Lactoferrin and Its Derived Peptides: An Alternative for Combating Virulence Mechanisms Developed by Pathogens

Due to the emergence of multidrug-resistant pathogens, it is necessary to develop options to fight infections caused by these agents. Lactoferrin (Lf) is a cationic nonheme multifunctional glycoprotein of the innate immune system of mammals that provides numerous benefits. Lf is bacteriostatic and/or bactericidal, can stimulate cell proliferation and differentiation, facilitate iron absorption, improve neural development and cognition, promote bone growth, prevent cancer and exert anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects. Lactoferrin is present in colostrum and milk and is also produced by the secondary granules of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, which store this glycoprotein and release it at sites of infection. Lf is also present in many fluids and exocrine secretions, on the surfaces of the digestive, respiratory and reproductive systems that are commonly exposed to pathogens. Apo-Lf (an iron-free molecule) can be microbiostatic due to its ability to capture ferric iron, blocking the availability of host iron to pathogens. However, apo-Lf is mostly microbicidal via its interaction with the microbial surface, causing membrane damage and altering its permeability function. Lf can inhibit viral entry by binding to cell receptors or viral particles. Lf is also able to counter different important mechanisms evolved by microbial pathogens to infect and invade the host, such as adherence, colonization, invasion, production of biofilms and production of virulence factors such as proteases and toxins. Lf can also cause mitochondrial and caspase-dependent regulated cell death and apoptosis-like in pathogenic yeasts. All of these mechanisms are important targets for treatment with Lf. Holo-Lf (the iron-saturated molecule) can contain up to two ferric ions and can also be microbicidal against some pathogens. On the other hand, lactoferricins (Lfcins) are peptides derived from the N-terminus of Lf that are produced by proteolysis with pepsin under acidic conditions, and they cause similar effects on pathogens to those caused by the parental Lf. Synthetic analog peptides comprising the N-terminus Lf region similarly exhibit potent antimicrobial properties. Importantly, there are no reported pathogens that are resistant to Lf and Lfcins; in addition, Lf and Lfcins have shown a synergistic effect with antimicrobial and antiviral drugs. Due to the Lf properties being microbiostatic, microbicidal, anti-inflammatory and an immune modulator, it represents an excellent natural alternative either alone or as adjuvant in the combat to antibiotic multidrug-resistant bacteria and other pathogens. This review aimed to evaluate the data that appeared in the literature about the effects of Lf and its derived peptides on pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, fungi and viruses and how Lf and Lfcins inhibit the mechanisms developed by these pathogens to cause disease.     

A Comparative Study of the Semiconductor Behavior of Organic Thin Films: TCNQ-Doped Cobalt Phthalocyanine and Cobalt Octaethylporphyrin

The structure formed by cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) and cobalt octaethylporphyrin (CoOEP) with electron-acceptor tetracyano-π-quinodimethane (TCNQ), was studied by Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods. According to theoretical calculations, both cobalt systems can establish dispersion forces related to TCNQ and also in both cases the link between them is built by means of hydrogen bonds. Based on the results of these DFT calculations, we developed experimental work: the organic semiconductors were doped, and the thermal evaporation technique was used to prepare semiconductor thin films of such compounds. The structure of the films was studied by FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. The optical properties of the CoPc-TCNQ and CoOEP-TCNQ films were investigated by means of UV-Vis measurements. The results obtained were used to estimate the type of transitions and the optical bandgap. The results were compared to the previously calculated theoretical bandgap. The CoOEP-TCNQ film presented the smallest theoretical and experimental bandgap. Finally, the electrical properties of the organic semiconductors were evaluated from a PET (polyethylene terephthalate)/indium tin oxide (ITO)/cobalt macrocycle-TCNQ/silver (Ag) device we prepared. The CoOEP-TCNQ-based device showed an ohmic behavior. The device manufactured from CoPc-TCNQ also showed an ohmic behavior at low voltages, but significantly changed to SCLC (space-charge limited conductivity) at high voltage values.     

Growth of ZIF-8 MOF Films with Tunable Porosity by using Poly (1-vinylimidazole) Brushes as 3D Primers

This work reports on a novel and versatile approach to control the structure of metal–organic framework (MOFs) films by using polymeric brushes as 3D primers, suitable for triggering heterogeneous MOF nucleation. As a proof-of-concept, this work explores the use of poly(1-vinylimidazole) brushes primer obtained via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) for the synthesis of Zn-based ZIF-8 MOF films. By modifying the grafting density of the brushes, smooth porous films were obtained featuring inherently hydrophobic microporosity arising from ZIF-8 structure, and an additional constructional interparticle mesoporosity, which can be employed for differential adsorption of targeted adsorbates. It was found that the grafting density modulates the constructional porosity of the films obtained; higher grafting densities result in more compact structures, while lower grafting density generates increasingly inhomogeneous films with a higher proportion of interparticle constructional porosity.     

Relaxation of variational problems in two-dimensional nonlinear elasticity

Consider a plate occupying in a reference configuration a bounded open set Ω ⊂ ℝ ² , and let be its stored-energy function. In this paper we are concerned with relaxation of variational problems of type:

Constructive Approximation in de Branges–Rovnyak Spaces

In most classical holomorphic function spaces on the unit disk in which the polynomials are dense, a function f can be approximated in norm by its dilates \(f_r(z):=f(rz)~(r<1)\). We show that this is not the case for the de Branges–Rovnyak spaces \(\mathcal{H}(b)\). More precisely, we exhibit a space \(\mathcal{H}(b)\) in which the polynomials are dense and a function \(f\in \mathcal{H}(b)\) such that \(\lim _{r\rightarrow 1^-}\Vert f_r\Vert _{\mathcal{H}(b)}=\infty \). On the positive side, we prove the following approximation theorem for Toeplitz operators on general de Branges–Rovnyak spaces \(\mathcal{H}(b)\). If \((h_n)\) is a sequence in \(H^\infty \) such that \(\Vert h_n\Vert _{H^\infty }\le 1\) and \(h_n(0)\rightarrow 1\), then \(\Vert T_{\overline{h}_n}f-f\Vert _{\mathcal{H}(b)}\rightarrow 0\) for all \(f\in \mathcal{H}(b)\). Using this result, we give the first constructive proof that, if b is a nonextreme point of the unit ball of \(H^\infty \), then the polynomials are dense in \(\mathcal{H}(b)\).     

Auger electron emission in proton-induced interactions in living matter: A TILDA-V Monte Carlo tracking

The present work focuses on studying the contribution of the Auger electron emission in proton-induced interactions in biological matter. The Monte Carlo track-structure code, TILDA-V, was then used for modeling the protons beams of 10 keV to 100 MeV in biological matter, namely, water vapor and hydrated DNA. The main ionizing processes are described by means of an extensive set of ab initio differential and total cross sections computed within a quantum-mechanical CDW-EIS approximation.     

Selecting an Effective Entropy Estimator for Short Sequences of Bits and Bytes with Maximum Entropy

Entropy makes it possible to measure the uncertainty about an information source from the distribution of its output symbols. It is known that the maximum Shannon’s entropy of a discrete source of information is reached when its symbols follow a Uniform distribution. In cryptography, these sources have great applications since they allow for the highest security standards to be reached. In this work, the most effective estimator is selected to estimate entropy in short samples of bytes and bits with maximum entropy. For this, 18 estimators were compared. Results concerning the comparisons published in the literature between these estimators are discussed. The most suitable estimator is determined experimentally, based on its bias, the mean square error short samples of bytes and bits.     

Solvatochromism of 2‐(N,N‐dimethylamino)‐7‐nitrofluorene and the natural dye β‐carotene: application for the determination of solvent dipolarity and polarizability

The effects of solvents on chemical phenomena (rate and equilibrium constants, spectroscopic transitions, etc.) are conveniently described by solvation free‐energy relationships that take into account solvent acidity, basicity and dipolarity/polarizability. The latter can be separated into its components by manipulating the UV–vis spectra of two solvatochromic probes, 2‐(N,N‐dimethylamino)‐7‐nitrofluorene (DMANF) and a di‐(tert‐butyl)‐tetramethyl docosanonaen probe (ttbP9) whose synthesis is laborious and expensive. Recently, we have shown that the natural dye β‐carotene can be conveniently employed instead of ttbP9 for the determination of solvent polarizability (SP) of 76 molecular solvents and four ionic liquids. In the present work, we report the polarizabilities of further 24 solvents. Based on the solvatochromism of β‐carotene and DMANF, we have calculated solvent dipolarity (SD) for 103 protic and aprotic molecular solvents, and ionic liquids. The dependence of SD and SP on the number of carbon atoms in the acyl‐ or alkyl group of several homologous series (alcohols; 2‐alkoxyethanols; carboxylic acid‐ anhydrides, and esters, ionic liquids) is calculated and briefly discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nuclear-induced time evolution of entanglement of two-electron spins in anisotropically coupled quantum dot

We study the time evolution of entanglement of two spins in an anisotropically coupled quantum dot interacting with the unpolarised nuclear spins environment. We assume that the exchange coupling strength in the z direction J _z is different from the lateral one J _l . We observe that the entanglement decays as a result of the coupling to the nuclear environment and reaches a saturation value, which depends on the value of the exchange interaction difference J = ‖J _l ? J _z ‖ between the two spins and the strength of the applied external magnetic field. We find that the entanglement exhibits a critical behaviour controlled by the competition between the exchange interaction J and the external magnetic field. The entanglement shows a quasi-symmetric behaviour above and below a critical value of the exchange interaction. It becomes more symmetric as the external magnetic field increases. The entanglement reaches a large saturation value, close to unity, when the exchange interaction is far above or below its critical value and a small one as it closely approaches the critical value. Furthermore, we find that the decay rate profile of entanglement is linear when the exchange interaction is much higher or lower than the critical value but converts to a power law and finally to a Gaussian as the critical value is approached from both directions. The dynamics of entanglement is found to be independent of the exchange interaction for an isotropically coupled quantum dot.