Measurement of storage time, estimation of ion number and study of absorption line profile in a Paul trap

Europium (Eu⁺) ions were confined in a Paul trap and detected by non-destructive method. Storage time of Eu⁺ ions achieved in vacuum was improved by orders of magnitude employing buffer gas cooling. The experimentally detected signal was fitted to the ion response signal and the total number of ions trapped was estimated. It is found that the peak signal amplitude as well as the product of FWHM and the peak signal amplitude is proportional to the total number of trapped ions. The trapped ion secular frequency was swept at different rates and its effect on the absorption line profile was studied both experimentally and theoretically.     

Exact Solutions of Extended Boussinesq Equations

The problem addressed in this paper is the verification of numerical solutions of nonlinear dispersive wave equations such as Boussinesq-like system of equations. A practical verification tool for numerical results is to compare the numerical solution to an exact solution if available. In this work, we derive some exact solitary wave solutions and several invariants of motion for a wide range of Boussinesq-like equations using Maple software. The exact solitary wave solutions can be used to specify initial data for the incident waves in the Boussinesq numerical model and for the verification of the associated computed solution. The invariants of motions can be used as verification tools for the conservation properties of the numerical model.     

In viva PHOTODYNAMIC EFFECTS OF PHTHALOCYANINES IN A SKIN-FOLD OBSERVATION CHAMBER MODEL: ROLE OF CENTRAL METAL ION AND DEGREE OF SULFONATION

Six sulfonated metallophthalocyanines, chelated with either aluminum or zinc and sulfonated to different degrees, were studied in vivo for their photodynamic activity in a rat skin-fold chamber model. The chamber, located on the back of female WAG/Rij rats, contained a syngeneic mammary carcinoma implanted into a layer of subcutaneous tissue. Twenty-four hours after intravenous administration of 2.5 μmol/kg of one of the dyes, the chambers received a treatment light dose of 600 J/cm² with monochromatic light of 675 nm at a power density of 100 mW/ cm². During light delivery and up to a period of 7 days after treatment, vascular effects of tumor and normal tissue were scored. Tumor cell viability was determined by histology and by reimplantation of the chamber contents into the skin of the same animal, either 2 h after treatment or after the 7 day observation period. Vascular effects of both tumor and subcutaneous tissue were strongest with dyes with the lowest degree of sulfonation and decreased with increasing degree of sulfonation. Tumor regrowth did not occur with aluminum phthalocyanine mono- and disulfonate and with zinc phthalocyanine monosulfonate. With the protocol that was used, complete necrosis without recovery was only observed when reimplantation took place at the end of the 7 day follow-up period. Reimplantation 2 h after treatment always resulted in tumor regrowth. At this interval, the presence of viable tumor cells was confirmed histologically. In general tumor tissue vasculature was more susceptible to photodynamic damage than vasculature of the normal tissue. The effect on the circulation of both tumor and normal tissue increased with decreasing degree of sulfonation. Based on this study, the photodynamic effects using the six sulfonated metallophthalocyanines on the vasculature can be ranked from high to low as: AlPcS₂= ZnPcS₁ > AIPcS₁ > AIPcS₄ > ZnPcS₂ > ZnPcS₄.     

Correction: Dermatan sulfate in tunicate phylogeny: Order-specific sulfation pattern and the effect of [→4IdoA(2-Sulfate)β-1→3GalNAc(4-Sulfate)β-1→] motifs in dermatan sulfate on heparin cofactor II activity

After the publication of the work entitled "Dermatan sulfate in tunicate phylogeny: Order-specific sulfation pattern and the effect of [→4IdoA(2-Sulfate)β-1→3GalNAc(4-Sulfate)β-1→] motifs in dermatan sulfate on heparin cofactor II activity", by Kozlowski et al., BMC Biochemistry 2011, 12:29, we found that the legends to Figures 2 to 5 contain serious mistakes that compromise the comprehension of the work. This correction article contains the correct text of the legends to Figures 2 to 5.     

Organocatalytic transfer hydrogenation of cyclic enones

The first enantioselective organocatalytic transfer hydrogenation of cyclic enones has been accomplished. The use of iminium catalysis has provided a new organocatalytic strategy for the enantioselective reduction of beta,beta-substituted alpha,beta-unsaturated cycloalkenones, to generate beta-stereogenic cyclic ketones. The use of imidazolidinone 4 as the asymmetric catalyst has been found to mediate the hydrogenation of a large class of enone substrates with tert-butyl Hantzsch ester serving as an inexpensive source of hydrogen. The capacity of catalyst 4 to enable enantioselective transfer hydrogenation of cycloalkenones has been extended to five-, six-, and seven-membered ring systems. The sense of asymmetric induction is in complete accord with the stereochemical model first reported in conjunction with the use of catalyst 4 for enantioselective ketone Diels-Alder reactions.     

Measurement of the Ec.m. = 184 keV resonance strength in the 26gAl (p, gamma)27 Si reaction

The strength of the Ec.m. = 184 keV resonance in the 26gAl(p, gamma)27 reaction has been measured in inverse kinematics using the DRAGON recoil separator at TRIUMF's ISAC facility. We measure a value of omega gamma = 35 +/- 7 microeV and a resonance energy of Ec.m. = 184 +/- 1 keV, consistent with p-wave proton capture into the 7652(3) keV state in 27Si, and discuss the implications of these values for 26GAl nucleosynthesis in typical oxygen-neon white-dwarf novae.     

PHOTODYNAMIC ACTIVITIES and SKIN PHOTOSENSITIVITY OF THE bis(DIMETHYLTHEXYLSILOXY)SILICON 2,3-NAPHTHALOCYANINE IN MICE

The photodynamic therapy (PDT) activity of the bis(dimethylthexylsiloxy)silicon 2,3-na-phthalocyanine (SiNc 8 ) was evaluated against the EMT-6 tumor implanted intradermally in BALB/c mice. The SiNc 8 was formulated in aqueous emulsions based on Cremophor EL or Solutol HS 15. The formulation was shown to affect plasma clearance and overall pharmacokinetics. Compared to Cremophor, Solutol promoted rapid plasma clearance and high liver retention of the dye, combined with a slight increase of dye tumor concentrations. The PDT action spectrum for tumor response of SiNc 8 in Cremophor (190 mW cm², 200 J cm², 24 h postinjection [p.i.] of 1 (jimol kg¹) showed a maximum at 780 nm, which corresponds to the absorption maximum of the monomelic dye as well as the in vivo maximum change in the “diffuse optical density” produced by the dye. The extent of tumor necrosis increased with augmented dye and light doses. Regardless of the formulation, at 1 h p.i. of 0.1 μmol kg^?! SiNc 8 , PDT efficiency (190 mW cm'², 400 J cm²) was high but accompanied by severe damage to normal tissues, at 24 h PDT resulted in complete tumor regression in 80% of the animals without adverse effects to adjacent tissues, while at 72 h p.i. PDT induced no tumor response with Cremophor and only a partial response with Solutol. At the latter time point, plasma dye clearance was nearly complete while tumor tissue levels remained high, suggesting that tumor response correlates with plasma rather than tumor dye levels. Skin sensitivity of SKhl mice to solar-simulated radiation was lower with SiNc 8 as compared to Photofrin®. Our data suggest the potential of SiNc 8 as a far-red absorbing photosensitizer in clinical PDT.