Analytical performance characteristics of thin and thick film amperometric microcells

The analytical performance of amperometric microcells with different electrode geometries is compared for enzyme activity measurements. The microcells were fabricated with thin film photolithography or thick film screen-printing in four different designs. The cells made with the thin film process used flexible substrate with microelectrode array or a circular, disk-shaped working electrode. The screen-printed working electrodes had semicircle or disk shape on ceramic chips. Putrescine oxidase (PUO) activity measurement was used as a model. The determination of PUO activity is important in the clinical diagnosis of premature rupture of the amniotic membrane. An electropolymerized m-phenylenediamine size-exclusion layer was used to eliminate common interferences. The size exclusion layer revealed also to be advantageous in protecting the electrodes from fouling by putrescine (enzyme substrate). The electrode fouling of bare electrodes was insignificant for screen-printed electrodes, but very severe for electroplated platinum working electrodes. The microelectrode array electrodes demonstrated smaller RSD and higher normalized sensitivities for hydrogen peroxide and PUO activity. All the other electrodes were demonstrating comparable analytical performances.     

Theoretical studies of homogeneous catalysts mimicking nitrogenase

The conversion of molecular nitrogen to ammonia is a key biological and chemical process and represents one of the most challenging topics in chemistry and biology. In Nature the Mo-containing nitrogenase enzymes perform nitrogen 'fixation' via an iron molybdenum cofactor (FeMo-co) under ambient conditions. In contrast, industrially, the Haber-Bosch process reduces molecular nitrogen and hydrogen to ammonia with a heterogeneous iron catalyst under drastic conditions of temperature and pressure. This process accounts for the production of millions of tons of nitrogen compounds used for agricultural and industrial purposes, but the high temperature and pressure required result in a large energy loss, leading to several economic and environmental issues. During the last 40 years many attempts have been made to synthesize simple homogeneous catalysts that can activate dinitrogen under the same mild conditions of the nitrogenase enzymes. Several compounds, almost all containing transition metals, have been shown to bind and activate N? to various degrees. However, to date Mo(N?)(HIPTN)?N with (HIPTN)?N= hexaisopropyl-terphenyl-triamidoamine is the only compound performing this process catalytically. In this review we describe how Density Functional Theory calculations have been of help in elucidating the reaction mechanisms of the inorganic compounds that activate or fix N?. These studies provided important insights that rationalize and complement the experimental findings about the reaction mechanisms of known catalysts, predicting the reactivity of new potential catalysts and helping in tailoring new efficient catalytic compounds.     

Least-squares support vector machines and near infrared spectroscopy for quantification of common adulterants in powdered milk

This paper proposes the use of the least-squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) as an alternative multivariate calibration method for the simultaneous quantification of some common adulterants (starch, whey or sucrose) found in powdered milk samples, using near-infrared spectroscopy with direct measurements by diffuse reflectance. Due to the spectral differences of the three adulterants a nonlinear behavior is present when all groups of adulterants are in the same data set, making the use of linear methods such as partial least squares regression (PLSR) difficult. Excellent models were built using LS-SVM, with low prediction errors and superior performance in relation to PLSR. These results show it possible to built robust models to quantify some common adulterants in powdered milk using near-infrared spectroscopy and LS-SVM as a nonlinear multivariate calibration procedure.     

Chiral Nano-Liquid Chromatography and Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Applied to the Analysis of Antifungal Drugs in Milk

A novel chromatographic application in chiral separation by using the nano-LC technique is here reported. The chiral recognition of 12 antifungal drugs was obtained through a 75 µm I.D. fused-silica capillary, which was packed with a CSP-cellulose 3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamate (CDCPC), by means of a lab-made slurry packing procedure. The mobile phase composition and the experimental conditions were optimized in order to find the optimum chiral separation for some selected racemic mixtures of imidazole and triazole derivatives. Some important parameters, such as retention faction, enantioresolution, peak efficiency, and peak shape, were investigated as a function of the mobile phase (pH, water content, type and concentration of both the buffer and the organic modifier, and solvent dilution composition). Within one run lasting 25 min, at a flow rate of approximately 400 nL min⁻¹, eight couples of enantiomers were baseline-resolved and four of them were separated in less than 25 min. The method was then applied to milk samples, which were pretreated using a classical dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction technique preceded by protein precipitation. Finally, the DLLME-nano-LC–UV method was validated in a matrix following the main FDA guidelines for bioanalytical methods.     

How Does Diet Influence Our Lives? Evaluating the Relationship between Isotopic Signatures and Mortality Patterns in Italian Roman Imperial and Medieval Periods

The present research investigates the relationship between dietary habits and mortality patterns in the Roman Imperial and Medieval periods. The reconstructions of population dynamics and subsistence strategies provide a fascinating source of information for understanding our history. This is particularly true given that the changes in social, economic, political, and religious aspects related to the transition from the Roman period to the Middle Ages have been widely discussed. We analyzed the isotopic and mortality patterns of 616 individuals from 18 archeological sites (the Medieval Latium sites of Colonna, Santa Severa, Allumiere, Cencelle, and 14 Medieval and Imperial funerary contexts from Rome) to compile a survivorship analysis. A semi-parametric approach was applied, suggesting variations in mortality patterns between sexes in the Roman period. Nitrogen isotopic signatures influenced mortality in both periods, showing a quadratic and a linear effect for Roman Imperial and Medieval populations, respectively. No influence of carbon isotopic signatures has been detected for Roman Imperial populations. Conversely, increased mortality risk for rising carbon isotopic values was observed in Medieval samples.     

Bounds for the Kirchhoff index via majorization techniques

Using a majorization technique that identifies the maximal and minimal vectors of a variety of subsets of ${\mathbb{R}^{n}}$ , we find upper and lower bounds for the Kirchhoff index K(G) of an arbitrary simple connected graph G that improve those existing in the literature. Specifically we show that $$K(G) \geq \frac{n}{d_{1}} \left[ \frac{1}{1+\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n-1}}} + \frac{(n-2)^{2}}{n-1-\frac{\sigma}{\sqrt{n-1}}}\right] ,$$ where d ₁ is the largest degree among all vertices in G, $$\sigma ^{2} = \frac{2}{n} \sum_{(i, j) \in E} \frac{1}{d_{i}d_{j}} = \left( \frac{2}{n}\right) R_{-1}(G),$$ and R _?1(G) is the general Randi? index of G for ${\alpha =-1}$ . Also we show that $$K(G) \leq \frac{n}{d_{n}}\left( \frac{n-k-2}{1-\lambda _{2}}+\frac{k}{2}+\frac{1}{\theta}\right) ,$$ where d _n is the smallest degree, ${\lambda _{2}}$ is the second eigenvalue of the transition probability of the random walk on G, $$k = \left \lfloor \frac{\lambda _{2} \left( n-1\right) +1}{\lambda _{2}+1}\right\rfloor {\rm and}\quad\theta = \lambda _{2} \left( n-k-2\right) -k+2.$$      

Clorobiocin biosynthesis in Streptomyces: identification of the halogenase and generation of structural analogs

Clorobiocin (clo) and novobiocin (nov) are potent inhibitors of bacterial DNA gyrase. The two substances differ in the substitution pattern at C-8' of the aminocoumarin ring, carrying a chlorine atom or a methyl group, respectively. By gene inactivation, clo-hal was identified as the gene of the halogenase responsible for the introduction of the chlorine atom of clorobiocin. Inactivation of cloZ did not affect clorobiocin formation, showing that this ORF is not essential for clorobiocin biosynthesis. Expression of the methyltransferase gene novO in the clo-hal(-) mutant led to the very efficient formation of a hybrid antibiotic containing a methyl group instead of a chlorine atom at C-8'. Comparison of the antibacterial activity of clorobiocin analogs with -Cl, -H, or -CH(3) at C-8' showed that chlorine leads to 8-fold higher activity than hydrogen and to 2-fold higher activity than a methyl group.