Parallel single-cell optical transit dielectrophoresis cytometer

In this work, we present an optical transit DEP flow cytometer for parallel single-cell analysis. Each cell's dielectric property is inferred from velocity perturbations due to DEP actuation in a microfluidic channel. Dual LED sources facilitate velocity measurement by producing two transit shadows for each cell passing through the channel. These shadows are detected using a 256-pixel linear optical array detector. Massively parallel analysis is possible as each pixel of the detector can independently analyze the passing cells. A wide channel (∼18 mm) was employed to carry many particles simultaneously, and the system was capable of detecting the velocity of over 200 cells simultaneously. We have achieved analysis rates for 10 µm diameter polystyrene spheres response exceeding 250 per second. With appropriate calibration, this DEP cytometer can quantitatively measure the dielectric response. The dielectric response (Clausius–Mossotti factor) of viable CHO cells was measured over the frequency range of 100 kHz to 6 MHz, and the obtained response matches the previously measured values by our group. The DEP cytometer uses simple modular components to achieve high throughput label-free single-cell dielectric analysis and can begin analyzing particles within 10 s after starting to pump the sample into the channel.     

The Direct Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide Using Platinum‐Promoted Gold–Palladium Catalysts

The direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide offers a potentially green route to the production of this important commodity chemical. Early studies showed that Pd is a suitable catalyst, but recent work indicated that the addition of Au enhances the activity and selectivity significantly. The addition of a third metal using impregnation as a facile preparation method was thus investigated. The addition of a small amount of Pt to a CeO₂‐supported AuPd (weight ratio of 1:1) catalyst significantly enhanced the activity in the direct synthesis of H₂O₂ and decreased the non‐desired over‐hydrogenation and decomposition reactions. The addition of Pt to the AuPd nanoparticles influenced the surface composition, thus leading to the marked effects that were observed on the catalytic formation of hydrogen peroxide. In addition, an experimental approach that can help to identify the optimal nominal ternary alloy compositions for this reaction is demonstrated.     

Formation and emission of tetraalkylammonium salt molecular ions sputtered from a gelatin matrix

A gelatin matrix was simultaneously doped with nine equimolar, homologous, tetraalkylammonium salts ranging in mass from 210 to 700 Da. Bombardment of the sample with kiloelectronvolt ions resulted in a nonidentical distribution of relative cation intensities with a maximum at m/z 242 for samples with a total salt concentration of 0.004 g of salt/g of gelatin. A rapid increase in relative intensities with increasing mass is observed for the low mass salts and is believed to be linked to changes in the ionization efficiencies. The changes in ionization efficiencies are likely related to decreasing coulombic attractive forces between the organic cation and the counterion. Disappearance cross-sections, determined from decay curves, indicate that sputter-induced damage increases with increasing mass of the cation. Fragment-to-intact cation ratios also suggest that damage accumulates fastest in the heaviest salts. These observations indicate that desorption yields of the organic salts in a gelatin matrix decrease with increasing mass. In addition, suppression of lower mass tetraalkylammonium salt intact cation intensities was observed for salt-in-gelatin concentrations greater than 10⁻³ g/g.     

Dense Egyptian fractions

Every positive rational number has representations as Egyptian fractions (sums of reciprocals of distinct positive integers) with arbitrarily many terms and with arbitrarily large denominators. However, such representations normally use a very sparse subset of the positive integers up to the largest denominator. We show that for every positive rational there exist representations as Egyptian fractions whose largest denominator is at most and whose denominators form a positive proportion of the integers up to , for sufficiently large ; furthermore, the proportion is within a small factor of best possible.     

Reducibility and nonreducibility between equivalence relations

We show that, for , the relation of -equivalence between infinite sequences of real numbers is Borel reducible to the relation of -equivalence (i.e., the Borel cardinality of the quotient is no larger than that of ), but not vice versa. The Borel reduction is constructed using variants of the triadic Koch snowflake curve; the nonreducibility in the other direction is proved by taking a putative Borel reduction, refining it to a reduction map that is not only continuous but `modular,' and using this nicer map to derive a contradiction.

     

A comparison of T2*-weighted magnitude and phase imaging for measuring the arterial input function in the rat aorta following intravenous injection of gadolinium contrast agent

The arterial input function (AIF) is important for quantitative MR imaging perfusion experiments employing Gd contrast agents. This study compared the accuracy of T(2)*-weighted magnitude and phase imaging for noninvasive measurement of the AIF in the rat aorta. Twenty-eight in vivo experiments were performed involving simultaneous arterial blood sampling and MR imaging following Gd injection. In vitro experiments were also performed to confirm the in vivo results. At 1.89 T and TE=3 ms, the relationship between changes in 1/T(2)* in blood (estimated from MR signal magnitude) and Gd concentration ([Gd]) was measured to be approximately 19 s(-1) mM(-1), while that between phase and [Gd] was approximately 0.19 rad mM(-1). Both of these values are consistent with previously published results. The in vivo phase data had approximately half as much scatter with respect to [Gd] than the in vivo magnitude data (r(2)=.34 vs. r(2)=.17, respectively). This is likely due to the fact that the estimated change in 1/T(2)* is more sensitive than the phase to a variety of factors such as partial volume effects and T(1) weighting. Therefore, this study indicates that phase imaging may be a preferred method for measuring the AIF in the rat aorta compared to T(2)*-weighted magnitude imaging.     

Synthesis and characterization of seven-coordinate tripodal imidazole complexes of iron(II) and manganese(II)

The iron(II) and manganese(II) complexes of the N(7) Schiff-base condensate of tris(3-aminopropyl)amine with 1-methyl-2-imidazolecarbaldehyde and the manganese(II) complex of the N(7) Schiff-base condensate of tris(3-aminopropyl)amine with 4-imidazolecarbaldehyde are high-spin mono capped octahedral seven-coordinate complexes with a short, approximately 2.44 è, metal to apical nitrogen bond.     

Sporolides A and B: structurally unprecedented halogenated macrolides from the marine actinomycete Salinispora tropica

[structure: see text] Analysis of the fermentation broth of a strain of the marine actinomycete Salinispora tropica has led to the isolation of two unprecedented macrolides, sporolides A (1) and B (2). The structures and absolute stereochemistries of both metabolites were elucidated using a combination of NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.     

Application of glycodiversification: expedient synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of a library of kanamycin B analogues

[reaction: see text] The expedient synthesis of a library of kanamycin B analogues is reported. The revealed SAR will guide future designs in developing kanamycin-type aminoglycoside antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria.     

Synthesis of readily cleavable immobilized 1,10-phenanthroline resins

1,10-Phenanthroline is derivatized and ultimately immobilized on two different polystyrene/divinylbenzene solid supports using convenient methodology. All syntheses are amenable to semiautomatic processing and are scalable for high-throughput screening. A domino copper-catalyzed coupling-cyclization reaction is used to illustrate applicability in catalytic studies.