Selective photorefractive scattering in LiNbO<Subscript>3</Subscript>:Rh crystals

Photorefractive scattering occurs in rhodium-doped lithium niobate crystals irradiated by coherent light. The photorefractive scattering has both wide-angle and selective components. The results of experimental investigation of selective photorefractive scattering in LiNbO₃:Rh crystals and calculation of the spatial structure of scattering are reported. The selective scattering is regarded as a kind of a frequency-degenerate fourwave vector interaction.     

Crystal and molecular structure of bis(2-isotropyliminomethinylphenyl) telluride

Scientific-Research Institute of Physical and Organic Chemistry, Rostov State University. A. N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Heteroorganic Compounds, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Translated from Zhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 104–106, May–June, 1991.     

NMR and X-ray diffraction studies of the influence of adsorbed molecule nature on phase transitions in a ZSM-5 silicalite

Pulsed NMR and X-ray diffraction analysis are employed to study the influence of adsorbed toluene, p-xylene, acetone, and di(ethylene glycol) (DEG) molecules on phase transitions in a ZSM-5 silicalite. In the region of phase transitions, times T₁ and T₂ of longitudinal and transverse magnetic relaxation of apolar molecules adsorbed in silicalite micropores increase and decrease in a jumpwise manner, respectively, with a rise in the total content of the liquid. Such changes in T₁ and T₂ occur for hexane, decane, toluene, and p-xylene molecules. Qualitatively different concentration dependences of T₁ and T₂ are observed for polar acetone and DEG molecules, because these liquids do not cause a earrangement in the crystal lattice of silicalite; this is confirmed by the X-ray diffraction data.Translated from Kolloidnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 66, No. 6, 2004, pp. 802–806.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Pimenov, Skirda, Maksimenko, Morozov, Opanasyuk.     

Exploring the Interplay between Drug Release and Targeting of Lipid-Like Polymer Nanoparticles Loaded with Doxorubicin

Targeted delivery of doxorubicin still poses a challenge with regards to the quantities reaching the target site as well as the specificity of the uptake. In the present approach, two colloidal nanocarrier systems, NanoCore-6.4 and NanoCore-7.4, loaded with doxorubicin and characterized by different drug release behaviors were evaluated in vitro and in vivo. The nanoparticles utilize a specific surface design to modulate the lipid corona by attracting blood-borne apolipoproteins involved in the endogenous transport of chylomicrons across the blood–brain barrier. When applying this strategy, the fine balance between drug release and carrier accumulation is responsible for targeted delivery. Drug release experiments in an aqueous medium resulted in a difference in drug release of approximately 20%, while a 10% difference was found in human serum. This difference affected the partitioning of doxorubicin in human blood and was reflected by the outcome of the pharmacokinetic study in rats. For the fast-releasing formulation NanoCore-6.4, the AUC_0→1h was significantly lower (2999.1 ng × h/mL) than the one of NanoCore-7.4 (3589.5 ng × h/mL). A compartmental analysis using the physiologically-based nanocarrier biopharmaceutics model indicated a significant difference in the release behavior and targeting capability. A fraction of approximately 7.310–7.615% of NanoCore-7.4 was available for drug targeting, while for NanoCore-6.4 only 5.740–6.057% of the injected doxorubicin was accumulated. Although the targeting capabilities indicate bioequivalent behavior, they provide evidence for the quality-by-design approach followed in formulation development.     

Effect of the hyaluronidase microe nvironment on the enzyme structure–function relationship and computational study of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">in silico</Emphasis> molecular docking of chondroitin sulfate and heparin short fragments to hyaluronidase

The review addresses the biochemical interactions of hyaluronidases with components of the natural microenvironment. The effect of subtle structural differences between ligands on the enzyme structure–function relationship regulation is noted. Docking of chondroitin sulfate (CS) trimers (hexasaccharides) and heparin tetramers (octasaccharides) to the 3D model of the bovine testicular hyaluronidase (BTH) was performed by computational chemistry methods in order to elucidate the mechanism of regulation of the enzyme functioning in the body (using virtual screening, molecular dynamics, and calculation of surface electrostatic potential of protein complexes). Several binding sites for glycosaminoglycan (GAG) ligands were found to occur on the hyaluronidase surface. They are identical for CS trimers and heparin tetramers. The calculations showed the possibility of both reversible and irreversible conformational changes of the 3D structure of BTH, depending on the arrangement of negatively charged ligands on its globule. When the changes are irreversible, Glu-149 and Asp-147, which are key amino acid residues for the catalytic activity of BTH, can migrate from the vicinity of the native enzyme active site to the periphery of the protein molecule, thus inducing enzyme inactivation. The interaction of the GAG ligands with the BTH active site is mainly caused by electrostatic forces. Four or five binding sites of the chondroitin sulfate trimer proved to be critical for stabilization of the enzyme structure. Their occupation was sufficient for preventing irreversible deformation of the BTH molecule upon the insertion of the heparin ligand into the active site cavity. Protein stabilization is accompanied by the formation of a particular form of the surface electrostatic potential.     

Intermolecular interactions in rifabutin–2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin–water solutions,according to solubility data

The formulations of rifabutin (RB) and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD), obtained using different preparation techniques, are studied by means of differential scanning calorimetry and molecular spectroscopy (FTIR, NMR, Raman scattering, and photon correlation light scattering). It is established that molecules of RB do not form inclusion complexes with the molecules of HP-β-CD, and an increase in the solubility of RB determined earlier is caused by the formation of weak intermolecular associates.     

Microwave radiation absorbers based on corrugated composites with carbon fibers

A complex analysis of the dependence of the absorption coefficient of polymer composites with nonmagnetic carbon inclusions on the real and imaginary parts of the complex permittivity, as well as on the material thickness is performed in frequency range 26–37 GHz. The composites containing 0.2 wt % of carbon fibers have been obtained. It has been experimentally found that the corrugation of the composite surface substantially increases the absorbability (from 63 to 92% at a frequency of 30 GHz and a thickness of 4.50 mm) upon a decrease in the sample mass (by 28%). A method has been proposed for calculating the absorptance of corrugated composites in the microwave range.     

Pion electromagnetic characteristics in the quark model with confinement

Pion electromagnetic characteristics such as electric polarizability and rms radius were calculated. Pions are considered a nonrelativistic system of two pointlike spinor quarks with a linear potential at large distances and a Coulomb one at short ones.     

Effect of the morphology on the mechanisms of the magnetization reversal of multilayered thin Co/Pd films

A comparative study of the magnetization curves of continuous and porous multilayered Pd_10nm/[Co_0.3nm]/Pd_0.55nm]15/Pd_2nm films deposited on an anodized TiO₂ template was performed by magnetometry. Based on the comparison of the dependences of coercive field H_C on angle θ between the easy-magnetization axis and the direction of external magnetic field H with theoretical dependences H_C(θ) for the magnetization reversal by domain walls motion (according to the Kondorski model) and the rotation of magnetic moments (by the Stoner–Wohlfarth model), the differences in the mechanisms of magnetization reversal for two mentioned types of the films were revealed. The correlation between the difference in the morphologies of the continuous and porous films and revealed change in the mechanisms of the magnetization reversal, as well as the changes in values of H_C and calculated constants of the magnetic anisotropy, is discussed.