Antidiarrhoeic effect and dereplication of the aqueous extract of Annona crassiflora (Annonaceae)

We investigated the antidiarrhoeic effect of the aqueous extract of Annona crassiflora leaves (AEAC). The AEAC decreased the diarrhoeic stools and enteropooling induced by castor oil, without altering total faecal output; moreover, the distance travelled by charcoal meal in the intestine was increased. Twenty-eight compounds were identified by LC-DAD-MS in the AEAC, including flavonoids, alkaloids and proanthocyanidins. In addition, two oligomeric series of condensed tannins of up to nine flavan-3-ol units were characterised by MALDI-MS. These data suggest that the antidiarrhoeic effect of the AEAC is related to its ability to inhibit intestinal secretion and/or to increase intestinal absorption. Moreover, the prokinetic effect of AEAC, together with its inhibitory effect on enteropooling induced by castor oil, explains why this extract decreased diarrhoeic faeces without altering the total faecal output. All these effects are in agreement with the pharmacological activity reported in the literature for many of the secondary metabolites identified.     

Inelastic collisions of ultracold heteronuclear molecules in an optical trap

Ultracold RbCs molecules in high-lying vibrational levels of the a3Sigma+ ground electronic state are confined in an optical trap. Inelastic collision rates of these molecules with both Rb and Cs atoms are determined for individual vibrational levels, across an order of magnitude of binding energies. The long-range dispersion coefficients for the collision process are calculated and used in a model that accurately reproduce the observed scattering rates.     

Luminescent Surface-Tethered Polymer Brush Materials

Surface-tethered polymers are unique molecular architectures that have been recently used in advanced sensors, electronics and biomedical applications. However, techniques for characterizing these materials in their surface-tethered form remain limited. The incorporation of luminescent functionality into these materials has enabled new characterization methods, while also unlocking new applications in optoelectronics, stenography and sensing. Micron-scale photolithography techniques have recently enabled the preparation of high-resolution patterns, as well as architectures with unique photophysical properties. Herein, we provide an overview of the techniques used to prepare luminescent polymer brush materials and their applications in stimuli-responsive sensors, cell adhesion materials, and optoelectronics. We also provide our perspective on the promising future uses of surface-tethered polymers, as well as the short-term challenges and opportunities in the field.     

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Activated Liposomal Cell Delivery using a Boronate-Caged Guanidine Lipid

We report boronate-caged guanidine-lipid 1 that activates liposomes for cellular delivery only upon uncaging of this compound by reactive oxygen species (ROS) to produce cationic lipid products. These liposomes are designed to mimic the exceptional cell delivery properties of cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), while the inclusion of the boronate cage is designed to enhance selectivity such that cell entry will only be activated in the presence of ROS. Boronate uncaging by hydrogen peroxide was verified by mass spectrometry and zeta potential (ZP) measurements. A microplate-based fluorescence assay was developed to study the ROS-mediated vesicle interactions between 1 -liposomes and anionic membranes, which were further elucidated via dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. Cellular delivery studies utilizing fluorescence microscopy demonstrated significant enhancements in cellular delivery only when 1 -liposomes were incubated with hydrogen peroxide. Our results showcase that lipid 1 exhibits strong potential as an ROS-responsive liposomal platform for targeted drug delivery applications.     

Dense packings of hard spheres of different sizes based on filling interstices in uniform three-dimensional tilings

A systematic survey is presented of the maximum packing fractions obtained by decorating the 28 uniform tilings of three-dimensional space with spheres of one size and then filling the interstices of these tilings, starting with the largest, with spheres of different sizes. A number of size ratios and structures are identified that have not, to date, been considered in problems involving the packing of spheres of different sizes.     

Vicinal deuterium perturbations on hydrogen NMR chemical shifts in cyclohexanes

The substitution of a deuterium for a hydrogen is known to perturb the NMR chemical shift of a neighboring hydrogen atom. The magnitude of such a perturbation may depend on the specifics of bonding and stereochemical relationships within a molecule. For deuterium-labeled cyclohexanes held in a chair conformation at -80 degrees C or lower, all four possible perturbations of H by D as H-C-C-H is changed to D-C-C-H have been determined experimentally, and the variations seen, ranging from 6.9 to 10.4 ppb, have been calculated from theory and computational methods. The predominant physical origins of the NMR chemical shift perturbations in deuterium-labeled cyclohexanes have been identified and quantified. The trends defined by the Delta delta perturbation values obtained through spectroscopic experiments and by theory agree satisfactorily. They do not match the variations typically observed in vicinal J(H-H) coupling constants as a function of dihedral angles.     

Oligodeoxynucleotides incorporating structurally simple 5-alkynyl-2'-deoxyuridines fluorometrically respond to hybridization

Selected 5-ethynyl derivatives of 2'-deoxyuridine are shown to fluorometrically respond to hybridization and selectively base-pair to adenine whilst maintaining duplex stability.     

Research Progress and Application of Single-Atom Catalysts: A Review

Due to excellent performance properties such as strong activity and high selectivity, single-atom catalysts have been widely used in various catalytic reactions. Exploring the application of single-atom catalysts and elucidating their reaction mechanism has become a hot area of research. This article first introduces the structure and characteristics of single-atom catalysts, and then reviews recent preparation methods, characterization techniques, and applications of single-atom catalysts, including their application potential in electrochemistry and photocatalytic reactions. Finally, application prospects and future development directions of single-atom catalysts are outlined.     

Why are alkane eliminations from ionized alkanes so abundant?

Eliminations of alkanes consisting of the side chain plus a hydrogen from ionized alkylcycloalkanes are unusually abundant among such processes. For example, ethane is eliminated from ionized ethylcyclopentane more than 10 times more often than it is from its acyclic isomers. To explore why, we characterized the eliminations of ethane from ionized ethylcyclopentane and of butane, 2-methylpropane, and cyclohexane from isomeric butylcyclohexane ions. We hypothesized that one reason these alkane eliminations are particularly favored is that the partners in the complex do not readily escape from reactive configurations. Supporting this, hydrogens are transferred to butyl partners from around cyclohexyl rings, demonstrating that the partners in cycloalkyl-containing complexes do react with each other through several configurations. A very prominent cyclohexane elimination from ionized tert-butylcyclohexane demonstrates that alkane elimination is abundant no matter which partner in the intermediate ion-neutral complex bears the charge. C₄H₈ ⁺ is the dominant dissociation product of ionized tert-butylcyclohexane, even though the formation of the cyclohexene ion plus 2-methylpro-pane is thermochemically favored, a highly unusual ordering among mass spectral fragmentations. This is attributed to H-atom transfer from a tret-butyl ion to a cyclohexyl radical being preferred over transfer of hydride in the opposite direction. The effect of energy on the magnitude of alkane eliminations and the associated simple dissociations was elucidated utilizing photoionization mass spectrometry. Appearance energies show that forces of attraction between the partners are less than 30 kJ mol^?1, no stronger than when both partners are acyclic. However, the shapes of photoionization efficiency curves demonstrate that these alkane eliminations are significant over a wide energy range, in contrast to most other alkane eliminations. Thus, ionized cycloalkanes generate unusually stable ion-neutral complexes; this is probably the reason alkane eliminations through them are so abundant. Alkane eliminations from acyclic alkane ions are also very abundant, suggesting that ion-neutral complexes formed from alkylcycloalkane and alkane ions have a common feature which makes energy relatively ineffective in driving the partners apart.     

Integrating microRNA and mRNA expression profiles of neuronal progenitors to identify regulatory networks underlying the onset of cortical neurogenesis

Background

While there is a general agreement that picture-plane inversion is more detrimental to face processing than to other seemingly complex visual objects, the origin of this effect is still largely debatable. Here, we address the question of whether face inversion reflects a quantitative or a qualitative change in processing mode by investigating the pattern of event-related potential (ERP) response changes with picture plane rotation of face and house pictures. Thorough analyses of topographical (Scalp Current Density maps, SCD) and dipole source modeling were also conducted.

Results

We find that whilst stimulus orientation affected in a similar fashion participants' response latencies to make face and house decisions, only the ERPs in the N170 latency range were modulated by picture plane rotation of faces. The pattern of N170 amplitude and latency enhancement to misrotated faces displayed a curvilinear shape with an almost linear increase for rotations from 0° to 90° and a dip at 112.5° up to 180° rotations. A similar discontinuity function was also described for SCD occipito-temporal and temporal current foci with no topographic distribution changes, suggesting that upright and misrotated faces activated similar brain sources. This was confirmed by dipole source analyses showing the involvement of bilateral sources in the fusiform and middle occipital gyri, the activity of which was differentially affected by face rotation.

Conclusion

Our N170 findings provide support for both the quantitative and qualitative accounts for face rotation effects. Although the qualitative explanation predicted the curvilinear shape of N170 modulations by face misrotations, topographical and source modeling findings suggest that the same brain regions, and thus the same mechanisms, are probably at work when processing upright and rotated faces. Taken collectively, our results indicate that the same processing mechanisms may be involved across the whole range of face orientations, but would operate in a non-linear fashion. Finally, the response tuning of the N170 to rotated faces extends previous reports and further demonstrates that face inversion affects perceptual analyses of faces, which is reflected within the time range of the N170 component.