Negative affect related to door-in-the-face strategy.

A full 46 years after the first study of the door-in-the-face strategy (DITF), there is still a debate about the processes behind its effect. One relatively unexplored interpretation is the presence of negative affect related to large request refusal. We explored negative affect after large request refusal both explicitly (Experiment 1) and implicitly (Experiments 1 and 2).

Aging to 24 months increased C57BL/6J mouse social sniffing and hippocampal Neto1 levels, and impaired female spatial learning.

Understanding how natural aging impacts rodent performance in translational behavior tests is critical to teasing apart impairments due to age-related decline from neurodegenerative disorder modeling. Reduced neuropilin and tolloid-like 1 (NETO1), an accessory protein of ionotropic glutamate receptors involved in synaptic plasticity, was associated with Alzheimer's disease, yet aging effects on Neto1 remain unclear. For these reasons, our goal was to characterize how Neto1 expression corresponded with social, repetitive, and spatial learning behaviors and stress response across the C57BL/6J mouse lifespan.

Theoretical molecular descriptors relevant to the uptake of persistent organic pollutants from soil by zucchini. A QSAR study.

The uptake of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from soil by plants allows the development of phytoremediation protocols to rehabilitate contaminated areas. The use of diverse theoretical descriptors has been reported in the literature for developing quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) models for predicting the bioconcentration factors (BCFs) of POPs in different plants. In this paper an evaluation is given on the molecular properties of POPs in terms of theoretical molecular descriptors that are relevant to the uptake and accumulation of these persistent pollutants from soil by two zucchini varieties.

Interpretation of scoring functions using 3D molecular fields. Mapping the diacyl-hydrazine-binding pocket of an insect ecdysone receptor.

A method is presented for the interpretation of receptor docking score values (rough measures of binding affinities) of ligands in terms of 3D molecular field interaction contributions. The FlexX and FlexX-Pharm methods were used to dock the structures of designed sets of ligands into the ligand-binding pocket of a selected receptor. In the next step the relationship was investigated between the FlexX and CScore scores and 3D molecular fields obtained for the docked conformations of the ligands, using the CoMFA (Comparative Molecular Field Analysis) and CoMSIA (Comparative Molecular Similarity Indices Analysis) methods.

Ligand-based computer-aided pesticide design. A review of applications of the CoMFA and CoMSIA methodologies.

An overview is given of the CoMFA (comparative molecular field analysis) and CoMSIA (comparative molecular similarity indices analysis) methodologies that are established ligand-based molecular design tools widely used by medicinal and pesticide chemists. In the absence of a three-dimensional structure of the target biopolymer, CoMFA and CoMSIA often provide a practical solution to an otherwise intractable problem of proper characterization of ligand-receptor interactions. These techniques are especially important in agrochemistry, where the number of known molecular structures of pesticide targets is limited.

Opposite effects of antimicrotubule agents on c-myc oncogene expression depending on the cell lines used.

We investigated the expression of c-myc in HT29-D4, HBL100 and Caco-2 cells treated with microtubule stabilising (paclitaxel) or depolymerising agents (vinblastine, nocodazole). After induction by epidermal growth factor (EGF), c-myc expression decreased in HT29-D4 cells treated with all the antimicrotubule agents. In HBL100 and Caco-2, when microtubules were stabilised with paclitaxel, c-myc expression also decreased.

Comparative three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship study of safeners and herbicides.

The competitive antagonist hypothesis for safeners and herbicides was investigated by studying the 3D similarity between 28 safener and 20 herbicide molecules in their putative biologically active, low-energy conformations using comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA). In addition, CoMFA provided information about the structural requirements for the interactions of safeners and herbicides with a proteinaceous component (SafBP) isolated from etiolated corn seedlings. Statistically significant CoMFA models have been developed for the united and separate safener and herbicide molecule sets using retrospective binding affinity data of the ligands measured at the SafBP receptor.

Analysis of esterase zymograms of Fusarium sambucinum and related species.

Esterase zymograms were obtained following polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis of protein extracts Fusarium sambucinum and related species originating from different geographic locations and different matrices. The sites of esterase activity were recorded, and the Rfs were calculated. The data were used for the construction of phenograms by cluster analysis and nonlinear mapping by computerized classification techniques.

Thin-layer chromatography of some methylated amino acids with aqueous salt solutions used as eluents.

The retention order of methylated lysine and arginine derivatives followed a reversed-phase separation pattern on various silicas with aqueous salt solutions used as eluents. Principal component analysis established that the origin of the silica exerts a dominant influence on their chromatographic performance, and the effect of impregnation and salt quality are of secondary importance. Good linear correlations were found between the lipophilicity-decreasing effect of monovalent cations and their ionic radii.

Principal component analysis for a better understanding of the herbicidal effectivity of some benzonitriles.

To gain more insight in mode of action of ten different 4-hydroxy-benzonitrile derivatives, their biological activities in eight bioassays, and their lipophilicity and adsorptivity determined by thin-layer chromatography in nine different systems were subjected to principal component analysis. Four background components explained about 90% of total variance. Only three of eight biological activities, the inhibition of the 2,6-dichlorophenol-indophenol reduction by spinach and wheat chloroplasts and the CO2 fixation of wheat seedlings had not any common background components with the physico-chemical parameters of the compounds.