Worsening of the Toxic Effects of (±)Cis-4,4′-DMAR Following Its Co-Administration with (±)Trans-4,4′-DMAR: Neuro-Behavioural,Physiological, Immunohistochemical and Metabolic Studies in Mice

4,4’-Dimethylaminorex (4,4’-DMAR) is a new synthetic stimulant, and only a little information has been made available so far regarding its pharmaco-toxicological effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the systemic administration of both the single (±)cis (0.1–60 mg/kg) and (±)trans (30 and 60 mg/kg) stereoisomers and their co-administration (e.g., (±)cis at 1, 10 or 60 mg/kg + (±)trans at 30 mg/kg) in mice. Moreover, we investigated the effect of 4,4′-DMAR on the expression of markers of oxidative/nitrosative stress (8-OHdG, iNOS, NT and NOX2), apoptosis (Smac/DIABLO and NF-κB), and heat shock proteins (HSP27, HSP70, HSP90) in the cerebral cortex. Our study demonstrated that the (±)cis stereoisomer dose-dependently induced psychomotor agitation, sweating, salivation, hyperthermia, stimulated aggression, convulsions and death. Conversely, the (±)trans stereoisomer was ineffective whilst the stereoisomers’ co-administration resulted in a worsening of the toxic (±)cis stereoisomer effects. This trend of responses was confirmed by immunohistochemical analysis on the cortex. Finally, we investigated the potentially toxic effects of stereoisomer co-administration by studying urinary excretion. The excretion study showed that the (±)trans stereoisomer reduced the metabolism of the (±)cis form and increased its amount in the urine, possibly reflecting its increased plasma levels and, therefore, the worsening of its toxicity.     

Colour recipe prediction using ant colony algorithm: principle of resolution and analysis of performances

This paper presents a new method for colour recipe prediction using ant colony optimisation. Three reactive dyes, namely CI Reactive Yellow 145, CI Reactive Red 238 and CI Reactive Blue 235, were used for colour formulation. Samples of 100% cotton fabrics were used for dyeing. The objective was to assure, control and optimise the colour formulation step by determining the dyes to be applied and their respective concentrations to reproduce the desired shades. The criterion of optimisation is to minimise the colour differences [Colour Measurement Committee (2:1)] between the target colour and the colour obtained by the proposed recipe. Errors between the proposed recipe and actual concentrations are also evaluated. The developed algorithm showed good performances with small colour differences between the target and reproduced colours (all lower than 0.7).