Excited States of Proton-bound DNA/RNA Base Homo-dimers: Pyrimidines

We are presenting the electronic photo fragment spectra of the protonated pyrimidine DNA bases homo-dimers. Only the thymine dimer exhibits a well structured vibrational progression, while protonated monomer shows broad vibrational bands. This shows that proton bonding can block some non radiative processes present in the monomer.Comment: We acknowledge the use of the computing facility cluster GMPCS of the LUMAT federation (FR LUMAT 2764

Improved functionalization of oleic acid-coated iron oxide nanoparticles for biomedical applications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles can providemultiple benefits for biomedical applications in aqueous environments such asmagnetic separation or magnetic resonance imaging. To increase the colloidal stability and allow subsequent reactions, the introduction of hydrophilic functional groups onto the particles’ surface is essential. During this process, the original coating is exchanged by preferably covalently bonded ligands such as trialkoxysilanes. The duration of the silane exchange reaction, which commonly takes more than 24 h, is an important drawback for this approach. In this paper, we present a novel method, which introduces ultrasonication as an energy source to dramatically accelerate this process, resulting in high-quality waterdispersible nanoparticles around 10 nmin size. To prove the generic character, different functional groups were introduced on the surface including polyethylene glycol chains, carboxylic acid, amine, and thiol groups. Their colloidal stability in various aqueous buffer solutions as well as human plasma and serum was investigated to allow implementation in biomedical and sensing applications.status: publishe

Two cases of variations in inferior thyroid arterial pattern and their clinical implications

Vascular variations are the most common ones in humans. Inferior thyroid artery arises from the thyrocervical trunk in 90.5%, from subclavian in 7.5%, and very rarely from the common carotid, aortic arch, brachiocephalic, internal thoracic, pericardiacophrenic, or vertebral. Thyroid ima artery is more common variety found in up to12.2% of the population. Two cadavers dissected in the anatomy department are presented with variations in the blood supply of the thyroid gland. The first case was a 61-year-old man with middle thymothyroid artery arising from the common carotid on the right side and inferior thyroid as a branch of the common carotid on the left. The second case was an 85-year-old female without inferior thyroid arteries bilaterally, replaced by thyroid ima arising from brachiocephalic artery. The awareness of such arterial pattern is crucial for the specialists in imaging and preoperative diagnosing and escaping eventual iatrogenic complications of thyroid gland

Aronia melanocarpa supplementation and thymic age alterations in rats

Progressive thymic involution, a sign of aging leads to loss of immune function associated with T-cell immunity and increased susceptibility to infections, risk for development of autoimmune diseases and neoplasms in adults. It has been shown that the thymic tissue is a plastic tissue and the process of involution can be delayed and even therapeutically reversed. The use of antioxidants is one potential therapeutic approach for slowing the immunity aging. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of Aronia melanocarpa juice either pure or enriched with 1% pectin on some markers of thymus involution in mature rats. It was used a model of spontaneous aging rats supplemented with antioxidant beverages for 12 weeks. The results show significant alterations in the organomethric parameters between younger and older controls, which proves the adequacy of the model chosen. Supplementation with antioxidant nutraceuticals does not affect organomethric parameters, but leads to a delay of the age-related alterations in the histological structure of the thymus - distinct preservation of the structure of the lobules and reduced quantity of interlobular connective tissue. Aronia melanocarpa and pectin supplementation exhibits a significant stimulating effect on the CD3+ thymocite subpopulation according to the intensity of the immunoreaction. On the aspect of the CD4+ and CD8+ subpopulations, the differences do not reach significance. No significant differences were established on the serum levels of IL6. Aronia melanocarpa juice supplementation leads to a retardation of some of the age-related alterations of the thymus on a microstructural level. It exhibits a thymocyte stimulating effect on the CD3+, but does not affect the CD4+ and CD5+ parameters (the intensity of the immunoreaction) of mature T-lymphocytes