Optimization of STEM-HAADF Electron Tomography Reconstructions by Parameter Selection in Compressed Sensing Total Variation Minimization-Based Algorithms

A novel procedure to optimize the 3D morphological characterization of nanomaterials by means of high angle annular dark field scanning-transmission electron tomography is reported and is successfully applied to the analysis of a metal- and halogen-free ordered mesoporous carbon material. The new method is based on a selection of the two parameters (μ and β) which are key in the reconstruction of tomographic series by means of total variation minimization (TVM). The parameter-selected TVM reconstructions obtained using this approach clearly reveal the porous structure of the carbon-based material as consisting of a network of parallel, straight channels of ≈6 nm diameter ordered in a honeycomb-type arrangement. Such an unusual structure cannot be retrieved from a TVM 3D reconstruction using default reconstruction values. Moreover, segmentation and further quantification of the optimized 3D tomographic reconstruction provide values for different textural parameters, such as pore size distribution and specific pore volume that match very closely with those determined by macroscopic physisorption techniques. The approach developed can be extended to other reconstruction models in which the final result is influenced by parameter choice.     

N,N′‐Bis(2‐tosyl­amino­benzyl­idene)‐1,2‐ethanedi­amine

The structure of the title compound, C₃₀H₃₀N₄O₄S₂, is highly conditioned in the solid state by two strong N—H?N interactions. The values of the distances between the aminic N atoms [5.865 (3) Å] and the iminic N atoms [2.930 (4) Å], in conjunction with the long distance between the S atoms of the two tosyl groups [7.673 (1) Å], suggest that when the molecule acts as a ligand it will provide a single cavity for N₄ coordination to the metal centre.     

Discriminating Bacterial Infection from Other Causes of Fever Using Body Temperature Entropy Analysis

Body temperature is usually employed in clinical practice by strict binary thresholding, aiming to classify patients as having fever or not. In the last years, other approaches based on the continuous analysis of body temperature time series have emerged. These are not only based on absolute thresholds but also on patterns and temporal dynamics of these time series, thus providing promising tools for early diagnosis. The present study applies three time series entropy calculation methods (Slope Entropy, Approximate Entropy, and Sample Entropy) to body temperature records of patients with bacterial infections and other causes of fever in search of possible differences that could be exploited for automatic classification. In the comparative analysis, Slope Entropy proved to be a stable and robust method that could bring higher sensitivity to the realm of entropy tools applied in this context of clinical thermometry. This method was able to find statistically significant differences between the two classes analyzed in all experiments, with sensitivity and specificity above 70% in most cases.     

Charge‐Induced Unzipping of Isolated Proteins to a Defined Secondary Structure

Here we present a combined experimental and theoretical study on the secondary structure of isolated proteins as a function of charge state. In infrared spectra of the proteins ubiquitin and cytochrome c, amide I (C=O stretch) and amide II (N–H bend) bands can be found at positions that are typical for condensed‐phase proteins. For high charge states a new band appears, substantially red‐shifted from the amide II band observed at lower charge states. The observations are interpreted in terms of Coulomb‐driven transitions in secondary structures from mostly helical to extended C₅‐type hydrogen‐bonded structures. Support for this interpretation comes from simple energy considerations as well as from quantum chemical calculations on model peptides. This transition in secondary structure is most likely universal for isolated proteins that occur in mass spectrometric experiments.     

Minimal sets in monotone and sublinear skew-product semiflows I: The general case

The dynamics of a general monotone and sublinear skew-product semiflow is analyzed, paying special attention to the long-term behavior of the strongly positive semiorbits and to the minimal sets. Four possibilities arise depending on the existence or absence of strongly positive minimal sets and bounded semiorbits, as well as on the coexistence or not of bounded and unbounded strongly positive semiorbits. Previous results are unified and extended, and scenarios which are impossible in the autonomous or periodic cases are described.     

Purity assessment using the mass balance approach for inorganic in-house certified reference material production at Inmetro

Accreditation and Quality Assurance - The production of Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) is one of the essential activities of the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology...     

Some physico-chemical characteristics of amino-acid derivatives containing rest of 1,2,4-triazole-3,4-di-substituted with potential antitumoral activity

Abstract

Dipeptide derivatives from p-aminobenzoyl-phenylglycine and p-aminobenzoyl-phenylalanine were grafted on 1,2,4-triazole heterocycle in order to get new substances with potential biological activity. The compounds synthetized and characterized in this paper have a structure that fits in the antimetabolites category, products used to treat malignant tumors. The presence of several bioactive groups in the same molecule permits us to study the chemical structure - biological activity correlation based on computational analyses using SPARTAN’14 software. Some correlations between the molecular parameters established with Spartan’14 software are evidenced in this paper.     

Multi-scale simulation reveals that an amino acid substitution increases photosensitizing reaction inputs in Rhodopsins

Evaluating the availability of molecular oxygen (O₂) and energy of excited states in the retinal binding site of rhodopsin is a crucial challenging first step to understand photosensitizing reactions in wild-type (WT) and mutant rhodopsins by absorbing visible light. In the present work, energies of the ground and excited states related to 11-cis-retinal and the O₂ accessibility to the β-ionone ring are evaluated inside WT and human M207R mutant rhodopsins. Putative O₂ pathways within rhodopsins are identified by using molecular dynamics simulations, Voronoi-diagram analysis, and implicit ligand sampling while retinal energetic properties are investigated through density functional theory, and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods. Here, the predictions reveal that an amino acid substitution can lead to enough energy and O₂ accessibility in the core hosting retinal of mutant rhodopsins to favor the photosensitized singlet oxygen generation, which can be useful in understanding retinal degeneration mechanisms and in designing blue-lighting-absorbing proteic photosensitizers.     

Interplay of Antiferromagnetic Coupling and Spin Crossover in Dinuclear Iron(II) Complexes

This article reports on the study of the interplay between magnetic coupling and spin transition in 2,2′-bipyrimidine (bpym)-bridged iron(II) dinuclear compounds. Coexistence of both phenomena has been observed in [Fe(bpym)(NCS)₂]₂bpym, [Fe(bpym)(NCSe)₂]₂bpym and [Fe(bt)(NCS)₂]₂bpym (bpym = 2,2′-bipyrimidine, bt = 2,2′-bithiazoline) by the action of external physical factors namely pressure or electromagnetic radiation. Competition between magnetic exchange and spin crossover has been studied in [Fe(bpym)(NCS)₂]₂bpym at 6.3 kbar. LIESST experiments carried out in [Fe(bpym)(NCSe)₂]₂bpym and [Fe(bt)(NCS)₂]₂bpym at 4.2 K have shown that is possible to achieve dinuclear molecules with different spin states in this class of compounds. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.