On an M (X)/G/1 Retrial System with Two Types of Search of Customers from the Orbit

Single server retrial queueing models in which customers arrive according to a batch Poisson process are considered here. An arriving batch, finding the server busy, enters an orbit. Otherwise, one customer from the arriving batch enters for service immediately while the rest join the orbit. The customers from the orbit (the orbital customers) try to reach the server subsequently with the inter-retrial times exponentially distributed. Additionally, at each service completion epoch, two different search mechanisms, that is, type I and type II search, to bring the orbital customers by the system to service, are switched on. Thus, when the server is idle, a competition takes place among primary customers, customers who come by retrial and by two types of searches. The type I search selects a single customer whereas the type II search considers a batch of customers from the orbit. Depending on the maximum size of the batch being considered for service by a type II search, two cases are addressed here. In the first case, no restriction on batch size is assumed, whereas in the second case, maximum size of the batch is restricted to a pre-assigned value. We call the resulting models as model 1 and model 2 respectively. In all service modes other than type II search, only a single customer is qualified for service. Service times of the four types of customers, namely, primary, repeated, and those who come by two types of searches are arbitrarily distributed (with different distributions which are independent of each other). Steady state analysis is performed and stability conditions are established. A control problem for model 2 is considered and numerical illustrations are provided.     

Exact entropy of dimer coverings for a class of lattices in three or more dimensions

We construct a class of lattices in three and higher dimensions for which the number of dimer coverings can be determined exactly using elementary arguments. These lattices are a generalization of the two-dimensional kagome lattice, and the method also works for graphs without translational symmetry. The partition function for dimer coverings on these lattices can be determined also for a class of assignments of different activities to different edges.     

One pot,three component 1,3 dipolar cycloaddition: Regio and diastereoselective synthesis of spiropyrrolidinyl indenoquinoxaline derivatives

A competent and highly discriminating one-pot synthesis of highly diversified novel functionalized indenoquinoxalone grafted spiropyrrolidine linked chromene-3-carbonitrile conjugates accumulating three pharmocophoric cores, heterocyclic indenoquinoxalone, pyrrolidines and chromene-3-carbonitrile in a single molecular framework by means of 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between indenoquinoxalone, proline/benzyl amine and chromene-3-carbonitrile in ethanol under classical and microwave conditions is described. The three component 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction proceeds via in situ generation of azomethine ylides by the decarboxylative condensation of indenoquinoxalone with proline/benzyl amine and their selectivity towards the endo cyclic double bonds of dipolarophile (chromene-3-carbonitrile) leading to the formation of highly functionalised regio- and diastereoselective molecular hybrids. This methodology exemplifies the green chemistry protocol such as mild reaction conditions, high yields, one-pot procedure and operational simplicity.     

A self-organizing algorithm for molecular alignment and pharmacophore development

We present a method for simultaneous three-dimensional (3D) structure generation and pharmacophore-based alignment using a self-organizing algorithm called Stochastic Proximity Embedding (SPE). Current flexible molecular alignment methods either start from a single low-energy structure for each molecule and tweak bonds or torsion angles, or choose from multiple conformations of each molecule. Methods that generate structures and align them iteratively (e.g., genetic algorithms) are often slow. In earlier work, we used SPE to generate good-quality 3D conformations by iteratively adjusting pairwise distances between atoms based on a set of geometric rules, and showed that it samples conformational space better and runs faster than earlier programs. In this work, we run SPE on the entire ensemble of molecules to be aligned. Additional information about which atoms or groups of atoms in each molecule correspond to points in the pharmacophore can come from an automatically generated hypothesis or be specified manually. We add distance terms to SPE to bring pharmacophore points from different molecules closer in space, and also to line up normal/direction vectors associated with these points. We also permit pharmacophore points to be constrained to lie near external coordinates from a binding site. The aligned 3D molecular structures are nearly correct if the pharmacophore hypothesis is chemically feasible; postprocessing by minimization of suitable distance and energy functions further improves the structures and weeds out infeasible hypotheses. The method can be used to test 3D pharmacophores for a diverse set of active ligands, starting from only a hypothesis about corresponding atoms or groups.     

Simultaneous estimation of metformin hydrochloride, pioglitazone hydrochloride, and glimepiride by RP-HPLC in tablet formulation

A simple, precise, rapid, and reproducible reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography method is developed for the simultaneous estimation of metformin hydrochloride (MET), pioglitazone hydrochloride (PIO), and glimepiride (GLP) present in multicomponent dosage forms. Chromatography is carried out isocratically at 25 degrees C +/- 0.5 degrees C on an Inertsil-ODS-3 (C-18) Column (250 x 4.60 mm, 5 microm) with a mobile phase composed of methanol-phosphate buffer (pH 4.3) in the ratio of 75:25 v/v at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. Detection is carried out using a UV-PDA detector at 258 nm. Parameters such as linearity, precision, accuracy, recovery, specificity, and ruggedness are studied as reported in the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The retention times for MET, PIO, and GLP are 2.66 + 0.5 min, 7.12 + 0.5 min, and 10.17 + 0.5 min, respectively. The linearity range and percentage recoveries for MET, PIO, and GLP are 10-5000, 10-150, and 1-10 microg/mL and 100.4%, 100.06%, and 100.2%, respectively. The correlation coefficients for all components are close to 1. The relative standard deviations for three replicate measurements in three concentrations of samples in tablets are always less than 2%.     

Radial clustergrams: visualizing the aggregate properties of hierarchical clusters

A new radial space-filling method for visualizing cluster hierarchies is presented. The method, referred to as a radial clustergram, arranges the clusters into a series of layers, each representing a different level of the tree. It uses adjacency of nodes instead of links to represent parent-child relationships and allocates sufficient screen real estate to each node to allow effective visualization of cluster properties through color-coding. Radial clustergrams combine the most appealing features of other cluster visualization techniques but avoid their pitfalls. Compared to classical dendrograms and hyperbolic trees, they make much more efficient use of space; compared to treemaps, they are more effective in conveying hierarchical structure and displaying properties of nodes higher in the tree. A fisheye lens is used to focus on areas of interest, without losing sight of the global context. The utility of the method is demonstrated using examples from the fields of molecular diversity and conformational analysis.     

White-light-induced fragmentation of methane

We experimentally probe molecular ionization and dissociation of methane molecules in the gas phase upon their irradiation by intense pulses of white light that spans the wavelength range 500-850 nm. White light pulses are generated upon irradiation of BK7 glass by 36-fs-long pulses of intense 820 nm laser light. Comparison is made of the molecular fragmentation patterns obtained using white light that is depolarized with those obtained using single-color (820 nm) light that is highly chirped. On the basis of such comparison, we make hitherto-unavailable estimates of the in situ intensity of white light pulses. Results obtained using white light also indicate that resonances apparently do not play any role in the ionization dynamics that ensue upon irradiation by intense, broadband light; neither are the dynamics affected by the polarization properties of the 820 nm light that is used to generate the white light.     

In situ derivatization hollow fiber mediated liquid phase microextraction of alkylphosphonic acids from water

Alkylphosphonic acids (APAs), particularly the methyl-, ethyl-, isopropyl- and n-propyl-phosphonic acids are important markers of extremely toxic nerve agents. Hence, their detection and identification is of vital importance to verification of chemical weapons convention (CWC). Verification analysis of CWC requires development of fast, reliable, simple and reproducible sample preparation methods of water and soil samples. Present investigation is focused on the optimization of alkylation of APAs in water with subsequent extraction of alkylated acids by hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME). This simple and sensitive sample preparation of APAs from water offered better recoveries in comparison to conventionally used extraction technique. Under optimized conditions, the APAs were detected at the concentration of 0.5-0.75 microg/mL with S/N ratio > or = 5, whereas the LODs for alkyl APAs (monobasic APAs) were achieved up to 0.1 microg/mL. The developed method was finally tested with water samples supplied in 19th official proficiency test conducted by the OPCW.     

Flavonoids and phenol glycosides from Boerhavia diffusa

Four new compounds were isolated from Boerhavia diffusa namely eupalitin 3-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1' --> 2')-O-beta-D-galactopyranoside (1), 3,3',5-trihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone (4), 4',7-dihydroxy-3'-methylflavone (5) and 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl-1-O-beta-D-apiofuranosyl-(1' --> 3')-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (7) along with eight known compounds. The structures were elucidated by analysis of their spectroscopic data.     

Leveraging an enzyme/artificial substrate system to enhance cellular persulfides and mitigate neuroinflammation

Persulfides and polysulfides, collectively known as the sulfane sulfur pool along with hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), play a central role in cellular physiology and disease. Exogenously enhancing these species in cells is an emerging therapeutic paradigm for mitigating oxidative stress and inflammation that are associated with several diseases. In this study, we present a unique approach of using the cell''s own enzyme machinery coupled with an array of artificial substrates to enhance the cellular sulfane sulfur pool. We report the synthesis and validation of artificial/unnatural substrates specific for 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3-MST), an important enzyme that contributes to sulfur trafficking in cells. We demonstrate that these artificial substrates generate persulfides in vitro as well as mediate sulfur transfer to low molecular weight thiols and to cysteine-containing proteins. A nearly 100-fold difference in the rates of H₂S production for the various substrates is observed supporting the tunability of persulfide generation by the 3-MST enzyme/artificial substrate system. Next, we show that the substrate 1a permeates cells and is selectively turned over by 3-MST to generate 3-MST-persulfide, which protects against reactive oxygen species-induced lethality. Lastly, in a mouse model, 1a is found to significantly mitigate neuroinflammation in the brain tissue. Together, the approach that we have developed allows for the on-demand generation of persulfides in vitro and in vivo using a range of shelf-stable, artificial substrates of 3-MST, while opening up possibilities of harnessing these molecules for therapeutic applications.

A persulfide/hydrogen sulfide generation strategy through artificial substrates for 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3-MST) is reported, which enhances cellular persulfides, attenuates reactive oxygen species (ROS), and alleviates inflammation.