Air pollution has become a mass phenomenon, a major and global problem of modern society, affecting billions of people and environment. People are exposed to various levels of pollutants not just in the outdoor environment, but also in indoors. The quality of life and well-being of employees can be increased by incorporating ornamental plants in the work environment. Among the great variety of plants species able to remove/reduce indoor air pollutants Dracaena deremensis, Sansevieria trifasciata and Ficus elastica were hereby investigated. Their ability to remove chemical pollutants was evaluated in real-life conditions and the changes induced by the environmental stress on the structure and biochemical composition of the plants leaves were evidenced by the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The most pronounced concentration decrease was noticed for the CO₂ (58.33% removed concentration), whereas the mean value of the removed concentration of other chemical pollutants was of ≈ 25%. The Fourier transform infrared spectra analysis revealed that, although the plants are subjected to the chemical pollutants action, they maintain the structure by adjusting their metabolism. A decrease in the overall protein contribution in the amide bands and an increase of the bands assigned to polysaccharide vibrations, illustrate the consequences of the pollution action. Moreover, the chlorophyll presence is evidenced in the IR spectra of all samples by the bands around 1040, 1445, 1620, and 1735 cm^{-1}. The results show that the Fourier transform infrared spectra are an important source of information for the rapid characterization of the chemical structure of the biological systems under environmental stress.
Studies using solid phase infrared spectroscopy in the range of 400 to 4000 wave numbers were conducted in order to quickly identify solid tooth fragments and differentiate them from dental materials used in the dental practice. The frequently employed dental materials were evaluated. Natural chemical structure of permanent teeth obtained from donors of various ages provided the reference material. The infrared vibrations detected in infrared transmission spectra depended on the chemical structure of examined compound. Comparable distinctive peaks in infrared spectra of natural teeth and inorganic dental materials (porcelain) were exhibited. Analogous infrared spectra of dental materials consisting of organic matrix with inorganic fillers were found. In the case of acrylic materials specific organic groups were enhanced. The prepared database of infrared transmission spectra included 23 dental materials, facilitating their appropriate identification. Application of infrared spectroscopy allowed for a quick differential identification of typical dental materials produced from organic compounds for inorganic restorations (porcelain) and of tooth structure-resembling hydroxyapatite and its contaminate forms with fluoride and carbonate ions.
Studies of the interaction of polarized light or particles (including electrons, e¯, or positrons, e⁺) with asymmetric forms of matter has been of interest to scientists since the discovery of chirality and the subsequent development of particle physics. Researchers have been interested in e⁺ interactions with chiral molecules for decades, but with mixed and indecisive results. After reviewing the field, we speculated that the e⁺ or positronium (Ps) might interact differently with chiral pairs of large single crystals, i.e., the left-handed or right-handed asymmetric forms of the crystals - and subsequently observed significant differences in "free positron" annihilation and intensities in the evaluation of left-handed or right-handed quartz single crystals. This result may be understood to be a "particle stereorecognition" phenomenon. To extend this line of inquiry we crystallized mm scale L- or D-alanine crystals and performed positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy measurements using a ²²Na positron source. Alanine crystals were obtained via slow evaporation of water in a Dewar, or from water/acetone solvent in a temperature-controlled environment. These methods resulted in small ( ≈0.5 cm/side) or large ( ≥1.0 cm/side) crystals, respectively. While some intensity (I₂) results from left-handed and right-handed crystals varied in positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy analysis, the errors associated with the measurements do not indicate a stereorecognition of alanine via positron interactions.
Magnetic microstructure of iron contained in selected biological tissues is characterized and mutually compared. We have studied three types of biological samples prepared from human brain, human and horse spleen. Original samples were lyophilized (dried in a vacuum) thus providing powder forms. As a principal method of study, ⁵⁷Fe Mössbauer spectrometry in transmission mode was used. The Mössbauer spectrometry experiments were performed at room ( ≈300 K) and at liquid helium (4.2 K) temperature. At room temperature Mössbauer spectra show doublet-like features. Such behaviour indicates possible presence of nanoparticles with fluctuating magnetic moments that acquire arbitrary positions. On the other hand, low temperature Mössbauer spectrometry measurements demonstrate significant contribution of sextets that confirmed occurrence of blocked magnetic moments of iron-containing particles. Different relative contributions of magnetic components in the low temperature spectra for the three inspected biological tissues suggest differences in the blocking temperatures of the magnetic nanoparticles present in them.
Biomolecular recognition is an open scientific problem, which has been investigated in many theoretical and experimental aspects. In that sense, there are encouraging results within Resonant Recognition Model (RRM), based on the finding that there is a significant correlation between spectra of the numerical presentation of amino acids in the primary structure of proteins and their biological activity. It has been found through an extensive research that proteins with the same biological function have a common frequency in their numerical spectra. This frequency was found then to be a characteristic feature for protein biological function or interaction The RRM model proposes that the selectivity of protein interactions is based on resonant energy transfer between interacting biomolecules and that this energy, electromagnetic in its nature, is in the frequency range of 10^{13} to 10^{15} Hz, which incorporates infra-red (IR), visible and a small portion of the ultra-violet (UV) radiation. In this paper, the quantum mechanical basis of the RRM model will be investigated using the solution in the simplified framework of Hückel-like theory of molecular orbits.
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