What is your “birthday elliptic curve”?

In this article, Ramanujan–Weber class invariants and its analogue are used to derive birthday elliptic curves.     

Enantioselective Brønsted base catalyzed [4+2] cycloaddition using novel amino-substituted tetraphenylene derivatives

This paper is concerned with the syntheses of 1,8,9,16-tetrahydroxytetraphenylene derivatives and their applications as Brønsted base organocatalysts for [4+2] cycloaddition between anthrone and maleimides. The structural modifications of the catalysts and their related catalytic properties are described and discussed in details.     

Coherence resonance and noise-induced synchronization in globally coupled Hodgkin-Huxley neurons

The coherence resonance (CR) of globally coupled Hodgkin-Huxley neurons is studied. When the neurons are set in the subthreshold regime near the firing threshold, the additive noise induces limit cycles. The coherence of the system is optimized by the noise. The coupling of the network can enhance CR in two different ways. In particular, when the coupling is strong enough, the synchronization of the system is induced and optimized by the noise. This synchronization leads to a high and wide plateau in the local CR curve. A bell-shaped curve is found for the peak height of power spectra of the spike train, being significantly different from a monotonic behavior for the single neuron. The local-noise-induced limit cycle can evolve to a refined spatiotemporal order through the dynamical optimization among the autonomous oscillation of an individual neuron, the coupling of the network, and the local noise.     

Evaluation of the effects of Mitragyna speciosa alkaloid extract on cytochrome P450 enzymes using a high throughput assay

The extract from Mitragyna speciosa has been widely used as an opium substitute, mainly due to its morphine-like pharmacological effects. This study investigated the effects of M. speciosa alkaloid extract (MSE) on human recombinant cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme activities using a modified Crespi method. As compared with the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method, this method has shown to be a fast and cost-effective way to perform CYP inhibition studies. The results indicated that MSE has the most potent inhibitory effect on CYP3A4 and CYP2D6, with apparent half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of 0.78 μg/mL and 0.636 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, moderate inhibition was observed for CYP1A2, with an IC(50) of 39 μg/mL, and weak inhibition was detected for CYP2C19. The IC(50) of CYP2C19 could not be determined, however, because inhibition was <50%. Competitive inhibition was found for the MSE-treated CYP2D6 inhibition assay, whereas non-competitive inhibition was shown in inhibition assays using CYP3A4, CYP1A2 and CYP2C19. Quinidine (CYP2D6), ketoconazole (CYP3A4), tranylcypromine (CYP2C19) and furafylline (CYP1A2) were ACCESSused as positive controls throughout the experiments. This study shows that MSE may contribute to an herb-drug interaction if administered concomitantly with drugs that are substrates for CYP3A4, CYP2D6 and CYP1A2.     

Urine NMR Metabolomic Study on Biochemical Activities to Investigate the Effect of P. betle Extract on Obese Rats

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The present studies are to evaluate the ability of PB to induce weight loss and urine metabolite profile of Piper betle L. (PB) leaf extracts using...     

Validation and application of capillary electrophoresis for the analysis of lidocaine in a skin tape stripping study

A fast and simple capillary zone electrophoresis method was developed and validated for the determination of lidocaine in skin using tape samples. Separation was performed in a 350 mm (265 mm to window) x 50 microm i.d. fused silica capillary using a background electrolyte of phosphoric acid-Tris pH 2.5. The extraction of lidocaine from tape samples was achieved using methanol, which was diluted to 50% with water before injection. Procaine was the internal standard. The migration times for procaine and lidocaine were 2.9 and 3.2 min, respectively. The limit of quantification for lidocaine was 50 microg, with signal to noise ratio greater than 10. The calibration curve was linear from 50 to 1000 microg with r(2) greater than 0.99. The CV for both within- and between-assay imprecision and the percentage of inaccuracy for the quality control samples including lower and upper limits of quantitation were 97%. The accuracy and selectivity of this method allowed the measurement of lidocaine in tape samples obtained from a skin tape stripping study of local anesthetics in healthy subjects.     

On the design and security of Lee metric McEliece cryptosystems

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - Recently, Horlemann-Trautmann and Weger (Adv Math Commun, https://doi.org/10.3934/amc.2020089 , 2020) proposed a general framework for a Quaternary McEliece...     

Binomial differentially 4 uniform permutations with high nonlinearity

Differentially 4 uniform permutations with high nonlinearity on fields of even degree are crucial to the design of S-boxes in many symmetric cryptographic algorithms. Until now, there are not many known such functions and all functions known are power functions. In this paper, we construct the first class of binomial differentially 4 uniform permutations with high nonlinearity on ${\mathbb{F}}_{2^{6m}}$, where m is an odd integer. This result gives a positive answer to an open problem proposed in Bracken and Leander (2010) [7].     

Validation of high-performance liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric method for the analysis of lidocaine in human plasma

A sensitive and simple liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method is developed and validated for the determination of lidocaine in human plasma. Bupivacaine is used as an internal standard, and the plasma extraction is performed by a simple liquid-liquid extraction. The limit of quantitation (LOQ) is 0.5 ng/mL with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 5. The calibration curve is linear from 0.5 to 250 ng/mL with an r2 greater than 0.99. The coefficients of variation for within- and between-assay imprecision, including LOQ, are < or = 13% and < or = 8%, respectively. The percentage of inaccuracy for within- and between-assay, including LOQ, are < or = 9% and < or = 5%, respectively. The absolute recovery of lidocaine and bupivacaine are greater than 84% and 82%, respectively. The higher sensitivity and accuracy of this method allow the measurement of low concentrations of lidocaine in plasma from a clinical study of topically applied lidocaine in healthy subjects.