Sharif Digital Repository

In this article, a new group contribution model is suggested for obtaining the thermodynamic properties of biomolecules in aqueous solutions. Accordingly, a Freed-FV model has been applied for the combinatorial free-volume term. The activity coefficients, solubilities, densities, and vapor pressures of amino acids and simple peptides in aqueous solutions were correlated, using the proposed group contribution model. Group interaction parameters of the proposed model were obtained by use of experimental data from amino acids available in the literature. The results demonstrate that the group contribution model can accurately correlate activity coefficient, solubility, density, and vapor... 

A carbon paste electrode, modified with 2, 2″-[1,7- hepthandiylbis(nitriloethylidyne)]-bis-hydroquinone and TiO 2 nanoparticles, was used for the simultaneous determination of dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA), and l-cysteine. The study was carried out by using cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry, and square wave voltammetry (SWV) techniques. Some kinetic parameters such as the electron transfer coefficient (α) and heterogeneous rate constant (k s) were also determined for the DA oxidation. A dynamic range of 8.0-1400 μM, with the detection limit of 8.4∈×∈10 -7 M for DA, was obtained using SWV (pH∈=∈7.0). The prepared electrode was successfully applied for the determination of DA, UA, and... 

A novel modified carbon-paste electrode was employed for the simultaneous determination of dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA) with good selectivity and high sensitivity. Silver nanoparticle and carbon nanotube modified carbon-paste electrode (Ag/CNT-CPE) displayed excellent electrochemical catalytic activities towards dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA). The oxidation overpotentials of DA and AA were decreased significantly compared with those obtained at the bare CPE. Differential pulse voltammetry was used for the simultaneous determination of DA and AA. The peak separation between DA and AA was 67 mV. The calibration curves for DA and AA were obtained in the range of 8.0 × 10-7-6.4 ×... 

As the use of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) in biomedical applications increases (e.g. for targeting drug delivery and imaging), patients are likely to be exposed to products containing SPION. Despite their high biomedical importance, toxicity data for SPION are limited to date. The aim of this study is to investigate the cytotoxicity of SPION and its ability to change cell medium components. Bare and poly(ethylene glycol)-co-fumarate (PEGF)-coated SPION with narrow size distributions were synthesized. The particles were prepared by co-precipitation using ferric and ferrous salts with a molar Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio of 2. Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) and primary... 

In this study, a novel biodegradable hyaluronic acid (HA) based microgel were prepared via enzymatic crosslinking of tyramine conjugated HA (HA-TA) in an inverse microemulsion. HA-TA microdroplets were crosslinked within a few seconds in the presence of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). The high water content of the polymeric network and the inherent negative charge of the HA-TA microgels provided a suitable platform for encapsulation of cationic proteins like lysozyme and TGF-β1 growth factor. The results demonstrated that lysozyme was released, after an initial burst release, in a suitable sustained manner over a period of four weeks. Both diffusion and... 

In this work, the role of dissolved oxygen in the solar and the photo-Fenton-mediated E. coli inactivation process was put under scrutiny. The effect of transient species that were produced in the presence of various natural organic matter isolates (NOM), namely Suwannee River (SR) NOM, Nordic Reservoir (NR) NOM, SR Humic acid (SRHA), and SR Fulvic acid (SRFA) was studied in detail. The role of 1 O2 in this reaction was systematically evaluated by modifying the O2 concentration (N2/O2 purging) and the matrix composition (10, 50, and 100% deuterium oxide (D2O) v/v). In the presence of NOM, 1 O2 was generated and the enhancement of E. coli inactivation rate due to charge transfer from triplet... 

In this study, a folic acid-functionalized niosome was formulated and loaded with letrozole and curcumin as a promising drug carrier system for chemotherapy of the breast cancer cells. The formulation process was optimized by varying the type of Span 80 and total lipid to drug ratio, where Span 80 and lipid to drug molar ratio of 10 resulted in the niosomes with maximum encapsulation of both drugs but minimum size. The developed niosomal formulation showed a great storage stability up to one month with the small changes in drug encapsulation efficiency and size during the storage. In addition, they showed a pH-dependent release behaviour with slow drug release at physiological pH (7.4) while... 

In this study, two new composite membranes with antifouling and anti-biofouling properties were prepared through the modification of commercial polyamide (PA) discs using combination of in-situ polymerization of polyacrylic acid (PAA) and grafting of two synthesized bi-plasmonic Au-Ag and Ag-Au photocatalysts. The synthesis and characterization of the photocatalysts in batch mode were discussed in details as primary studies. Two intense 405-nm and 532-nm lasers for Ag-Au and Au-Ag photocatalysts, respectively and a solar-simulated xenon lamp for both photocatalysts were applied for photodegradation studies and the results were compared. In addition, the effect of other parameters such as... 

Potential effects of folates on the treatment of several human diseases like cognitive function, neural tube defects, coronary heart disease and certain kinds of cancers have been discovered. However, the stability of folic acid against adverse conditions is a great concern. The present study investigates various alginate (A)–pectin (P) gastrointestinal-resistant hydrogel to immobilize folic acid. This involves evaluating different compositions of alginate–pectin to achieve higher encapsulation efficiency and stability during simulated gastric (SG) and simulated intestinal (SI) conditions. Coated alginate hydrogels with pectin resulted significant (p < 0.05) better protection of folic acid... 

Easily assembled and biocompatible chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanoparticles with multiple stimuli-responsive ability are ideally suited for efficient delivery of therapeutic agents under specific endogenous triggers. We report a simple and versatile strategy to formulate oxidative stress and pH-responsive chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanocarriers with high encapsulation efficiencies of small drug molecules and nerve growth factor protein. This is achieved through invoking the dual role of a thioketal-based weak organic acid to disperse and functionalize low molecular weight chitosan in one-pot. Thioketal embedded chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanostructures respond to oxidative stress and show... 

A batch extraction of an essential amino acid, phenylalanine, from an aqueous solution of different concentrations by an Emulsion Liquid Membrane (ELM) was developed using D2EHPA as a cationic carrier, Span 80 as the surfactant, paraffin, and kerosene as the diluents, and HCl as the internal electrolyte. All effective parameters such as the initial pH of the aqueous external phase, the electrolyte concentration in the aqueous internal phase, carrier, and surfactant concentration in the emulsion, the volume ratio of the organic to aqueous internal phase (Roi), the volume ratio of the W/O emulsion to the aqueous external phase (Rew) and time were examined and optimized using the Taguchi... 

Gold nanoparticles are potentially very attractive components for therapeutic delivery since they can be synthesized with any diameter from 1 to 200 nm to carry a payload of therapeutic molecules into a cell without triggering an immune response. Gold nanoparticles must undergo surface transformations before coupling to therapeutic molecules to become eligible for this purpose. It is now more understood that amine groups can bind to gold nanoparticles strongly, which has enabled surface modification of gold nanoparticles with amino acid lysine through its amine group. These lysine capped gold nanoparticles can further be coupled to therapeutic molecules for delivery purposes. In this study... 

In this study a novel alginate-g-poly(acrylic acid)/alumina composite was synthesized and characterized. Preparation of the composite hydrogels involved free radical polymerization of a combination of alginate, acrylic acid (AA) and distilled water, in appropriate amounts and N,N-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinking agent. The composite formation was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR). The surface morphologies of the synthesized hydrogels were assessed by scanning electron microscopy. Systematically, the different variables of the graft copolymerization were optimized to achieve maximum swelling capacity. The swelling of superabsorbent hydrogels was... 

Hydrogels of poly(acrylic acid) grafted onto salep with excellent water absorption and water retention abilities under neutral conditions were successfully synthesized for the first time and employed for different applications. The effect of reaction variables to achieve maximum swelling capacity was investigated. In our procedure, ammonium persulfate (APS) as a water-soluble initiator and methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as a suitable crosslinking agent were used and the best synthesis conditions described. The structure of the final product was confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy SEM and TGA analysis and a mechanism for superabsorbent... 

Fluorescence spectroscopy in combination with circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy were used to investigate the interaction of water-soluble amino acid Schiff base complexes, [Zn(L1,2)(phen)] where phen is 1,10-phenanthroline and H2L1,2 is amino acid Schiff base ligands, with bovine serum albumin (BSA) under the physiological conditions in phosphate buffer solution adjusted to pH 7.0. The quenching mechanism of fluorescence was suggested as static quenching according to the Stern-Volmer equation. Quenching constants were determined using the Stern-Volmer equation to provide a measure of the binding affinity between amino acid Schiff base complexes and BSA. The thermodynamic parameters ΔG, ΔH... 

The Taguchi method, a robust experimental design, was used for optimization of synthesis of a novel biopolymer-based superabsorbent hydrogel, kappa-carrageenan (K-C)-g-acrylic acid (AA)-co-2-acrylamido-2- methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS). The Taguchi method was applied for the experimental and standard 18 orthogonal arrays (OA) with seven factors and three levels for each factor. In the synthesis of the superabsorbent, N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) as crosslinker, ammonium persulfate (APS) as initiator, monomer ratio (AA/AMPS), K-C concentration, Total Monomer, neutralization percent (NU), and reaction temperature were used as important factors. After analyzing with analysis of... 

The effects of selected metal ions on the gas-phase acidity of weak organic acids have been explored using the DFT and Moller-Plesset Perturbation Theory (MP2) calculations. The three organic acids selected for this study were acetic acid (aliphatic), benzoic acid (aromatic), and glycine (amino acid). The acidities of these compounds are compared with the acidity of their Li +-, Na+-, and K+ -complexed species. The results indicate that upon complexation with Li+, Na+, and K+ at 298K, the gas-phase acidity of acetic acid, for example, varies from 345.3 to 218.8, 230.2, and 240.1 kcal/mol, respectively (i.e., its dissociation becomes much less endothermic). These values indicate that a weak... 

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), a single DNA base varying from one individual to another, are believed to be the most frequent form responsible for genetic differences. Genotype is the conflated information of a pair of haplotypes on homologous chromosomes. Although haplotypes have more information for disease associating than individual SNPs and genotype, it is substantially more difficult to determine haplotypes through experiments. Hence, computational methods which can reduce the cost of determining haplotypes become attractive alternatives. MEC, as a standard model for haplotype reconstruction, is fed by fragments as input to infer the best pair of haplotypes with minimum error... 

A combination of periodic acid or oxone® and a catalytic amount of KBr in the presence of few drops of water, were used for the catalytic oxidation of urazoles and bis-urazoles to their corresponding triazolinediones under mild and heterogeneous conditions with moderate to excellent yields. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved  

The electrochemical behavior of ascorbic acid (AA) and uric acid (UA) at the surface of a carbon-paste electrode modified with incorporate thionine-nafion ion-paired was thoroughly investigated. The results show the presence of nafion inside the matrix of modified electrode, because of the effective ion-pairing and hydrophobic interactions, significantly enhances the stability of thionine as an electron mediator inside the modified electrode. A high reproducibility in voltammetric response to analyte species results because of this enhancement. The cyclic voltammetric studies using the prepared modified electrode show the best electrocatalytic property for the electro-oxidation of AA and...