Azurocidin induces elastinolytic activity of medullasin

Addition of azurocidin, a protein in granulocytes similar to serine proteases but has no protease activity because of replacement of the active serine residue by glycine, to the incubation mixture containing medullasin induced elastinolytic activity of medullasin. Both medullasin and human leukocyte elastase were already shown to have negligible elastinolytic activity (Aoki, Y. et al. J. Biochem. 114, 122, 1993). Elastinolytic activity of medullasin was induced dose-dependently by the addition of azurocidin. Medullasin activity determined by using apo-ornithine transaminase or casein as substrates or that by N-methoxy-succinyl-(Ala)₂-Pro-Val-p-nitroanilide as substrate remained unchanged when azurocidin was added to the tube containing medullasin. Therefore, azurocidin is considered to cause an appearance of elastinolytic activity of medullasin without affecting the protease activity of it.     

Antimicrobial and antitumor activities of 1,2,4‐triazoles/polypyrrole chitosan core shell nanoparticles

Combination of natural biodegradable polymer with a synthetic polymer offers excellent properties for the support in drug delivery system. For this purpose, biodegradable conductive nanoparticle polypyrrole based on chitosan (PPC) has been prepared via oxidative polymerization of pyrrole in presence of chitosan using FeCl₃ as oxidant in acidic medium and used as a carrier for 1,2,4‐triazoles. The resultant nanoparticles were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared analysis, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis. The results indicate that spherical nanoparticle of average diameter 52 ± 8 nm was successfully prepared. The spherical particles were composed of dark sphere surrounded by grey shell. A circumferential dark ring is observed in the shell after loading 1,2,4‐triazoles into PPC nanoparticles. The loaded triazoles were released almost linearly against time in a sustained fashion into different pH media. The mechanism of triazoles release was determined using different kinetics equations. The antibacterial activities against the gram‐negative and gram‐positive bacteria were examined. Furthermore, the antitumor activity of PPC nanoparticles loaded 1,2,4‐triazoles was also examined against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells and breast cancer cell line (MCF7). Polypyrrole chitosan loaded nanoparticles exhibited higher antitumor activity than 1,2,4‐triazoles.     

Photoinduced optical activity of C<Subscript>70</Subscript> fullerene in organic solvents

We have experimentally studied for the first time the effect of photoinduced rotation of the plane of polarization for pulsed laser radiation in solutions of C₇₀ fullerene in organic solvents and their mixtures. We have shown that the effect is observed for elliptical polarization of the laser radiation and is absent for linear polarization. We present the results of a study of the nonlinear optical characteristics of the C₇₀ solutions. We discuss the physical mechanisms by which nonlinear gyrotropy is induced in solutions. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 76, No. 1, pp. 93–99, January–February, 2009.     

WXG-4型旋光仪三分视场亮暗调节

针对WXG-4型旋光仪的均匀亮视场和均匀暗视场的亮度对比不明显问题进行了研究,分析了三分视场光强与起偏器透振方向的关系,得出原因是起偏器透振方向与半波片的光轴夹角太大.旋转起偏器,使其透振方向与半波片的光轴夹角减小并固定,均匀亮视场和均匀暗视场的亮度对比明显,使仪器恢复正常使用.     

La-Ce-TiO2纳米光催化剂的溶胶-微波法合成、谱学表征及其活性研究

以钛酸四丁酯为原料,采用溶胶-微波法(Sol-Microwave Method)合成了镧和铈共掺型纳米TiO2粉体(La-Ce-TiO2),借助XRD、XPS和UV-Vis等测试手段对其进行了表征,并以甲基橙为模型污染物考察了掺杂量对样品光催化活性的影响规律.XRD分析表明,所得粉体均为锐钛矿相纳米TiO2,且稀土元素镧和铈掺杂后纳米TiO2特征衍射峰宽化,强度降低;XPS分析表明,镧和铈掺杂后样品表面存在大量的氧缺位;UV-Vis吸收光谱表明,所得粉体在400 nm以下均有连续宽化的吸收带,且La和Ce掺杂后样品对光的吸收显著增强,这足由于La(Ⅲ)-O荷移跃迁以及Ce(Ⅳ)f→d跃迁和Ce(Ⅳ)-O荷移跃迁所致;光催化实验表明,La和Ce共掺杂能显著提高纳米TiO2的光催化活性,其中当La(Ⅲ)和Ce(Ⅳ)掺杂量分别为2%和0.04%时,纳米TiO2光催化剂具有较高的催化活性,自然光照射下光催化氧化处理卷烟厂蒸叶车间废水,效果较好,废水COD去除率达到86.11%.     

Combined effects of pressure and temperature on enzyme stability

Abstract

The effect of high temperature and high hydrostatic pressure on the residual hydrolytic activity of a commercial Rhizomucor miehei lipase has been studied. Inactivation at high temperature and/or high pressure was carried out. Under non-denaturing pressure conditions, results showed that pressurisation protects enzymes against thermal deactivation. This is in accordance with previous results obtained with enzymes from mesophilic sources, such as invertase and galactosidases.     

On the relationship between mergers and economic activity: Evidence from an optimised hybrid method

A new approach is developed to examine potential causality between merger activity and industrial production. The proposed method combines an information criterion-based approach to lag optimisation with joint maximum likelihood estimation of an autoregressive distributed lag model and GARCH(1,1) specification. Application to UK data provides significant evidence in support of causality between merger activity and industrial production, a result which has been predicted theoretically in the literature but has not received empirical support in earlier research.     

A planar chiral nanostructure with asymmetric transmission of linearly polarized wave and huge optical activity in near-infrared band

Just like an electronic diode that allows the electrical current to flow in one direction only, a kind of chiral metamaterial structure with a similar functionality for the electromagnetic wave is proposed. The designed nanostructure that consists of twisted metallic split-ring resonators on both sides of a dielectric substrate achieves asymmetric transmission for a forward and backward propagating linearly polarized wave by numerical simulation in near-infrared band. Difference in transmission efficiency of the optimized structure between the same polarized waves incident from opposite directions can reach a maximum at the communication wavelength （1.55 μm）. Moreover, the simulation results of this structure also exhibit strong optical activity and circular dichroism.