Computational Oral Absorption Simulation for Low‐Solubility Compounds

Bile micelles play an important role in oral absorption of low‐solubility compounds. Bile micelles can affect solubility, dissolution rate, and permeability. For the pH–solubility profile in bile micelles, the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation should be modified to take bile‐micelle partition into account. For the dissolution rate, in the Nernst–Brunner equation, the effective diffusion coefficient in bile‐micelle media should be used instead of the monomer diffusion coefficient. The diffusion coefficient of bile micelles is 8‐ to 18‐fold smaller than that of monomer molecules. For permeability, the effective diffusion coefficient in the unstirred water layer adjacent to the epithelial membrane, and the free fraction at the epithelial membrane surface should be taken into account. The importance of these aspects is demonstrated here using several in vivo and clinical oral‐absorption data of low‐solubility model compounds. Using the theoretical equations, the food effect on oral absorption is further discussed.     

Identification of soil quality indicators for assessing the effect of different tillage practices through a soil quality index in a semi-arid environment

Tillage is known to potentially affect soil quality in various ways. In this study, a soil quality index (SQI) was developed by quantifying several soil attributes either sensitive or insensitive to physical disturbance, using factor analysis as a dimension reduction technique, in order to discriminate different tillage systems. Soil properties including physical (MWD), chemical (pH, organic C, total N, available P and POM contents) and microbial (MBC, MBN, PCM, PNM and three enzymes) parameters were measured to establish a minimum data set (MDS) for the assessment of overall SQI. The soil attributes were determined on samples (0–20 cm depth) collected under moldboard (MP) and disk (DP) plows as conventional tillage (CT), and rotary (RP) and chisel (CP) plows as reduced tillage (RT) systems with a similar plant C input rate and cover crop over a period of six years (2005–2011) in a semi-arid calcareous soil (Calcixerepts) from Central Iran. Results indicated a clear difference in soil quality among the tillage systems with a significant increase of SQI under RT over time, particularly under CP practices. Although RT improved most soil microbial attributes, not all attributes contributed to SQI because of their close interrelationship. The final SQI consisted only of geometric mean of microbial activity (GMA, the square root of the product of PCM and PNM) and geometric mean of enzyme activity (GME, the cube root of the product of enzyme activities). Soil GME and GMA were found to be as key indicators contributing 55% and 36% to SQI, respectively. Therefore, the GME and GMA were the most important indicators effectively discriminating tillage systems, and could be used to monitor the enhancement of soil quality under RT in this semiarid environment. The influence of tillage year on SQI was greater than that of tillage practices. In conclusion, RT systems were characterized by a higher value of SQI, suggesting a good recovery of soil capacity and functions after abandoning CT in the studied area. Smallholder farmers should therefore be aware of the potential for high soil quality in future as a result of continuing RT systems, especially with surface tillage using CP practices.     

Fluorescence induction in the phycobilisome-containing cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp PCC 7942: Analysis of the slow fluorescence transient

At room temperature, the chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence induction (FI) kinetics of plants, algae and cyanobacteria go through two maxima, P at ∼ 0.2-1 and M at ∼ 100-500 s, with a minimum S at ∼ 2-10 s in between. Thus, the whole FI kinetic pattern comprises a fast OPS transient (with O denoting origin) and a slower SMT transient (with T denoting terminal state). Here, we examined the phenomenology and the etiology of the SMT transient of the phycobilisome (PBS)-containing cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp PCC 7942 by modifying PBS → Photosystem (PS) II excitation transfer indirectly, either by blocking or by maximizing the PBS → PS I excitation transfer. Blocking the PBS → PS I excitation transfer route with N-ethyl-maleimide [NEM; A. N. Glazer, Y. Gindt, C. F. Chan, and K.Sauer, Photosynth. Research 40 (1994) 167-173] increases both the PBS excitation share of PS II and Chl a fluorescence. Maximizing it, on the other hand, by suspending cyanobactrial cells in hyper-osmotic media [G. C. Papageorgiou, A. Alygizaki-Zorba, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1335 (1997) 1-4] diminishes both the PBS excitation share of PS II and Chl a fluorescence. Here, we show for the first time that, in either case, the slow SMT transient of FI disappears and is replaced by continuous P → T fluorescence decay, reminiscent of the typical P → T fluorescence decay of higher plants and algae. A similar P → T decay was also displayed by DCMU-treated Synechococcus cells at 2 °C. To interpret this phenomenology, we assume that after dark adaptation cyanobacteria exist in a low fluorescence state (state 2) and transit to a high fluorescence state (state 1) when, upon light acclimation, PS I is forced to run faster than PS II. In these organisms, a state 2 → 1 fluorescence increase plus electron transport-dependent dequenching processes dominate the SM rise and maximal fluorescence output is at M which lies above the P maximum of the fast FI transient. In contrast, dark-adapted plants and algae exist in state 1 and upon illumination they display an extended P → T decay that sometimes is interrupted by a shallow SMT transient, with M below P. This decay is dominated by a state 1 → 2 fluorescence lowering, as well as by electron transport-dependent quenching processes. When the regulation of the PBS → PS I electronic excitation transfer is eliminated (as for example in hyper-osmotic suspensions, after NEM treatment and at low temperature), the FI pattern of Synechococcus becomes plant-like.     

Synthesis and characterization of new water stable antimony(III) complex with pyrimidine-2-thione and in vitro biological study

A novel water stable, antimony(III) complex with the heterocyclic thioamide; 2-mercapto-pyrimidine (pmtH), of formula [Sb(pmt)₃] · 0.5(CH₃OH), has been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H, ¹³C NMR and FT-IR spectroscopic techniques. Crystal structure of the molecule has been determined by X-ray diffraction at ambient conditions. The compound [C₁₂H₉N₆S₃Sb · 0.5(CH₃OH)] is monoclinic, space group P2₁/c, a = 7.0646(7), b = 16.3767(14), c = 14.7265(13) Å, β = 92.016(7)°, Z = 4. In complex, three sulfur and three nitrogen atoms from thione ligands form a distorted pendagonal pyramidal geometry around antimony(III). The toxicity of the compound against tumor pleiomorphic cells, which has been isolated from a leiomyosarcoma tumor in the Wistar rat (chemical carcinogenesis using BaP) was studied in vitro. The results show that the compound did not destroy or prevent multiplication in vitro in leiomyosarcoma cells in low doses. The influence of the compound in the platelet aggregation, which correlates with the above tumor cells enhanced metastatic potential, has also been studied. The anti-metastatic capability study shows that the compound inhibited cancer cell induced aggregation up to the value of 10% in all mM concentrations tested.     

The urticating setae of Ochrogaster lunifer,an Australian processionary caterpillar of veterinary importance

The bag‐shelter moth, Ochrogaster lunifer Herrich‐Schaffer (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae), is associated with a condition called equine amnionitis and fetal loss (EAFL) on horse farms in Australia. Setal fragments from O. lunifer larvae have been identified in the placentas of experimentally aborted fetuses and their dams, and in clinical abortions. The gregarious larvae build silken nests in which large numbers cohabit over spring, summer and autumn. The final instars disperse to pupation sites in the ground where they overwinter. Field‐collected O. lunifer larvae, their nests and nearby soil were examined using light and electron microscopy to identify setae likely to cause EAFL and to determine where and how many were present. Microtrichia, barbed hairs and true setae were found on the exoskeletons of the larvae. True setae matching the majority of setal fragments described from equine tissue were found on third to eighth instar larvae or exuviae. The number of true setae increased with the age of the larva; eighth instars carried around 2.0–2.5 million true setae. The exuvia of the pre‐pupal instar was incorporated into the pupal chamber. The major sources of setae are likely to be nests, dispersing pre‐pupal larvae and their exuviae, and pupal chambers.     

Canopy closure estimation in a temperate forest using airborne LiDAR and LANDSAT ETM+ data

Aims　Forest canopy closure is one of the essential factors in forest survey, and plays an important role in forest ecosystem management. It is of great significance to study how to apply LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data efficiently in remote sensing estimation of forest canopy closure. LiDAR can be used to obtain data fast and accurately and therefore be used as training and validation data to estimate forest canopy closure in large spatial scale. It can compensate for the insufficiency (e.g. labor-intensive, time-consuming) of conventional ground survey, and provide foundations to forest inventory.Methods　In this study, we estimated canopy closure of a temperate forest in Genhe forest of Da Hinggan Ling area, Nei Mongol, China, using LiDAR and LANDSAT ETM+ data. Firstly, we calculated the canopy closure from ALS (Airborne Laser Scanning) high density point cloud data. Then, the estimated canopy closure from ALS data was used as training and validation data to modeling and inversion from eight vegetation indices computed from LANDSAT ETM+ data. Three approaches, multi-variable stepwise regression (MSR), random forest (RF) and Cubist, were developed and tested to estimate canopy closure from these vegetation indices, respectively.Important findings The validation results showed that the Cubist model yielded the highest accuracy compared to the other two models (determination coefficient (R²) = 0.722, root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.126, relative root mean square error (rRMSE) = 0.209, estimation accuracy (EA) = 79.883%). The combination of LiDAR data and LANDSAT ETM+ showed great potential to accurately estimate the canopy closure of the temperate forest. However, the model prediction capability needs to be further improved in order to be applied in larger spatial scale. More independent variables from other remotely sensed datasets, e.g. topographic data, texture information from high-resolution imagery, should be added into the model. These variables can help to reduce the influence of optical image, vegetation indices, terrain and shadow and so on. Moreover, the accuracy of the LiDAR-derived canopy closure needs to be further validated in future studies.