Simultaneous quantification of leukotrienes and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids in cell culture medium using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Leukotrienes (LTs) and hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acids (HETEs) are important bioactive lipid mediators that participate in various pathophysiological processes. To advance understanding of the mechanisms that regulate these mediators in physiological and pathological processes, an analytical method using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry for the simultaneous quantification of LTB₄, LTC₄, LTD₄, LTE₄, 5‐HETE_, 8‐HETE, 12‐HETE and 15‐HETE in cell culture media was developed. A Supel?‐Select HLB solid‐phase extraction cartridge was used for sample preparation. The compounds were separated on a C₁₈ column using gradient elution with acetonitrile–water–formic acid (20:80:0.1, v/v/v) and acetonitrile–formic acid (100:0.1, v/v). The calibration curves of LTB₄, LTD₄, LTE₄ and HETEs were linear in the range of 0.025–10 ng/mL, and the calibration curve of LTC₄ was linear in the range of 0.25–10 ng/mL. Validation assessment showed that the method was highly reliable with good accuracy and precision. The stability of LTs and HETEs was also investigated. Using the developed method, we measured LTs and HETEs in the culture supernatant of the human mast cell line HMC‐1. The present method could facilitate investigations of the mechanisms that regulate the production, release and signaling of LTs and HETEs. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

DFT mechanistic study of the H2‐assisted chain transfer copolymerization of propylene and p‐methylstyrene catalyzed by zirconocene complex

DFT computations have been performed to investigate the mechanism of H₂‐assisted chain transfer strategy to functionalize polypropylene via Zr‐catalyzed copolymerization of propylene and p‐methylstyrene (pMS). The study unveils the following: (i) propylene prefers 1,2‐insertion over 2,1‐insertion both kinetically and thermodynamically, explaining the observed 1,2‐insertion regioselectivity for propylene insertion. (ii) The 2,1‐inserion of pMS is kinetically less favorable but thermodynamically more favorable than 1,2‐insertion. The observation of 2,1‐insertion pMS at the end of polymer chain is due to thermodynamic control and that the barrier difference between the two insertion modes become smaller as the chain length becomes longer. (iii) The pMS insertion results in much higher barriers for subsequent either propylene or pMS insertion, which causes deactivation of the catalytic system. (iv) Small H₂ can react with the deactivated [Zr]?pMS?PP_n facilely, which displace functionalized pMS?PP_n chain and regenerate [Zr]? H active catalyst to continue copolymerization. The effects of counterions are also discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2015 , 53, 576–585     

HPLC with fluorescence detection assay of perampanel,a novel AMPA receptor antagonist,in human plasma for clinical pharmacokinetic studies

Perampanel (Fycompa®), a novel α‐amino‐3‐hydroxy‐5‐methyl‐4‐isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor antagonist, is registered for the adjunctive treatment of patients (aged ≥12 years) with refractory partial‐onset seizures. To support therapeutic drug monitoring, a simple high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay with fluorescence detection was developed to determine perampanel concentrations in human plasma and validated to support clinical trials. Human plasma samples (1.0 mL) were processed by liquid extraction using diethyl ether, followed by chromatographic separation on a YMC Pack Pro C₁₈ column (150 × 4.6 mm i.d., 5 µm) with isocratic elution of acetonitrile–water–acetic acid–sodium acetate (840:560:3:1.8, v/v/v/w) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. Column eluent was monitored at excitation and emission wavelengths of 290 and 430 nm, respectively. The assay was linear (range 1.0–500 ng/mL) and this could be extended to 25 µg/mL by 50‐fold dilution integrity. No endogenous peaks were detected in the elution of analytes in drug‐free blank human plasma from six individuals and no interference was observed with co‐medications tested. Intra‐ and inter‐batch reproducibility studies demonstrated accuracy and precision within the acceptance criteria of bioanalytical guidelines. Validation data demonstrated that our assay is simple, selective, reproducible and suitable for therapeutic drug monitoring of perampanel. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fabrication of Al nanoparticles and their electrical properties studied by capacitance-voltage measurements

Nanometer-scale Al particles are fabricated and are embedded in a GaAs matrix using molecular beam epitaxial technique. The Al particle is self-assembled on GaAs by supplying an Al molecular beam. The average particle size is found to be 25 nm. The density is 7 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻² when Al of 6.2 × 10¹⁵ atoms/cm² is supplied on (1 0 0)GaAs at a substrate temperature of 300 °C. Clear hysteresis and plateaus in capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves are found in an Al-embedded sample, whereas monotonic increase of capacitance is obtained in a reference sample having an AlAs layer instead of Al. This difference results from trapping of electrons by the Al particles, suggesting that the particles have metallic character.     

Unique continuation along curves and hypersurfaces for second order anisotropic hyperbolic systems with real analytic coefficients

In this paper we prove the following kind of unique continuation property. That is, the zero on each geodesic of the solution in a real analytic hypersurface for second order anisotropic hyperbolic systems with real analytic coefficients can be continued along this curve.

     

Crystallographic report: Bis(norfloxacin)dilead(II) tetranitrate, [Pb2(H‐Norf)2(ONO2)4]

The centrosymmetric binuclear structure of [Pb₂(H‐Norf)₂(ONO₂)₄]shows the geometry around each lead(II) atom to be distorted trigonal bipyramidal with Pb–O distances ranging from 2.357(3) to 2.769(4) Å. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Vanishing Shear Viscosity Limit in the Magnetohydrodynamic Equations

We study an initial boundary value problem for the equations of plane magnetohydrodynamic compressible flows, and prove that as the shear viscosity goes to zero, global weak solutions converge to a solution of the original equations with zero shear viscosity. As a by-product, this paper improves the related results obtained by Frid and Shelukhin for the case when the magnetic effect is neglected. Supported by NSFC (Grant No. 10301014, 10225105) and the National Basic Research Program (Grant No. 2005CB321700) of China.     

Preparation of Nanoelectrode Ensembles by Assembly of Nano—Silver Colloid on Gold Surface

A novel method for preparing silver nanoelectrode ensembles(SNEEs) and gold nanoelectrode ensembles (GNEEs) has been developed. Silver colloid particles were first absorbed to the gold electrode surface to form a monolayer silver colloid. N-hexadecyl nercaptan was then assembled on the electrode to form a thoil monolayer on which hydrophilic ions cannot be transfered. The SNEEs was prepared by removing thiol from silver colloid surface through applying and AC voltage with increasing frequency at 0.20V(vs.SCE). Finally,GNEEs was obtained by immersing a SNEEs into 6 mol/L HNO3 to remove the silver colloid particles. By comparison with other methods such as template method ect., this method enjoys some advantages of lower resistance, same diameter,easy preparation,controllable size and density.     

后处理对TiO_2纳米薄膜的表面结构和光催化活性的影响

半导体TiO2光催化材料对环境中各种污染物的明显去除效果已引起人们的广泛关注犤1～6犦。在普通钠钙玻璃表面涂制高光催化活性的TiO2纳米薄膜,制成环保建筑材料,不仅可以自洁玻璃表面,而且可以用于净化空气、处理废水等。但由于在热处理过程中玻璃基体内的Na+离子扩散到薄膜表面,形成光生电子和空穴的复合中心,使TiO2纳米薄膜的光催化活性大大降低犤7～10犦。为了减少玻璃中Na+离子对TiO2薄膜光催化活性的有害影响,Paz等犤8犦研究了将钠钙玻璃浸入酸溶液中,使玻璃表面的钠离子被酸中的氢离子置换出来;在玻璃表面形成SiO2凝胶层,以便阻…     

Fibers and 3D mesh scaffolds from biodegradable starch-based blends: production and characterization

The aim of this work is the production of fibers from biodegradable polymers to obtain 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering of hard tissues. The scaffolds required for this highly demanding application need to have, as well as the biological and mechanical characteristics, a high degree of porosity with suitable dimensions for cell seeding and proliferation. Furthermore, the open cell porosity should have adequate interconnectivity for a continuous flow of nutrients and outflow of cell metabolic residues as well as to allow cell growth into confluent layers. Blends of corn starch, a natural biodegradable polymer, with other synthetic polymers (poly(ethylene vinyl alcohol), poly(epsilon-caprolactone), poly(lactic acid)) were selected for this work because of their good balance of properties, namely biocompatibility, processability and mechanical properties. Melt spinning was used to produce fibers from all the blends and 3D meshes from one of the starch-poly(lactic acid) blends. The experimental characterization included the evaluation of the tensile mechanical properties and thermal properties of the fibers and the compression stiffness, porosity and degradation behavior of the 3D meshes. Light microscopy picture of 3D meshes.