Search results for: molecular breeding

Authors: Summer Hassan, David Crossman

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Myocardial fibrosis (MF) has been loosely defined as the process occurring in the pathological remodeling of the myocardium due to excessive production and deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, including collagen. This reduces tissue compliance and accelerates progression to heart failure, as well as affecting the electrical properties of the myocytes resulting in arrhythmias. Microscopic interrogation of MF is key to understanding the molecular orchestrators of disease. It is well-established that recruitment and stimulation of myofibroblasts result in Collagen deposition and the resulting expansion in the ECM. Many types of Collagens have been identified and implicated in scarring of tissue. In a series of experiments conducted at our lab, we aim to elucidate the role collagen VI plays in the development of myocardial fibrosis and its direct impact on myocardial function. This was investigated through an animal experiment in Rats with Collagen VI knockout diseased and healthy animals as well as Collagen VI wild diseased and healthy rats. Echocardiogram assessments of these rats ensued at four-time points, followed by microscopic interrogation of the myocardium aiming to correlate the role collagen VI plays in myocardial function. Our results demonstrate a deterioration in cardiac function as represented by the ejection fraction in the knockout healthy and diseased rats. This elucidates a potential protective role that collagen-VI plays following a myocardial insult. Current work is dedicated to the microscopic characterisation of the fibrotic process in all rat groups, with the results to follow.

Keywords: heart failure, myocardial fibrosis, collagen, echocardiogram, confocal microscopy

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Authors: Jia Xue, Frederica G. Lamar, Siyu Lin, Jennifer G. Lamori, Samendra Sherchan

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Brackish water samples from Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana were assessed for the presence of pathogenic amoeba Naegleria fowleri, which causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). In our study, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) methods were used to determine N. fowleri, E. coli, and Enterococcus in water collected from Lake Pontchartrain. A total of 158 water samples were analyzed over the 10-month sampling period. Statistically significant positive correlation between water temperature and N. fowleri concentration was observed. N. fowleri target sequence was detected at 35.4% (56/158) of the water samples from ten sites around the Lake ranged from 11.6 GC/100 ml water to 457.8 GC/100 ml water. A single factor (ANOVA) analysis shows the average concentration of N. fowleri in summer (119.8 GC/100 ml) was significantly higher than in winter (58.6 GC/100 ml) (p < 0.01). Statistically significant positive correlations were found between N. fowleri and qPCR E. coli results and N. fowleri and colilert E. coli (culture method), respectively. A weak positive correlation between E. coli and Enterococcus was observed from both qPCR (r = 0.27, p < 0.05) and culture based method (r = 0.52, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, significant positive correlation between qPCR and culture based methods for E. coli (r = 0.30, p < 0.05) and Enterococcus concentration was observed (r = 0.26, p < 0.05), respectively. Future research is needed to determine whether sediment is a source of N. fowleri found in the water column.

Keywords: brackish water, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, Naegleria fowleri, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), qPCR

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Authors: Navkiran Kaur, Apoorva Mathur, Abhishree Agarwal, Sakshi Gupta, Tuhin Rashmi

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Aim: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide, and resistance to the current therapeutics, often concurrently, is an increasing clinical challenge. Glycosylation of proteins is one of the most important post-translational modifications. It is widely known that aberrant glycosylation has been implicated in many different diseases due to changes associated with biological function and protein folding. Alterations in cell surface glycosylation, can promote invasive behavior of tumor cells that ultimately lead to the progression of cancer. In breast cancer, there is an increasing evidence pertaining to the role of glycosylation in tumor formation and metastasis. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the disease associated sialoglycoproteins in breast cancer by using bioinformatics tools. The sequence will be retrieved from UniProt database. A database in the form of a word document was made by a collection of FASTA sequences of breast cancer gene sequence. Glycosylation was studied using yinOyang tool on ExPASy and Differential genes expression and protein analysis was done in context of breast cancer metastasis. The number of residues predicted O-glc NAc threshold containing 50 aberrant glycosylation sites or more was detected and recorded for individual sequence. We found that the there is a significant change in the expression profiling of glycosylation patterns of various proteins associated with breast cancer. Differential aberrant glycosylated proteins in breast cancer cells with respect to non-neoplastic cells are an important factor for the overall progression and development of cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, bioinformatics, cancer, metastasis, glycosylation

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Authors: Morteza Haghi, Cigdem Yilmazbas, Ayse Zeynep Uysal, Melisa Tepedelen, Gozde Turkoz Bakirci

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Today, the increase in plastic waste accumulation is an inescapable consequence of environmental pollution; the disposal of these wastes has caused a significant problem. Variable methods have been utilized; however, biodegradation is the most environmentally friendly and low-cost method. Accordingly, the present study aimed to isolate the bacteria capable of biodegradation of plastics. In doing so, we applied the liquid carbon-free basal medium (LCFBM) prepared with deionized water for the isolation of bacterial species obtained from soil samples taken from the Izmir Menemen region. Isolates forming biofilms on plastic were selected and named (PLB3, PLF1, PLB1B) and subjected to a degradation test. FTIR analysis, 16s rDNA amplification, sequencing, identification of isolates were performed. Finally, at the end of the process, a mass loss of 16.6% in PLB3 isolate and 25% in PLF1 isolate was observed, while no mass loss was detected in PLB1B isolate. Only PLF1 and PLB1B created transparent zones on plastic texture. Considering the FTIR result, PLB3 changed plastic structure by 13.6% and PLF1 by 17%, while PLB1B did not change the plastic texture. According to the 16s rDNA sequence analysis, FLP1, PLB1B, and PLB3 isolates were identified as Streptomyces albogriseolus, Enterobacter cloacae, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, respectively.

Keywords: polyethylene, biodegradation, bacteria, 16s rDNA, FTIR

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Authors: Shewit Kidane, Abebe Getahun, Wassie Anteneh, Admassu Demeke, Peter Goethals

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We have reviewed major findings of scientific studies on Lake Tana fish resources and their threats. The aim was to provide summarized information for all concerned bodies and international readers to get full and comprehensive picture about the lake’s fish resource and conservation problems. The Lake Tana watershed comprise 28 fish species, of which 21 are endemic. Moreover, Lake Tana is the one among the top 250 lake regions of global importance for biodiversity and it is world recognized migratory birds wintering site. Lake Tana together with its adjacent wetlands provide directly and indirectly a livelihood for more than 500,000 people. However, owing to anthropogenic activities, the lake ecosystem as well as fish and attributes of the fisheries sector are severely degraded. Fish species in Lake Tana are suffering due to illegal fishing, damming, habitat/breeding ground degradation, wastewater disposal, introduction of exotic species, and lack of implementing fisheries regulations. Currently, more than 98% of fishers in Lake Tana are using the most destructive monofilament. Indeed, dams, irrigation schemes and hydropower are constructed in response to the emerging development need only. Mitigation techniques such as construction of fish ladders for the migratory fishes are the most forgotten. In addition, water resource developers are likely unaware of both the importance of the fisheries and the impact of dam construction on fish. As a result, the biodiversity issue is often missed. Besides, Lake Tana wetlands, which play vital role to sustain biodiversity, are not wisely utilised in the sense of the Ramsar Convention’s definition. Wetlands are considered as unhealthy and hence wetland conversion for the purpose of recession agriculture is still seen as advanced mode of development. As a result, many wetlands in the lake watershed are shrinking drastically over time and Cyprus papyrus, one of the characteristic features of Lake Tana, has dramatically declined in its distribution with some local extinction. Furthermore, the recently introduced water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is creating immense problems on the lake ecosystem. Moreover, currently, 1.56 million tons of sediment have deposited into the lake each year and wastes from the industries and residents are directly discharged into the lake without treatment. Recently, sign of eutrophication is revealed in Lake Tana and most coarsely, the incidence of cyanobacteria genus Microcystis was reported from the Bahir Dar Gulf of Lake Tana. Thus, the direct dependency of the communities on the lake water for drinking as well as to wash their body and clothes and its fisheries make the problem worst. Indeed, since it is home to many endemic migratory fish, such kind of unregulated developmental activities could be detrimental to their stocks. This can be best illustrated by the drastic stock reduction (>75% in biomass) of the world unique Labeobarbus species. So, unless proper management is put in place, the anthropogenic impacts can jeopardize the aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, in order to sustainably use the aquatic resources and fulfil the needs of the local people, every developmental activity and resource utilization should be carried out adhering to the available policies.

Keywords: anthropogenic impacts, dams, endemic fish, wetland degradation

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Authors: Sabitha Rani A., Nagamani V.

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Embelia ribes Burm.f (Family-Myrsinaceae) commonly known as Vidanga or Baibirang, is one of the important medicinal plants of India. The seed extract is reported to be antidiabetic, antitumour, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antispermatogenic, free radical scavenging activities and widely used in more than 75 Ayurvedic commercial formulations. Among the 100 different species of Embelia, E. ribes is considered as a major source of Embelin, a bioactive compound. Because of high demand and low availability, the seeds of E. ribes are substituted with many cheaper alternatives. Therefore, the present study of RAPD-PCR analysis was undertaken to develop molecular markers for identification of E. ribes. A total of 13 different seed samples of Embelia were collected from different agro-climatic regions of India. The seeds of E.ribes were collected from Kalpetta, Kerala and three different seed samples were collected from traders of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra. The other nine seed samples were collected from local traders which they have collected from different regions of India. Genomic DNA was isolated from different seed samples E. ribes and RAPD-PCR was performed on 13 different seed samples using 47 random primers. Out of all the primers, only 22 primers produced clear and highly-reproducible banding patterns. The 22 selected RAPD primers generated a total of 280 alleles with an average of 12 alleles per primer pair. In the present study, we have identified three RAPD-PCR markers i.e. OPF5_480 bp, OPH11_520 bp and OPH4_530 bp which can be used for genetic fingerprinting of E. ribes. This methodology can be employed for identification of original E. ribes and also distinguishing it from other substitutes and adulterants.

Keywords: Embelia ribes, RAPD-PCR, primers, genetic analysis

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Authors: Sara Gardideh, Mansoor Barati

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The mineral carbonation approach for reducing global warming has garnered interest on a worldwide scale. Due to the benefits of permanent storage and abundant mineral resources, mineral carbonation (MC) is one of the most effective strategies for sequestering CO₂. The combination of mineral processing for primary metal recovery and mineral carbonation for carbon sequestration is an emerging field of study with the potential to minimize capital costs. A detailed study of low-pressures–solid carbonation of ultramafic tailings in a dry environment has been accomplished. In order to track the changing structure of serpentine minerals and their reactivity as a function of temperature (300-900 ᵒC), CO₂ partial pressure (25-90 mol %), and thermal preconditioning, thermogravimetry has been utilized. The incongruent CO₂ van der Waals molecular diameters with the octahedral-tetrahedral lattice constants of serpentine were used to explain the mild carbonation reactivity. Serpentine requires additional thermal-treatment to remove hydroxyl groups, resulting in the chemical transformation to pseudo-forsterite, which is a mineral composed of isolated SiO₄ tetrahedra linked by octahedrally coordinated magnesium ions. The heating treatment above 850 ᵒC is adequate to remove chemically bound water from the lattice. Particles with a diameter < 34 (μm) are desirable, and thermally treated serpentine at 850 ᵒC for 2.30 hours reached 65% CO₂ storage capacity. The decrease in particle size, increase in temperature, and magnetic separation can dramatically enhance carbonation.

Keywords: particle size, thermogravimetry, thermal-treatment, serpentine

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Authors: Debadi Chakraborty, John E. Sader

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Nanomechanical devices have emerged as a versatile platform for a host of applications due to their extreme sensitivity to environmental conditions. For example, mass measurements with sensitivity at the atomic level have recently been demonstrated. Ultrafast laser spectroscopy coherently excite the vibrational modes of metal nanoparticles and permits precise measurement of the vibration characteristics as a function of nanoparticle shape, size and surrounding environment. This study reports that the vibration of metal nanoparticles in simple liquids, like water and glycerol are not described by conventional fluid mechanics, i.e., Navier Stokes equations. The intrinsic molecular relaxation processes in the surrounding liquid are found to have a profound effect on the fluid-structure interaction of mechanical devices at nanometre scales. Theoretical models have been developed based on the non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid-structure interaction theory to investigate the vibration of nanoparticles immersed in simple fluids. The utility of this theoretical framework is demonstrated by comparison to measurements on single nanowires and ensembles of metal rods. This study provides a rigorous foundation for the use of metal nanoparticles as ultrasensitive mechanical sensors in fluid and opens a new paradigm for understanding extremely high frequency fluid mechanics, nanoscale sensing technologies, and biophysical processes.

Keywords: fluid-structure interaction, nanoparticle vibration, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, viscoelastic damping

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Authors: Junie B. Billones, Maria Constancia O. Carrillo, Voltaire G. Organo, Stephani Joy Y. Macalino, Inno A. Emnacen, Jamie Bernadette A. Sy

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One of the major interferences in the Philippines’ tuberculosis control program is the widespread prevalence of Mtb strains that are resistant to known drugs, such as the MDR-TB (Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis) and XDR-TB (Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis). Therefore, there is a pressing need to search for novel Mtb drug targets in order to be able to combat these drug resistant strains. The enzyme 7,8-diaminopelargonic acid aminotransferase enzyme, or more commonly known as BioA, is one such ideal target, as it is known that humans do not possess this enzyme. BioA primarily plays a key role in Mtb’s lipid biosynthesis pathway; more specifically in the synthesis of the enzyme cofactor biotin. In this study, structure-based pharmacophore screening, docking, and ADMET evaluation of compounds obtained from the DrugBank chemical database were performed against the MtbBioA enzyme. Results of the screening, docking, ADMET, and TOPKAT calculations revealed that out of the 6,516 compounds in the library, only 7 compounds indicated more favorable binding energies as compared to the enzyme’s known inhibitor, amiclenomycin (ACM), as well as good solubility and toxicity properties. Moreover, out of these 7 compounds, Molecule 6 exhibited the best solubility and toxicity properties. In the future, these lead compounds may then be subjected to bioactivity assays in vitro or in vivo for further evaluation of its therapeutic efficacy.

Keywords: 7, 8-diaminopelargonic acid aminotransferase, BioA, pharmacophore, molecular docking, ADMET, TOPKAT

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Authors: Rabih Al-Kaysi

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When quasi-stable solutions of 9-methylanthracene (pi-electron donor, 0.0005 M) and 1,2,4,5-Tetracyanobenzene (pi-electron acceptor, 0.0005 M) in aqueous sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS, 0.025 M) were gently mixed, uniform-shaped rectangular charge-transfer nanocrystals precipitated out. These red colored charge-transfer (CT) crystals were composed of a 1:1-mole ratio of acceptor/ donor and are highly insoluble in water/SDS solution. The rectangular crystals morphology is semi hollow with symmetrical twin pockets reminiscent of nanocapsules. For a typical crop of nanocapsules, the dimensions are 21 x 6 x 0.5 microns with an approximate hollow volume of 1.5 x 105 nm3. By varying the concentration of aqueous SDS, mixing duration and incubation temperature, we can control the size and volume of the nanocapsules. The initial number of CT seed nanoparticles, formed by mixing the D and A solutions, determined the number and dimensions of the obtained nanocapsules formed after several hours of incubation under still conditions. Prolonged mixing of the donor and acceptor solutions resulted in plenty of initial seeds hence smaller nanocapsules. Short mixing times yields less seed formation and larger micron-sized capsules. The addition of Doxorubicin in situ with the quasi-stable solutions while mixing leads to the formation of CT nanocapsules with Doxorubicin sealed inside. The Doxorubicin can be liberated from the nanocapsules by cracking them using ultrasonication. This method can be extended to other binary CT complex crystals as well.

Keywords: charge-transfer, nanocapsules, nanocrystals, doxorubicin

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Authors: Yan-Shiang Chiou, Yi-Huang Hsueh

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Bacillus cereus is a foodborne pathogen that causes two types of foodborne illness, the emetic and diarrheal syndromes. B. cereus consistently ranks among the top three among bacterial foodborne outbreaks in the ten years of 2001 to 2010 in Taiwan. Foodborne outbreak caused by B. cereus has been increased, and recently it ranks second foodborne pathogen after Vibrio parahaemolyticus. This pathogen is difficult to control due to its ubiquitousness in the environment, the psychrotrophic nature of many strains, and the heat resistance of their spores. Because complete elimination of biofilms is difficult, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of biofilm formation by B. cereus will help to develop better strategies to control this pathogen. Surface translocation can be an important factor in biofilm formation. In B. cereus, NprR is a quorum sensor, and its apo NprR is a dimer and changes to a tetramer in the presence of NprX. The small peptide NprX may induce conformational change allowing the apo dimer to switch to an active tetramer specifically recognizing target DNA sequences. Our result showed that mutation of nprRX causes surface spreading deficiency. Mutation of flagella, pili and surfactant genes (flgAB, bcpAB, krsABC), did not abolish spreading motility. Under nprRX mutant, mutation of spo0A restored the spreading deficiency. This suggests that spreading motility is not related surfactant, pili and flagella but other unknown mechanism and Spo0A, a sporulation initiation protein, inhibits spreading motility.

Keywords: Bacillus cereus, nprRX, spo0A, spreading motility

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Authors: Simin Khodabakhshi, Hossein Rassi

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Hyperlipidemia refers to any of several acquired or genetic disorders that result in a high level of lipids circulating in the blood. Helicobacter pylori infection is a contributing factor in the progression of hyperlipidemia with serum lipid changes. The aim of this study was to detect of Helicobacter pylori by PCR and serological methods in patients with hyperlipidemia. In this case-control study, 174 patients with hyperlipidemia and 174 healthy controls were studied. Also, demographics, physical and biochemical parameters were performed in all samples. The DNA extracted from blood specimens was amplified by H pylori cagA specific primers. The results show that H. pylori cagA positivity was detected in 79% of the hyperlipidemia and in 56% of the control group by ELISA test and 49% of the hyperlipidemia and in 24% of the control group by PCR test. Prevalence of H. pylori infection was significantly higher in hyperlipidemia as compared to controls. In addition, patients with hyperlipidemia had significantly higher values for triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-C, waist to hip ratio, body mass index, diastolic and systolic blood pressure and lower levels of HDL-C than control participants (all p < 0.0001). Our result detected the ELISA was a rapid and cost-effective detection and considering the high prevalence of cytotoxigenic H. pylori strains, cag A is suggested as a promising target for PCR and ELISA tests for detection of infection with toxigenic strains. In general, it can be concluded that molecular analysis of H. pylori cagA and clinical parameters are important in early detection of hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis with H. pylori infection by PCR and ELISA tests.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, hyperlipidemia, PCR, ELISA

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Authors: Martin Elstner

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Processing of information by means of handling chemicals is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature. Technical implementations of chemical information processing lack of low integration densities compared to electronic devices. Stimuli responsive hydrogels are promising candidates for materials with information processing capabilities. These hydrogels are sensitive toward chemical stimuli like metal ions or amino acids. The binding of an analyte molecule induces conformational changes inside the polymer network and subsequently the water content and volume of the hydrogel varies. This volume change can control material flows, and concurrently information flows, in microfluidic devices. The combination of this technology with powerful chemical logic gates yields in a platform for highly integrated chemical circuits. The manufacturing process of such devices is very challenging and rapid prototyping is a key technology used in the study. 3D printing allows generating three-dimensional defined structures of high complexity in a single and fast process step. This thermoplastic master is molded into PDMS and the master is removed by dissolution in an organic solvent. A variety of hydrogel materials is prepared by dispenser printing of pre-polymer solutions. By a variation of functional groups or cross-linking units, the functionality of the hole circuit can be programmed. Finally, applications in the field of bio-molecular analytics were demonstrated with an autonomously operating microfluidic chip.

Keywords: bioanalytics, hydrogels, information processing, microvalve

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Authors: Laura Gantley, Vanessa M. Conn, Stuart Webb, Kirsty Kirk, Marta Gabryelska, Duncan Holds, Brett W. Stringer, Simon J. Conn

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Trinucleotide repeat disorders comprise ~20 severe, inherited human neuromuscular and neurodegenerative disorders, which are a result of an abnormal expansion of repetitive sequences in the DNA. The most common of these, Huntington’s disease, results from the expansion of the CAG repeat region in exon 1 of the HTT gene via an unknown mechanism. Non-coding RNAs have been implicated in the initiation and progression of many diseases; thus, we focus on one circular RNA (circRNA) molecule arising from non-canonical splicing (back splicing) of HTT pre-mRNA. This circRNA and its mouse orthologue were transgenically overexpressed in human cells (SHSY-5Y and HEK293T) and mouse cells (Mb1), respectively. High-content imaging and flow cytometry demonstrated the overexpression of this circRNA reduces cell proliferation, reduces nuclear size independent of cellular size, and alters cell cycle progression. Analysis of protein by western blot and immunofluorescence demonstrated no change to HTT protein levels but altered nuclear-cytoplasmic distribution without impacting the expansion of the HTT repeat region. As these phenotypic and genotypic changes are found in Huntington’s disease patients, these results may suggest that this circRNA may play a functional role in the progression of Huntington’s disease.

Keywords: cell biology, circular RNAs, Huntington’s disease, molecular biology, neurodegenerative disorders

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Authors: Arleta Rifati Nixha, Mustafa Arslan, Adem Ergün, Nahit Gencer

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Polyphenol oxidase (PPO), sometimes referred to as phenol oxidase, catecholase, phenolase, catechol oxidase, or even tyrosinase, is considered to be an o-dipenol. PPO (EC 1.14.18.1), a multifunctional copper containing enzyme, is widely distributed in nature. It catalyzes two distinct reactions of melanin synthesis: a hydroxylation of monophenols to o-diphenols (monophenolase activity) and an oxidation of o-diphenols to o-quinones (diphenolase activity), both using molecular oxygen. Additionaly, investigation demonstrated that various dermatological disorders, such as age spots and freckle, were caused by the accumulation of an excessive level of epidermal pigmentation. Tyrosinase has also been linked to Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Nitrogen heterocycles have received a great deal of attention in the literature because of biological properties. Especially, among these heterocyclic systems, pyridine containing compounds have been the subject of expanding research efforts in heteroaromatic and biological chemistry. The pyrido [2,3-d] pyrimidine heterocycles, which are those annelated to a pyrimidine ring, are important because of their wide range of biological and pharmaceutical applications (i.e., bronchodilators, vasodilators) and their anti-allergic, cardiotonic, antihypertensive, and hepatoprotective activities. In this study series of 12 new carbazole substituted pyridopyrimidine urea(thiourea) derivatives were synthesized and evaluated effect on PPO. Additionally, we presented structure-activity relationship analyses and theoretical calculations of the compounds.

Keywords: carbazole, pyridopyrimidine, urea, thiourea, tyrosinase inhibitors

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Authors: Harish Rajak, Preeti Patel

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The application of histone deacetylase inhibitors is a well-known strategy in prevention of cancer which shows acceptable preclinical antitumor activity due to its ability of growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of cancer cell. Molecular docking were performed using Histone Deacetylase protein (PDB ID:1t69) and prepared series of hydroxamic acid based HDACIs. On the basis of docking study, it was predicted that compound 1 has significant binding interaction with HDAC protein and three hydrogen bond interactions takes place, which are essential for antitumor activity. On docking, most of the compounds exhibited better glide score values between -8 to -10 which is close to the glide score value of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid. The pharmacophore hypotheses were developed using e-pharmacophore script and phase module. The 3D-QSAR models provided a good correlation between predicted and actual anticancer activity. Best QSAR model showed Q2 (0.7974), R2 (0.9200) and standard deviation (0.2308). QSAR visualization maps suggest that hydrogen bond acceptor groups at carbonyl group of cap region and hydrophobic groups at ortho, meta, para position of R9 were favorable for HDAC inhibitory activity. We established structure activity correlation using docking, pharmacophore modeling and atom based 3D QSAR model for hydroxamic acid based HDACIs.

Keywords: HDACIs, QSAR, e-pharmacophore, docking, suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid

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Authors: Nagwa Mourad Abdelazeem, Marwa El-hussieny

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Multicomponent reactions (MCRs), one-pot reactions form products from more than two different starting compounds. (MCRs) are ideal reaction systems leading to high structural diversity and molecular complexity through a single transformation. (MCRs) have a lot of advantage such as higher yield, less waste generation, use of readily available starting materials and high atom. (MCRs) provide a rapid process for efficient synthesis of key structures in discovery of drug on the other hand silica sulfuric acid (SSA) has been used as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for many organic transformations. (SSA) is low cost, ease of preparation, catalyst recycling, and ease of handling, so in this article we used 2-(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-indole, N-substituted anilines and aldehyde in the presence of silica sulfuric acid (SSA) as a catalyst in water as solvent at room temperature to prepare 3,3'-(phenylmethylene)bis(2-(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-indole) and N-methyl-4-(phenyl(2-(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-indol-3-yl)methyl)aniline derivatives Via one-pot reaction. Compound 2-(thiophen-2-yl)-1H-indole belongs to the ubiquitous class of indoles which enjoy broad synthetic, biological and industrial applications ]. Cancer is considered the first or second most common reason of death all through the world. So the synthesized compounds will be tested as anticancer. We expected the synthesized compounds will give good results comparison to the reference drug.

Keywords: aldehydes, aza-friedel-crafts reaction, indole, multicomponent reaction

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Authors: Magdalena Wilk-Kozubek, Jakub Pawłów, Maciej Czajkowski, Maria Zdończyk, Katarzyna Ślepokura, Joanna Cybińska

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Thermochromic materials belong to the family of intelligent materials that change their color in response to temperature changes; this ability is called thermochromism. Thermochromic behavior can be displayed by both isolated compounds and multicomponent mixtures. Fluoran leuco dye-based mixtures are well-known thermochromic systems used, for example, in heat-sensitive FAX paper. Weak acids often serve as color developers for such systems. As the temperature increases, the acids melt, and the mixtures become colored. The objective of this research is to determine the influence of acids showing a liquid crystalline nematic phase on the development of the fluoran dye. For this purpose, fluoran-based mixtures with 4-n-alkylbenzoic acids were prepared. The mixtures are colored at room temperature, but they become colorless upon the melting of the acids. The melting of acids is associated not only with a change in the color of the mixtures but also with a change in their emission color. Phase transitions were investigated by temperature-dependent powder X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry; nematic phases were visualized by polarized optical microscopy, and color and emission changes were studied by UV-Vis diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence spectroscopies, respectively. When 4-n-alkylbenzoic acids are used as color developers, the fluoran-based mixtures become colorless after the melting of the acids. This is because the melting of acids is accompanied by the transition from the crystalline phase to the nematic phase, in which the molecular arrangement of the acids does not allow the fluoran dye to be developed.

Keywords: color developer, leuco dye, liquid crystal, thermochromism

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Authors: Bahattin Abay

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Thin film of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon rubrene, C₄₂H₂₈ (5,6,11,12-tetraphenyltetracene), has been surfaced on Moderately Doped (MD) n-InP substrate as an interfacial layer by means of spin coating technique for the electronic modification of Au/MD n-InP structure. Ex situ annealing has been carried out at 150 °C for three minutes under a brisk flow of nitrogen for the better adhesion of the deposited film with the substrate surface. Room temperature electrical characterization has been performed on the C₄₂H₂₈/MD n-InP hybrid junctions by current-voltage (I-V) and capacitance-voltage (C-V) measurement in the dark. It has been seen that the C₄₂H₂₈/MD n-InP structure demonstrated extraordinary rectifying behavior. An effective barrier height (BH) as high as 0.743 eV, along with an ideality factor very close to unity (n=1.203), has been achieved for C₄₂H₂₈/n-InP organic/inorganic device. A thin C₄₂H₂₈ interfacial layer between Au and MD n-InP also reduce the reverse leakage current by almost four orders of magnitude and enhance the BH about 0.278 eV. This good performance of the device is ascribed to the passivation effect of organic interfacial layer between Au and n-InP. By using C-V measurement, in addition, the value of BH of the C₄₂H₂₈/n-InP organic/inorganic hybrid junctions have been obtained as 0.796 eV. It has been seen that both of the BH value (0.743 and 0.796 eV) for the organic/inorganic hybrid junction obtained I-V and C-V measurement, respectively are significantly larger than that of the conventional Au/n-InP structure (0.465 and 0.503 eV). It was also seen that the device had good sensitivity to the light under 100 mW/cm² illumination conditions. The obtained results indicated that modification of the interfacial potential barrier for Metal/n-InP junctions might be attained using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon thin interlayer C₄₂H₂₈.

Keywords: I-V and C-V measurements, heterojunction, n-InP, rubrene, surface passivation

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Authors: Srinivasapriyan Vijayan

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Phenol is one of the most vital chemical in industry. Nowadays, phenol production is based upon the three-step cumene process, which involves a hazardous cumene hydroperoxide intermediate and produces nearly equimolar amounts of acetone as a coproduct. An attractive route in phenol production is the direct one-step selective hydroxylation of benzene using eco-friendly oxidants such as O2, N2O, and H2O2. In particular, the direct hydroxylation of benzene to form phenol with O2 has recently attracted extensive research attention because this process is green clean and eco-friendly. However, most of the catalytic systems involving O2 have a low rate of hydroxylation because the direct introduction of hydroxyl functionality into benzene is challenging. Almost all the developed catalytic systems require an elevated temperature and suffer from low conversion because of the notoriously low reactivity of aromatic C–H bonds. Moreover, increased reactivity of phenol relative to benzene makes the selective oxidation of benzene to phenol very difficult, especially under heating conditions. Hollow spheres, a very fascinating class of materials with good permeation and low density, highly monodisperse MOF hollow sandwich spheres have been rationally synthesized using monodisperse polystyrene (PS) nanoparticles as templates through a versatile step-by-step self-assembly strategy. So, our findings could pave the way toward highly efficient nonprecious catalysts for low-temperature oxidation reactions in heterogeneous catalysis. Because it is easy post-reaction separation, its cheap, green and recyclable.

Keywords: benzene hydroxylation, Fe-based metal organic frameworks, molecular oxygen, phenol

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Authors: Srishti Sinha, Deepti Tikariha, Kallol K. Ghosh

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Over the past few decades protein-surfactant interactions have been a subject of extensive studies as they are of great importance in wide variety of industries, biological, pharmaceutical and cosmetic systems. Protein-surfactant interactions have been explored the effect of surfactants on structure of protein in the form of solubilization and denaturing or renaturing of protein. Globular proteins are frequently used as functional ingredients in healthcare and pharmaceutical products, due to their ability to catalyze biochemical reactions, to be adsorbed on the surface of some substance and to bind other moieties and form molecular aggregates. One of the most widely used globular protein is bovine serum albumin (BSA), since it has a well-known primary structure and been associated with the binding of many different categories of molecules, such as dyes, drugs and toxic chemicals. Protein−surfactant interactions are usually dependent on the surfactant features. Most of the research has been focused on single-chain surfactants. More recently, the binding between proteins and dimeric surfactants has been discussed. In present study interactions of one dimeric surfactant Butanediyl-1,4-bis (dimethylhexadecylammonium bromide) (16-4-16, 2Br-) and the corresponding single-chain surfactant cetyl trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) have been investigated by surface tension and spectrofluoremetric methods. It has been found that the bindings of all gemini surfactant to BSA were cooperatively driven by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. The gemini surfactant carrying more charges and hydrophobic tails, showed stronger interactions with BSA than the single-chain surfactant.

Keywords: bovine serum albumin, gemini surfactants, hydrophobic interactions, protein surfactant interaction

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Authors: Naseer Iqbal, Mukesh Kumar, Pradeep Sharma, Satya Prakash Yadav, Punit Kaur, Sujata Sharma, T. P. Singh

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Dehydroquinase (3-dehydroquinate dehydratase, DHQD, EC 4.2.1.10) is involved in shikimate pathway and catalyzes the conversion of dehydroquinate to dehydroshikimate. Shikimate pathway is important drug target as this pathway is absent in mammals. DHQD from Acinetobacter baumannii (AbDHQD) was cloned, expressed and purified to homogeneity. The binding studies showed that compounds quinic acid and citrazinic acid bound to AbDHQD at micromolar concentrations. AbDHQD was crystallized using 30% PEG-3350, 50mM tris-HCl, and 1.0M MgSO4 at PH 8.0. Crystals of AbDHQD were stabilized by transferring them into reservoir solution to which 25% glycerol was added for data collection at 100K. The X-ray intensity data were collected to 2.0Å resolution. The crystals belong to monoclinic space group P21 with cell dimensions, a = 82.3, b = 95.3, c = 132.3Å and β = 95.7°. The structure was solved with molecular replacement method and refined to Rcryst/Rfree factors of 0.200/0.232. The structures of 12 crystallographically independent molecules in the asymmetry unit were identical with r.m.s shifts for the C atoms ranging from 0.3 Å to 0.8 Å. They formed a dodecamer with four trimers arranged in a tetrahedral manner. The classical lid adopted an open conformation although a sulfate ion was observed in the substrate binding site. As a result of which, the compounds quinic acid and citrazinic acid did not bind to AbDHQD.

Keywords: acinetobacter Bauman Nii, dehydroquinate dehydratase, dodecamer, open conformation

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Authors: Raana Babadi Fathipour

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Street foods hold a significant place in the tapestry of socioeconomic and cultural norms, beloved across the globe. Serving as a convenient and affordable option for city dwellers seeking nourishment, these culinary delights also serve as a vital source of income for vendors, particularly women. Additionally, street food acts as a mirror reflecting traditional local customs and practices, an element that draws tourists to experience the authenticity of a culture firsthand. Despite its many virtues, concerns have emerged regarding the microbiological safety of street food worldwide. Often prepared and sold in subpar conditions without proper oversight or regulation, street food has become synonymous with potential health risks. The presence of elevated levels of fecal indicator bacteria and various pathogens in these unregulated delicacies further perpetuates anxieties surrounding their consumption. This analysis delves into the intricate microbiological intricacies inherent in street food, shedding light on the pertinent safety concerns and prevalent pathogens. Additionally, it elaborates on the worldwide standing of this vital economic endeavor. Moreover, it advocates for the adoption of molecular detection techniques over conventional culture-based methods to gain a more comprehensive grasp of the true microbial risks posed by street cuisine. Acknowledgment marks the initial step towards resolving any given issue.

Keywords: foodborne pathogens, microbiological safety, street food, viruses

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Authors: Hanjie Xie, Raphael Semiat, Ziyi Zhong

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It is well known that many oxidation reactions in nature are closely related to the origin and life activities. One of the features of these natural reactions is that they can proceed under mild conditions employing the oxidant of molecular oxygen (O₂) in the air and enzymes as catalysts. Catalysis is also a necessary part of life for human beings, as many chemical and pharmaceutical industrial processes need to use catalysts. However, most heterogeneous catalytic reactions must be run at high operational reaction temperatures and pressures. It is not strange that, in recent years, research interest has been redirected to green catalysis, e.g., trying to run catalytic reactions under relatively mild conditions as much as possible, which needs to employ green solvents, green oxidants such O₂, particularly air, and novel catalysts. This work reports the efficient binary Fe-Mn metal oxide catalysts for low-temperature formaldehyde (HCHO) oxidation, a toxic pollutant in the air, particularly in indoor environments. We prepared a series of nanosized FeMn oxide catalysts and found that when the molar ratio of Fe/Mn = 1:1, the catalyst exhibited the highest catalytic activity. At room temperature, we realized the complete oxidation of HCHO on this catalyst for 20 h with a high GHSV of 150 L g⁻¹ h⁻¹. After a systematic investigation of the catalyst structure and the reaction, we identified the reaction intermediates, including dioxymethylene, formate, carbonate, etc. It is found that the oxygen vacancies and the derived active oxygen species contributed to this high-low-temperature catalytic activity. These findings deepen the understanding of the catalysis of these binary Fe-Mn metal oxide catalysts.

Keywords: oxygen vacancy, catalytic oxidation, binary transition oxide, formaldehyde

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Authors: O. Ubani, H. I. Atagana, M. S. Thantsha, R. Adeleke

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The oil sludge components (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) have been found to be cytotoxic, mutagenic and potentially carcinogenic and microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can degrade the oil sludge to less toxic compounds such as carbon dioxide, water and salts. In the present study, we isolated different bacteria with PAH-degrading potentials from the co-composting of oil sludge and different animal manure. These bacteria were isolated on the mineral base medium and mineral salt agar plates as a growth control. A total of 31 morphologically distinct isolates were carefully selected from 5 different compost treatments for identification using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the 16S rDNA gene with specific primers (16S-P1 PCR and 16S-P2 PCR). The amplicons were sequenced and sequences were compared with the known nucleotides from the gene bank database. The phylogenetical analyses of the isolates showed that they belong to 3 different clades namely Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. These bacteria identified were closely related to genera Bacillus, Arthrobacter, Staphylococcus, Brevibacterium, Variovorax, Paenibacillus, Ralstonia and Geobacillus species. The results showed that Bacillus species were more dominant in all treated compost piles. Based on their characteristics these bacterial isolates have high potential to utilise PAHs of different molecular weights as carbon and energy sources. These identified bacteria are of special significance in their capacity to emulsify the PAHs and their ability to utilize them. Thus, they could be potentially useful for bioremediation of oil sludge and composting processes.

Keywords: bioaugmentation, biodegradation, bioremediation, composting, oil sludge, PAHs, animal manures

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Authors: Beata Kaczmarek-Szczepańska, Lidia Zasada

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Marine collagens such as fish skin, bone, cartilage, and scales, including both marine vertebrates and invertebrates sources, are more bioavailable compared to bovine or porcine collagen and have a higher absorption capability and more rapid bloodstream circulation due to their low molecular weight and small particle size. Fish skin may be used as a source of bioactive compounds. The advantage is that fish skin is a by-product of the food industry. The subject of the study is a lyophilizate consisting of a mixture of compounds from the group of glycosaminoglycans and collagen obtained as a result of processing fish skins. Bioactive compounds may find biomedical use in the production of dressing materials for wounds or in tissue engineering for the production of scaffolds for cells. Collagen and glycosaminoglycans were isolated from Salmo salar skin. The final mixture was obtained by the freeze-drying method. In the obtained lyophilizate, the content of amino acids was studied as well as the presence of polysaccharides. The studies showed the presence of glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline, which are the main amino acids of collagen. The HPLC analysis showed the presence of glucose which is a product of polysaccharides hydrolyzation and then reduction of glucuronic acid. It may be assumed that the lyophilizate contains both collagen and polysaccharide, which is probably hyaluronic acid. Acknowledgment: This work was carried out as a result of research project no. TANGO-V-A/0020/2021 financed by the National Centre for Research and Development.

Keywords: collagen, glycosaminoglycans, bioactive compounds, fish skin

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Authors: Berredjem Hajira, Benlaifa Meriem, Becheker Imene, Bardi Rafika, Djebar Med Reda

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Recent acquired or reactivation T.gondii infection is a serious complication in HIV patients. Classical serological diagnosis relies on the detection of anti-Toxoplasma immunoglobulin ; however, serology may be unreliable in HIV immunodeficient patients who fail to produce significant titers of specific antibodies. PCR assays allow a rapid diagnosis of Toxoplasma infection. In this study, we compared the value of the PCR for diagnosing active toxoplasmosis in cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples from HIV patients. Anti-Toxoplasma antibodies IgG and IgM titers were determined by ELISA. In parallel, nested PCR targeting B1 gene and conventional PCR-ELISA targeting P30 gene were used to detect T. gondii DNA in 25 blood samples and 12 cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients in whom toxoplasmic encephalitis was confirmed by clinical investigations. A total of 15 negative controls were used. Serology did not contribute to confirm toxoplasmic infection, as IgG and IgM titers decreased early. Only 8 out 25 blood samples and 5 out 12 cerebrospinal fluid samples PCRs yielded a positive result. 5 patients with confirmed toxoplasmosis had positive PCR results in either blood or cerebrospinal fluid samples. However, conventional nested B1 PCR gave best results than the P30 gene one for the detection of T.gondii DNA in both samples. All samples from control patients were negative. This study demonstrates the unusefulness of the serological tests and the high sensitivity and specificity of PCR in the diagnosis of toxoplasmic encephalitis in HIV patients.

Keywords: cerebrospinal fluid, HIV, Toxoplasmosis, PCR

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Authors: T. C. C. Soo, S. Bhassu

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Unlike the common presence of both innate and adaptive immunity in vertebrates, crustaceans, in particular, shrimps, have been discovered to possess only innate immunity. This further emphasizes the importance of innate immunity within shrimps in pathogenic resistance. Under the study of pathogenic immune challenge, different shrimp species actually exhibit varying degrees of immune resistance towards the same pathogen. Furthermore, even within the same shrimp species, different batches of challenged shrimps can have different strengths of immune defence. Several important pathways are activated within shrimps during pathogenic infection. One of them is JAK-STAT pathway that is activated during bacterial, viral and fungal infections by which STAT(Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription) gene is the core element of the pathway. Based on theory of Central Dogma, the genomic information is transmitted in the order of DNA, RNA and protein. This study is focused in uncovering the important evolutionary patterns present within the DNA (non-coding region) and RNA (coding region). The three shrimp species involved are Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei which all possess commercial significance. The shrimp species were challenged with a famous penaeid shrimp virus called white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) which can cause serious lethality. Tissue samples were collected during time intervals of 0h, 3h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 36h and 48h. The DNA and RNA samples were then extracted using conventional kits from the hepatopancreas tissue samples. PCR technique together with designed STAT gene conserved primers were utilized for identification of the STAT coding sequences using RNA-converted cDNA samples and subsequent characterization using various bioinformatics approaches including Ramachandran plot, ProtParam and SWISS-MODEL. The varying levels of immune STAT gene activation for the three shrimp species during WSSV infection were confirmed using qRT-PCR technique. For one sample, three biological replicates with three technical replicates each were used for qRT-PCR. On the other hand, DNA samples were important for uncovering the structural variations within the genomic region of STAT gene which would greatly assist in understanding the STAT protein functional variations. The partially-overlapping primers technique was used for the genomic region sequencing. The evolutionary inferences and event predictions were then conducted through the Bayesian Inference method using all the acquired coding and non-coding sequences. This was supplemented by the construction of conventional phylogenetic trees using Maximum likelihood method. The results showed that adaptive evolution caused STAT gene sequence mutations between different shrimp species which led to evolutionary divergence event. Subsequently, the divergent sites were correlated to the differing expressions of STAT gene. Ultimately, this study assists in knowing the shrimp species innate immune variability and selection of disease resistant shrimps for breeding purpose. The deeper understanding of STAT gene evolution from the perspective of both purifying and adaptive approaches not only can provide better immunological insight among shrimp species, but also can be used as a good reference for immunological studies in humans or other model organisms.

Keywords: gene evolution, JAK-STAT pathway, immunology, STAT gene

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Authors: Leonard D. Agana, Wendell Ace Dela Cruz, Arjan C. Lingaya, Bonifacio T. Doma Jr.

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The purpose of this paper is to study the predict the fuel performance parameters, which include drivability index (DI), vapor lock index (VLI), and vapor lock potential using distillation curve and Reid vapor pressure (RVP) of dual alcohol-gasoline fuel blends. Distillation curve and Reid vapor pressure were predicted using artificial neural networks (ANN) with macroscopic properties such as boiling points, RVP, and molecular weights as the input layers. The ANN consists of 5 hidden layers and was trained using Bayesian regularization. The training mean square error (MSE) and R-value for the ANN of RVP are 91.4113 and 0.9151, respectively, while the training MSE and R-value for the distillation curve are 33.4867 and 0.9927. Fuel performance analysis of the dual alcohol–gasoline blends indicated that highly volatile gasoline blended with dual alcohols results in non-compliant fuel blends with D4814 standard. Mixtures of low-volatile gasoline and 10% methanol or 10% ethanol can still be blended with up to 10% C3 and C4 alcohols. Intermediate volatile gasoline containing 10% methanol or 10% ethanol can still be blended with C3 and C4 alcohols that have low RVPs, such as 1-propanol, 1-butanol, 2-butanol, and i-butanol. Biography: Graduate School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering and Sciences, Mapua University, Muralla St., Intramuros, Manila, 1002, Philippines

Keywords: dual alcohol-gasoline blends, distillation curve, machine learning, reid vapor pressure

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Authors: Soujanya Pasumarthi

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Inverse docking is a relatively new technique that has been used to identify potential receptor targets of small molecules. Our docking software package MDock is well suited for such an application as it is both computationally efficient, yet simultaneously shows adequate results in binding affinity predictions and enrichment tests. As a validation study, we present the first stage results of an inverse-docking study which seeks to identify potential direct targets of PRIMA-1. PRIMA-1 is well known for its ability to restore mutant p53's tumor suppressor function, leading to apoptosis in several types of cancer cells. For this reason, we believe that potential direct targets of PRIMA-1 identified in silico should be experimentally screened for their ability to inhibitcancer cell growth. The highest-ranked human protein of our PRIMA-1 docking results is oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC), which is part of the cholesterol synthetic pathway. The results of two followup experiments which treat OSC as a possible anti-cancer target are promising. We show that both PRIMA-1 and Ro 48-8071, a known potent OSC inhibitor, significantly reduce theviability of BT-474 breast cancer cells relative to normal mammary cells. In addition, like PRIMA-1, we find that Ro 48-8071 results in increased binding of mutant p53 to DNA in BT- 474cells (which highly express p53). For the first time, Ro 48-8071 is shown as a potent agent in killing human breast cancer cells. The potential of OSC as a new target for developing anticancer therapies is worth further investigation.

Keywords: inverse docking, in silico screening, protein-ligand interactions, molecular docking

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