Cell proteomic footprint

The authentication of mammalian cell cultures and their subpopulations is of great demand in biotechnology and cell therapy. However, current techniques are either not efficient or can be very complex and expensive. Here we report a simple and straightforward approach for authentication of biological cells and their subpopulations with high speed, high throughput, low sample cost, and high sensitivity. We discovered that cell cultures treated with protease under soft, ‘non‐killing’ conditions release fragments of cell surface proteins, whose composition is a strong characteristic of the cells. Mass spectrometric analysis of the released fragments allows a direct comparison of the produced mass spectrum with the mass spectrum of known cells. As an example, we applied this technique to verify subpopulations of human fibroblasts with different origins and which exhibit different medical characteristics. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lanthanide complexes with substituted naphtholate ligands: extraordinary bright near-infrared luminescence of ytterbium

A series of Pr, Nd, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb complexes with 3-(2-benzoxazol-2-yl)-2-naphtholate and 3-(2-benzothiazol-2-yl)-2-naphtholate ligands was synthesized. The structure, as well as the photo- and electroluminescent properties of these complexes were studied. An extraordinary bright emission of Yb³⁺ was detected. To explain the phenomenon, a novel excitation mechanism involving intramolecular electron transfer was proposed.     

Dielectric properties of thin films of partially deuterated betaine phosphite with large- and small-block structures

Ferroelectric thin films of partially deuterated betaine phosphite (DBPI) have been grown by evaporation on NdGaO₃ substrates with a preliminarily deposited structure of interdigitated electrodes. The block structure of the films is a texture in which the polar axis b is oriented in the plane of the film and the a* axis is perpendicular to this plane. Typical dimensions of the single-crystal blocks in DBPI films substantially exceeds the distance between the interdigitated electrodes (d = 50 μm). However, DBPI films in which the block structure has characteristic dimensions of the order of d have also been grown. Investigations of the dielectric properties of the films have demonstrated that the dimensions of the block structure have little effect on the behavior of a small-signal dielectric response, which, in the phase transition region, is characterized by a strong anomaly of the capacitance of the structure at T = T _c and by a glass-like behavior of the capacitance C and dielectric loss tangent tanδ in the temperature range of 120–200 K. By contrast, the low-frequency strong-signal dielectric response (dielectric hysteresis loops) in the structures with small blocks differs significantly from that observed for large-block structures. The difference in the frequency behavior of the hysteresis loops in the large-block and small-block structures is associated with the limitation of motion of domain walls in the case of small blocks.     

Adhesive properties of ethylene and vinyl acetate copolymers

Surface properties of ethylene and vinyl acetate copolymers (EVAs) are considered depending on their composition and history of surface formation. The kinetics of structural transformations in the near-surface layers of copolymers is investigated. Relaxation times and the equilibrium state of the EVA surface are determined. The orrelation dependence between the surface energy of copolymers and their adhesive properties for substrates of different natures is constructed.     

Anhydrous mono- and dinuclear tris(quinolinolate) complexes of scandium: the missing structures of rare earth metal 8-quinolinolates

The first monomeric anhydrous scandium tris(8-quinolinolate) complex 1 with the 2-amino-8-quinolinolate ligands and the Sc(2)Q(6) dinuclear complex 2 with the unsubstituted 8-quinolinolate ligands have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray analysis and DFT calculations. The intramolecular hydrogen bonds appear to be responsible for the unique monomeric structure of complex 1. The DFT-based analysis of the electron density topology reveals the (3,-1) critical points corresponding to the O···H and N···H bonds. The two scandium atoms in compound 2 are inequivalent due to different ligand surroundings. They are coordinated by seven (5O, 2N) and eight (4O, 4N) ligand atoms. The increase in the coordination number is accompanied by a decrease in the positive charge of the metal atom as evidenced by the DFT calculations.     

Small- and strong-signal dielectric response in a single-crystal film of partially deuterated betaine phosphite

Poly- and single-crystal films of betaine phosphite deuterated to ∼20% have been grown by evaporation on NdGaO₃ (001) substrates with a preliminarily deposited planar interdigital structure of electrodes. The small-signal dielectric response in the 0.1–100.0-kHz frequency range has revealed a strong anomaly in capacitance upon the transition of the films to the ferroelectric state. Application of a bias field brings about suppression and a slight shift of the dielectric anomaly toward higher temperatures. The strong-signal dielectric response has been studied by the Sawyer-Tower method over the frequency range 0.06–3.00 kHz both in the para- and ferroelectric phases. In contrast to the case of a plane-parallel capacitor, in the planar structure studied, the dielectric hysteresis loops exhibit a very small coercivity at low frequencies, which grows with increasing frequency. This difference should be assigned to different domain structures formed in a planeparallel capacitor and in a planar structure in a saturating field. The growth of hysteresis with increasing frequency in a planar structure is considered to be associated with the domain wall motion.     

Structure of the Particle Population for a Branching Random Walk with a Critical Reproduction Law

We consider a continuous-time symmetric branching random walk on the d-dimensional lattice, d ≥?1, and assume that at the initial moment there is one particle at every lattice point. Moreover, we assume that the underlying random walk has a finite variance of jumps and the reproduction law is described by a continuous-time Markov branching process (a continuous-time analog of a Bienamye-Galton-Watson process) at every lattice point. We study the structure of the particle subpopulation generated by the initial particle situated at a lattice point x. We replay why vanishing of the majority of subpopulations does not affect the convergence to the steady state and leads to clusterization for lattice dimensions d =?1 and d =?2.

     

Thermochemistry of Complexation of 15-Crown-5 and 18-Crown-6 with Na+and NH+4Ions in Aqueous Solutions

The complexation constants and the heats of complexation of 15-crown-5 (15C5) and 18-crown-6 (18C6) with sodium and ammonium ions in aqueous solutions at several temperatures were determined using calorimetry methods. Thermodynamic characteristics (H°, G°, S°, and C _p°) of the formation of Na(15C5)⁺, Na(18C6)⁺, and NH₄(18C6)⁺were calculated.     

Acoustic properties of glycine phosphite crystals with an admixture of glycine phosphate

Acoustic and dielectric anomalies in the region of the ferroelectric phase transition in crystals of glycine phosphite (GPI) with a 2 mol % admixture of glycine phosphate (GP) are studied. The acoustic anomalies were found to differ strongly from those observed in nominally pure glycine phosphite crystals. A theoretical analysis of the acoustic and dielectric properties of the crystals was carried out within the model of a pseudoproper ferroelectric phase transition. It is shown that the acoustic anomalies, as well as the temperature dependences of the dielectric constant (for various external electric fields) and pyroelectric current observed in the vicinity of the phase transition in GPI-GP crystals, can be adequately described when the macroscopic polarization present in these crystals above the phase transition temperature is taken into account. The thermodynamic-potential parameters describing electrostriction and the biquadratic relation between the polarization and strain turned out to be close to those characterizing a nominally pure GPI crystal. An irreversible phase transition was observed to occur in GPI-GP crystals at T = 240 K, i.e., above the ferroelectric phase transition temperature.