Serotonin transporter affinity of (−)-loliolide, a monoterpene lactone from Mondia whitei

AbstractMondia whitei (Apocynaceae) is used in traditional medicine to treat nervous disorders. Previous studies have shown in vivo antidepressant-like activity in the forced swimming test and affinity to the serotonin transporter of an ethanolic leaf extract of M. whitei. The aim of this study was to isolate the compound(s) responsible for in-vitro serotonin transporter affinity in M. whitei. Bioassay guided isolation lead to the identification of the monoterpene lactone (−)-loliolide. An ethanol extract was prepared from dry leaves. The residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate, extracted with water by liquid–liquid partitioning. This was followed by VLC fractionation. Through HPLC-UV separation the active compound was isolated and characterized by GC-MS, LC-MS and 1H-NMR. The activity of (−)-loliolide was tested in a serotonin transporter binding assay using [3H]-citalopram as ligand, giving an IC50-value of 997µM, corresponding to a Ki-value of 409µM. Loliolide is a non-nitrogenous compound and might bind to the transporter in a different way to nitrogen-containing inhibitors. The results provide a rationale for the use of M. whitei in the treatment of depression and other central nervous system diseases in traditional medicine

Macroscopic Car Condensation in a Parking Garage

An asymmetric exclusion process type process, where cars move forward along a closed road that starts and terminates at a parking garage, displays dynamic phase transitions into two types of condensate phases where the garage becomes macroscopically occupied. The total car density $\rho_o$ and the exit probability $\alpha$ are the two control parameters. At the transition, the number of parked cars $N_p$ diverges in both cases, with the length of the road $N_s$, as $N_p\sim N_s^{y_p}$ with $y_p=1/2$. Towards the transition, the number of parked cars vanishes as $N_p\sim \epsilon^\beta$ with $\beta=1$, $\epsilon=|\alpha -\alpha^*|$ or $\epsilon=|\rho^*_o -\rho_o|$ being the distance from the transition. The transition into the normal phase represents also the onset of transmission of information through the garage. This gives rise to unusual parked car autocorrelations and car density profiles near the garage, which depend strongly on the group velocity of the fluctuations along the road.Comment: 12 pages including 15 figures; published version in PR

Entanglement dynamics of three-qubit states in noisy channels

We study entanglement dynamics of the three-qubit system which is initially prepared in pure Greenberger-Horne- Zeilinger (GHZ) or W state and transmitted through one of the Pauli channels $\sigma_z, \, \sigma_x, \, \sigma_y$ or the depolarizing channel. With the help of the lower bound for three-qubit concurrence we show that the W state preserves more entanglement than the GHZ state in transmission through the Pauli channel $\sigma_z$. For the Pauli channels $\sigma_x, \, \sigma_y$ and the depolarizing channel, however, the entanglement of the GHZ state is more resistant against decoherence than the W-type entanglement. We also briefly discuss how the accuracy of the lower bound approximation depends on the rank of the density matrix under consideration.Comment: 2 figures, 32 reference

Demonstrating various quantum effects with two entangled laser beams

We report on the preparation of entangled two mode squeezed states of yet unseen quality. Based on a measurement of the covariance matrix we found a violation of the Reid and Drummond EPR-criterion at a value of only 0.36\pm0.03 compared to the threshold of 1. Furthermore, quantum state tomography was used to extract a single photon Fock state solely based on homodyne detection, demonstrating the strong quantum features of this pair of laser-beams. The probability for a single photon in this ensemble measurement exceeded 2/3

Matrix Metalloproteinase Mediated Type I Collagen Degradation — An Independent Risk Factor for Mortality in Women

AbstractChronic fibro-proliferative diseases are associated with nearly 45% of all deaths in the developed world. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) mediated remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays an important role in disease development. Degradation of type I collagen is considered having a major role in this matter. C1M is a biomarker measuring type I collagen degradation fragments in blood. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether MMP mediated type I collagen degradation (C1M) was predictive of mortality in a large prospective cohort of Danish women aged 48–89 (n=5855).Subjects with high serum C1M showed significant increased mortality. The adjusted three year HR was 2.02 [95% CI: 1.48–2.76] for all-cause mortality, 2.32 [95% CI: 1.51–3.56] for cancer and 1.77 [95% CI: 0.98–3.17] for cardiovascular diseases. The adjusted nine year HR was 1.50 [95% CI: 1.28–1.75] for all-cause mortality, 1.49 [95% CI: 1.16–1.90] for cancer and 1.69 [95% CI: 1.27–2.24] for cardiovascular diseases.High MMP-mediated type I collagen degradation was associated with increased mortality. Subjects with high C1M had a 2-fold increase in mortality compared to subjects with low levels of this collagen degradation product