The Thermodynamics of Translesion DNA Synthesis Past Major Adducts of Enantiomeric Analogues of Antitumor Cisplatin

The Pt^II-coordination complex [PtCl₂(DAB)] (DAB=2,3-diaminobutane) belongs to a class of cytotoxic cisplatin analogues that contain chiral diamine ligands. Enantiomeric pairs of these compounds have attracted particular interest because they have different effects on different DNA conformations, which, in turn, influences the binding of damaged-DNA-processing enzymes that control downstream effects of the adducts, and thus exhibit different biological activities of the enantiomers. Herein, we studied the translesion synthesis across the major 1,2-d(GG) intrastrand cross-link formed by the R,R and S,S enantiomers of [Pt(DAB)]²⁺ in the TGGT sequence by using the enzyme that catalyzes the polymerization of deoxyribonucleotides into a DNA strand. We also employed differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to measure the thermodynamic changes associated with replication-bypass past 1,2-d(GG) adducts of the [Pt(DAB)]²⁺ enantiomers. In the sequence TGGT, the 1,2-d(GG) intrastrand cross-links that were formed by the enantiomeric pairs of [Pt(DAB)]²⁺ inhibited DNA polymerization in a chirality-dependent manner. The thermodynamic data helped to understand the effect of the alterations in thermodynamic stability of DNA caused by the Pt-d(GG) adducts upon DNA polymerization across these lesions. Moreover, these data can possibly explain the influence of these alterations on the ability of many DNA polymerases to bypass adducts of antitumor platinum drugs. These results also highlighted the usefulness of DSC in evaluating the impact of DNA adducts of platinum-coordinated compounds on the processing of these lesions by damaged-DNA processing-enzymes.     

Polymerization of (E)‐1,3‐Pentadiene and (E)‐2‐methyl‐1,3‐pentadiene with neodymium catalysts: Examination of the factors that affect the stereoselectivity

(E)‐1,3‐Pentadiene (EP) and (E)‐2‐methyl‐1,3‐pentadiene (2MP) were polymerized to cis‐1,4 polymers with homogeneous and heterogeneous neodymium catalysts to examine the influence of the physical state of the catalyst on the polymerization stereoselectivity. Data on the polymerization of (E)‐1,3‐hexadiene (EH) are also reported. EP and EH gave cis‐1,4 isotactic polymers both with the homogeneous and with the heterogeneous system, whereas 2MP gave an isotactic cis‐1,4 polymer with the heterogeneous catalyst and a syndiotactic cis‐1,4 polymer, never reported earlier, with the homogeneous one. For comparison, the results obtained with the soluble CpTiCl₃‐based catalyst (Cp = cyclopentadienyl), which gives cis‐1,4 isotactic poly(2MP), are examined. A tentative interpretation is given for the mechanism of the formation of the stereoregular polymers obtained and a complete NMR characterization of the cis‐1,4‐syndiotactic poly(2MP) is reported. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2013, 51, 3227–3232     

Surface anchoring,polarization fields and memory states in polymer dispersed liquid crystals

We have investigated the formation and development of memory states in polymer dispersed liquid crystals induced by the application of a strong electric field. Both the optical transmittance and polarization field have been followed as functions of time. We have been able to distinguish between the contributions to the memory states arising from the surface anchoring of the liquid crystal at the droplet interface and from the electrical reorientation of the mesogenic molecules. The dependence of both residual transmittance and polarization field on temperature is reported and a simple model is proposed.     

Numerical simulation of a double-gate MOSFET with a subband model for semiconductors based on the maximum entropy principle

A nanoscale double-gate MOSFET is simulated with an energy-transport subband model for semiconductors formulated starting from the moment system derived from the Schr?dinger–Poisson–Boltzmann equations. The system is closed on the basis of the maximum entropy principle and includes scattering of electrons with acoustic and non-polar optical phonons. The proposed expression of the entropy combines quantum effects and semiclassical transport by weighting the contribution of each subband with the square modulus of the envelope functions arising from the Schr?dinger–Poisson subsystem. The simulations show that the model is able to capture the relevant confining and transport features and assess the robustness of the numerical scheme.     

Modeling Transverse Relative Locality

We investigate some aspects of relativistic classical theories with “relative locality”, in which pairs of events established to be coincident by nearby observers may be described as non-coincident by distant observers. While previous studies focused mainly on the case of longitudinal relative locality, where the effect occurs along the direction connecting the distant observer to the events, we here focus on transverse relative locality, in which instead the effect is found in a direction orthogonal to the one connecting the distant observer to the events. Our findings suggest that, at least for theories of free particles, transverse relative locality is as significant as longitudinal relative locality both conceptually and quantitatively. And we observe that “dual gravity lensing” can be viewed as one of two components of transverse relative locality. We also speculate about a type of spacetime noncommutativity for which transverse relative locality could be particularly significant.