ANTI-TUBERCULAR ACTIVITY OF EDTA AND HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS AGAINST MYCOBACTERIUM SMEGMATIS, A SURROGATE FOR MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS

Drug discovery efforts are increasingly being directed at re-purposing old drugs for use in treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) which continues to pose serious health challenges worldwide. Recent studies suggest that Mycobacterium smegmatis, with innate resistance to isoniazid, could be used as a surrogate for MDRTB screening in laboratories without adequate containment facilities. The current study utilized resazurin microtiter assay plate (REMA) to screen common household chemicals and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for anti-tubercular activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis, as a non-pathogenic surrogate of MDRTB. A ligand-based approach was adopted in selecting household chemicals; using molecular docking tools to probe for binding affinity to Enoyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase (InhA), the main target of isoniazid. Among household chemicals and analgesics studied, EDTA and lauric acid showed the highest activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 31 μg/mL and 7.8 μg/mL respectively, while Ibuprofen and aspirin exhibited activity with MIC of 125 μg/mL. Taken together, this study demonstrates the potential use of EDTA, lauric acid or NSAIDs in treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, a major contribution of the current stud

ANTI-TUBERCULAR ACTIVITY OF EDTA AND HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS AGAINST MYCOBACTERIUM SMEGMATIS, A SURROGATE FOR MULTI-DRUG RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS

Drug discovery efforts are increasingly being directed at re-purposing old drugs for use in treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) which continues to pose serious health challenges worldwide. Recent studies suggest that Mycobacterium smegmatis, with innate resistance to isoniazid, could be used as a surrogate for MDRTB screening in laboratories without adequate containment facilities. The current study utilized resazurin microtiter assay plate (REMA) to screen common household chemicals and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for anti-tubercular activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis, as a non-pathogenic surrogate of MDRTB. A ligand-based approach was adopted in selecting household chemicals; using molecular docking tools to probe for binding affinity to Enoyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase (InhA), the main target of isoniazid. Among household chemicals and analgesics studied, EDTA and lauric acid showed the highest activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 31 μg/mL and 7.8 μg/mL respectively, while Ibuprofen and aspirin exhibited activity with MIC of 125 μg/mL. Taken together, this study demonstrates the potential use of EDTA, lauric acid or NSAIDs in treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis, a major contribution of the current stud

Preparation and characterisation of calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcites impregnated with alkaline nitrate and their activities in the combustion of particulate matter

The effect of incorporating alkaline nitrates in hydrotalcites for use in the combustion of particulate matter from diesel emissions has been studied. The catalysts were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), elemental analysis (EA), atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Activity measurements were carried out using a thermobalance in air and using a fixed-bed reactor with a NO/O2 flow. The observed activities decreased in the following order: HTMgAlcCs > HTMgAlcK > HTMgAlcLi > HTMgAlc.Fil: Comelli, Nora Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Ruiz, Maria Lucia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Merino, Nora Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis. Instituto de Investigaciones en Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Lick, Ileana Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez Castellón, E.. Universidad de Málaga. Facultad de Ciencias. Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Cristalografía y Mineralogía; EspañaFil: Jiménez López, A.. Universidad de Málaga. Facultad de Ciencias. Departamento de Química Inorgánica, Cristalografía y Mineralogía; EspañaFil: Ponzi, Marta Isabel

Tuning the product distribution during the catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires: The effect of the nature of metals and the reaction temperature

Metal catalysts based on Ni, Co, and Pd supported on SiO2 were evaluated in the catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires using pyrolysis experiments coupled to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py–GC/MS) and thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (TGA–FTIR) techniques. The effect of temperature and the nature of metals on the product distribution and reaction pathways was determined. Catalytic pyrolysis promoted aromatization and cracking reactions at particularly low temperatures ca. 350 °C, leading mainly to the formation of alkenes (isoprene), aromatic terpenes (p-cymene), aliphatic terpenes (d,l-limonene), and other aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX). The Pd/SiO2 catalyst was the most selective toward aromatic compounds (around 40 %), owing to its well-known hydrogenation/dehydrogenation capacity, while CCsingle bond bond cleavage reactions, leading to alkenes, were more favored on the Ni/SiO2 and Co/SiO2 catalysts. In all cases, high selectivity to limonene and isoprene was observed at low temperature. Above 400 °C, no significant differences in product distribution were observed between catalyzed and uncatalyzed pyrolysis. Herein, selectivity toward high-value hydrocarbons (i.e., d,l-limonene, isoprene, BTX, and p-cymene) during the catalytic pyrolysis of waste tires was tuned by the nature of the supported transition metals (i.e., Ni, Co, Pd) and the reaction temperature (e.g., <400 °C). The results demonstrate that the use of these catalysts is a promising strategy to valorize waste tires into high added-value products.Fil: Osorio Vargas, Paula Alejandra. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Menares, Tamara. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Lick, Ileana Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Casella, Mónica Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas "Dr. Jorge J. Ronco". Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicadas; ArgentinaFil: Romero, Romina. Universidad de Concepción; Chile. Universidad de Tarapaca. Instituto de Alta Investigacion.; ChileFil: Jiménez, Romel. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Arteaga Pérez, Luis E.. Universidad del Bio Bio; Chile. Universidad de Concepción; Chil

Beyond Outerplanarity

We study straight-line drawings of graphs where the vertices are placed in convex position in the plane, i.e., convex drawings. We consider two families of graph classes with nice convex drawings: outer $k$-planar graphs, where each edge is crossed by at most $k$ other edges; and, outer $k$-quasi-planar graphs where no $k$ edges can mutually cross. We show that the outer $k$-planar graphs are $(\lfloor\sqrt{4k+1}\rfloor+1)$-degenerate, and consequently that every outer $k$-planar graph can be $(\lfloor\sqrt{4k+1}\rfloor+2)$-colored, and this bound is tight. We further show that every outer $k$-planar graph has a balanced separator of size $O(k)$. This implies that every outer $k$-planar graph has treewidth $O(k)$. For fixed $k$, these small balanced separators allow us to obtain a simple quasi-polynomial time algorithm to test whether a given graph is outer $k$-planar, i.e., none of these recognition problems are NP-complete unless ETH fails. For the outer $k$-quasi-planar graphs we prove that, unlike other beyond-planar graph classes, every edge-maximal $n$-vertex outer $k$-quasi planar graph has the same number of edges, namely $2(k-1)n - \binom{2k-1}{2}$. We also construct planar 3-trees that are not outer $3$-quasi-planar. Finally, we restrict outer $k$-planar and outer $k$-quasi-planar drawings to \emph{closed} drawings, where the vertex sequence on the boundary is a cycle in the graph. For each $k$, we express closed outer $k$-planarity and \emph{closed outer $k$-quasi-planarity} in extended monadic second-order logic. Thus, closed outer $k$-planarity is linear-time testable by Courcelle's Theorem.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017

Preparation and characterisation of calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcites impregnated with alkaline nitrate and their activities in the combustion of particulate matter

The effect of incorporating alkaline nitrates in hydrotalcites for use in the combustion of particulate matter from diesel emissions has been studied. The catalysts were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), elemental analysis (EA), atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Activity measurements were carried out using a thermobalance in air and using a fixed-bed reactor with a NO/O2 flow. The observed activities decreased in the following order: HTMgAlcCs>HTMgAlcK>HTMgAlcLi>HTMgAlc.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada

Efecto promotor del agregado de rodio a catalizadores de Co/ZnAl2O4 para la combustión catalítica de hidrocarburos

Una serie de catalizadores de cobalto soportados sobre aluminato de zinc (Cox-ZnAl) modificados con Rh, fue preparada, caracterizada mediante diversas técnicas (BET, XRD, TPR, DRS, FTIR y XPS) y aplicados en las reacciones de oxidación catalítica de propano y naftaleno

Preparation and characterisation of calcined Mg/Al hydrotalcites impregnated with alkaline nitrate and their activities in the combustion of particulate matter

The effect of incorporating alkaline nitrates in hydrotalcites for use in the combustion of particulate matter from diesel emissions has been studied. The catalysts were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), elemental analysis (EA), atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Activity measurements were carried out using a thermobalance in air and using a fixed-bed reactor with a NO/O2 flow. The observed activities decreased in the following order: HTMgAlcCs>HTMgAlcK>HTMgAlcLi>HTMgAlc.Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Ciencias Aplicada