Tetra­kis[(3-hydroxy­prop­yl)dimethyl­ammonium] tetra-μ-acetato-κ8 O:O′-bis­[chloridocuprate(II)](Cu—Cu) dichloride

The title compound (C5H14NO)4[Cu2(CH3COO)4Cl2]Cl2, consists of a pair of CuII ions bridged by four acetate groups, resulting in a Cu2(CH3COO)4 unit, four (3-hydroxy­prop­yl)dimethyl­ammonium cations (two crystallographically independent pairs) and two chloride anions. The Cu atoms at both termini are bonded to chloride anions. The latter are hydrogen bonded to one of the two pairs of crystallographically independent (3-hydroxy­prop­yl)dimethyl­ammonium cations. The Cu2(CH3COO)4 unit is located on a crystallographic inversion center, and the geometry around each metal center is close to octa­hedral. The Cl—Cu—Cu angles are nearly linear [177.48 (2)°] and the Cu—O bond lengths are in the range 1.9712 (18)–1.9809 (19) Å. The Cu⋯Cu separation between the two acetate-bridged CuII centers is 2.6793 (8) Å. The packing of the crystal structure is dominated by N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonding between the ammonium groups and the chloride anions, as well as by O—H⋯O and O—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds. One of the 3-hydroxypropyldimethylammonium cations shows orientational disorder with an occupancy ratio of 0.812 (4): 0.188 (4)

Inhibitory Effects of Several Essential Oils towards Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella paratyphi A and Salmonella paratyphi B

Plant essential oils are natural products extracted from plants and because of their antimicrobial properties can be used as natural additives in foods. They are also useful for decontamination of food-borne pathogens and can be a safe additive in foods. The antimicrobial activities of essential oils belonging to Saturiea hortensis, Thymus vulgaris, Mentha polegium, Cuminum cyminum, Lavandula officinalis and Mentha viridis L. (spearmint) were investigated at different concentrations (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 and 10%v/v) against Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella paratyphi A and Salmonella paratyphi B by using the agar well diffusion method. Essential oils showed inhibitory effect on Salmonella spp. in the agar well diffusion assay. In addition, the capability of essential oils for decontamination of minced row beef, ground beef, minced raw chicken and minced raw fish inoculated with Salmonella spp. at 0.1 and 0.5%v/v were assessed. Reduction of the Salmonella spp. population was observed following the inoculation of the cultures with 0.1 and 0.5%v/v essential oils

[Bis­(diphenyl­phosphino)methane-κ2 P,P′]dichloridopalladium(II)

The title complex, [PdCl2(C25H22P2)], is a slightly distorted square-planar bis­(diphenyl­phosphino)methane cis-complex of PdCl2. The structure of a polymorph of the title compound has been described earlier, but the arrangement of the mol­ecules observed in the current structure is distinctively different from that previously reported [Steffen & Palenik (1976 ▶). Inorg. Chem. 15, 2432–2439]. The earlier report describes a structure with individual well separated mol­ecules crystallizing in space group P21/n. The polymorph described here, which is isostructrural to its Pt analogue [Babai et al. (2006 ▶). Z. Anorg. Allg. Chem. 632, 639–644], crystallizes in C2/c with chains of C2-symmetric mol­ecules stretching parallel to the b axis. The Pd atoms and the bis­phosphino­methane units are located on two different positions created by a non-crystallographic mirror operation with an occupancy of 0.6677 (11) for the major (PCH2P)Pd moiety. The positions of the Cl atoms of the minor moiety do coincide perfectly with those of the next mol­ecule along the chain parallel to b, and they are thus not included in the disorder. The phenyl rings also do not take part in the disorder and are common to both the major and minor moieties of the (PCH2P)PdCl2 units. Assuming no defects, mol­ecules in each chain will thus have to be oriented the same way and the effect of the disorder of the (PCH2P)Pd unit is thus a reversal in direction of the chains parallel to b. The presence of light streaks of intensity between actual Bragg peaks indicates that a somehow ordered arrangement not resolved in the Bragg diffraction data may be present (i.e. an incommensurate superstructure) rather than a random or domain arrangement of the chains

CHRONO: a parallel multi-physics library for rigid-body, flexible-body, and fluid dynamics

Abstract. The last decade witnessed a manifest shift in the microprocessor industry towards chip designs that promote parallel computing. Until recently the privilege of a select group of large research centers, Teraflop computing is becoming a commodity owing to inexpensive GPU cards and multi to many-core x86 processors. This paradigm shift towards large scale parallel computing has been leveraged in CHRONO, a freely available C++ multi-physics simulation package. CHRONO is made up of a collection of loosely coupled components that facilitate different aspects of multi-physics modeling, simulation, and visualization. This contribution provides an overview of CHRONO::Engine, CHRONO::Flex, CHRONO::Fluid, and CHRONO::Render, which are modules that can capitalize on the processing power of hundreds of parallel processors. Problems that can be tackled in CHRONO include but are not limited to granular material dynamics, tangled large flexible structures with self contact, particulate flows, and tracked vehicle mobility. The paper presents an overview of each of these modules and illustrates through several examples the potential of this multi-physics library

OPTIMIZATION OF FERMENTATION OF Ulva SP. HYDROLYSATE BY NOVEL YEAST Cyberlindnera jadinii MMS7 FOR ENHANCEMENT OF POLYPHENOL CONTENT AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY

This study is aimed to evaluate the total phenols (TP) content and antioxidant activity of green alga Ulva sp. hydrolysate by aerobic fermentation using novel yeast Cyberlindnera jadinii  MMS7. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to optimize the ultrasound assisted hydrolysate preparation from Ulva sp and found that the ultrasound power density of 0.35 WmL-1 at 15 min as optimum for hydrolysate preparation by ultrasonic pretreatment. The maximum TP of 35.75 ± 0.12 mg PGE g-1 observed in these condition, hence, it was used for further investigation for enhancing the TP content of hydrolysate. By the classical method of optimization pH 5.5, temperature 35oC and agitation speed 150 rpm were found to be the optimum physical parameters for improving TP content (44.59±0.06 mg PGE g-1) of Ulva sp. hydrolysate fermentation by C .jadinii MMS7. At these optimum conditions, 3.26 fold DPPH radical scavenging activity was observed in fermented extract than unfermented extract. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the RSM is an adequate approach for optimization of ultrasound assisted hydrolysate preparation from Ulva sp. In addition to this, the novel yeast strain C. jadinii MMS7 considered as potential candidate for fermentation of Ulva sp. hydrolysate for enhanceing TP content and antioxidant activity. Keywords:  Antioxidant activity, Cyberlindnera jadinii, fermentation, hydrolysate, RSM, total phenols, Ulva sp. &nbsp

PROTEIN RICH BIOMASS PRODUCTION BY NOVEL YEAST Cyberlindnera jadinii MMS7 USING Chara sp. HYDROLYSATE AND EVALUATION OF ITS ANTI-BACTERIAL ACTIVITY

A total of seven cultivable purified yeast phenotypes were isolated from soil collected from sugarecane bagasse dumping sites. By the genotypic characterization, new isolate MMS7 was confirmed as most promising yeast strain and it was identified as Cyberlindnera jadinii MMS7. We used this strain to investigate the feasibility of biomass production using hydrolysate of green Chara sp as sole medium. The ultrasonic pretreatment of the Chara sp biomass for hydrolyaste preparation was optimized as 0.35 WmL-1 (ultrasound power density) and 15 min (treatment time) using response surface methodology (RSM). The biomass of 15.05±0.12 g dwL-1 and protein concentration of 59.21±0.12% were obtained in C. jadinii MMS7, when cultivated in hydrolyaste. This study demonstrates the novel yeast C .jadinii MMS7 could be considered a promising single cell protein producing strain using Chara sp hydrolysate and it has high antibacterial activity against Bacillus cereus. Further, the exploitation of Chara sp. hydrolysate potential may used to aggregate value for algae cultivation. Keywords: Biomass, Cyberlindnera jadinii, Hydrolysate, Pretreatment, Chara s

Patterns of biopsy-proven kidney disease amongst South African adults from 1995 to 2017

Introduction: Little data is available on biopsy-proven kidney disease in African countries. In this study, we have described the patterns of biopsy-proven kidney disease amongst South African adults encountered over a 23-year period and report whether these have changed over time. Methods: This retrospective study included all adults who underwent a native kidney biopsy at Tygerberg Hospital in Cape Town from January 1995 to December 2017. Only the first biopsy for each patient was included in the analysis. From patient records, we extracted demographic and clinical information and details of the kidney biopsies, including the indications and the final histopathological diagnosis. Results: During the study period, 2227 first native kidney biopsies were performed. The median age of the patients was 38.0 years (interquartile range 30.0–48.1 years), and 53.3% were female. The most common indication for biopsy was nephrotic syndrome (38.6%). Glomerulonephritis (GN) was the most common pattern of kidney disease, with similar numbers of cases of primary and secondary glomerular disease. Among the primary glomerular diseases, mesangiocapillary GN (34.5%) was the most common, followed by focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (22.3%) and membranous nephropathy (15.8%). Among the secondary glomerular diseases, lupus nephritis was the most common (39.1%), followed by human immunodeficiency virus-associated nephropathy (HIVAN, 22.1%), and diabetic nephropathy (14.4%). IgA nephropathy was uncommon, accounting for only 2.0% of all glomerular disease, as was hypertensive kidney disease, which was diagnosed in only 1.3% of all our biopsies. Conclusions: Over the last two decades, mesangiocapillary GN was the most common primary glomerular disease and lupus nephritis the most common secondary glomerular disease. There was a steady increase in the number of patients with HIVAN. Hypertensive nephropathy was an uncommon histological diagnosis, and IgA nephropathy remains rare

A Study of nature of the Photovoltaic modules under the influence of partial shading effect

The behaviour of the solar photovoltaic array will be rapidly changing under the influence of partial shading phenomenon. When two (or) more photovoltaic modules are embedded in series, then the total output voltage and the net output power obtained from the series connected photovoltaic modules will mainly depends upon the solar insolation which is being projected upon each and every module respectively. Small perturbation in solar irradiation levels will lead to large considerable change in the output parameters. This paper mainly focuses on observing the effect of partial shading on photovoltaic modules which are connected in series. The main objective of this paper is to examine about the mismatching phenomenon that occurs while tracking the global maxima point which plays a vital role in extracting maximum power from solar photovoltaic array in an effective manner

Z2_2 topology and superconductivity from symmetry lowering of a 3D Dirac Metal Au2_2Pb

3D Dirac semi-metals (DSMs) are materials that have massless Dirac electrons and exhibit exotic physical properties It has been suggested that structurally distorting a DSM can create a Topological Insulator (TI), but this has not yet been experimentally verified. Furthermore, quasiparticle excitations known as Majorana Fermions have been theoretically proposed to exist in materials that exhibit superconductivity and topological surface states. Here we show that the cubic Laves phase Au$_2$Pb has a bulk Dirac cone above 100 K that gaps out upon cooling at a structural phase transition to create a topologically non trivial phase that superconducts below 1.2 K. The nontrivial Z$_2$ = -1 invariant in the low temperature phase indicates that Au$_2$Pb in its superconducting state must have topological surface states. These characteristics make Au$_2$Pb a unique platform for studying the transition between bulk Dirac electrons and topological surface states as well as studying the interaction of superconductivity with topological surface states