The Properties of Synthetic Amylopectin with Long External-Chains

Samples of synthetic amylopectins with long external chain-lengths have been prepared from degraded, waxy maize amylopectin and glucose-1-phosphate by the action of potato phosphorylase. Samples having external chain-lengths determined by enzymic assay of 23.4, 29.9, 46.5, and 109.5 glucose units (original sample = 13.7 glucose units) were prepared. The iodine-staining properties of these materials have been investigated, and a relation between λ_max and average chain-length evaluated. A theoretical relation between chain-length and β-amylolysis limit has been proposed. The iodine-binding capacity of the samples has been studied in detail by potentiometric titration at 1.5 °C and 20 °C. Unambiguous conclusions regarding the observed iodine binding capacity and the length of external chain have been made for the first time. The properties of the synthetic products are discussed.     

Single-Step Fast Tissue Clearing of Thick Mouse Brain Tissue for Multi-Dimensional High-Resolution Imaging

Recent advances in optical clearing techniques have dramatically improved deep tissue imaging by reducing the obscuring effects of light scattering and absorption. However, these optical clearing methods require specialized equipment or a lengthy undertaking with complex protocols that can lead to sample volume changes and distortion. In addition, the imaging of cleared tissues has limitations, such as fluorescence bleaching, harmful and foul-smelling solutions, and the difficulty of handling samples in high-viscosity refractive index (RI) matching solutions. To address the various limitations of thick tissue imaging, we developed an Aqueous high refractive Index matching and tissue Clearing solution for Imaging (termed AICI) with a one-step tissue clearing protocol that was easily made at a reasonable price in our own laboratory without any equipment. AICI can rapidly clear a 1 mm thick brain slice within 90 min with simultaneous RI matching, low viscosity, and a high refractive index (RI = 1.466), allowing the imaging of the sample without additional processing. We compared AICI with commercially available RI matching solutions, including optical clear agents (OCAs), for tissue clearing. The viscosity of AICI is closer to that of water compared with other RI matching solutions, and there was a less than 2.3% expansion in the tissue linear morphology during 24 h exposure to AICI. Moreover, AICI remained fluid over 30 days of air exposure, and the EGFP fluorescence signal was only reduced to ~65% after 10 days. AICI showed a limited clearing of brain tissue >3 mm thick. However, fine neuronal structures, such as dendritic spines and axonal boutons, could still be imaged in thick brain slices treated with AICI. Therefore, AICI is useful not only for the three-dimensional (3D) high-resolution identification of neuronal structures, but also for the examination of multiple structural imaging by neuronal distribution, projection, and gene expression in deep brain tissue. AICI is applicable beyond the imaging of fluorescent antibodies and dyes, and can clear a variety of tissue types, making it broadly useful to researchers for optical imaging applications.     

Synthesis and Anti-Cancer Activity of New Pyrazolinyl-Indole Derivatives: Pharmacophoric Interactions and Docking Studies for Identifying New EGFR Inhibitors

Newly designed series of indole-containing pyrazole analogs, pyrazolinylindoles, were synthesized, and their structures were confirmed based on the spectral data of the ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and HR-MS analyses. Preliminary anti-cancer activity testings were carried out by the National Cancer Institute, United States of America (NCI, USA). Compounds HD02, HD05, and HD12 demonstrated remarkable cytotoxic activities against nine categories of cancer types based cell line panels which included leukemia, colon, breast, melanoma, lungs, renal, prostate, CNS, and ovarian cancer cell lines. The highest cytotoxic effects were exhibited by the compounds HD02 [1-(5-(1-H-indol-3-yl)-3-(p-tolyl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-2-phenylethanone], HD05 [1-(3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(1H-indol-3-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)-2-phenoxyethanone], and HD12 [(3-(4-chlorophenyl)-5-(1H-indol-3-yl)-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)(pyridin-4-yl)methanone] against some of the 56 types of NCI-based cell lines in different panels. Compound HD05 showed the maximum range of cancer cell growth inhibitions against all categories of the cell lines in all nine panels. On average, in comparison to the referral standard, imatinib, at a dose level of 10 µM, the HD05 showed significant activity against leukemia in the range of 78.76%, as compared to the imatinib at 9% of cancer cells’ growth inhibitions. Molecular docking simulation studies were performed in silico on the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase, in order to validate the activity.     

Atomic-Resolution Structures and Mode of Action of Clinically Relevant Antimicrobial Peptides

Global rise of infections and deaths caused by drug-resistant bacterial pathogens are among the unmet medical needs. In an age of drying pipeline of novel antibiotics to treat bacterial infections, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are proven to be valid therapeutics modalities. Direct in vivo applications of many AMPs could be challenging; however, works are demonstrating encouraging results for some of them. In this review article, we discussed 3-D structures of potent AMPs e.g., polymyxin, thanatin, MSI, protegrin, OMPTA in complex with bacterial targets and their mode of actions. Studies on human peptide LL37 and de novo-designed peptides are also discussed. We have focused on AMPs which are effective against drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. Since treatment options for the infections caused by super bugs of Gram-negative bacteria are now extremely limited. We also summarize some of the pertinent challenges in the field of clinical trials of AMPs.     

Influence of Y~(3+),Yb~(3+),Gd~(3+) cations on structural and electromagnetic properties of CuFe_2O_4 nanoferrites prepared via one step sol-gel method

Rare earths(REs) play a key role in distorting spinel structure by creating some defects at the lattice sites and make them suitable for magnetodielectric applications.In the present study,the nanoferrites of CuRE_(0.02)Fe_(1.98)O_4,where REs=Y~(3+),Yb~(3+),Gd~(3+),were prepared using one step sol-gel method.The prepared samples are copper ferrite(CFO),yttrium doped copper ferrite(Y-CFO),ytterbium doped copper ferrite(Yb-CFO) and gadolinium doped copper ferrite(Gd-CFO),respectively.The single-phase structure of all the REs doped nanoferrites was determined by X-ray diffraction(XRD) analysis.The porosity,agglomerations and grain size of the REs doped copper ferrite were examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy(FESEM) analysis.Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR)elaborates the phase formation and environmental effects on the REs doped nanoparticles(NPs).The recorded room temperature M-H loops from a vibrating sample magnetometer(VSM) elucidate the magnetic properties of the REs doped spinel nanoferrites.The magnetic saturation(M_s) was calculated in the range of 23.08 to 51.78 emu/g.The calculated coercivity values(272.6 to 705.60 Oe) confirm the soft magnetic behavior of REs doped copper ferrites.Furthermore,the electromagnetic and dielectric properties were assessed using a Vector network analyzer(VNA) from 1 to 6 GHz.The permeability,permittivity,dielectric tangent loss and electric modulus of the REs doped spinel ferrites illustrate that the prepared NPs may be suitable for microwave and high frequency applications.     

Mini-maximizing two qubit quantum computations

Two qubit quantum computations are viewed as two player, strictly competitive games and a game-theoretic measure of optimality of these computations is developed. To this end, the geometry of Hilbert space of quantum computations is used to establish the equivalence of game-theoretic solution concepts of Nash equilibrium and mini-max outcomes in games of this type, and quantum mechanisms are designed for realizing these mini-max outcomes.     

Crypt analysis of two time pads in case of compressed speech

Keystream reuse, also known as the two time pad problem, is a well known weakness in stream ciphers. The implementers of the cryptographic algorithms are still underestimating this threat. The keystream reuse exploitation techniques presented so far assume the underlying plaintext to be textual data and all the heuristics presented previously are based on the language characteristics of the underlying text based data, which fail when compression is applied on the plaintext before encryption. This paper presents exploitation techniques for two time pads in case of stream ciphered digitized and compressed speech signals. In this paper we show that how an adversary can automatically recover the digitized speech signals encrypted under the same keystream provided the language (e.g. English) and digital encoding/compression scheme details of the underlying speech signals are known. Our technique of cryptanalysis is based on the modeling of the speech parameters by exploiting the inter frame correlations between each components of the speech vectors in different frames and then using these models to decode the two speech signals in the keystream reuse scenario. The technique is flexible enough to incorporate all modern speech coding schemes based on parameter or hybrid encoding and compression techniques. The simulation experiments have showed promising results for most of the present day speech digitization and compression techniques.     

Tooling device design for vibration-assisted high speed shaping of PMMA

PMMA optical components that are used as one of the most important parts of high precision equipments and machines are increasingly replacing the glass due to the various advantages of PMMA. Especially in Light Guide Panels, the PMMA sheet that is used in Liquid Crystal Displays plays an important role in scattering the incident light and requires very fine machining as the sheet is directly related to the optical characteristics of the panels. The High Speed End milling and High Speed Shaping processes that are widely adopted and applied to the precise machining of Light Incident Plane still have quality problems, such as cracks, breakages, poor waviness, and straightness. This paper presents the tooling device design for machining a Light Incident Plane through vibration-assisted High Speed Shaping for increasing the optical quality by minimizing the above-mentioned problems. The cutting tool and the tool post presented in this paper are designed by the authors to increase the magnitude of the cutting stroke by adopting the resonant frequency without weakening the stiffness and to reduce vibrations during even high speed feeding. The dynamic characteristics of the cutting tool and the tool post are evaluated through simulation and experiment as well. The results reveal very appropriate dynamic characteristics for vibration-assisted High Speed Shaping.     

Comparison of Performance of Packet Scheduling Algorithms in LTE-A HetNets

The concept of usage of heterogeneous networks (HetNets) is about improving the LTE system performance by increasing the capacity and coverage of the Macro cell. In this paper, a performance comparison of various packet scheduling algorithms such as Proportional Fair, Maximum Largest Weighted Delay First and Exponential/Proportional Fair is studied in detail in the HetNets environment. The key performance indicators such as throughput, packet loss ratio, delay and fairness are considered to judge the performance of the scheduling algorithms. Various strategies such as increasing the number of Pico cells in the cell edge were used in the simulation for the performance evaluation study. The results achieved through various simulations show that adding Pico cells to the existing Macros enhances the overall system performance in addition to the various scheduling algorithms implemented in Macros. For reader’s convenience, various types of graphs have been used to represent the simulation results to better understand the performance metrics of various scheduling algorithms. Simulation results shows that overall system gain has increased because of adding Picos and thereby providing better coverage in the cell edge areas and thereby increasing the capacity of the network to provide better quality of service.