Synthesis of phenylseleno sugars from epoxides and of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl derivatives for the study of their insecticidal activity

This work reports the synthesis of sugar epoxides and their derivatives obtained by reaction with the dianion of phenyl selenoacetic acid. Approaches to the introduction of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl units in pyranoid systems were investigated. Preparation of a protected D-glycero-hex-3-enepyranosid-2-ulose and of a D-erythro-hex-2-enono-1,5-lactone is described. Some of the synthesized compounds possess insecticidal activity against fruit flies, house flies, and white flies.Treaty of Windsor Programme, British Council, Ministério da Ciência e do Ensino Superiorinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Coupling rheology and segregation in granular flows

During the last fifteen years there has been a paradigm shift in the continuum modelling of granular materials; most notably with the development of rheological models, such as the μ(I) μ(I) -rheology (where μ μ is the friction and I is the inertial number), but also with significant advances in theories for particle segregation. This paper details theoretical and numerical frameworks (based on OpenFOAM) which unify these currently disconnected endeavours. Coupling the segregation with the flow, and vice versa, is not only vital for a complete theory of granular materials, but is also beneficial for developing numerical methods to handle evolving free surfaces. This general approach is based on the partially regularized incompressible μ(I) μ(I) -rheology, which is coupled to the gravity-driven segregation theory of Gray & Ancey (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 678, 2011, pp. 353–588). These advection–diffusion–segregation equations describe the evolving concentrations of the constituents, which then couple back to the variable viscosity in the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. A novel feature of this approach is that any number of differently sized phases may be included, which may have disparate frictional properties. Further inclusion of an excess air phase, which segregates away from the granular material, then allows the complex evolution of the free surface to be captured simultaneously. Three primary coupling mechanisms are identified: (i) advection of the particle concentrations by the bulk velocity, (ii) feedback of the particle-size and/or frictional properties on the bulk flow field and (iii) influence of the shear rate, pressure, gravity, particle size and particle-size ratio on the locally evolving segregation and diffusion rates. The numerical method is extensively tested in one-way coupled computations, before the fully coupled model is compared with the discrete element method simulations of Tripathi & Khakhar (Phys. Fluids, vol. 23, 2011, 113302) and used to compute the petal-like segregation pattern that spontaneously develops in a square rotating drum

Sugar bislactones by one-step oxidative dimerisation with pyridinium chlorochromate versus regioselective oxidation of vicinal diols

Synthesis of 10-membered bislactones by PCC oxidation of methyl 2,6-di-O-pivaloyl-α-D-glucopyranoside and methyl 4,6-O-benzylidene-α-D-glucopyranoside is described, with emphasis on their structure elucidation using the information gained by combination of NMR spectroscopic techniques with X-ray diffraction data. In alternative, the use of PCC and PCC adsorbed on silica gel or alumina for the regioselective oxidation of vicinal diols in sugars is also reported. Both bislactones showed antifungal activity against Candida albicans, and were slightly active against the bacteria Bacillus subtilis. The bislactone presenting pivaloyl protecting groups also promoted some growth inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Synthesis, surface active and antimicrobial properties of new alkyl 2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosides

Synthesis of alkyl 2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hexopyranosides was accomplished by the reaction of 1,5-anhydro-2,6-dideoxy-L-arabino-hex-1-enitol with fatty alcohols in dichloromethane, catalyzed by triphenylphosphine hydrobromide. Reaction with octanol and dodecanol gave the corresponding α-glycosides in 50% and 42% yield, the β-glycosides in 20% and 21% yield and the α-anomer of the Ferrier product in 10% and 9% yield, respectively.Deacetylation of the α-/β-glycosides with sodium methoxide in methanol afforded the amphiphilic L-arabino-hexopyranosides in 94–99% yield. The surface tension at the air–water interface of the octyl L-glycosides and of the dodecyl α-L-glycoside aqueous solutions at 35 °C was measured with a du Noüy ring tensiometer and surface properties such as critical micelle concentration (CMC), relative surface excess, molecular area at the interface and Gibbs micellization free energy were evaluated. The stereochemistry of the hexopyranoside ring in unimers and aggregates is correlated to the hydrophobicity and packing efficiency on the air–water interface. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the surface-active glycosides were evaluated using the paper disk diffusion method. The dodecyl α-L-arabino-hexopyranoside was quite active over Bacillus cereus and Bacillus subtilis, while low activity was found for this glycoside over Enterococcus faecalis and Listeria monocytogenes. The octyl glycosides tested showed low activity over almost all the above-mentioned bacteria, and also over the fungus Candida albicans. No inhibition of Salmonella enteritidis and of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger was detected for any of the compounds tested.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Health promoting potential of herbal teas and tinctures from Artemisia campestris subsp maritima: from traditional remedies to prospective products

This work explored the biotechnological potential of the medicinal halophyte Artemisia campestris subsp. maritima (dune wormwood) as a source of health promoting commodities. For that purpose, infusions, decoctions and tinctures were prepared from roots and aerial-organs and evaluated for in vitro antioxidant, anti-diabetic and tyrosinase-inhibitory potential, and also for polyphenolic and mineral contents and toxicity. The dune wormwood extracts had high polyphenolic content and several phenolics were identified by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array-mass-spectrometry (UHPLC-PDA-MS). The main compounds were quinic, chlorogenic and caffeic acids, coumarin sulfates and dicaffeoylquinic acids; several of the identified phytoconstituents are here firstly reported in this A. campestris subspecies. Results obtained with this plant's extracts point to nutritional applications as mineral supplementary source, safe for human consumption, as suggested by the moderate to low toxicity of the extracts towards mammalian cell lines. The dune wormwood extracts had in general high antioxidant activity and also the capacity to inhibit a-glucosidase and tyrosinase. In summary, dune wormwood extracts are a significant source of polyphenolic and mineral constituents, antioxidants and a-glucosidase and tyrosinase inhibitors, and thus, relevant for different commercial segments like the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and/or food industries.FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology [CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013]; Portuguese National Budget; FCT [IF/00049/2012, SFRH/BD/94407/2013]; Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) [12M8315N]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

De novo Assembly of the Burying Beetle Nicrophorus orbicollis (Coleoptera: Silphidae) Transcriptome Across Developmental Stages with Identification of Key Immune Transcripts

Burying beetles (Nicrophorus spp.) are among the relatively few insects that provide parental care while not belonging to the eusocial insects such as ants or bees. This behavior incurs energy costs as evidenced by immune deficits and shorter life-spans in reproducing beetles. In the absence of an assembled transcriptome, relatively little is known concerning the molecular biology of these beetles. This work details the assembly and analysis of the Nicrophorus orbicollis transcriptome at multiple developmental stages. RNA-Seq reads were obtained by next-generation sequencing and the transcriptome was assembled using the Trinity assembler. Validation of the assembly was performed by functional characterization using Gene Ontology (GO), Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups (KOG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses. Differential expression analysis highlights developmental stage-specific expression patterns, and immunity-related transcripts are discussed. The data presented provides a valuable molecular resource to aid further investigation into immunocompetence throughout this organism’s sexual development

Local Hadronic Calibration

The scheme of the hadronic calibration is discussed. Based on the cluster reconstruction an effective noise suppression is achieved. In a first step clusters are classified as electromagnetic or hadronic clusters. The weighting scheme to correct for the different e/pion response in the ATLAS calorimeter is presented. Dead material corrections and out of cluster corrections yield finally a signal which is rather close to the energy deposited by the final state particles in the ATLAS calorimeter. The constants and algorithms are derived from single pion MC studies and tested with jets. The validation of the scheme using testbeam data is presented as well

Environmental and Parental Influences on Offspring Health and Growth in Great Tits (Parus major)

PMCID: PMC3728352This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited