Photoprotective effects of bucillamine against UV-induced damage in an SKH-1 hairless mouse model

UVB exposure of skin results in various biologic responses either through direct or indirect damage to DNA and non-DNA cellular targets via the formation of free radicals, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation. Bucillamine [N-(2-mercapto-2-methylpropionyl)-l-cysteine] is a cysteine-derived compound that can replenish endogenous glutathione due to its two donatable thiol groups, and functions as an antioxidant. In this study, we investigated the effects of bucillamine on UVB-induced photodamage using the SKH-1 hairless mouse model. We have demonstrated that UVB exposure (two consecutive doses, 230 mJ cm(-2)) on the dorsal skin of SKH-1 mice induced inflammatory responses (edema, erythema, dermal infiltration of leukocytes, dilated blood vessels) and p53 activation as early as 6 h after the last UVB exposure. Bucillamine pretreatment (20 mg kg(-1) of body weight, administered subcutaneously) markedly attenuated UVB-mediated inflammatory responses and p53 activation. We have also demonstrated that the stabilization and upregulation of p53 by UVB correlated with phosphorylation of Ser-15 and Ser-20 residues of p53 protein and that bucillamine pretreatment attenuated this effect. We propose that bucillamine has potential to be effective as a photoprotective agent for the management of pathologic conditions elicited by UV exposure.     

Two new pentacyclic triterpenoids from Lantana camara LINN

Two new pentacyclic triterpenoids, namely lantanoic acid (1) and camaranoic acid (2), and six known compounds such as lantic acid, camarinic acid, camangeloyl acid, camarinin, oleanonic acid, and ursonic acid were isolated from the aerial parts of Lantana camara LINN. Structures of the new constituents were elucidated by chemical transformation and spectral studies including 1D ((1)H- and (13)C-NMR) and 2D ((1)H-(1)H correlation spectroscopy (COSY), nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY), (1)H-(1)H total correlation spectroscopy (TOCSY), J-resolved, (1)H-detected heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (HMQC), and heteronuclear multiple bond connectivity (HMBC)) NMR spectroscopy.     

Chemical Composition and Acetylcholinesterase Activity of the Essential Oil of Anisophyllea disticha

Chemistry of Natural Compounds -     

Velocity selection for ultracold atoms using mazer action in a bimodal cavity

In this paper, we discuss the velocity selection of ultracold three-level atoms in Λ configuration using a mazer. Our model is the same as discussed by Arun et al. [R. Arun, G.S. Agarwal, M.O. Scully, H. Walther, Phys. Rev. A 62 (2000) 023809] for mazer action in a bimodal cavity. We show that the initial Maxwellian velocity distribution of ultracold atoms can be narrowed due to the presence of resonances in the transmission through dressed-state potential. When the atoms are initially prepared in one of the two lower atomic states then significantly better velocity selectivity is obtained due to the presence of dark states.     

Organometallic ruthenium and iridium transfer-hydrogenation catalysts using coenzyme NADH as a cofactor

Artificial enzymes: half-sandwich arene ruthenium(II) and cyclopentadienyl iridium(III) complexes containing N,N-chelated ligands can use NADH as a source of hydride for the reduction of ketones. Moreover, cyclopentadienyl phenanthroline iridium(III) derivatives at micromolar concentrations are robust catalysts for the production of H(2) from NADH in water and can raise the NAD(+)/NADH ratio in cancer cells.     

Antimycobacterial and antioxidant activities of reserpine and its derivatives

In view of the attributed medicinal properties of reserpine, a number of acyl reserpine derivatives were prepared and tested for antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, strain H(37)Rv and antioxidant activities. The results indicated that in the case of antimycobacterial activity, 10 out of 18 derivatives caused more inhibition than that caused by reserpine itself. The results of antioxidant activity revealed that acylation in benzene ring of reserpine decreases the percentage inhibition of DPPH in all the derivatives compared to the parent compound (1).     

The space–time CESE method for solving special relativistic hydrodynamic equations

The special relativistic hydrodynamic equations are more complicated than the classical ones due to the nonlinear and implicit relations that exist between conservative and primitive variables. In this article, a space–time conservation element and solution element (CESE) method is proposed for solving these equations in one and two space dimensions. The CESE method has capability to capture sharp propagating wavefront of the relativistic fluids without excessive numerical diffusion or spurious oscillations. In contrast to the existing upwind finite volume schemes, the Riemann solver and reconstruction procedure are not the building blocks of the suggested method. The method differs from previous techniques because of global and local flux conservation in a space–time domain without resorting to interpolation or extrapolation. The scheme is efficient, robust, and gives results comparable to those obtained with more sophisticated algorithms, even in highly relativistic two-dimensional test problems.     

Chemical and pharmacological comparison of modern and traditional dosage forms of Joshanda

Recently, a traditional remedy (Joshanda) has been replaced largely by modern ready-to-use dosage forms, which have not been compared to the original remedy. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare a number of modern dosage forms with traditional remedy. Seven brands, 3 batches each, were compared with a Lab-made formulation with reference to analytical (proximate analyses, spectroscopic and chromatographic metabolomes) and pharmacological profiles (anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities). Chemical and pharmacological differences were found between Lab-made Joshanda and modern dosage forms. Such variations were also found within the brands and batches of modern formulations (p < 0.05). The Lab-made Joshanda showed significantly higher pharmacological activities as compared to modern brands (p ). The results of the present study indicate that modern dosage forms are unstandardised and less effective than the traditional remedy. Characteristic profiles obtained from Lab-made Joshanda may be used as reference to produce comparable dosage forms.     

Analysis of One-Dimensional Advection–Diffusion Model with Variable Coefficients Describing Solute Transport in a Porous medium

This work presents the analytical solution and temporal moments of one-dimensional advection–diffusion model with variable coefficients. Two case studies along with the two different sets of boundary conditions are considered at the inlet and outlet of the domain. In the first case, a time-dependent solute dispersion in the homogeneous domain along uniform flow is taken into account, whereas in the second case, due to inhomogeneity of domain, velocity is taken spatially dependent and the dispersion is assumed proportional to the square of the velocity. The Laplace transform is used to obtain the analytical solutions. The analytical temporal moments are derived from the Laplace domain solutions. To verify the correctness of the analytical solutions, a high-resolution second-order finite volume scheme is applied. Different case studies are considered and discussed. Both analytical and numerical results are in good agreement with each other.     

A hybrid wrapper–filter approach to detect the source(s) of out-of-control signals in multivariate manufacturing process

With modern data-acquisition equipment and on-line computers used during production, it is now common to monitor several correlated quality characteristics simultaneously in multivariate processes. Multivariate control charts (MCC) are important tools for monitoring multivariate processes. One difficulty encountered with multivariate control charts is the identification of the variable or group of variables that cause an out-of-control signal. Expert knowledge either in combination with wrapper-based supervised classifier or a pre-filter with wrapper are the standard approaches to detect the sources of out-of-control signal. However gathering expert knowledge in source identification is costly and may introduce human error. Individual univariate control charts (UCC) and decomposition of T²$T^2$ statistics are also used in many cases simultaneously to identify the sources, but these either ignore the correlations between the sources or may take more time with the increase of dimensions. The aim of this paper is to develop a source identification approach that does not need any expert-knowledge and can detect out-of-control signal in less computational complexity. We propose, a hybrid wrapper–filter based source identification approach that hybridizes a Mutual Information (MI) based Maximum Relevance (MR) filter ranking heuristic with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based wrapper. The Artificial Neural Network Input Gain Measurement Approximation (ANNIGMA) has been combined with MR (MR-ANNIGMA) to utilize the knowledge about the intrinsic pattern of the quality characteristics computed by the filter for directing the wrapper search process. To compute optimal ANNIGMA score, we also propose a Global MR-ANNIGMA using non-functional relationship between variables which is independent of the derivative of the objective function and has a potential to overcome the local optimization problem of ANN training. The novelty of the proposed approaches is that they combine the advantages of both filter and wrapper approaches and do not require any expert knowledge about the sources of the out-of-control signals. Heuristic score based subset generation process also reduces the search space into polynomial growth which in turns reduces computational time. The proposed approaches were tested by exhaustive experiments using both simulated and real manufacturing data and compared to existing methods including independent filter, wrapper and Multivariate EWMA (MEWMA) methods. The results indicate that the proposed approaches can identify the sources of out-of-control signals more accurately than existing approaches.