A Comprehensive Review on Therapeutic Perspectives of Phytosterols in Insulin Resistance: A Mechanistic Approach

Natural products in the form of functional foods have become increasingly popular due to their protective effects against life-threatening diseases, low risk of adverse effects, affordability, and accessibility. Plant components such as phytosterol, in particular, have drawn a lot of press recently due to a link between their consumption and a modest incidence of global problems, such as Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cancer, and cardiovascular disease. In the management of diet-related metabolic diseases, such as T2DM and cardiovascular disorders, these plant-based functional foods and nutritional supplements have unquestionably led the market in terms of cost-effectiveness, therapeutic efficacy, and safety. Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder categoriszed by high blood sugar and insulin resistance, which influence major metabolic organs, such as the liver, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle. These chronic hyperglycemia fallouts result in decreased glucose consumption by body cells, increased fat mobilisation from fat storage cells, and protein depletion in human tissues, keeping the tissues in a state of crisis. In addition, functional foods such as phytosterols improve the body’s healing process from these crises by promoting a proper physiological metabolism and cellular activities. They are plant-derived steroid molecules having structure and function similar to cholesterol, which is found in vegetables, grains, nuts, olive oil, wood pulp, legumes, cereals, and leaves, and are abundant in nature, along with phytosterol derivatives. The most copious phytosterols seen in the human diet are sitosterol, stigmasterol, and campesterol, which can be found in free form, as fatty acid/cinnamic acid esters or as glycosides processed by pancreatic enzymes. Accumulating evidence reveals that phytosterols and diets enriched with them can control glucose and lipid metabolism, as well as insulin resistance. Despite this, few studies on the advantages of sterol control in diabetes care have been published. As a basis, the primary objective of this review is to convey extensive updated information on the possibility of managing diabetes and associated complications with sterol-rich foods in molecular aspects.     

Anomalous thermal expansion of osmium dioxide

The precision lattice parameters of osmium dioxide have been determined at different temperatures, in the temperature range 30–444 °C, using a Unicam high temperature powder camera 19 cm in diameter and CuKα radiation. The data have been used to evaluate the coefficients of thermal expansion at various temperatures by a graphical method. The ‘a’ parameter increases non-linearly with increasing temperature while the ‘c’ parameter remains constant throughout the range of temperature studied indicating a zero coefficient of expansion along the c-direction. The abnormal thermal behaviour of this compound is explained in terms of the electronic configuration of the d-shell of the cation.     

Ultrasound assisted regioselective sulfonation of aromatic compounds with sulfuric acid

A simple and convenient methodology for selective sulfonation of aromatic compounds using sulfuric acid under sonication is described. The present methodology shows a considerable enhancement in the reaction rate along with improved selectivity compared with the reactions performed under silent conditions. The effect of various parameters such as agitation speed, sulfuric acid concentration, and temperature on reaction system have been investigated and are explained on the basis of ultrasonically generated cavitational effects.     

Base dependent pyrrolidine ring pucker in aep-PNA monomers: NMR and PSEUROT analysis

The aep-PNA is a chiral and cyclic PNA analogue, which has a stronger and base dependent binding affinity with complementary DNA. To understand the base dependent properties at monomer level, the structural studies of aep-PNA-(T/C/A) monomers have been carried out focussing on the conformational analysis of pyrrolidine ring pucker in aep-PNA by ¹H NMR and the coupling constant data fitted into PSEUROT software. The results indicate that the type of pyrrolidine pucker depends on the electronic nature of substituent, implying the effect of pyrimidine or purine substituents in determining the ring pucker in monomers. This may consequently influence the aep-PNA oligomer conformation. Since pyrrolidine nucleic acids have emerged as an important class of PNA analogues, present results may have importance for their future development.     

Michael reaction of ketones and β-nitrostyrenes catalyzed by camphor-10-sulfonamide-based prolinamide

Novel camphor sulfonamide based organocatalysts were evaluated for their catalytic activity in the Michael reaction of ketones with nitroolefins. Reaction of ketones with β-nitrostyrenes in the presence of 20 mol % organocatalyst 1a and benzoic acid under solvent-free conditions at 0 °C provided the desired Michael adducts with high chemical yields (up to 97%) and excellent stereoselectivities (>99:1).     

Birefringence of native cellulosic fibers. I. Untreated cotton and ramie

The Rayleigh-Gans theory of light scattering by a homogeneous cylinder has been applied to the case of scattering by a pad of fibers immersed in a liquid. The theory enables one to locate precisely the matching wavelength at which the mean refractive index of a sample of optically heterogeneous fibers coincides with that of an immersion medium. Thereby it offers a method of determining the mean refractive index. Besides, it facilitates a quantitative estimation of the variability of refractive index. The new technique has been used to study the birefringence of untreated cotton and ramie. The results are presented and discussed.     

Immobilization of a primary amine-containing drug,adriamycin

Literature reports have described the covalent coupling of the primary amine-containing anticancer drug, adriamycin, to polymeric supports through the amine group on the drug. These reports also have described drug mechanism studies with the immobilized adriamycin, where the release of the drug would undermine the validity of the conclusions. In the present paper, detailed experimental conditions are given for preparation of nonwater-soluble particles of polyvinyl alcohol by crosslinking water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol with 1,4-benzenedicarboxaldehyde, and for activation with cyanuric chloride and covalent attachment of adriamycin. The expected stability of this drug-support linkage against hydrolytic cleavage is compared mechanistically to that expected for less stable coupling through a carbamate linkage or for less stable coupling via an azomethine link.     

Polarographic study of the acid hydrolysis of ketoximes

Kinetics of the acid hydrolysis of acetophenone exime and its substituted compounds have been investigated polarographically. A detailed study of the hydrolysis of acetophenone oxime in 0·05–1·0 M HCl indicated that the rate determining step varied with acid concentration. The reaction in acid concentrations below 0·3M is catalysed by hydrogen ions while general base catalysis by water is predominant in high acid concentrations. Addition of methanol is found to decrease the rate of hydrolysis predominantly.     

Zur Reaktionsweise von Diphenylcyclopropenon mit β-Carbonyl-enolaten. I. Einsatz von Acetylaceton,Acetessigsäure-methylester, 2-Äthoxycarbonyl-cyclododecanon und Malonsäure-dimethylester

Reaction of Diphenylcyclopropenone with β-Carbonyl-enolates. I. Use of Acetylacetone, Methyl Acetoacetate, 2-Ethoxycarbonyl-cyclododecanone and Dimethyl Malonate The reaction of the sodium salts of acetylacetone ( 6 ), methyl acetoacetate (7) , 2-ethoxycarbonyl-cyclododecanone (8) , dimethyl malonate (19) and its methyl derivative 20 with diphenylcyclopropenone ( 5 ) in dimethylformamide at room temperature led to the unsaturated γ-lactones 14, 15, 17, 22 and 36 . In the case of dimethyl malonate ( 19 ), the halfester 21 , the acyl-malonic ester 24 and the indenone-malonic ester 23 were also isolated. Several intermediates and the final products were characterised by reactions and spectroscopically. A general mechanism is discussed for the addition of cyclo-propenones ( 1 ) to the enolate salts of β-dicarbonyl compounds 4 involving the bicyclic lactone-enolates 18 and 32 as intermediates. The products formed via 18 and 32 are considered to be the result of an attack of one of the oxygen atoms of the β-carbonyl-enolate anion ( 4 ), the product 24 , on the other hand, of the attack of the α-carbon atom of 4 ; in both cases the attack is on the carbonyl C-atom of 5 .     

1,4-cycloaddition of nitrosobenzene to N-ethoxycarbonylazepine

A new stable product from the reaction of nitrosobenzene and N-ethoxycarbonylazepine is shown to be a 1,4-cycloadduct.