Metabolite identification of the antimalarial piperaquine in vivo using liquid chromatography–high‐resolution mass spectrometry in combination with multiple data‐mining tools in tandem

Artemisinin‐based combination therapy is widely used for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria, and piperaquine (PQ) is one of important partner drugs. The pharmacokinetics of PQ is characterized by a low clearance and a large volume of distribution; however, metabolism of PQ has not been thoroughly investigated. In this work, the metabolite profiling of PQ in human and rat was studied using liquid chromatography tandem high‐resolution LTQ‐Orbitrap mass spectrometry (HRMS). The biological samples were pretreated by solid‐phase extraction. Data processes were carried out using multiple data‐mining techniques in tandem, i.e., isotope pattern filter followed by mass defect filter. A total of six metabolites (M1–M6) were identified for PQ in human (plasma and urine) and rat (plasma, urine and bile). Three reported metabolites were also found in this study, which included N‐oxidation (M1, M2) and carboxylic products (M3). The subsequent N‐oxidation of M3 resulted in a new metabolite M4 detected in urine and bile samples. A new metabolic pathway N‐dealkylation was found for PQ in human and rat, leading to two new metabolites (M5 and M6). This study demonstrated that LC‐HRMSⁿ in combination with multiple data‐mining techniques in tandem can be a valuable analytical strategy for rapid metabolite profiling of drugs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Accurate Measurement of a Small Defect in a Planar Waveguide

Abstract

A non-destructive test method of a small defect (a dust particle or an air bubble) in a strongly confined planar waveguide is demonstrated in this work. Based on strong resonances between the small defect and some special incident wavelengths, an accurate reconstruction of the defect parameters can quickly be obtained from our previous numerical method. An example is given to verify the validity of the present measurement method.     

Co3+-Rich Na1.95CoP2O7 Phosphates as Efficient Bifunctional Catalysts for Oxygen Evolution and Reduction Reactions in Alkaline Solution

Implementing sustainable energy conversion and storage technologies is highly reliant on crucial oxygen electrocatalysis, such as the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, the pursuit of low cost, energetic efficient and robust bifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR remains a great challenge. Herein, the novel Na-ion-deficient Na_2−xCoP₂O₇ catalysts are proposed to efficiently electrocatalyze OER and ORR in alkaline solution. The engineering of Na-ion deficiency can tune the electronic structure of Co, and thus tailor the intrinsically electrocatalytic performance. Among the sodium cobalt phosphate catalysts, the Na_1.95CoP₂O₇ (NCPO5) catalyst exhibits the lowest ΔE (E_J10,OER−E_J−1,ORR) of only 0.86 V, which favorably outperforms most of the reported non-noble metal catalysts. Moreover, the Na-ion deficiency can stabilize the phase structure and morphology of NCPO5 during the OER and ORR processes. This study highlights the Na-ion deficient Na_2−xCoP₂O₇ as a promising class of low-cost, highly active and robust bifunctional catalysts for OER and ORR.     

Defect Engineering on Boron Nitride for O2 Activation and Subsequent Oxidative Desulfurization

The rational design of highly active hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) catalysts at the atomic level is urgent for aerobic reactions. Herein, a doping impurity atom strategy is adopted to increase its catalytic activities. A series of doping systems involving O, C impurities and B, N antisites are constructed and their catalytic activities for molecular O₂ have been studied by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. It is demonstrated that O₂ is highly activated on O_N and B_N defects, and moderately activated on C_B and C_N defects, however, it is not stable on N_B and O_B defects. The subsequent application in oxidative desulfurization (ODS) reactions proves the O_N and C-doped (C_B, C_N) systems to be good choice for sulfocompounds oxidization, especially for dibenzothiophene (DBT). While the B_N antisite is not suitable for such aerobic reaction due to the extremely stable B−O^*−B species formed during the oxidation process.     

Combining 2D synchrosqueezed wave packet transform with optimization for crystal image analysis

We develop a variational optimization method for crystal analysis in atomic resolution images, which uses information from a 2D synchrosqueezed transform (SST) as input. The synchrosqueezed transform is applied to extract initial information from atomic crystal images: crystal defects, rotations and the gradient of elastic deformation. The deformation gradient estimate is then improved outside the identified defect region via a variational approach, to obtain more robust results agreeing better with the physical constraints. The variational model is optimized by a nonlinear projected conjugate gradient method. Both examples of images from computer simulations and imaging experiments are analyzed, with results demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

The resonant secondary emission of the F center in alkali halides

The secondary radiation after resonant excitation of F center and its linear polarization P correlated to the polarization of resonant light have been measured for five alkali halides at low temperatures. In KC1, the spectrum of P over the whole Stokes region is divided into three successive regions, the depolarization range at the one-phonon Raman scattering, the near plateau range, and the depolarization range down to vanishing. The former two have common relevance to resonant energy and symmetries of coupled phonons. These relevances are interpreted adopting a configuration coordinate model for 2s- and 2p-like excited states.     

Local defect structures and EPR studies on (FeO6)9− and (FeO4)5− clusters in YGG: Fe3+ system

The octahedral (FeO₆)^9? and tetrahedral (FeO₄)^5? clusters in yttrium gallium garnet (YGG): Fe³⁺ system are investigated based on the 252 × 252 complete energy matrices for d⁵ configuration ions in trigonal and tetragonal ligand fields, moreover, the EPR and optical spectra are made unified calculation. The results indicate that the defect structures around Fe³⁺ centres display expansion effects at different temperatures 4.2 and 295 K, and which are close to those in YIG garnet, respectively. Simultaneously, the defect structure parameters for Fe³⁺ centres in YGG are determined, and the relationship between the defect structure and the temperature has been discussed.     

Effects of the primary recoil spectrum on long-range migration of defects

Abstract

For quantitative predictions and comparisons of microstructures that evolve during exposure to different radiation environments at elevated temperature one needs to develop methods that go beyond those based on the number of displacements per atom. The number of freely migrating defects that contribute to the microstructural development is far less than the total number of defects produced, as has been recognized for some time from measurements of radiation-induced segregation and of radiation-enhanced diffusion. Defect production in various neutron and ion irradiation environments is discussed in light of this fact. A method to calculate the fraction of freely migrating defects from the cluster size distribution of defects produced in cascades is suggested. The results are in good agreement with available data.     

无机固体材料中的忆阻效应

缺陷调控是固体化学中的基本问题,也是决定材料性能的核心要素。基于缺陷调控的忆阻效应将给未来电子信息领域带来全新的变革。本文综述了无机固体材料中忆阻效应的研究进展,主要总结了忆阻效应的产生机制和忆阻材料的类型,结合原子级p-n结的相关工作,提出深入明确电场下缺陷迁移机制将是从无机固体化学角度研究忆阻效应的重要方向。     

丝素纤维/硫酸钙抗感染骨材料的制备及性能

通过控制丝素蛋白自组装过程制备了溶液状态下的丝素纳米纤维（silk fibroin nanofibers,SFFs）,与硫酸钙、万古霉素（vancomycin,VCM）复合,制备了VCM/CS/SFFs抗菌骨材料。通过SEM、XRD、紫外分光光度计、万能力学试验机、抑菌圈、MTT等手段分别研究了复合材料的微观形貌与结构、药物释放、力学、抑菌及细胞相容性等性能。结果显示,与水作为固化液相比,随着SFFs溶液（0.017 5~2.1 mg·mL^-1）的加入,复合材料凝固时间可控,降解率逐渐降低,抗水性增强,韧性提高;同时随丝素纳米纤维含量的增加骨材料抗压强度表现为先增加后减小的趋势,一周内药物释放速率降低;材料同时具有抑菌作用;MTT实验结果显示,加入丝素纳米纤维后与纯的硫酸钙相比MC3T3细胞增殖明显。