(3R,5S,7as)-(3,5-bis(4-Fluorophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-oxazolo[3,4-c]oxazol-7a-yl)methanol: A Novel Neuroprotective Agent

Compounds that interact with microtubules, such as paclitaxel, have been shown to possess protective properties against β-amyloid (Aβ)-induced neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease. In this work, the novel agent (3R,5S,7as)-(3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-oxazolo[3,4-c]oxazol-7a-yl)methanol was investigated for effectiveness in protecting neurons against several toxic stimuli and its interaction with the microtubule network. Exposure of neuronal cultures to Aβ peptide in the presence of 5 nM (3R,5S,7as)-(3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-oxazolo[3,4-c]oxazol-7a-yl)methanol resulted in a 50% increase in survival. Neuronal cultures treated with other toxic stimuli such as staurosporine, thapsigargin, paraquat and H2O2 showed significantly enhanced survival in the presence of (3R,5S,7as)-(3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-oxazolo[3,4-c]oxazol-7a-yl)methanol. Microtubule binding and tubulin assembly studies revealed differences compared to paclitaxel, but confirmed the interaction of (3R,5S,7as)-(3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-oxazolo[3,4-c]oxazol-7a-yl)methanol with microtubules. Furthermore, in vitro studies using bovine brain microvessel endothelial cells experiments suggest that (3R,5S,7as)-(3,5-bis(4-fluorophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-oxazolo[3,4-c]oxazol-7a-yl)methanol can readily cross the blood-brain barrier in a passive manner

Strategic maintenance technique selection using combined quality function deployment, the analytic hierarchy process and the benefit of doubt approach

The business performance of manufacturing organizations depends on the reliability and productivity of equipment, machineries and entire manufacturing system. Therefore, the main role of maintenance and production managers is to keep manufacturing system always up by adopting most appropriate maintenance methods. There are alternative maintenance techniques for each machine, the selection of which depend on multiple factors. The contemporary approaches to maintenance technique selection emphasize on operational needs and economic factors only. As the reliability of production systems is the strategic intent of manufacturing organizations, maintenance technique selection must consider strategic factors of the concerned organization along with operational and economic criteria. The main aim of this research is to develop a method for selecting the most appropriate maintenance technique for manufacturing industry with the consideration of strategic, planning and operational criteria through involvement of relevant stakeholders. The proposed method combines quality function deployment (QFD), the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the benefit of doubt (BoD) approach. QFD links strategic intents of the organizations with the planning and operational needs, the AHP helps in prioritizing the criteria for selection and ranking the alternative maintenance techniques, and the BoD approach facilitates analysing robustness of the method through sensitivity analysis through setting the realistic limits for decision making. The proposed method has been applied to maintenance technique selection problems of three productive systems of a gear manufacturing organization in India to demonstrate its effectiveness

Vibrational Spectroscopy of H_2O by Lie Algebraic Methods

An algebraic model of coupled anharmonic oscillators is introduced, capable of describing the stretching vibrations of medium-size molecules. This model is applied to the calculation of O-H vibrational modes of water molecules. In this paper, we have reported the stretching and bending vibrational energy levels of water molecule using the algebraic and density functional theory method. The results obtained by theoretical models show good agreement with the experimental values

Vibrational Spectroscopy of H 2 O by Lie Algebraic Methods

An algebraic model of coupled anharmonic oscillators is introduced, capable of describing the stretching vibrations of medium-size molecules. This model is applied to the calculation of OH vibrational modes of water molecules. In this paper, we have reported the stretching and bending vibrational energy levels of water molecule using the algebraic and density functional theory method. The results obtained by theoretical models show good agreement with the experimental values

Radioactivity levels in rocks of North Karnataka, India

809-812The present work deals with the radioactivity of rock samples collected from three towns, one from each district, of northern region of Karnataka, India. The measured mean activity concentrations of 232Th, 238U and 40K are found to be 73.54, 47.32 and 114.76 for Gadag, 7.2, 4.9 and 121.8 from Gulbarga and 20.96, 42.2 and 875 Kottur samples, respectively. The measured values of dose rate due to natural radioactivity in the rock samples varied from 11 to 170 Sv/y. This study shows that a basalt rock contains lesser radioactivity concentration compared to the green schist belt rocks

Pyrazinetetracarboxamide: A Duplex Ligand for Palladium(II)

Tetraethylpyrazine-2,3,5,6-tetracarboxamide forms a dipalladium­(II) complex with acetates occupying the fourth coordination sites of the two bound metal ions. Crystallographic results indicate that the “duplex” dipincer has captured two protons that serve as the counterions. The protons lie between adjacent amide carbonyl groups with very short O···O distances of 2.435(5) Å. In the free base, the adjacent carbonyl groups are farther apart, averaging 3.196(3) Å. While the dipalladium­(II) complexes stack in an ordered stepwise fashion along the <i>a</i> axis, the free base molecules stack on top of each other, with each pincer rotated by about 60° from the one below