Publications by authors named "Natalia D S Cordeiro"

This study investigates the structural and dynamic properties of ternary mixtures composed of NaPF, ethylene carbonate (EC), and the ionic liquid choline glycine (ChGly), with a focus on their potential as electrolytes for supercapacitors. The combination of NaPF-EC, known for its high ionic conductivity, with the biodegradable and environmentally friendly ChGly offers a promising approach to enhancing electrolyte performance. Through molecular simulations, we analyze how the inclusion of small concentrations of ChGly affects key properties such as density, cohesive energy, and ion mobility.

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Human epidermal growth factor 2 (HER2) is a ligand-free tyrosine kinase receptor of the HER family that is overexpressed in some of the most aggressive tumours. Although it is known that HER2 dimerization involves a specific region of its extracellular domain, the so-called "dimerization arm", the mechanism of dimerization inhibition remains uncertain. However, uncovering how antibody interactions lead to inhibition of HER2 dimerization is of key importance in understanding its role in tumour progression and therapy.

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Predicting enzyme function and enzyme subclasses is always a key objective in fields such as biotechnology, biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, physiology, and so on. The Protein Data Bank (PDB) is the largest information archive of biological macromolecular structures, with more than 150 000 entries for proteins, nucleic acids, and complex assemblies. Among these entries, there are more than 4000 proteins whose functions remain unknown because no detectable homology to proteins whose functions are known has been found.

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We present an in silico approach for modeling the noncovalent interactions between the human mitochondrial voltage-dependent anion channel (hVDAC1) and a family of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with a defined pattern of topological vacancies ( v = 1-16), obtained by removing atoms from the SWCNT surface. The general results showed more stable docking interaction complexes (SWCNT-hVDAC1), with more negative Gibbs free energy of binding affinity values, and a strong dependence on the vacancy number ( R = 0.93) and vacancy formation energy ( R = 0.

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In this work, we combined various parameters found in the literature for the choline cation, chloride anion, and ethylene glycol to set up force field models (FFMs) for a eutectic mixture, namely, ethaline (1:2 choline chloride/ethylene glycol (ChCl:2EG)). The validation of these models was carried out on the basis of physical and chemical properties, such as the density, expansion coefficient, enthalpy of vaporization, self-diffusion coefficients, isothermal compressibility, surface tension, and shear viscosity. After the initial evaluation of the FFMs, a refinement was found necessary and accomplished by taking into account polarization effects in a mean-field manner.

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As more and more accurate density functional methods emerge, the transferability of Brønsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relationships obtained with previous models is an open question. In this work, BEP relationships derived from different density functional theory based calculations are analyzed to answer this question. In particular, BEP relationships linking the activation energy of O-H bond breaking reactions taking place on metallic surfaces with the adsorption energy of the reaction products are chosen as a case study.

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Background: Virtual Screening methodologies have emerged as efficient alternatives for the discovery of new drug candidates. At the same time, ensemble methods are nowadays frequently used to overcome the limitations of employing a single model in ligand-based drug design. However, many applications of ensemble methods to this area do not consider important aspects related to both virtual screening and the modeling process.

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We report a comparative periodic density functional theory study of the reaction of water dissociation on five platinum surfaces, e.g., Pt(111) Pt(100), Pt(110), Pt(211), and Pt(321).

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The disappointing results obtained in recent clinical trials renew the interest in experimental/computational techniques for the discovery of neuroprotective drugs. In this context, multitarget or multiplexing QSAR models (mt-QSAR/mx-QSAR) may help to predict neurotoxicity/neuroprotective effects of drugs in multiple assays, on drug targets, and in model organisms. In this work, we study a data set downloaded from CHEMBL; each data point (>8000) contains the values of one out of 37 possible measures of activity, 493 assays, 169 molecular or cellular targets, and 11 different organisms (including human) for a given compound.

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A series of reactions including water, oxygen, hydrogen and nitric oxide dissociation and carbon monoxide or nitric oxide oxidations catalyzed by metallic surfaces have been investigated by means of periodic density functional calculations with the main aim of establishing the importance of spin polarization when the substrate is nonmagnetic. Numerical differences in the calculated total energies and bond lengths of the breaking/forming bonds corresponding to spin restricted or spin unrestricted formalisms are usually smaller than the inherent error of density functional theory based methods. Nevertheless, it is important to insist on the fact that the spin polarized solution exists and is lower in energy than the one corresponding to the spin restricted formalism, as one would expect, and from a practical point of view, results obtained without taking spin polarization into account lead to the same description of the potential energy surface.

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Background: The etiology and clinical treatment of capsular contracture remain unresolved as the causes may be multifactorial. Triamcinolone acetonide applied in the pocket during surgery was reported to be ineffective in prevention of capsular contracture. However, if injected 4-6 weeks after surgery or as a treatment for capsular contracture, decreased applanation tonometry measurements and pain were observed.

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Background: The etiology and ideal clinical treatment of capsular contracture (CC) remain unresolved. Bacteria, especially coagulase-negative staphylococci, have been previously shown to accelerate the onset of CC. The role of fibrin in capsule formation has also been controversial.

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Background: The root cause of capsular contracture (CC) associated with breast implants is unknown. Recent evidence points to the possible role of fibrin and bacteria in CC formation.

Objectives: The authors sought to determine whether fibrin, thrombin, and blood modulated the histological and microbiological outcomes of breast implant capsule formation in a rabbit model.

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