Synthesis of New Brassinosteroid 24-Norcholane Type Analogs Conjugated in C-3 with Benzoate Groups

The metabolism of brassinosteroid leads to structural modifications in the ring skeleton or the side alkyl chain. The esterification and glycosylation at C-3 are the most common metabolic pathways, and it has been suggested that conjugate brassinosteroids are less active or inactive. In this way, plants regulate the content of active brassinosteroids. In this work, the synthesis of brassinosteroid 24-norcholane type analogs conjugated at C-3 with benzoate groups, carrying electron donor and electron attractant substituents on the aromatic ring, is described. Additionally, their growth-promoting activities were evaluated using the Rice Lamina Inclination Test (RLIT) and compared with that exhibited by brassinolide (used as positive control) and non-conjugated analogs. The results indicate that at the lowest tested concentrations (10⁻⁸–10⁻⁷ M), all analogs conjugated at C-3 exhibit similar or higher activities than brassinolide, and the diasteroisomers with S configuration at C-22 are the more active ones. Increasing concentration (10⁻⁶ M) reduces the biological activities of analogs as compared to brassinolide.     

Quality Evaluation of Light- and Dark-Colored Hungarian Honeys,Focusing on Botanical Origin,Antioxidant Capacity and Mineral Content

Melissopalynology, antioxidant capacity and mineral and toxic element contents were analyzed in eight types of Hungarian honeys. Based on color, two groups were distinguished: light honeys comprised acacia, amorpha, phacelia and linden honeys; while dark honeys included sunflower, chestnut, fennel and sage honeys, with 100 to 300 and 700 to 1500 mAU, respectively. The unifloral origin of each sample was supported using pollen analysis. The absorbance of honey correlated positively with antioxidant capacity determined by three different methods (TRC, DPPH, ORAC), and also with mineral content. The exception was the light amber linden honey with significantly higher K content and antiradical activity than other light honeys. The Mn, Zn and Fe contents were the highest in chestnut, sunflower and fennel honeys, respectively. The black meadow sage honey performed best regarding the content of other elements and antioxidant activity. The concentrations of several toxic elements were below the detection limit in the samples, indicating their good quality. The principal component analysis (PCA) revealed correlations between different antioxidant assays and minerals, and furthermore, confirmed the botanical authentication of the honeys based on the studied parameters. To our best knowledge, the present study is the first to provide a complex analysis of quality parameters of eight unifloral Hungarian honeys.     

Sweet Cherries as Anti-Cancer Agents: From Bioactive Compounds to Function

Sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.) are among the most appreciated fruits worldwide because of their organoleptic properties and nutritional value. The accurate phytochemical composition and nutritional value of sweet cherries depends on the climatic region, cultivar, and bioaccessibility and bioavailability of specific compounds. Nevertheless, sweet cherry extracts are highly enriched in several phenolic compounds with relevant bioactivity. Over the years, technological advances in chemical analysis and fields as varied as proteomics, genomics and bioinformatics, have allowed the detailed characterization of the sweet cherry bioactive phytonutrients and their biological function. In this context, the effect of sweet cherries on suppressing important events in the carcinogenic process, such as oxidative stress and inflammation, was widely documented. Interestingly, results from our research group and others have widened the action of sweet cherries to many hallmarks of cancer, namely metabolic reprogramming. The present review discusses the anticarcinogenic potential of sweet cherries by addressing their phytochemical composition, the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of specific bioactive compounds, and the existing knowledge concerning the effects against oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, deregulated cell proliferation and apoptosis, invasion and metastization, and metabolic alterations. Globally, this review highlights the prospective use of sweet cherries as a dietary supplement or in cancer treatment.     

Discrimination of Beers by Cyclic Voltammetry Using a Single Carbon Screen-printed Electrode

A fast, simple and costless methodology without sample pre-treatment is proposed for the discrimination of beers. It is based on cyclic voltammetry (CV) using commercial carbon screen-printed electrodes (SPCE) and includes a correction of the signals measured with different SPCE units. Data are submitted to partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS−DA) and support vector machine discriminant analysis (SVM−DA), which allow a reasonable classification of the beers. Also, CV data from beers can be used to predict their alcoholic degree by partial least squares (PLS) and artificial neural networks (ANN). In general, non-linear methods provide better results than linear ones.     

Expanding the Ligand Classes Used for Mn(II) Complexation: Oxa-aza Macrocycles Make the Difference

We report two macrocyclic ligands based on a 1,7-diaza-12-crown-4 platform functionalized with acetate (tO2DO2A²⁻) or piperidineacetamide (tO2DO2AM^Pip) pendant arms and a detailed characterization of the corresponding Mn(II) complexes. The X−ray structure of [Mn(tO2DO2A)(H₂O)]·2H₂O shows that the metal ion is coordinated by six donor atoms of the macrocyclic ligand and one water molecule, to result in seven-coordination. The Cu(II) analogue presents a distorted octahedral coordination environment. The protonation constants of the ligands and the stability constants of the complexes formed with Mn(II) and other biologically relevant metal ions (Mg(II), Ca(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II)) were determined using potentiometric titrations (I = 0.15 M NaCl, T = 25 °C). The conditional stabilities of Mn(II) complexes at pH 7.4 are comparable to those reported for the cyclen-based tDO2A²⁻ ligand. The dissociation of the Mn(II) chelates were investigated by evaluating the rate constants of metal exchange reactions with Cu(II) under acidic conditions (I = 0.15 M NaCl, T = 25 °C). Dissociation of the [Mn(tO2DO2A)(H₂O)] complex occurs through both proton− and metal−assisted pathways, while the [Mn(tO2DO2AM^Pip)(H₂O)] analogue dissociates through spontaneous and proton-assisted mechanisms. The Mn(II) complex of tO2DO2A²⁻ is remarkably inert with respect to its dissociation, while the amide analogue is significantly more labile. The presence of a water molecule coordinated to Mn(II) imparts relatively high relaxivities to the complexes. The parameters determining this key property were investigated using ¹⁷O NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) transverse relaxation rates and ¹H nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD) profiles.     

Multi-Center Vector Field Methods for Wave Equations

We develop the method of vector-fields to further study Dispersive Wave Equations. Radial vector fields are used to get a-priori estimates such as the Morawetz estimate on solutions of Dispersive Wave Equations. A key to such estimates is the repulsiveness or nontrapping conditions on the flow corresponding to the wave equation. Thus this method is limited to potential perturbations which are repulsive, that is the radial derivative pointing away from the origin. In this work, we generalize this method to include potentials which are repulsive relative to a line in space (in three or higher dimensions), among other cases. This method is based on constructing multi-centered vector fields as multipliers, cancellation lemmas and energy localization.     

Evidence for symplectic symmetry in Ab initio no-core shell model results for light nuclei

Clear evidence for symplectic symmetry in low-lying states of 12C and 16O is reported. Eigenstates of 12C and 16O, determined within the framework of the no-core shell model using the J-matrix inverse scattering potential with A相似文献   

Longitudinal-transverse separations of deep-inelastic structure functions at low Q2 for hydrogen and deuterium

We report on a study of the longitudinal to transverse cross section ratio, R=sigmaL/sigmaT, at low values of x and Q2, as determined from inclusive inelastic electron-hydrogen and electron-deuterium scattering data from Jefferson Laboratory Hall C spanning the four-momentum transfer range 0.06相似文献   

Paths to synchronization on complex networks

The understanding of emergent collective phenomena in natural and social systems has driven the interest of scientists from different disciplines during decades. Among these phenomena, the synchronization of a set of interacting individuals or units has been intensively studied because of its ubiquity in the natural world. In this Letter, we show how for fixed coupling strengths local patterns of synchronization emerge differently in homogeneous and heterogeneous complex networks, driving the process towards a certain global synchronization degree following different paths. The dependence of the dynamics on the coupling strength and on the topology is unveiled. This study provides a new perspective and tools to understand this emerging phenomena.     

Accurate control of a liquid-crystal display to produce a homogenized Fourier transform for holographic memories

We show an accurate procedure to obtain a Fourier transform (FT) with no dc term using a commercial twisted-nematic liquid-crystal display. We focus on the application to holographic storage of binary data pages, where a drastic decrease of the dc term in the FT is highly desirable. Two different codification schemes are considered: binary pi radians phase modulation and hybrid ternary modulation. Any deviation in the values of the amplitude and phase shift generates the appearance of a strong dc term. Experimental results confirm that the calculated configurations provide a FT with no dc term, thus showing the effectiveness of the proposal.