Doping Polysulfone Membrane with Alpha‐Tocopherol and Alpha‐Lipoic Acid for Suppressing Oxidative Stress Induced by Hemodialysis Treatment

The reduction of free radicals by bioactive membranes used for hemodialysis treatment is an important topic due to the constant rise of oxidative stress‐associated cardiovascular mortality by hemodialysis patients. Therefore, it is urgent to find an effective solution that helps to solve this problem. Polysulfone membranes enriched with α‐lipoic acid, α‐tocopherol, and with both components are fabricated by spin coating. The antioxidant properties of these membranes are evaluated in vitro by determining the lipid‐peroxidation level and the total antioxidant status of the blood plasma. The biocompatibility is assessed by quantifying the protein adsorption, platelet adhesion, complement activation, and hemolytic effect. All types of membranes show in vitro antioxidant activity and a trend to reduce oxidative stress in vivo; the best results show membranes prepared with a combination of both compounds and prove to be nonhemolytic and hemocompatible. Moreover, the membrane specific separation ability for the main waste products is not affected by antioxidants incorporation.     

Study of Blood Porphyrin Spectral Profile for Diagnosis of Chronic Renal Failure

The progression to end-stage renal failure is independent of the initial pathogenic mechanism. Metabolic acidosis is a common consequence of chronic renal failure that results from inadequate ammonium excretion and decreased tubular bicarbonate reabsorption. Protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) is the immediate metabolic precursor of the heme molecule. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the levels of erythrocytes protoporphyrin IX at an animal model during progressive renal disease. A total of 36 eight-week-old male Wistar rats were divided into six groups: Normal, 4 and 8 weeks after 5/6 nephrectomy (NX). Renal function was evaluated by creatinine clearance and plasma creatinine levels. The autofluorescence of erythrocytes porphyrin of healthy and NX rats was analyzed using fluorescence spectroscopy. Emission spectra were obtained by exciting the samples at 405 nm. Significant differences between normal and NX rats autofluorescence shape occurred in the 600–700 nm spectral region. A correlation was observed between emission band intensity at 635 nm and progression of renal disease.     

On the superfield effective potential in three dimensions

We develop the superfield approach to the effective potential in three dimensions and calculate the one-loop and two-loop Kählerian effective potential in commutative and noncommutative cases.     

Hidrogeochemical study in South Amazon region using Photoacoustic Spectroscopy

In this study we demonstrate the usefulness of the Photoacoustic Spectroscopy (PAS) in the investigation of water collected from a natural site located within the Amazon region, Brazil, during the wet to dry seasons transition (May/2006). The water samples were collected from different stages along a hydrologic pathway including precipitation water (Prec), groundwater (GW), through flow water (TF), overland flow water (OF), and stream flow water (SW). The observed photoacoustic spectral features, in the 0.3 to 1.0 μm wavelength region, fall within three distinct bands (C, S, and L). We found band-C, band-S and band-L occurring in the spectral range of 0.30 to 0.40 μm, 0.40 to 0.45 μm and 0.45 to 1.0 μm regions, respectively. The photoacoustic features shift peak positions and change intensities for all samples investigated, thus supporting the proposal of PAS as a useful technique to investigate water samples from natural environments.     

Exact Gaussian expansions of Slater-type atomic orbitals

Three exact Slater-type function (STO) integral transforms are presented. The STO-NG basis set can then be developed using either only 1s Gaussian functions, the same Gaussian exponents for each shell, or using the first Gaussian of each symmetry. The use of any of these three alternatives depends only on appropriate numerical integration techniques.     

Standard molar enthalpies of formation of dimethylbenzophenones

The standard (p⁰ = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpy of formation of 3,4‐dimethylbenzophenone was derived from the standard molar energy of combustion, in oxygen, at T = 298.15 K, measured by static bomb combustion calorimetry. The Calvet high temperature vacuum sublimation technique was used to measure the enthalpy of sublimation of the compound. From these experimental parameters, the standard molar enthalpy of formation of 3,4‐dimethylbenzophenone, in the gaseous phase and at T = 298.15 K, was derived as ?(17.1 ± 2.9) kJ mol^?1. Density functional theory was used to investigate the gas‐phase molecular energetics of the 12 dimethylbenzophenones. Molecular geometries and vibrational frequencies were computed at the B3LYP/6‐31G(d) level of theory. The larger 6‐311+G(2d,2p) basis set was used to compute the energy of all dimethylbenzophenones and of the other compounds that were considered for the estimation of the standard molar enthalpies of formation at T = 298.15 K. The calculations show that the 2,2′‐ and 4,4′‐dimethylbenzophenones are the least and most stable isomers, respectively. Finally, the calculated enthalpy of formation of the benzophenone that was also studied experimentally, 3,4‐dimethylbenzophenone, is ?16.7 kJ mol^?1, which is in excellent agreement with the experimental result. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Systematics of inner-shell photo-ionization X-ray lasers with constant pump rates

Population-rate equations are analytically solved for constant pump rates. Conditions for population inversions are developed for this simplified case. Numbers appropriate for inner-shell photo-ionization of magnesium and neon are used. These allow back-of-the envelope calculations for predicting lasing duration. Pump-rate thresholds are also given which permit lasing for the duration of the pumping. Blackbody-source temperatures associated with such pump rates are calculated. A method of using the solution of the small-signal population-rate equations to determine the saturated intensity when the lower lasing level has a decay channel is given. This method is applied to the case of constant pump rates. An analytic expression for the saturated intensity is developed for this case.