Nonlinear anisotropic parabolic equations in with locally integrable data

In this paper, we prove existence and regularity of weak solutions for a class of nonlinear anisotropic parabolic problems in with locally integrable data. Our approach is based on the anisotropic Sobolev inequality, a smoothness, and compactness results. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Correlation of Diffusional Exponent with Structural Sequence of (N-Vinylpyrrolidone-alt-Acrylic Acid) Hydrogels: A Predictive Hydrogel Design Approach

Correlation of diffusional exponent of water into (N-Vinylpyrrolidone-alt-Acrylic acid) hydrogels with the structural sequence of hydrogel repeating units (i.e. hydrophilic and/or hydrophobic moieties) through a scaling law relationship has been investigated. The diffusional exponent (n) was found to depend linearly on Y/X² , where X equals to molar ratio of monomers in the feed (i.e. ([M₁ ]/[M₂ ])_feed) and Y equals to molar ratio of repeating units in the copolymer (i.e. ([M₁ ]/[M₂ ])_copolymer). Copolymers rich in hydrophilic acrylic acid (i.e. larger Y/X² ) were found to form more coiled polymeric chains as acrylic acid content increased due to H-bonding interactions, and hence results in lower diffusion coefficients and linear lowering of the n-value. On the other hand copolymers rich in partially hydrophobic N-vinylpyrrolidone (i.e. smaller Y/X²) formed more uncoiled polymeric chains as N-vinylpyrrolidone content increased due to larger amounts of positively charged protonated nitrogen atoms at pH 5.5 that tend to repel each other, which eventually lead to higher diffusion coefficients and a linear increase in n-value. These characteristic findings could be significant in sustained drug release studies, where the structural sequence of a hydrogel plays a dominant role in the release kinetics of a drug at certain positions and/or times.     

AgHalo: A Facile Fluorogenic Sensor to Detect Drug-Induced Proteome Stress

Drug-induced proteome stress that involves protein aggregation may cause adverse effects and undermine the safety profile of a drug. Safety of drugs is regularly evaluated using cytotoxicity assays that measure cell death. However, these assays provide limited insights into the presence of proteome stress in live cells. A fluorogenic protein sensor is reported to detect drug-induced proteome stress prior to cell death. An aggregation prone Halo-tag mutant (AgHalo) was evolved to sense proteome stress through its aggregation. Detection of such conformational changes was enabled by a fluorogenic ligand that fluoresces upon AgHalo forming soluble aggregates. Using 5 common anticancer drugs, we exemplified detection of differential proteome stress before any cell death was observed. Thus, this sensor can be used to evaluate drug safety in a regime that the current cytotoxicity assays cannot cover and be generally applied to detect proteome stress induced by other toxins.     

Observation of orbital angular momentum transfer between acoustic and optical vortices in optical fiber

Acousto-optic interaction in optical fiber is examined from the perspective of copropagating optical and acoustic vortex modes. Calculation of the acousto-optic coupling coefficient between different optical modes leads to independent conservation of spin and orbital angular momentum of the interacting photons and phonons. We show that the orbital angular momentum of the acoustic vortex can be transferred to a circularly polarized fundamental optical mode to form a stable optical vortex in the fiber carrying orbital angular momentum. The technique provides a useful way of generating stable optical vortices in the fiber medium.     

Spectrofluorimetric Approach for Quantification of Cyclizine in the Presence of its Toxic Impurities in Human Plasma; in silico Study and ADMET Calculations

Journal of Fluorescence - Cyclizine (CYZ); an antiemetic compound; is widely misused for its euphoric or hallucinatory effects, either by oral or intravenous routes. The concomitant abuse of CYZ...     

A disposable immunosensor for detection of 17beta-estradiol in non-extracted bovine serum

This paper reports the assembly of a disposable immunosensor based on the direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), for simple and fast measurement of 17β-estradiol (17β-E₂) in bovine serum, using screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) and a Palm-Sens portable electrochemical detector. The immunosensor strip was assembled immobilising, by passive adsorption, anti-rabbit IgG onto the surface of the working SPE electrode. After the interaction between anti-rabbit IgG and rabbit anti-17β-E₂ polyclonal antibodies (PAb), the competition was performed using 17β-estradiol-alkaline phosphatase conjugate (17β-E₂-AP) synthesised in our laboratory. The enzymatic substrate used for signal generation was 1-naphthylphosphate and its conversion to an electroactive product (1-naphthol) was measured using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). To develop a prototype for field measurements, the entire competitive protocol has been optimised directly in a blank non-extracted bovine serum.According to the new EU criteria established by the Commission Decision 2002/657/EC for qualitative and quantitative screening methods, the detection capability (CCβ), was determined. The CCβ value resulted below the action limit (40 pg mL⁻¹) fixed for 17β-E_2.Spiked and real samples were analysed using the electrochemical immunostrips obtaining precision values (relative standard deviation, R.S.D.%) ranging from 8.6 to 17.0% and a recovery (R%) from 88.2 to 120.0%.Results obtained on real samples were confirmed by liquid chromatography coupled on-line with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) source and a heated nebulizer (HN) interface; this is the method currently used to confirm illegal hormone administration for regulatory purposes. The disposable immunosensor appears suitable as a screening tool for field analysis of bovine serum estradiol.     

A pairwise almost disjoint subspace of kN of maximal dimension

We show that if k is an infinite field, then there exists a subspace $W?k^{\mathbb{N}}$ of dimension $|k{|}^{{\mathrm{?}}_0}$, such that no nonzero member of W has infinitely many zeros. This generalizes a result from a paper by Bergman and Nahlus, and partly answers another question from the same paper.     

Nonlinear Degenerate Anisotropic Elliptic Equations with Variable Exponents and L1 Data

This paper is devoted to the study of a nonlinear anisotropic elliptic equation with degenerate coercivity, lower order term and L¹ datum in appropriate anisotropic variable exponents Sobolev spaces. We obtain the existence of distributional solutions.     

Facile preparation of the tosylhydrazone derivatives of a series of racemic trans-3,4-substituted cyclopentanones

We report the synthesis and characterization of a variety of trans-3,4-substituted cyclopentanones and the corresponding tosylhydrazone derivatives starting with diethyl fumarate. Protection of the keto group followed by selective monohydrolysis of esters was achieved, resulting in cyclopentanones with different substituents at positions 3 and 4. The tosylhydrazone derivative of each cyclopentanone intermediate was prepared in moderate to good yields. These compounds are potential precursors for functionalized methanofullerenes.