Physicochemical and Nonlinear Optical Properties of Novel Environmentally Benign Heterocyclic Azomethine Dyes: Experimental and Theoretical Studies.

Novel heterocyclic azomethine dyes were prepared by the reaction of anthracene-9-carbaldehyde with different heterocyclic amines under microwave irradiation. Structures of the azomethine dyes were confirmed by the elemental analysis, mass spectrometry and several spectroscopic techniques. We studied absorbance and fluorescence spectra of the azomethine dyes in various solvents. They are found to be good absorbers and emitters. We also report photophysical properties like, extinction coefficient, oscillator strength, stokes shift and transition dipole moment. This reflects physicochemical behaviors of synthesized dyes. In addition, their intramolecular charge transfer and nonlinear optical properties, supported by natural bond orbital technique, were also studied computationally by density functional theory. The negative nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient were measured for these dyes using the closed and open aperture Z-scan technique with a continuous wave helium-neon laser. These are found to vary linearly with solution concentration.

Data Fitting to Study Ablated Hard Dental Tissues by Nanosecond Laser Irradiation.

Laser ablation of dental hard tissues is one of the most important laser applications in dentistry. Many works have reported the interaction of laser radiations with tooth material to optimize laser parameters such as wavelength, energy density, etc. This work has focused on determining the relationship between energy density and ablation thresholds using pulsed, 5 nanosecond, neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet; Nd:Y3Al5O12 (Nd:YAG) laser at 1064 nanometer. For enamel and dentin tissues, the ablations have been performed using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. The ablation thresholds and relationship between energy densities and peak areas of calcium lines, which appeared in LIBS, were determined using data fitting. Furthermore, the morphological changes were studied using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Moreover, the chemical stability of the tooth material after ablation has been studied using Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX). The differences between carbon atomic % of non-irradiated and irradiated samples were tested using statistical t-test. Results revealed that the best fitting between energy densities and peak areas of calcium lines were exponential and linear for enamel and dentin, respectively. In addition, the ablation threshold of Nd:YAG lasers in enamel was higher than that of dentin. The morphology of the surrounded ablated region of enamel showed thermal damages. For enamel, the EDX quantitative analysis showed that the atomic % of carbon increased significantly when laser energy density increased.

Synthesis, Spectrofluorometric Studies, Micellization and non Linear Optical Properties of Blue Emitting Quinoline (AMQC) Dye.

Blue emitting 2-amino-4-(3, 4, 5-tri methoxyphenyl)-9-methoxy-5,6 dihydrobenzo[f]isoquinoline-1-carbonitrile (AMQC) dye was synthesized by one-pot multicomponent reactions (MCRs) of 3,4,5-trimethoxybenzaldehyd, malononitrile, 6-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-naphthalin-1-one and ammonium acetate. Results obtained from spectroscopic and elemental analysis of synthesized AMQC was in good agreement with their chemical structures. Fluorescence polarity study demonstrated that AMQC was sensitive to the polarity of the microenvironment provided by different solvents. In addition, spectroscopic and physicochemical parameters, including electronic absorption, excitation coefficient, stokes shift, oscillator strength, transition dipole moment and fluorescence quantum yield were investigated in order to explore the analytical potential of AMQC. Dye undergoes solubilization in different micelles and may be used as a quencher and a probe to determine the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of SDS and CTAB. Nonlinear optical parameters of AMQC dye shows relatively lower nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient at the power levels. Variation of n2 with concentration is linear in the concentration range used in the present study.

Microwave assisted synthesis, spectroscopic studies and non linear optical properties of bis-chromophores.

Bis chromophores were synthesized by the terephthalaldehyde with (4-nitrophenyl) acetonitrile/(4-flurophenyl) acetonitrile under microwave irradiation. Bis-chromophores were obtained in good to excellent yields. The structures of bis-chromophores were established by FT-IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, EI-MS and elemental analyses. Physical chemical properties such as singlet absorption, extinction coefficient, stokes shift, oscillator strength and dipole moment, were investigated by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy measurements. Further we also measured the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients of these compounds using the single beam z-scan technique with a cw argon ion laser at 514.5 nm at different concentrations in DMSO solvent. The third order nonlinear susceptibility was estimated from these measurements and it shows high nonlinearity. The high negative refractive index makes these compounds suitable for optical limiting application.

DNA hypermethylation regulates the expression of members of the Mu-class glutathione S-transferases and glutathione peroxidases in Barrett's adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The accumulation of reactive oxygen species and subsequent oxidative DNA damage underlie the development of Barrett's oesophagus (BO) and its progression to Barrett's dysplasia (BD) and adenocarcinoma (BAC). METHODS: The promoter regions of 23 genes of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) families were systematically analysed. Quantitative bisulfite pyrosequencing, real-time RT-PCR, western blot and immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis methods were utilised in this study. RESULTS: 14 genes were identified that have CpG islands around their transcription start sites: GSTs (GSTM2-M5, GSTA4, GSTP1, GSTZ1, GSTT2, GSTO1 and GSTO2) and GPXs (GPX1, GPX3, GPX4 and GPX7). Analysis of an initial set of 20 primary samples demonstrated promoter DNA hypermethylation and mRNA downregulation of GPX3, GPX7, GSTM2, GSTM3 and GSTM5 in more than half of the BAC samples. Further analysis of 159 primary human samples (37 normal, 11 BO, 11 BD and 100 BACs) indicated frequent hypermethylation (>or=10% methylation) of GPX3 (62%), GPX7 (67%), GSTM2 (69.1%) and GSTM3 (15%) in BACs. A significant inverse correlation between DNA methylation and mRNA expression level was shown for GPX3 (p<0.001), GPX7 (p = 0.002), GSTM2 (p<0.001) and GSTM5 (p = 0.01). Treatment of oesophageal cancer cell lines with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and trichostatin-A led to reversal of the methylation pattern and re-expression of these genes at the mRNA and protein levels. The IHC analysis of GPX3, GPX7 and GSTM2 on a tissue microarray that contained 75 BACs with normal squamous oesophageal samples demonstrated an absent to weak staining in tumours (52% for GPX3, 57% for GPX7 and 45% for GSTM2) and a moderate to strong immunostaining in normal samples. CONCLUSION: Epigenetic inactivation of members of the glutathione pathway can be an important mechanism in Barrett's tumourigenesis.

Theoretical optimization by genetic algorithm of delayed extraction parameters for a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

This paper presents the application of a genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize the operating parameters, namely pulse voltage and extraction delay time, when using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). Simulations predict the presence of several combinations of these parameters that give a local maximum. The aim is to locate the optimal combination (a global maximum) of pulse voltage and extraction time delay in order to focus the ions of a particular m/z value to achieve the best resolution in a given instrumental geometry. The GA locates the global maximum quickly. The results indicate that it may be possible to achieve very high resolving power by using delayed extraction (DE)-MALDI-TOFMS with parameters obtained from the GA.

The effect of digitalis on the bladder in man.

The effects of intravenous digitalis on the bladder were investigated in 36 patients. Digitalis consistently decreased the bladder capacity and in some it increased the intravesical pressure. The significance of these findings and its clinical applications are discussed.

Cancer of prostate: relief of bone pain with levodopa.

Six patients with metastatic carcinoma of the prostate were given 250 to 500 mg. of levodopa at four-hour intervals for bone pain. Four patients showed definite improvement. Based on our observation, further trial of levodopa is recommended for relief of bone pain in patients with metastatic carcinoma of the prostate.