Development of Antibacterial,Degradable and pH-Responsive Chitosan/Guar Gum/Polyvinyl Alcohol Blended Hydrogels for Wound Dressing

The present research is based on the fabrication preparation of CS/PVA/GG blended hydrogel with nontoxic tetra orthosilicate (TEOS) for sustained paracetamol release. Different TEOS percentages were used because of their nontoxic behavior to study newly designed hydrogels’ crosslinking and physicochemical properties. These hydrogels were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and wetting to determine the functional, surface morphology, hydrophilic, or hydrophobic properties. The swelling analysis in different media, degradation in PBS, and drug release kinetics were conducted to observe their response against corresponding media. The FTIR analysis confirmed the components added and crosslinking between them, and surface morphology confirmed different surface and wetting behavior due to different crosslinking. In various solvents, including water, buffer, and electrolyte solutions, the swelling behaviour of hydrogel was investigated and observed that TEOS amount caused less hydrogel swelling. In acidic pH, hydrogels swell the most, while they swell the least at pH 7 or higher. These hydrogels are pH-sensitive and appropriate for controlled drug release. These hydrogels demonstrated that, as the ionic concentration was increased, swelling decreased due to decreased osmotic pressure in various electrolyte solutions. The antimicrobial analysis revealed that these hydrogels are highly antibacterial against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) and Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) bacterial strains. The drug release mechanism was 98% in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) media at pH 7.4 in 140 min. To analyze drug release behaviour, the drug release kinetics was assessed against different mathematical models (such as zero and first order, Higuchi, Baker–Lonsdale, Hixson, and Peppas). It was found that hydrogel (CPG2) follows the Peppas model with the highest value of regression (R² = 0.98509). Hence, from the results, these hydrogels could be a potential biomaterial for wound dressing in biomedical applications.     

Interaction of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids with Cholesterol: A Role in Lipid Raft Phase Separation

Unequal affinity between lipids has been hypothesized to be a mechanism for the formation of microdomains/rafts in membranes. Our studies focus upon the interaction of cholesterol with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-containing phospholipids. They support the proposal that steric incompatibility of the rigid steroid moiety for highly disordered PUFA chains, in particular docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), provides a sensitive trigger for lateral segregation of lipids into PUFA-rich/sterol-poor and PUFA-poor/sterol-rich regions. Solid state ²H NMR and x-ray diffraction (XRD) demonstrate that the solubility of cholesterol is reduced in 1-palmitoyl-2-docosahexaenoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (16-0:22:6PE) bilayers. In mixed membranes of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) with the lipid raft forming molecules egg sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol, diminished affinity of the sterol for 16:0-22:6PE relative to 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (16:0-18:1PE) is identified by ²H NMR order parameters and detergent extraction. Phase separation of the PUFA-containing phospholipid from SM/cholesterol rafts is the implication, which may be associated with the myriad of health benefits of dietary DHA.     

Analyzing normal proliferating,hypoxic and necrotic regions of T-47D human breast cancer spheroids using Raman spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is an advanced chemical analytical technique that has gained significant interest in cancer research, in particular early detection and monitoring of cancer, with added advantages of non-invasive and real-time diagnosis. Recently, studies have shown its sensitivity to monitor chemical changes during cancer progression. This information will lead to identification of chemical markers (molecular fingerprints of chemical composition) that can be used as biological markers. In this study, we used a tumor spheroid model that mimics the characteristics of a non-vascular in vitro tumor model, we used a combination of Raman and multivariate approach to identify chemical changes associated with normal proliferating, hypoxic and necrotic regions of T-47D human breast cancer spheroid model. The results provide evidence that lipids, amide I, III and nucleic acid contents differ significantly in normal, hypoxic and necrotic regions. Principal component analysis loading plots has suggested that normal proliferating region separated with low amide I and high-tryptophan content compared to hypoxic and necrotic regions. These differences observed in three regions might be useful in identification of new spectral markers associated stress faced by each region progressing toward necrosis.     

Energy minimization related to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation

In this the window of the Sobolev gradient technique to the problem of minimizing a Schrödinger functional associated with a nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We show that gradients act in a suitably chosen Sobolev space (Sobolev gradients) can be used in finite-difference and finite-element settings in a computationally efficient way to find minimum energy states of Schrödinger functionals.     

A novel antimicrobial triterpenic acid from the leaves of Ficus benjamina (var. comosa)

The chloroform extract of the leaves of Ficus benjamina (var. comosa) (Moraceae) afforded a new triterpenic acid named as (9,11), (18,19)-disecoolean-12-en-28-oic acid (1) along with β-amyrin (2). Their structures were established on the basis of chemical and physical evidences (IR, ¹H NMR, and MS data). The compound 1 exhibited significant antimicrobial activity against Salmonella typhimurium (MTCC-98), Candida albicans (IAO-109), Staphylococcus aureus (IAO-SA-22), Escherichia coli (K-12) and low activity against Aspergillus niger (lab isolate ICAR) and Aspergillus brassicola.     

Synthesis,Crystal Structure,Ab Initio Studies and Fingerprint Plots of 2-Chloro-1,3-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-2-yl acetate

Abstract  

2-Chloro-1,3-dioxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-2-yl acetate, C₁₁H₇ClO₄ (Fig. 1), has been synthesized and the structure has been solved by IR and X-ray diffraction studies. The crystals are triclinic, space group P [`1] \bar{1} , with a = 7.62060(10) ?, b = 11.5944(2) ?, c = 13.0753(3) ?, α = 97.2820(10)°, β = 101.5740(10)°, γ = 101.7930(10)°, Mr = 238.62, V = 1090.82(3) ?³, Z = 4 and R = 0.0557. In the title compound there are two molecules in the asymmetric unit. The molecules are linked via weak C–H···O hydrogen bonds forming R₄⁴(28) rings. The intermolecular interactions were analysed by means of the fingerprint plots derived from the Hirshfeld surfaces. The fingerprint plots evidenced subtle differences in the intermolecular contacts for the two independent molecules.      

Quantitative analysis of irbesartan in commercial dosage forms by kinetic spectrophotometry

The objective of this work is to develop a new kinetic spectrophotometric method for the determination of irbesartan in pharmaceutical formulations. The method is based on the reaction of carboxylic acid group of the oxidized irbesartan with a mixture of potassium iodate (KIO(3)) and iodide (KI) to form yellow colored triiodide ions in aqueous medium at 30+/-1 degrees C. The reaction is followed spectrophotometrically by measuring the rate of change of absorbance at 352 nm. The initial-rate and fixed-time (DeltaA) methods are adopted for constructing the calibration curves, which were found to be linear over the concentration ranges of 10.0-60.0 and 7.5-60.0 microg ml(-1) respectively. The regression analysis of calibration data yielded the linear equations: rate=-2.138 x 10(-6)+1.058 x 10(-4)C and DeltaA=-3.75 x 10(-3)+3.25 x 10(-3)C for initial rate and fixed time (DeltaA) methods, respectively. The limit of detection for initial rate and fixed time methods are 0.21 and 2.40 mug ml(-1), respectively. The various activation parameters such as E(a), DeltaH++, DeltaS++ and DeltaG++ are also calculated for the reaction and found to be 70.95+/-0.43 kJ mol(-1), 68.48+/-0.21 kJ mol(-1), 16.54+/-0.24 J K(-1) mol(-1) and -4.94+/-0.07 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The proposed methods are optimized and validated as per the guidelines of International Conference on Harmonisation (U.S.A.). The point and interval hypothesis tests have been performed which indicate that there is no significant difference between the proposed methods and the reference method. The methods have been successfully applied to the determination of irbesartan in commercial dosage forms.     

Synthesis and Studies of Fluorescein Based Derivatives for their Optical Properties,Urease Inhibition and Molecular Docking

Herein, we design and synthesized new fluorescein based derivatives by insitu formation of fluorescein ester and further treated with corresponding hydrazide and amine to yield respective compounds i.e. FB1, FB2, FB3 and FB4. The spectral purity and characterization was done by using IR, NMR and Mass spectroscopies. The synthesized derivatives were examined for their photophysical properties by using variety of organic solvents and results were discussed in details. The structural diversity of synthesized compounds motivate us to evaluate these compounds for urease inhibition. The compound FB3 (IC₅₀?=?0.0456 μM) shows 100 fold more active against Jack bean urease than standard drug thiourea (IC₅₀?=?4.7455 μM). Other synthesized compounds showed potent activity. Free radical percentage scavenging assay further supported the capacity of compounds to urease inhibition. While, molecular docking simulations helps to examine the molecular interactions of active compounds FB1, FB2, FB3 and FB4 within the binding site of urease enzyme.     

Dust Static Cylindrically Symmetric Solutions in f(R) Gravity

This paper is devoted to investigate non-vacuum solutions of cylindrically symmetric spacetime in the context of metric f(R) gravity. We take dust matter to find energy density of the universe. In particular, we find two exact solutions, which correspond to two f(R) models in each case. The first solution provides constant curvature while the second solution corresponds to non-constant curvature. The functions of the Ricci scalar and energy densities are evaluated in each case.