Photodynamic Activity on Biofilm in Endotracheal Tubes of Patients Admitted to an Intensive Care Unit

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an infection that arises after endotracheal intubation affecting patients under intensive care. The presence of the endotracheal tube (ETT) is a risk factor since it is colonized by multispecies biofilm. Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) could be a strategy to decontaminate ETTs. We verify if methylene blue (MB) associated with external illumination of the ETT could be an alternative to destroy biofilm. We performed an in vitro and ex vivo study. In vitro study was performed with P. aeruginosa biofilm grew over ETT for 7 days. After treatment, the surviving cells were cultured for 3 days and the biofilm was analyzed by crystal violet absorbance. Ex vivo study employed ETT obtained from extubated patients. aPDT was performed with MB (100 µm ) and red LED (λ = 640±20 nm). We quantified the biofilm thickness and used scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence technique to verify morphological and functional changes after aPDT. Our results showed that bacteria remain susceptible to aPDT after sequential treatments. We also attested that aPDT can reduce biofilm thickness, disrupt biofilm attachment from ETT surface and kill microbial cells. These data suggest that aPDT should be investigated to decrease VAP incidence via ETT decontamination.     

Strong,Thermally Superinsulating Biopolymer–Silica Aerogel Hybrids by Cogelation of Silicic Acid with Pectin

Silica aerogels are excellent thermal insulators, but their brittle nature has prevented widespread application. To overcome these mechanical limitations, silica–biopolymer hybrids are a promising alternative. A one‐pot process to monolithic, superinsulating pectin–silica hybrid aerogels is presented. Their structural and physical properties can be tuned by adjusting the gelation pH and pectin concentration. Hybrid aerogels made at pH 1.5 exhibit minimal dust release and vastly improved mechanical properties while remaining excellent thermal insulators. The change in the mechanical properties is directly linked to the observed “neck‐free” nanoscale network structure with thicker struts. Such a design is superior to “neck‐limited”, classical inorganic aerogels. This new class of materials opens up new perspectives for novel silica–biopolymer nanocomposite aerogels.     

Metal Ion Recognition. Interaction of New Oxygen-Nitrogen Donor Macrocycles with Selected Transition and Post-Transition Metal Ions

As part of an ongoing investigation of the factors influencing metal ionrecognition, we have investigated structure/function relationships involvingthe metal-ion binding by three new N-benzyl-substituted, 15- and 16-membered,macrocyclic ligands incorporating N₂O ₃- and N ₃O ₃-donor sets (withthe N ₃O ₃-system consisting of a N ₂O ₃-macrocyclic ring with an attachedCH ₂CH ₂NCH ₂C ₆H ₅ pendant arm). Selected solid complexes of thelatter ligand were isolated and the X-ray structures of individual Ni(II) and Ag(I) complexeswere obtained.Where solubility permitted, potentiometric titration studies in 95% methanolwere employed to investigate the binding affinities of all three ligand derivativestowards Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Ag(I) and Pb(II). The 15-memberedN ₂O ₃-ring was found to be selective for Ag(I) over the other six metalsinvestigated, including Cu(II). However, the presence of a further nitrogen donorin the form of the pendant benzylamine functionality in the N ₃O ₃-donorsystem results in an increase in its binding affinity for Ag(I) but an even greaterincrease occurs for Cu(II). As a consequence, the latter ion is now more stronglybound than Ag(I). The factors influencing these respective selectivities are discussed.     

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of α-halogeno-3-octanol and 4- or 5-nonanols. Application to the preparation of chiral epoxides

A study of the microbiological reduction of different α-halogenoketones (4-chloro-3-octanone, 4-chloro-5-nonanone, 5-bromo-4-nonanone and 5-chloro-4-nonanone) with several strains of microorganism showed great difficulty in reducing ketone functions located in the middle of carbon chains. However, by choosing the appropriate microorganism, several enantiomerically pure diastereoisomers of the corresponding halohydrins have been obtained and were transformed into chiral epoxides.     

Bacterial iron transport: coordination properties of azotobactin, the highly fluorescent siderophore of Azotobacter vinelandii

Azotobacter vinelandii, a nitrogen-fixing soil bacterium, secretes in iron deficiency azotobactin delta, a highly fluorescent pyoverdin-like chromopeptidic hexadentate siderophore. The chromophore, derived from 2,3-diamino-6,7 dihydroxyquinoline, is bound to a peptide chain of 10 amino acids: (L)-Asp-(D)-Ser-(L)-Hse-Gly-(D)-beta-threo-HOAsp-(L)-Ser-(D)-Cit-(L)-Hse-(L)-Hse lactone-(D)-N(delta)-Acetyl, N(delta)-HOOrn. Azotobactin delta has three different iron(III) binding sites which are one hydroxamate group at the C-terminal end of the peptidic chain (N(delta)-Acetyl, N(delta)-HOOrn), one alpha-hydroxycarboxylic function in the middle of the chain (beta-threo-hydroxyaspartic acid), and one catechol group on the chromophore. The coordination properties of its iron(III) and iron(II) complexes were measured by spectrophotometry, potentiometry, and voltammetry after the determination of the acid-base functions of the uncomplexed free siderophore. Strongly negatively charged ferric species were observed at neutral p[H]'s corresponding to a predominant absolute configuration Lambda of the ferric complex in solution as deduced from CD measurements. The presence of an alpha-hydroxycarboxylic chelating group does not decrease the stability of the iron(III) complex when compared to the main trishydroxamate siderophores or to pyoverdins. The value of the redox potential of ferric azotobactin is highly consistent with a reductive step by physiological reductants for the iron release. Formation and dissociation kinetics of the azotobactin delta ferric complex point out that both ends of this long siderophore chain get coordinated to Fe(III) before the middle. The most striking result provided by fluorescence measurements is the lasting quenching of the fluorophore in the course of the protonation of the ferric azotobactin delta complex. Despite the release of the hydroxyacid and of the catechol, the fluorescence remains indeed quenched, when iron(III) is bound only to the hydroxamic acid, suggesting a folded conformation at this stage, around the metal ion, in contrast to the unfolded species observed for other siderophores such as ferrioxamine or pyoverdin PaA.     

Parameter estimation of ordinary differential equations

This paper addresses the development of a new algorithm forparameter estimation of ordinary differential equations. Here,we show that (1) the simultaneous approach combined with orthogonalcyclic reduction can be used to reduce the estimation problemto an optimization problem subject to a fixed number of equalityconstraints without the need for structural information to devisea stable embedding in the case of non-trivial dichotomy and(2) the Newton approximation of the Hessian information of theLagrangian function of the estimation problem should be usedin cases where hypothesized models are incorrect or only a limitedamount of sample data is available. A new algorithm is proposedwhich includes the use of the sequential quadratic programming(SQP) Gauss–Newton approximation but also encompassesthe SQP Newton approximation along with tests of when to usethis approximation. This composite approach relaxes the restrictionson the SQP Gauss–Newton approximation that the hypothesizedmodel should be correct and the sample data set large enough.This new algorithm has been tested on two standard problems.