Are Gait and Balance Problems in Neurological Patients Interdependent? Enhanced Analysis Using Gait Indices,Cyclograms, Balance Parameters and Entropy

Background: Balance and locomotion are two main complex functions, which require intact and efficient neuromuscular and sensory systems, and their proper integration. In many studies the assumption of their dependence is present, and some rehabilitation approaches are based on it. Other papers undermine this assumption. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine the possible dependence between gait and balance in patients with neurological or sensory integration problems, which affected their balance. Methods: 75 patients (52 with neurological diseases, 23 with sensory integration problems) participated in the study. They underwent balance assessment on Kistler force plate in two conditions, six tests on a Balance Biodex System and instrumented gait analysis with VICON. The gait and balances parameters and indices, together with entropy and cyclograms were used for the analysis. Spearman correlation, multiple regression, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis were used as analytical tools. Results: The analysis divided patients into 2 groups with 100% correctly classified cases. Some balance and gait measures are better in the first group, but some others in the second. Conclusions: This finding confirms the hypothesis that there is no direct link between gait and balance deficits.     

Degradation of the Giant Magnetoresistance in Fe/Cr Multilayers Due to Ar-Ion Beam Mixing

The influence of 200 keV Ar-ion irradiation on the interlayer coupling in the Fe/Cr multilayer system exhibiting the giant magnetoresistance effect (GMR) is studied by conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS), VSM hysteresis loops, magnetoresistivity and electric resistivity measurements and supplemented by the small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD). The increase of Ar ion dose causes an increase of interface roughness, as evidenced by the increase of the Fe step-sites detected by CEMS as a result of which the GMR gradually decreases and vanishes at doses exceeding 1×10¹⁴ Ar/cm². A degradation of GMR with increasing Ar-ion dose is related to the formation of pinholes between Fe layers and the decrease of the antiferromagnetically coupled fraction.

     

The photon-ion merged-beams experiment PIPE at PETRA III—The first five years

The Photon-Ion Spectrometer at PETRA III—in short, PIPE—is a permanently installed user facility at the "Variable Polarization XUV Beamline" P04 of the synchrotron light source PETRA III operated by DESY in Hamburg, Germany. The careful design of the PIPE ion-optics in combination with the record-high photon flux at P04 has lead to a breakthrough in experimental studies of photon interactions with ionized small quantum systems. This short review provides an overview over the published scientific results from photon-ion merged-beams experiments at PIPE that were obtained since the start of P04 operations in 2013. The topics covered comprise photoionization of ions of astrophysical relevance, quantitative studies of multi-electron processes upon inner-shell photoexcitation and photoionization of negative and positive atomic ions, precision spectroscopy of photoionization resonances, photoionization and photofragmentation of molecular ions, and of endohedral fullerene ions.     

α‐Amino Acid‐Isosteric α‐Amino Tetrazoles

The synthesis of all 20 common natural proteinogenic and 4 otherα‐amino acid‐isosteric α‐amino tetrazoles has been accomplished, whereby the carboxyl group is replaced by the isosteric 5‐tetrazolyl group. The short process involves the use of the key Ugi tetrazole reaction followed by deprotection chemistries. The tetrazole group is bioisosteric to the carboxylic acid and is widely used in medicinal chemistry and drug design. Surprisingly, several of the common α‐amino acid‐isosteric α‐amino tetrazoles are unknown up to now. Therefore a rapid synthetic access to this compound class and non‐natural derivatives is of high interest to advance the field.     

A Stability-Indicating LC Method for Analysis of Balsalazide Disodium in the Bulk Drug and in Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms

A novel, sensitive, stability-indicating gradient RP-LC method has been developed for quantitative analysis of balsalazide disodium and its related impurities both in the bulk drug and in pharmaceutical dosage forms. Efficient chromatographic separation was achieved on a C₁₈ stationary phase with a simple mobile-phase gradient prepared from methanol and phosphate buffer (10 mm potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate monohydrate, adjusted to pH 2.5 by addition of orthophosphoric acid). The mobile-phase flow rate was 1.0 mL min^?1. Quantification was achieved by use of ultraviolet detection at 240 nm. Under these conditions resolution of balsalazide disodium from its three potential impurities was greater than 2.0. Regression analysis resulted in a correlation coefficient greater than 0.99 for balsalazide disodium and all three impurities. This method was capable of detecting the three impurities at 0.003% of the test concentration of 0.3 mg mL^?1, using an injection volume of 10 μL. Inter-day and intra-day precision for all three impurities and for balsalazide disodium was within 2.0% RSD. Recovery of balsalazide disodium from the bulk drug (99.2–101.5%) and from pharmaceutical dosage forms (99.8–101.3%), and recovery of the three impurities (99.1–102.1%) was consistently good. The test solution was found to be stable in 70:30 (v/v) methanol–water for 48 h. When the drug was subjected to hydrolytic, oxidative, photolytic, and thermal stress, acidic and alkaline hydrolysis and oxidizing conditions led to substantial degradation. The RP-LC method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, and robustness.