2H/H] Isotope ratio analyses of [2H5]cholesterol using high-temperature conversion elemental analyser isotope-ratio mass spectrometry: determination of cholesterol absorption in normocholesterolemic volunteers

This paper validates the use of high-temperature conversion elemental analyser isotope-ratio mass spectrometry (TC-EA/IRMS) for measuring the [(2)H/H] enrichment of plasma [(2)H(5)]cholesterol. From a molecular point of view, the free cholesterol is initially separated from plasma by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and then injected onto the TC-EA reactor which converts cholesterol molecules into CO and H(2) gases. The slope of the curve of the experimental mole percent excess (MPE((exp.))) versus MPE((theor.)) was very close to 1, demonstrating that no significant isotopic fractionation was observed during all processing of the samples (i.e., isolation of plasma free cholesterol by TLC and pyrolysis in the TC-EA reactor). Excellent linearity (r(2) = 0.9994, n = 4) of delta ( per thousand ) of [(2)H/H] isotopic measurements versus mole percent (MP) was assessed over the range 0 to 0.1 MP. The precision of the [(2)H/H] measurement, evaluated with two calibration points processed with TLC, was delta(2)H(V-SMOW) = -192.5 +/- 3.4 per thousand and delta(2)H(V-SMOW) = -136.9 +/- 2.9 per thousand. The standard deviations of the within-assay and between-assay repeatabilities of the analytical process, evaluated using the quality control (QC) of plasma samples, were 4.6 and 6.1 per thousand, respectively. Plant sterols are known to reduce cholesterol absorption and therefore were used as a positive control in a clinical study performed with normocholesterolemic volunteers. This present method produces biological results consistent with those already reported in the literature.     

Comparative structural studies of iodide complexes of uranium(III) and lanthanide(III) with hexadentate tetrapodal neutral N-donor ligands

The syntheses, the solution structures, and the crystal structures of the two new tetrapodal N-donor ligands N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyrazylmethyl)-1,3-trimethylenediamine (tpztn), 1, and N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyrazylmethyl)-trans-1,2-cyclohexanediamine (tpzcn), 2, are described. Two different geometric isomers of the cation [La(tpztn)I(2)](+) were isolated in which the ligand adopts two different conformations leading to strong differences in the metal-ligand bond distances. The crystal structure of isostructural complexes of La, U, Ce, and Nd were determined by X-ray diffraction studies for the ligands tpztn and tpzcn. In both series of complexes the two methylpyrazyl arms and the diamine spacer (trimethylene or cyclohexane) around each aliphatic nitrogen adopt the same helical configuration. The complexes crystallize as a racemic mixture of Lambda,Lambda and Delta,Delta enantiomers with distorted square antiprism geometries. In these complexes the M-N(pyrazine) distances show a decrease from La to Ce and from La to Nd which corresponds well to the decrease in ionic radius as expected in a purely ionic bonding model. Conversely the mean value of the U-N(pyrazine) distances is shorter (0.043(3) A for tpztn and 0.054(11) A for tpzcn) than the mean value of the La-N(pyrazine) distances. These differences are significantly larger than the decrease expected from the variation of the ionic radii and can be interpreted in terms of a stronger M-N interaction for U(III). Previously reported extraction studies have shown that while the tripod tris[(2-pyrazyl)methyl]amine (tpza) containing three pyrazyl nitrogens extracts An(III) preferentially to Ln(III), tpztn and tpzcn display no selectivity despite the presence of four pyrazyl groups connected to a different spacer. The structural studies described here show that despite the lack of selectivity observed in the extraction conditions, the arrangement of pyrazyl nitrogens in the tetrapodal architectures of tpztn and tpzcn allows for metal-ligand interaction similar to that observed for tpza.     

Production of a keV x-ray beam from synchrotron radiation in relativistic laser-plasma interaction

We demonstrate that a beam of x-ray radiation can be generated by simply focusing a single high-intensity laser pulse into a gas jet. A millimeter-scale laser-produced plasma creates, accelerates, and wiggles an ultrashort and relativistic electron bunch. As they propagate in the ion channel produced in the wake of the laser pulse, the accelerated electrons undergo betatron oscillations, generating a femtosecond pulse of synchrotron radiation, which has keV energy and lies within a narrow (50 mrad) cone angle.     

Creating single time-bin-entangled photon pairs

When a single emitter is excited by two phase-coherent pulses with a time delay, each of the pulses can lead to the emission of a photon pair, thus creating a "time-bin-entangled" state. Double pair emission can be avoided by initially preparing the emitter in a metastable state. We show how photons from separate emissions can be made indistinguishable, permitting their use for multiphoton interference. Possible realizations are discussed. The method might also allow the direct creation of n-photon entangled states (n > 2).     

On the relaxation of nonconvex superficial integral functionals

We present a new approach to the variational relaxation of functionals of the type:

where is a continuous function with growth conditions of order p≥1 but not necessarily convex. We essentially study the case when μ is the k-dimensional Hausdorff measure restricted to a suitable piece of a k-dimensional smooth submanifold of .     

Single photon quantum cryptography

We report the full implementation of a quantum cryptography protocol using a stream of single photon pulses generated by a stable and efficient source operating at room temperature. The single photon pulses are emitted on demand by a single nitrogen-vacancy color center in a diamond nanocrystal. The quantum bit error rate is less that 4.6% and the secure bit rate is 7700 bits/s. The overall performances of our system reaches a domain where single photons have a measurable advantage over an equivalent system based on attenuated light pulses.     

Continuous tuning of a microlaser-pumped optical parametric generator by use of a cylindrical periodically poled lithium niobate crystal

An optical parametric generator with a cylindrical periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal and a Nd:YAG commercial microchip pump laser yields continuous tuning of the emitted wavelengths over a broad spectral range (1.42-1.7 microm and 2.8-4.2 microm), with large efficiency, a high repetition rate, and low divergence, in a compact and stable device.