In Silico Modeling of Lovastatin Analogues as Inhibitors of HIV-1 Nef Protein
Currently, no method can completely eliminate the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in an infected person. HIV employs an accessory protein called Nef that forms a complex with cellular AP-1, preventing detection of HIV-infected cells. Lovastatin has been recently identified to inhibit the formation of said Nef-AP-1 complex, but its effective concentration is remarked to be far higher than other Nef inhibitors. This study aims to develop a modified lovastatin molecule exhibiting higher binding affinity to the HIV-1 Nef protein than lovastatin in silico. Modified lovastatin molecules based on the interaction map of lovastatin with Nef were modeled, and flexible ligand-flexible receptor docking to the Nef binding site was performed using AutoDock Vina. Residues within the Nef binding site identified by Liu et al. (2019) to be crucial (Glu-63, Val-66, Phe-68, Asp-108, Leu-112, Tyr-115) were set as flexible. Fragment-based drug design was utilized to append molecular fragments to lovastatin in order to maximize its interactions with said crucial residues. From the fragment-based approach, molecule F4 ((1S,3S)‐8‐{2‐[(2R,4R)‐4‐chloro‐6‐oxooxan‐2‐yl]ethyl}‐3‐(hydroxymethyl)‐7‐methyl‐1,2,3,4‐tetrahydronaphthalen‐1‐yl 4‐aminobenzoate) exhibited a binding affinity of -9.0 kcal/mole, and its estimated IC50 ranges between 0.25-0.51 μM which is at least 7.5 times lower than the reported IC50 of lovastatin from literature. This study presents insights on the key modifications to improve lovastatin as an HIV-1 Nef inhibitor and pertinent information about the Nef binding site for future drug development studies.
Investigating the application of nanotechnology for detecting fishes hatching time
Introduction: Using advanced technologies such as nanotechnology in the food and fishery industry, as one of the most important industrial sectors of countries, has received too much attention. Traditionally, fishing and hunting have been considered important sources of supplying food. The subject and methodology: The study aims to investigate nanotechnology for detecting fish hatching time. This is a review article that collects the information from databases such as Sid, civilica, and Google Scholar. In the end, 22 papers were studied for extracting and collecting the required information from the abovementioned scientific database. Finding: After examining the food, drug, and agricultural-related papers published from 2009 to 2020, it was concluded that small Nano-sensors, controlling & monitoring systems made from nanotechnology can be installed on fishing nets, fishing rods, and other fishing equipment. These devices (Nano-sensors and controlling & monitoring systems) will help fishes so that they don’t get caught. In this way, as a fish gets close to the fishing equipment, it will receive sound, smell, or heat-based alarm. Therefore, the fish will stay away from the fishing equipment. The result: according to the finding of this study, it can be concluded that excessive fishing in the hatching time will be avoided by the application of nanotechnology in the fishing equipment. As a result, the following advantages will be secured: 1- There are lots of opportunists who misuse fish during the hatching time. With the application of nanotechnology, they will be stopped. 2- Opportunists are ambushing in different time points to misuse fish. Also, the guards might be ignorant. With the application of nanotechnology, guards are no longer required. 3- This plant is cost-effective too.
活化石海百合Comanthus parvicirrus所含化學物質探討
本研究針對臺灣恆春半島海域所採集的棘皮動物海百合小卷海齒花Comanthus parvicirrus進行天然物化合物之成分研究，分離獲得三個角型萘並吡喃酮類型天然化合物，包括一個新化合物8-hydroxy-5,6,9,10-tetramethoxy-2-methyl-4H-benzo[h]chromen-4-one (1)以及兩個已知化合物comaparvin (2)與6-methoxycomaparvin-5-methyl ether (3)。上述化合物結構是由核磁共振儀、紅外線光譜儀、紫外光可見光譜儀、x-ray光譜儀和質譜儀等數據，以及比對相關化合物的文獻來分析確認。 化合物1-3進行體外抗發炎活性測試，並且探討化合物對脂多糖 (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) 誘發的小鼠巨噬細胞 (RAW264.7) 所產生的發炎性蛋白質一氧化氮合成酶 (iNOS) 以及第二型環氧化酶 (COX-2)。
Laying waste to Energy problems
This research aims at exploiting civil and pre-treated industrial wastewaters that go into the purifier and those that come out of it after various treatments in order to build a galvanic cell with the goal of producing clean electric energy. Our background hypothesis is that it is possible to exploit the existing potential difference between these two types of water to generate electricity. In fact, the water sent for purification contains elements (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorus, etc.) in a predominantly "reduced" state and its oxygen level is scarce. On the other hand, the water coming out of the process contains the same elements in a mostly "oxidized" state and it is rich in oxygen. Those chemical discrepancies should get the job done. In order to simulate the two types of water, two different solutions were prepared. The first one is highly concentrated with pollutants and gaseous nitrogen is insufflated in it to reproduce its anoxic environment. The second one’s pollution level is based on the Italian legislative limits of chemical contaminants for superficial waters (Legislative Decree 152/2006) and the semi-cell is insufflated with gaseous oxygen.
透過相轉移催化劑合成Chromeno[4,3-b]pyrrolidine之衍生物
本研究之反應產物Chromeno[4,3-b]pyrrolidine之衍生物含有吡咯烷及二氫苯并哌喃的骨架，而此二者存在於許多藥物及天然物中，例如：尼古丁及蛋白質中的脯胺酸皆為吡咯烷的衍生物，含有二氫苯并哌喃骨架的藥物則通常被應用於消炎藥物中。本研究主要反應是以對甲基苯醌衍生物與亞胺葉立德前驅物在相轉移催化劑及無機鹼的催化下進行(3+2)環加成反應與oxa-1,6-加成反應，合成出Chromeno[4,3-b]pyrrolidine之衍生物。利用改變不同的相轉移催化劑、溶劑和無機鹼的種類及各反應物的當量數，篩選出進行本反應的最佳反應條件。在此優化條件下，進一步使用不同的掌性相轉移催化劑，以探討本反應之光學活性。並利用無機鹼的篩選，以排除背景反應發生的可能性。希望最後能於起始物上替換不同種類的取代基，以探討本反應之反應活性，並增加其未來應用的多樣性。