scholarly journals Fulditoxin, representing a new class of dimeric snake toxins, defines novel pharmacology at nicotinic ACh receptors

2020 ◽  
Vol 177 (8) ◽  
pp. 1822-1840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Shin Foo ◽  
Chacko Jobichen ◽  
Varuna Hassan‐Puttaswamy ◽  
Zoltan Dekan ◽  
Han‐Shen Tae ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Frances M. Ross ◽  
Peter C. Searson

Porous semiconductors represent a relatively new class of materials formed by the selective etching of a single or polycrystalline substrate. Although porous silicon has received considerable attention due to its novel optical properties1, porous layers can be formed in other semiconductors such as GaAs and GaP. These materials are characterised by very high surface area and by electrical, optical and chemical properties that may differ considerably from bulk. The properties depend on the pore morphology, which can be controlled by adjusting the processing conditions and the dopant concentration. A number of novel structures can be fabricated using selective etching. For example, self-supporting membranes can be made by growing pores through a wafer, films with modulated pore structure can be fabricated by varying the applied potential during growth, composite structures can be prepared by depositing a second phase into the pores and silicon-on-insulator structures can be formed by oxidising a buried porous layer. In all these applications the ability to grow nanostructures controllably is critical.


Author(s):  
G. C. Ruben ◽  
K. Iqbal ◽  
I. Grundke-Iqbal ◽  
H. Wisniewski ◽  
T. L. Ciardelli ◽  
...  

In neurons, the microtubule associated protein, tau, is found in the axons. Tau stabilizes the microtubules required for neurotransmitter transport to the axonal terminal. Since tau has been found in both Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and in paired helical filaments (PHF), the study of tau's normal structure had to preceed TEM studies of NFT and PHF. The structure of tau was first studied by ultracentrifugation. This work suggested that it was a rod shaped molecule with an axial ratio of 20:1. More recently, paraciystals of phosphorylated and nonphosphoiylated tau have been reported. Phosphorylated tau was 90-95 nm in length and 3-6 nm in diameter where as nonphosphorylated tau was 69-75 nm in length. A shorter length of 30 nm was reported for undamaged tau indicating that it is an extremely flexible molecule. Tau was also studied in relation to microtubules, and its length was found to be 56.1±14.1 nm.


Author(s):  
T. F. Kelly ◽  
P. J. Lee ◽  
E. E. Hellstrom ◽  
D. C. Larbalestier

Recently there has been much excitement over a new class of high Tc (>30 K) ceramic superconductors of the form A1-xBxCuO4-x, where A is a rare earth and B is from Group II. Unfortunately these materials have only been able to support small transport current densities 1-10 A/cm2. It is very desirable to increase these values by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude for useful high field applications. The reason for these small transport currents is as yet unknown. Evidence has, however, been presented for superconducting clusters on a 50-100 nm scale and on a 1-3 μm scale. We therefore planned a detailed TEM and STEM microanalysis study in order to see whether any evidence for the clusters could be seen.A La1.8Sr0.2Cu04 pellet was cut into 1 mm thick slices from which 3 mm discs were cut. The discs were subsequently mechanically ground to 100 μm total thickness and dimpled to 20 μm thickness at the center.


Author(s):  
J. Fink

Conducting polymers comprises a new class of materials achieving electrical conductivities which rival those of the best metals. The parent compounds (conjugated polymers) are quasi-one-dimensional semiconductors. These polymers can be doped by electron acceptors or electron donors. The prototype of these materials is polyacetylene (PA). There are various other conjugated polymers such as polyparaphenylene, polyphenylenevinylene, polypoyrrole or polythiophene. The doped systems, i.e. the conducting polymers, have intersting potential technological applications such as replacement of conventional metals in electronic shielding and antistatic equipment, rechargable batteries, and flexible light emitting diodes.Although these systems have been investigated almost 20 years, the electronic structure of the doped metallic systems is not clear and even the reason for the gap in undoped semiconducting systems is under discussion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 786-794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingqi Han ◽  
Kin-Man Tang ◽  
Shun-Cheung Cheng ◽  
Chi-On Ng ◽  
Yuen-Kiu Chun ◽  
...  

A new class of luminescent cyclometalated Ir(iii) complexes with readily tunable mechanochromic properties derived from the mechanically induced trans-to-cis isomerization have been developed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 3940-3950 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Verkoyen ◽  
Holger Frey

Amino-functional polyethers have emerged as a new class of “smart”, i.e. pH- and thermoresponsive materials. This review article summarizes the synthesis and applications of these materials, obtained from ring-opening of suitable epoxide monomers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 134 (17) ◽  
pp. 2243-2262
Author(s):  
Danlin Liu ◽  
Gavin Richardson ◽  
Fehmi M. Benli ◽  
Catherine Park ◽  
João V. de Souza ◽  
...  

Abstract In the elderly population, pathological inflammation has been associated with ageing-associated diseases. The term ‘inflammageing’, which was used for the first time by Franceschi and co-workers in 2000, is associated with the chronic, low-grade, subclinical inflammatory processes coupled to biological ageing. The source of these inflammatory processes is debated. The senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) has been proposed as the main origin of inflammageing. The SASP is characterised by the release of inflammatory cytokines, elevated activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, altered regulation of acetylcholine (ACh) nicotinic receptors, and abnormal NAD+ metabolism. Therefore, SASP may be ‘druggable’ by small molecule therapeutics targeting those emerging molecular targets. It has been shown that inflammageing is a hallmark of various cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, and adverse cardiac remodelling. Therefore, the pathomechanism involving SASP activation via the NLRP3 inflammasome; modulation of NLRP3 via α7 nicotinic ACh receptors; and modulation by senolytics targeting other proteins have gained a lot of interest within cardiovascular research and drug development communities. In this review, which offers a unique view from both clinical and preclinical target-based drug discovery perspectives, we have focused on cardiovascular inflammageing and its molecular mechanisms. We have outlined the mechanistic links between inflammageing, SASP, interleukin (IL)-1β, NLRP3 inflammasome, nicotinic ACh receptors, and molecular targets of senolytic drugs in the context of cardiovascular diseases. We have addressed the ‘druggability’ of NLRP3 and nicotinic α7 receptors by small molecules, as these proteins represent novel and exciting targets for therapeutic interventions targeting inflammageing in the cardiovascular system and beyond.


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