Diethyl 4-[5-(biphenyl-4-yl)-1H-pyrazol-4-yl]-2,6-dimethyl-1,4-dihydro­pyridine-3,5-dicarboxyl­ate ethanol monosolvate

In the title compound, C28H29N3O4·C2H6O, the benzene ring makes dihedral angles of 33.72 (13) and 32.86 (13)°, respectively, with the adjacent pyrazole and phenyl rings. In the crystal, the components are connected via inter­molecular N—H⋯O, N—H⋯N, O—H⋯O and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, forming a layer parallel to the bc plane

A novel S-sulfhydrated human serum albumin preparation suppresses melanin synthesis

Products of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) stimulate melanin synthesis. Reactive sulfur species (RSS) have been shown to have strong ROS and NO scavenging effects. However, the instability and low retention of RSS limit their use as inhibitors of melanin synthesis. The free thiol at Cys34 on human serum albumin (HSA) is highly stable, has a long retention and possess a high reactivity for RSS. We report herein on the developm ent of an HSA based RSS delivery system. Sulfane sulfur derivatives released from sodium polysulfides (Na 2 S n ) react readily with HSA. An assay for estimating the elimination of sulfide from polysulfide showed that almost all of the sulfur released from Na 2 S n bound to HSA. The Na 2 S n -treated HSA was found to efficiently scavenge ROS and NO produced from chemical reagents. The Na 2 S n -treated HSA was also found to inhibit melanin synthesis in B16 melanoma cells and this inhibition was independent of the number of added sulfur atoms. In B16 melanoma cells, the Na 2 S n -treated HSA also inhibited the levels of ROS and NO induced by UV radiation. Finally, the Na 2 S n -treated HSA inhibited melanin synthesis from L-DOPA and mushroom tyrosinase and suppressed the extent of aggregation of melanin pigments. These data suggest that Na 2 S n -treated HSA inhibits tyrosinase activity for melanin synthesis via two pathways; by directly inhibiting ROS signaling and by scavenging NO. These findings indicate that Na 2 S n -treated HSA has potential to be an attractive and effective candidate for use as a skin whitening agent

Distillation of Liquid Xenon to Remove Krypton

A high performance distillation system to remove krypton from xenon was constructed, and a purity level of Kr/Xe = $\sim 3 \times 10^{-12}$ was achieved. This development is crucial in facilitating high sensitivity low background experiments such as the search for dark matter in the universe.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figure

Search for exotic neutrino-electron interactions using solar neutrinos in XMASS-I

We have searched for exotic neutrino-electron interactions that could be produced by a neutrino millicharge, by a neutrino magnetic moment, or by dark photons using solar neutrinos in the XMASS-I liquid xenon detector. We observed no significant signals in 711 days of data. We obtain an upper limit for neutrino millicharge of 5.4$\times$10$^{-12} e$ at 90\% confidence level assuming all three species of neutrino have common millicharge. We also set flavor dependent limits assuming the respective neutrino flavor is the only one carrying a millicharge, $7.3 \times 10^{-12} e$ for $\nu_e$, $1.1 \times 10^{-11} e$ for $\nu_{\mu}$, and $1.1 \times 10^{-11} e$ for $\nu_{\tau}$. These limits are the most stringent yet obtained from direct measurements. We also obtain an upper limit for the neutrino magnetic moment of 1.8$\times$10$^{-10}$ Bohr magnetons. In addition, we obtain upper limits for the coupling constant of dark photons in the $U(1)_{B-L}$ model of 1.3$\times$10$^{-6}$ if the dark photon mass is 1$\times 10^{-3}$ MeV$/c^{2}$, and 8.8$\times$10$^{-5}$ if it is 10 MeV$/c^{2}$

Search for two-neutrino double electron capture on 124^{124}Xe with the XMASS-I detector

Double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay process in which two orbital electrons are captured simultaneously in the same nucleus. Measurement of its two-neutrino mode would provide a new reference for the calculation of nuclear matrix elements whereas observation of its neutrinoless mode would demonstrate lepton number violation. A search for two-neutrino double electron capture on $^{124}$Xe is performed using 165.9 days of data collected with the XMASS-I liquid xenon detector. No significant excess above background was observed and we set a lower limit on the half-life as $4.7 \times 10^{21}$ years at 90% confidence level. The obtained limit has ruled out parts of some theoretical expectations. We obtain a lower limit on the $^{126}$Xe two-neutrino double electron capture half-life of $4.3 \times 10^{21}$ years at 90% confidence level as well.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters