Quantification of Volatile Aldehydes Deriving from In Vitro Lipid Peroxidation in the Breath of Ventilated Patients

Exhaled aliphatic aldehydes were proposed as non-invasive biomarkers to detect increased lipid peroxidation in various diseases. As a prelude to clinical application of the multicapillary column–ion mobility spectrometry for the evaluation of aldehyde exhalation, we, therefore: (1) identified the most abundant volatile aliphatic aldehydes originating from in vitro oxidation of various polyunsaturated fatty acids; (2) evaluated emittance of aldehydes from plastic parts of the breathing circuit; (3) conducted a pilot study for in vivo quantification of exhaled aldehydes in mechanically ventilated patients. Pentanal, hexanal, heptanal, and nonanal were quantifiable in the headspace of oxidizing polyunsaturated fatty acids, with pentanal and hexanal predominating. Plastic parts of the breathing circuit emitted hexanal, octanal, nonanal, and decanal, whereby nonanal and decanal were ubiquitous and pentanal or heptanal not being detected. Only pentanal was quantifiable in breath of mechanically ventilated surgical patients with a mean exhaled concentration of 13 ± 5 ppb. An explorative analysis suggested that pentanal exhalation is associated with mechanical power—a measure for the invasiveness of mechanical ventilation. In conclusion, exhaled pentanal is a promising non-invasive biomarker for lipid peroxidation inducing pathologies, and should be evaluated in future clinical studies, particularly for detection of lung injury.     

Theory of the time reversal cavity for electromagnetic fields

We derive a general expression of the electric dyadic Green function in a time-reversal cavity, based on vector diffraction theory in the frequency domain. Our theory gives a rigorous framework to time-reversal experiments using electromagnetic waves and suggests a methodology to design structures generating subwavelength focusing after time reversal.     

Terminal Ligand and Packing Effects on Slow Relaxation in an Isostructural Set of [Dy(H2dapp)X2]+ Single Molecule Magnets**

We report three structurally related single ion Dy compounds using the pentadentate ligand 2,6-bis((E)-1-(2-(pyridin-2-yl)-hydrazineylidene)ethyl)pyridine (H₂dapp) [Dy(H₂dapp)(NO₃)₂]NO₃ ( 1 ), [Dy(H₂dapp)(OAc)₂]Cl ( 2 ) and [Dy(H₂dapp)(NO₃)₂]Cl_0.92(NO₃)_0.08 ( 3 ). The (H₂dapp) occupies a helical twisted pentagonal equatorial arrangement with two anionic ligands in the axial positions. Further influence on the electronic and magnetic structure is provided by a closely associated counterion interacting with the central N−H group of the (H₂dapp). The slow relaxation of the magnetisation shows that the anionic acetates give the greatest slowing down of the magnetisation reversal. Further influence on the relaxation properties of compounds 1 and 2 is the presence of short nitrate-nitrate intermolecular ligand contact opening further lattice relaxation pathways.     

Mitochondrial targeting of selective electron scavengers: synthesis and biological analysis of hemigramicidin-TEMPO conjugates

Synthetic hemigramicidin S-peptidyl TEMPO conjugates are effectively delivered into cells and mitochondria, where they act as electron scavengers and exert protection against apoptosis. Our delivery approach is based on the use of specific structural signaling features recognizable by cells as mitochondria targeting sequences and offers considerable therapeutic anti-apoptotic potential.     

Unique ion beam scattering technique on depth profile determination

Abstract

By combination of energy and time of flight detection in ERDA or NRA measurement, the particles' masses can be determined, additionally to the depth information. This leads to unique depth profile determination even for complex targets. Combination with th concept of Jacobi transformations results in extremely fast measurements. In this paper, a way is shown how this concept can be realized even for accelerators ofenergies as low as about 1 MeV.     

The b1Sigma+(b0(+)) --> X3Sigma-(X10(+), X21) and a1Delta(a2) --> X21 Transitions of AsI

Emission spectra of the b1Sigma+(b0(+)) --> X3Sigma-(X10(+), X21) and a1Delta(a2) --> X21 transitions of AsI have been measured in the near-infrared spectral region with a Fourier-transform spectrometer. The arsenic iodide radicals were generated and excited in a fast-flow system by reaction of arsenic vapor (Asx) with iodine and microwave-discharged oxygen. The most prominent features in the spectrum are six band sequences of the strong b1Sigma+(b0(+)) --> X3Sigma-(X10(+)) transition in the range 800-900 nm. With much lower intensities the hitherto unknown b1Sigma+(b0(+)) --> X3Sigma-(X21) subsystem and the a1Delta(a2) --> X21 transition near 1660 nm are observed. Vibrational analyses have yielded improved molecular constants for the X10(+) and b0(+) states and first values of the electronic energies and vibrational constants of the X21 and a2 states (in cm-1), X21: Te = 289.8(2), omegae = 255.2(2), omegaexe = 0.68(7), a2: Te = 6305.4(3), omegae = 267.8(1), omegaexe = 0.56(2), where the numbers in parentheses are the standard deviations of the parameters. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.