Physicochemical characteristics of anaerobic H2-producing granular sludge

Granule-based biological H₂ production processes are gaining great popularity in recent years. An efficient and stable operating of such systems relies heavily on the performance of the H₂-producing granules (HPGs), which possess many unique properties compared with floc sludge and methanogenic granules. Hence, a full understanding of the sludge characteristics is essential. Especially, the physicochemical properties of HPGs may provide useful information for effective evaluation of system status. This review offers a systematical introduction of the physicochemical properties of HPGs, including size, morphology, settling velocity, permeability, rheology, surface charge, hydrophobicity and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). We also analyze the relationships between these physicochemical factors and the system performance, and discuss the remaining challenges and future implications for sludge characterization and process monitoring. This work may facilitate a better understanding of granule-based biological H₂ production processes and offer a basis for timely process monitoring and manipulation.     

Comparative efficacy and bioavailability of different praziquantel brands

This study investigates the efficacy, bioavailability and drug metabolizing enzymes mainly involved in the metabolism of the commercial brands of praziquantel (PZQ) in Egypt in comparison with the original pure powder. Mice infected with PZQ-susceptible (CD) or PZQ-insusceptible (EE2) Schistosoma mansoni isolates were divided each into seven groups, six of them received PZQ brands (Distocide, Epiquantel, Biltricide, Bilharzid, Praziquantel, and pure PZQ), while the seventh one was left as infected untreated. Seven weeks post-infection, worms were quantified and hepatic CYP450 and CYT b5 were examined. For PZQ pharmacokinetics, groups of normal mice were given the different PZQ brands and divided into subgroups, killed at 2, 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120,150, 180, 240 and 360 min post-dosing. Physicochemical examination revealed better dissolution rates for Biltricide, Distocide and PZQ T3A rather than Epiquantel and Bilharzid. Significant decrease in worm burden was recorded in all groups of mice regardless of the brand of PZQ used, but with better results obtained with CD isolate rather than the EE2 isolate. Biltricide and Distocide showed higher C_max and AUC_0–6h in normal mice, in addition to higher worm reduction with least inhibition of CYP450 and CYT b5 in EE2-infected mice. PZQ T3A, Bilharzid and Epiquantel showed, in addition to lower efficacy, higher K_el, lower t_1/2e, C_max and AUC_0–6h. The 32–46% reduction of their bioavailability reflected on their antischistosomal efficacy and recovery of drug metabolizing enzymes. Quality of generic PZQ should include, in addition to examining the physicochemical characteristics of the brands, biological testing including efficacy and bioavailability studies.     

Hydrido iridium(III) complexes of azoaromatic ligands. Isolation, structure and studies of their physicochemical properties

Reactions of 2-(arylazo)pyridine (L^a-c) with [IrCl₃(PPh₃)₂] in two different solvents, viz. ethanol and toluene are reported. In refluxing toluene two new isomeric (mer and fac geometries) iridium complexes, having molecular formula [IrCl₃(PPh₃)(L)] (1 and 2) have been isolated. The reaction in refluxing ethanol yielded two new hydrido complexes of molecular formula [IrHCl₂(PPh₃)(L)] (3) and [IrHCl(PPh₃)₂(L)]Cl (4) along with the compound 2. All the complexes have been thoroughly characterized by NMR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and X-ray crystallographic analysis. The ¹H NMR spectra of the hydrido complexes 3 and 4 showed a doublet and a triplet signals at δ −20.43 and −14.82 respectively due to coupling with magnetically equivalent phosphorous nuclei. Strong trans influence of the π-acceptor ligands guided the X-ray structural parameters; bonds trans to the these ligands are unusually long. Similar elongation effect was also noted for the bonds trans to the coordinated hydrido ligand. UV-Vis-NIR spectrum consisted of multiple transitions in the UV and visible regions. Cyclic voltammetry of each of these complexes has exhibited a reductive response between −0.25 and −0.55 V, which has been assigned to azo-ligand reduction. The compound 3, however, showed a quasireversible oxidative wave near 1.45 V, due to Ir^III/Ir^IV couple.     

Effects of salinity and temperature on the expression of enzymatic biomarkers in Eurytemora affinis (Calanoida, Copepoda)

In order to establish effective enzymatic biomarkers that could provide in situ early warning of contaminant exposure in estuarine ecosystems, the potential effects of the principal abiotic factors (temperature and salinity) were investigated on common biomarkers, the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and the glutathione S-transferase (GST) in Eurytemora affinis. Short term salinity stress effects simulated during an experimental tide indicated that enzymatic activities of this species are characterized by maximum expression related to an optimal salinity range (between 5 and 15 psu). Moreover, longer time exposure to various salinity tanks confirmed the effects of this factor on both AChE and GST activities. Therefore, optimal AChE activity was measured at 10 psu, while optimal GST activity was measured at 5 psu. Furthermore, significant effects of temperature were also recorded, particularly for AChE expression (slight effects were measured on GST expression) with an optimal condition at 11 degrees C. These experiments indicated a more pronounced effect of salinity over temperature especially on the AChE expression and confirmed the need to standardize sampling procedures in relation with environmental parameters for biomonitoring studies based on enzymatic analyses.     

Assessment of hemolytic activity of bee venom against some physicochemical factors

Bee venom (BV) is a biotoxin with biologically active peptides which have cell lysis and hemolytic activity properties. These properties can be affected under different storage conditions or during the production process. In present study, we investigated effects of a number of physicochemical factors, including temperature, pH, UV radiation, ultrasound waves and storage time on hemolytic activity of BV. Maximum absorption and melting temperature of BV solution were obtained as 280 nm and ~70 °C, respectively. Cell hemolysis 50 (CH₅₀) -concentration of BV that can lyse 50% of red blood cells- was determined as 0.94 μg/ml at ambient temperature. CH₅₀ was shown not to be importantly varied at temperature up to 60 °C, pH value 2 to 13 and under UV/ ultrasound radiation. Storage at ?20, 6 and 25 °C for 6 months made about 2.5, 35 and 1000 times increase in CH₅₀. From the results, it may be concluded that BV is a relatively resistant hemolytic agent and can be used in a variety of laboratory research and product manufacturing methods.     

A novel inclusion complex (β-CD/ABP-dHC-cecropin A) with antibiotic propertiess for use as an anti-Agrobacterium additive in transgenic poplar rooting medium

The increasing resistance of bacteria and fungi to currently available antibiotics is a major concern worldwide, leading to enormous effort to develop novel antibiotics with new modes of action.We recently reported that ABP-dHC-cecropin A exhibited strong antibacterial and antifungal activity, making it a candidate antibiotic substitute. In this study, β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) combined with ABP-dHC-cecropin A enhanced the physical and chemical properties of ABP-dHC-cecropin A but did not significantly decrease its antibacterial activity. Thus, β-CD/ABP-dHC-cecropin A should be considered a novel antibacterial drug. We used β-CD/ABP-dHC-cecropin A as an anti-Agrobacterium compound to supplementtransgenic poplar medium. Sideeffects of the inclusion complex had little impact on plantgrowth. Thus, β-CD/ABP-dHC-cecropin A may be used as traditional antibiotics forpoplar transplantation with greater antibbacterial effects.     

iTIS-PseTNC: A sequence-based predictor for identifying translation initiation site in human genes using pseudo trinucleotide composition

Translation is a key process for gene expression. Timely identification of the translation initiation site (TIS) is very important for conducting in-depth genome analysis. With the avalanche of genome sequences generated in the postgenomic age, it is highly desirable to develop automated methods for rapidly and effectively identifying TIS. Although some computational methods were proposed in this regard, none of them considered the global or long-range sequence-order effects of DNA, and hence their prediction quality was limited. To count this kind of effects, a new predictor, called “iTIS-PseTNC,” was developed by incorporating the physicochemical properties into the pseudo trinucleotide composition, quite similar to the PseAAC (pseudo amino acid composition) approach widely used in computational proteomics. It was observed by the rigorous cross-validation test on the benchmark dataset that the overall success rate achieved by the new predictor in identifying TIS locations was over 97%. As a web server, iTIS-PseTNC is freely accessible at http://lin.uestc.edu.cn/server/iTIS-PseTNC. To maximize the convenience of the vast majority of experimental scientists, a step-by-step guide is provided on how to use the web server to obtain the desired results without the need to go through detailed mathematical equations, which are presented in this paper just for the integrity of the new prection method.     

Physicochemical property-driven optimization of diarylaniline compounds as potent HIV-1 non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors

Using physicochemical property-driven optimization, twelve new diarylaniline compounds (DAANs) (7a–h, 11a–b and 12a–b) were designed and synthesized. Among them, compounds 12a–b not only showed high potency (EC₅₀ 0.96–4.92 nM) against both wild-type and drug-resistant viral strains with the lowest fold change (FC 0.91 and 5.13), but also displayed acceptable drug-like properties based on aqueous solubility and lipophilicity (LE > 0.3, LLE > 5, LELP < 10). The correlations between potency and physicochemical properties of these DAAN analogues are also described. Compounds 12a–b merit further development as potent clinical trial candidates against AIDS.     

A comparative in silico characterization of functional and physicochemical properties of 3FTx (three finger toxin) proteins from four venomous snakes

Snake venom is an abundant resource of diverse pharmacologically bioactive proteins and peptides and a good natural source of drug lead compounds and used as important research tools in the field of toxicology, pharmacology and neuroscience. Three finger toxins (3FTx) is an important super-family of snake venom proteins which has a conserved three finger like appearance in three dimensional structures. Members of 3FTx family show a wide array of pharmacological effects by targeting different receptors and ion channels with high specificity and many of them are being investigated as potential drug target. Therefore, with a vision to verdict a new edge and attempt we determined the amino acid compositional (%) profile, physiochemical properties, secondary structural and functional analysis and phylogenetic relationship of three finger toxins present in four different elapid snake species namely, Naja naja, Astrotia stokesii, Hydrophis cyanocintus and Pelamis platura using different bioinformatics tools. From the outcome of the current studies, it will be possible to know about a range of biological functions which are responsible mainly for the glowing amino acid composition profile of these proteins. Amino acid composition (%) profile although represents differential amount of different amino acid residues which encompasses a family precise model but all the protein sequence have a conserved amount of cysteine. The analysis of physicochemical properties can be used as a basic approach to contribute in developing rational drug through protein engineering and understanding different physiological function which will be beneficial for the welfare of human being.     

Physicochemical and comparative properties of pectins extracted from Akebia trifoliata var. australis peel

The physicochemical properties of the pectins extracted from Akebia trifoliata var. australis peel with hydrochloric acid and citric acid, namely HEP and CEP, were evaluated as compared with citrus pectin (CP). X-ray diffraction confirmed that CP had more well defined crystal than HEP and CEP. The DE values of HEP, CEP and CP were 59.46%, 76.64% and 71.03%, respectively. CP exhibited the highest viscosity-average molecular weight of 64,848 Da, followed by HEP (45,353 Da) and CEP (28,877 Da). In general, the emulsion activity of HEP and CEP increased as oil concentration was increased, while HEP showed the strongest emulsion activity among the three pectins. Textural analysis demonstrated that the gelling properties of three pectins decreased with increase in pH, and CP displayed superiority in hardness (9.03 g), while CEP was the poorest (1.45 g). All results suggested that A. trifoliata var. australis had the potential in producing pectin for commercial food industry application.