Improvement of acetylcholinesterase-based assay for organophosphates in way of identification by reactivators

Organophosphates present serious fulmination in several aspects of human life. Detection of organophosphates is frequently based on following acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition. Although limit of detection and sensitivity for AChE-based assays seem to be intriguing, the identification of organophosphates is not currently efficient in this way. We introduce an improvement of AChE-based assay by reactivators using a selective come-back of AChE activity after previous inhibition. We have chosen four organophosphates: paraoxon-ethyl, paraoxon-methyl, trichlorfon, methamidophos as representative pesticides and the three most available reactivators: HI-6, obidoxime, pralidoxime. Reactivation was realized in the 96-wells photometric microplates and activity of human recombinant AChE was followed by reaction of Ellman's reagent with one of enzyme digestion product: thiocholine. Distinguishing of reactivation efficacy was judged by the independent two population t-test. The most significant identification was based on methamidophos inhibited AChE reactivation by HI-6 or pralidoxime and paraoxon-ethyl inhibited AChE by obidoxime; moreover, identification of trichlorfon and paraoxon-methyl was possible, too. Practical impact of described method is discussed.     

First hyperpolarizability of polymethineimine with long-range corrected functionals

Using the long-range corrected (LC) density functional theory (DFT) scheme introduced by Iikura et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 115, 3540 (2001)] and the Coulomb-attenuating model (CAM-B3LYP) of Yanai et al. [Chem. Phys. Lett. 393, 51 (2004)], we have calculated the longitudinal dipole moments and static electronic first hyperpolarizabilities of increasingly long polymehtineimine oligomers. For comparison purposes Hartree-Fock (HF), Moller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2), and conventional pure and hybrid functionals have been considered as well. HF, generalized gradient approximation (GGA), and conventional hybrids provide too large dipole moments for long oligomers, while LC-DFT allows to reduce the discrepancy with respect to MP2 by a factor of 3. For the first hyperpolarizability, the incorrect evolution with the chain length predicted by HF is strongly worsened by BLYP, Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), and also by B3LYP and PBE0. On the reverse, LC-BLYP and LC-PBE hyperpolarizabilities are correctly predicted to be positive (but for the two smallest chains). Indeed, for medium and long oligomers LC hyperpolarizabilities are slightly smaller than MP2 hyperpolarizabilities, as it should be. CAM-B3LYP also strongly improves the B3LYP results, though a bit less impressively for small chain lengths. The present study demonstrates the efficiency of long-range DFT, even in very pathological cases.     

High Performance Liquid Chromatography‐Electrochemistry‐Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry (HPLC/EC/ESI‐MS) for Detection and Characterization of Roscovitine Oxidation Products

On‐line LC‐EC/ESI‐MS has been established as a fast and simple method to mimic some types of oxidation reaction of various drugs and to study the formation and structure of the resulting products. This technique has been applied to a 2,6,9‐trisubstituted purine, R‐roscovitine, which is known to be an inhibitor of some cyclin‐dependent kinases (CDKs) and a potential anticancer drug. Oxidation of R‐roscovitine in an electrochemical cell (EC), operated under various conditions, resulted in appearance of 6 major products. These were further analyzed by high‐resolution mass spectrometry, their structures were elucidated by accurate mass measurement and compared to previously identified R‐roscovitine in vitro/in vivo metabolites. Although none of the observed products was structurally identical to those identified previously in vitro/in vivo, all of them, except for the methoxylated products, resembled similarity due to appearing through the same reaction type. R‐roscovitine in the EC cell underwent N‐dealkylation of the isopropyl moiety, hydroxylation of the aromatic side‐chain, dihydroxylation, methoxylation and dimer formation. The hydroxylation product was identified as Olomoucine II, a R‐roscovitine derivative, which displays 10‐times higher CDK‐inhibiting activity than R‐roscovitine and the occurrence of which, as R‐roscovitine product, has not yet been observed in vitro/in vivo.     

The effect of specific nucleation on molecular and supermolecular orientation in isotactic polypropylene

The molecular and supermolecular orientation, morphology and structural changes observed during cold drawing of injection moulded isotactic polypropylene modified by specific α, and β nucleating agents were studied by polarised photoacoustic FTIR spectroscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry. Significantly lower molecular orientation was found in the core of the β-nucleated injection moulded specimens as compared to unmodified and α-nucleated materials. This has been ascribed to the fast growth of the β-crystallites which inevitably dislocates the flow-induced orientation within the crystalline regions and in their vicinity. Moreover, it was found that the presence of the developed β-crystallites distinctly diminishes the efficiency of the orientational solid-state drawing assessed on both levels of the hierarchical structure (molecular and crystalline). This structural observation is directly connected with macroscopic softening effect of the β-phase: lowering the yield stress and flattening the neck shoulder. Thus, the interrelation between the microstructural and macroscopic effects of the β-phase could be described as a feedback process.     

Rough surface scattering simulations using graphics cards

In this article we present results of rough surface scattering calculations using a graphical processing unit implementation of the Finite Difference in Time Domain algorithm. Numerical results are compared to real measurements and computational performance is compared to computer processor implementation of the same algorithm. As a basis for computations, atomic force microscope measurements of surface morphology are used. It is shown that the graphical processing unit capabilities can be used to speedup presented computationally demanding algorithms without loss of precision.     

Vapor pressure of selected aliphatic alcohols by ebulliometry. Part 2

Vapor pressures of six pentanols, 2-methyl-1-butanol (CAS Registry Number 137-32-6), 2-methyl-2-butanol (CAS Registry Number 75-85-4), 3-methyl-1-butanol (CAS Registry Number 123-51-3), 3-methyl-2-butanol (CAS Registry Number 598-75-4), 2-pentanol (CAS Registry Number 6032-29-7) and 3-pentanol (CAS Registry Number 584-02-1), were measured by the precision ebulliometry over an approximate pressure range from 9 to 99 kPa. The absolute uncertainties in pressure and temperature are estimated to be less than or equal to 7 Pa and 0.02 K, respectively. The results are represented by the Antoine equation and compared with available literature data.     

Mesohydrodynamics of membrane suspensions

Doi–Ohta rheological model of immiscible blends is extended by replacing the fluid interface with an elastic membrane. A symmetric tensor characterizing the in-membrane deformations joins the surface area and the orientation tensor (used in the Doi–Ohta theory) to provide morphological state variables. The governing equations of the model are solved numerically and the morphological and rheological predictions are presented. As an illustration, we regard the model as a first step in mesoscopic rheological modeling of suspensions of red blood cells. The material properties of the membrane enclosing the red blood cells, that are inferred from rheology, are indeed found to be close to the ones seen in direct experimental measurements. A more realistic model of human blood has to include additional morphological state variables describing larger structures (in particular whole red blood cells).     

Biocompatible hydrogels based on chitosan,cellulose/starch,PVA and PEDOT:PSS with high flexibility and high mechanical strength

Fabricating mechanically strong hydrogels that can withstand the conditions in internal tissues is a challenging task. We have designed hydrogels based on multicomponent systems by combining chitosan, starch/cellulose, PVA, and PEDOT:PSS via one-pot synthesis. The starch-based hydrogels were homogeneous, while the cellulose-based hydrogels showed the presence of cellulose micro- and nanofibers. The cellulose-based hydrogels demonstrated a swelling ratio between 121 and 156%, while the starch-based hydrogels showed higher values, from 234 to 280%. Tensile tests indicated that the presence of starch in the hydrogels provided high flexibility (strain at break?>?300%), while combination with cellulose led to the formation of stiffer hydrogels (elastic moduli 3.9–6.6 MPa). The ultimate tensile strength for both types of hydrogels was similar (2.8–3.9 MPa). The adhesion and growth of human osteoblast-like SAOS-2 cells was higher on hydrogels with cellulose than on hydrogels with starch, and was higher on hydrogels with PEDOT:PSS than on hydrogels without this polymer. The metabolic activity of cells cultivated for 3 days in the hydrogel infusions indicated that no acutely toxic compounds were released. This is promising for further possible applications of these hydrogels in tissue engineering or in wound dressings.

Graphical abstract

     

Quantitative Analysis of Coal by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Using TEA CO2 Laser as the Excitation Source

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - This work presents a study of the applicability of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy based on infrared transversally excited atmospheric CO2 pulsed laser...     

CCSD(T) expectation value calculations of first-order properties

An expectation value approach to calculations of first-order properties using the non-iterative, triple-excitation amplitudes in the coupled cluster wave function is exploited. Three methods are suggested and analysed using the many body perturbation theory (MBPT) expansion arguments. The first method, in which non-iterative triple-excitation amplitudes are used in the expression for the expectation values, makes the wave function accurate through the second order of MBPT. In the second method, which is an extension of the first, effects of triple-excitation amplitudes are coupled with single- and double-excitation amplitudes. The correlated density matrix equivalent through the fourth order to that obtained when CCSDT-la amplitudes are used is employed in the third method. The suggested methods are tested on dipole moment and polarizability calculations for several diatomic closed-shell molecules and are compared to other related approaches. Received: 15 May 1997 / Accepted: 5 June 1997