, respectively. Their LOQ values were 10, 10, 1, and 10 ppb, respectively. The procedure was applied to determine ABZ and its major metabolites in the incurred muscle tissue of yellow perch obtained after orally dosing the fish with ABZ.     

Platinum-nanogaps for single-molecule electronics: room-temperature stability

We present the formation of single-molecule devices based on nanometre-spaced platinum electrodes. The electrodes are fabricated using a self-breaking electromigration method which yields nanogaps with long-term stability at room temperature [Prins et al., APL, 2009, 94, 123108.]. The stability at room temperature allows for detailed comparison of the device electrical properties before and after deposition of the molecules. In this way, conductance as a result of direct tunneling between the electrodes can be distinguished from conductance through the molecule. After molecule deposition, some devices display transport in the strong coupling regime while others are in the weak-coupling Coulomb blockade regime. Gated transport is observed in the latter case.     

Farnesol Protects against Cardiotoxicity Caused by Doxorubicin-Induced Stress,Inflammation, and Cell Death: An In Vivo Study in Wistar Rats

Doxorubicin (DOXO) is an antineoplastic drug that is used extensively in managing multiple cancer types. However, DOXO-induced cardiotoxicity is a limiting factor for its widespread use and considerably affects patients’ quality of life. Farnesol (FSN) is a sesquiterpene with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor properties. Thus, the current study explored the cardioprotective effect of FSN against DOXO-induced cardiotoxicity. In this study, male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (n = 7) and treated for 14 days. Group I (Control): normal saline, p.o. daily for 14 days; Group II (TOXIC): DOXO 2.4 mg/kg, i.p, thrice weekly for 14 days; Group III: FSN 100 mg/kg, p.o. daily for 14 days + DOXO similar to Group II; Group IV: FSN 200 mg/kg, p.o. daily for 14 days + DOXO similar to Group II; Group V (Standard): nifedipine 10 mg/kg, p.o. daily for 14 days + DOXO similar to Group II. At the end of the study, animals were weighed, blood was collected, and heart-weight was measured. The cardiac tissue was used to estimate biochemical markers and for histopathological studies. The observed results revealed that the FSN-treated group rats showed decrease in heart weight and heart weight/body weight ratio, reversed the oxidative stress, cardiac-specific injury markers, proinflammatory and proapoptotic markers and histopathological aberrations towards normal, and showed cardioprotection. In summary, the FSN reduces cardiac injuries caused by DOXO via its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic potential. However, more detailed mechanism-based studies are needed to bring this drug into clinical use.     

Synthesis of 2-Aminopyrimidine Derivatives and Their Evaluation as β-Glucuronidase Inhibitors: In Vitro and In Silico Studies

Currently the discovery and development of potent β-glucuronidase inhibitors is an active area of research due to the observation that increased activity of this enzyme is associated with many pathological conditions, such as colon cancer, renal diseases, and infections of the urinary tract. In this study, twenty-seven 2-aminopyrimidine derivatives 1–27 were synthesized by fusion of 2-amino-4,6-dichloropyrimidine with a variety of amines in the presence of triethylamine without using any solvent and catalyst, in good to excellent yields. All synthesized compounds were characterized by EI-MS, HREI-MS and NMR spectroscopy. Compounds 1–27 were then evaluated for their β-glucuronidase inhibitory activity, and among them, compound 24 (IC₅₀ = 2.8 ± 0.10 µM) showed an activity much superior to standard D-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC₅₀ = 45.75 ± 2.16 µM). To predict the binding mode of the substrate and β-glucuronidase, in silico study was performed. Conclusively, this study has identified a potent β-glucuronidase inhibitor that deserves to be further studied for the development of pharmaceutical products.     

Metal‐based isatin‐bearing sulfonamides: their synthesis,characterization and biological properties

A new series of antibacterial and antifungal isatin bearing sulfonamides and their cobalt (II), copper (II), nickel (II) and zinc (II) metal complexes have been synthesized, characterized and screened for their in vitro antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Shigilla dysentriae and Staphylococcus aureus and for in vitro antifungal activity against Trichophyton schoenleinii, Candid glabrata, Pseudallescheria boydii, Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Microsporum canis and Trichophyton mentagrophytes. The results of these studies revealed that all compounds showed moderate to significant antibacterial activity. The brine shrimp bioassay was also carried out to study their in vitro cytotoxic properties. Only three compounds, 2, 11 and 22 displayed potent cytotoxic activity as LD₅₀ = 1.56 × 10^?7, 1.59 × 10^?7 and 1.67 × 10^?7 M /ml respectively, against Artemia salina. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

NaIO4-mediated C-H activation of alkylbenzenes and alkanes with LiBr

NaIO₄ oxidizes lithium bromide efficiently under acidic conditions to functionalize alkylbenzenes and alkanes and produce the corresponding bromo and acetoxy derivatives in excellent yields. The protocol also demonstrates the direct conversion of cyclohexane into trans-1,2-dibromocyclohexane in moderate yield.     

Sub-ppt level voltammetric sensor for Hg2+ detection based on nafion stabilized l-cysteine-capped Au@Ag core-shell nanoparticles

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Bimetallic nanoparticles (BMNPs) have received considerable attention due to their distinctive properties when compared to the corresponding monometallic...     

Jeans' gravitational instability of a thermally conducting plasma

The gravitational instability of an infinitely extending homogenous plasma endowed with several physical mechanisms, namely Hall currents, finite conductivity, ion viscosity and thermal conductivity is considered. The main result is that the various parameters play different physical roles in the perturbed problem. Jeans' criterion is analyzed in the framework of Tsallis' statistics for possible modifications due to the presence of nonextensive effects. A simple generalization of the Jeans' criterion is obtained and the standard values are obtained in the limiting case q=1, q being the nonextensive parameter.