The aim of the present work was to develop and validate a simple RP-HPLC method with UV detection to quantify peptide dendrimers in skin permeation experiments. Six dendrimers of varying positive charges (4(+), 8(+) and 16(+)) containing either histidine or arginine as terminal aminoacids were prepared by solid phase peptide synthesis. Mobile phase containing 0.02% (v/v) heptafluorobutyric acid...

Recently, multi component crystals composed of two or more molecules that form a unique crystalline structure having unique phase and properties, where its components are bond together via hydrogen bonds, have been the subject of great deal of attention, in particular those where aminoacids participate in their structure. In this work we have studied a system formed by the acids 1,1-cyclobutane...

The behavior of 2-ethoxy-(4H)-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one (1) towards nitrogen nucleophiles, e.g. ethanolamine, aromatic amines (namely: p-toluidine, p-anisidine, p-hydroxyaniline, o-hydroxyaniline, o-bromoaniline, o-phenylenediamine, p-phenylenediamine, o-tolidinediamine) p-aminobenzoic acid, glucosamine hydrochloride, 2-aminonicotinic acid, 1-naphthalenesulfonic acid hydrazide, n-decanoic acid hydra...

We present an analysis of the role of global topology on the structural stability of folded proteins in thermal equilibrium with a heat bath. For a large class of single domain proteins, we compute the harmonic spectrum within the Gaussian Network Model (GNM) and we determine the spectral dimension, a parameter describing the low frequency behaviour of the density of modes. We find a surprising...

The function of pituitary has been studied by various methods, including the measurement of its hormone content, the cytological and histochemical observations, the use of the electron microscopy and the fiuorescent antibodies. Several workers have recently carried out autoradiographic studies using tritium labelled aminoacids such as H3leucine,-glycine, or -methionine to investigate protein pr...

Procalcitonin (PCT), a 116-aminoacids prohormone, has been substantially studied over the last 2 decades in the field of sepsis. Disappointingly low sensitivity values led to the abandonment of the concept of it as a diagnostic tool and then to its being considered more as a prognostic marker with a good correlation with severe infection. Later on, growing concerns about multidrug-resistant bac...

A new and rare type of Bcr/Abl junction between exon C3 of the 3' portion of the Bcr gene and Abl exon 2 has been identified in the leukemic cells of two Ph1-positive chronic myelogenous leukemia patients in chronic phase. This is the fourth type of Bcr/Abl junction so far identified in Ph1-positive hematologic malignancies and is a consequence of an unusual breakpoint position on chromosome 22...

Background: Knowledge on metabolic aspects is essential for a better understanding of new pharmacological avenues and non-pharmacological strategies. Traumatic brain injury results in changes the composition of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which may represent a unique clinical window on brain pathophysiology. The role of excitotoxicity in mechanically-induced cell death and the molecular events t...

Cancers are characterized by unrestricted cell division and independency of growth factor and other external signal responsiveness. Eukaryotic parental cells of tumors, on the other hand, constitute tissues and other higher structures like organs and systems and are capable of performing various functions in a highly co-ordinated fashion. Hence, cancer cells may be considered as entities capabl...

Amphipatic compounds exhibit an antimicrobial action both on bacteria and fungi. It is caused by a penetrative property of hydrophobic carbon chain of the compuound into a plasma membrane as well as by additional interaction of membrane elements and a hydrophilic amphipathic compound head. Bactericidal and fungicidal activity of this compound strongly depends on chemical environmental factors. ...