TNP [BGG]

Background/aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate possible effects of anti-TNF alpha therapy on cardiorespiratory fitness and physical functional capacity of patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Materials and methods: Twenty-eight AS patients meeting the modified New York criteria with active disease state and an equivalent number of healthy individuals as the control were prospectively enrolled. Physical working capacity and aerobic exercise capacity of the participants were determined by using cardiopulmonary exercise tests, performed before and 4 months after initiation of anti-TNF alpha therapy. Results: The mean age of the patients was 37 +/- 9.1 years, and mean duration of disease was 8.9 +/- 7.6 years. Patients with AS exhibited significantly lower aerobic exercise capacity (VO2peak: 21.2 +/- 5.5 vs. 27.2 +/- 6.6 ml/kg/min, P = 0.001), maximum power output (110.4 +/- 1: 34.8 vs. 153 t: 39.8 W, P = 0.0001), and exercise duration (16.3 +/- 2.6 vs. 19.6 +/- 2.9 min, P = 0.0001) than the healthy controls. When patients were reevaluated after 4 months of anti-TNP alpha therapy, significant improvement was obtained in patient's aerobic capacity, maximum power output, and exercise duration. Conclusion: Results from this study indicate that in addition to inflammatory parameters and quality of life index, even short-term anti-TNF alpha therapy results in significant improvement in cardiopulmonary health status as objectively reflected by peak VO2, maximum work rate, and exercise duration.

Among nitroaromatic compounds with similar structures, 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) exhibits strong biological toxicity and explosion hazard. Therefore, detection of TNP is of great importance. In this work, two novel fluorescent macromolecular chemosensors P1 and P2 were prepared using boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) as the fluorophore. After the preparation of small BODIPY molecule M1, another small molecule M2 with two aldehyde groups was synthesized by two consecutive Vilsmeier-Haack reactions. Then, M2 reacts with trans-cyclohexane-1,4-diamine and 1,4-phenylenediamine respectively to obtain two macromolecules P1 and P2 via Schiff Base forming reaction. The results suggested that P1 and P2 could recognize TNP only while other aromatic/nitroaromatic compounds cannot cause significant fluorescence intensity response. When TNP exist, these fluorescent macromolecular chemosensors produce significant fluorescence quenching. At the same time, because the electron-rich Schiff base and the electron-deficient TNP have the structural basis of chemical interaction, these two macromolecular sensors also have excellent sensitivity to TNP, and the excellent recognition limit of detection reach as low as 0.017 mu M. High sensitivity and selectivity have been applied to test TNP in lake water samples as well.