Co-Treatment of Purified Annatto Oil (Bixa orellana L.) and Its Granules (Chronic®) Improves the Blood Lipid Profile and Bone Protective Effects of Testosterone in the Orchiectomy-Induced Osteoporosis in Wistar Rats

This study aimed to evaluate and compare the effects of co-treatment with purified annatto oil (PAO) or its granules (GRA, Chronic^®) with that of testosterone on the orchiectomy-induced osteoporosis in Wistar rats. After surgery, rats were treated from day 7 until day 45 with testosterone only (TES, 7 mg/kg, IM) or TES + PAO or GRA (200 mg/kg, p.o.). The following parameters were evaluated: food/water intake, weight, HDL, LDL, glucose, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), alkaline phosphatase levels, blood phosphorus and calcium contents, femur weight, structure (through scanning electron microscopy), and calcium content (through atomic absorption spectrophotometry). Our results show that orchiectomy could significantly change the blood lipid profile and decrease bone integrity parameters. Testosterone reposition alone could improve some endpoints, including LDL, TC, bone weight, and bone calcium concentration. However, other parameters were not significantly improved. Co-treatment with PAO or GRA improved the blood lipid profile and bone integrity more significantly and improved some endpoints not affected by testosterone reposition alone (such as TG levels and trabeculae sizes). The results suggest that co-treatment with annatto products improved the blood lipid profile and the anti-osteoporosis effects of testosterone. Overall, GRA had better results than PAO.     

Prenylated Flavonoids and C-15 Isoprenoid Analogues with Antibacterial Properties from the Whole Plant of Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch (Gramineae)

The local botanical Imperata cylindrica in Cameroon was investigated for its antibacterial potency. The methanol extract afforded a total of seven compounds, including five hitherto unreported compounds comprising three flavonoids (1–3) and two C-15 isoprenoid analogues (4 and 5) together with known derivatives (6 and 7). The novelty of the flavonoids was related to the presence of both methyl and prenyl groups. The potential origin of the methyl in the flavonoids is discussed, as well as the chemophenetic significance of our findings. Isolation was performed over repeated silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and the structures were elucidated by (NMR and MS). The crude methanol extract and isolated compounds showed considerable antibacterial potency against a panel of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacterial strains. The best MIC values were obtained with compound (2) against S. aureus ATCC 25923 (32 µg/mL) and MRSA1 (16 µg/mL).     

Comparison between different models for quantum jump superoperators in cavity QED experiments

We propose an experimental scheme to probe the mathematical form of quantum jump operators used in the theory of continuous photodetection and quantum trajectories in cavities. For this aim, we propose two main steps to be followed in an experimental design: (1) pass an atom through a high-Q cavity containing an electromagnetic field prepared in a thermal or coherent state, in order to enforce the absorption of one or more photons and (2) subsequently produce a measurement of the photon statistics in the new field state arising after the photon absorption. Then, comparing the probabilities of finding zero and one photon in the initial and final states of the field, one can draw conclusions on the form of the quantum jump operators. This scheme can be readily applied in a QED microwave cavity with the present-day technology, and it allows experimental investigations of the theory of quantum jumps due to different kinds of hypothetical reservoirs.     

Non-Toxic Dimeric Peptides Derived from the Bothropstoxin-I Are Potent SARS-CoV-2 and Papain-like Protease Inhibitors

The COVID-19 outbreak has rapidly spread on a global scale, affecting the economy and public health systems throughout the world. In recent years, peptide-based therapeutics have been widely studied and developed to treat infectious diseases, including viral infections. Herein, the antiviral effects of the lysine linked dimer des-Cys¹¹, Lys¹²,Lys¹³-(pBthTX-I)₂K ((pBthTX-I)₂K)) and derivatives against SARS-CoV-2 are reported. The lead peptide (pBthTX-I)₂K and derivatives showed attractive inhibitory activities against SARS-CoV-2 (EC₅₀ = 28–65 µM) and mostly low cytotoxic effect (CC₅₀ > 100 µM). To shed light on the mechanism of action underlying the peptides’ antiviral activity, the Main Protease (M^pro) and Papain-Like protease (PL^pro) inhibitory activities of the peptides were assessed. The synthetic peptides showed PL^pro inhibition potencies (IC₅₀s = 1.0–3.5 µM) and binding affinities (K_d = 0.9–7 µM) at the low micromolar range but poor inhibitory activity against M^pro (IC₅₀ > 10 µM). The modeled binding mode of a representative peptide of the series indicated that the compound blocked the entry of the PL^pro substrate toward the protease catalytic cleft. Our findings indicated that non-toxic dimeric peptides derived from the Bothropstoxin-I have attractive cellular and enzymatic inhibitory activities, thereby suggesting that they are promising prototypes for the discovery and development of new drugs against SARS-CoV-2 infection.     

Adiabatic and nonadiabatic preparation of a ground-state coherence in an optically thick lambda medium

Fractional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (f-STIRAP) is used to develop a method for preparation of a two-photon coherence between long-lived ground states of an optically thick ensemble of lambda atoms. Despite strong depletion and reshaping of preparation pulses in the course of propagation, this method provides a stable predetermined value of the coherence uniformly established along the sample, from input to the output. Both adiabatic and nonadiabatic preparation regimes are considered.     

Eigenfunctions in a Two-Particle Anderson Tight Binding Model

We establish the phenomenon of Anderson localisation for a quantum two-particle system on a lattice with short-range interaction and in presence of an IID external potential with sufficiently regular marginal distribution.     

Lie Conformal Algebra Cohomology and the Variational Complex

We find an interpretation of the complex of variational calculus in terms of the Lie conformal algebra cohomology theory. This leads to a better understanding of both theories. In particular, we give an explicit construction of the Lie conformal algebra cohomology complex, and endow it with a structure of a \mathfrakg{\mathfrak{g}}-complex. On the other hand, we give an explicit construction of the complex of variational calculus in terms of skew-symmetric poly-differential operators.     

Spectra and dose with ANN of 252Cf, 241Am–Be, and 239Pu–Be

Artificial neural networks have been applied to unfold the neutron spectra and to calculate the effective dose, the ambient equivalent dose, and the personal dose equivalent for ²⁵²Cf, ²⁴¹Am–Be, and ²³⁹Pu–Be neutron sources. The count rates that these neutron sources produce in a Bonner Sphere Spectrometer with a ⁶LiI(Eu) were utilized as input in both artificial neural networks. Spectra and the ambient dose equivalent were also obtained with BUNKIUT code and the UTA4 response matrix. With both procedures spectra and ambient dose equivalent agrees in less than 10%. The Artificial neural network technology is an alternative procedure to unfold neutron spectra and to perform neutron dosimetry.