Differences in PARP Inhibitors for the Treatment of Ovarian Cancer: Mechanisms of Action,Pharmacology, Safety,and Efficacy

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARP) are proteins responsible for DNA damage detection and signal transduction. PARP inhibitors (PARPi) are able to interact with the binding site for PARP cofactor (NAD+) and trapping PARP on the DNA. In this way, they inhibit single-strand DNA damage repair. These drugs have been approved in recent years for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Although they share some similarities, from the point of view of the chemical structure and pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic properties, these drugs also have some substantial differences. These differences may underlie the different safety profiles and activity of PARPi.     

Deep-MEG: spatiotemporal CNN features and multiband ensemble classification for predicting the early signs of Alzheimer’s disease with magnetoencephalography

Neural Computing and Applications - In this paper, we present the novel Deep-MEG approach in which image-based representations of magnetoencephalography (MEG) data are combined with ensemble...     

Protective properties of epoxy-based organic coatings on mild steel

The protective properties of epoxy-based organic coatings on mild steel substrates have been studied using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique. The effects of coating composition, film thickness and curing temperature on the lifetime of the epoxy coating were investigated. The results obtained indicate that the film composition dramatically affects the rate of corrosion of the metallic substrate. Coatings with low and high content of curing agent exhibit early failure when exposed to an air-saturated 0.5 M aqueous solution of NaCl. Extended lifetimes were observed for samples with a content of the curing agent equal to 8.5% by weight. An increase in lifetime was also observed on increasing the film thickness and the curing temperature. The failure mechanism seems to occur in two steps: the first step is related to water uptake in the film while the second step is related to Cl⁻ ion diffusion through the coating. The results have been interpreted in terms of a model in which the dielectric properties (capacitance and resistance) of the coating depend strongly on the coating composition and are affected by both the water and salt uptake into the film.     

Efficiency,recovery and productivity of continuous reverse osmosis systems: new closed expressions

Numerical and approximate analytical solutions for salt concentration polarization in hyperfiltration with laminar flow in a flat sheet configuration are presented. The analysis accounts for the variation of the water flux in the longitudinal direction. Approximate solutions were obtained with an integral method which was found to provide good agreement with the numerical solution. The integral method allows one to obtain closed expressions for the productivity Q, the recovery R and the efficiency E of a reverse osmosis system which can be applied relatively quickly in design calculations.In this analysis the physical properties of the solution are taken to be constant.     

Protein ultrafiltration: an experimental study

An experimental study was carried out on the ultrafiltration (UF) of protein-containing solutions under different conditions, as compared with a solution of a linear synthetic polymer. Three different fluidynamic regimes were investigated, namely, unstirred batch system, stirred batch system, and recirculating system. The results obtained substantially agree with the predictions of the gel polarization model. A significant effect of the electrolytes on the UF flux has been observed, which can be attributed to solute–solute interaction. The influence of different UF membranes has also been investigated.     

Aromatic bisphenol A-based elastomers via hydrosilylation chemistry

The preparation of highly aromatic elastomers from a bisphenol A-based divinyl-terminated resin and polymerization with various aromatic silane containing compounds utilizing a room temperature hydrosilylation reaction is demonstrated. The polymers exhibit high thermal and oxidative stability with 5% weight losses around 430 and 350°C and char yields ranging from 35% to 40%. The thermosets maintained their elastomeric properties with good hardness and mechanical properties as measured by elongation measurements. The toughness of the thermosets was not improved with the inclusion of aromatic moieties but the hardness did appear to increase with the addition of more aromatic groups.     

Mechanical strength of PET fibers treated in cold plasma and thermal exposed

As a followup to previous work, experiments with argon and oxygen Radio Frequency plasma treated polyethylene terepthalate (PET) exposed to 100 °C after cold plasma treatment were performed. Tensile tests results in monofilaments treated in oxygen and argon plasma for 5 s, 20 s, 30 s, and 100 s showed a decrease in the average tensile strength compared with the untreated fibers. It was also observed that the reduction in mechanical strength is more significant for argon plasma and very sensitive to the treatment time for oxygen plasma. Experimental data obtained from tensile tests in samples thermal exposed to 100 °C after plasma treatments indicate the same influence of treatment times on mechanical strength, as observed for cold plasma treated fibers. Furthermore, an increase in tensile strength when compared with the samples unexposed to 100 °C was observed. Scanning electron microscopy, used to analyze effects of cold plasma treatment on fibers surfaces, indicates differences in roughness profiles depending on the type of treatment. The distance of roughness interval, D_ri, was a parameter introduced to relate the fibers surface condition and average tensile strength. Statistical analysis of experimental data was performed to explain influences of treatment time, and environmental and temperature effects on mechanical properties.     

Influence of ethanol/water ratio in ultrasound and high‐pressure/high‐temperature phenolic compound extraction from agri‐food waste

The valorisation and management of agri‐food waste are currently hot investigation topics which probe the recovery of valuable compounds, such as polyphenols. In this study, high‐pressure/high‐temperature extraction (HPTE) and ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) have been used to study the recovery of phenolic compounds from grape marc and olive pomace in hydroalcoholic solutions. The main phenolic compounds in both extracts were identified by HPLC‐DAD. Besides extraction yield (total polyphenol and flavonoid content) and the antiradical power, polyphenol degradation under HPTE and UAE has also been studied. HPTE with ethanol 75% gave higher phenolic extraction yields: 73.8 ± 1.4 mg of gallic acid equivalents per gram of dried matter and 60.0 mg of caffeic acid equivalents per gram of dried matter for grape marc and olive pomace, respectively. In this study, the efficient combination of ethanol/water mixture with HPTE or UAE has been used to enhance the recovery of phenolic compounds from grape marc and olive pomace. HPLC‐DAD showed that UAE prevents phenolic species degradation damage because of its milder operative conditions.