258 research outputs found
Caseinolytic Activity of Fruit Extract from Opuntia ficus-indica on Bovine, Caprine, and Ovine Sodium Caseinates
Tuning the bioactivity of tensioactive deoxy glycosides to structure: antibacterial activity versus selective cholinesterase inhibition rationalized by molecular docking
New octyl/dodecyl 2,6-dideoxy-D-arabino-hexopyranosides
have been synthesized by a simple but efficient methodology
based on the reaction of glycals with alcohols catalysed by
triphenylphosphane hydrobromide, deprotection, regioselective tosylation and reduction. Their surface-active properties
were evaluated in terms of adsorption and aggregation parameters and compared with those of 2-deoxy-D-glycosides
and 2,6-dideoxy-L-glycosides. Deoxygenation at the 6-position led to a decrease in the critical micelle concentration,
and an increase in the adsorption efficiency (pC20) promoting
aggregation more efficiently than adsorption. With regard to
the antibacterial activity, dodecyl 2,6-dideoxy-α-L-arabino-hexopyranoside was the most active compound towards Bacillus anthracis (MIC 25 μM), whereas its enantiomer exhibited a MIC value of 50 μM. Both 2,6-dideoxy glycosides were
active towards Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus
faecalis and Listeria monocytogenes. In contrast, none of the
2-deoxy glycosides was significantly active. These results
and the data on surface activity suggest that aggregation is
a key issue for antimicrobial activity. Beyond infection, Alzheimer’s disease also threatens elderly populations. In the search for butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) selective inhibition, 2-
deoxy glycosides were screened in vitro by using Ellman’s
assay. Octyl 2-deoxy-α-D-glycoside was found to be a BChE
selective inhibitor promoting competitive inhibition. Docking
studies supported these results as they pinpoint the importance of the primary OH group in stabilizing the BChE inhibitor complex. A size-exclusion mechanism for inhibition has
been proposed based on the fact that acetylcholinesterase
(AChE) exhibits several bulky residues that hinder access to
the active-site cavity. This work shows how the deoxygenation pattern, configuration and functionality of the anomeric
centre can tune physical and surface properties as well as
the bioactivity of these multifunctional and stereochemically
rich molecules.FEDER e FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Elastase-2, a tissue alternative pathway for angiotensin II generation, plays a role in circulatory sympathovagal balance in mice
In vitro and ex vivo experiments indicate that elastase-2 (ELA-2), a chymotrypsin-serine protease elastase family member 2A, is an alternative pathway for angiotensin II (Ang II) generation. However, the role played by ELA-2 in vivo is unclear. We examined ELA-2 knockout (ELA-2KO) mice compared to wild-type (WT) mice and determined whether ELA-2 played a role in hemodynamics [arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR)], cardiocirculatory sympathovagal balance and baroreflex sensitivity. The variability of systolic arterial pressure (SAP) and pulse interval (PI) for evaluating autonomic modulation was examined for time and frequency domains (spectral analysis), whereas a symbolic analysis was also used to evaluate PI variability. In addition, baroreflex sensitivity was examined using the sequence method. Cardiac function was evaluated echocardiographically under anesthesia. The AP was normal whereas the HR was reduced in ELA-2KO mice (425 ± 17 vs. 512 ± 13 bpm from WT). SAP variability and baroreflex sensitivity were similar in both strains. The LF power from the PI spectrum (33.6 ± 5 vs. 51.8 ± 4.8 nu from WT) and the LF/HF ratio (0.60 ± 0.1 vs. 1.45 ± 0.3 from WT) were reduced, whereas the HF power was increased (66.4 ± 5 vs. 48.2 ± 4.8 nu from WT) in ELA-2KO mice, indicating a shift toward parasympathetic modulation of HR. Echocardiographic examination showed normal fractional shortening and an ejection fraction in ELA-2KO mice; however, the cardiac output, stroke volume, and ventricular size were reduced. These findings provide the first evidence that ELA-2 acts on the sympathovagal balance of the heart, as expressed by the reduced sympathetic modulation of HR in ELA-2KO mice
K^+ -> pi^+pi^0e^+e^-: a novel short-distance probe
We study the decay K^+ -> pi^+ pi^0 e^+ e^-, currently under analysis by the
NA62 Collaboration at CERN. In particular, we provide a detailed analysis of
the Dalitz plot for the long-distance, gamma^*-mediated, contributions
(Bremsstrahlung, direct emission and its interference). We also examine a set
of asymmetries to isolate genuine short-distance effects. While we show that
charge asymmetries are not required to test short distances, they provide the
best environment for its detection. This constitutes by itself a strong
motivation for NA62 to study K^- decays in the future. We therefore provide a
detailed study of different charge asymmetries and the corresponding estimated
signals. Whenever possible, we make contact with the related processes K^+ ->
pi^+ pi^0 gamma and K_L -> pi^+ pi^- e^+ e^- and discuss the advantages of K^+
-> pi^+ pi^0 e^+ e^- over them.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Load-bearing capacity of a red-yellow latosol cultivated with coffee plants subjected to different weed managements
Leptonic and Semileptonic Decays of Charm and Bottom Hadrons
We review the experimental measurements and theoretical descriptions of
leptonic and semileptonic decays of particles containing a single heavy quark,
either charm or bottom. Measurements of bottom semileptonic decays are used to
determine the magnitudes of two fundamental parameters of the standard model,
the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements and . These
parameters are connected with the physics of quark flavor and mass, and they
have important implications for the breakdown of CP symmetry. To extract
precise values of and from measurements, however,
requires a good understanding of the decay dynamics. Measurements of both charm
and bottom decay distributions provide information on the interactions
governing these processes. The underlying weak transition in each case is
relatively simple, but the strong interactions that bind the quarks into
hadrons introduce complications. We also discuss new theoretical approaches,
especially heavy-quark effective theory and lattice QCD, which are providing
insights and predictions now being tested by experiment. An international
effort at many laboratories will rapidly advance knowledge of this physics
during the next decade.Comment: This review article will be published in Reviews of Modern Physics in
the fall, 1995. This file contains only the abstract and the table of
contents. The full 168-page document including 47 figures is available at
http://charm.physics.ucsb.edu/papers/slrevtex.p
Gamma-irradiated pollen induces the formation of 2n endosperm and abnormal embryo development in European plum (Prunus domestica L., cv. “Rainha Cláudia Verde”)
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results
Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC
provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of
lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with
a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the
transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the
anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the
nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of
the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp.
Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in
the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies
smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating
nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and
transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of
inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous
measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables,
submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are
available at
http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02
Comparison of field and laboratory models of the load bearing capacity in coffee plantations
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