Frequency-selective quantitation of short-echo time 1H magnetic resonance spectra

Accurate and efficient filtering techniques are required to suppress large nuisance components present in short-echo time magnetic resonance (MR) spectra. This paper discusses two powerful filtering techniques used in long-echo time MR spectral quantitation, the maximum-phase FIR filter (MP-FIR) and the Hankel-Lanczos Singular Value Decomposition with Partial ReOrthogonalization (HLSVD-PRO), and shows that they can be applied to their more complex short-echo time spectral counterparts. Both filters are validated and compared through extensive simulations. Their properties are discussed. In particular, the capability of MP-FIR for dealing with macromolecular components is emphasized. Although this property does not make a large difference for long-echo time MR spectra, it can be important when quantifying short-echo time spectra.     

Syntheses of 5-hydroxy-2-(phenyl or styryl)chromones and of some halo derivatives

One-pot syntheses of 5-hydroxy-2-(phenyl or styryl)chromones and the corresponding 6- and 8-monoiodo- and 6,8-diiodochromones have been developed. The procedures involve oxidative cyclization of 2′-benzyloxy-6′-hydroxychalcones and 2′-benzyloxy-6′-hydroxy-2-cinnamylideneacetophenones and electrophilic substitution processes on the chromone moieties; such procedures were also applied to the syntheses of 6,8-dibromochromone derivatives.     

Design,Synthesis and Preclinical Assessment of 99mTc-iFAP for In Vivo Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP) Imaging

Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is expressed in the microenvironment of most human epithelial tumors. ⁶⁸Ga-labeled FAP inhibitors based on the cyanopyrrolidine structure (FAPI) are currently used for the detection of the tumor microenvironment by PET imaging. This research aimed to design, synthesize and preclinically evaluate a new FAP inhibitor radiopharmaceutical based on the ^99mTc-((R)-1-((6-hydrazinylnicotinoyl)-D-alanyl) pyrrolidin-2-yl) boronic acid (^99mTc-iFAP) structure for SPECT imaging. Molecular docking for affinity calculations was performed using the AutoDock software. The chemical synthesis was based on a series of coupling reactions of 6-hidrazinylnicotinic acid (HYNIC) and D-alanine to a boronic acid derivative. The iFAP was prepared as a lyophilized formulation based on EDDA/SnCl₂ for labeling with ^99mTc. The radiochemical purity (R.P.) was verified via ITLC-SG and reversed-phase radio-HPLC. The stability in human serum was evaluated by size-exclusion HPLC. In vitro cell uptake was assessed using N30 stromal endometrial cells (FAP positive) and human fibroblasts (FAP negative). Biodistribution and tumor uptake were determined in Hep-G2 tumor-bearing nude mice, from which images were acquired using a micro-SPECT/CT. The iFAP ligand (Ki = 0.536 nm, AutoDock affinity), characterized by UV-Vis, FT-IR, ¹H–NMR and UPLC-mass spectroscopies, was synthesized with a chemical purity of 92%. The ^99mTc-iFAP was obtained with a R.P. >98%. In vitro and in vivo studies indicated high radiotracer stability in human serum (>95% at 24 h), specific recognition for FAP, high tumor uptake (7.05 ± 1.13% ID/g at 30 min) and fast kidney elimination. The results found in this research justify additional dosimetric and clinical studies to establish the sensitivity and specificity of the ^99mTc-iFAP.     

Reflection of light by a slab containing electrically small dielectric spheres

Theoriginal and theenhanced Maxwell-Garnett estimates for the permittivity of a particulate medium are applied to the reflection of light by a composite dielectric slab. The reflection coefficients for incident s and p polarizations are calculated and some curves are plotted and discussed.     

Enthalpic characterization of activated carbons with different surface chemistry with organic solvents and water

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Immersion enthalpies of activated carbons modified on their chemical surface were determined in benzene, cyclohexane, hexane, ethanol and water. Three...     

Near-infrared photonic crystals with higher-order bandgaps generated by two-photon photopolymerization

Three-dimensional photonic crystals with bandgaps of 1.5-2.3 mum in wavelength and with gap/midgap ratios of as much as 18% were generated efficiently by two-photon photopolymerization in a liquid resin. From 0.5-1.1-mW femtosecond-pulsed 540-nm light, woodpile structures consisting of 40 layers of elliptically shaped rods spaced at 350-500 nm were fabricated by focusing with a 1.3-N.A. objective. The high degree of correlation in these structures allowed the suppression of infrared transmission by as much as 50% as well as the observation of higher-order bandgaps. We also investigated the decrease in the gap wavelength on reduction of layer spacing, in-plane rod spacing, and rod size.     

A base-matrix lemma for sets of rationals modulo nowhere dense sets

We study some properties of the quotient forcing notions ${Q_{tr(I)} = \wp(2^{< \omega})/tr(I)}$ and P _I ?= B(2 ^ω )/I in two special cases: when I is the σ-ideal of meager sets or the σ-ideal of null sets on 2 ^ω . We show that the remainder forcing R _I =?Q _tr(I)/P _I is σ-closed in these cases. We also study the cardinal invariant of the continuum ${\mathfrak{h}_{\mathbb{Q}}}$ , the distributivity number of the quotient ${Dense(\mathbb{Q})/nwd}$ , in order to show that ${\wp(\mathbb{Q})/nwd}$ collapses ${\mathfrak{c}}$ to ${\mathfrak{h}_{\mathbb{Q}}}$ , thus answering a question addressed in Balcar et?al. (Fundamenta Mathematicae 183:59–80, 2004).