Cedrus oil—A promising storage fungitoxicant

Seeds of two spices Coriandrum sativum and Foeniculum vulgare, were dressed separately with essential oil of Cedrus deodara as well as with five synthetic fungicides viz., phenylmercury acetate, 2-methoxyethyl mercury chloride, copper oxychloride, mancozeb and wettable sulphur. Treated seeds were stored in polythene bags for 12 months. On mycofloral analysis, the oil had checked the appearance of ten fungi, Absidia sp., Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger, A. ruber, A. versicolor, Cladosporium cladosporioides, Curvularia lunata, and Paecilomyces variotii on the seeds of C. sativum, and seven fungi, Absidia sp., A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. niger, A. ruber, A. versicolor, and Rhizopus spp., on the seeds of F. vulgare. The oil proved to be more effective than the synthetic fungicides. Further, the oil did not show any adverse effect on seed germination and seedling growth of both spices.     

Triglyceride composition of Buchanania lanzan seed oil

The fatty acid composition of Buchanania lanzan seed oil, determined by urea complex formation and gas liquid chromatography (g.l.c), was found to be: myristic, 0.6; palmitic, 33.4; stearic, 6.3; oleic, 53.7; and linoleic, 6.0%. Triglyceride compositions of the native seed oil and its randomised product were calculated from the fatty acid compositions of the triglycerides and of the corresponding 2-monoglycerides produced by pancreatic lipase hydrolysis. The oil is composed of 3.2, 35.8, 45.5 and 15.5% trisaturated, monounsaturated disaturated, diunsaturated monosaturated and triunsaturated glycerides respectively. The special characteristic of the B. lanzan seed oil is its content of 22.7, 31.0 and 11.3% dipalmitoolein, dioleopalmitin and triolein respectively. The percent GS₃ content in the oil increased from 3.2 to 7.5 by the process of randomisation. On directed interesterification the oil yielded a product with a slip point of 41.5°C which may be suitable as a coating material for delayed action tablets. The oil also appears to be a promising one as a commercial source of palmitic and oleic acids.     

Location Estimation Based on Semi-Supervised Locally Linear Embedding (SSLLE) Approach for Indoor Wireless Networks

Location aware computing is popularized and location information use has important due to huge application of mobile computing devices and local area wireless networks. In this paper, we have proposed a method based on Semi-supervised Locally Linear Embedding for indoor wireless networks. Previous methods for location estimation in indoor wireless networks require a large amount of labeled data for learning the radio map. However, labeled instances are often difficult, expensive, or time consuming to obtain, as they require great efforts, meanwhile unlabeled data may be relatively easy to collect. So, the use of semi-supervised learning is more feasible. In the experiment 101 access points (APs) have been deployed so, the RSS vector received by the mobile station has large dimensions (i.e. 101). At first, we use Locally Linear Embedding to reduce the dimensions of data, and then we use semi-supervised learning algorithm to learn the radio map. The algorithm performs nonlinear mapping between the received signal strengths from nearby access points and the user??s location. It is shown that the proposed scheme has the advantage of robustness and scalability, and is easy in training and implementation. In addition, the scheme exhibits superior performance in the nonline-of-sight (NLOS) situation. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed SSLLE algorithm.     

Amino acid interaction preferences in helical membrane proteins

Membrane proteins are involved in a number of important biological functions. Yet, they are poorly understood from the structure and folding point of view. The external environment being drastically different from that of globular proteins, the intra-protein interactions in membrane proteins are also expected to be different. Hence, statistical potentials representing the features of inter-residue interactions based exclusively on the structures of membrane proteins are much needed. Currently, a reasonable number of structures are available, making it possible to undertake such an analysis on membrane proteins. In this study we have examined the inter-residue interaction propensities of amino acids in the membrane spanning regions of the alpha-helical membrane (HM) proteins. Recently we have shown that valuable information can be obtained on globular proteins by the evaluation of the pair-wise interactions of amino acids by classifying them into different structural environments, based on factors such as the secondary structure or the number of contacts that a residue can make. Here we have explored the possible ways of classifying the intra-protein environment of HM proteins and have developed scoring functions based on different classification schemes. On evaluation of different schemes, we find that the scheme which classifies amino acids to different intra-contact environment is the most promising one. Based on this classification scheme, we also redefine the hydrophobicity scale of amino acids in HM proteins.     

Selective oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohols with tert‐butylhydroperoxide catalyzed by polymer‐anchored transition‐metal complexes

Three polymer‐anchored metal complexes (Co, Cu, and Pd) were synthesized and characterized. The catalytic performance of these complexes was tested for the oxidation of olefins and aromatic alcohols. These complexes showed excellent catalytic activity and high selectivity. These complexes selectively gave epoxides and aldehydes from olefins and alcohols, respectively. Individually, the effect of various solvents, oxidants, substrate oxidant molar ratios, temperatures, and catalyst amounts for the oxidation of cyclohexene and benzyl alcohol were studied. Under optimized reaction conditions, 96, 81, and 71% conversions of cyclohexene and 86, 79, and 73% conversions of benzyl alcohol were obtained with Co(II), Cu(II), and Pd(II) catalysts, respectively. The catalytic results reveal that these complexes could be recycled more than five times without much loss in activity. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Investigation of solid particle erosion-related failures in once-through steam generators (OTSGs) in oil sands in-situ production: The limitations of the API RP 14E guideline in OTSG design or operational decision-making

The required steam for steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) oil sands operations is generated using a once-through steam generator (OTSG) that is fed with relatively poor quality process water. Industries have reported possible solid particle erosion-related failure in the OTSG boiler tubes because of the transport of precipitated dense inorganic particles. However, the presence of other damage mechanisms, e.g. corrosion, flow accelerated corrosion (FAC), often masks the evidence of erosive wear. Also, industries set an upper limit operating velocity for the OTSG using the API RP 14E guideline, which provides no quantitative erosion rates to determine an operating envelope. This study presents a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of erosion damage in a SAGD OTSG boiler tube. The results revealed that API RP 14E may not be an effective decision-making tool for operating the OTSG system. For example, a 10% increase in velocity, even at conditions below the API RP 14E threshold, showed a decrease in the failure time of the boiler tubes by 40%–50%.     

Thermodynamic mechanism of free heme action on sickle cell hemoglobin polymerization

For insights into the mechanisms of heme action on the rate of sickle cell hemoglobin polymerization, we determine the erythrocytic concentration of free heme using a novel method based on enzymatic catalysis and luminescence. We find in sickle cell patients 44 ± 10 µM, in sickle trait individuals, 33 ± 4 µM, and in healthy adults, 21 ± 2 µM. We test the applicability of two mechanisms of heme action: a kinetic one, whereby heme aggregates serve as heterogeneous nucleation centers, and a thermodynamic pathway, in which free heme enhances the attraction between sickle hemoglobin (HbS) molecules in solution. We show that the latter mechanism exclusively operates. The enhanced attraction leads to increase of the total volume of a population of dense liquid clusters by about two orders of magnitude. As the dense liquid clusters serve as locations and precursors to the formation of the HbS polymer nuclei, their increased volume directly leads to faster polymer nucleation. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2861–2870, 2015     

Divergence of Intracellular Trafficking of Sphingosine Kinase 1 and Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor 3 in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells and MCF-7-Derived Stem Cell-Enriched Mammospheres

Breast cancer MCF-7 cell-line-derived mammospheres were shown to be enriched in cells with a CD44+/CD24– surface profile, consistent with breast cancer stem cells (BCSC). These BCSC were previously reported to express key sphingolipid signaling effectors, including pro-oncogenic sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 3 (S1P3). In this study, we explored intracellular trafficking and localization of SphK1 and S1P3 in parental MCF-7 cells, and MCF-7 derived BCSC-enriched mammospheres treated with growth- or apoptosis-stimulating agents. Intracellular trafficking and localization were assessed using confocal microscopy and cell fractionation, while CD44+/CD24- marker status was confirmed by flow cytometry. Mammospheres expressed significantly higher levels of S1P3 compared to parental MCF-7 cells (p < 0.01). Growth-promoting agents (S1P and estrogen) induced SphK1 and S1P3 translocation from cytoplasm to nuclei, which may facilitate the involvement of SphK1 and S1P3 in gene regulation. In contrast, pro-apoptotic cytokine tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα)-treated MCF-7 cells demonstrated increased apoptosis and no nuclear localization of SphK1 and S1P3, suggesting that TNFα can inhibit nuclear translocation of SphK1 and S1P3. TNFα inhibited mammosphere formation and induced S1P3 internalization and degradation. No nuclear translocation of S1P3 was detected in TNFα-stimulated mammospheres. Notably, SphK1 and S1P3 expression and localization were highly heterogenous in mammospheres, suggesting the potential for a large variety of responses. The findings provide further insights into the understanding of sphingolipid signaling and intracellular trafficking in BCs. Our data indicates that the inhibition of SphK1 and S1P3 nuclear translocation represents a novel method to prevent BCSCs proliferation.     

Xanthohumol for Human Malignancies: Chemistry,Pharmacokinetics and Molecular Targets

Xanthohumol (XH) is an important prenylated flavonoid that is found within the inflorescence of Humulus lupulus L. (Hop plant). XH is an important ingredient in beer and is considered a significant bioactive agent due to its diverse medicinal applications, which include anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antiviral, antifungal, antigenotoxic, antiangiogenic, and antimalarial effects as well as strong anticancer activity towards various types of cancer cells. XH acts as a wide ranging chemopreventive and anticancer agent, and its isomer, 8-prenylnaringenin, is a phytoestrogen with strong estrogenic activity. The present review focuses on the bioactivity of XH on various types of cancers and its pharmacokinetics. In this paper, we first highlight, in brief, the history and use of hops and then the chemistry and structure–activity relationship of XH. Lastly, we focus on its prominent effects and mechanisms of action on various cancers and its possible use in cancer prevention and treatment. Considering the limited number of available reviews on this subject, our goal is to provide a complete and detailed understanding of the anticancer effects of XH against different cancers.