Occurrence of a nitro metabolite of a defined nonylphenol isomer in soil/sewage sludge mixtures

Uniformly [14C]-ring-labeled 4-(3,5-dimethyl-3-heptyl)phenol (353-nonylphenol) is a highly relevant isomer of the technical nonylphenol mixture. We studied the sorption, desorption, and degradation of the synthesized isomer in an agricultural sandy loam at various soil/sewage sludge ratios. Sorption of 353-nonylphenol was high and differed with the amount of suspended soil in water. log Koc values, which are used to assess the risk of nonylphenol, ranged from 3.80 to 5.75. Desorption was slow and low and resulted in constant concentrations of about 15 ng/L353-nonylphenol in water after several desorption steps. In degradation studies up to 6% of the applied 353-nonylphenol in soil was volatilized; we consider this an important source of nonylphenol in the environment. With increasing amounts of sewage sludge in the soil/sewage sludge mixtures, 353-nonylphenol was stabilized, probably because of the lack of oxygen in sludge aggregates even under oxic conditions in flow-through systems. Unexpectedly, a less-polar metabolite was detected in amounts up to 40% of the applied nonylphenol after 135 days of incubation. This novel metabolite was identified as 4-(3,5-dimethyl-3-heptyl)-2-nitrophenol. This product formation might indicate the existence of novel metabolic pathways of nonylphenol in the environment.     

Determination of polyphenolic constituents and biological activities of bark extracts from different Pinus species

BACKGROUND: The most common commercially available pine bark extract is Pycnogenol^®, a standardised extract of Pinus maritima, which has been reported to have cardiovascular benefits and enhance microcirculation. The present study was conducted to determine the chemical composition of four pine bark extracts, assess their biological activities and to compare the results with Pycnogenol^®. RESULTS: The Pinus species were analysed by LC and LC‐MS; extracts of P. brutia and P. nigra showed higher levels of phenolic constituents compared to P. sylvestris and P. pinea. In particular, P. brutia contained extremely high concentrations of taxifolin (18.5%). The highest radical scavenging activities were attained with P. pinea (88.6%), P. nigra (87.2%) and P. brutia (86.4%) bark extracts. Additionally, anticarcinogenic effects of the extracts and their kinetics were determined in four cell lines including human prostate (PC‐3, DU 145, LNCaP) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) by the MTT assay. Cell viability was reduced to 40% by extracts of P. pinea, and P. sylvestris in PC‐3 cells showing a similar effect like the positive control, CPT‐11. CONCLUSION: Pinus species other than P. maritima definitively possess high biological activities, and therefore present a huge potential to be utilised in the food and the pharmaceutical industries. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

The behaviour of WB 35 piping material under dynamic loading in the high speed tensile test

For the determination of the strength-, deformation- and fracture behaviour of the material 17 MnMoV 6 4 (WB 35) which is used for piping components, tensile tests were carried out at different loading rates (monotonic and impact-type) on smooth and notched pipe strip specimens over a temperature range extending from − 30°C to 250°C.For the conduct of the tests a hydraulic high speed tensile machine having a free motion device was used; the velocity of impact was preset at ca. 7 m/s.With impact-type (dynamically) loaded specimens in general higher strength and deformation values were obtained than with monotonic (statically) loaded ones. In all of the specimens having low deformation values which were investigated microfractographically, ductile portions were found adjacent to the notch on the fracture surface.     

Quantum Phase Transition in Spin Systems Studied through Entanglement Estimators

Entanglement represents purely quantum effect involving two or more particles. Spin systems are good candidates for studying this effect and its relation with other collective phenomena ruled by quantum mechanics. While the presence of entangled states can be easily verified, the quantitative estimate of this property is still under investigation. One of the most useful tools in this framework is the concurrence whose definition, albeit limited to S = 1/2 systems, can be related to the correlators. We consider quantum spin systems defined along chains and square lattices, and described by Heisenberg-like Hamiltonians: our goal is to clarify the relation between entanglement and quantum phase transitions, as well as that between the concurrence the and the specific quantum state of the system.     

Single molecule microscopy: peak-frequency trajectories and linewidth distribution

Fluorescence microscopy has been adapted to cryogenic temperatures and combined with efficient image processing and analysis to observe many single molecules in parallel. The capabilities of this setup are demonstrated with the parallel recording of peak-frequency trajectories for 62 terrylene-molecules in n-hexadecane and with the measurement of 918 single molecule linewidths for terrylene in dodecane in 200 s.     

A general role for c-Fos in cellular protection against DNA-damaging carcinogens and cytostatic drugs

One of the earliest responses of cells upon exposure to DNA-damaging agents is the induction of c-fos. To elucidate the biological role of Fos expression, we analyzed cells deficient in c-Fos upon treatment with different DNA-damaging agents, including carcinogens and antineoplastic drugs. We show that cells lacking c-Fos are hypersensitive with regard to reproductive cell death, apoptosis, and chromosomal breakage after treatment with agents inducing methylation lesions, bulky adducts, or crosslinks in DNA. They were not significantly hypersensitive to ionizing radiation. The activities of various repair enzymes and glutathione S-transferase and the level of proliferating cell nuclear antigen were not altered in c-fos-/- fibroblasts. Furthermore, the cells were able to remove the main methylation lesions from DNA. c-Fos-deficient cells exhibited a more severe mutagen-induced block to DNA replication and were compromised in the abolition of replication blockage. The data provide compelling evidence that c-Fos/activator protein-1 plays a decisive and general role in cellular defense against genotoxic agents, which require DNA replication to induce chromosomal instability. They are consistent with the hypothesis that impaired recovery from DNA replication inhibition upon mutagen exposure is causally involved in c-fos-/- hypersensitivity.