Delayed minocycline inhibits ischemia-activated matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 after experimental stroke

Background  

Matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 (MMP-2 and MMP-9) are increased in the brain after experimental ischemic stroke in rats. These two proteases are involved with the degradation of the basal lamina and loss of stability of the blood brain barrier that occurs after ischemia and that is associated with thrombolytic therapy in ischemic stroke. Minocycline is a lipophilic tetracycline and is neuroprotective in several models of brain injury. Minocycline inhibits inflammation, apoptosis and extracellular matrix degradation. In this study we investigated whether delayed minocycline inhibits brain MMPs activated by ischemia in a model of temporary occlusion in Wistar rats.     

NMR imaging study of various stages of a supported catalyst preparation process: getting the qualitative and quantitative information

Supported metal and metal oxide catalysts are widely used to perform various industrial processes such as hydrogenation reactions, the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis, hydrotreatment, etc. The preparation of such catalysts often involves impregnation of a porous support with a solution containing a desired metal salt (the precursor of an active component) followed by drying, calcination, and reduction. The properties of the obtained in such a way supported catalysts depend significantly on the dispersion and distribution of the active component along the catalyst pellet radius. In this paper nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging was applied to visualize the distribution of the active component (metal) in catalyst pellets in various stages of their preparation (impregnation, drying, calcination). The possibility to get by NMR imaging the quantitative information on the distribution of the active phase in impregnated, dried, and calcined catalysts was also demonstrated on the example of the Co/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst. The preparation conditions leading to various (uniform, egg-shell, egg-white and egg-yolk) Co distributions in the calcined Co/γ-Al₂O₃ catalysts were determined.     

Probing compositeness with Higgs Boson decays at the LHC

We study how massive ghost-free gravity \(f(R)\) -modified theories, MGFTs, can be encoded into generic off-diagonal Einstein spaces. Using “auxiliary” connections completely defined by the metric fields and adapted to nonholonomic frames with associated nonlinear connection structure, we decouple and integrate in certain general forms the field equations in MGFT. Imposing additional nonholonomic constraints, we can generate Levi-Civita, LC, configurations and mimic MGFT effects via off-diagonal interactions of effective Einstein and/or Einstein–Cartan gravity with nonholonomically induced torsion. We show that imposing nonholonomic constraints it is possible reproduce very specific models of massive \(f(R)\) gravity studied in Cai et al. (arXiv:1307.7150, 2013), Klusoňet al. (Phys Lett B 726:918, 2013), Nojiri and Odintov (Phys Lett B 716:377, 2012) and Nojiri et al. (JCAP 1305:020, 2013). The cosmological evolution of ghost-free off-diagonal Einstein spaces is investigated. Certain compatibility of MGFT cosmology to small off-diagonal deformations of \(\Lambda \) CDM models is established.     

Design and electro-optical characterization of Si-based resonant cavity light emitting devices at 850 nm

We report on the fabrication and characterization of Si/SiO₂ Fabry-Perot microcavities. These structures are used to enhance the external quantum efficiency along the cavity axis and the spectral purity of emission from silicon rich oxide films that are used as active media to fabricate a Si based RCLED (resonant cavity light emitting devices). A new structure to electrically pump the active media in the resonant cavity has been designed. These structures are fabricated by chemical vapour deposition on a silicon substrate. The microcavities are tuned at 850 nm and present a quality factor ranging from 17 to 150 depending on the number of pairs constituting the dielectric mirrors. An enhancement of the electro and photoluminescence (PL) signal of 20 times is achieved for the selected emission wavelength. These cavities are characterized by TEM analysis to evaluate film uniformity, thicknesses and the densification after annealing processes for temperature ranging from 800 to 1100 °C. The electrical properties of the active media are analyzed. The electroluminescence spectral features are compared with PL spectra correlated with the quality factor of the cavities. The photometric diagram shows also a high directionality of the emitted light within a 30° cone from the sample normal.     

Comparison of three techniques for cryopreservation and reestablishment of long-term Gentiana tibetica suspension culture

Cryogenic storage of cell suspensions allows long-term maintenance of cultures. The main purpose of the study was to develop a successful cryogenic protocol for 10-year-old embryogenic cell suspensions of G. tibetica. We examined three techniques of freezing: (I) controlled-rate cooling with various cryoprotectants (0.1-0.5 M DMSO, 0.5-1.0 M sucrose, 0.5-1.0 M glycerol, 0.25-1.0 M proline) or preculture with 0.4 M sorbitol and cryoprotectants (0.065-0.1 M DMSO, 0.2-0.8 M proline), (II) vitrification (PVS2) and (III) encapsulation. Cell viability was assessed by the TTC test and biomass increase. After controlled-rate cooling the majority of cells were lethally damaged, with only 3% viability observed. Vitrification and encapsulation approaches were more effective, assuring high levels of post-thaw viability ca. 85% and 7%, respectively. The encapsulation procedure gave faster recovery of the culture suspension than did vitrification, and ensured culture homogeneity and embryogenic competence.     

Real-time detection of DNA interactions with long-period fiber-grating-based biosensor

Using an optical biosensor based on a dual-peak long-period fiber grating, we have demonstrated the detection of interactions between biomolecules in real time. Silanization of the grating surface was successfully realized for the covalent immobilization of probe DNA, which was subsequently hybridized with the complementary target DNA sequence. It is interesting to note that the DNA biosensor was reusable after being stripped off the hybridized target DNA from the grating surface, demonstrating a function of multiple usability.     

Detection and quantitation of a pheomelanin component in melanin pigments using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry system with multiple reaction monitoring mode

Here, we describe the reliable method for the detection and quantitation of a pheomelanin component in melanin pigments. Synthetic melanins with various contents of pheomelanin-type structural units were thermally degraded, and the multiple reaction monitoring mode was applied to detect the pheomelanin markers in the pyrolysates by GC/MS/MS. The method allowed the specific detection and quantitation of a pheomelanin component in melanin with the incorporation of pheomelanin-type units as low as 0.05%. Considering highly universal character of the pheomelanin markers, the method could be applied for structural studies of natural melanin pigments being mixtures of eumelanin and pheomelanin.     

Light and heavy dansyl reporter groups in food chemistry: amino acid assay in beverages

5-Dimethylamino-1-sulfonyl naphthalene (DNS, commonly referred as dansyl) is a functionality, bearing well-established properties in directing the fragmentation, by mass spectrometry (MS), of the corresponding ionized sulfonylated derivatives. This property is shared also by its labeled analogs. The use of d(0)/d(6) DNS derivatives is now exploited in the application of the well-established isotope dilution mass spectrometric approach in the assay of complex mixtures. A new method for the quantitation of amino acids (AAs) in beverages is therefore presented, which relies on liquid chromatographic separation of their N-dansylated derivatives followed by comparative electrospray tandem MS/MS of the d(0)/d(6) isobaric mixtures. Labeled and unlabeled DNS derivatives of the selected AAs are readily available by microwave-assisted synthetic protocols. The novelty of the method is represented by the use of heavy and light DNS-isotopologue providing suitable reporter groups. Multiple-reaction monitoring has been applied in the assay of AAs in wine, pineapple juice and bergamot juice with good-to-excellent results as proved by both relative standard deviation, lower than 15%, and by the accuracy values in the range 90-110%.     

Analysis of spectral properties of acoustic noise produced during magnetic resonance imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique enables non-invasive analysis of the human vocal tract during phonation. Creation of MR images of the vocal tract is accompanied by simultaneous recording of the produced speech. The paper analyzes and compares spectral properties of an acoustical noise produced by mechanical vibration of the gradient coils during scanning in the open-air MRI equipment working in a weak magnetic field with low B₀ up to 0.2 T. This noise exhibits harmonic character, so it is suitable to analyze its properties in the spectral domain. Obtained results of spectral analysis will be used to devise a new cepstral-based filtering method for noise suppression of recorded speech.