Analogues of uracil nucleosides with intrinsic fluorescence (NIF-analogues): synthesis and photophysical properties

Uridine cannot be utilized as fluorescent probe due to its extremely low quantum yield. For improving the uracil fluorescence characteristics we extended the natural chromophore at the C5 position by coupling substituted aromatic rings directly or via an alkenyl or alkynyl linker to create fluorophores. Extension of the uracil base was achieved by treating 5-I-uridine with the appropriate boronic acid under the Suzuki coupling conditions. Analogues containing an alkynyl linker were obtained from 5-I-uridine and the suitable boronic acid in a Sonogashira coupling reaction. The uracil fluorescent analogues proposed here were designed to satisfy the following requirements: a minimal chemical modification at a position not involved in base-pairing, resulting in relatively long absorption and emission wavelengths and high quantum yield. 5-((4-Methoxy-phenyl)-trans-vinyl)-2'-deoxy-uridine, 6b, was found to be a promising fluorescent probe. Probe 6b exhibits a quantum yield that is 3000-fold larger than that of the natural chromophore (Φ 0.12), maximum emission (478 nm) which is 170 nm red shifted as compared to uridine, and a Stokes shift of 143 nm. In addition, since probe 6b adopts the anti conformation and S sugar puckering favored by B-DNA, it makes a promising nucleoside analogue to be incorporated in an oligonucleotide probe for detection of genetic material.     

Nano-PSO Administration Attenuates Cognitive and Neuronal Deficits Resulting from Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), is one of the most common causes of neurological damage in young populations. It is widely considered as a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s (PD) disease. These diseases are characterized in part by the accumulation of disease-specific misfolded proteins and share common pathological features, such as neuronal death, as well as inflammatory and oxidative damage. Nano formulation of Pomegranate seed oil [Nano-PSO (Granagard ^TM)] has been shown to target its active ingredient to the brain and thereafter inhibit memory decline and neuronal death in mice models of AD and genetic Creutzfeldt Jacob disease. In this study, we show that administration of Nano-PSO to mice before or after TBI application prevents cognitive and behavioral decline. In addition, immuno-histochemical staining of the brain indicates that preventive Nano-PSO treatment significantly decreased neuronal death, reduced gliosis and prevented mitochondrial damage in the affected cells. Finally, we examined levels of Sirtuin1 (SIRT1) and Synaptophysin (SYP) in the cortex using Western blotting. Nano-PSO consumption led to higher levels of SIRT1 and SYP protein postinjury. Taken together, our results indicate that Nano-PSO, as a natural brain-targeted antioxidant, can prevent part of TBI-induced damage.     

Calculating the Fundamental Group of Galois Cover of the (2,3)-embedding of ℂℙ 1 × T

As known to all,it is quite difficult to compute the fundamental group of a surface of general type.In this paper,applying Moishezon-Teicher’s algorithm,we investigate the fundamental group of a special surface of general type with zero topological index,namely,the Galois cover of the(2,3)-embedding of CP^1×T.Because the full presentation of the group is very complicated,we compute its special quotient and get an interesting result about its structure.     

On rigid covers associated to the three-cuspidal quartic

We determine the fundamental group of the complement of the three-cuspidal quartic minus the tangent lines through the cusps. The existence of a rigid covering of this complement whose monodromy group is isomorphic to the simple group PSL₂(\mathbbF₇)\mathrm{PSL}_{2}(\mathbb{F}_{7}) is proved.     

Braid monodromy factorization for a non-prime <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>3 surface branch curve

In this paper we consider a non-prime K3 surface of degree 16, and study a specific degeneration of it, known as the (2, 2)-pillow degeneration, [10]. We study also the braid monodromy factorization of the branch curve of the surface with respect to a generic projection onto ℂℙ². In [4], we compute the fundamental groups of the complement of the branch curve and of the corresponding Galois cover of the surface. Partially supported by the DAAD fellowship (Germany), the Golda Meir post-doctoral fellowship (the Einstein Mathematics Institute, Hebrew University, Jerusalem), the Emmy Noether Research Institute for Mathematics (center of the Minerva Foundation of Germany), the Excellency Center “Group Theoretic Methods in the Study of Algebraic Varieties” of the Israel Science Foundation, and EAGER (EU network, HPRN-CT-2009-00099).     

Staircase and fractional part functions

The staircase and fractional part functions are basic examples of real functions. They can be applied in several parts of mathematics, such as analysis, number theory, formulas for primes, and so on; in computer programming, the floor and ceiling functions are provided by a significant number of programming languages – they have some basic uses in various programming tasks. In this paper, we view the staircase and fractional part functions as a classical example of non-continuous real functions. We introduce some of their basic properties, present some interesting constructions concerning them, and explore some intriguing interpretations of such functions. Throughout the paper, we use these functions in order to explain basic concepts in a first calculus course, such as domain of definition, discontinuity, and oddness of functions. We also explain in detail how, after researching the properties of such functions, one can draw their graph; this is a crucial part in the process of understanding their nature. In the paper, we present some subjects that the first-year student in the exact sciences may not encounter. We try to clarify those subjects and show that such ideas are important in the understanding of non-continuous functions, as a part of studying analysis in general.