Parametric study of the flow and temperature fields in an inductively coupled r.f. plasma torch

A theoretical investigation of the effect of different parameters on the flow and the temperature fields in a radiofrequency inductively coupled plasma is carried out. The parameters studied are: central injection gas flow rate, total gas flow rate, input power, and the type of plasma gas. The results obtained for argon and nitrogen plasmas at atmospheric pressure indicate that the flow and the temperature fields in the coil region, as well as the heat flux to the wall of the plasma confinement tube, are considerably altered by the changes in the torch operating conditions.     

Stripping voltammetry of thorium based on adsorptive accumulation

A sensitive stripping voltammetric procedure for quantifying thorium is described. The chelate of thorium with the azo dye Mordant Blue 9 is adsorbed on the hanging mercury drop electrode, and the reduction current of the accumulated chelate is measured during a negative-going potential scan. Cyclic voltammetry is used to characterize the interfacial and redox behaviors. The effects of pH, dye concentration and accumulation potential are discussed. The detection limit is 4 × 10^?10 M (4-min accumulation), a linear current-concentration relationship is observed up to 1.3 × 10^?7 M, and the relative standard deviation (at the 6 × 10^?8 M level) is 3.1%. Possible interferences by trace metals and organic surfactants are investigated. Simultaneous quantitation of thorium and nickel is illustrated.     

A study of peroxyoxalate-chemiluminescence of acriflavine

The chemiluminescence arising from the reaction of bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)oxalate (TCPO) with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of acriflavine has been studied. The relationship between the chemiluminescence intensity and concentrations of TCPO, H2O2, acriflavine and the base sodium salicylate are reported. The kinetic parameters for the peroxyoxalate-chemiluminescence (PO-CL) of acriflavine were evaluated from the computer fitting of the corresponding chemiluminescence intensity-time plots.     

Kinetic studies of cobalt alginate gels

Summary Sodium alginate sol can be converted into ionotropic gels by diffusion of di/or trivalent metal ions. The kinetics of this phase transition is studied by two different methods. It is found that the rate of gel membrane formation at the earlier stages is greater than that of the further gel growth. The kinetic studies of gel formation in the presence of a mixture of Cu²⁺ ions with either Co²⁺ or Ni²⁺ ions show that the exhaust of Co²⁺ and Ni^2- ions is remarkable only at the first stage of gel formation. Meanwhile the Cu²⁺ ions continue exchanging all the time with Na²⁺ ions in the alginate sol. The activation energy of gel formation is found to range between 17–23 kJ mol^–, indicating the diffusion control of the process.With 6 figures and 3 tables     

Stereochemical control of reductions. 9. Haptophilicity studies with 1,1-disubstituted 2-methyleneacenaphthenes

A series of 1-methyl-2-methyleneacenaphthenes has been synthesized, bearing an additional variable substituent (R) at the 1-position. These compounds have been hydrogenated in ethanol over a 5% Pd/C catalyst under standardized conditions in order to assess the haptophilicity of R, its ability to enforce addition of hydrogen from its own face of the molecule by coordination to the catalyst surface. The order of decreasing haptophilicity, assessed as the product epimer ratio, for the groups studied was R = CH(2)NH(2), CH(2)NMe(2), CH(2)OH, CHNOH, CH(2)OMe, CHO, CONH(2), CH(2)NHCOMe, COOK, COMe, CN, CONHOH, COOH, COOMe, COONa, COOLi. Because knowledge of group haptophilicities offers potential for stereochemical control in such reductions, comparisons are provided with haptophilic orders found in other molecular systems. It is shown that absolute haptophilicities can be manipulated by varying the dielectric constant of the solvent employed.     

Functionalized Ultrasmall Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for T1-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Tumor Hypoxia

Hypoxia is a common biological condition in many malignant solid tumors that plays an imperative role in regulating tumor growth and impacting the treatment’s therapeutic effect. Therefore, the hypoxia assessment is of great significance in predicting tumor development and evaluating its prognosis. Among the plenty of existing tumor diagnosis techniques, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers certain distinctive features, such as being free of ionizing radiation and providing images with a high spatial resolution. In this study, we develop a fluorescent traceable and hypoxia-sensitive T₁-weighted MRI probe (Fe₃O₄-Met-Cy5.5) via conjugating notable hypoxia-sensitive metronidazole moiety and Cy5.5 dye with ultrasmall iron oxide (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles. The results of in vitro and in vivo experiments show that Fe₃O₄-Met-Cy5.5 has excellent performance in relaxivity, biocompatibility, and hypoxia specificity. More importantly, the obvious signal enhancement in hypoxic areas indicates that the probe has great feasibility for sensing tumor hypoxia via T₁-weighted MRI. These promising results may unlock the potential of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles as T₁-weighted contrast agents for the development of clinical hypoxia probes.     

Virtual Screening of Artemisia annua Phytochemicals as Potential Inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease Enzyme

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a human coronaviruses that emerged in China at Wuhan city, Hubei province during December 2019. Subsequently, SARS-CoV-2 has spread worldwide and caused millions of deaths around the globe. Several compounds and vaccines have been proposed to tackle this crisis. Novel recommended in silico approaches have been commonly used to screen for specific SARS-CoV-2 inhibitors of different types. Herein, the phytochemicals of Pakistani medicinal plants (especially Artemisia annua) were virtually screened to identify potential inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease enzyme. The X-ray crystal structure of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 with an N3 inhibitor was obtained from the protein data bank while A. annua phytochemicals were retrieved from different drug databases. The docking technique was carried out to assess the binding efficacy of the retrieved phytochemicals; the docking results revealed that several phytochemicals have potential to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 main protease enzyme. Among the total docked compounds, the top-10 docked complexes were considered for further study and evaluated for their physiochemical and pharmacokinetic properties. The top-3 docked complexes with the best binding energies were as follows: the top-1 docked complex with a −7 kcal/mol binding energy score, the top-2 docked complex with a −6.9 kcal/mol binding energy score, and the top-3 docked complex with a −6.8 kcal/mol binding energy score. These complexes were subjected to a molecular dynamic simulation analysis for further validation to check the dynamic behavior of the selected top-complexes. During the whole simulation time, no major changes were observed in the docked complexes, which indicated complex stability. Additionally, the free binding energies for the selected docked complexes were also estimated via the MM-GB/PBSA approach, and the results revealed that the total delta energies of MMGBSA were −24.23 kcal/mol, −26.38 kcal/mol, and −25 kcal/mol for top-1, top-2, and top-3, respectively. MMPBSA calculated the delta total energy as −17.23 kcal/mol (top-1 complex), −24.75 kcal/mol (top-2 complex), and −24.86 kcal/mol (top-3 complex). This study explored in silico screened phytochemicals against the main protease of the SARS-CoV-2 virus; however, the findings require an experimentally based study to further validate the obtained results.     

The experimental/numerical investigation of variations in strip speed,water shower pattern and water temperature on high-temperature strip cooling rate in hot strip mill

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Hot-rolled strips are cooled on the run-out table to achieve the customer-required mechanical properties. Cooling reduces the oxidation, which can...     

Experimental investigation and optimization of loop heat pipe performance with nanofluids

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - High heat generation from electronic devices needs to cool down properly to prevent overheating. Loop heat pipe (LHP) is one of the excellent cooling...     

Biochemical Properties of Tyrosinase from Aspergillus terreus and Penicillium copticola; Undecanoic Acid from Aspergillus flavus,an Endophyte of Moringa oleifera,Is a Novel Potent Tyrosinase Inhibitor

Tyrosinase is a copper-containing monooxygenase catalyzing the O-hydroxylation of tyrosine to 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine then to dopaquinone that is profoundly involved in melanin synthesis in eukaryotes. Overactivation of tyrosinase is correlated with hyperpigmentation that is metabolically correlated with severe pathological disorders, so, inhibition of this enzyme is the most effective approach in controlling the overproduction of melanin and its hazardous effects. Thus, searching for a powerful, selective inhibitor of human tyrosinase to limit the hyper-synthesis of melanin is a challenge. Unlike the difficulty of overexpression of human tyrosinase, using fungal tyrosinase as a model enzyme to the human one to evaluate the mechanistics of enzyme inhibition in response to various compounds is the most feasible strategy. Thus, the purification of highly catalytic-efficient fungal tyrosinase, exploring a novel inhibitor, and evaluating the mechanistics of enzyme inhibition are the main objectives of this work. Aspergillus terreus and Penicillium copticola were reported as the most potential tyrosinase producers. The biochemical properties suggest that this enzyme displays a higher structural and catalytic proximity to human tyrosinase. Upon nutritional bioprocessing by Plackett–Burman design, the yield of tyrosinase was increased by about 7.5-folds, compared to the control. The purified tyrosinase was strongly inhibited by kojic acid and A. flavus DCM extracts with IC₅₀ values of 15.1 and 12.6 µg/mL, respectively. From the spectroscopic analysis, the main anti-tyrosinase compounds of A. flavus extract was resolved, and verified as undecanoic acid. Further studies are ongoing to unravel the in vivo effect and cytotoxicity of this compound in fungi and human, that could be a novel drug to various diseases associated with hyperpigmentation by melanin.