Skin Cancer Awareness Among 1 271 Black Africans in South Africa

Little is known about levels of awareness and perceptions of skin cancer among Africans living in Africa. This study assessed skin cancer awareness among 1271 deeply pigmented South Africans. Participants (n = 642 males vs n = 629 females) were aware of skin cancer (79%) with more females than males being aware of skin cancer (P = 0.02). Majority of all participants had never checked their skin for signs or symptoms of skin cancer (90%). Palms of hands and soles of feet were the least recognized anatomic sites for skin cancer development, despite these sites being the common sites for acral lentiginous melanoma in individuals with deeply pigmented skin. Results suggest a need for targeted skin cancer awareness among population groups with dark skin on identification, screening, and early detection, professional training for healthcare personnel and content on skin cancer in deeply pigmented skin in medical curricula.     

Virtual high throughput screening in new lead identification

Drug discovery continues to be one of the greatest contemporary challenges and rational application of modelling approaches is the first important step to obtain lead compounds, which can be optimised further. Virtual high throughput screening (VHTS) is one of the efficient approaches to obtain lead structures for a given target. Strategic application of different screening filters like pharmacophore mapping, shape-based, ligand-based, molecular similarity etc., in combination with other drug design protocols provide invaluable insights in lead identification and optimization. Screening of large databases using these computational methods provides potential lead compounds, thus triggering a meaningful interplay between computations and experiments. In this review, we present a critical account on the relevance of molecular modelling approaches in general, lead optimization and virtual screening methods in particular for new lead identification. The importance of developing reliable scoring functions for non-bonded interactions has been highlighted, as it is an extremely important measure for the reliability of scoring function. The lead optimization and new lead design has also been illustrated with examples. The importance of employing a combination of general and target specific screening protocols has also been highlighted.     

Tracking interacting dark states through higher order absorption resonances

A three photon resonance arising due to coherent population trapped (CPT) states in multi-level systems, is experimentally shown to be a powerful spectral marker to detect interacting CPT states. In systems showing N type or double Λ type level configurations, these absorption resonances can be used to identify spectral positions of maximal interactions between competing CPT ground states. The contrast of the absorption resonance serves to identify even partially destructive interactions between the CPT states, eliminating the need for strong resonant changes of ground state coherence for identification. We demonstrate this effect in a room temperature, gaseous collection of ⁸⁷Rb. atoms. Three laser fields interact with a double Λ configuration in the Zeeman degenerate levels of the ground state 5S_1/2S_{1/2}, F = 1 and those of the excited states 5P_3/2P_{3/2}, F = 0,1, around the D2 line. The three-photon resonance is studied in the counter-propagating third field when the other two co-propagating fields satisfy the two-photon resonance condition necessary for creation of CPT states. We envisage that this absorption feature in the third field, can become a veritable tool to quantify degradation of CPT induced effects in engineered quantum states using multi-level systems.     

A generalization of sumset and its applications

Let A be a nonempty finite subset of an additive abelian group G and let r and h be positive integers. The generalized h-fold sumset of A, denoted by \(h^{(r)}A\), is the set of all sums of h elements of A, where each element appears in a sum at most r times. The direct problem for \(h^{(r)}A\) is to find a lower bound for \(|h^{(r)}A|\) in terms of |A|. The inverse problem for \(h^{(r)}A\) is to determine the structure of the finite set A for which \(|h^{(r)}A|\) is minimal with respect to some fixed value of |A|. If \(G = \mathbb {Z}\), the direct and inverse problems are well studied. In case of \(G = \mathbb {Z}/p\mathbb {Z}\), p a prime, the direct problem has been studied very recently by Monopoli (J. Number Theory, 157 (2015) 271–279). In this paper, we express the generalized sumset \(h^{(r)}A\) in terms of the regular and restricted sumsets. As an application of this result, we give a new proof of the theorem of Monopoli and as the second application, we present new proofs of direct and inverse theorems for the case \(G = \mathbb {Z}\).     

Glutathione as green corrosion inhibitor for 6061Al-SiC(p) composite in HCl medium: electrochemical and theoretical investigation

This research deals with the inhibition activity of glutathione in 0.5 M HCl on the corrosion behavior of 6061Al-SiC_(p) composite. Glutathione is an eco-friendly water-soluble inhibitor. Polarization results reveal the cathodic inhibitor behavior of glutathione (Gt). The inhibition performance of Gt increases by increasing its concentration and lowering the medium temperature. The decrease in the corrosion current density and increase in inhibition efficiency on increasing Gt concentration reveal the attenuation of composite corrosion. Experimental results indicate the mixed adsorption with predominantly physisorption of Gt molecules adsorption on the composite surface following Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The impedance measurements indicate the rise in polarization resistance with an increase in Gt concentration, showing the control of composite corrosion. The surface analysis of the corroded and inhibited composite samples using a scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope supports Gt molecules’ adsorption. The quantum chemical calculations confirm the conclusions of the experimental studies.

     

Traceability and Authentication of Manila Clams from North-Western Adriatic Lagoons Using C and N Stable Isotope Analysis

In the Adriatic lagoons of northern Italy, manila clam (Ruditapes philippinarum) farming provides important socio-economic returns and local clams should be registered with the Protected Designations of Origin scheme. Therefore, there is a need for the development of rapid, cost-effective tests to guarantee the origin of the product and to prevent potential fraud. In this work, an elemental analysis (EA) coupled with isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) was employed to identify the isotopic fingerprints of clams directly collected onsite in three Adriatic lagoons and bought at a local supermarket, where they exhibited certification. In particular, a multivariate analysis of C/N, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N in manila clam tissues as well as δ¹³C in shells and Δ¹³C (calculated as δ¹³C_shell–δ¹³C_tissues) seems a promising approach for tracking the geographical origin of manila clams at the regional scale.     

Biochemical evidence for the tyrosine involvement in cationic intermediate stabilization in mouse β-carotene 15, 15'-monooxygenase

Background  

β-carotene 15,15'-monooxygenase (BCMO1) catalyzes the crucial first step in vitamin A biosynthesis in animals. We wished to explore the possibility that a carbocation intermediate is formed during the cleavage reaction of BCMO1, as is seen for many isoprenoid biosynthesis enzymes, and to determine which residues in the substrate binding cleft are necessary for catalytic and substrate binding activity. To test this hypothesis, we replaced substrate cleft aromatic and acidic residues by site-directed mutagenesis. Enzymatic activity was measured in vitro using His-tag purified proteins and in vivo in a β-carotene-accumulating E. coli system.     

Anti‐CRLF2 Antibody‐Armored Biodegradable Nanoparticles for Childhood B‐ALL

B‐precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B‐ALL) lymphoblast (blast) internalization of anti‐cytokine receptor‐like factor 2 (CRLF2) antibody‐armored biodegradable nanoparticles (AbBNPs) are investigated. First, AbBNPsaere synthesized by adsorbing anti‐CRLF2 antibodies to poly(D,L‐lactide‐co‐glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles of various sizes and antibody surface density (Ab/BNP) ratios. Second, AbBNPs are incubated with CRLF2‐overexpressing (CRLF2+) or control blasts. Third, internalization of AbBNPs by blasts is evaluated by multicolor flow cytometry as a function of receptor expression, AbBNP size, and Ab/BNP ratio. Results from these experiments are confirmed by electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and Western blotting. The optimal size and Ab/BNP for internalization of AbBNPs by CRLF2+ blasts is 50 nm with 10 Ab/BNP and 100 nm with 25 Ab/BNP. These studies show that internalization of AbBNPs in childhood B‐ALL blasts is AbBNP size‐ and Ab/BNP ratio‐dependent. All AbBNP combinations are non‐cytotoxic. It is also shown that CD47 is very slightly up‐regulated by blasts exposed to AbBNPs. CD47 is “the marker of self” overexpressed by blasts to escape phagocytosis, or “cellular devouring”, by beneficial macrophages. The results indicate that precise engineering of AbBNPs by size and Ab/BNP ratio may improve the internalization and selectivity of future biodegradable nanoparticles for the treatment of leukemia patients, including drug‐resistant minority children and Down's syndrome patients with CRLF2+B‐ALL.