Nanosphere lithography: fabrication of large-area Ag nanoparticle arrays by convective self-assembly and their characterization by scanning UV-visible extinction spectroscopy

This work employs UV-visible extinction spectroscopy as a new spectral mapping technique to characterize self-assembled polystyrene microsphere samples produced by convective self-assembly (CSA). This spectroscopic technique was successfully used to analyze the periodic particle arrays produced by the polystyrene template, yielding a detailed characterization of each sample. The CSA-prepared samples proved to be more uniform across a sample as well as more reproducible than previous sample preparation techniques. For the first time, a detailed characterization and quantitative evaluation of the entire sample has been performed by spectroscopic mapping.     

Dynamical replica analysis of disordered Ising spin systems on finitely connected random graphs

We study the dynamics of macroscopic observables such as the magnetization and the energy per degree of freedom in Ising spin models on random graphs of finite connectivity, with random bonds and/or heterogeneous degree distributions. To do so, we generalize existing versions of dynamical replica theory and cavity field techniques to systems with strongly disordered and locally treelike interactions. We illustrate our results via application to, e.g., +/-J spin glasses on random graphs and of the overlap in finite connectivity Sourlas codes. All results are tested against Monte Carlo simulations.     

A comparative study of the ability of different techniques to extract menthol from Mentha piperita

Supercritical fluid extraction, direct thermal desorption, hydroalcoholic extraction, and atomization are used to extract menthol from leaf plants of Mentha piperita. The investigated methods are comparatively evaluated on the basis of their reliability to determine the enantiomeric distribution of menthol. The enantioselectivity required for the gas chromatographic analysis is achieved using Octakis (2,6-di-O-n-pentyl-3-O-butyryl)-gamma-cyclodextrin as the stationary phase. From the obtained results, it is established that there is a significant effect of the combination of pressure and temperature to achieve the effective isolation and fractionation of the less and most volatile compounds using supercritical fluids.     

Evidence from d+Au measurements for final-state suppression of high-p(T) hadrons in Au+Au collisions at RHIC

We report measurements of single-particle inclusive spectra and two-particle azimuthal distributions of charged hadrons at high transverse momentum (high p(T)) in minimum bias and central d+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)]=200 GeV. The inclusive yield is enhanced in d+Au collisions relative to binary-scaled p+p collisions, while the two-particle azimuthal distributions are very similar to those observed in p+p collisions. These results demonstrate that the strong suppression of the inclusive yield and back-to-back correlations at high p(T) previously observed in central Au+Au collisions are due to final-state interactions with the dense medium generated in such collisions.     

Congenital lymphangiectatic elephantiasis.

A case of a child with a rare giant congenital cavernous lymphangioma giving rise to elephantiasis of the left lower extremity is presented. Plain radiographs revealed underlying bone lesions and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging accurately defined extension of the process into the pelvis and retroperitoneum.     

The potential of mass spectrometry to study iron-containing proteins used in clinical diagnosis

Many proteins contain iron as metal ion either within their own structures or bound to their active sites. These iron-containing proteins are involved in numerous biological processes and some of them serve as biomarkers of clinical pathologies, not only related to iron homeostasis but also to other physiological disorders. Thus, a variety of analytical strategies have been developed over the last years in order to conduct studies on Fe-containing proteins. Among them, mass spectrometric (MS) methods still remain as preferred tools since they provide the capabilities of structure elucidation together with quantitative possibilities. Therefore, in this work we have tried to summarize the most recent applications of elemental and molecular mass spectrometric-based methods for the characterization (mostly qualitative but quantitative in some cases) of the high abundant Fe-containing proteins used for clinical diagnosis.