Conformational Dynamics Underlies Different Functions of Human KDM7 Histone Demethylases

The human KDM7 subfamily histone H3 Nϵ-methyl lysine demethylases PHF8 (KDM7B) and KIAA1718 (KDM7A) have different substrate selectivities and are linked to genetic diseases and cancer. We describe experimentally based computational studies revealing that flexibility of the region linking the PHD finger and JmjC domains in PHF8 and KIAA1718 regulates interdomain interactions, the nature of correlated motions, and ultimately H3 binding and demethylation site selectivity. F279S an X-linked mental retardation mutation in PHF8 is involved in correlated motions with the iron ligands and second sphere residues. The calculations reveal key roles of a flexible protein environment in productive formation of enzyme-substrate complexes and suggest targeting the flexible KDM7 linker region is of interest from a medicinal chemistry perspective.     

Efficient post-plasma catalytic degradation of toluene via series of Co–Cu/TiO2 catalysts

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) represent a very important class of pollutants that causes serious health effects. There is an urgent requirement to establish...     

Synthesis and crystal structure of (η5-C5H5)2Ti(NH(2,4-(C$${\equiv}$$CSiMe3)2C6H3))2

The crystal structure of the bis-amido complex of Ti(IV) (η⁵-C₅H₅)₂Ti(NH(2,4-(C CSiMe₃)₂C₆H₃))₂ is reported. This complex was prepared in 52% yield from the reaction of (η⁵-C₅H₅)₂TiCl₂ with two equivalents of LiNH(2,4-(C CSiMe₃)₂C₆H₃) (prepared in situ in THF at −78^∘C). The substituted aniline H₂N(2,4-(C CSiMe₃)₂C₆H₃) was prepared in 70% yield from the reaction of 2,4-dibromoaniline with Me₃SiC CH using conventional Pd/Cu coupling methodology. The molecular structure of (η⁵-C₅H₅)₂Ti(NH(2,4-(C CSiMe₃)₂C₆H₃))₂ (monoclinic, space group C2/c, Z = 4, a = 29.7523(5) Å, b = 9.5339(2) Å, c = 15.8864(3) Å, β = 93.022(1)^∘ features a titanium (IV) center with a distorted tetrahedral geometry which lies on a crystallographic twofold axis. The amido units are arranged so that steric interactions are minimized. The Ti– N distance is 2.016(2) Å.     

Determination of trace impurities in nickel-based alloy using neutron activation analysis

A radiochemical neutron activation analysis procedure has been applied to investigate 40 major, minor, and trace impurities in nickel-based alloy. The extensive use of these alloys in the electronic industry, telecommunications, manufacturing of aircraft engine turbine blades and chemical equipments desires for their precise characterization. The concentration of nickel in the nickel-based alloy was found to be 56.8%, whereas Fe, Cr, Ca, Mg, Ce, Mn, Na and V were the major components of the alloy, which constituted to more than 26%. The rest of the elements was present in minor or trace levels. Most of the rare earth elements except Ce were also present in trace amounts. Neutron activation analysis technique was preferably used because of its good sensitivity and multielement determination capabilities for the characterization of high purity materials. The comparison of RNAA and INAA indicated improvement in the detection limits utilizing radiochemical separation procedures developed in the present work.     

Validation of INAA and AAS analysis protocols for whole blood: A study on cardiovascular and malignant hypertensive patients

Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) were used to verify the protocols for the quantification of zinc and magnesium in human whole blood. A study was conducted on group of volunteers consisting of 131 patients having cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and 23 malignant hypertension (MH) patients along with 432 control subjects with 218 male and 214 females. The elemental data of these elements has been exploited to establish the base line values in control subjects. The possibility of any relationship between blood Mg and Zn levels with CVD and MH has also been investigated. The mean blood Mg and Zn levels were found to be depleted in both CVD and MH patients as compared to normal subjects. In our findings Mg and Zn were found to have an inverse relation with systolic and diastolic pressure. The reliability of the methods was checked by the concurrent analysis of the IAEA reference material (RM) employing the optimized INAA and AAS protocols. The determined values by both techniques were found to be in good agreement with the IAEA reference values. The elemental data in whole blood samples of normal volunteers has also been compared with Mg and Zn contents reported by other countries.     

Melting heat transfer effects on stagnation point flow of micropolar fluid saturated in porous medium with internal heat generation （absorption）

The effect of melting heat transfer on the two dimensional boundary layer flow of a micropolar fluid near a stagnation point embedded in a porous medium in the presence of internal heat generation/absorption is investigated. The governing non-linear partial differential equations describing the problem are reduced to a system of non-linear ordinary differential equations using similarity transformations solved numerically using the Chebyshev spectral method. Numerical results for velocity, angular velocity and temperature profiles are shown graphically and discussed for different values of the inverse Darcy number, the heat generation/absorption parameter, and the melting parameter. The effects of the pertinent parameters on the local skin-friction coefficient, the wall couple stress, and the local Nusselt number are tabulated and discussed. The results show that the inverse Darcy number has the effect of enhancing both velocity and temperature and suppressing angular velocity. It is also found that the local skin-friction coefficient decreases, while the local Nusselt number increases as the melting parameter increases.     

Ionic liquid-based sodium ion-conducting composite gel polymer electrolytes: effect of active and passive fillers

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - We report the studies on composite gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) comprising 0.5 M solution of sodium trifluoromethane sulfonate (Na-triflate or...     

A new fractional analytical approach via a modified Riemann–Liouville derivative

This work suggests a new analytical technique called the fractional homotopy perturbation method (FHPM) for solving fractional differential equations of any fractional order. This method is based on He’s homotopy perturbation method and the modified Riemann–Liouville derivative. The fractional differential equations are described in Jumarie’s sense. The results from introducing a modified Riemann–Liouville derivative in the cases studied show the high accuracy, simplicity and efficiency of the approach.     

Cosmic acceleration and Brans-Dicke theory

We study the accelerated expansion of the universe by exploring the Brans-Dicke parameter in different eras. For this, we take the FRW universe model with a viscous fluid (without potential) and the Bianchi type-I universe model with a barotropic fluid (with and without a potential). We evaluate the deceleration parameter and the Brans-Dicke parameter to explore cosmic acceleration. It is concluded that accelerated expansion of the universe can also be achieved for higher values of the Brans-Dicke parameter in some cases.