Abstract Silver nanoparticles are well known potent antimicrobial agents. Although significant progresses have been achieved on the elucidation of antimicrobial mechanism of silver nanoparticles, the ...exact mechanism of action is still not completely known. This overview incorporates a retrospective of previous reviews published and recent original contributions on the progress of research on antimicrobial mechanisms of silver nanoparticles. The main topics discussed include release of silver nanoparticles and silver ions, cell membrane damage, DNA interaction, free radical generation, bacterial resistance and the relationship of resistance to silver ions versus resistance to silver nanoparticles. The focus of the overview is to summarize the current knowledge in the field of antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles. The possibility that pathogenic microbes may develop resistance to silver nanoparticles is also discussed.
London dispersion, which constitutes the attractive part of the famous van der Waals potential, has long been underappreciated in molecular chemistry as an important element of structural stability, ...and thus affects chemical reactivity and catalysis. This negligence is due to the common notion that dispersion is weak, which is only true for one pair of interacting atoms. For increasingly larger structures, the overall dispersion contribution grows rapidly and can amount to tens of kcal mol−1. This Review collects and emphasizes the importance of inter‐ and intramolecular dispersion for molecules consisting mostly of first row atoms. The synergy of experiment and theory has now reached a stage where dispersion effects can be examined in fine detail. This forces us to reconsider our perception of steric hindrance and stereoelectronic effects. The quantitation of dispersion energy donors will improve our ability to design sophisticated molecular structures and much better catalysts.
Center of attraction: Dispersion attraction makes all the difference in the stability of molecular structures, reactivity, and the design of catalysts. Although small for one pair of interactions, dispersion grows rapidly as the molecular size increases.
Emphasis has been placed in this article dedicated to DNA damage on recent aspects of the formation and measurement of oxidatively generated damage in cellular DNA in order to provide a comprehensive ...and updated survey. This includes single pyrimidine and purine base lesions, intrastrand cross-links, purine 5',8-cyclonucleosides, DNA-protein adducts and interstrand cross-links formed by the reactions of either the nucleobases or the 2-deoxyribose moiety with the hydroxyl radical, one-electron oxidants, singlet oxygen, and hypochlorous acid. In addition, recent information concerning the mechanisms of formation, individual measurement, and repair-rate assessment of bipyrimidine photoproducts in isolated cells and human skin upon exposure to UVB radiation, UVA photons, or solar simulated light is critically reviewed.
In this review article, emphasis is placed on the critical survey of available data concerning modified nucleobase and 2-deoxyribose products that have been identified in cellular DNA following ...exposure to a wide variety of oxidizing species and agents including, hydroxyl radical, one-electron oxidants, singlet oxygen, hypochlorous acid and ten-eleven translocation enzymes. In addition, information is provided about the generation of secondary oxidation products of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine and nucleobase addition products with reactive aldehydes arising from the decomposition of lipid peroxides. It is worth noting that the different classes of oxidatively generated DNA damage that consist of single lesions, intra- and interstrand cross-links were unambiguously assigned and quantitatively detected on the basis of accurate measurements involving in most cases high performance liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. The reported data clearly show that the frequency of DNA lesions generated upon severe oxidizing conditions, including exposure to ionizing radiation is low, at best a few modifications per 106 normal bases. Application of accurate analytical measurement methods has also allowed the determination of repair kinetics of several well-defined lesions in cellular DNA that however concerns so far only a restricted number of cases.
Display omitted
•HPLC based methods are appropriate for monitoring oxidatively damage to DNA.•Single base lesions, intra- and interstrand cross-links were identified in cellular DNA.•Other modifications included halogenated bases and adducts with reactive aldehydes.•Paucity of reliable data on the base excision repair of oxidized bases in cells.
•Oxidatively generated damage to cellular DNA measured by HPLC–ESI-MS/MS.•Hydroxyl radical and one-electron oxidants induce single and more complex lesions.•Hydroxyl radical and one-electron oxidants ...show several oxidizing similarities.•DNA crosslinks and DNA–protein crosslinks are generated by one-electron oxidants.
Hydroxyl radical (OH) and one-electron oxidants that may be endogenously formed through oxidative metabolism, phagocytosis, inflammation and pathological conditions constitute the main sources of oxidatively generated damage to cellular DNA. It is worth mentioning that exposure of cells to exogenous physical agents (UV light, high intensity UV laser, ionizing radiation) and chemicals may also induce oxidatively generated damage to DNA. Emphasis is placed in this short review article on the mechanistic aspects of OH and one-electron oxidant-mediated formation of single and more complex damage (tandem lesions, intra- and interstrand cross-links, DNA–protein cross-links) in cellular DNA arising from one radical hit. This concerns DNA modifications that have been accurately measured using suitable analytical methods such as high performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. Evidence is provided that OH and one-electron oxidants after generating neutral radicals and base radical cations respectively may partly induce common degradation pathways. In addition, selective oxidative reactions giving rise to specific degradation products of OH and one-electron oxidation reactions that can be used as representative biomarkers of these oxidants have been identified.
The extraction of Compton form factors (CFFs) in a global analysis of almost all deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) proton data is presented. The extracted quantities are DVCS sub-amplitudes ...and the most basic observables which are unambiguously accessible from this process. The parameterizations of CFFs are constructed utilizing the artificial neural network technique allowing for an important reduction of model dependency. The analysis consists of such elements as feasibility studies, training of neural networks with the genetic algorithm and a careful regularization to avoid over-fitting. The propagation of experimental uncertainties to extracted quantities is done with the replica method. The resulting parameterizations of CFFs are used to determine the subtraction constant through dispersion relations. The analysis is done within the PARTONS framework.
Display omitted
•The surface modification of cellulose nanocrystals as drug delivery system is presented.•The nanotoxicity and Ecotoxicology of nanocellulose-based systems are discussed.•Commercial ...products and patents on cellulose nanocrystals are presented.
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are crystalline nanoparticles that present myriad applications. CNCs are produced from a variety of renewable sources, and they can be chemically modified. Although there are promising perspectives for introducing CNCs into pharmaceutical formulations, prior to achieving commercial products the influence of many parameters such as extraction and toxicity of the resulting products must be revealed. Since there is great physicochemical flexibility in the steps of obtaining and conjugating CNCs, there are uncountable and complex outcomes from the interactions of those parameters. We present a discussion that helps to unveil the whole panorama on the use of CNCs as drug delivery systems. The methods of producing CNCs are correlated to the resulting nanotoxicity from the cellular to organism level. This review points to relevant concerns that must be overcome to attain safe use of these nanostructures. We also discuss the patents and commercially available products based on CNCs.
In galaxy-galaxy strong gravitational lensing, Einstein rings are generated when the lensing galaxy has an axisymmetric lensing potential and the source galaxy is aligned with its symmetry centre ...along the line of sight. Using a Taylor expansion around the Einstein radius and eliminating the unknown source, I derive a set of analytic equations that determine differences of the deflection angle of the perturber weighted by the convergence of the axisymmetric lens and ratios of the convergences at the positions of the arcs from the measurable thickness of the arcs. In the same manner, asymmetries in the brightness distributions along an arc determine differences in the deflection angle of the perturber if the source has a symmetric brightness profile and is oriented parallel to or orthogonal to the caustic. These equations are the only model-independent information retrievable from observations to leading order in the Taylor expansion. General constraints on the derivatives of the perturbing lens are derived such that the perturbation does not change the number of critical curves. To infer physical properties such as the mass of the perturber or its position, models need to be inserted. The same conclusions about the scale of detectable masses (of the order of 108M⊙) and model-dependent degeneracies as in other approaches are then found and supported by analysing B1938+666 as an example. Yet, the model-independent equations show that there is a fundamental degeneracy between the main lens and the perturber that can only be broken if their relative position is known. This explains the degeneracies between lens models already found in simulations from a more general viewpoint. Hence, apart from the radii and brightness distributions of the arcs, independent information on the axisymmetric lens or the perturber has to be employed to disentangle the axisymmetric lens and the perturber. Depending on the properties of the pertuber, this degeneracy can be broken by characterising the surrounding of the lens or by measuring the time delay between quasar images embedded in the perturbed Einstein ring of the host galaxy.
PDF
