Solubility enhancement of ibuprofen using tri-ureasil-PPO hybrid: structural,cytotoxic, and drug release investigation

Herein, we used tri-ureasil organic–inorganic hybrid material (tU5000) in order to enhance the solubility of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and fine tuning the drug delivery profile. For the first time, we used tU5000 as a film-forming agent in order to provide an alternative vehicle for transdermal drug delivery systems which the cell viability of practically 100 % for the highest and the lowest tested concentrations of pure tU5000 indicated that the material was not cytotoxic. The physicochemical properties of the tU5000 drug carrier and drug-loaded hybrids were systematically studied using powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, small-angle X-ray scattering, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The structural changes of tU5000 as well as the relationships between the drug content and in vitro drug release behaviors were investigated. The results showed that the ibu molecules were homogeneously distributed in the tU5000 xerogels contributing to fine-tuning the drug delivery profile. Considering the ability to incorporated high drug content, simple and mild preparation procedure by one-pot sol–gel route, high stability of the materials, sustained-release property, this class of hybrid based on polymers and inorganic compounds may have potential applications in the design of pharmaceutical formulation as ophthalmic (contact lenses), transdermal (patches) and implantable (soft tissue) drug delivery systems.     

Hydrophilic–oleophobic coatings on cellulosic materials by plasma assisted polymerization in liquid phase and fluorosurfactant complexation

Materials with hydrophilic–oleophobic properties are of relevance due to their application to different fields such as self-cleaning coatings, liquid–liquid separation membranes and functional textiles for different technical applications. In this work, hydrophilic–oleophobic coatings have been deposited on cellulosic materials (filter paper and bleached cotton) by means of plasma assisted polymerization of acrylic acid solutions in water followed by cationic fluorosurfactant complexation. Chemical composition of the coatings on cellulosic materials was characterized by means of FTIR–ATR and XPS whereas their morphology was studied by SEM. Hydrophilic–oleophobic behavior was characterized by means of contact angle and wetting time. Additionally wetting properties of cationic, anionic and non-ionic surfactant solutions on the hydrophilic–oleophobic coatings were used to characterize the polyelectrolyte electrostatic forces upon the functionalized layer.     

Super‐Resolution Imaging of the Golgi in Live Cells with a Bioorthogonal Ceramide Probe

We report a lipid‐based strategy to visualize Golgi structure and dynamics at super‐resolution in live cells. The method is based on two novel reagents: a trans‐cyclooctene‐containing ceramide lipid (Cer‐TCO) and a highly reactive, tetrazine‐tagged near‐IR dye (SiR‐Tz). These reagents assemble via an extremely rapid “tetrazine‐click” reaction into Cer‐SiR, a highly photostable “vital dye” that enables prolonged live‐cell imaging of the Golgi apparatus by 3D confocal and STED microscopy. Cer‐SiR is nontoxic at concentrations as high as 2 μM and does not perturb the mobility of Golgi‐resident enzymes or the traffic of cargo from the endoplasmic reticulum through the Golgi and to the plasma membrane.     

Analytical theory for ion transfer–electron transfer coupled reactions at redox layer–modified/thick film–modified electrodes

Electrodes modified by liquid films or plasticized polymeric membranes containing a redox species offer valuable alternatives for the study of ion transfers and bimolecular electron transfers at liquid–liquid interfaces with conventional electrode arrangements and stable interfaces. The ion-to-electron (or electron-to-electron) transducer affects the electrochemical signal, complicating the accurate analysis of experimental data. This can be reduced through the use of an electrode surface-attached redox species of well-defined electrochemical behaviour. As will be demonstrated, the voltammetry of these systems show significant deviations with respect to individual charge transfers, which must be considered for appropriate diagnosis and quantitative analysis. For this, a simple analytical theory is presented here, deducing mathematical expressions for the current–potential response, as well as for the potential difference at the two polarized interfaces, the surface excess of the redox species and the ion interfacial concentrations.     

Numerical analysis of conservative unstructured discretisations for low Mach flows

Unstructured meshes allow easily representing complex geometries and to refine in regions of interest without adding control volumes in unnecessary regions. However, numerical schemes used on unstructured grids have to be properly defined in order to minimise numerical errors. An assessment of a low Mach algorithm for laminar and turbulent flows on unstructured meshes using collocated and staggered formulations is presented. For staggered formulations using cell‐centred velocity reconstructions, the standard first‐order method is shown to be inaccurate in low Mach flows on unstructured grids. A recently proposed least squares procedure for incompressible flows is extended to the low Mach regime and shown to significantly improve the behaviour of the algorithm. Regarding collocated discretisations, the odd–even pressure decoupling is handled through a kinetic energy conserving flux interpolation scheme. This approach is shown to efficiently handle variable‐density flows. Besides, different face interpolations schemes for unstructured meshes are analysed. A kinetic energy‐preserving scheme is applied to the momentum equations, namely, the symmetry‐preserving scheme. Furthermore, a new approach to define the far‐neighbouring nodes of the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics scheme is presented and analysed. The method is suitable for both structured and unstructured grids, either uniform or not. The proposed algorithm and the spatial schemes are assessed against a function reconstruction, a differentially heated cavity and a turbulent self‐igniting diffusion flame. It is shown that the proposed algorithm accurately represents unsteady variable‐density flows. Furthermore, the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinematics scheme shows close to second‐order behaviour on unstructured meshes, and the symmetry‐preserving is reliably used in all computations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reaction of 2-Phenyl-3-Hydroxy-4-Thioxo-3,4-Dihydroquinazoline Sodium Salt With Imidoyl Chlorides: Synthesis of Heteroaryl Sulfenamides

A number of heteroaryl sulfenamides have been prepared through [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement in the reaction of 2-phenyl-3-hydroxy-4-thioxo-3,4-dihydroquinazoline sodium salt with diaryl imidoyl chlorides under mild and neutral conditions.     

Generalized theta functions and the Deuring polynomial

In this paper we present a calculation to study a relationship between the generalized theta function and the Deuring polynomial.     

Antimasking aspects of harp seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus) underwater vocalizations

Underwater sounds are very important in social communication of harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) because they are the main means of long- and short-distance communication. Individual harp seals must try to avoid being masked and emit only those calls that will benefit them. Underwater vocalizations of harp seals were recorded during the breeding season. The physical characteristics associated with antimasking attributes of 16 call types were examined. Rising frequency or increasing amplitude within calls were not common. Most of the calls ended abruptly (range 145-966 dB/s), but call onset was more gradual. At high calling rates (95.1-135 calls/min) there were significantly more calls overlapping temporally than at medium (75.1-95 calls/min) or low (35-75 calls/min) calling rates, but even at the highest calling rates, 79.1% of the calls were not overlapped. When 2, 3, or 4 calls overlapped, there were significantly fewer frequency separations of less than 1/3 octave than would be expected by chance. This is important because sounds that are separated by less than 1/3 octave likely mask each other. When 2-4 calls are occurring simultaneously, only 4.5% to 14.2% are masked by virtue of being within 1/3 octave from their nearest neighbor. None of the overlappping calls was of the same type. This suggests that the seals are actively listening to each other's calls and are not randomly using the different call types. Harp seals use frequency and temporal separation in conjunction with a wide vocal repertoire to avoid masking each other.     

Quantum chaos and 1/f noise

It is shown that the energy spectrum fluctuations of quantum systems can be formally considered as a discrete time series. The power spectrum behavior of such a signal for different systems suggests the following conjecture: The energy spectra of chaotic quantum systems are characterized by 1/f noise.