Responses of Soil Microbial Biomass and Enzyme Activities to Tillage and Fertilization Systems in Soybean (Glycine max L.) Production.

Tillage operation and fertilizer type play important roles in soil properties as far as soil microbial condition is concerned. Information regarding the simultaneous evaluation of the effect of long-term tillage and fertilization on the soil microbial traits of soybean farms is not available. Accordingly, it was hypothesized that, the microbial biomass and enzyme activity, more often than not, respond quickly to changes in soil tillage and fertilization. Therefore, the experiments were aimed at analyzing the responses of soil microbial traits to tillage and fertilization in a soybean field in Kurdistan University, Iran. The field soil is categorized into coarse Loamy, mixed, superactive, calcareous, and mesic Typic Xerorthents. The experiments were arranged in split plot, based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Main plots consisted of long-term (since 2002) tillage systems including conventional tillage (CT), minimum tillage (MT), and no-tillage (NT). Eight fertilization methods were employed in the sub-plots, including (F1): farmyard manure (FYM); (F2): compost; (F3): chemical fertilizers; (F4): FYM + compost; (F5): FYM + chemical fertilizers; (F6): compost + chemical fertilizers; (F7): FYM + compost + chemical fertilizers and (F8): Control (without fertilizer). The highest microbial biomass carbon (385.1 µg) was observed in NT-F4 treatment. The NT treatment comparatively recorded higher values of acid phosphatase (189.1 µg PNP g-1 h-1), alkaline phosphatase (2879.6 µg PNP g-1 h-1) and dehydrogenase activity (68.1 µg PNP g-1 h-1). The soil treated with a mixture of compost and FYM inputs had the maximum urease activity of all tillage treatments. Organically manured treatment (F4) showed more activity in dehydrogenase (85.7 µg PNP g-1 h-1), acid phosphatase (199.1 µg PNP g-1 h-1), and alkaline phosphatase (3183.6 µg PNP g-1 h-1) compared to those treated with chemical fertilizers. In NT-F4 treatment, using on-farm inputs is most suitable for sustainable management and improvement in soil biological activities in soybean cultivation. We concluded that applying organic manures and employing reduced tillage systems increased soil microbial biomass and enzyme activities.

The biological effects of vanadyl curcumin and vanadyl diacetylcurcumin complexes: the effect on structure, function and oxidative stability of the peroxidase enzyme, antibacterial activity and cytotoxic effect.

Curcumin has multiple pharmacological effects, but it has poor stability. Complexation of curcumin with metals improves its stability. Here, the effects of vanadyl curcumin and vanadyl diacetylcurcumin on the function and structure of horseradish peroxidase enzyme were evaluated by spectroscopic techniques. Cytotoxic effect of the complexes was also assessed on MCF-7 breast cancer, bladder and LNCaP prostate carcinoma cell line. The results showed that the complexes improve catalytic activity of HRP, and also increase its tolerance against the oxidative condition. The result also indicated that the affinity of HRP for hydrogen peroxide substrate decreases, while the affinity increases for phenol substrate. Circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopies showed that compactness of the enzyme structure around the catalytic heme group and the distance between the heme group and tryptophan residue decreases after the binding. The antibacterial and cytotoxic results indicated that the complexes have anticancer potential, but they have no considerable antibacterial activity.

Synthesis, Characterization, Spectral Studies, Antibacterial Evaluation, Thermodynamics and DFT Calculations of Dimethyltin(IV) Dichloride Schiff Base.

A number of new 1:1 complexes of SnMe(2)Cl(2) with unsymmetrical tetradentate Schiff base ligand with NNOS coordination sphere have been synthesized and fully characterized by a variety of physico-chemical techniques viz. elemental analysis, molar conductivity, (1)H and (119)Sn NMR, IR and mass spectroscopy. IR spectral data show that the fifth coordination position of tin atom is occupied by an oxygen atom of Schiff base ligands. In the light of titled techniques, trigonal bipyramidal geometry around the tin atom is proposed for the synthesized complexes. The in vitro antibacterial activities of the complexes against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia Coli have been studied. It was found that they possess significant antibacterial activity. Also, DFT/B3LYP method was used to analyze the electronic structures and study of the geometries. The thermodynamic formation constants of the complexes were determined spectrophotometrically at 25ºC in DMF solvent.

Investigating the effect of gallium curcumin and gallium diacetylcurcumin complexes on the structure, function and oxidative stability of the peroxidase enzyme and their anticancer and antibacterial activities.

Curcumin has a wide spectrum of biological and pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiproliferative, antimicrobial and anticancer activities. Complexation of curcumin with metals has gained attention in recent years for improvement of its stability. In this study, the effect of gallium curcumin and gallium diacetylcurcumin on the structure, function and oxidative stability of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme were evaluated by spectroscopic techniques. In addition to the enzymatic investigation, the cytotoxic effect of the complexes was assessed on bladder, MCF-7 breast cancer and LNCaP prostate carcinoma cell lines by MTT assay. Furthermore, antibacterial activity of the complexes against S. aureus and E. coli was explored by dilution test method. The results showed that the complexes improve activity of HRP and also increase its tolerance against the oxidative condition. After addition of the complexes, affinity of HRP for hydrogen peroxide substrate decreases, while the affinity increases for phenol substrate. Circular dichroism, intrinsic and synchronous fluorescence spectra showed that the enzyme structure around the catalytic heme group becomes less compact and also the distance between the heme group and tryptophan residues increases due to binding of the complexes to HRP. On the whole, it can be concluded that the change in the enzyme structure upon binding to the gallium curcumin and gallium diacetylcurcumin complexes results in an increase in the antioxidant efficiency and activity of the peroxidise enzyme. The result of anticancer and antibacterial activities suggested that the complexes exhibit the potential for cancer treatment, but they have no significant antibacterial activity.

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of Cu2+, Hg2+, and Cd2+ ions using 2-(3-hydroxy-1-methylbut-2-enylideneamino)pyridine-3-ol.

New complexes of Cu2+, Hg2+, and Cd2+ with a recently synthesized Schiff base derived from 2-(3-hydroxy-1-methylbut-2-enylideneamino)pyridine-3-ol were applied for their simultaneous determination with artificial neural networks. A new analytical method using principal component-feed forward neural networks (PC-FFNNs) and principal component-radial basis function networks (PC-RBFNs) was used. Spectral data was reduced using principal component analysis and subjected to ANNs. The data obtained from synthetic mixtures of metal ions were processed by PC-FFNNs and PC-RBFNs. Performances of the proposed methods were tested with regard to relative standard error of prediction. Limit of detections and limit of quantifications were determined. The results obtained by PC-FFNNs and PC-RBFNs were compared to each other. Under the working conditions, the proposed methods were successfully applied to simultaneous determination of Hg2+, Cu2+, and Cd2+ in different water and soil samples. Concentrations of metal ions in the samples were also determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) and standard addition method. The amounts of metal ions obtained by the proposed methods were in good agreement with those obtained by FAAS and standard addition method.

New tetradentate Schiff bases of 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzaldehyde with aliphatic diamines and their metal complexes: synthesis, characterization and thermal stability.

The tetradentate Schiff base ligands (L(1)-L(4)), were synthesized by reaction between 2-amino-3,5-dibromobenzaldehyde and aliphatic diamines. Then, nickel and oxovanadium(IV) complexes of these ligands were synthesized and characterized by (1)H NMR, Mass, IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. The kinetic parameters of oxovanadium(IV) complexes were calculated from thermal studies. According to the results of thermogravimetric data, the thermal stability of oxovanadium(IV) complexes is as follow: [Formula: see text].

Coordination chemistry, thermodynamics and DFT calculations of copper(II) NNOS Schiff base complexes.

Synthesis, magnetic and spectroscopy techniques are described for five copper(II) containing tetradentate Schiff bases are synthesized from methyl-2-(N-2'-aminoethane), (1-methyl-2'-aminoethane), (3-aminopropylamino)cyclopentenedithiocarboxylate. Molar conductance and infrared spectral evidences indicate that the complexes are four-coordinate in which the Schiff bases are coordinated as NNOS ligands. Room temperature µeff values for the complexes are 1.71-1.80B.M. corresponding to one unpaired electron respectively. The formation constants and free energies were measured spectrophotometrically, at constant ionic strength 0.1M (NaClO4), at 25˚C in DMF solvent. Also, the DFT calculations were carried out to determine the structural and the geometrical properties of the complexes. The DFT results are further supported by the experimental formation constants of these complexes.

New 3,4-diaminobenzoic acid Schiff base compounds and their complexes: synthesis, characterization and thermodynamics.

Some new tetradentate Schiff base ligands (H3L) were prepared via condensation of 3,4-diaminobenzoic acid with 2-hydroxybenzaldehyde derivatives, such as 3,4-bis((E)-2,4-dihydroxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (H3L(1)), 3,4-bis((E)-2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (H3L(2)) and 3,4-bis((E)-5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (H3L(4)). Additionally, a tetradentate Schiff base ligand 3,4-bis((E)-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (H3L(3)) and its complexes were synthesized. Their metal complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) were prepared in good yields from the reaction of the ligands with the corresponding metal acetate. They were characterized based on IR, (1)H NMR, Mass spectroscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Also, the formation constants of the complexes were measured by UV-Vis spectroscopic titration at constant ionic strength 0.1M (NaClO4), at 25 °C in dimethylformamide (DMF) as a solvent.

Synthesis, characterization, and thermodynamics of some new unsymmetrical Schiff bases of salicylaldehyde with 3,4-diaminopyridine and their cobalt(III) complexes.

Some new Schiff bases derived from 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP) and their new unsymmetrical Co(III) five coordinate complexes described as [Co(Chel)(L)]ClO4⋅H2O where (Chel) is the deprotonated form of a series of unsymmetric ligands containing 3,4-diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP) and substituted salicylaldehyde moieties and a new Co(III) six coordinate Co(III) complex, were synthesized and characterized by (1)H NMR, IR, UV-Vis, and elemental analysis. For the new synthesized five coordinate complexes, the formation constants of the interaction of the Co(III) Schiff bases with various donors were measured spectrophotometrically. The trend of the formation constants of the five coordinate Co(III) Schiff base complexes toward a given phosphine is as follow: 5-H>5-Br and the formation constants trend of these donors are as follow: PBu3>PPh2Me. Furthermore the adduct formation of the five coordinate [Co(3,4-Salpyr)(PBu3)] ClO4⋅H2O, with aromatic amines shows the following binding trend: Im>2-MeIm>2-EtIm>BzIm. The trend of the formation constants of Co(III) Schiff base complexes toward a given donor according to the phosphine axial ligand is as follow: PBu3>PPh2Me.

Synthesis, spectral, thermal and thermodynamic studies of oxovanadium(IV) complexes of Schiff bases derived from 3,4-diaminobenzoic acid with salicylaldehyde derivatives.

Synthesis and evaluation of three new oxovanadium(IV) complexes, formed by the interaction of vanadyl acetylacetonate and the Schiff bases: 3,4-bis((E)-2-hydroxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (L(1)), 3,4-bis-((E)-2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (L(2)) and 3,4-bis((E)-2,4-dihydroxybenzylideneamino)benzoic acid (L(3)) in methanol. The complexes have been characterized and studied by IR spectra, UV-Vis spectroscopy and thermogravimetry in order to evaluate their thermal stability and thermal decomposition. According to the results discussed from TG curves, the order of thermal stability for the complexes is VOL(3)>VOL(1)>VOL(2). Their formation constants (Kf) were obtained by UV-Vis spectroscopic titration at 15, 25, 35 and 45 °C in methanol by SQUAD software. The trend of formation constants of the complexes as follows: VOL(3)>VOL(2)>VOL(1).

New tetradentate Schiff bases of 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-diaminopropane and acetylacetone derivatives and their vanadyl complexes.

A series of new VO(IV) complexes with two new tetradentate Schiff base of 4,4'-(2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diyl)-bis(azan-1-yl-1-yldene)dipent-2-en-2-ol) [H(2)L(1)] and 3,3'-(2,2-dimethylpropane-1,3-diyl)azan-1-yl-1-ylidene)-bis(1-phenylbut-1-en-1-ol) [H(2)L(2)] (which have been derived from 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-diaminopropan, and diketones of acetylacetone and benzoylacetone) were synthesized and characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, FT-IR, mass and UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The electrochemical properties of the vanadyl complexes were investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry. The oxidation potentials are increased by increasing the electron-withdrawing properties of functional groups of the Schiff base ligands according to the trend of Me

Contrasting soil microbial responses to fertilization and tillage systems in canola rhizosphere.

Information regarding the simultaneous evaluation of tillage and fertilization on the soil biological traits in canola production is not available. Therefore, field experiments were conducted in 2007-2010 in a split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Main plots consisted of conventional tillage (CT); minimum tillage (MT) and no tillage (NT). Six strategies of fertilization including (N1): farmyard manure (cattle manure); (N2): compost; (N3): chemical fertilizers; (N4): farmyard manure + compost; (N5): farmyard manure + compost + chemical fertilizers and (N6): control, were arranged in sub plots. Results showed that the addition of organic manure increased the soil microbial biomass. No tillage system increased microbial biomass compared to other tillage systems. The activities of all enzymes were generally higher in the N4 treatment. The activity of phosphatase and urease tended to be higher in the no tillage treatment compared to the CT and MT treatments.

Evaluation of antiviral activities of curcumin derivatives against HSV-1 in Vero cell line.

Antiviral drug resistance is one of the most common problems in medicine, and, therefore, finding new antiviral agents, especially from natural resources, seems to be necessary. This study was designed to assay the antiviral activity of curcumin and its new derivatives like gallium-curcumin and Cu-curcumin on replication of HSV-1 in cell culture. The research was performed as an in vitro study in which the antiviral activity of different concentrations of three substances including curcumin, Gallium-curcumin and Cu-curcumin were tested on HSV-1. The cytotoxicity of the tested compounds was also evaluated on the Vero cell line. The CC50 values for curcumin, gallium-curcumin and Cu-curcumin were 484.2 microg/mL, 255.8 microg/mL and 326.6 microg/mL, respectively, and the respective IC50 values 33.0 microg/mL, 13.9 microg/mL and 23.1 microg/mL. The calculated SI values were 14.6, 18.4 and 14.1, respectively. The results showed that curcumin and its new derivatives have remarkable antiviral effects on HSV-1 in cell culture.

Analysis of binding interaction of curcumin and diacetylcurcumin with human and bovine serum albumin using fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy.

The current study reports the binding of curcumin (CUR) as the main pharmacologically active ingredient of turmeric and diacetylcurcumin (DAC) as a bioactive derivative of curcumin to human serum albumin (HSA) and bovine serum albumin (BSA). The apparent binding constants and number of substantive binding sites have been evaluated by fluorescence quenching method. The distance (r) between donor (HSA and BSA) and acceptor (CUR and DAC) was obtained on the basis of the Förster's theory of non-radiative energy transfer. The minor changes on the far-UV circular dichroism spectra resulted in partial changes in the calculated secondary structure contents of HSA and BSA. The negligible alteration in the secondary structure of both albumin proteins indicated that ligand-induced conformational changes are localized to the binding site and do not involve considerable changes in protein folding. The visible CD spectra indicated that the optical activity observed during the ligand binding due to induced-protein chirality. All of the achieved results suggested the important role of the phenolic OH group of CUR in the binding process.

Interaction of curcumin and diacetylcurcumin with the lipocalin member beta-lactoglobulin.

The binding of curcumin (CUR) and diacetylcurcumin (DAC) to bovine beta-lactoglobulin (BLG) genetic variant B was investigated by fluorescence and circular dichroism techniques. The binding parameters including number of substantive binding sites and the binding constants have been evaluated by fluorescence quenching method. The distance (r) between donor (BLG) and acceptor (CUR and DAC) was obtained according to the Förster's theory of non-radiative energy transfer. The far-UV circular dichroism spectra were used to investigate the possible changes in the secondary structure of BLG in the presence of CUR and DAC and showed that these two ligands change the alpha-helix and random coil contents of this protein to some extent. The visible circular dichroism spectra indicated that the optical activity during the ligand binding was observed due to the induced-protein chirality. All of the achieved results suggested the important role of the phenolic OH group of CUR in the binding process resulted in more affinity of CUR than DAC for binding to BLG.

Synthesis and characterization of dual function vanadyl, gallium and indium curcumin complexes for medicinal applications.

Novel bis[4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl]-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione (curcumin) complexes with the formula, ML(3), where M is Ga(III) or In(III), or of the formula, ML(2) where M is [VO](2+), have been synthesized and characterized by mass spectrometry, infrared and absorption spectroscopies, and elemental analysis. A new ligand, bis[4-acetyl-3-hydroxyphenyl]-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione (diacetylbisdemethoxycurcumin, DABC) was similarly characterized; an X-ray structure analysis was performed. Vanadyl complexes tested in an acute i.p. testing protocol in STZ-diabetic rats showed a lack of insulin enhancing potential. Vanadyl complexes were, however, more cytotoxic than were the ligands alone in standard MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]ate, -2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide) cytotoxicity testing, using mouse lymphoma cells. With the exception of DABC, that was not different from VO(DABC)(2), the complexes were not significantly different from one another, with IC(50) values in the 5-10 microM range. Gallium and indium curcumin complexes had IC(50) values in the same 5-10 microM range; whereas Ga(DAC)(3) and In(DAC)(3) (where DAC=diacetylcurcumin) were much less cytotoxic (IC(50)=20-30 microM). Antioxidant capacity was decreased in VO(DAC)(2), Ga(DAC)(3), and In(DAC)(3), compared to vanadyl, gallium and indium curcumin, corroborating the importance of curcumin's free phenolic OH groups for scavenging oxidants, and correlated with reduced cytotoxic potential.