Reactive oxygen species-induced impairment of endothelium-dependent relaxations in rat aortic rings: protection by methanolic extracts of Phoebe grandis

Generation of reactive oxygen species plays a pivotal role in the development of cardiovascular diseases. The present study describes the effects of the methanolic extract of Phoebe grandis (MPG) stem bark on reactive oxygen species-induced endothelial dysfunction in vitro. Endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine, ACh) and -independent relaxation (sodium nitroprusside, SNP) was investigated from isolated rat aorta of Sprague-Dawley (SD) in the presence of the β-NADH (enzymatic superoxide inducer) and MPG extract. Superoxide anion production in aortic vessels was measured by lucigen chemiluminesence. Thirty minutes incubation of the rat aorta in vitro with β-NADH increased superoxide radical production and significantly inhibited ACh-induced relaxations. Pretreatment with MPG (0.5, 5 and 50 μg/mL) restored the ACh-induced relaxations (R(max): 92.29% ± 2.93, 91.02% ± 4.54 and 88.31 ± 2.36, respectively) in the presence of β-NADH. MPG was ineffective in reversing the impaired ACh-induced relaxations caused by pyrogallol, a non-enzymatic superoxide generator. Superoxide dismutase (a superoxide scavenger), however, reversed the impaired ACh relaxations induced by both β-NADH and pyrogallol. MPG also markedly inhibited the β-NADH-induced generation of the superoxide radicals. Furthermore, MPG scavenging peroxyl radicals generated by tBuOOH (10?? M).These results indicate that MPG may improve the endothelium dependent relaxations to ACh through its scavenging activity as well as by inhibiting the NADH/NADPH oxidase induced generation of superoxide anions.     

Reliable gain‐scheduled control design for networked control systems

In this article, the problem of reliable gain‐scheduled H_∞ performance optimization and controller design for a class of discrete‐time networked control system (NCS) is discussed. The main aim of this work is to design a gain‐scheduled controller, which consists of not only the constant parameters but also the time‐varying parameter such that NCS is asymptotically stable. In particular, the proposed gain‐scheduled controller is not only based on fixed gains but also the measured time‐varying parameter. Further, the result is extended to obtain a robust reliable gain‐scheduled H_∞ control by considering both unknown disturbances and linear fractional transformation parametric uncertainties in the system model. By constructing a parameter‐dependent Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, a new set of sufficient conditions are obtained in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The existence conditions for controllers are formulated in the form of LMIs, and the controller design is cast into a convex optimization problem subject to LMI constraints. Finally, a numerical example based on a station‐keeping satellite system is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed reliable control law. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 214–228, 2015     

Synthesis of N‐Protected/Free Indole‐7‐Carboxaldehyde

A direct method for the preparation of N‐protected/free indole‐7‐carboxaldehyde is reported from the corresponding N‐protected 7‐bromomethylindoles using three different conditions.     

Boundary multifractality at the integer quantum Hall plateau transition: implications for the critical theory

We study multifractal spectra of critical wave functions at the integer quantum Hall plateau transition using the Chalker-Coddington network model. Our numerical results provide important new constraints which any critical theory for the transition will have to satisfy. We find a nonparabolic multifractal spectrum and determine the ratio of boundary to bulk multifractal exponents. Our results rule out an exactly parabolic spectrum that has been the centerpiece in a number of proposals for critical field theories of the transition. In addition, we demonstrate analytically exact parabolicity of the related boundary spectra in the two-dimensional chiral orthogonal "Gade-Wegner" symmetry class.     

Complex dynamics in the Oregonator model with linear delayed feedback

The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction can display a rich dynamics when a delayed feedback is applied. We used the Oregonator model of the oscillating BZ reaction to explore the dynamics brought about by a linear delayed feedback. The time-delayed feedback can generate a succession of complex dynamics: period-doubling bifurcation route to chaos; amplitude death; fat, wrinkled, fractal, and broken tori; and mixed-mode oscillations. We observed that this dynamics arises due to a delay-driven transition, or toggling of the system between large and small amplitude oscillations, through a canard bifurcation. We used a combination of numerical bifurcation continuation techniques and other numerical methods to explore the dynamics in the strength of feedback-delay space. We observed that the period-doubling and quasiperiodic route to chaos span a low-dimensional subspace, perhaps due to the trapping of the trajectories in the small amplitude regime near the canard; and the trapped chaotic trajectories get ejected from the small amplitude regime due to a crowding effect to generate chaotic-excitable spikes. We also qualitatively explained the observed dynamics by projecting a three-dimensional phase portrait of the delayed dynamics on the two-dimensional nullclines. This is the first instance in which it is shown that the interaction of delay and canard can bring about complex dynamics.