Effect of pulsed delivery and bouillon base on saltiness and bitterness perceptions of salt delivery profiles partially substituted with KCl

Reducing salt levels in processed food is an important target for a growing numbers of food manufacturers. The effects of pulsed delivery (Dynataste) and bouillon base on saltiness and bitterness perception of partially substituted solutions (KCl) were investigated. Pulsed delivery did not enhance salt perception and resulted in greater Overall Bitterness Scores for the same level of substitution with KCl. The presence of the bouillon base masked to a certain extent the loss of saltiness induced by the substitution and resulted in lower Overall Bitterness Scores of the substituted profiles

Inhibition of vascular calcification by inositol phosphates derivatized with ethylene glycol oligomers

Myo-inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) is a natural product known to inhibit vascular calcification (VC), but with limited potency and low plasma exposure following bolus administration. Here we report the design of a series of inositol phosphate analogs as crystallization inhibitors, among which 4,6-di-O-(methoxy-diethyleneglycol)-myo-inositol-1,2,3,5-tetrakis(phosphate), (OEG <sub>2</sub> ) <sub>2</sub> -IP4, displays increased in vitro activity, as well as more favorable pharmacokinetic and safety profiles than IP6 after subcutaneous injection. (OEG <sub>2</sub> ) <sub>2</sub> -IP4 potently stabilizes calciprotein particle (CPP) growth, consistently demonstrates low micromolar activity in different in vitro models of VC (i.e., human serum, primary cell cultures, and tissue explants), and largely abolishes the development of VC in rodent models, while not causing toxicity related to serum calcium chelation. The data suggest a mechanism of action independent of the etiology of VC, whereby (OEG <sub>2</sub> ) <sub>2</sub> -IP4 disrupts the nucleation and growth of pathological calcification

14 Examples of How LLMs Can Transform Materials Science and Chemistry: A Reflection on a Large Language Model Hackathon

Chemistry and materials science are complex. Recently, there have been great successes in addressing this complexity using data-driven or computational techniques. Yet, the necessity of input structured in very specific forms and the fact that there is an ever-growing number of tools creates usability and accessibility challenges. Coupled with the reality that much data in these disciplines is unstructured, the effectiveness of these tools is limited. Motivated by recent works that indicated that large language models (LLMs) might help address some of these issues, we organized a hackathon event on the applications of LLMs in chemistry, materials science, and beyond. This article chronicles the projects built as part of this hackathon. Participants employed LLMs for various applications, including predicting properties of molecules and materials, designing novel interfaces for tools, extracting knowledge from unstructured data, and developing new educational applications. The diverse topics and the fact that working prototypes could be generated in less than two days highlight that LLMs will profoundly impact the future of our fields. The rich collection of ideas and projects also indicates that the applications of LLMs are not limited to materials science and chemistry but offer potential benefits to a wide range of scientific disciplines

Microfluidics investigation of foam stability

Aqueous foams are dispersions of gas bubbles in a liquid continuous phase and they are important for various applications from biological systems to Enhanced Oil Recovery. Foam stability relies on the use of surfactants/nanoparticles and on the rheological properties of the foaming liquid. One of nowadays challenges is to solve key foam industrial issues while considering their environmental impact. This duality is addressed by employing microfluidics to study static and dynamic foam stability. In this thesis the foam stability is first studied in static conditions by investigating the use of highly stable bubbles termed bulk nanobubbles as potential surface-active agent on non-ionic and anionic surfactant-stabilised foams. This work has shown that the presence of nanobubbles in solution impacted significantly the foam stability and foamability. These findings suggest that nanobubbles attracted surfactant molecules at their interface and that nanobubbles adsorbed at the foam gas-liquid interface. At low surfactant concentration, nanobubbles attraction removed surfactants molecules from the gas-liquid interface. This effect increased destabilisation of non- ionic surfactant foam. Oppositely, for anionic surfactant foams, the presence of nanobubbles enhanced foam stability. Indeed, nanobubbles enhanced the disjoining pressure within the thin liquid film due to an increase in the electrostatic repulsive forces between the two contiguous interfaces forming the film. Subsequently, the rheological properties of the foaming liquid are considered. In particular, the influence on the “dynamic” foam stability or the property of the foam to resist and/or recover after the deformation was evaluated in a microchannel. This work proposed a microfluidics approach to determine qualitatively the foam hysteretic behaviour after an induced deformation. This study has found that the viscosity and the bulk elasticity reduced the foam recovery. The result of this investigation showed that two mechanisms led to foam structural hysteresis after deformation: a retardation effect linked to the increase in viscosity and a tension thickening effect arising from the bulk elasticity

La coopétition peut-elle se décréter ? Le cas de la filière Smart Grids

International audienc

Une approche de la nature électronique de la liaison (p.s) dans les molécules (xyz)p.s

Les auteurs ont déterminé la structure électronique d’un certain nombre de composés thiophosphorés du type (XYZ)P.S à l'aide du formalisme proposé pour les molécules du type XYM par Wagner. La multiplicité de la liaison (P.S) apparaît ici comme pratiquement constante et supérieure à 2 dans toutes les molécules considérées, par contre les charges portées par les atomes de phosphore ou de soufre varient de façon significative selon les radicaux branchés sur le phosphore.Utilisant le résultat de ces calculs les auteurs tentent d’interpréter le comportement magnétooptique de cette liaison et les fréquences infrarouges du vibrateur (P.S) dans des édifices du type Y3P.S. Ils ont ainsi pu mettre en évidence l’existence de relations entre les données expérimentales et les charges portées par les atomes de phosphore et de soufre

Modification of silica by an organic monolayer in aqueous medium using octylphosphonic acid and aluminium species

International audienceIn the present work we report a "green" method for the grafting of organic monolayers at the surface of silica nanoparticles using water as a solvent. This method is based on the use of water-stable phosphonic acid coupling molecules grafted on an intermediate layer of aluminium species, as the sensitivity of Si-O-P bonds toward hydrolysis precludes a direct anchoring onto silica. Two approaches were explored: anchoring of octylphosphonic acid on aluminated silica and one-pot modification of silica by AlCl3 then by octylphosphonic acid. The modified powders were characterized using elemental analysis, P-31 and Al-27 MAS NMR spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy and N-2 physisorption. The one-pot approach appears particularly promising, as it allows the anchoring on silica of phosphonic acid monolayers with controlled densities in a significantly shorter time

Modification of silica surfaces with phosphonic acids for use as fillers.

Silica surfaces are hydrophobized for use as fillers in silicones by treatment with a salt of metals having cations of at least divalent oxidn. state such as Al3+ in water and then treatment with RPO(OH)2 (R = hydrophobic chain) in the aq. medium

Design of division specific primers of Ralstonia solanacearum and application to the identification of european isolates

International audienc

Docking Ligands into Flexible and Solvated Macromolecules. 8. Forming New Bonds – Challenges and Opportunities.

Over the years, structure-based design programs and specifically docking small molecules to proteins have become prominent in drug discovery. However, many of these computational tools have been developed to primarily dock enzyme inhibitors (and ligand to other protein classes) relying heavily on hydrogen bonds, electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. In reality, many drug targets either feature metal ions, can be targeted covalently, or are simply not even proteins (e.g., nucleic acids). Herein, we describe several new features that we have implemented into FITTED to broaden its applicability to a wide range of covalent enzyme inhibitors, and to metalloenzymes, where metal coordination is essential for drug binding. We also report new datasets that were essential demonstrate areas of success and those where additional efforts are required. This resource could be used by other program developers to assess their ow