Reprint of: Extraction of fluoxetine from aquatic and urine samples using sodium dodecyl sulfate-coated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles followed by spectrofluorimetric determination

A new method based on the combination of magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) and spectrofluorimetric determination was developed for isolation and preconcentration of fluoxetine form aquatic and biological samples using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) coated Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) as a sorbent. The unique properties of Fe₃O₄ NPs including high surface area and strong magnetism were utilized effectively in the MSPE process. Effect of different parameters influencing the extraction efficiency of fluoxetine including the amount of Fe₃O₄ and SDS, pH value, sample volume, extraction time, desorption solvent and time were optimized. Under optimized condition, the method was successfully applied to the extraction of fluoxetine from water and urine samples and absolute recovery amount of 85%, detection limit of 20 μg L⁻¹ and a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 1.4% were obtained. The method linear response was over a range of 50–1000 μg L⁻¹ with R² = 0.9968. The relative recovery in different aquatic and urine matrices were investigated and values of 80% to 104% were obtained. The whole procedure showed to be conveniently fast, efficient and economical for extraction of fluoxetine from environmental and biological samples.     

A high throughput glucocerebrosidase assay using the natural substrate glucosylceramide

Glucocerebrosidase is a lysosomal enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of glucosylceramide to form ceramide and glucose. A deficiency of lysosomal glucocerebrosidase due to genetic mutations results in Gaucher disease, in which glucosylceramide accumulates in the lysosomes of certain cell types. Although enzyme replacement therapy is currently available for the treatment of type 1 Gaucher disease, the neuronopathic forms of Gaucher disease are still not treatable. Small molecule drugs that can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, such as pharmacological chaperones and enzyme activators, are new therapeutic approaches for Gaucher disease. Enzyme assays for glucocerebrosidase are used to screen compound libraries to identify new lead compounds for drug development for the treatment of Gaucher disease. But the current assays use artificial substrates that are not physiologically relevant. We developed a glucocerebrosidase assay using the natural substrate glucosylceramide coupled to an Amplex-red enzyme reporting system. This assay is in a homogenous assay format and has been miniaturized in a 1,536-well plate format for high throughput screening. The assay sensitivity and robustness is similar to those seen with other glucocerebrosidase fluorescence assays. Therefore, this new glucocerebrosidase assay is an alternative approach for high throughput screening.     

β-Mannosidase and β-hexosaminidase inhibitors: synthesis of 1,2-bis-epi-valienamine and 1-epi-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-valienamine from d-mannose

A partially protected C-5C-5a unsaturated carbasugar with α-lyxo configuration is synthesised in five steps and 26% overall yield from a known mannose-derived hemiacetal, using ring-closing metathesis as a key step. This carbasugar is converted into valienamine derivatives with β-lyxo (i.e., corresponding to β-manno at C-1–C-4), α-lyxo (i.e., corresponding to α-manno at C-1–C-4) and β-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-xylo (i.e., corresponding to β-GlcNAc at C-1–C-4) configurations. This is the first report of the synthesis of the β-lyxo compound, 1,2-bis-epi-valienamine, which was found to inhibit Cellulomonas fimi β-mannosidase (CfMan2A) with K_i 140 μM. We report the crystal structures of three protected C-5C-5a unsaturated carbasugars with lyxo configuration.     

A numerical scheme for a class of nonlinear Fredholm integral equations of the second kind

In this paper an iterative approach for obtaining approximate solutions for a class of nonlinear Fredholm integral equations of the second kind is proposed. The approach contains two steps: at the first one, we define a discretized form of the integral equation and prove that by considering some conditions on the kernel of the integral equation, solution of the discretized form converges to the exact solution of the problem. Following that, in the next step, solution of the discretized form is approximated by an iterative approach. We finally on some examples show the efficiency of the proposed approach.     

Numerical investigation of the effects of inlet valve closing temperature and exhaust gas recirculation on the performance and emissions of an RCCI engine

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In this paper, the effects of inlet valve closing temperature (TIVC) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) on the emissions and the performance of a...     

Review on the recent progress in the preparation and stability of graphene-based nanofluids

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Graphene has attracted much attention from the science world because of its mechanical, thermal, and physical properties. Graphene nanofluid is well...     

Correction to: Comparing the performance of a CI engine after replacing the mechanical injector with a common rail solenoid injector

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Unfortunately, in the original publication of the article the second author’s first name was inadvertently misspelled     

Correction to: An experimental investigation of the injection timing effect on the combustion phasing and emissions in reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) engine

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Unfortunately, in the original publication of the article the second author’s first name was inadvertently misspelled. The corrected author name...