Highly regio- and stereoselective synthesis of tricyclic frameworks using Baylis-Hillman derivatives

A simple and convenient synthetic route for the synthesis of tricyclic chromeno[4,3-b]pyrrolidine frameworks using Baylis-Hillman bromides involving in situ formation of an imine, decarboxylation and a [3+2] cycloaddition sequence is described.     

NiO/ZnO Composite Derived Metal-Organic Framework as Advanced Electrode Materials for Zinc Hybrid Redox Flow Battery

NiO/ZnO composite derived metal-organic framework (MOF) is used as to modify carbon felt (CF) via a conventional solid-state reaction followed by ultrasonication. The prepared electrode material is used in zinc-hybrid redox flow batteries (RFBs) due to their high redox activity of Zn²⁺/Zn. The electrochemical performance of composite modified CF and pre-treated CF was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in 0.5 M aqueous zinc chloride with 5 M potassium hydroxide solutions showed clear confirmation for enhanced electrocatalytic activity. The unique porous structure of NiO/ZnO-derived MOF with increased surface area improves the battery behavior significantlyThe peak current ratio for the as-prepared material is about 3 times higher than that of the pre-treated CF due to more active sites. Zinc-based RFB with modified CF electrode exhibited better electrochemical performance with voltage efficiency (VE, 88 %), which is higher than true redox flow batteries.     

Fractal dimension-bound spatio-temporal analysis of digital mammograms

A new Fractal Dimension-based diagnosis technique for the change detection and time-series analysis of masses in the temporal digital mammogram is presented in this paper. As the digital mammograms are confirmed as a reliable source for the prognosis of breast cancer, the demand for the development of precise computer aided detection techniques is constantly on the increase. This formed the basis for the development of this method using Fractal geometry, which is an efficient mathematical approach that deals with self-similar and irregular geometric objects called fractals. This work comprises of the detection of spatial masses using Fractal Hurst bound enhancement and segmentation of those temporal masses using Fractal Thresholding. The consultant radiologist’s assessment of mass lesions forms the baseline for comparison and validation of the detected masses. Further, this research work performs temporal analysis of mass lesions, detected from the mammograms of the current and the respective prior view using the principle of Fractal Dimension. The precision of Fractal-dimension based temporal texture analysis of malignant masses of digital mammograms subsequently attributes to their characterization.     

On Certain Positivity Classes of Operators

A real square matrix A is called a P-matrix if all its principal minors are positive. Such a matrix can be characterized by the sign non-reversal property. Taking a cue from this, the notion of a P-operator is extended to infinite dimensional spaces as the first objective. Relationships between invertibility of some subsets of intervals of operators and certain P-operators are then established. These generalize the corresponding results in the matrix case. The inheritance of the property of a P-operator by the Schur complement and the principal pivot transform is also proved. If A is an invertible M-matrix, then there is a positive vector whose image under A is also positive. As the second goal, this and another result on intervals of M-matrices are generalized to operators over Banach spaces. Towards the third objective, the concept of a Q-operator is proposed, generalizing the well known Q-matrix property. An important result, which establishes connections between Q-operators and invertible M-operators, is proved for Hilbert space operators.     

Simple colorimetric detection of dopamine using modified silver nanoparticles

Dopamine(DA) plays an important role in health and peripheral nervous systems. Colorimetric detection of DA has the advantage of color change and simplicity in operation and instrumentation. Herein, we report a highly sensitive and selective colorimetric detection of DA by using two specific ligands modified Ag nanoparticles, where the DA molecules can make dual recognition with high specificity. The colloidal suspension of modified Ag nanoparticles was agglomerated after interacting with DA, while the color of Ag nanoparticles suspension changed from yellow to brown, arising from the interparticle plasmon coupling during the aggregation of Ag nanoparticles. The modified Ag nanoparticles suspension and agglomeration were confirmed by transmission electron microscope images. The optical properties behind the color change were thoroughly investigated by using UV-Vis and Raman techniques. The changes in p H, zeta potential, particle size and surface charge density by adding DA were also determined by using dynamic light scattering measurements. The detection limits of modified Ag probes for DA was calculated to be 6.13′10~(-6) mol L~(-1)(S/N=2.04) and the correlation co-efficient was determined to be 0.9878. Because of the simplicity in operation and instrumentation of the colorimetric method, this work may afford a feasible, fast approach for detecting and monitoring the DA levels in physiological and pathological systems.     

Magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy of thioredoxin reassemblies

Differentially isotopically enriched 1-73((13)C,(15)N)/74-108((15)N) and 1-73((15)N)/74-108((13)C,(15)N) Escherichia coli thioredoxin reassemblies prepared by fragment complementation were investigated by high-resolution magic angle spinning solid-state NMR spectroscopy. Nearly complete resonance assignments, secondary and tertiary structure analysis are reported for 1-73((13)C,(15)N)/74-108((15)N) reassembled thioredoxin. Temperature dependence of the dipolar-assisted rotational resonance (DARR) spectra reveals the residues undergoing intermediate timescale motions at temperatures below - 15 degrees C. Analysis of the DARR intensity buildups as a function of mixing time in these reassemblies indicates that at long mixing times medium- and long-range cross-peaks do not experience dipolar truncation, suggesting that isotopic dilution is not required for gaining nontrivial distance restraints for structure calculations.     

Investigative study on 210Po activity concentration in naturally grown medicinal herbs

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Among various naturally grown-medicinal herbs investigated, the estimated natural radioactivity content of 210Po is found to be the highest in the...     

A characterization for ∗-isomorphisms in an indefinite inner product space

Let H₁ and H₂ be indefinite inner product spaces. Let L(H₁) and L(H₂) be the sets of all linear operators on H₁ and H₂, respectively. The following result is proved: If Φ is [∗]-isomorphism from L(H₁) onto L(H₂) then there exists such that Φ(T)=cUTU[∗] for all T∈L(H₁) with UU[∗]=cI₂, U[∗]U=cI₁ and c=±1. Here I₁ and I₂ denote the identity maps on H₁ and H₂, respectively.     

Impact of process parameters in the generation of novel aspirin nanoemulsions – Comparative studies between ultrasound cavitation and microfluidizer

In the present investigation, the operating efficiency of a bench-top air-driven microfluidizer has been compared to that of a bench-top high power ultrasound horn in the production of pharmaceutical grade nanoemulsions using aspirin as a model drug. The influence of important process variables as well as the pre-homogenization and drug loading on the resultant mean droplet diameter and size distribution of emulsion droplets was studied in an oil-in-water nanoemulsion incorporated with a model drug aspirin. Results obtained show that both the emulsification methods were capable of producing very fine nanoemulsions containing aspirin with the minimum droplet size ranging from 150 to 170 nm. In case of using the microfluidizer, it has been observed that the size of the emulsion droplets obtained was almost independent of the applied microfluidization pressure (200–600 bar) and the number of passes (up to 10 passes) while the pre-homogenization and drug loading had a marginal effect in increasing the droplet size. Whereas, in the case of ultrasound emulsification, the droplet size was generally decreased with an increase in sonication amplitude (50–70%) and period of sonication but the resultant emulsion was found to be dependent on the pre-homogenization and drug loading. The STEM microscopic observations illustrated that the optimized formulations obtained using ultrasound cavitation technique are comparable to microfluidized emulsions. These comparative results demonstrated that ultrasound cavitation is a relatively energy-efficient yet promising method of pharmaceutical nanoemulsions as compared to microfluidizer although the means used to generate the nanoemulsions are different.