Syringic Acid Ameliorates Cardiac,Hepatic, Renal and Neuronal Damage Induced by Chronic Hyperglycaemia in Wistar Rats: A Behavioural,Biochemical and Histological Analysis

This study investigated the effects of syringic acid (SA) on renal, cardiac, hepatic, and neuronal diabetic complications in streptozotocin-induced neonatal (nSTZ) diabetic rats. STZ (110 mg/kg i.p) was injected into Wistar rat neonates as a split dose (second and third postnatal day). Diabetes mellitus was diagnosed in adults by measuring fasting blood glucose levels, urine volume, and food and water intake. The treatment of SA (25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg p.o) was given from the 8th to 18th postnatal week. To assess the development of diabetic complications and the effect of therapy, biochemical indicators in serum and behavioural parameters were recorded at specific intervals during the study period. SA (25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg p.o) treatment reduced hyperglycaemia, polydipsia, polyphagia, polyuria, relative organ weight, cardiac hypertrophic indices, inflammatory markers, cell injury markers, glycated haemoglobin, histopathological score, and oxidative stress, and increased Na/K ATPase activity. These findings suggest that SA might significantly alleviate diabetic complications and/or renal, neuronal, cardiac, and hepatic damage in nSTZ diabetic rats.     

Rat pups and random robots generate similar self‐organized and intentional behavior

Biorobotic research continually demonstrates that behavior and cognition can be the emergent products of (1) embodied agents that are (2) dynamically embedded within an environment and (3) equipped with simple sensorimotor rules. Thigmotaxis is an orientation response to contact manifested in infant rats by wall following, corner burrowing, and group aggregation. Orientation responses have been long thought to be mediated only by sensory or central processes. Here we show that a random control architecture in a morphologically similar robot embedded in a scaled environment can reproduce thigmotaxic behaviors seen in infant rats. We conclude that (1) and (2) may play a larger role than previously thought in the generation of complex behaviors. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 12: 53–66, 2006     

Example of indeterminacy in classical dynamics

The case of a particle moving along a nonsmooth constraint under the action of uniform gravity is presented as an example of indeterminancy in a classical situation. The indeterminacy arises from certain initial conditions having nonunique solutions and is due to the failure of the Lipschitz condition at the corresponding points in the phase space of the equation of motion.     

Surface reactions and kinetically-driven patterning scheme for selective deposition of Si and Ge nanoparticle arrays on HfO2

We demonstrate a kinetically-driven patterning scheme to selectively position arrays of Ge or Si nanoparticles within lithographically defined HfO₂ windows. The surface reactions enabling patterning are revealed through temperature programmed desorption experiments and selectivity of the deposition is verified by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Patterning is possible by exploiting the different reactivity of Ge and Si on HfO₂ and SiO₂ surfaces and employing a sacrificial SiO₂ mask on which adatoms etch the SiO₂ surface and do not accumulate to form nanocrystals.     

A relaxed version of Karmarkar's method

A relaxed version of Karmarkar's method is developed. This method is proved to have the same polynomial time complexity as Karmarkar's method and its efficient implementation using inexact projections is discussed. Computational results obtained using a preliminary implementation of the method are presented which indicate that the method is practicable.This research was supported in part by NSF Grants CDR 84-21402 and DMS-85-12277 and ONR Contract N00014-87-K-0214.     

Polymer microenvironmental effects on the photophysics of cinchonine dication

Photophysical properties of cinchonine dication (C⁺⁺) have been studied in protic and aprotic polymers by monitoring steady state and time resolved measurements. It is found to be sensitive towards the microenvironment of polymers. Edge excitation red shifted emission (EERS) is observed in all polymeric matrices. However, the magnitude of EERS is relatively high in protic as compared to aprotic polymer. Isobestic point in excitation spectra and three decay components in time resolved measurements indicate more than two trapped chemical species in the heterogeneous environment of the polymer. Solute-polymer interactions are found to produce the third decay channel, unlike in solution phase and may be useful to understand the polymer microenvironment.     

Phase Separation in Confined Geometries

The kinetics of phase separation or domain growth, subsequent to temperature quenches of binary mixtures from the one-phase region into the miscibility gap, still remains a challenging problem of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. We have an incomplete understanding of many aspects of the growth of concentration inhomogeneities, including the effect of surfaces on this process, and the interplay with wetting phenomena and finite-size effects in thin films. In the present paper, an overview of the simulation approaches to this problem is given, with an emphasis on solutions of a diffusive Ginzburg-Landau model. We also discuss two recent alternative approaches: a local molecular field approximation to the Kawasaki spin exchange model on a lattice; and molecular dynamics simulations of a fluid binary Lennard-Jones mixture. A brief outlook to open questions is also given.     

Dark and bright soliton solutions and computational modeling of nonlinear regularized long wave model

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this article, the authors simulate and study dark and bright soliton solutions of 1D and 2D regularized long wave (RLW) models. The RLW model occurred in various fields such...     

Harnessing sun for catalyst and sensitizer free regio- and stereo-selective [2+2] cycloaddition

Presence of cyclobutane rings in bioactive natural products makes them a popular synthetic target. Most common strategy for synthesizing cyclobutanes is [2+2] cycloaddition, which is usually facilitated by using ultraviolet radiation and catalysts. Herein we report the design and synthesis of densely functionalized cyclobutanes by alleviating these drawbacks and using sunlight. Further, we identified the putative mechanism of the transformation based on kinetic, fluorescence and crystallographic studies and evaluated biological activities of the products against MCF7 cell lines. The rational design of the olefinic substrates was based on their UV–vis spectra. The generic aspect of the reaction was elucidated by the syntheses of diverse analogs of cyclobutanes. Further, crystal structures and UV–vis spectra of the olefinic partners assisted us in rationalizing the stereoselectivity of the heterodimers. We believe this energy-efficient mild approach will provide a substantial contribution to the existing repertoire of strategies to regio- and stereoselectively access cyclobutanes.     

Reaction mechanism and kinetic analysis of citrate gel-combustion synthesis of nanocrystalline urania

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The reaction mechanism and the determination of kinetic parameters of the citrate gel combustion synthesis of nanocrystalline urania (U3O8) are being...