Adamantyl ferrocene derivatives: Antioxidant abilities and effects on model lipid membranes

A series of homoannularly and heteroannularly substituted adamantyl ferrocene derivatives has been synthesized and their effects on membrane fluidity were investigated using liposomes as the membrane models. The liposome formulations of adamantyl ferrocene derivatives were characterized by using dynamic light scattering, differential scanning calorimetry and fluorescence anisotropy measurements. It was demonstrated that adamantyl ferrocene derivatives incorporated into the liposome significantly affect the structure of the lipid bilayer. The results of the study have revealed that adamantyl ferrocene derivatives, compounds 9 – 12, partition into the hydrophobic/hydrophilic interface of the membrane, causing a significant decrease in membrane fluidity. The antioxidant potential of synthesized compounds was assessed with DPPH method and it was shown that the examined compounds possess certain antioxidant activity.     

Optimizing the Electricity Consumption with a High Degree of Flexibility Using a Dynamic Tariff and Stackelberg Game

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications - Recent advancements in the sensor industry, smart metering systems and communication technology have led to interesting electricity consumption...     

Development of Improved High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Method for the Determination of Residual Caprylic Acid in Formulations of Human Immunoglobulins

Quality control of human immunoglobulin formulations produced by caprylic acid precipitation necessitates a simple, rapid, and accurate method for determination of residual caprylic acid. A high-performance liquid chromatography method for that purpose was developed and validated. The method involves depletion of immunoglobulins, the major interfering components that produce high background noise, by precipitation with acetonitrile (1:1, v/v). Chromatographic analysis of caprylic acid, preserved in supernatant with no loss, was performed using a reverse-phase C18 column (2.1 × 150 mm, 3 μm) as a stationary phase and water with 0.05% TFA–acetonitrile (50:50, v/v) as a mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min and run time of 10 min. The developed method was successfully validated according to the ICH guidelines. The validation parameters confirmed that method was linear, accurate, precise, specific, and able to provide excellent separation of peaks corresponding to caprylic acid and the fraction of remaining immunoglobulins. Furthermore, a 2⁴⁻¹ fractional factorial design was applied in order to test the robustness of developed method. As such, the method is highly suitable for the quantification of residual caprylic acid in formulations of human immunoglobulins for therapeutic use, as demonstrated on samples produced by fractionation of convalescent anti-SARS-CoV-2 human plasma at a laboratory scale. The obtained results confirmed that the method is convenient for routine quality control.     

First- and second-order statistics of optical near fields

The statistical properties of the intensity in close proximity to highly scattering, randomly inhomogeneous media are investigated. Whereas the intensity probability density function obeys the same law irrespective of the distance z from the interface, the second-order intensity correlation length changes for distances smaller than the wavelength. Contrary to predictions of the conventional coherence theory, the corresponding field correlation length can be smaller than the wavelength of light.     

Intensity-related dynamics of femtosecond frequency combs

We have performed systematic studies of intensity-related dynamics of the pulse repetition and carrier-envelope offset frequencies in mode-locked Ti:sapphire lasers. We compared the results far two laser systems that have different intracavity dispersion-compensation schemes. We found that the carrier-envelope phase noise and its dynamic response depend critically on the mode-locking conditions. An intensity-related shift of the laser spectrum was found to be instrumental in interpretations.     

Development of a new reference material for the validation of molecular detection methods for microbiological analysis

The standard methodology used for the detection of bacteria in environmental samples and food is primarily based on bacterial growth on specific culture media and confirmation by biochemical and/or immunological tests of all presumptive colonies. However, this methodology presents a number of drawbacks, such as low sensitivity and specificity, and the long time needed to obtain results. For this reason, the implementation of molecular methods in diagnostic laboratories has increased over the past several years. Nevertheless, most of these newer methods have not been included in current legislation, and, in most of cases, they have not yet been normalized. In this sense, the availability of appropriate reference materials (RMs) can help to overcome these deficiencies. The aim of this study was to develop and validate, following ISO Guide 34, a new RM, in a tablet format, for the quantification of Legionella pneumophila and Salmonella spp. by quantitative PCR (qPCR). This new RM can be used as a work reference sample in internal quality control, in the organization of proficiency testing schemes (PTS), as well as for the validation of molecular methods based on qPCR.     

Variational Properties of the Solutions for Second-Order Differential Equations and Systems on Semi-Line

In this article, an abstract theory regarding variational properties of the fixed points of contractions and Perov contractions is applied to boundary value problems on semi-line for second-order differential equations and systems. The main result states that under suitable conditions the unique solution of such a system is a Nash-type equilibrium of the corresponding energy functionals.     

Tight closure and linkage classes in Gorenstein rings

We study the relationship between the tight closure of an ideal and the sum of all ideals in its linkage class I thank Mel Hochster and Craig Huneke for their support and encouragement and for many helpful discussions.The author was partially supported by the NSF.