Possibility of CP violation in the cascade non-leptonic decays

There is more than one parameter expressing CP violation in the non-leptonic hyperon decays. The recent experimental results provide us with indications that CP conservation may not be valid for the Ξ decays. Especially for the Ξ dacays this is not due to the deviations from the exact ΔI=1/2 rule.     

Symplectic Methods for the Numerical Solution of the Radial Shrödinger Equation

In this paper new symplectic-schemes for the numerical solution of the radial Shrödinger equation are proposed. In particular, symplectic integrators for Hamiltonian systems have been developed. Based on this approach, second- and third-order methods are proposed. These methods are more accurate than the existing ones. We compare these methods not only with the existing symplectic methods, but also with a classical Runge–Kutta–Nyström method.     

Organic residue analysis of Neolithic pottery from North Greece

Organic residues associated with Neolithic pottery from two Late Neolithic sites, Paliambela and Makriyalos (Northern Greece), were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The study aimed at identifying the origin of the tar used for waterproofing and gluing broken pots. Reference tars were prepared in laboratory conditions by pyrolysis of the bark from three tree species, namely from Betula pendula (silver birch), Ostrya carpinifolia (hop hornbeam) and Carpinus orientalis (Eastern hornbeam). The results suggest that mostly birch bark tar was used as glue for fixing broken pieces of the pots as well as for waterproofing close-shaped vessels. None of the archaeological tars derived from the two hornbeams. The analysis shows certain variability in the composition of birch bark tar, which is related to the production technique and to the re-use of tar. Of particular interest is the presence of characteristic diterpenoid biomarkers in several samples, which indicates that pine pitch was used for gluing and pine resin for waterproofing vessels for liquids. Correspondence: Sophia Mitkidou, Department of Science, School of Technological Applications, Technological Institute of Kavala, Greece     

Combined effect of temperature and organic modifier concentration on the retention under single mode gradient conditions in reversed-phase HPLC

The combined effect of temperature, T, and organic modifier concentration, phi, on the retention under gradient conditions in RPLC is studied by considering, both theoretically and experimentally gradients, of phi at constant T and gradients of T at constant phi. Two approaches are examined: in the first approach the prediction of the elution time of a sample solute is based on the isocratic/isothermal properties of this solute. The second approach is based on a direct fitting procedure of a proper retention model to 2-D isocratic/T-gradient or isothermal/phi-gradient retention data. These approaches were tested using alkylbenzes in eluting systems modified by ACN. We found that both approaches can give excellent predictions under certain prerequisites. However, the first approach exhibits the notable advantage that it can be used effectively to predict retention times under any kind of phi-gradients at constant T or T-gradients at constant phi. The second approach has the advantage that it is relatively simple but its applicability is very restricted since its predictions are satisfactory only if the gradients are of the same kind with those used in the fitting procedure and the conditions lie within those used for fitting.     

Fuzzball solutions for black holes and D1-brane-D5-brane microstates

We revisit the relation between fuzzball solutions and D1-brane-D5-brane microstates. A consequence of the fact that the R ground states (in the usual basis) are eigenstates of the R charge is that only neutral operators can have nonvanishing expectation values on these states. We compute the holographic 1-point functions of the fuzzball solutions and find that charged chiral primaries have nonzero expectation values, except when the curve characterizing the solution is circular. The nonzero vacuum expectation values reflect the fact that a generic curve breaks R symmetry completely. This implies that fuzzball solutions (excepting circular ones) can only correspond to superpositions of R states and we give a proposal for the superposition corresponding to a given curve. We also address the question of what would be the geometric dual of a given R ground state.     

Controlled Chemical Derivatisation of Carbon Nanotubes with Imaging,Targeting, and Therapeutic Capabilities

In drug delivery, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) hold a great potential as carriers because of their ability to easily cross biological barriers and be internalised into cells. Their high aspect ratio allows multi‐functionalisation and their development as a multimodal platform for targeted therapy. In this article, we report the controlled covalent derivatisation of triple‐functionalised CNTs with the anticancer drug gemcitabine, folic acid as a targeting ligand and fluorescein as a probe. The anticancer activity of gemcitabine was maintained after covalent grafting onto the CNTs. The functionalised nanotubes were internalised into both folate‐positive and negative cells, suggesting the passive diffusion of CNTs. Overall, our approach is versatile and offers a precise chemical control of the sidewall functionalisation of CNTs and the possibility to manoeuvre the types of functionalities required on the nanotubes for a multimodal therapeutic strategy.     

Robust and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic-UV detection technique for the determination of tigecycline in rabbit plasma

An isocratic HPLC method with detection at 248 nm was developed and fully validated for the determination of tigecycline in rabbit plasma. Minocycline was used as an internal standard. A Hypersil BDS RP-C18 column (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 microm particle size) was used with the mobile phase phosphate buffer (pH 7.10, 0.070 M)-acetonitrile (76 + 24, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The elution time of tigecycline and minocycline was approximately 8.1 and 9.9 min, respectively. Calibration curves of tigecycline were linear in the concentration range of 0.021-3.15 microg/mL in plasma. The LOD and LOQ in plasma were estimated as 7 and 21 ng/mL, respectively. The intraday and interday precision values of the method were in the range of 5.0-7.1 and 5.6-9.1%, while the corresponding accuracy values were in the ranges of 92.8-111.1 and 97.6-102.3%, respectively. At the LOQ, the intraday precision was 18.7%, while intraday and interday accuracy values were 97.3 and 98.0%, respectively. Robustness of the proposed method was studied using a Plackett-Burman experimental design. A pharmacokinetic profile is presented for confirmation of the applicability of the method to pharmacokinetic studies.     

Anamorsin is a [2Fe-2S] cluster-containing substrate of the Mia40-dependent mitochondrial protein trapping machinery

Human anamorsin was implicated in cytosolic iron-sulfur (Fe/S) protein biogenesis. Here, the structural and metal-binding properties of anamorsin and its interaction with Mia40, a well-known oxidoreductase involved in protein trapping in the mitochondrial intermembrane space (IMS), were characterized. We show that (1), anamorsin contains two structurally independent domains connected by an unfolded linker; (2), the C-terminal domain binds a [2Fe-2S] cluster through a previously unknown cysteine binding motif in Fe/S proteins; (3), Mia40 specifically introduces two disulfide bonds in a twin CX(2)C motif of the C-terminal domain; (4), anamorsin and Mia40 interact through an intermolecular disulfide-bonded intermediate; and (5), anamorsin is imported into mitochondria. Hence, anamorsin is the first identified Fe/S protein imported into the IMS, raising the possibility that it plays a role in cytosolic Fe/S cluster biogenesis also once trapped in the IMS.     

Targeting carbon nanotubes against cancer

The use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as polyvalent tools for cancer treatment is progressing at a very fast pace. The most promising approach is the targeted delivery of drugs, designed to selectively direct the therapeutic treatment towards the tumours. CNTs may offer several advantages to overcome one of the main limitations of most existing anticancer therapies, namely the lack of selectivity. Herein, an account of the existing literature on CNT-based nanomedicine for cancer treatment is given. The most significant results obtained so far in the field of drug delivery are presented for many anticancer chemotherapeutics (doxorubicin, methotrexate, taxanes, platinum analogues, camptothecine and gemcitabine), but also for immunotherapeutics and nucleic acids. Moreover, the alternative anticancer therapies based on thermal ablation and radiotherapy are discussed. The attention throughout the review is focused on the different targeting strategies proposed so far, mainly based on antibodies, but also on other specifically recognised molecules or on the application of an external magnetic field.     

Novel methodology for 3D reconstruction of carotid arteries and plaque characterization based upon magnetic resonance imaging carotid angiography data

In this study, we present a novel methodology that allows reliable segmentation of the magnetic resonance images (MRIs) for accurate fully automated three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the carotid arteries and semiautomated characterization of plaque type. Our approach uses active contours to detect the luminal borders in the time-of-flight images and the outer vessel wall borders in the T(1)-weighted images. The methodology incorporates the connecting components theory for the automated identification of the bifurcation region and a knowledge-based algorithm for the accurate characterization of the plaque components. The proposed segmentation method was validated in randomly selected MRI frames analyzed offline by two expert observers. The interobserver variability of the method for the lumen and outer vessel wall was -1.60%±6.70% and 0.56%±6.28%, respectively, while the Williams Index for all metrics was close to unity. The methodology implemented to identify the composition of the plaque was also validated in 591 images acquired from 24 patients. The obtained Cohen's k was 0.68 (0.60-0.76) for lipid plaques, while the time needed to process an MRI sequence for 3D reconstruction was only 30 s. The obtained results indicate that the proposed methodology allows reliable and automated detection of the luminal and vessel wall borders and fast and accurate characterization of plaque type in carotid MRI sequences. These features render the currently presented methodology a useful tool in the clinical and research arena.