Intermediate-energy differential and integral cross sections for vibrational excitation in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

9 pags.; 5 figs.; 6 tabs.Differential and integral cross section measurements, for incident electron energies in the 20-50 eV range, are reported for excitation of several composite vibrational modes in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA). Optimisation and frequency calculations, using GAUSSIAN 09 at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level, were also undertaken for the two most abundant conformers of THFA, with results being reported for their respective mode classifications and excitation energies. Those calculations assisted us in the experimental assignments of the composite features observed in our measured energy loss spectra. There are, to the best of our knowledge, no other experimental or theoretical data currently available in the literature against which we can compare the present results. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.Spanish (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under Project FIS2012-31230) funding agencies who financially supported various aspects of this work.Peer Reviewe

MPP+-induced cytotoxicity in neuroblastoma cells: Antagonism and reversal by guanosine

Guanosine exerts neuroprotective effects in the central nervous system. Apoptosis, a morphological form of programmed cell death, is implicated in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD). MPP+, a dopaminergic neurotoxin, produces in vivo and in vitro cellular changes characteristic of PD, such as cytotoxicity, resulting in apoptosis. Undifferentiated human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells had been used as an in vitro model of Parkinson’s disease. We investigated if extracellular guanosine affected MPP+-induced cytotoxicity and examined the molecular mechanisms mediating its effects. Exposure of neuroblastoma cells to MPP+ (10 μM–5 mM for 24–72 h) induced DNA fragmentation in a time-dependent manner (p < 0.05). Administration of guanosine (100 μM) before, concomitantly with or, importantly, after the addition of MPP+ abolished MPP+-induced DNA fragmentation. Addition of MPP+ (500 μM) to cells increased caspase-3 activity over 72 h (p < 0.05), and this was abolished by pre- or co-treatment with guanosine. Exposure of cells to pertussis toxin prior to MPP+ eliminated the anti-apoptotic effect of guanosine, indicating that this effect is dependent on a Gi protein-coupled receptor, most likely the putative guanosine receptor. The protection by guanosine was also abolished by the selective inhibitor of the enzyme PI-3-K/Akt/PKB (LY294002), confirming that this pathway plays a decisive role in this effect of guanosine. Neither MPP+ nor guanosine had any significant effect on α-synuclein expression. Thus, guanosine antagonizes and reverses MPP+-induced cytotoxicity of neuroblastoma cells via activation of the cell survival pathway, PI-3-K/Akt/PKB. Our results suggest that guanosine may be an effective pharmacological intervention in PD

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

Intermediate-energy differential and integral cross sections for vibrational excitation in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

9 pags.; 5 figs.; 6 tabs.Differential and integral cross section measurements, for incident electron energies in the 20-50 eV range, are reported for excitation of several composite vibrational modes in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA). Optimisation and frequency calculations, using GAUSSIAN 09 at the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVDZ level, were also undertaken for the two most abundant conformers of THFA, with results being reported for their respective mode classifications and excitation energies. Those calculations assisted us in the experimental assignments of the composite features observed in our measured energy loss spectra. There are, to the best of our knowledge, no other experimental or theoretical data currently available in the literature against which we can compare the present results. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.Spanish (Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad under Project FIS2012-31230) funding agencies who financially supported various aspects of this work.Peer Reviewe

Recent progress in electron scattering from atoms and molecules

We present and discuss recent results, both experimental and theoretical (where possible), for electron impact excitation of the 3s[3/2]1 and 3s’[1/2]1 electronic states in neon, elastic electron scattering from the structurally similar molecules benzene, pyrazine, and 1,4-dioxane and excitation of the electronic states of the important bio-molecule analogue α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. While comparison between theoretical and experimental results suggests that benchmarked cross sections for electron scattering from atoms is feasible in the near-term, significant further theoretical development for electron-molecule collisions, particularly in respect to discrete excitation processes, is still required

Intermediate-energy differential and integral cross sections for vibrational excitation in alpha-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

Differential and integral cross section measurements, for incident electron energies in the 20-50 eV range, are reported for excitation of several composite vibrational modes in a-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA). Optimisation and frequency calculations, using GAUSSIAN 09 at the B3LYP/augcc-pVDZ level, were also undertaken for the two most abundant conformers of THFA, with results being reported for their respective mode classifications and excitation energies. Those calculations assisted us in the experimental assignments of the composite features observed in our measured energy loss spectra. There are, to the best of our knowledge, no other experimental or theoretical data currently available in the literature against which we can compare the present results

Cross sections for electron scattering from α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

We report on measurements of integral cross sections (ICSs) for electron impact excitation of a series of Rydberg electronic-states in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. The energy range of these experiments was 20-50 eV. There are currently no other results against which we can directly compare those measured data. We also report results from our independent atom model with screened additivity rule correction computations, namely for the total cross section, elastic ICS, inelastic ICS (all discrete electronic states and neutral dissociation) and the total ionisation ICS. Where possible, our calculated cross sections are compared to the limited available data of each scattering process

Differential cross sections for intermediate-energy electron scattering from α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol: excitation of electronic-states

We report on measurements of differential cross sections (DCSs) for electron impact excitation of a series of Rydberg electronic-states in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol (THFA). The energy range of these experiments was 20–50 eV, while the scattered electron was detected in the 10°–90° angular range. There are currently no other experimental data or theoretical computations against which we can directly compare the present measured results. Nonetheless, we are able to compare our THFA DCSs with earlier cross section measurements for Rydberg-state electronic excitation for tetrahydrofuran, a similar cyclic ether, from Do et al. [J. Chem. Phys.134, 144302 (2011)]. In addition, "rotationally averaged" elastic DCSs, calculated using our independent atom model with screened additivity rule correction approach are also reported. Those latter results give integral cross sections consistent with the optical theorem, and supercede those from the only previous study of Milosavljević et al. [Eur. Phys. J. D40, 107 (2006)]

Cross sections for electron scattering from α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol

International audienceWe report on measurements of integral cross sections (ICSs) for electron impact excitation of a series of Rydberg electronic-states in α-tetrahydrofurfuryl alcohol. The energy range of these experiments was 20–50 eV. There are currently no other results against which we can directly compare those measured data. We also report results from our independent atom model with screened additivity rule correction computations, namely for the total cross section, elastic ICS, inelastic ICS (all discrete electronic states and neutral dissociation) and the total ionisation ICS. Where possible, our calculated cross sections are compared to the limited available data of each scattering process