Dual function of EDTA with silver nanoparticles for root canal treatment–A novel modification

JUAN MANUEL MARTINEZ ANDRADE (2018, [Artículo])

The chelating and antimicrobial capacity of a novel modification of 17% EDTA with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (EDTA-AgNPs) was evaluated in-vitro for root canal treatment (RCT). The EDTA-AgNPs solution was characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, ?-potential and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Antimicrobial capacity was evaluated against Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus in planktonic and biofilm cells by broth macrodilution (24 h) and XTT assays, (1, 10 and 30 min) respectively. The chelating capacity of EDTA-AgNPs was assessed indirectly (smear layer removal) and directly (demineralizing effect) in bovine dentin at two silver concentrations, 16 and 512 ?g/ ml at 1 and 10 minutes of exposure time. Smear layer removal was evaluated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The demineralizing effect was determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), microhardness test (MH) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD). Synthesized AgNPs were quasi-spherical in shape with an average size of 13.09 ± 8.05 nm. 17% EDTA-AgNPs was effective to inhibit C. albicans and S. aureus in planktonic and biofilm cultures. The smear layer removal and demineralizing effect were similar between 17% EDTA-AgNPs and 17% EDTA treatments. The 17% EDTA-AgNPs solution proved to be an effective antimicrobial agent, and has a similar chelating capacity to 17% EDTA alone. These in-vitro studies strongly suggest that EDTA-AgNPs could be used for effective smear layer removal, having an antimicrobial effect at the same time during RCT. © 2018 Martinez-Andrade et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

edetic acid, silver nanoparticle, edetic acid, metal nanoparticle, silver, antibacterial activity, antibiotic sensitivity, antifungal activity, antimicrobial activity, Article, atomic absorption spectrometry, atomic force microscopy, biofilm, bovine, BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA MICROBIOLOGÍA MICROBIOLOGÍA

Maintenance of Coastal Surface Blooms by Surface Temperature Stratification and Wind Drift

MARY CARMEN RUIZ DE LA TORRE (2013, [Artículo])

Algae blooms are an increasingly recurrent phenomenon of potentially socio-economic impact in coastal waters globally and in the coastal upwelling region off northern Baja California, Mexico. In coastal upwelling areas the diurnal wind pattern is directed towards the coast during the day. We regularly found positive Near Surface Temperature Stratification (NSTS), the resulting density stratification is expected to reduce the frictional coupling of the surface layer from deeper waters and allow for its more efficient wind transport. We propose that the net transport of the top layer of approximately 2.7 kilometers per day towards the coast helps maintain surface blooms of slow growing dinoflagellate such as Lingulodinium polyedrum. We measured: near surface stratification with a free-rising CTD profiler, trajectories of drifter buoys with attached thermographs, wind speed and direction, velocity profiles via an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, Chlorophyll and cell concentration from water samples and vertical migration using sediment traps. The ADCP and drifter data agree and show noticeable current shear within the first meters of the surface where temperature stratification and high cell densities of L. polyedrum were found during the day. Drifters with 1m depth drogue moved towards the shore, whereas drifters at 3 and 5 m depth showed trajectories parallel or away from shore. A small part of the surface population migrated down to the sea floor during night thus reducing horizontal dispersion. The persistent transport of the surface bloom population towards shore should help maintain the bloom in favorable environmental conditions with high nutrients, but also increasing the potential socioeconomic impact of the blooms. The coast wise transport is not limited to blooms but includes all dissolved and particulate constituents in surface waters. © 2013 Ruiz-de la Torre et al.

chlorophyll, algal bloom, article, cell count, cell density, coastal waters, controlled study, dinoflagellate, Lingulodinium polyedrum, meteorological phenomena, Mexico, near surface temperature stratification, nonhuman, nutrient concentration, popul CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA

A simple extension to the CMASA method for the prediction of catalytic residues in the presence of single point mutations

David Israel Flores Granados (2014, [Artículo])

The automatic identification of catalytic residues still remains an important challenge in structural bioinformatics. Sequence-based methods are good alternatives when the query shares a high percentage of identity with a well-annotated enzyme. However, when the homology is not apparent, which occurs with many structures from the structural genome initiative, structural information should be exploited. A local structural comparison is preferred to a global structural comparison when predicting functional residues. CMASA is a recently proposed method for predicting catalytic residues based on a local structure comparison. The method achieves high accuracy and a high value for the Matthews correlation coefficient. However, point substitutions or a lack of relevant data strongly affect the performance of the method. In the present study, we propose a simple extension to the CMASA method to overcome this difficulty. Extensive computational experiments are shown as proof of concept instances, as well as for a few real cases. The results show that the extension performs well when the catalytic site contains mutated residues or when some residues are missing. The proposed modification could correctly predict the catalytic residues of a mutant thymidylate synthase, 1EVF. It also successfully predicted the catalytic residues for 3HRC despite the lack of information for a relevant side chain atom in the PDB file. © 2014 Flores et al.

1UU9 protein, 3HRC protein, protein, thymidylate synthase, unclassified drug, protein kinase, thymidylate synthase, accuracy, algorithm, Article, CMASA, CMASA Substitution Matrix, Contact Matrix Average Deviation, controlled study, correlation coeffi CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA MATEMÁTICAS ANÁLISIS NUMÉRICO ANÁLISIS NUMÉRICO