Comparative behaviour of coal and maceral concentrates during artificial coalification

A series of experiments were performed in cold-seal autoclaves (confined-pyrolysis) to characterize the behaviour of individual macerais (vitrinite, inertinite, exinite) extracted from the same Lorraine Basin coal during artificial coalification. Rock-Eval pyrolysis, elemental analysis and weight loss determination provided the simple maturation indexes required. Emphasis was laid on the timing of hydrocarbon generation and on the possible similarities existing between inertinite and vitrinite of higher rank. Hydrocarbon potential and hydrocarbon yield were found to increase from inertinite to vitrinite and exinite, but similar mechanisms were involved during the thermal degradation of both inertinite and vitrinite.     

Toward the first nonpeptidic molecular tong inhibitor of wild-type and mutated HIV-1 protease dimerization

Herein we describe the synthesis and HIV-1 protease (PR) inhibitory activity of 16 new peptidomimetic molecular tongs with a naphthalene scaffold. Their peptidic character was progressively decreased. Two of these molecules exhibited the best dimerization inhibition activity toward HIV-1 wild-type and multimutated ANAM-11 proteases obtained to date for this class of molecules (～40?nM for wild-type PR and 100?nM for ANAM-11 PR). Although the peptidic character of one molecular tong was completely suppressed, the mechanism of inhibition and inhibitory potency toward both proteases were maintained.     

Predicting the Thermal Conductivity of AlSi/Polyester Abradable Coatings: Effects of the Numerical Method

The final target of this study is to achieve a better understanding of the behavior of thermally sprayed abradable seals such as AlSi/polyester composites. These coatings are used as seals between the static and the rotating parts in aero-engines. The machinability of the composite coatings during the friction of the blades depends on their mechanical and thermal effective properties. In order to predict these properties from micrographs, numerical studies were performed with different software packages such as OOF developed by NIST and TS2C developed at the UTBM. In 2008, differences were reported concerning predictions of effective thermal conductivities obtained with the two codes. In this article, a particular attention was paid to the mathematical formulation of the problem. In particular, results obtained with a finite difference method using a cell-centered approach or a nodal formulation allow explaining the discrepancies previously noticed. A comparison of the predictions of the computed effective thermal conductivities is thus proposed. This study is part of the NEWAC project, funded by the European Commission within the 6th RTD Framework programm (FP6).     

G-quadruplex recognition by quinacridines: a SAR, NMR, and biological study

The synthesis of a novel group of quinacridine-based ligands (MMQs) is described along with an evaluation of their G-quadruplex binding properties. A set of biophysical assays was applied to characterize their interaction with DNA quadruplexes: FRET-melting experiments and equilibrium microdialysis were used to evaluate their quadruplex affinity and their ability to discriminate quadruplexes across a broad panel of DNA structures. All data collected support the proposed model of interaction of these compounds with G-quadruplexes, which is furthermore confirmed by a solution structure determined by 2D NMR experiments. Finally, the activity of the MMQ series against tumor cell growth is reported, and the data support the potential of quadruplex-interactive compounds for use in anticancer approaches.     

Static Capacity Prediction by Dynamic Methods for Three Bored Piles

Three bored piles were built and tested at the National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites, at Texas A&M University, to gather data on the reliability of large-strain dynamic methods to predict the static capacity of bored piles. The three piles had a nominal diameter of 0.915 m, a nominal length of 10 m, and some planned and unplanned defects. The piles were first subjected to a static load test and then four companies were asked to perform dynamic tests—namely, Statnamic and drop weight tests—and predict the static load test results. The paper shows the comparison between predicted and measured results.     

Proteomic Helicobacter pylori biomarkers discriminative of low-grade gastric MALT lymphoma and duodenal ulcer

To date no reliable diagnostic method exists to predict, among the very large and clinically heterogeneous group of Helicobacter pylori‐infected patients, the extremely small group at risk for developing low‐grade gastric MALT lymphoma (LG‐MALT). Search of proteomic biomarkers holds promise for the classification of the H. pylori strains with regard to this severe clinical outcome. In the present study 69 H. pylori strains isolated from patients with two different H. pylori‐associated diseases, duodenal ulcer (DU, n=29) and LG‐MALT (n=40) were used. Protein expression patterns of the strains were analyzed by using the high‐throughput methodology SELDI. Selected proteins were purified by means of chromatographic and electrophoretic methods in view of further sequencing by LC‐MS/MS. Univariate analysis (Mann–Whitney test) of the protein expression patterns generated nine significant biomarkers that can discriminate between H. pylori strains from patients with DU and LG‐MALT. These biomarkers are of low molecular weight, ranging from 6 to 26.6 kDa. Among them, two are overexpressed in LG‐MALT strains and seven – in DU strains. Two biomarker proteins, one overexpressed in LG‐MALT strains (13.2 kDa) and another one – overexpressed in DU strains (26.6 kDa), were purified to homogeneity and identified by using LC‐MS/MS as a 50S ribosomal protein L7/L12 and a urease subunit, respectively. These biomarkers can be included in novel protein arrays for the differential diagnosis of H. pylori‐associated clinical outcomes.     

Scheduling evacuation operations

In this paper, we consider a large-scale evacuation problem after a major disaster. The evacuation is assumed to occur by means of a fleet of buses, thus leading to scheduling the evacuation operations by buses [(bus evacuation problem (BEP)]. We propose time-indexed formulations as well as heuristic algorithms such as greedy algorithms and a matheuristic. This matheuristic uses the former formulation to improve the best solution obtained by the greedy heuristics. In computational experiments, we analyze and evaluate the efficiency of the proposed solution algorithms.     

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors: design of membrane-impermeant copper(II) complexes of DTPA-, DOTA-, and TETA-tailed sulfonamides targeting the tumor-associated transmembrane isoform IX

The synthesis and carbonic anhydrase (CA, EC 4.2.1.1) inhibitory activity of two series of aromatic sulfonamides and their Cu(II) derivatives, incorporating metal-complexing moieties of the DTPA, DOTA, and TETA type are reported. The new compounds were designed in such a way as to possess high affinity for Cu(II) ions, exploiting four pendant carboxylate moieties in the DTPA derivatives, as well as the cyclen/cyclam macrocyles, and three pendant acetate moieties in the DOTA and TETA derivatives. The new derivatives showed modest inhibition of the cytosolic isoform CA I (K(I) values in the range of 66-2130 nM), were better CA II inhibitors (K(I) values in the range of 21-360 nM), and excellent inhibitors of the tumor-associated isoform CA IX (K(I) values in the range of 4.1-110 nM), with selectivity ratios for the inhibition of the tumor (CA IX) over the cytosolic (CA II) isozyme in the range of 10.74-20.88 for the best derivatives. Copper complexes were more inhibitory than the corresponding ligand sulfonamides, and showed membrane impermeability, thus, having the possibility to specifically target the transmembrane CA IX that has an extracellular active site. Incorporation of radioactive copper isotopes in this type of CA inhibitor may lead to interesting diagnostic/therapeutic applications for such compounds.