A New Butyrate Releaser Exerts a Protective Action against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Human Intestine

Butyrate is a major gut microbiome metabolite that regulates several defense mechanisms against infectious diseases. Alterations in the gut microbiome, leading to reduced butyrate production, have been reported in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. A new butyrate releaser, useful for all the known applications of butyrate, presenting physiochemical characteristics suitable for easy oral administration, (N-(1-carbamoyl-2-phenyl-ethyl) butyramide (FBA), has been recently developed. We investigated the protective action of FBA against SARS-CoV-2 infection in the human small intestine and enterocytes. Relevant aspects of SARS-CoV-2 infection were assessed: infectivity, host functional receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2), transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2), neuropilin-1 (NRP1), pro-inflammatory cytokines expression, genes involved in the antiviral response and the activation of Nf-kB nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2-like) 2 (Nfr2) pathways. We found that FBA positively modulates the crucial aspects of the infection in small intestinal biopsies and human enterocytes, reducing the expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2 and NRP1, pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-15, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and TNF-α, and regulating several genes involved in antiviral pathways. FBA was also able to reduce the number of SARS-CoV-2-infected cells, and ACE2, TMPRSS2 and NRP1 expression. Lastly, through the inhibition of Nf-kB and the up-regulation of Nfr2, it was also able to reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-15, MCP-1 and TNF-α in human enterocytes. The new butyrate releaser, FBA, exerts a preventive action against SARS-CoV-2 infection. It could be considered as an innovative strategy to limit COVID-19.     

A Mixed Ruthenium Polypyridyl Complex Containing a PEG‐Bipyridine Macroligand

Summary: An amino‐functionalized bipyridine ligand was prepared in order to serve as a bridging unit to an activated low‐molecular‐weight monomethyl ether of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). Coordination of a ruthenium(II ) phenantroline precursor onto the formed PEG‐containing bipyridine ligand yielded a metal‐containing polymer which shows interesting properties for solar cell applications.

A schematic of the described polymeric ruthenium(II ) complex and its absorption and emission properties.     

A Novel Light‐Emitting Mixed‐Ligand Iridium(III) Complex with a Terpyridine‐Poly(ethylene glycol) Macroligand

Summary : A monoterpyridine‐poly(ethylene glycol) (mono‐tpy‐PEG) and a novel monoterpyridine‐PEG‐functionalized iridium(III ) complex were successfully synthesized and fully characterized by means of NMR, IR, and UV‐vis spectroscopy, as well as gel permeation chromatography and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry. The functionalized monoterpyridine iridium(III ) complex was synthesized by a bridge‐splitting reaction of a dimeric iridium(III ) precursor complex using a chelating terpyridine ligand with a poly(ethylene glycol) tail. With this approach, a new class of light‐emitting polymeric materials revealing interesting optical properties was made avaialable.

Upon excitation of a spin‐coated film of the iridium(III ) complex prepared here, a yellow emission color (two bands in figure) was observed.     

Applications of Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS): An Examination of Selected African Cases

As a result of the new economic order in Africa, scientists face enormous challenges due to an increase in socio and economic activities. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) will be expected to play a big role in providing some of the solutions to the challenges. Up to now, applications of GC–MS in Africa have focused on profiling natural products for their chemical composition as seen from the number of papers published between 2005 and 2011, i.e. at approximately 62 % of the total. In order to meet the new challenges, a paradigm shift is suggested in the design of research projects. Some economic activities envisaged to boom are food and beverage production for local consumption and for export to markets in the developed world. To meet the requirements of these markets, monitoring pesticides and metabolites of veterinary drugs and other toxins in food will become paramount. Africa also needs to put stringent environmental monitoring policies in place. This will aid remediation following accidental or intentional spillages of chemicals not benign to the environment.

     

FEM-analysis of a multiferroic nanocomposite – comparison of experiment and numerical simulation

The combination of electric and magnetic materials opens new possibilities in the field of sensor technologies and data storage [1]. These magneto-electric (ME) materials have the property to change a physical ferroic quantity into another, i.e. a magnetic field can change the electric polarization and vice versa. The combination of multiple ferroic characteristics within materials is called multiferroic. Since magneto-electric single-phase materials are rare in nature and typically operate only at very low temperature, they are not favorable in technical applications. However, ME composites, consisting of ferroelectric and ferromagnetic phases, produce a strain-induced magneto-electric product property at room temperature [2]. In these composites, two different effects can be differentiated, the direct and the converse ME effect. The first one describes a polarization which is magnetically caused. In detail, a magnetic field is applied which produces a deformation of the magneto-active phase which is transferred to the electro-active phase and as a consequence this phase exhibits a polarization. Therefore, one can discover a strain-induced polarization. The second effect to observe is a magnetization caused by an electric field. In our contribution, we focus on a (1-3) composite, where cobalt ferrite nanopillars are embedded in a barium titanate matrix, see the experiments described in [3]. In the numerical simulations we compare the changes of the strain-induced inplane polarizations of the ferroelectric matrix with experimental measurements. Furthermore, we analyze the magneto-electric coupling coefficient. (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)