Potential Mechanisms of Photodynamic Inactivation of Virus by Methylene BlueI. RNA–Protein Crosslinks and Other Oxidative Lesions in Qβ Bacteriophage

A spectrum of oxidative lesions was observed in a bacteriophage-based model system that is very sensitive to the photodynamic activity of selected dyes. When suspensions of the intact bacteriophage Qβ were exposed to methylene blue plus light (MB+L), inactivating events, or "hits" occurred that were oxygen-dependent and that were associated with the formation of several specific lesions: (1) carbonyl moieties on proteins, (2) 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine (8-oxoGua), and (3) single-strand breaks (ssb) in the RNA genome and (4) RNA-protein crosslinks. Formation of carbonyl groups associated with protein in the Qβ phage preparation correlated positively with photoinactivation of the phage with increasing doses of either of the sensitizers MB or rose bengal. Strand breaks in the Qβ genomic RNA were observable at high MB concentrations but appeared not to be significant at the lower concentrations of MB, as full-length Qβ RNA was observable well beyond the 99% inactivation point in MB dosage. It was shown that the number of 8-oxoGua lesions were unlikely to be sufficient to account for the number of lethal events. Following exposure to MB+L, crosslink formation between Qβ RNA and protein was observed by virtue of the location of RNA at the interface of phenol-aqueous extractions of phage suspensions. A significant increase over background of RNA-protein complexes (including full-length Qβ RNA) was observed at the lowest concentration of MB tested (0.5 μ M ), which corresponded roughly to an average of 2 lethal hits per phage or approximately 13% survival compared to the zero MB control (100% survival). Due to its close correlation with Qβ inactivation and its expected lethality, RNA-protein crosslink formation may be important as an inactivating lesion in bacteriophage Qβ following MB+L exposure.     

Starch nanoparticles as a bio-nanocatalyst in synthesis of diheteroaryl thioethers

Nanostarch is shown to be a highly efficient, eco-friendly and heterogenous organocatalyst for the synthesis of the diheteroaryl thioethers via one-pot reaction of methylcarbonyls, thiourea and iodine in DMSO. This method offers significant advantages such as available starting materials, higher purity and excellent yield of products, very easy reaction conditions and absence of any tedious purification. Furthermore, because of employing eco-friendly catalyst without using transition metal catalysts, this novel method emerges as a green-approach leading to less harmful residues. Moreover, a mechanism was proposed to rationalize the reaction and the role of starch nanoparticles was also investigated in these transformations.     

Application of artificial neural networks for formulation and modeling of dye adsorption onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes

In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) has been developed to predict the adsorption amount of dye (methylene blue) onto multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Batch experiments have been carried out to obtain experimental data. Important parameters in the adsorption system such as initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, temperature, pH and contact time have been used as the inputs of the network, while the output is the final concentration of dye in aqueous solution after adsorption. The neural network structure has been optimized by testing various training algorithms and different number of neurons in a hidden layer. An empirical equation for determination of final dye concentration in aqueous solutions after adsorption has been developed by using the weights of the optimized network. The results of the optimized ANN have been compared with conventional models in equilibrium and kinetic fields. According to error analysis and determination coefficient, the ANN was found to be the most appropriate model to describe this adsorption process. Sensitivity analysis showed that initial dye concentration, pH and contact time are the most effective parameters in this process. The influence percentages of these parameters on the output were 28, 24 and 24 %, respectively.     

A green and selective synthesis of 2‐aryloxazines and 2‐aryltetrahydropyrimidines

An efficient method for the selective synthesis of 2‐substituted oxazines and tetrahydropyrimidines by the reaction of arylnitriles with 3‐amino‐1‐propanol and 1,3‐diaminopropane in the presence of montmorillonite K‐10 and KSF as inexpensive, environmentally benign, and reusable catalysts under classical heating conditions and microwave irradiation is reported. J. Heterocyclic Chem., (2011).     

Targeted Delivery of Anticancer Drug Loaded Charged PLGA Polymeric Nanoparticles Using Electrostatic Field

Pure positive electrostatic charges (PPECs) show suppressive effect on the proliferation and metabolism of invasive cancer cells without affecting normal tissues. PPECs are used for the delivery of drug-loaded polymeric nanoparticles (DLNs) capped with negatively charged poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and Poly(vinyl-alcohol) PVA into the tumor site of mouse models. The charged patch is installed on top of the skin in the mouse models' tumor region, and the controlled selective release of the drug is assayed by biochemical, radiological, and histological experiments on both tumorized models and normal rats' livers. It is found that DLNs synthesized by PLGA show great attraction to PPECs due to their stable negative charges, which would not degrade immediately in blood. The burst and drug release after less than 48h of this synthesized DLNs are 10% and 50%, respectively. These compounds can deliver the loaded-drug into the tumor site with the assistance of PPECs, and the targeted-retarded release will take place. Hence, local therapy can be achieved with much lower drug concentration (conventional chemotherapy [2 mg kg⁻¹] versus DLNs-based chemotherapy [0.75 mg kg⁻¹]) with negligible side effects in non-targeted organs. PPECs have many potential clinical applications for advanced-targeted chemotherapy with the lowest discernible side effects.     

The problem of density on {L^{2}(G)}

We give some sufficient conditions for the set \({R(\{\pm f_{x} : x \in G\})}\) to be dense in \({L^{2}(G)}\), where G is a locally compact abelian group.     

Synthesis and Characterization of New Polymer Systems Containing 4‐Silylmethylstyrene Units

A series of terpolymers containing silyl pendant groups were prepared by free radical cross‐linking copolymerization. Et₃Si and HMe₂Si were covalently linked with 4‐vinylbenzyl and abbreviated as TESiMSt and DMSiMSt, respectively. Et₃Si was covalently linked with 2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The silyl‐linked HEMA are abbreviated as TESiEMA. Free radical terpolymerization of the methacrylic acid (MAA) with different molar ratios of organosilyl monomers was carried out at 60–70 °C. The compositions of the polymers were determined by FT‐IR spectroscopy and ¹H‐NMR. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polymers was determined calorimetrically. The study of DSC curves showed that incorporation of monomers with cyclic units in polymer chains increases the rigidity of terpolymers and the Tg value is subsequently increased.     

Crossed product of C*‐algebras by hypergroups

The crossed product of ‐algebras by groups, groupoids and semigroups are well studied. In this paper we introduce and study the crossed product of ‐algebras by (locally compact) hypergroups. We calculate the crossed products by finite hypergroups of orders 2 and 3.     

Ultrasound promoted selective synthesis of 2-aryl-5,6-dihydro-4H-1,3-oxazines catalyzed by K-10 and KSF montmorillonite clays: A practical procedure under mild and solvent-free conditions

Montmorillonite K-10 and KSF were found to be highly efficient, environmentally friendly and recyclable heterogeneous catalysts for the selective synthesis of a variety of 2-aryl-5,6-dihydro-4H-1,3-oxazines from arylnitriles and 3-amino-1-propanol under ultrasound irradiation. This new methodology provides excellent yields in short reaction times (10–25 min). The reaction work-up is very simple and the catalysts can be easily separated from the reaction mixture and reused several times in subsequent reactions. This catalytic system also exhibits excellent chemoselectivity in the synthesis of mono-oxazines from dinitriles.