DNA ligand Hoechst-33342 enhances UV induced cytotoxicity in human glioma cell lines

The effects of minor groove binding ligand bisbenzimidazole derivative Hoechst-33342 on the cellular response to UV damage have been studied in two human glioma cell lines BMG-1 and U-87 grown as monolayer cultures. Treatment induced cell death (macro-colony assay) and growth inhibition, potential lethal damage recovery, cytogenetic damage (micronuclei formation) and proliferation kinetics were studied as parameters for cellular response. Pre and post-irradiation treatment with Hoechst-33342 (1-20 microM) enhanced the UV-induced growth inhibition and cell death in a concentration dependent manner in both cell lines. At higher Hoechst-33342 concentrations (>5 microM), the cytotoxic effects of the combination (Hoechst-33342+UV) were highly synergistic and mainly mediated through apoptosis implying the possible interactions of lesions caused by both the agents. The enhanced cell death due to Hoechst-33342 was accompanied by a significant increase (2-3 folds at 5 microM) in UV-induced micronuclei formation in BMG-1 cells. Under these conditions, Hoechst-33342 also enhanced the UV-induced cell cycle delay, mainly due to S and G(2) blocks. The increase in UV-induced micronuclei formation observed after treatment with Hoechst-33342 indicates that the DNA bound Hoechst-33342 may interfere with the rejoining of DNA strand breaks. Since the treatment of cells with the replication inhibitor aphidicolin reduced the enhancement of UV induced cytotoxicity by Hoechst-33342, ongoing DNA replication appears to stimulate Hoechst-33342 and UV-induced cytotoxicity.     

The structure of strong shock waves using the Fokker-Planck model

The structure of strong shock waves in monatomic gases is studied using the Fokker-Planck model to represent the particle collisions and the Mott-Smith distribution to describe the distribution function within the shock front. The differential equation governing the variation of the density within the shock is derived by using the variational principle. The thickness of the shock front is evaluated numerically for various monatomic gases for Mach numbers varying from 2 to 20, and besides, the variation of the shock thickness with viscosity is also studied for different gases. Several parameters of physical interest within the shock, such as density, temperature and mean velocity of flow are evaluated numerically and detailed curves showing their variation within the shock are presented for different Mach numbers. It is found that the temperature rises very steeply, reaches a maximum within a distance less than half the thickness of the shock and then diminishes slowly to attain its asymptotic downstream values. The variation of the mean velocity is slow for weak shocks, but for higher Mach numbers, the mean velocity diminishes steeply and reaches the downstream values within half the thickness of the shock.     

GENETIC AND MOLECULAR ANALYSES OF UV RADIATION-INDUCED MUTATIONS IN THE FEM-3 GENE OF CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

The utility of a new target gene (fem-3) is described for investigating the molecular nature of mutagenesis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. As a principal attribute, this system allows for the selection, maintenance and molecular analysis of any type of mutation that disrupts the gene, including deletions. In this study, 86 mutant strains were isolated, of which 79 proved to have mutations in fem-3. Twenty of these originally tested as homozygous inviable. Homozygous inviability was expected, as Stewart and coworkers had previously observed that, unlike in other organisms, most UV radiation-induced mutations in C. elegans are chromosomal rearrangements of deficiencies (Mutat. Res. 249 , 37–54, 1991). However, additional data, including Southern blot analyses on 48 of the strains, indicated that most of the UV radiation-induced fem-3 mutations were not deficiencies, as originally inferred from their homozygous inviability. Instead, the lethals were most likely “coincident mutations” in linked, essential genes that were concomitantly induced. As such, they were lost owing to genetic recombination during stock maintenance. As in mammalian cells, yeast and bacteria, the frequency of coincident mutations was much higher than would be predicted by chance.     

On-line identification of parameters of a linear multivariable discrete-time system and their convergence characteristics

A recursive algorithm for on-line identification of the parameters of linear, discrete-time, multi-input, multi-output nondynamical, and dynamical systems using noisy input and output measurements is presented in detail. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the convergence of the recursive algorithm, under certain restrictive assumptions, for arbitrary choice of initial values of the matrices described in the sequel are explicitly derived, which is one of the new results of this paper.     

Synthesis of Palladium Nanoribbons and Their Application in Electrochemical Detection of Hemoglobin

Russian Journal of Electrochemistry - A trustworthy and simple electrode is fabricated using palladium nanoribbons for the determination of hemoglobin. Palladium nanoparticles were synthesised from...     

Synthesis of nanoparticles of the giant dielectric material,CaCu<Subscript>3</Subscript>Ti<Subscript>4</Subscript>O<Subscript>12</Subscript> from a precursor route

A complex oxalate precursor, CaCu₃(TiO)₄(C₂O₄)₈·9H₂O, (CCT-OX), was synthesized and the precipitate that obtained was confirmed to be monophasic by the wet chemical analyses, X-ray diffraction, FTIR absorption and TG/DTA analyses. The thermal decomposition of this oxalate precursor led to the formation of phase-pure calcium copper titanate, CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂, (CCTO) at ≥680°C. The bright-field TEM micrographs revealed that the size of the as synthesized crystallites to be in the 30–80 nm range. The powders so obtained had excellent sinterability resulting in high density ceramics which exhibited giant dielectric constants upto 40000 (1 kHz) at 25°C, accompanied by low dielectric losses, <0.07.     

Difference equation method of analysing isothermal thermogravimetric data

Difference equation method has been suggested to evaluate the kinetic parameter of the degradation of polymers under isothermal condition. The method is simple and applicable to degradation process for any value ofn, the reaction order. By using one simple method all the kinetic parameters cannot be obtained in other methods only by difference equation.The authors wish to express their sincerest thanks to Prof. R. P. Rastogi, Head of the Chemistry Department, for providing the necessary facilities and constant encouragement. One of the authors (J. D.) wishes to express her thanks to CSIR (India) for financial support and a fellowship.     

Turbulent shock waves in a collisionfree plasma

The paper deals with the structure of collisionless shocks arising from turbulent wave-particle interactions. The conditions under which wave-particle interaction effects could become significant leading to growing waves and a shock are discussed. Using the Mott-Smith expression for the zero-order distribution functions for the ions within the shock, the dielectric constant as well as the integral representing the wave-particle interaction term in the Lenard-Balescu equation are evaluated for a collisionless plasma. An expression is given for the ion distribution function within the shock. It is shown that the component of the pressure tensor perpendicular to the direction of flow of the plasma leads to a new kind of viscosity term arising from the interaction of the particles with the growing waves and this provides a dissipative mechanism to account for the conversion of the kinetic energy of the incoming plasma into the thermal energy of the hot ionised gas behind the shock.     

Nanoparticles of the giant dielectric material, CaCu3Ti4O12 from a precursor route

A method of preparing the nanoparticles of CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) with the crystallite size varying from 30 to 200 nm is optimized at a temperature as low as 680 °C from the exothermic thermal decomposition of an oxalate precursor, CaCu₃(TiO)₄(C₂O₄)₈·9H₂O. The phase singularity of the complex oxalate precursor is confirmed by the wet chemical analyses, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR and TGA/DTA analyses. The UV-vis reflectance and ESR spectra of CCTO powders indicate that the Cu(II) coordination changes from distorted octahedra to nearly flattened tetrahedra (squashed) to square-planar geometry with increasing annealing temperature. The HRTEM images have revealed that the evolution of the microstructure in nanoscale is related to the change in Cu(II) coordination around the surface regions for the chemically prepared powder specimens. The nearly flattened tetrahedral geometry prevails for CuO₄ in the near surface regions of the particles, whereas square-planar CuO₄ groups are dominant in the interior regions of the nanoparticles. The powders derived from the oxalate precursor have excellent sinterability, resulting in high-density ceramics which exhibited giant dielectric constants upto 40,000 (1 kHz) at 25 °C, accompanied by low dielectric loss <0.07.     

DetectTLC: Automated Reaction Mixture Screening Utilizing Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Image Features

Full characterization of complex reaction mixtures is necessary to understand mechanisms, optimize yields, and elucidate secondary reaction pathways. Molecular-level information for species in such mixtures can be readily obtained by coupling mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) with thin layer chromatography (TLC) separations. User-guided investigation of imaging data for mixture components with known m/z values is generally straightforward; however, spot detection for unknowns is highly tedious, and limits the applicability of MSI in conjunction with TLC. To accelerate imaging data mining, we developed DetectTLC, an approach that automatically identifies m/z values exhibiting TLC spot-like regions in MS molecular images. Furthermore, DetectTLC can also spatially match m/z values for spots acquired during alternating high and low collision-energy scans, pairing product ions with precursors to enhance structural identification. As an example, DetectTLC is applied to the identification and structural confirmation of unknown, yet significant, products of abiotic pyrazinone and aminopyrazine nucleoside analog synthesis.

Open image in new window

Graphical Abstract ?