Hypercalcemia - An enigmatic cause of acute pancreatitis.

Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) continues to be one of the common abdominal emergencies encountered in tertiary care hospitals. The majority of AP is caused by gall stones and alcohol. Hypercalcemia though uncommon has been reported to cause AP, recurrent AP, and chronic pancreatitis (CP). Aim: The aim of this study was to describe hypercalcemia-induced AP in different settings. Materials and Methods: In total 100 patients with AP, admitted from January 2021 to December 2021 at our center, etiologies were biliary (36%), alcohol (19%), idiopathic (21%), alcohol plus Biliary (5%), post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreaticography (7%), drug-induced (6%), hypercalcemia (3%), and dengue infection (3%). Overall mortality was 11%. Results: In three patients with hypercalcemia-induced pancreatitis, causes of hypercalcemia were multiple myeloma, parathyroid adenoma leading to hyperparathyroidism, and hypervitaminosis D in association with hyperthyroidism. Conclusion: Hypercalcemia-induced AP is not a rare phenomenon and should be actively investigated to prevent further attacks of AP and progression to CP. Relevance for Patients: Hypercalcemia is a potentially treatable cause of AP and its identification will not only help to treat and prevent further episodes of pancreatitis but also to manage underlying diseases leading to hypercalcemia.

Understanding phase transition and vibrational mode coupling in ammonium nitrate using 2D correlation Raman spectroscopy.

Ammonium nitrate (AN) is an important component of the chemical industry such as an active ingredient in fertilizers, as an oxidizer in explosive compositions and propellants, and as a blasting agent in civil explosives. Numerous accidents have been reported in the past which concerns its thermal instability and poses a big threat to its processing, transportation, and storage. Despite much literature being reported to understand its thermal instability, a mechanistic view remains unclear. In the present work, we have studied the behavior of AN to temperature change using a mathematical approach called 2D correlation (2D Cos) Raman spectroscopy to provide complete insight into the detailed dynamical nature of the interactions between the species (ionic or molecular) occurring with an increase in temperature. We have analyzed various libration and translational modes of nitrate in the low-frequency region using this mathematical tool. It is observed from 2D maps that the phase transition of AN starts with changes in libration modes followed by various nitrate modes and ammonium modes which further precedes low-frequency translational modes. Further, the 2D correlation could differentiate between modes splitting and shifting based on specific 2D Cos pattern. The changes occurring in the N-O deformation modes, symmetric stretching modes as well as anti-symmetric stretching modes which have been attributed to the weakening of the hetero-ionic coupling between the NH4+ and the NO3- ions could be clearly distinguished in the 2D synchronous and asynchronous plots. Besides, moving window analysis was performed to visualize the transition temperature at which phase change of AN takes place.

Different Phases of Breast Cancer Cells: Raman Study of Immortalized, Transformed, and Invasive Cells.

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cause of cancer-associated death in women the world over, but if detected early it can be treated successfully. Therefore, it is important to diagnose this disease at an early stage and to understand the biochemical changes associated with cellular transformation and cancer progression. Deregulated lipid metabolism has been shown to contribute to cell transformation as well as cancer progression. In this study, we monitored the biomolecular changes associated with the transformation of a normal cell into an invasive cell associated with breast cancer using Raman microspectroscopy. We have utilized primary normal breast cells, and immortalized, transformed, non-invasive, and invasive breast cancer cells. The Raman spectra were acquired from all these cell lines under physiological conditions. The higher wavenumber (2800-3000 cm-1) and lower wavenumber (700-1800 cm-1) range of the Raman spectrum were analyzed and we observed increased lipid levels for invasive cells. The Raman spectral data were analyzed by principal component-linear discriminant analysis (PC-LDA), which resulted in the formation of distinct clusters for different cell types with a high degree of sensitivity. The subsequent testing of the PC-LDA analysis via the leave-one-out cross validation approach (LOOCV) yielded relatively high identification sensitivity. Additionally, the Raman spectroscopic results were confirmed through fluorescence staining tests with BODIPY and Nile Red biochemical assays. Furthermore, Raman maps from the above mentioned cells under fixed conditions were also acquired to visualize the distribution of biomolecules throughout the cell. The present study shows the suitability of Raman spectroscopy as a non-invasive, label-free, microspectroscopic technique, having the potential of probing changes in the biomolecular composition of living cells as well as fixed cells.

Density functional theoretical modeling, electrostatic surface potential and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopic studies on biosynthesized silver nanoparticles: observation of 400 PM sensitivity to explosives.

Interaction of adsorbate on charged surfaces, orientation of the analyte on the surface, and surface enhancement aspects have been studied. These aspects have been explored in details to explain the surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopic (SERS) spectra of 2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (HNIW or CL-20), a well-known explosive, and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) using one-pot synthesis of silver nanoparticles via biosynthetic route using natural precursor extracts of clove and pepper. The biosynthesized silver nanoparticles (bio Ag Nps) have been characterized using UV-vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. SERS studies conducted using bio Ag Nps on different water insoluble analytes, such as CL-20 and TNT, lead to SERS signals at concentration levels of 400 pM. The experimental findings have been corroborated with density functional computational results, electrostatic surface potential calculations, Fukui functions and ζ potential measurements.

Intermolecular charge transfer and vibrational analysis of hydrogen bonding in acetazolamide.

In the present work the structural and spectral characteristics of acetazolamide have been studied by methods of infrared, Raman spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. Electrostatic potential surface, optimized geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities and activities of Raman scattering were calculated by density functional theory (DFT) employing B3LYP with complete relaxation in the potential energy surface using 6-311++G(d,p) basis set. Based on these results, we have discussed the correlation between the vibrational modes and the structure of the dimers of acetazolamide. The calculated vibrational spectra of three dimers of acetazolamide have been compared with observed spectra, and the assignment of observed bands was carried out using potential energy distribution. The observed spectra agree well with the values computed from the DFT. A comparison of observed and calculated vibrational spectra clearly shows the effect of hydrogen bonding. The frequency shifts observed for the different dimers are in accord with the hydrogen bonding in acetazolamide. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analyses reflect the charge transfer interaction in the individual hydrogen bond units and the stability of different dimers of acetazolamide.

An ab initio and DFT study of structure and vibrational spectra of gamma form of oleic acid: comparison to experimental data.

Oleic acid (cis-9-octadecenoic acid) is the most abundant cis-unsaturated fatty acid in nature; it is distributed in almost all organisms. In this work, we present a detailed vibrational spectroscopy investigation of Oleic acid by using infrared and Raman spectroscopies. These data are supported by quantum mechanical calculations, which allow us to characterize completely the vibrational spectra of this compound. The equilibrium geometry, harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities and activities of Raman scattering were calculated by ab initio Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT) employing B3LYP with complete relaxation in the potential energy surface using 6-311G(d, p) basis set. After a proper scaling the calculated wavenumbers show a very good agreement with the observed values. A complete vibrational assignment is provided for the observed Raman and infrared spectra of Oleic acid. In this work, we also investigate the deviation of vibrational wavenumbers computed with two quantum chemical methods (HF and B3LYP).

Molecular structure and vibrational spectroscopic investigation of secnidazole using density functional theory.

Secnidazole (alpha,2-dimethyl-5-nitro-1H-imidazole-1-ethanol) is an antimicrobical drug, and it is particularly effective in the treatment of amebiasis, giardiasis, trichomoniasis, and bacterial vaginosis. Secnidazole crystallizes as a hemihydrate, which belongs to a monoclinic system having space group P2(1)/c, with a = 12.424 A, b = 12.187 A, c = 6.662 A, and beta = 100.9 degrees. The optimized geometries and total energies of different conformers of the secnidazole molecule have been determined by the method of density functional theory (DFT). For both geometry and total energy, it has been combined with B3LYP functionals having extended basis sets 4-31G, 6-31G, and 6-311++G(d,p) for each of the three stable conformers of secnidazole. Using this optimized structure, we have calculated the infrared and Raman wavenumbers and compared them with the experimental data. The calculated wavenumbers are in an excellent agreement with the experimental values. Based on these results, we have discussed the correlation between the vibrational modes and the crystalline structure of the most stable conformer of secnidazole. A complete assignment is provided for the observed Raman and IR spectra.