Reproducibility of GABA measurements using 2D J-resolved magnetic resonance spectroscopy

We determined the reproducibility of GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) measurements using 2D J-resolved magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) on a clinical 1.5-T MR imaging scanner. Two-dimensional J-resolved spectra were acquired in vitro across five GABA concentrations using a volume head coil and a 5-in. surface coil. Additional spectra using a sixth GABA phantom with a very low concentration and from a healthy volunteer were recorded in the 5-in. surface coil only. In each case, the 3.01-ppm GABA resonance was quantified; for comparison, the peak integrals of choline (3.2 ppm) and creatine (3.03 ppm) were recorded. At a physiological concentration (1.2 mM), in vitro GABA measurement was significantly more reproducible in the surface coil than in the volume coil (P=.005), with coefficients of variation (CVs) being less than 16% with the surface coil and up to 68% with the volume head coil. At the smallest concentration of in vivo GABA reported using other spectroscopy techniques (0.8 mM) and detected only using the surface coil, the CV for GABA was 23% and was less than 10% for choline and creatine, which compare favorably with results from published studies. In vivo, the CV for GABA measurement was 26%, suggesting that 2D J-resolved MRS would be suitable for detecting physiological changes in GABA, similar to those reported using other methods.     

Review of absolute neutrino mass measurements

The discovery of neutrino flavor oscillations has firmly established that at least two of the three known neutrino mass eigenstates possess a non-vanishing rest mass. Complementary to cosmology and the search for neutrino-less double beta decay laboratory-based measurements of low-energy beta decays provide a direct and model-independent approach to measure the effective electron (anti-)neutrino mass. I have reviewed the recent progress of the field starting from the first molecular tritium spectrum measured with the current state of the art KATRIN experiment before discussing the development of new approaches to achieve the sensitivity required to cover the full neutrino mass parameter range allowed in the inverted mass ordering scheme. The new avenues opened by micro-calorimeteric measurements of the electron capture decay spectrum of ¹⁶³Ho (ECHo, Holmes and Numecs) and by the new technology of cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy in combination with molecular and atomic tritium sources have been presented.     

Direct mass measurements of exotic nuclei

The present status and recent results from direct mass measurements of exotic nuclei are presented. ISOL, in-flight, and combined facilities provide a wide variety of nuclides far-off stability covering a wide range of half-lives down to the sub-millisecond region. Modern direct mass measurements are carried out using frequency and time-of-flight techniques. The obtained accurate mass data point to nuclear-structure phenomena and serve as a basis for astrophysical and weak-interaction studies. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: c.scheidenberger@gsi.de     

Development of methods of precise ultrasonic measurements in small volumes of liquids

The application of ultrasonic methods to investigation of problems of molecular physics and molecular biology is greatly limited by the necessity of precise measurements of ultrasound velocity and absorption in small volumes of liquids. Fixed path interferometric methods are the most adequate for such measurements in the low MHz region.In this paper disadvantages of the present interferometric methods of ultrasonic measurements are considered and new resonator cells and a simple device for such measurements are described. Accuracies of 10^?4% for the velocity change and to better than 1% for the attenuation change, at frequencies of about 7 MHz, are obtained by the device described. The volumes of the resonator cells vary within 0.1 to 0.8 ml depending on the purpose of investigation.     

Laser spectroscopy and mass measurements on alkali isotopes

Isotope shifts, spins, hyperfine structures and masses have been measured for the series of the alkali isotopes including the nuclei far from stability. The method of laser spectroscopy and its combinations with rf excitation are described. Some results are discussed, namely the first observation of the red doublet D₁-D₂ of francium, and the study of shell effects and changes of shape with mass and δ〈r ²〉 measurements for Rb and Na isotopes.     

First absolute mass measurements of short-lived isotopes

Absolute mass measurements of short-lived isotopes have been performed at the on-line mass separator ISOLDE at CERN by determining the cyclotron frequencies of ions confined in a Penning trap. The cyclotron frequencies for^{77,78,85,86,88}Rb and⁸⁸Sr ions could be determined with a resolving power of 3×10⁵ and an accuracy of better than 10⁻⁶, which corresponds to 100 keV for massA=100. The shortest-lived isotope under investigation was⁷⁷Rb with a half-life of 3.7 min. The resonances obtained for the isobars⁸⁸Rb and⁸⁸Sr were clearly resolved.     

Accurate mass measurements of very short-lived nuclei

Mass measurements of ³⁴Ar, ^73-78Kr, and ^74,76Rb were performed with the Penning-trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP. Very accurate Q _EC-values are needed for the investigations of the t-value of 0⁺ → 0⁺ nuclear β-decays used to test the standard model predictions for weak interactions. The necessary accuracy on the Q _EC-value requires the mass of mother and daughter nuclei to be measured with δm/m ⩽ 3 ^. 10^-8. For most of the measured nuclides presented here this has been reached. The ³⁴Ar mass has been measured with a relative accuracy of 1.1 ^. 10^-8. The Q _EC-value of the ³⁴Ar 0⁺ → 0⁺ decay can now be determined with an uncertainty of about 0.01%. Furthermore, ⁷⁴Rb is the shortest-lived nuclide ever investigated in a Penning trap. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: frank.herfurth@cern.ch     

Accuracy of relative isotopic abundance and mass measurements in a single-stage orbitrap mass spectrometer

Orbitrap technology offers a combination of different technical specifications which have not yet been achieved by other high-resolution mass spectrometry instrumentation. This refers to the combination of sensitivity, dynamic range, mass accuracy, resolution and speed. The high stability of the mass axis and the general ease of use made the orbitrap instrumentation attractive for routine laboratories. However, there are circumstances where significantly deviating relative isotopic abundance (RIA) and shifting accurate masses can be observed. RIA becomes biased at low ion counts. Furthermore, two adjacent, only partially resolved near-isobaric ions are detected with a deviating RIA. The presence of a very intensive mass peak does not only induce Fourier transformation related artefacts (side-lobes) but can cause mass shifts of small adjacent near-isobaric mass peaks. These effects are not as drastic as known for Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance instruments. Still, users trying to identify or quantify trace level compounds should be aware about such limitations in order to avoid possible pitfalls.     

Ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry and accurate mass measurements for high-throughput food lipids profiling

In the present study, accurate mass measurements by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry with Orbitrap-Exactive working at resolving power R: 100,000 (m/z 200, full width at half maximum) with an accuracy better than 2?ppm in all the mass range (m/z 200 to 2000) were used to show a detailed molecular composition of diverse edible oils and fats. Flow injection was used to introduce samples into the mass spectrometer, obtaining a complete analysis of each sample in less than 10 min, including blanks. Meticulous choice of organic solvents and optimization of the ion source and Orbitrap mass analyzer parameters were carried out, in order to achieve reproducible mass spectra giving reliable elemental compositions of the lipid samples and to prevent carry over. More than 200 elemental compositions attributable to diacylglycerols, triacylglycerols (TAGs), and their oxidation products have been found in the spectra of food lipids from different origin. Several compounds with very close molecular mass could only be resolved through ultrahigh resolution, allowing detailed and robust TAG profiling with a high characterization potential. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct mass measurements of neutron-deficient xenon isotopes using the ISOLTRAP mass spectrometer

The masses of the noble-gas Xe isotopes with have been directly measured for the first time. The experiments were carried out with the ISOLTRAP triple trap spectrometer at the on-line mass separator ISOLDE/CERN. A mass resolving power of the Penning trap spectrometer of of close to a million was chosen resulting in an accuracy of keV for all investigated isotopes. Conflicts with existing, indirectly obtained, mass data by several standard deviations were found and are discussed. An atomic mass evaluation has been performed and the results are compared to information from laser spectroscopy experiments and to recent calculations employing an interacting boson model.PACS: 07.75. + h Mass spectrometers - 21.10.Dr Binding energies and masses - 27.60. + j - 32.10.Bi Atomic masses, mass spectra, abundances, and isotopes     

High-accuracy mass measurements in ion traps and storage rings

High-accuracy mass measurements have recently been performed on radioactive isotopes produced by proton-induced spallation at the on-line isotope separator ISOLDE at CERN and by heavy-ion projectile fragmentation at the fragment separator FRS at GSI. At ISOLDE, singly charged ions were injected into the Penning trap mass spectrometer ISOLTRAP and their masses determined by observing their cyclotron frequencies in the homogeneous magnetic field of the ion trap. At GSI, bare, hydrogen, or helium-like ions were injected into the experimental storage ring ESR, electron-cooled to the same velocity, and their masses determined by observing their revolution frequencies in the ESR. With ISOLTRAP and ESR, resolving power in the range of 4 × 10⁵< = m/Δ m(FWHM)< = 10⁷ and an accuracy up to \delta m/m~ 10^-7 were achieved for radioactive isotopes. Mass measurements of highly charged ions of stable isotopes were performed at Stockholm by use of SMILETRAP. In this case, a resolving power of about 10⁸ and an accuracy close to 10^-9 were obtained. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Probing High-Scale and Split Supersymmetry with Higgs mass measurements

We study the range of Higgs masses predicted by High-Scale Supersymmetry and by Split Supersymmetry, using the matching condition for the Higgs quartic coupling determined by the minimal field content. In the case of Split Supersymmetry, we compute for the first time the complete next-to-leading order corrections, including two-loop renormalization group equations and one loop threshold effects. These corrections reduce the predicted Higgs mass by a few GeV. We investigate the impact of the recent LHC Higgs searches on the scale of supersymmetry breaking. In particular, we show that an upper bound of 127 GeV on the Higgs mass implies an upper bound on the scale of Split Supersymmetry of about ¹⁰⁸ GeV, while no firm conclusion can yet be drawn for High-Scale Supersymmetry.     

原子核质量精密测量的研究进展

原子核质量的精密测量是原子核物理学的重要课题之一,它对探索奇特原子核的结构和性质、重元素核合成之谜等均具有重大意义.文章简要介绍了原子核质量高精度测量的两个主要设备——储存环和潘宁阱,并回顾了近年来原子核质量精密测量在核结构、元素核合成、新同核异能素等领域中的研究亮点,探讨原子核质量测量的发展趋势.     

Towards direct mass measurements of nobelium at SHIPTRAP

The Penning-trap mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP allows precision mass measurements of rare isotopes produced in fusion-evaporation reactions. In the first period of operation the masses of more than 50 neutron-deficient radionuclides have been measured. In this paper the perspectives for direct mass measurements of rare isotopes around nobelium are discussed and the achievable precision is addressed. The temporal stability of the magnetic field, an important issue for the long measurement times resulting from the low production rates, was investigated and the time-dependent uncertainty due to magnetic field fluctuations was determined. Based on the present performance direct mass measurements of nobelium isotopes are already feasible. With several technical improvements heavier elements between Z=102–105 will be in reach.     

Direct mass measurements of A=80 isobars

Direct mass measurements of A=80 isobars were performed using the second cyclotron of SARA (Système Accélérateur Rh?ne-Alpes) of the ISN (Institut des Sciences Nucléaires) in Grenoble as a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Using the 300 MeV ⁵⁸Ni +²⁷Al reaction, the isobars ⁸⁰Rb, ⁸⁰Sr, ⁸⁰Y, and ⁸⁰Zr (only one event!) were measured. For ⁸⁰Y we found a mass value of 79.934320(180) u, corresponding to a decay energy Q (⁸⁰Y →⁸⁰Sr) of (9120 ± 170) keV. Comparing this value to the former experiments of Lister et al. and Della Negra et al. results in a difference of about 2.2 MeV. However, it does agree with the recommended value of Audi and Wapstra, which is derived from systematic trends. For ⁸⁰Zr the single event was identified with a probability of 0.999975 and a mass value of 79.940400(1600) u could be deduced from our experiment. Received: 22 Juli 1997 / Revised version: 3 February 1998     

First precision mass measurements of refractory fission fragments

Atomic masses of 95-100Sr, 98-105Zr, and [corrected] 102-110Mo and have been measured with a precision of 10 keV employing a Penning trap setup at the IGISOL facility. Masses of 104,105Zr and 109,110Mo are measured for the first time. Our improved results indicate significant deviations from the previously published values deduced from beta end point measurements. The most neutron-rich studied isotopes are found to be significantly less bound (1 MeV) compared to the 2003 atomic mass evaluation. A strong correlation between nuclear deformation and the binding energy is observed in the two-neutron separation energy in all studied isotope chains.     

Precision mass measurements of radioactive nuclei at JYFLTRAP

The Penning trap mass spectrometer JYFLTRAP was used to measure the atomic masses of radioactive nuclei with an uncertainty better than 10 keV. The atomic masses of the neutron-deficient nuclei around the line were measured to improve the understanding of the rp-process path and the SbSnTe cycle. Furthermore, the masses of the neutron-rich gallium ( ) to palladium ( ) nuclei have been measured. The physics impacts on the nuclear structure and the r-process paths are reviewed. A better understanding of the nuclear deformation is presented by studying the pairing energy around .     

MRI analysis of right ventricular function in normal and spontaneously hypertensive rats

Right ventricular structure and function were characterized in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. These studies therefore complement previous reports preoccupied with left ventricular changes associated with this condition. Eight SHR and eight control normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were each subdivided into equal age-matched groups of 8 and 12 weeks. The right ventricle was imaged through a series of twelve contiguous 1.37–1.75 mm transverse sections at twelve equally spaced time-points that covered both systole and most of diastole thereby completely reconstructing right ventricular anatomy. This gave measurements of right ventricular myocardial mass that were consistent through all twelve time-points in all four experimental groups throughout their cardiac cycles. However, spontaneous hypertension increased this right ventricular myocardial mass, as well as the end-diastolic (EDV) and end-systolic volumes (ESV). Although stroke volume (SV) was conserved, decreases in ejection fraction (EF), a positive shift in the relationship between SV and EDV, and reduced indices of systolic ejection rates in SHR rats compared with the age-matched normal WKY controls indicated significant systolic dysfunction. Additionally, reductions in the rates of diastolic relaxation suggested the onset of diastolic dysfunction. Thus, the non-invasive nature of MRI has made it possible for the first time to demonstrate alterations in structure of the right ventricle and in quantitative indicators of its systolic and diastolic function in the SHR model of hypertension.