A phase I, randomized study of combined IL-2 and therapeutic immunisation with antiretroviral therapy

Background  

Fully functional HIV-1-specific CD8 and CD4 effector T-cell responses are vital to the containment of viral activity and disease progression. These responses are lacking in HIV-1-infected patients with progressive disease. We attempted to augment fully functional HIV-1-specific CD8 and CD4 effector T-cell responses in patients with advanced chronic HIV-1 infection.     

High current density results from a LaB6 thermioniccathode electron gun

A Pierce-type electron gun using a planar 1.9-cm-diameter lanthanum hexaboride cathode is being studied as a robust thermionic emitter at high cathode-current densities. The gun has been operated up to voltages of 115 kV, achieving beam current densities of 30 A/cm² . The electron gun operated dependably up to 90 kV, achieving temperature-limited currents of 50 A. Due to the high fields at the tip of the Pierce-focusing electrode, the gun would usually arc at voltages >90 kV. Ten shots were obtained at a gun voltage of 115 kV, achieving transmitted currents up to 89 A, transmitted beam power up to 10.2 MW, and transmitted power densities up to 3.4 MW/cm²     

Synthesis,structural analysis,and self-assembly of phenylene ethynylene oligomers and their ?F, ?CF3, and ?CH3 substituted derivatives

Oligomers consisting of aromatic building blocks separated by alkynyl units were synthesized by Sonogashira cross-coupling of aryl halides with terminal acetylenes. Strong electron acceptors such as  F and  CF₃ and weak electron donors like  CH₃ were placed as substituents on one of the benzene rings. Acetyl-protected sulfhydryl groups were attached to one end of these molecules to promote their self-organization on gold surfaces. The electron-transport properties of such self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) are highly sensitive to the local order of the molecules in the solid state. Single crystals were analyzed by X-ray diffraction experiments that revealed structural details that could lead to a better understanding of the electron-transport properties. The unsymmetrical substitution of the aromatic rings by electron-active groups in the ortho-, meta-, or para positions resulted in changes of such molecular parameters as bonding and torsion angles and planarity. These parameters, in turn, can affect the angle of the molecular attachment to a gold substrate and the density of the resulting SAMs. Patterned SAMs of some of these molecules and comparison alkane thiols were obtained on gold by microcontact printing or flooding. The SAM thickness was determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry. Surface potential differences between adjacent SAMs or between SAMs and the gold substrate were measured by scanning surface potential microscopy under ambient conditions. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 541–550, 2004     

Femtosecond vibrational dynamics of self-trapping in a quasi-one-dimensional system

We have directly time resolved the lattice motions associated with the formation of the self-trapped exciton in the quasi-one-dimensional system [Pt(en)(2)] [Pt(en)2Br2];(PF6)(4) ( en = ethylene-diamine, C2H8N2), using femtosecond impulsive excitation techniques. A strongly damped, low-frequency wave packet modulation at approximately 110 cm(-1) accompanies the formation of the self-trapped exciton on a approximately 200 fs time scale following excitation of the intervalence charge-transfer transition. Coherent oscillations at the ground state vibrational frequency and its harmonics are also detected.     

Thermochemistry of aqueous hydroxyl radical from advances in photoacoustic calorimetry and ab initio continuum solvation theory

Photoacoustic signals from dilute ( approximately 30 mM) solutions of H2O2 were measured over the temperature range from 10 to 45 degrees C to obtain the reaction enthalpy and volume change for H2O2(aq) --> 2 OH(aq) from which we ultimately determined DeltafG degrees , DeltafH degrees and partial molal volume, v degrees , of OH (aq). We find DeltarH = 46.8 +/- 1.4 kcal/mol, which is 4 kcal/mol smaller than the gas-phase bond energy, and DeltaVr = 6.5 +/- 0.4 mL/mol. The v degrees for OH in water is 14.4 +/- 0.4 mL/ml: smaller than the v degrees of water. Using ab intio continuum theory, the hydration free energy is calculated to be -3.9 +/- 0.3 kcal/mol (for standard states in number density concentration units) by a novel approach devised to capture in the definition of the solute cavity the strength and specific interactions of the solute with a water solvent molecule. The shape of the cavity is defined by "rolling" a three-dimensional electron density isocontour of water on the ab initio water-OH minimum interaction surface. The value of the contour is selected to reproduce the volume of OH in water. We obtain for OH(aq): DeltafH degrees = -0.2 +/- 1.4 and DeltafG degrees = 5.8 +/- 0.4 kcal/mol that are in agreement with literature values. The results provide confidence in the pulsed PAC technique for measuring aqueous thermochemistry of radicals and open the way to obtaining thermochemistry for most radicals that can be formed by reaction of OH with aqueous substrates while advancing the field of continuum solvation theory toward ab initio-defined solute cavities.     

Spectral Asymptotics for Higher-Order Ordinary Differential Equations

This paper gives one-term componentwise asymptotics for theM and spectral matrices of a self-adjoint realisation of aneven-order ordinary differential expression. The underlyinginterval is assumed to have at least one regular endpoint, andthe boundary conditions are supposed to be separated. Furthermore,the weight function and the reciprocal of the highest-ordercoefficient are supposed to be of regular variation at the regularendpoint, in the sense of Bingham, Goldie and Teugels. 1991Mathematics Subject Classification: 34B24, 34E05.