Decomposition kinetics of iron (III)-diclofenac compound

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Spectrophotometric Determination of Paracetamol in Pharmaceuticals Using Microwave-Assisted Hydrolysis and a Micellar Medium

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Improvement in RNA extraction from S. cerevisie by optimization in the autolysis and NH3 hydrolysis

The optimization of autolysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae from brewery was studied aiming at the maximum ribonucleic acid extraction and yeast extract production. The best conditions for yeast autolysis was 55.2ºC, pH= 5.1 and 9.8% NaCl for 24h of processing, without the NH3 use. In these conditions, the RNA yield was 89.7%, resulting in 51.3% of dehydrated yeast extract with 57.9% protein. The use of 12.2% NH3 at 60ºC after autolysis (8h) and plasmolysis (8h) was not viable due to the reduction in the RNA yield from 89.7to78.4%. on the other hand, the thermal shock at 60ºC for 15 minutes prior to autolysis provided an increase in the yield from 89.7 to 91.4%. The autolysis, including NaCl plasmolysis in the optimized conditions was efficient, economic and with short time, thus usable for industrial purpose to obtain more valuable products such as yeast extract enriched in RNA and/or protein, for different applications.

Architecture and relevance of several strongly adhered biofilms over a polyester imide (PEI) surface

Um estudo microscópico foi considerado para analisar a eventual adesão de fungos sobre uma superfície de poliéster-imida presente em fios de cobre esmaltados. A microscopia eletrônica de varredura, permitiu observar nestes biofilmes aderidos, uma alta quantidade de pigmentos, hifas e um arsenal enzimático possivelmente atuando na superfície desta macromolécula. Devido a natureza altamente aromática deste material e traços de derivados fenólicos usados como solventes - que se fazem ainda presentes no polímero já reticulado, uma certa atividade anti-fúngica poderia ser esperada, todavia não foram observadas alterações no crescimento dos microrganismos, bem como no processo de adesão dos fungos. Adicionalmente a este fato, os fios esmaltados revelaram total descaracterização de suas propriedades isolantes. Os estudos visam compreender e avaliar o grande potencial demonstrado pelos fungos que poderia em caráter vindouro, explorado em processos de biodeterioração e biodegradação

Hidrólise da uréia em latossolos: efeito da concentração de uréia, temperatura, pH, armazenamento e tempo de incubação

Este trabalho objetivou estudar a velocidade de hidrólise da uréia em dois diferentes solos brasileiros (Latossolo Vermelho Aluminoférrico típico e Latossolo Vermelho distrófico típico) onde foram realizados ensaios sobre o efeito do tempo e condições de armazenamento, concentração do substrato (uréia), temperatura, pH e tempo de incubação sobre a atividade da urease. As melhores condições de armazenamento foram em temperatura ambiente ou 5 ºC, após secagem ao ar, por um período de até 7 dias; para as condições estudadas, o melhor tempo de incubação foi de uma hora a 25-30 ºC, sem a utilização de tampão para acertar o pH, e a concentração de uréia suficiente foi de 3,30 g L-1, para o Latossolo Vermelho Aluminoférrico típico, e de 2,5 g L-1, para o Latossolo Vermelho distrófico típico para obter a velocidade máxima da enzima.

Salting kinetics and salt diffusivities in farmed Pantanal caiman muscle

A criação de jacaré do Pantanal (Caiman crocodilus yacare) em cativeiro tem sido estimulada, e entre as técnicas de processamento de sua carne, a salga é um processo de conservação relativamente simples e de baixo custo. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a cinética de difusão de cloreto de sódio em carne de jacaré do Pantanal criado em cativeiro, durante a salga úmida. Foram utilizados volumes limitados de salmoura e os experimentos foram realizados com relações salmoura/músculo de 3, 4 e 5, com concentrações de salmoura de 15%, 20% e 25% em peso e temperaturas de 10, 15 e 20ºC. A solução analítica da segunda lei de Fick, considerando difusão unidimensional em uma placa infinita em contato com uma solução bem agitada de volume limitado, foi utilizada para calcular os coeficientes de difusão efetivos de sal e estimar o conteúdo de cloreto de sódio nos filés. Obteve-se boa concordância entre o modelo analítico considerado e os dados experimentais. As difusividades do sal nos filés ocorreram na faixa de 0,47x10-10 a 9,62x10-10 m²/s.

LENTIL TANNIN-GLOBULIN INTERACTIONAND and IN VITRO HYDROLYSIS

As frações protéicas foram isoladas dos cotiledones e os taninos isolados e purificados da casca da lentilha. A fração globulina correspondeu a 42,7 % do nitrogenio total da farinha de lentilha representando a fração protéica majoritária. Comparativamente ao metanol e metanol-HCl 1% a mistura acetona:água (7:3) representou o melhor meio extrator para os taninos da casca. A fração globulina isolada, nativa e aquecida (99oC/15 min), e caseína foram hidrolisadas com tripsina e pepsina na ausência de taninos e na presença de relações tanino:proteína de 1:40, 1:20, 1:10, 1:5 e 1:2,5. A hidrólise tríptica e péptica das proteínas não-aquecidas foram reduzidas com o aumento da relação tanino-proteína. A caseína não aquecida mostrou ser mais susceptível à tripsina que à globulina, o oposto sendo observado com a pepsina. O aquecimento seguido de interação com os taninos e hidrólise teve um efeito mais pronunciado sobre a digestão com tripsina que com pepsina para ambas proteínas.

ALLOSTERIC MODULATION BY ATP, CALCIUM AND MAGNESIUM-IONS OF RAT OSSEOUS PLATE ALKALINE-PHOSPHATASE

Alkaline phosphatase from rat osseous plate is allosterically modulated by ATP, calcium and magnesium at pH 7.5. At pH 9.4, the hydrolysis of ATP and PNPP follows Michaelis-Menten kinetics with K0.5 values of 154 muM and 42 muM, respectively. However, at pH 7.5 both substrates exhibit more complex saturation curves, while only ATP exhibited site-site interactions. Ca2+-ATP and Mg2+-ATP were effective substrates for the enzyme, while the specific activity of the enzyme for the hydrolysis of ATP at pH 7.5 was 800-900 U/mg and was independent of the ion species. ATP, but not PNPP, was hydrolyzed slowly in the absence of metal ions with a specific activity of 140 U/mg. These data demonstrate that in vitro and at pH 7.5 rat osseous plate alkaline phosphatase is an active calcium or magnesium-activated ATPase.

Short-range order kinetics in alpha-AgZn for various states of post-deformation defect annealing after cold-rolling

Kinetics of short-range ordering (SRO) in Ag with 21, 23 and 28 at% Zn is investigated by residual resistometry during isochronal and isothermal heat treatment for different states of post-deformation defect annealing after cold-rolling to about 30 and 60% thickness reduction. Resistivity changes due to pure ordering can be separated from the as-measured total resistivity change which includes defect annealing. Although the initial state of SRO of the as-rolled material can be estimated to be comparably low, for as-rolled and partially annealed states by appropriate thermal treatment evolution of SRO is achieved which corresponds quite well to that of recrystallized samples. It is observed, however, that quenched-in surplus vacancies contribute considerably to the ordering process for the recrystallized state and that this contribution is still increased by the grain growth during the final stage of annealing. It therefore turns out that SRO-kinetics under equilibrium vacancy conditions can be better observed in a state of post-deformation annealing, for which deformation induced point defects are annealed-out, but a relatively high dislocation density is still present to act as a vacancy sink. Copyright (C) 1996 Acta Metallurgica Inc.

Crystal nucleation kinetics of a metastable phase on cordierite glass surfaces

The crystal nucleation rates of a metastable phase (chi) on the surface of a near stoichiometric cordierite glass were determined for temperatures between 839 and 910 degrees C (T-g similar to 800 degrees C). The surface nucleation kinetics of that phase on our glass, as well as on a stoichiometric glass (2 MgO-2Al(2)O(3)-5SiO(2)) studied by other authors, were analysed in terms of the classical nucleation theory; for the first time. It was shown that the effective interfacial energy for surface nucleation is substantially lower than that for homogeneous volume nucleation in silicate glasses, vindicating the assumption of heterogeneous nucleation on free glass surfaces. The average wetting angle between the nucleating crystals and the active solid particles was estimated to be around 46 degrees C. The pre-exponential constant was several orders of magnitude higher than the theoretical values as found for volume homogeneous nucleation in oxide glasses.

Isolation and in vitro hydrolysis of lentil protein fractions by trypsin

The albumin and globulin fractions from lentil seeds were isolated and characterised by gel filtration. The latter was shown to be homogeneous and the former heterogeneous on PAGE. The aminoacid analysis revealed high values of amidic amino acids for both fractions with great differences in the sulphur-containing amino acids. Native albumin, globulin and salt-soluble proteins were markedly resistant to trypsin hydrolysis compared to casein. The SDS-PAGE of native salt-soluble proteins indicated that the globulin fragments (20 to 30 kD) were slowly digested in the presence of albumin. The heating increased the hydrolysis of the proteins in the order: salt-soluble, albumin and globulin. The facilitated hydrolysis of the heated salt-soluble fraction seemed to be due to protein-protein interactions induced by heat.

Structural characteristics of gels prepared from sonohydrolysis and conventional hydrolysis of TEOS: an emphasis on the mass fractal as determined from the pore size distribution

Silica gels were preparated from fixed proportion mixtures of tetraethoxysilane, water and hydrocloric acid, using either ultrasound stimulation (US) or conventional method (CO) in the hydrolysis step of the process. Wet gets were obtained with the same silica volume concentration and density. According to small-angle X-ray scattering, the structure of the wet gels can be described as mass fractal structures with mass fractal dimension D = 2.20 in a length scale xi = 7.9 nm, in the case of wet gels US, and D = 2.26 in a length scale 6.9 nm, in the case of wet gels CO. The mass fractal characteristics of the wet gels US and CO account for the different structures evolved in the drying of the gels US and CO in the obtaining of xerogels and aerogels. The pore structure of the dried gels was studied by nitrogen adsorption as a function of the temperature. Aerogels (US and CO) present high porosity with pore size distribution (PSD) curves in the mesopore region while xerogels (US and CO) present minor porosity with PSD curves mainly in the micropore region. The dried gels US (aerogels and xerogels) generally present pore volume and specific surface area greater than the dried gels CO. The mass fractal structure of the aerogels has been studied from an approach based on the PSD curves exclusively. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Crystallographic and pre-steady-state kinetics studies on binding of NADH to wild-type and isoniazid-resistant enoyl-ACP(CoA) reductase enzymes from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

An understanding of isoniazid (INH) drug resistance mechanism in Mycobacterium tuberculosis should provide significant insight for the development of newer anti-tubercular agents able to control INH-resistant tuberculosis (TB). The inhA-encoded 2-trans enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase enzyme (InhA) has been shown through biochemical and genetic studies to be the primary target for INH. In agreement with these results, mutations in the inhA structural gene have been found in INH-resistant clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis, the causative agent of TB. In addition, the InhA mutants were shown to have higher dissociation constant values for NADH and lower values for the apparent first-order rate constant for INH inactivation as compared to wild-type InhA. Here, in trying to identify structural changes between wild-type and INH-resistant InhA enzymes, we have solved the crystal structures of wild-type and of S94A, I47T and I21V InhA proteins in complex with NADH to resolutions of, respectively, 2.3 angstrom, 2.2 angstrom, 2.0 angstrom, and 1.9 angstrom. The more prominent structural differences are located in, and appear to indirectly affect, the dinucleotide binding loop structure. Moreover, studies on pre-steady-state kinetics of NADH binding have been carried out. The results showed that the limiting rate constant values for NADH dissociation from the InhA-NADH binary complexes (k(off)) were eleven, five, and tenfold higher for, respectively, I21V, I47T and S94A INH-resistant mutants of InhA as compared to INH-sensitive wildtype InhA. Accordingly, these results are proposed to be able to account for the reduction in affinity for NADH for the INH-resistant InhA enzymes. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Resistometric study of short-range order kinetics in alpha-AgZn

Short-range ordering (SRO) kinetics was investigated under temperature conditions of isochronal and isothermal annealing in completely recrystallized Ag-21, -23, -28 at.% Zn by residual resistometry. The SRO kinetics deviated considerably from a single exponential relaxation process and was therefore analysed using a log-normal spectrum of SRO relaxation times. This yields activation enthalpies for changes in the degree of SRO in good accordance with literature data. Isothermal SRO relaxation of undeformed samples was compared with that of cold-rolled and partially annealed samples.