Computational Design of Novel Allosteric Inhibitors for Plasmodium falciparum DegP

The serine protease, DegP exhibits proteolytic and chaperone activities, essential for cellular protein quality control and normal cell development in eukaryotes. The P. falciparum DegP is essential for the parasite survival and required to combat the oscillating thermal stress conditions during the infection, protein quality checks and protein homeostasis in the extra-cytoplasmic compartments, thereby establishing it as a potential target for drug development against malaria. Previous studies have shown that diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) and the peptide SPMFKGV inhibit E. coli DegP protease activity. To identify novel potential inhibitors specific to PfDegP allosteric and the catalytic binding sites, we performed a high throughput in silico screening using Malaria Box, Pathogen Box, Maybridge library, ChEMBL library and the library of FDA approved compounds. The screening helped identify five best binders that showed high affinity to PfDegP allosteric (T0873, T2823, T2801, {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, CD00811) and the catalytic binding site (T0078L, T1524, T2328, BTB11534 and 552691). Further, molecular dynamics simulation analysis revealed {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, BTB11534 as the best hits forming a stable complex. WaterMap and electrostatic complementarity were used to evaluate the novel bio-isosteric chemotypes of {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"RJC02337","term_id":"1480409465","term_text":"RJC02337"}}RJC02337, that led to the identification of 231 chemotypes that exhibited better binding affinity. Further analysis of the top 5 chemotypes, based on better binding affinity, revealed that the addition of electron donors like nitrogen and sulphur to the side chains of butanoate group are more favoured than the backbone of butanoate group. In a nutshell, the present study helps identify novel, potent and Plasmodium specific inhibitors, using high throughput in silico screening and bio-isosteric replacement, which may be experimentally validated.     

Singular numbers of the monodromy operator and sufficient conditions of the asymptotic stability of periodic system of differential equations with fixed delay

To obtain sufficient conditions for the asymptotic stability of linear periodic systems with fixed delay commensurable with the period of coefficients, singular numbers of the monodromy operator are used. To find these numbers, a self-adjoint boundary value problem for ordinary differential equations is applied. We study the motion of eigenvalues of this boundary value problem under a variation of a parameter. Obtaining sufficient conditions for the asymptotic stability is reduced to finding the bifurcation value of the parameter for the boundary value problem.     

Hydrolytic degradation and thermal stability of poly(naphthylimides) based on naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic dianhydride and bis(naphthalic anhydrides)

The molecular properties of a number of new poly(naphthylimides) derived from naphthalene-1,4,5,8-tetracarboxylic dianhydride and bis(naphthalic anhydrides) have been studied. On the basis of hydrodynamic studies of the polymers at various stages of their thermal degradation in 96% H₂SO₄ and thermogravimetric measurements, the hydrolytic stability and thermooxidative resistance of the polymers have been compared. A correlation between the experimental data and the chemical structure of molecular chains has been established.     

The state of water in finely disperse hydrogels based on acrylamide and acrylic acid

The sorption capacity (upon water sorption from the bulk and vapor phases) of copolymeric hydrogels based on acrylamide and acrylic acid and the state of water in the hydrogels are studied. It is established that, for hydrogels prepared in the form of fine powders, pore sizes vary from 90 to 770 Å and the pore radius of hydrogels obtained as monolithic plates ranges from 27 to 200 Å. The acrylamide-to-acrylic acid unit ratio in the hydrogels is found to affect both the amount and the state of sorbed water. It is shown that the properties of water sorbed by hydrogels are governed by carboxyl group concentration rather than by the density of macromolecular chains.     

The influence of different reclamation agents and microorganisms on the aggregative stability of the colloidal fraction of meadow chernozem soil

The influence of various reclamation agents (montmorillonite, peat, activated sludge microbocenosis) on the stability of dispersions of the colloidal fraction of meadow chernozem soil is studied. It is established that biocolloids possess the strongest coagulating action in the aforementioned series of reclamation agents. It is shown that, in the process of microorganism growth involving glucose or polypeptides as a carbon source, exopolymers are synthesized that caused the coagulation of soil dispersions. Upon the growth of microorganisms on polypeptides (alkaligeneous metabolism), precipitates are formed that are denser and less peptized by water than those grown on glucose (acidogeneous metabolism). The addition of montmorillonite and peat intensifies the aggregation processes in soil-microbe heterodispersions. The inverse relationship between the content of an organic substance in a colloidal system and the stability of aggregates of soil colloids is revealed.     

Synthetic asymmetric lipid-like organosilanes for liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes toward potential medical applications

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Physicochemical properties of KOH-H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>2</Subscript>-H<Subscript>2</Subscript>O solutions

Density, viscosity, and surface tension of KOH-H₂O₂-H₂O solutions used to synthesize potassium superoxide in sprayer apparatus were studied with various relative amounts of the components in the temperature range 0–30°C. Analytical dependences of the above-mentioned quantities on temperature and solvent (water) content of the system were found.     

Kinetic Analysis of Cobalt in Veterinary Products

A novel kinetic method for the determination of trace amounts of Co(II) has been developed. The proposed method based on the catalytic effect of Co(II) on the oxidation of xylenol orange tetra sodium salt by H₂O₂ in the presence of cationic surfactant (N‐dodecylpyridinium chloride). Co(II) at μg.mL^?1 was determined spectrophotometrically by measuring the decrease in the absorbance of xylenol orange at 577 nm by the differential method. The method is precise, selective, and sensitive. The detection limit of the procedure was 0.058 μg.mL^?1. The relative standard deviation for the replicate determination (n = 6) of 0.7 μg.mL^?1 was 1.285%. The results compared satisfactorily with those of atomic absorption spectrometry. The method was successful for the analysis of Co(II) in veterinary and synthetic samples.     

Fruits of two seabuckthorn varieties

Fruits of two varieties of Hippophae rhamnoides L. collected in Kyrgyzstan (I) and Uzbekistan (II) were investigated. Differences in their morphological and biochemical properties were demonstrated. Titrable acids, ascorbic acid, and protein dominated in the fruits of I. Pulp oil of II contained more free fatty acids (acid number 2.9 mg KOH) and carotinoids (419.3 mg%). The principal pulp acid was 16:1. Among the rarely encountered acids of pulp oil, an insignificant quantity of 16:2 was detected (1.2–4.6%). Seed oil of the studied specimens contained >40% of the essential acids 18:2 and 18:3 (vitamin F).Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 6, pp. 435–437, November–December, 2004.This revised version was published online in April 2005 with a corrected cover date.