Design and Asymmetric Synthesis of beta-Strand Peptidomimetics

We describe the asymmetric synthesis of non-peptidic compounds that feature rigid backbone conformations and present various side-chain functions. The key step in the synthesis of these compounds is the C-acylation of an appropriate ketone with a suitably protected aspartic acid derivative. The resulting dipeptide modules may be connected to form tetrapeptide mimics. Specifically is described the mimicry of a four-residue segment of CD4, the cellular receptor of HIV-1. The design was based on molecular modeling and the X-ray crystal structures of CD4 and intended to present the most important side chains and backbone elements of the Phe43-Lys46 segment.     

Energetic Bio-Activation of Some Organic Molecules and Their Antioxidant Activity in the Pulp of the Moroccan Argan Tree «Argania spinosa L.»

Argania spinosa L. Skeels is an emblematic tree in Morocco, known worldwide for its medicinal and nutritional value. Its fruits contain kernels used to prepare an edible oil, the leaves are used to feed livestock, and its wood is used as fuel. If the oil acquires high importance, the other components of the fruit of the argan are undervalued. Our objective is to invest the waste of the argan industry. Particularly, our study aimed to assess the effect of thermal activation of argan pulp on its therapeutic value, its phenolic profile and its functional and physicochemical properties. After heat treatment, the HPLC analysis for the average total phenolic content varied from 2% to 37%, depending on temperature. The antioxidant activity was increased with heat treatment. Higher values of antioxidant activity, polyphenol and pigment content were recorded at 70 °C. Functional properties analysis indicated that water solubility index and water absorption capacity were significantly affected by heat stress. Physicochemical analysis showed that moisture content, titratable acidity and soluble solids were affected.     

Ultrasound assisted microwave digestion

Simultaneous microwave and ultrasound irradiation is shown as a new technique for digestion of solid and liquid samples suitable for chemical and food analysis. Its application in analytical chemistry has been shown by decreases in digestion time: determination of copper in edible oils and total Kjeldahl nitrogen.     

Fixed points and stability in linear neutral differential equations with variable delays

In this paper we consider the asymptotic stability of a generalized linear neutral differential equation with variable delays by using the fixed point theory. An asymptotic stability theorem with a necessary and sufficient condition is proved, which improves and generalizes some results due to Burton (2003) [3], Zhang (2005) [14], Raffoul (2004) [13], and Jin and Luo (2008) [12]. Two examples are also given to illustrate our results.     

Existence of positive periodic solutions of nonlinear neutral differential systems with variable delays

In this work we use some mixed techniques of the Mawhin coincidence degree theory and fixed point theorem to prove the existence of positive periodic solutions of delay systems. As a consequence, we offer existence criteria and sufficient conditions for existence of periodic solutions to the systems with feedback control. When these results are applied to some special delay bio-mathematics models, some new results are obtained, and many known results are improved.     

Glycosyl‐Substituted Dicarboxylates as Detergents for the Extraction,Overstabilization, and Crystallization of Membrane Proteins

To tackle the problems associated with membrane protein (MP) instability in detergent solutions, we designed a series of glycosyl‐substituted dicarboxylate detergents (DCODs) in which we optimized the polar head to clamp the membrane domain by including, on one side, two carboxyl groups that form salt bridges with basic residues abundant at the membrane–cytoplasm interface of MPs and, on the other side, a sugar to form hydrogen bonds. Upon extraction, the DCODs 8 b , 8 c , and 9 b preserved the ATPase function of BmrA, an ATP‐binding cassette pump, much more efficiently than reference or recently designed detergents. The DCODs 8 a , 8 b , 8 f , 9 a , and 9 b induced thermal shifts of 20 to 29 °C for BmrA and of 13 to 21 °C for the native version of the G‐protein‐coupled adenosine receptor A_2AR. Compounds 8 f and 8 g improved the diffraction resolution of BmrA crystals from 6 to 4 Å. DCODs are therefore considered to be promising and powerful tools for the structural biology of MPs.     

Periodicity and non‐negativity of solutions for nonlinear neutral differential equations with variable delay via fixed point theorems

We use a modification of Krasnoselskii's fixed point theorem introduced by Burton to show the periodicity and non‐negativity of solutions for the nonlinear neutral differential equation with variable delay We invert this equation to construct the sum of a compact map and a large contraction, which is suitable for applying the modification of Krasnoselskii's theorem. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Borago officinalis L. leaf extract growing in Algeria

The aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of borage (Borago officinalis) leaves from Annaba region (Algeria) were preliminary analyzed for their phenolic profile (total phenolics, total flavonoids, total flavonols, total tannins and total anthocyanins). These extracts were evaluated for their antioxidant properties by different methods such as DPPH radical scavenging, test NBT and total antioxidant activity. The two extracts have exhibited a high antiradical capacity. Indeed, the ethanolic extract showed the lower IC50 values and the highest amount of phenolics (94.09 ± 1.72 mg gallic acid/g dry extract). Using LC-MS/MS analysis, it was possible to identify phenolic acids, flavonoids, sterol and for the first time oleuropein was identified in the aqueous extract of the plant. The obtained results have demonstrated that phenolic compounds are the major contributor to the antioxidant activity of plants.     

Raman microscopy for the chemometric analysis of tumor cells

Raman spectroscopy is recognized as a tool for chemometric analysis of biological materials due to the high information content relating to specific physical and chemical qualities of the sample. Thirty cells belonging to two different prostatic cell lines, PNT1A (immortalized normal prostate cell line) and LNCaP (malignant cell line derived from prostate metastases), were mapped using Raman microscopy. A range of spectral preprocessing methods (partial least-squares discriminant analyses (PLSDAs), principal component analyses (PCAs), and adjacent band ratios (ABRs)) were compared for input into linear discriminant analysis to model and classify the two cell lines. PLSDA and ABR were able to correctly classify 100% of cells into benign and malignant groups, while PLSDA correctly classified a greater proportion of individual spectra. PCA was used to image the distribution of various biochemicals inside each cell and confirm differences in composition/distribution between benign and malignant cell lines. This study has demonstrated that PLSDAs and ABRs of Raman data can identify subtle differences between benign and malignant prostatic cells in vitro.