scholarly journals Investigation of Fatty Acid Ketohydrazone Modified Liposome’s Properties as a Drug Carrier

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keita Hayashi ◽  
Madoka Kiriishi ◽  
Keishi Suga ◽  
Yukihiro Okamoto ◽  
Hiroshi Umakoshi

pH-responsive liposomes were prepared by modifying the liposome with acid-cleaving amphiphiles. Palmitic ketohydrazone (P-KH) or stearic ketohydrazone (S-KH), composed of hydrophilic sugar headgroup and hydrophobic acyl chain, was used as a modifier of the DMPC liposome. Because the ketohydrazone group of P-KH or S-KH was cleaved at low pH conditions (<pH 5.0), the delivery of the P-KH modified liposomes was observed probably via an endocytic pathway. The membrane properties of these liposomes were characterized, focusing on the variation of both polarity (measured by Laurdan) and membrane fluidity (measured by DPH) at low pH condition. The interface of the P-KH modified liposome at acidic pH was found to become more hydrophobic and less fluidic as compared with that at neutral pH; that is, P-KH modified liposome became more rigid structure. Therefore, it seems that the P-KH modified liposome could protect encapsulated drugs from the enzymes in the lysosome. This study shows the novel approach about design of pH-responsive liposomes based on the membrane properties.

Polymers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jixian Gong ◽  
Tongtong Kong ◽  
Yuqiang Li ◽  
Qiujin Li ◽  
Zheng Li ◽  
...  

At present, the pollution of microplastic directly threatens ecology, food safety and even human health. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is one of the most common of microplastics. In this study, the micro-size PET particles were employed as analog of microplastic. The engineered strain, which can growth with PET as sole carbon source, was used as biocatalyst for biodegradation of PET particles. A combinatorial processing based on whole-cell biocatalysts was constructed for biodegradation of PET. Compared with enzymes, the products can be used by strain growth and do not accumulated in culture solution. Thus, feedback inhibition of products can be avoided. When PET was treated with the alkaline strain under high pH conditions, the product concentration was higher and the size of PET particles decreased dramatically than that of the biocatalyst under neutral conditions. This shows that the method of combined processing of alkali and organisms is more efficient for biodegradation of PET. The novel approach of combinatorial processing of PET based on whole-cell biocatalysis provides an attractive avenue for the biodegradation of micplastics.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine Gallagher ◽  
Bas Verplanken ◽  
Ian Walker

Social norms have been shown to be an effective behaviour change mechanism across diverse behaviours, demonstrated from classical studies to more recent behaviour change research. Much of this research has focused on environmentally impactful actions. Social norms are typically utilised for behaviour change in social contexts, which facilitates the important element of the behaviour being visible to the referent group. This ensures that behaviours can be learned through observation and that deviations from the acceptable behaviour can be easily sanctioned or approved by the referent group. There has been little focus on how effective social norms are in private or non-social contexts, despite a multitude of environmentally impactful behaviours occurring in the home, for example. The current study took the novel approach to explore if private behaviours are important in the context of normative influence, and if the lack of a referent groups results in inaccurate normative perceptions and misguided behaviours. Findings demonstrated variance in normative perceptions of private behaviours, and that these misperceptions may influence behaviour. These behaviours are deemed to be more environmentally harmful, and respondents are less comfortable with these behaviours being visible to others, than non-private behaviours. The research reveals the importance of focusing on private behaviours, which have been largely overlooked in the normative influence literature.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 674
Author(s):  
Marianna Koctúrová ◽  
Jozef Juhár

With the ever-progressing development in the field of computational and analytical science the last decade has seen a big improvement in the accuracy of electroencephalography (EEG) technology. Studies try to examine possibilities to use high dimensional EEG data as a source for Brain to Computer Interface. Applications of EEG Brain to computer interface vary from emotion recognition, simple computer/device control, speech recognition up to Intelligent Prosthesis. Our research presented in this paper was focused on the study of the problematic speech activity detection using EEG data. The novel approach used in this research involved the use visual stimuli, such as reading and colour naming, and signals of speech activity detectable by EEG technology. Our proposed solution is based on a shallow Feed-Forward Artificial Neural Network with only 100 hidden neurons. Standard features such as signal energy, standard deviation, RMS, skewness, kurtosis were calculated from the original signal from 16 EEG electrodes. The novel approach in the field of Brain to computer interface applications was utilised to calculated additional set of features from the minimum phase signal. Our experimental results demonstrated F1 score of 86.80% and 83.69% speech detection accuracy based on the analysis of EEG signal from single subject and cross-subject models respectively. The importance of these results lies in the novel utilisation of the mobile device to record the nerve signals which can serve as the stepping stone for the transfer of Brain to computer interface technology from technology from a controlled environment to the real-life conditions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Yousuf Ali ◽  
Ana Pavasovic ◽  
Peter B. Mather ◽  
Peter J. Prentis

Carbonic anhydrase (CA), Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) and Vacuolar-type H+-ATPase (HAT) play vital roles in osmoregulation and pH balance in decapod crustaceans. As variable pH levels have a significant impact on the physiology of crustaceans, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms by which an animal maintains its internal pH. We examined expression patterns of cytoplasmic (CAc) and membrane-associated form (CAg) of CA, NKA α subunit and HAT subunit a in gills of freshwater crayfish, Cherax quadricarinatus, at three pH levels – 6.2, 7.2 (control) and 8.2 – over 24 h. Expression levels of CAc were significantly increased at low pH and decreased at high pH conditions 24 h after transfer. Expression increased at low pH after 12 h, and reached its maximum level by 24 h. CAg showed a significant increase in expression at 6 h after transfer at low pH. Expression of NKA significantly increased at 6 h after transfer to pH 6.2 and remained elevated for up to 24 h. Expression for HAT and NKA showed similar patterns, where expression significantly increased 6 h after transfer to low pH and remained significantly elevated throughout the experiment. Overall, CAc, CAg, NKA and HAT gene expression is induced at low pH conditions in freshwater crayfish.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Legemah ◽  
Hong Sun ◽  
Paul Carman ◽  
John Mayor

ChemInform ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (17) ◽  
pp. no-no
Author(s):  
Hajime Yokoyama ◽  
Takayoshi Kubo ◽  
Yosuke Matsumura ◽  
Junichi Hosokawa ◽  
Masahiro Miyazawa ◽  
...  

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 815
Author(s):  
Przemysław Domaszewski ◽  
Paweł Pakosz ◽  
Mariusz Konieczny ◽  
Dawid Bączkowicz ◽  
Ewa Sadowska-Krępa

Studies on muscle activation time in sport after caffeine supplementation confirmed the effectiveness of caffeine. The novel approach was to determine whether a dose of 9 mg/kg/ body mass (b.m.) of caffeine affects the changes of contraction time and the displacement of electrically stimulated muscle (gastrocnemius medialis) in professional athletes who regularly consume products rich in caffeine and do not comply with the caffeine discontinuation period requirements. The study included 40 professional male handball players (age = 23.13 ± 3.51, b.m. = 93.51 ± 15.70 kg, height 191 ± 7.72, BMI = 25.89 ± 3.10). The analysis showed that in the experimental group the values of examined parameters were significantly reduced (p ≤ 0.001) (contraction time: before = 20.60 ± 2.58 ms/ after = 18.43 ± 3.05 ms; maximal displacement: before = 2.32 ± 0.80 mm/after = 1.69 ± 0.51 mm). No significant changes were found in the placebo group. The main achievement of this research was to demonstrate that caffeine at a dose of 9 mg/kg in professional athletes who regularly consume products rich in caffeine has a direct positive effect on the mechanical activity of skeletal muscle stimulated by an electric pulse.


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