Alkalophiles

Alkalophiles are a class of extremophiles capable of survival in alkaline (pH roughly 8.5–11) environments, growing optimally around a pH of 10. At such high pH, the normal cellular functions are detrimentally affected for mesophilic organisms. The alkalophiles successfully manage stability of DNA, plasma membrane, and function of cytosolic enzymes, as well as other unfavorable physiological changes at such an elevated pH. A recent development in NextGen sequencing technology facilitates identifying uncultivable organisms amongst the extreme environments. In recent years, distribution of alkalophiles was reported from Soda Lake, marine environments, saline deserts, and natural thermal vents to natural water bodies. Although alkalophiles were first reported in 1889, their enzymatic and industrial applications still make them an interesting area of research. This chapter provides basic information on environmental distribution, taxonomy, physiology, bioenergetics, and survival mechanism and enzymes produced by alkalophilic organisms.

Affective Movement in Robotic Art: Alternatives to the ‘Interiority Paradigm’ in Social Robotics

This papercritically evaluates how emotional and intentional movement is conceptualisedand deployed in social robotics and provides an alternative by analysingcontemporary robotic artworks that deal with affective human-robot interaction(HRI). Within HRI, movement as a way of communicating emotions and intent hasbecome a topic of increased interest, which has made social robotics turn totheatre and dance due to the expertise of these fields in expressive movement.This paper will argue that social robotics’ way of using performative methodswith regards to emotional movement is, nonetheless, limited and carries certainchallenges.  These challenges aregrounded on the claim that social robotics participates in what the authorcalls an ‘interiority paradigm’. That is, movement is understood to be theexpression of inner, pre-determined states. The 'interiority paradigm' poses several challenges to the development of emotional movement, with regards to unaddressed human androbotic imaginaries, an emphasis in legibility and familiarity, and arestrictive interior/exterior binary that limits the role of movement in anaffective connection. As an example of how robotscould be imagined beyond this interiority paradigm, the author proposes to turnto contemporary robotic art.Robotic art’s view on affective movement as a matter of evocationand of performative co-creation might inspire the development of robots thatmove beyond the requirement of being mere copies of a human interiority.  While the intersection between robotics andthe performing arts is a fruitful field of research, the author argues in thispaper that the way in which movement is currently being developed throughperformative methods has certain shortcomings, and that the perspective of roboticart on affective movement might open up a more interesting area of explorationfor social robotics, as well as expose those aspects of theatre and dance thathave being unaddressed in robotics. 

Biologically oriented synthesis of medicines (BIODS) based on heterylpoxid 2,5-disubstituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles (Part 2)

Heterocyclic compounds make a very important branch of organic chemistry, and it has always been an interesting area of study in medical chemistry. They are present in a variety of drugs, vitamins and biologically active compounds. Over two decades, 1,3,4-oxadiazoles have been of interest to chemists owing to their diverse therapeutic potential; the studies focus mainly on the principles of combinatorial chemistry with a broad spectrum of biological activity. In the continuation of the review article, the general literature sources that consider chemical heteryl derivatives of 2,5-disubstituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles as important synthetic substrates and precursors for biologically oriented synthesis, are systematized. Heterocyclic 1,3,4-oxadiazoles and their derivatives are widely used as antibacterial, fungicidal, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, antitubercular, antioxidant, antimalarial, analgesic, anticonvulsant, antidepressant and anti-HIV drugs. It is important to note that the combination of 1,3,4-oxadiazole nuclei with different heterocyclic moieties in some cases had synergistic effect. The aim of the work is the search for new activities, systematization and generalization of literature sources on methods of biologically oriented drug synthesis (BIODS) based on heteryl derivatives of 2,5-disubstituted 1,3,4-oxadiazoles. Conclusions. The article analyzes, generalizes and systematizes the data obtained from the literature that describes the results of the study of the biological activity of 1,3,4-oxadiazoles, which allowed to confirm their diverse pharmacological and biological potential. It is established that oxadiazoscafold as the main structural component is found in various biologically active compounds which evidences the relevance of its further studies as a perspective structural matrix for construction of drug-like molecules. The analysis of the presented material demonstrates the significance and prospectivity of biologically oriented drugs of this segment of the chemistry of nitrogen-containing heterocycles.

Asymmetric C-H and N-H functionalization of Indoles involving Central Chirality via Chiral Phosphoric Acid Catalysis

: The C-H and N-H functionalization of indoles is an interesting area of research that has a useful impact on organic synthesis due to the availability of chiral indole scaffolds in the discovery of drugs, synthetic bioactive compounds, and natural products. The chiral phosphoric acid catalysts (CPAs) have proven to be a powerful and versatile class of enantioselective organocatalysts. Many asymmetric syntheses of organic compounds have been carried out with these catalysts in C–C and C-N bond formation reactions, and great progress has been reported. By 2011, several reviews were published covering some important topics and recent achievements in this field. Therefore, in this review, the most recent advances, research breakthroughs with key examples involving mechanisms of CPA-catalyzed C-H and N-H functionalization of indoles to form central chirality via Friedel Crafts, Michael type, and rearrangement reactions were reviewed and reported.

Not-for-Profit Performance Reporting: A Reflection on Methods, Results and Implications for Practice and Regulation

This paper presents a critical analysis of present approaches to studying not-for-profit performance reporting, and implications of research in this area. Focusing on three approaches: content analysis of publicly available performance reporting; quantitative analysis of financial data; and (rarer) mixed/other methods, we consider the impact of these on our knowledge of not-for-profit performance reporting, highlighting gaps and suggesting further research questions and methods. Our analysis demonstrates the important role of regulation in determining the research data available, and the impact of this on research methods. We inter-connect the methods, results and prevailing view of performance reporting in different jurisdictions and argue that this reporting has the potential to influence both charity practices and regulators’ actions. We call for further research in this interesting area. Contribution is made to the methodological literature on not-for-profits, and ongoing international conversations on regulating not-for-profit reporting.

Security as an Interesting Area of Scientific Research

For every human being, the primary value is the protection of health and life and the desire to live in peace, be safe and be able to pursue their and professional goals. It will become real when the safety that has accompanied people since ancient times is guaranteed. Nowadays, it is not only a problem of a given person; the issues concerning protection and defence of a person against threats, resulting both from natural forces and the effects of human activity, are in the orbit of interest of many institutions. The present times create conditions for events unfavourable to people and to their safety, which is a timeless and high priority value. In security research, both initial hypotheses and results are formulated with the intention of better understanding threats treated as a relatively autonomous category of social phenomena. Security, as a category of social phenomena, is looked at from many points of view, with the aim of detecting more general mechanisms and regularities of social life, especially in the areas of growing threats and pathologies. The result of the research is not only in-depth knowledge of the causes of threats (diagnosis), but also proposals for changes and improvement of the mechanisms and institutions used to prevent and neutralise threats. In this context, it should be noted that the undertaken research activities shall be aimed at building a safe environment. In order to be highly effective, activities must use achievements of the world of science and act in accordance with this methodology. Interdisciplinary research should skilfully apply social research methods appropriate to the research problem being addressed.

Patterns of Arterial Arcades of the Superficial Palmar Arch: A Study In Embalmed Cadaver Palms

Background: The complex and variable pattern of the arterial arcades of the palm form an interesting area of study anatomically and surgically. In the present study arches were classified into complete and incomplete types, the complete type being the most prominent in 88.6% of the palms. Among the complete type, arch formed by ulnar artery alone supplying the thumb and index finger was found in majority of the specimens (50%). The classical or standard superficial palmar arch formed by the superficial palmar branch of radial and ulnar arteries was found in only 28.5%. Different patterns of the arterial arcades of the superficial palmar arch are normally encountered during routine anatomical dissections of the palm which needs to be emphasized and highlighted for a desired surgical out come during microvascular reconstructive surgeries of the palm and during radial artery cannulation. Context: With technological advancements in microsurgical procedures of the hand, fields of anatomical interest like the classification of arterial arcades of the palm, now becomes essential for operating vascular surgeons for a desired surgical outcome Purpose of the study: The present study was taken up to analyze and document varying patterns of the arterial arcades of the superficial palmar arch. Methods and Material: the study was conducted by dissecting 70 randomly obtained formalin fixed cadaver palms. Results: In the present study arches were classified into complete and incomplete types, the complete type being the most prominent in 88.6% of the palms. Among the complete type, arch formed by ulnar artery alone supplying the thumb and index finger was found in majority of the specimens (50%). The classical or standard superficial palmar arch formed by the superficial palmar branch of radial and ulnar arteries was found in only 28.5%. Out of the 70 hands, incomplete arches were found only in 8 hands with an incidence of 11.4%. Conclusion: Knowledge of arterial pattern of the hand is very important to vascular and reconstructive surgeons for effective treatment of injuries of the hand. Such a knowledge of the disposition of the arterial arcades of the palm also enables cardio-vascular surgeons to plan and modify surgical procedures such as radial artery harvesting, cannulation and in preventing the ischemia of hands in such procedures. KEY WORDS: Superficial palmar arch, Arterial arcades, Complete arch, Incomplete arch.

Construction of C-N Bond Via Visible-Light-Mediated Difunctionalization of Alkenes

In the last few years, the photo-redox process via single-electron transfer (SET) has received substantial attention for the synthesis of targeted organic compounds due to its environmental friendliness and sustainability. Of late visible-light-mediated difunctionalization of alkenes has gained much attention because of its step economy, which allows the consecutive installation of two functional groups across the C=C bond in a single operation. The construction of N-containing compounds has always been important in organic synthesis. Molecules containing C-N bonds are found in many building blocks and are important precursors to other functional groups. Meanwhile, C-N bond formation via the addition of the C=C double bond is gaining prominence. Therefore, considering the influence and synthetic potential of the C-N bond, here we provide a summary of the state of the art on visible-light-driven difunctionalizations of alkene. We hope that the construction of the C-N bond via visible-light-mediated difunctionalization of alkenes will be useful for medicinal and synthetic organic chemists and will inspire further reaction development in this interesting area.

Analysis of Selected Variants of DRD2 and ANKK1 Genes in Combat Athletes

The level of physical activity is conditioned by many different factors, including, among others, the personality traits of a person. Important is the fact that personality traits are a moderately heritable factor and on the basis of the analysis of several genes, various lifetime outcomes can be predicted. One of the most important pathways influencing personality traits is connected to the dopaminergic system; hence, we decided to analyze the DRD2 PROM. rs1799732, DRD2 rs1076560, DRD2 Tag1D rs1800498, DRD2 Ex8 rs6276, DRD2Tag1B rs1079597 and ANKK1 Tag1A rs180049. The research group included 258 male athletes (mean age = 26.02; SD = 8.30), whereas the control group was 284 healthy male volunteers matched for age (mean age = 22.89; SD = 4.78), both of Caucasian origin and without history of substance dependency or psychosis. Genomic DNA was extracted from venous blood using standard procedures. Genotyping was conducted with the real-time PCR method. Differences in the frequency of the DRD2Tag1B rs1079597 gene polymorphism were found between people practicing combat sports and the control group, and the DRD2 PROM. rs1799732, DRD2 rs1076560, DRD2 Tag1D rs1800498, DRD2 Ex8 rs6276, DRD2Tag1B rs1079597 and ANKK1 Tag1A rs1800497 genotypes and allele frequencies in the studied sample did not differ between the analyzed groups. Hence, we considered these polymorphic places as an interesting area for the further search for unambiguous associations between personality traits and attitude towards physical effort.

Evaluation of axial length and association with morphology of cataract

Background: Cataractogenesis is associated with alteration in the nature of lens epithelium. How a change in morphology of cataract relates to axial length and IOL power is an interesting area to explore. The aim of the study was to evaluate the association between axial length and age-related cataracts, and intra ocular lens (IOL) power in eyes undergoing cataract surgery.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted from 2019 to 2020 on 550 eyes with age related cataract for morphology of cataract and axial length of eye. Data was analyzed using statistical software One-way ANOVA and Post HOC test.Results: Out of a total 550 eyes, 122 (22.2%) were Nuclear, 79 (14.4%) were PSC, and 349 (63.5%) were of Mixed morphology. Mean age of patients with PSC was 56.41±14.55 years, 58.52±14.16 years with Nuclear, and 62.88±9.86 years in Mixed morphology. This difference was found to be statistically significant with p value of 0.001. In this study, the mean axial length in eyes with only Nuclear, only PSC, and Mixed morphology, was measured to be 23.19±1.29, 23.26±0.91, 23.24±1.47 respectively. This was found to be statistically insignificant with p=0.92. The mean power intraocular lens 20.96±3.03 D in Nuclear Cataract, 21.25±2.39 D in PSC, and 21.25±2.60 D in Mixed cataract, and was statistically insignificant with p value of 1.Conclusions: This study suggests no impact of morphology of cataract on axial length or IOL power.