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Because colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, more accessible screening tests are urgently needed to identify early stage lesions. We hypothesized that highly sensitive, metabolic profile analysis of stool samples will identify metabolites associated with early stage lesions and could serve as a noninvasive screening test. We therefore applied traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIMMS) coupled with ultraperformance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to investigate metabolic aberrations in stool samples in a transgenic model of premalignant polyposis aberrantly expressing the gene encoding the high mobility group A (Hmga1) chromatin remodeling protein. Here, we report for the first time that the fecal metabolome of Hmga1 mice is distinct from that of control mice and includes metabolites previously identified in human CRC. Significant alterations were observed in fatty acid metabolites and metabolites associated with bile acids (hypoxanthine xanthine, taurine) in Hmga1 mice compared to controls. Surprisingly, a marked increase in the levels of distinctive short, arginine-enriched, tetra-peptide fragments was observed in the transgenic mice. Together these findings suggest that specific metabolites are associated with Hmga1-induced polyposis and abnormal proliferation in intestinal epithelium. Although further studies are needed, these data provide a compelling rationale to develop fecal metabolomic analysis as a noninvasive screening tool to detect early precursor lesions to CRC in humans.

Although significant progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC), it remains a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Early identification and removal of polyps that may progress to overt CRC is the cornerstone of CRC prevention. Expression of the High Mobility Group A1 (HMGA1) gene is significantly elevated in CRCs as compared with adjacent, nonmalignant tissues. We investigated metabolic aberrations induced by HMGA1 overexpression in small intestinal and colonic epithelium using traveling wave ion mobility mass spectrometry (TWIMMS) in a transgenic model in which murine Hmga1 was misexpressed in colonic epithelium. To determine if these Hmga1-induced metabolic alterations in mice were relevant to human colorectal carcinogenesis, we also investigated tumors from patients with CRC and matched, adjacent, nonmalignant tissues. Multivariate statistical methods and manual comparisons were used to identify metabolites specific to Hmga1 and CRC. Statistical modeling of data revealed distinct metabolic patterns in Hmga1 transgenics and human CRC samples as compared with the control tissues. We discovered that 13 metabolites were specific for Hmga1 in murine intestinal epithelium and also found in human CRC. Several of these metabolites function in fatty acid metabolism and membrane composition. Although further validation is needed, our results suggest that high levels of HMGA1 protein drive metabolic alterations that contribute to CRC pathogenesis through fatty acid synthesis. These metabolites could serve as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets.

Acute copper (Cu) toxicity tests (48-h LC50) using the euryhaline rotifer Brachionus plicatilis were performed to assess the effects of salinity (3, 16, 30 ppt) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC, ∼ 1.1, ∼ 3.1, ∼ 4.9, ∼ 13.6 mg C L(-1)) on Cu bioavailability. Total Cu was measured using anodic stripping voltammetry, and free Cu(2+) was measured using ion-selective electrodes. There was a protective effect of salinity observed in all but the highest DOC concentrations; at all other DOC concentrations the LC50 value was significantly higher at 30 ppt than at 3 ppt. At all salinities, DOC complexation significantly reduced Cu toxicity. At higher concentrations of DOC the protective effect increased, but the increase was less than expected from a linear extrapolation of the trend observed at lower concentrations, and the deviation from linearity was greatest at the highest salinity. Light-scattering data indicated that salt induced colloid formation of DOC could be occurring under these conditions, thereby decreasing the number of available reactive sites to complex Cu. When measurements of free Cu across DOC concentrations at each individual salinity were compared, values were very similar, even though the total Cu LC50 values and DOC concentrations varied considerably. Furthermore, measured free Cu values and predicted model values were comparable, highlighting the important link between the concentration of bioavailable free Cu and Cu toxicity.

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst supported by hybrid composite materials is prepared by well-mixing carbon black (CB) with Pt-loaded reduced graphene oxide (RGO). With the insertion of CB particles between RGO sheets, stacking of RGO can be effectively prevented, promoting diffusion of oxygen molecules through the RGO sheets and enhancing the ORR electrocatalytic activity. The accelerated durability test (ADT) demonstrates that the hybrid supporting material can dramatically enhance the durability of the catalyst and retain the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) of Pt: the final ECSA of the Pt nanocrystal on the hybrid support after 20 000 ADT cycles is retained at >95%, much higher than the commercially available catalyst. We suggest that the unique 2D profile of the RGO functions as a barrier, preventing leaching of Pt into the electrolyte, and the CB in the vicinity acts as active sites to recapture/renucleate the dissolved Pt species. We furthermore demonstrate that the working mechanism can be applied to the commercial Pt/C product to greatly enhance its durability.

We have systematically investigated the electronic structure of the d⁴ metal-salen complexes including the Cr(II)-, Mn(III)-, Fe(IV)-, Mo(II)-, Tc(III)-, and Ru(IV)-salen complexes. Density functional theory (DFT) has been employed, using the BP86 and B3LYP functionals, and the entire M05 and M06 suites of meta-generalized gradient functionals. These results are compared to robust complete active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) optimized geometries and complete active-space third-order perturbation theory (CASPT3) energies for the lowest singlet, triplet, and quintet states. Although the M06 and M06-L DFT functionals have been generally recommended for computations on complexes that contain main group and transition metals, none of the M0-functionals appear statistically better than the B3LYP functional for the computation of spin-state energy gaps. DFT- and CASSCF-optimized geometries normally agree to within 0.3 Å least root mean squared deviation (LRMSD) for the singlet and triplet structures and less than 0.1 Å LRMSD for the quintet structures. It can be concluded that no DFT functional tested here can be considered reliable over all metal-salen complexes and it is highly recommended that the accuracy of any given DFT functional should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Noncovalent interactions play a significant role in determining the structures of DNA, RNA, and proteins. Among the most prevalent are pi-pi interactions, which occur as favorable forces between the aromatic subunits of biochemical molecules. The aromatic side chains of amino acids tryptophan and phenylalanine are commonly modeled with indole and benzene, respectively. We have utilized the MP2 and SCS-MP2 methods with the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set to compute several T-shaped interaction energies and parallel displaced (PD) three-dimensional potential energy surfaces (PESs) at 3.4, 3.6, and 3.8 A vertical separations. At selected minima, CCSD(T) results extrapolated to the complete-basis-set (CBS) limit were obtained. The trend of the T-shaped interactions has been rationalized by considering electrostatic potential maps and symmetry-adapted perturbation theory (SAPT) results. The global minimum has been verified to be the N-H/pi T-shaped configuration with a CCSD(T)/CBS interaction energy of -5.62 kcal mol(-1). For the PD PESs, the MP2 and SCS-MP2 methods predict different minimum configurations. The CCSD(T) method favors the SCS-MP2 PD configuration over the MP2 PD configuration by 0.18 kcal mol(-1). Among the approximate methods considered here, the SCS-CCSD method extrapolated to the CBS limit incurs only around 2% error compared to CCSD(T)/CBS results and is the most reliable for the interaction energies of the indole-benzene complex. Overall, the extension of aromaticity and the highly positive hydrogen of the N-H bond, both exhibited by indole, enhance the strength of nonbonded interactions with benzene compared to those in the benzene dimer or in the pyridine-benzene complex.

Large, correlation-consistent basis sets have been used to very closely approximate the coupled-cluster singles, doubles, and perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] complete basis set potential energy curves of several prototype nonbonded complexes, the sandwich, T-shaped, and parallel-displaced benzene dimers, the methane-benzene complex, the H2S-benzene complex, and the methane dimer. These benchmark potential energy curves are used to assess the performance of several methods for nonbonded interactions, including various spin-component-scaled second-order perturbation theory (SCS-MP2) methods, the spin-component-scaled coupled-cluster singles and doubles method (SCS-CCSD), density functional theory empirically corrected for dispersion (DFT-D), and the meta-generalized-gradient approximation functionals M05-2X and M06-2X. These approaches generally provide good results for the test set, with the SCS methods being somewhat more robust. M05-2X underbinds for the test cases considered, while the performances of DFT-D and M06-2X are similar. Density fitting, dual basis, and local correlation approximations all introduce only small errors in the interaction energies but can speed up the computations significantly, particulary when used in combination.

The energies and optimized geometries of the lowest lying singlet, triplet, and quintet states for the Fe(II)-, Co(III)-, Ni(IV)-, Ru(II)-, Rh(III)-, and Pd(IV)-salens have been computed with the B3LYP and BP86 density functional theory (DFT) methods, and the results are compared to more robust complete active-space self-consistent field (CASSCF) values. Density functional optimizations are performed using two different models of the salen ligand, and CASSCF relative energies at these DFT geometries show no appreciable difference whether the smaller or the larger model salen is considered. Unlike in our previous studies on the d0 and d2 metal-salens, DFT methods rarely predict the correct ordering of states compared to high-level complete active-space third-order perturbation theory (CASPT3) computations. The DFT energy gaps, moreover, are generally much smaller than those predicted by the CASPT3 method. Similarly to our previous studies, DFT optimized geometries closely match the CASSCF optimized geometries with errors mostly on the order of 0.1 A least root mean squared deviation. The electronic structure of the Co(III)- and Rh(III)-salens is particularly challenging, and significant differences between CASPT2 and CASPT3 relative energies were observed in these cases.