Structural and Kinetic Aspects of Blood Plasma Protein Adsorption on the Surface of Hydrophobic Polymers

Abstract

Due to the wide use of polymers in medicine, researchers are required to solve a very important problem–to understand the interaction between materials of nonphysiological origin and the surrounding biological liquids, and tissues, particularly blood.     

Composition of sulfated glycosaminoglycans and immunodistribution of chondroitin sulfate in deeply infiltrating endometriosis affecting the rectosigmoid

The composition of sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and the tissue distribution of chondroitin sulfate (CS) were analyzed in deeply infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) of rectosigmoid, using metachromatic staining, and biochemical analysis employing electrophoresis before and after specific enzymatic or chemical degradations, and immunostaining with an antibody against CS. The sulfated GAGs were characterized as dermatan sulfate (DS), heparan sulfate (HS) and CS; and DS strongly predominated compared to HS and CS. Immunostaining procedures showed that CS was concentrated in the endometriosis foci, distributed throughout the stroma around the glands. This is the first report describing the composition of sulfated GAGs and the tissue location of CS in DIE by means of histochemical, biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. These results confirmed that in DIE of rectosigmoid, as in eutopic endometrium [Nasciutti, L.E., Ferrari, R., Berardo, P.T., Souza, M.L.S., Takiya, C.M., Borojevic, R., Abrao, M.S., Silva, L.C.F., 2006. Distribution of chondroitin sulfate in human endometrium. Micron 37, 544–550], CS was the dominant sulfated GAG in stroma of the lesion foci.     

Entropic information for travelling solitons in Lorentz and CPT breaking systems

In this work we group four research topics apparently disconnected, namely solitons, Lorentz symmetry breaking, supersymmetry, and entropy. Following a recent work (Gleiser and Stamatopoulos, 2012), we show that it is possible to construct in the context of travelling wave solutions a configurational entropy measure in functional space, from the field configurations. Thus, we investigate the existence and properties of travelling solitons in Lorentz and CPT breaking scenarios for a class of models with two interacting scalar fields. Here, we obtain a complete set of exact solutions for the model studied which display both double and single-kink configurations. In fact, such models are very important in applications that include Bloch branes, Skyrmions, Yang–Mills, Q-balls, oscillons and various superstring-motivated theories. We find that the so-called Configurational Entropy (CE) for travelling solitons shows that the best value of parameter responsible to break the Lorentz symmetry is one where the energy density is distributed equally around the origin. In this way, the information-theoretical measure of travelling solitons in Lorentz symmetry violation scenarios opens a new window to probe situations where the parameters responsible for breaking the symmetries are arbitrary. In this case, the CE selects the best value of the parameter in the model.     

ONE-POT SYNTHESIS OF N-ALKYL SUBSTITUTED PHOSPHORYL GUANIDINES

This article describes an attractive and one-pot synthesis of the title compound by phosphorylation of just prepared N-substituted guanidines from cyanamide and the desired amine. The method allows a variety of N-substituents to hang on the final phosphoryl guanidine as a function of the wider availability of commercial simple amines.     

Tautomerism of Diisopropoxyphosphoryl Benzylisothiourea

Abstract

As part of our studies in preparation and physical properties of Potential ligands containing l-phosphoryl(P?O)-3-3-carbonyI(C?X, X?NH, O or S) group, we have investigated the intrdinta molecular hydrogen bonding of diisoproxy- phosphorylquanidine[l] as well as the tautomerism of phosphoryl benzylisothiourea. These are of interest as in interpretation of their chelation behavior as well as in development of other potential ligands for specific metal cations.     

The chameleon effect in zwitterionic micelles: Binding of anions and cations and use as nanoparticle stabilizing agents

Zwitterionic surfactants are relatively overlooked and some of their properties resemble those of ionic and non-ionic surfactants, but others are unique. There is unimpeachable evidence that aqueous solutions of zwitterionic micelles interact specifically with anions, forming “anionoid” micelles, which concentrate cations in the surfaces. Thus, unlike ionic micelles, both the cation and anion of the electrolyte solution can be concentrated at zwitterionic interfaces. This unique effect, known as the “Chameleon Effect”, can be used to catalyze a variety of simple reactions, as the attraction of ions to the micelle brings the reactants together. Furthermore, zwitterionic surfactants stabilize metallic nanoparticles and the magnetically stirred two-phase system could be reused 3 more times in the hydrogenation of cyclohexene (Pd:cyclohexene ratio of 1:18300), with very little loss in activity, and an average turn-over frequency of 1000 h^? 1.     

Flow properties of biodiesel: correlation between TMDSC and dynamic viscosity

Sustainable and renewable energy has become more attractive due to its environmental benefits. Among these alternative sources, biodegradable and low emission biodiesels have been gaining attention as compared to diesel. However, their performance at low temperatures affects their commercial viability, because of engine performance problems, and when starting. Cold Filter Plugging Point, Pour Point, and Cloud Point are employed to predict the limits of operability for biodiesel. However, dynamic viscosity and TM-DSC methods are also useful to assess these properties and can be correlated. Viscosity curves were obtained, and TM-DSC revealed that the start temperature (transition liquid–solid) exhibits an increase in flow resistance for soybean, colza, sunflower, corn, and babassu oil biodiesels. The nucleation processes which occur during cooling are unique for each type of biodiesel due to the presence of different ester compositions and the values for viscosity and flow at low temperatures varied accordingly.     

A simple method for methylmercury,inorganic mercury and ethylmercury determination in plasma samples by high performance liquid chromatography–cold-vapor-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A simple and sensitive method with a fast sample preparation procedure is proposed for the determination of mercury species in plasma/serum. The method combines online high-performance liquid chromatography separation, Hg cold-vapor formation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection. Prior to analysis, plasma (250 μL) was accurately pipetted into 15 mL conical tubes. Then, an extractant solution containing mercaptoethanol, L-cysteine and HCl was added to the samples following sonication for 10 min. Quantitative mercury extraction was achieved with the proposed procedure. Separation of mercury species was accomplished in less than 8 min on a C8 reverse phase column with a mobile phase containing 3% v/v methanol + 97% v/v (0.5% v/v 2-mercaptoethanol + 0.05% v/v formic acid). The method detection limits were found to be 12 ng L⁻¹, 5 ng L⁻¹ and 4 ng L⁻¹ for inorganic mercury, ethylmercury and methylmercury, respectively. Method accuracy is traceable to Standard Reference Material (SRM) 966 Toxic Metals in Bovine Blood from NIST. Additional validation was provided by the analysis of a secondary reference serum sample from the INSQ-Canada. Finally, the method was successfully applied for the speciation of mercury in plasma samples collected from volunteers exposed to methylmercury through fish consumption. For the first time to our knowledge, levels of different species of Hg in plasma samples from riverside populations exposed to MeHg were determined.