Assessment of membrane potential using confocal microspectrofluorimetry

Some slow potentiometric dyes, e.g., 3,3-dipropylthiacarbocyanine and tetramethylrhodamine methyl ester, exhibit fluorescence spectral changes on redistributing from aqueous medium to cells. This effect has been used for spectroscopic discrimination of the emissions from free and bound dyes in cells. Such a discrimination can, in principle, allow for the assessment of cell membrane potential in individual cells, using the Nernst equation applied to the ratio of free dye fluorescence intensities inside and outside of the cell.     

Rational shaping of liquid crystalline diacylaminophenyl platforms equipped with chelating fragments,fluorescent dyes,and square planar platinum complexes

Recent investigations from our laboratory have described compelling experimental evidences that the use of a central 4‐methyl‐3,5‐diacylaminophenyl platform functionalized with two lateral aromatic rings each bearing three appended aliphatic chains is well‐suited to produce liquid crystalline materials, some of which carrying at the tips (A‐substitution position) chelating fragments such as phenanthroline, terpyridine, alkynyl functions, crown ethers or highly luminescent subunits such as difluoroboradiazaindacene or cationic platinum‐terpyridine complexes. An important carvet of this research program is that the presence of amide functions likely stabilizes the mesophases by hydrogen bondings. Judicious grafting of polycatenar tails to the platform insures formation of mesomorphic materials over a large temperature range. Careful design of the system by the direct connection of the platform via alkyne bonds to square planar platinum centers give rise to intriguing phosphorescent metallomesogens. © 2009 The Japan Chemical Journal Forum and Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Chem Rec 9: 1–23; 2009: Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ) DOI 10.1002/tcr.20164     

A new easy method for specific measurement of active myeloperoxidase in human biological fluids and tissue extracts

The SIEFED (“Specific Immunological Extraction Followed by Enzymatic Detection”) method already developed for the specific detection of the activity of equine myeloperoxidase (MPO) was adapted for the specific measurement of active human MPO in biological fluids or tissue extracts. The method consists of the extraction of MPO from aqueous solutions by immobilized anti-MPO antibodies followed by a washing (to eliminate the extraction medium and the biological fluid with their possible interfering molecules) and the measurement of the activity of MPO with a detection system containing a fluorogenic substrate, H₂O₂ and nitrite ions as reaction enhancer. The SIEFED was applied to study active MPO in human biological fluids (plasma, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and supernatant from carotids extracts). The SIEFED for human MPO has a sensitivity limit of 0.080 mU/mL and showed good precision with intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation below 10 and 20% respectively within a broad range of MPO activities establish from 0.156 to 473 mU/mL. The SIEFED for human MPO will be useful for the specific detection of active MPO in complex fluids and can be complementary to an ELISA to determine an active/total MPO ratio in healthy volunteers and patients especially in case of chronic or acute inflammatory diseases.     

A q-Factor-Based Digital Image Correlation Algorithm (qDIC) for Resolving Finite Deformations with Degenerate Speckle Patterns

Digital image correlation (DIC) has become a widely utilized non-contact, full-field displacement measurement technique for obtaining accurate material kinematics. Despite the significant advances made to date, high resolution reconstruction of finite deformations for images with intrinsically low quality speckle patterns or poor signal-to-noise content has not been fully addressed. In particular, large image distortions imposed by materials undergoing finite deformations create significant challenges for most classical DIC approaches. To address this issue, this paper describes a new open source DIC algorithm (qDIC) that incorporates cross-correlation quality factors (q-factors), which are specifically designed to assess the quality of the reconstructed displacement estimate during the motion reconstruction process. A q-factor provides a robust assessment of the uniqueness and sharpness of the cross-correlation peak, and thus a quantitative estimate of the subset-based displacement measure per given image subset and level of applied deformation. We show that the incorporation of energy- and entropy-based q-factor metrics leads to substantially improved displacement predictions, lower noise floor, and reduced decorrelation even at significant levels of image distortion or poor speckle quality. Furthermore, we show that q-factors can be utilized as a quantitative metric for constructing a hybrid incremental-cumulative displacement correlation scheme for accurately resolving very large homogeneous and inhomogeneous deformations, even in the presence of significant image data loss.     

Identification of the friction under high pressure between an aggregate material and steel: Experimental and modelling aspects

The interface behaviour between steel and a quasi-brittle aggregate material is characterised up to normal pressures of the magnitude of 100 MPa. This article presents a new test enabling the behaviour of the interface to be studied whilst retaining the sample’s integrity. The experimental configuration having been retained consists in sliding a cylindrical sample of the material inside a steel tube, said tube acting both as a sliding surface and containment ring. The sample is pushed on one side and faces a spring on the other. The axial compression generates the interface pressure by Poisson effect. This originality of this assembly lies in the simultaneous application of normal pressure to the interface and of its relative motion. The assembly is placed in a quasi-static testing machine. The analysis is made by means of an analytical modelling of the test. This method enables the identification of the initial contact conditions (tightening of the sample), the friction coefficient and its dependence on the pressure. Numerical simulations of the test using a finite element method enables the analytical approach to be validated as well as the set of parameters identified depending on the normal pressure regimes.     

Mechanisms for lasing with cold atoms as the gain medium

We realize a laser with a cloud of cold rubidium atoms as gain medium, placed in a low-finesse cavity. Three different regimes of laser emission are observed corresponding, respectively, to Mollow, Raman, and four-wave mixing mechanisms. We measure an output power of up to 300 microW and present the main properties of these different lasers in each regime.     

Polyethylene Aerogels with Combined Physical and Chemical Crosslinking: Improved Mechanical Resilience and Shape‐Memory Properties

While the introduction of polymers into aerogels strongly enhances their toughness, truly elastic monolithic aerogels which restore their dimensions upon extensive compression are still challenging to synthesize. In this context hydrophobic semi‐crystalline polymers with low glass transition temperatures, and combined stiffness and flexibility, have only recently attracted attention. Shown here is that polyethylene aerogels with a low density, and combined chemical crosslinking and high crystallinity, display high moduli and excellent mechanical resilience. To maximize the crystallinity of these aerogels while maintaining a high crosslinking density, polyethylene networks with well‐defined segments were synthesized by hydrosilylation crosslinking of telechelic, vinyl‐functionalized oligomers obtained from catalyzed chain‐growth polymerization. Recoverable deformations both above and below the melting temperature of polyethylene affords remarkable shape‐memory properties.     

High Glass‐Transition Temperature Polymer Networks Harnessing the Dynamic Ring Opening of Pinacol Boronates

Differential scanning calorimetry of high molar mass poly(4‐vinylphenylboronic acid, pinacol ester)s evidenced unusual reactive events above 120 °C, resulting in a high glass‐transition temperature of 220 °C. A reversible ring‐opening reactivity of pinacol boronates is proposed, involving a nucleophilic attack on the sp² boron and subsequent bridging between boron atoms by interconnected pinacol moieties to form a densely crosslinked network with high T_g. FTIR, solid‐state NMR investigations, and rheology studies on the polymer as well as double‐tagging analyses on molecular model structures and theoretical calculations further support this hypothesis and indicate a ring‐opening inducing crosslinking. When diluted in an apolar solvent such as toluene, the polymer network can be resolubilized via ring closing, thus recovering the entropically favored linear chains featuring cyclic boronate esters.