Reduced Form Research Articles

THE CONDOMINIUM IDEA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY IN BUDAPEST

In the first half of the 20th century, the idea of the family house and the suburb emerged in reduced form through the construction of condominiums in Budapest. While the suburb idea required intervention via urban development, and thus the involvement of public authorities, condominium construction was viable even the scale of a single plot. […]

Aryldiazonium reduction mechanism deciphered by scanning electrochemical microscopy through an EC’ process

Homogeneous redox catalysis, often associated to EC’ mechanisms, is an elegant way to investigate electron transfer processes. Among the electrochemical tools employed to decipher such processes, scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) is a powerful technique to unravel complex EC’ mechanisms, especially those involving short life time intermediates. Herein, it is employed to decipher the mediated reduction of 4-nitrobenzenediazonium by the reduced form of a redox mediator, chloranil, electrogenerated at the tip of the SECM. This strategy that relocates the reduction of the aryldiazonium far from the tip surface allows protecting the tip from passivation and producing very reactive intermediates, i.e. aryl radicals, in solution. Combined with simulations, the SECM in the feedback mode allows describing the whole reduction mechanism and evidences the reaction pathway implying reactive radical species issued from the aryldiazonium reduction. Particularly, it is demonstrated that an irreversible reaction occurring between the aryl radical and the redox mediator is a predominant side reaction.

Naphthalene Phthalimide Derivatives as Model Compounds for Electrochromic Materials.

Electrochromism of organic compounds is a well-known phenomenon; however, nowadays, most research is focused on anodic coloring materials. Development of efficient, cathodic electrochromic materials is challenging due to the worse stability of electron accepting materials compared with electron donating ones. Nevertheless, designing stable cathodic coloring organic materials is highly desired-among other reasons-to increase the coloration performance. Hence, four phthalimide derivatives named 1,5-PhDI, 1,4-PhDI, 2,6-PhDI and 3,3'-PhDI were synthesized and analyzed in depth. In all cases, two imide groups were connected via naphthalene (1,5-PhDI, 1,4-PhDI, 2,6-PhDI) or 3,3'-dimethylnaphtidin (3,3'-PhDI) bridge. To observe the effect of chemical structure on physicochemical properties, various positions of imide bond were considered, namely, 1,5- 1,4- and 2,6-. Additionally, a compound with the pyromellitic diimide unit capped with two 1-naphtalene substituents was obtained. All compounds were studied in terms of their thermal behavior, using differential calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Moreover, electrochemical (CV, DPV) and spectroelectrochemical (UV-Vis and EPR) analyses were performed to evaluate the obtained materials in terms of their application as cathodic electrochromic materials. All obtained materials undergo reversible electrochemical reduction which leads to changes in their optical properties. In the case of imide derivatives, absorption bands related to both reduced and neutral forms are located in the UV region. However, importantly, the introduction of the 3,3'-dimethylnaphtidine bridge leads to a noticeable bathochromic shift of the reduced form absorption band of 3,3'-PhDI. This indicates that optimization of the phthalimide structure allows us to obtain stable, cathodic electrochromic materials.

Soluble sugars, organic acids and energy metabolism involved in the wound healing of muskmelons elicited by benzothiadiazole

Benzothiadiazole (BTH) is an analogue of salicylic acid, which can reduce the disease severity in many harvested horticultural products via inducing resistance. In this study, muskmelons (cv. Perfect) were used as the materials to investigate BTH dipping on the sugars, organic acids and energy metabolism during healing. Results demonstrated that BTH increased fructose, glucose and sucrose contents at wounds of muskmelons in the early stage of healing. Further, BTH enhanced the contents of pyruvic acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, α-ketoglutaric acid and succinic acid, but decreased citric acid content. BTH also increased nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and its reduced form (NADH) contents. Moreover, BTH up-regulated ATP synthase subunit β and CmAAC expressions, but down-regulated CmAOX1D, CmUCP and CmPM-ATPase expressions, thereby maintaining the higher levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and energy charge (EC). Taken together, BTH could promote the levels of soluble sugars, organic acids and energy at muskmelon wounds, which provide carbon skeletons and energy required for synthesis, transportation and cross linking of precursors of suberin and lignin, contributing to the formation of healing tissue.

A 5 item version of the Workplace Activity Limitation Scale successfully identifies impaired work productivity in rheumatoid arthritis patients: A split‐sample factor analysis approach

There is a growing interest in studying the effects of arthritis on a person's work productivity using a growing variety of outcome indicators. To develop a valid and reliable shortened version of the Workplace Activity Limitation Scale 12 (WALS-12) for assessing work productivity limitations in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. A cross-sectional study involving 277 RA patients was conducted. An exploratory factor analysis on WALS-12 was used for item reduction on the first sample. Then confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was run to establish the best fit indices of the reduced version. On the second sample, CFA and linear discriminant analysis were performed to assess the diagnostic performance and discriminant ability of the reduced form. A Bland-Altman method was used to find the agreement between the WALS-12 and the reduced one. The WALS-12 was reduced to 5 items. The Cronbach α was 0.817, with a composite reliability of 0.715. The Spearman rho correlation coefficient ranged between 0.675 and 0.795 for WALS-5, which was higher for the scale items with their domains than the correlation of WALS-5 with the domains of Work Limitations Questionnaire-25. Also, the root square of the average variant extracted from WALS-5 was 0.802. WALS-5 showed excellent discriminant ability with an area under the curve of 0.98 (P < .001), sensitivity of 97%, specificity of 82%, and accuracy of 94%. The reduced version WALS-5 was in agreement with the original version WALS-12. WALS-5 is a valid and reliable tool to assess the work productivity limitations in RA patients.

Metabolic profiling of transferred mitochondria using FLIM intensity based image segmentation (FIBIS).

Bulk metabolic assays on cell populations have shown that mitochondria transfer trigger breast cancer cells turn towards oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in favor of proliferation, migration, and cell growth. Yet, the current methods lack single cell resolution of interaction between endogenous and exogenous mitochondria to help understand the consequence metabolic alterations and other cell fate decisions. The phasor approach to fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) has been widely used to measure the free to bound fraction of reduced form of NADH to quantify metabolic changes in live cells but not at the single mitochondrial scale. Here, we developed the FIBIS algorithm as a robust approach to recognize mitochondria from NADH intensity and further analyze mitochondrial metabolic states to investigate mitochondria transfer. We demonstrate that the NADH autofluorescence perfectly localizes with Mito7-mRuby labeled mitochondria and is free from artifactual emission spectral overlaps. Our data indicates that there was a 40% and a 20% increased fraction of bound NADH after mitochondria transfer in MCF7 and MB231 cells, respectively. This suggests that there is an enhancement of OXPHOS for both breast cancer cells. This was in correlation with the results from the Seahorse XF analyzer where the oxygen consumption rate was significantly higher after uptake of isolated mitochondria from breast epithelial cells. We also used Mitometer to show that there were increasing numbers of mitochondria and branching which imply that the fusion of exogenous and endogenous mitochondria are highly adaptable and increase cellular respiration. In summary, the FIBIS enables single mitochondrial metabolic profiling and aids in understanding the effects of transferred mitochondria to recipient cells. Our results also indicate that transferred mitochondria in cancer cells enhances OXPHOS, increased branching, and mitochondrial numbers, thereby decreasing cell viability and increasing sensitivity to chemotherapy agents.

Generation IV Nuclear Reactor: Coolant Materials in the Supercritical State

On the basis of the generalized van der Waals equations of state, the quasispinodal and the supercritical-point parameters of the Generation IV nuclear reactor coolant materials, namely, sodium, lead and bismuth, have been determined. To improve accuracy, the known van der Waals equation of state has been generalized in three different ways. That is, the attractive term in the van der Waals equation of state has been modified by introducing new substance-specific parameters. The parameters of the generalized van der Waals equations of state have been determined through vapor-liquid critical-point parameters. The mean percentage error in the determined quasispinodal for sodium, lead, and bismuth is less than 3% in comparison with the Semenchenko correlation. T he temperature correlation of the quasispinodal pressure for sodium, lead, and bismuth, formulated in this work, is statistically excellent with the mean correlation coefficient of 0.99995 and the coefficient of determination of 0.999895. The mean supercritical-point parameters of sodium, lead, and bismuth, based on the three-parameter generalized van der Waals equations of state, are found to be (28.80 MPa, 15.1563 10−5 m3/mol, and 2563 K), (207.2275 MPa, 8.876 10−5 m3/mol, and 5278 K) and (155.338 MPa, 10.5923 10−5 m3/mol, and 4788 K) respectively. The generalized van der Waals equations of state are presented in the reduced form from which follows the law of corresponding states.

Macrocyclic chemosensors with anthraquinone signaling unit built into ionophore. Experimental and computational studies (part I) - synthesis and effect of proton binding on spectrophotometric and electrochemical properties

Two macrocyclic chemosensors with anthraquinone signaling unit incorporated into ionophore system (via positions 1 and 8) have been synthesized and subsequently their physicochemical properties became the subject of our extensive research. First ligand, labeled in the paper as AQ-Ncrown is characterized by a cyclic structure of a crown ether, while second one AQ-Ncrypt includes an additional ethoxy bridge, which ensures the bicyclic character of a cryptand. The studied macrocycles possess both oxygen and nitrogen heteroatoms in the ionophore cavity. Dualistic (chromophore and electrophore) signaling nature of described compounds, makes them potentially attractive molecular recognition systems. The aim of our research was to synthesize and analyze the spectroscopic, acid-base and redox properties of aforesaid macrocycles. Furthermore, we have combined experimental approach together with theoretical investigations. The equilibrium structures of AQ-Ncrown and AQ-Ncrypt were determined with the use of DFT calculations. The sensitivity of studied macrocycles towards interactions with protons was scrutinized. The complete pH-spectrophotometric characteristic of studied ligands together with their protolytic forms and corresponding pKa values were determined. The influence of medium (aprotic and protic solvent) on spectral effects was described. Furthermore, the molecular electrostatic potential maps for ligands and differential electron densities for their mono and dianions were calculated. The redox reactions was investigated at different pHs by cyclic voltammetry. Electrochemical results have presented intriguing phenomenon: the specific stabilization of the reduced form of the protonated molecules. The calculations have revealed that this is a consequence of barrierless intramolecular proton transfer (from the macrocycle cavity onto the anthraquinone moiety) that might occur during the reduction process in acidic medium.

Flow Characteristics and Hydraulic Lift of Coandă Effect-Based Pick-Up Method for Polymetallic Nodule

The deep-sea mining vehicle is the main component of the undersea exploitation system, which gathers polymetallic nodules with its professionally designed seabed collector. The Coandă effect-based collecting method is an improved hydraulic method that forms an adverse pressure gradient over the nodules by performing wall jet flow over a rounded convex surface. In comparison to the circular cylinder surface, the effect of wall jet over the logarithmic spiral surface has a self-preserving nature, which can be advantageous to the nodule collecting. However, this effect on lift capability has seldom been studied before. In the present investigation, a reduced form modelling jet flows over logarithmic spiral surfaces was performed to study the flow characteristics and lift ability of the newly designed Coandă effect-based collector. The jet-half width has been optimized to study the influence of wall curvature on the growth rate. The lift ability was found to be stronger with larger jet exit velocity, local curvature, or non-dimensional jet slot height. The growth rate, which represents the width of the main jet flow, went up in proportion to the downstream distance. The lift capability of jet flow in logarithmical spiral of x/R = 1 is significantly better than that of x/R = 2/3.

Spontaneous Reduction by One Electron on Water Microdroplets Facilitates Direct Carboxylation with CO2.

Recent advances in microdroplet chemistry have shown that chemical reactions in water microdroplets can be accelerated by several orders of magnitude compared to the same reactions in bulk water. Among the large plethora of unique properties of microdroplets, an especially intriguing one is the strong reducing power that can be sometimes as high as alkali metals as a result of the spontaneously generated electrons. In this study, we design a catalyst-free strategy that takes advantage of the reducing ability of water microdroplets to reduce a certain molecule, and the reduced form of that molecule can convert CO2 into value-added products. By spraying the water solution of C6F5I into microdroplets, an exotic and fragile radical anion, C6F5I•-, is observed, where the excess electron counter-intuitively locates on the σ* antibonding orbital of the C-I bond as evidenced by anion photoelectron spectroscopy. This electron weakens the C-I bond and causes the formation of C6F5-, and the latter attacks the carbon atom on CO2, forming the pentafluorobenzoate product, C6F5CO2-. This study provides a good example of strategically making use of the spontaneous properties of water microdroplets, and we anticipate that microdroplet chemistry will be a green avenue rich in new opportunities in CO2 utilization.

Advances in the Physico-Chemical, Antimicrobial and Angiogenic Properties of Graphene-Oxide/Cellulose Nanocomposites for Wound Healing

Graphene oxide (GO) and its reduced form (rGO) have recently attracted a fascinating interest due to their physico-chemical properties, which have opened up new and interesting opportunities in a wide range of biomedical applications, such as wound healing. It is worth noting that GO and rGO may offer a convenient access to its ready dispersion within various polymeric matrices (such as cellulose and its derivative forms), owing to their large surface area, based on a carbon skeleton with many functional groups (i.e., hydroxyl, carboxyl, epoxy bridge, and carbonyl moieties). This results in new synergic properties due to the presence of both components (GO or rGO and polymers), acting at different length-scales. Furthermore, they have shown efficient antimicrobial and angiogenic properties, mostly related to the intracellular formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are advantageous in wound care management. For this reason, GO or rGO integration in cellulose-based matrixes have allowed for designing highly advanced multifunctional hybrid nanocomposites with tailored properties. The current review aims to discuss a potential relationship between structural and physico-chemical properties (i.e., size, edge density, surface chemistry, hydrophilicity) of the nanocomposites with antimicrobials and angiogenic mechanisms that synergically influence the wound healing phenomenon, by paying particular attention to recent findings of GO or rGO/cellulose nanocomposites. Accordingly, after providing a general overview of cellulose and its derivatives, the production methods used for GO and rGO synthesis, the mechanisms that guide antimicrobial and angiogenic processes of tissue repair, as well as the most recent and remarkable outcomes on GO/cellulose scaffolds in wound healing applications, will be presented.

Reduced volume of diabetic pancreatic islets in rodents detected by synchrotron X-ray phase-contrast microtomography and deep learning network

The pancreatic islet is a highly structured micro-organ that produces insulin in response to rising blood glucose. Here we develop a label-free and automatic imaging approach to visualize the islets in situ in diabetic rodents by the synchrotron radiation X-ray phase-contrast microtomography (SRμCT) at the ID17 station of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The large-size images (3.2mm×15.97mm) were acquired in the pancreas in STZ-treated mice and diabetic GK rats. Each pancreas was dissected by 3000 reconstructed images. The image datasets were further analysed by a self-developed deep learning method, AA-Net. All islets in the pancreas were segmented and visualized by the three-dimension (3D) reconstruction. After quantifying the volumes of the islets, we found that the number of larger islets (=>1500 μm3) was reduced by 2-fold (wt 1004±94 vs GK 419±122, P<0.001) in chronically developed diabetic GK rat, while in STZ-treated diabetic mouse the large islets were decreased by half (189±33 vs 90±29, P<0.001) compared to the untreated mice. Our study provides a label-free tool for detecting and quantifying pancreatic islets in situ. It implies the possibility of monitoring the state of pancreatic islets in vivo diabetes without labelling.

Microbial chemolithoautotrophs are abundant in salt marsh sediment following long-term experimental nitrate enrichment.

Long-term anthropogenic nitrate (NO3-) enrichment is a serious threat to many coastal systems. Nitrate reduction coupled with the oxidation of reduced forms of sulfur is conducted by chemolithoautotrophic microbial populations in a process that decreases nitrogen (N) pollution. However, little is known about the diversity and distribution of microbes capable of carbon fixation within salt marsh sediment and how they respond to long-term NO3- loading. We used genome-resolved metagenomics to characterize the distribution, phylogenetic relationships, and adaptations important to microbial communities within NO3--enriched sediment. We found NO3- reducing sulfur oxidizers became dominant members of the microbial community throughout the top 25cm of the sediment following long-term NO3- enrichment. We also found that most of the chemolithoautotrophic genomes recovered contained striking metabolic versatility, including the potential for complete denitrification and evidence of mixotrophy. Phylogenetic reconstruction indicated that similar carbon fixation strategies and metabolic versatility can be found in several phylogenetic groups, but the genomes recovered here represent novel organisms. Our results suggest that the role of chemolithoautotrophy within NO3--enriched salt marsh sediments may be quantitatively more important for retaining carbon and filtering NO3- than previously indicated and further inquiry is needed to explicitly measure their contribution to carbon turnover and removal of N pollution.

Enhanced immobilization of lead, cadmium, and arsenic in smelter-contaminated soil by sulfidated zero-valent iron

Soils contaminated with multiple heavy metal(loid)s (HMs) such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and arsenic (As) are of great concern in many countries. In this study, taking three lead-zinc smelter soils, the performance of sulfidated zero-valent iron (S-ZVI) toward Pb, Cd, and As immobilization was systemically investigated. Results showed that more than 88% of water-extractable Pb and Cd could be immobilized and transformed into reducible, oxidizable, and/or reducible forms by S-ZVI within 3 h, whereas only 3–56% of them could be immobilized by unsulfidated ZVI even after 72 h. Meanwhile, the phytoavailability of the tested HMs could be effectively reduced by 79% after S-ZVI amendment. More importantly, anoxic/oxic incubation tests revealed that the dissolved concentrations of HMs were much lower in S-ZVI-treated soils than in the untreated or unmodified ZVI-treated soils. Speciation analysis further suggested that unmodified ZVI seemed to reduce the long-term soil stability by changing the residual HMs species to mild-acid soluble and/or reducible ones. In contrast, S-ZVI could effectively alleviate the remobilization of HMs under the changeover of soil redox environments. All these findings indicate that S-ZVI may be a promising amendment for the immobilization of Pb, Cd, and As in smelter-contaminated soil.

The first supraicosahedral osmacarboranes and dynamic behavior of 13-vertex carborane

Reaction of reduced form of 13-vertex carborane closo-1,2-(CH2)3–1,2-C2B11H11 (1) with [(ƞ6-p-cymene)OsCl2]2 in toluene solution affords two new isomeric osmacarboranes 2,3-(CH2)3–1-(p-cymene)-closo-1,2,3-OsC2B11H11 (2) and 2,8-(CH2)3–1-(p-cymene)-closo-1,2,8-OsC2B11H11 (3). The most thermodynamically stable product 3 forms due to the side redox process, which involve cage isomerization in 2. The reactions of [(ƞ6-p-cymene)OsCl2]2 with Na2(THF)n[nido-1,2-CH2XCH2-1,2-C2B10H10] (X = CH2, O) afford 12-vertex complexes 2,3-CH2XCH2-1-(p-cymene)-closo-1,2,3-OsC2B10H10 due to the decapitation of the carborane ligand. Low temperature NMR experiments and DFT study reveal low barrier cage rearrangement in 1.

Glutathione restores the mitochondrial redox status and improves the function of the cardiovascular system in old rats.

Introduction: Aging is accompanied by cardiovascular disorders which is associated with an imbalance of pro- and antioxidant systems, the mitochondrial dysfunction, etc. Glutathione (GSH) plays a critical role in protecting cells from oxidative damage. The aim of the work was to study the effect of exogenous glutathione on the redox status of mitochondria, the content of H2S and the function of the cardiovascular system in old rats. Methods: Experiments were performed on adult (6months) and old (24months) Wistar rats divided into three groups: adult, old and glutathionetreated old rats. Glutathione was injected intraperitoneally at a dose of 52mg/kg. We investigated glutathione redox balance, H2S levels, oxidative stress, the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP), the resistance of isolated heart to ischemia/reperfusion in Langendorff model, endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of isolated aortic rings, and cardiac levels of 3-MST, CSE, and UCP3 mRNA were determined using real-time PCR analysis. Results: Our data shows that in old rats treated with glutathione, the balance of its oxidized and reduced form changes in the direction of a significant increase (by 53.6%) of the reduced form. Glutathione pretreatment significantly increased the H2S levels, mtNOS activity, and UCP3 expression which considered as protective protein, and conversely, significantly decreased oxidative stress markers (the rate of O2•- generation, the levels of H2O2, diene conjugates and malone dialdehyde, in 2.5, 2.3, 2, and 1.6 times, respectively) in heart mitochondria. This was associated with the inhibition mitochondrial permeability transition pore opening and increased resistance of the isolated heart to ischemia/reperfusion in these animals. At the same time, in glutathione-treated old rats, we also observed restoration of endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation responses to acetylcholine, which were almost completely abolished by the NO-synthase inhibitor L-NAME. Conclusion: Thus, the pretreatment of old rats with glutathione restores the mitochondrial redox status and improves the function of the cardiovascular system.

Properties of Biochars Prepared from Different Crop Straws and Leaching Behavior of Heavy Metals

In this study, rice straw, soybean straw, wheat straw, and corn straw were chosen as raw materials, and biochars were prepared through the pyrolysis method at 550℃ under oxygen-limited conditions to investigate the physicochemical properties of biochars derived from the straws, the migration and transformation characteristics of heavy metals (HMs) (Cr, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, and Pb) after pyrolysis, and their leaching behaviors in different leaching solutions. The results showed that the physicochemical properties and elemental composition of the biochars were basically consistent. However, compared with that of biochars derived from other straws, biochar derived from wheat straw had a higher ash content (22.48%) and H/C radio (0.06). Meanwhile, biochar derived from corn straw had a smaller micropore volume (0.006 cm3·g-1) and a correspondingly smaller specific surface area (110.120 m2·g-1), which was consistent with the SEM image. After pyrolysis, the content of HMs (except Cd) increased by 14.04% to 410.81%, especially that of Cu and As. However, the content of Cd in soybean straw and corn straw decreased by 20.49% and 8.20% after pyrolysis, respectively, due to the low boiling point of Cd. Furthermore, most of the HMs (except Cd and Pb) tended to transform from unstable (acid-soluble/exchangeable and reducible forms) to stable forms (oxidizable and residual forms), implying that pyrolysis facilitated the stabilization of the HMs. The HMs in biochar were not leached or were leached in small amounts in ultra-pure water and buffered salt solutions, as opposed to leaching in relatively larger amounts in acetic acid solution and humic acid solution. Cr and Ni showed low leaching capacity in all leaching solutions. Cu showed relatively high leaching capacity in acetic acid solution, with the leaching amount ranging from 2.601 mg·kg-1 to 4.224 mg·kg-1, and As showed a relatively high leaching capacity in humic acid solution, with the leaching amount ranging from 0.074 mg·kg-1to 0.166 mg·kg-1. After pyrolysis, the environmental quality index (PIi) and the Nemerow pollution index (NPI) values of various HMs increased by different degrees. However, the pollution of single HMs remained at a safe level, and the integrated pollution of biochars was at the level of "clean". Due to the significant increase in potential ecological risk factors (Er) of Ni, Cd, and Pb after pyrolysis, the potential ecological risk index (RI) of biochar derived from the rice straw increased slightly. However, the potential ecological risk indexes of biochars derived from other straws significantly decreased after pyrolysis, owing to the stabilization of HMs.

Total and reduced/oxidized forms of coenzyme Q10 in fibroblasts of patients with mitochondrial disease

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is involved in ATP production through electron transfer in the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex. CoQ10 receives electrons from respiratory chain complex I and II to become the reduced form, and then transfers electrons at complex III to become the oxidized form. The redox state of CoQ10 has been reported to be a marker of the mitochondrial metabolic state, but to our knowledge, no reports have focused on the individual quantification of reduced and oxidized CoQ10 or the ratio of reduced to total CoQ10 (reduced/total CoQ10) in patients with mitochondrial diseases.We measured reduced and oxidized CoQ10 in skin fibroblasts from 24 mitochondrial disease patients, including 5 primary CoQ10 deficiency patients and 10 respiratory chain complex deficiency patients, and determined the reduced/total CoQ10 ratio.In primary CoQ10 deficiency patients, total CoQ10 levels were significantly decreased, however, the reduced/total CoQ10 ratio was not changed. On the other hand, in mitochondrial disease patients other than primary CoQ10 deficiency patients, total CoQ10 levels did not decrease. However, the reduced/total CoQ10 ratio in patients with respiratory chain complex IV and V deficiency was higher in comparison to those with respiratory chain complex I deficiency.Measurement of CoQ10 in fibroblasts proved useful for the diagnosis of primary CoQ10 deficiency. In addition, the reduced/total CoQ10 ratio may reflect the metabolic status of mitochondrial disease.

Continuous Measurement of Reactive Oxygen Species Formation in Bacteria-infected Bone Marrow-derived Macrophages Using a Fluorescence Plate Reader.

Macrophages are at the center of innate immunity and are the main target cells of the intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. The production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) is the host's early response to invading microbes, as oxidative stress is highly toxic for bacteria. Adequate ROS/RNS production in infected macrophages is critical for the clearance of intracellular pathogens; this is achieved by several enzymes, including inducible NADPH phagocyte oxidase (NOX) and nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), respectively. The pro-inflammatory cytokine interferon gamma (IFNγ), primarily produced by activated natural killer cells and T-helper cells type 1, is a potent inducer of iNOS. Therefore, it is crucial for infection control through oxidative microbicidal activity. To characterize the early oxidative stress response via ROS formation, which is critical for the reduction of Salmonella proliferation within macrophages, we established an in vitro model of murine macrophages infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S.tm). This serovar induces a systemic infection in mice that is frequently used as a model for typhoid fever, which, in human subjects, is caused by Salmonella Typhi. We generated bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) from C57BL/6N wildtype mice using macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) stimulation for six days. Thereafter, we infected BMDM withS. tm for one hour. Shortly before infection, cells were stained with CellROXTM Deep Red reagent. In its reduced form, CellROXTM is non-fluorescent. As a result of oxidation by ROS, this reagent exhibits strong fluorescence and persists within the cells. Subsequently, changes as a result of the oxidative stress response can be measured with a TECAN Spark microplate reader over time. We designed this protocol to measure oxidative stress in macrophages through the course of an infection with an intracellular bacterium. The protocol has several advantages over established techniques. First, it allows to continuously monitor and quantify ROS production in living cells from the very start of the infection to the final clearance of the intracellular pathogen. Second, this protocol enables efficient ROS detection without stressing the cells by detaching or staining procedures. Graphical abstract.

Получение и исследование физико-химических свойств покрытий на основе графеноподобных материалов

Dispersions of graphene oxide and its reduced form have been obtained. The resulting dispersions were characterized by UV spectroscopy. The features of the graphene oxide reduction process in the composition of coatings deposited on solid substrates (aluminum, optical glass, KDP single crystal) by interaction with various reducing agents: hydrazine hydrate, formalin, ascorbic and citric acids, and ammonium citrate are studied. Surface structures were studied by Raman spectroscopy. The surface morphology of coatings and the defectiveness of graphene-like materials obtained by the reduction of graphene oxide dispersions on the surface of substrates have been studied.