Radiolabeled small molecule protein kinase inhibitors for imaging with PET or SPECT

Imaging protein kinase expression with radiolabeled small molecule inhibitors has been actively pursued to monitor the clinical potential of targeted therapeutics and treatments as well as to determine kinase receptor density changes related to disease progression. The goal of the present review is to provide an overview of the breadth of radiolabeled small molecules that have been synthesized to target intracellular protein kinases, not only for imaging in oncology, but also for other areas of interest, particularly the central nervous system. Considerable radiotracer development has focused on imaging receptor tyrosine kinases of growth factors, protein kinases A, B and C, and glycogen synthase kinase-3?. Design considerations, structural attributes and relevant biological results are summarized.     

'Dispersible electrodes': a solution to slow response times of sensitive sensors

Herein, we introduce the concept of utilizing conductive gold-coated magnetic nanoparticles as 'dispersible electrodes', which serve as the active element in the selective capture and direct electro-analytical quantification of analytes. This concept reduces response times and decreases detection limits by bringing the sensor to the analyte rather than the conventional paradigm of the analyte finding the sensor.     

Synthesis, spectra, and theoretical investigations of the triarylamines based on 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline

Triarylamines containing a 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline core and aromatic units such as phenyl, naphthyl, pyrene, anthracene, or fluorene have been synthesized by employing palladium-catalyzed C-N and C-C coupling reactions and characterized by optical absorption and emission spectra, electrochemical behavior, and thermal studies. Even though the electronic absorption spectra of the compounds were influenced by the nature of the peripheral amines, the emission spectra indicated close similarity for the excited states in these compounds. For the derivatives in which the amines were directly anchored on the 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline nucleus, the emission appeared to be dominated by the state localized on the 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline chromophore, while in the compounds containing the extended conjugation the fluorescence originated from the polyaromatic linker. The compounds displayed green or yellow emission depending on the nature of the amine segment. All of the dyes displayed one-electron quasi-reversible oxidation couple in the cyclic voltammograms, which is attributable to the oxidation of the peripheral amines at the 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline core. An additional one-electron oxidation process observable at the high positive potentials for the compounds 7 and 8 probably arises from the oxidation of the arylthiophene segment. The enhanced thermal stability and relatively higher glass transition temperatures observed for these compounds were attributed to the presence of dipolar 6H-indolo[2,3-b]quinoxaline segment. The origin of the optical spectra and the trends observed therein were rationalized using TDDFT simulations.     

Conditional spin squeezing of a large ensemble via the vacuum Rabi splitting

We use the vacuum Rabi splitting to perform quantum nondemolition measurements that prepare a conditionally spin squeezed state of a collective atomic psuedospin. We infer a 3.4(6) dB improvement in quantum phase estimation relative to the standard quantum limit for a coherent spin state composed of uncorrelated atoms. The measured collective spin is composed of the two-level clock states of nearly 10(6) (87)Rb atoms confined inside a low finesse F=710 optical cavity. This technique may improve atomic sensor precision and/or bandwidth, and may lead to more precise tests of fundamental physics.     

Site-specific ϕ- and ψ-torsion angle determination in a uniformly/extensively 13C- and 15N-labeled peptide

A solid-state rotational-echo double resonance (REDOR) NMR method was introduced to identify the ?- and ψ-torsion angle from a ¹H–¹⁵N or ¹H–¹³C′ spin system of alanine-like residues in a selectively, uniformly, or extensively ¹⁵N-/¹³C-labeled peptide. When a C_α(i) or a ¹⁵N peak is site-specifically obtainable in the NMR spectrum of a uniformly ¹⁵N/¹³C-labeled sample system, the ψ- or ?-torsion angle specified by the conformational structure of peptide geometry involving ¹⁵N(i)–¹H_αi–¹⁵N(i + 1) or ¹³C′(i − 1)–¹H^Ni–¹³C′(i) spin system can be identified based on ¹³C_α- or ¹⁵N-detected ¹H_α–¹⁵N or ¹H_N–¹³C REDOR experiment. This method will conveniently be utilized to identify major secondary motifs, such as α-helix, β-sheet, and β-turn, from a uniformly ¹⁵N-/¹³C-labled peptide sample system. When tested on a ¹³C-/¹⁵N-labeled model system of a three amino acid peptide Gly–[U–¹³C, ¹⁵N]Ala–[U–¹³C, ¹⁵N]Leu, the ψ-angle of alanine obtained experimentally, ψ = −40 ± 30°, agreed reasonably well with the X-ray determined angle, ψ = −39°.     

Two simultaneous mechanisms causing glass transition temperature reductions in high molecular weight freestanding polymer films as measured by transmission ellipsometry

We study the glass transition in confined polymer films and present the first experimental evidence indicating that two separate mechanisms can act simultaneously on the film to propagate enhanced mobility from the free surface into the material. Using transmission ellipsometry, we have measured the thermal expansion of ultrathin, high molecular-weight (MW), freestanding polystyrene films over an extended temperature range. For two different MWs, we observed two distinct reduced glass transition temperatures (T(g)'s), separated by up to 60 K, within single films with thicknesses h less than 70 nm. The lower transition follows the expected MW dependent, linear T(g)(h) behavior previously seen in high MW freestanding films. We also observe a much stronger upper transition with no MW dependence that exhibits the same T(g)(h) dependence as supported and low MW freestanding polymer films.     

Surface structural evolution during the thermal decomposition of a PdO(101) thin film

We used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to characterize PdO(101) thin films grown on Pd(111), and the structural changes that occur during isothermal decomposition. We find that the PdO(101) thin films have high-quality surface structures that are characterized by large, crystalline terraces with low concentrations of point defects. Small domains of single-layer oxide are also present on the top layer of relatively thick PdO(101) films grown at 500 K. The thinner PdO(101) films exhibit negligible quantities of such domains, apparently because new domains agglomerate rapidly as the film thickness decreases. We find that the isothermal decomposition rate of a PdO(101) film at 720 K exhibits an autocatalytic regime in which the rate of oxygen desorption increases as the oxide decomposes. Our STM results demonstrate that reduced sites created during oxide decomposition catalyze further PdO decomposition, and reveal strong kinetic anisotropies in the decomposition. The kinetic anisotropies produce one-dimensional reaction fronts that propagate preferentially along the atomic rows of the PdO(101) surface, resulting in the formation of long chains of reduced sites. We also find that reduced sites promote oxygen recombination in neighboring rows of the Pd(101) structure, causing loops and larger aggregates of reduced sites to form. The promotion of decomposition across the atomic rows can qualitatively explain the autocatalytic desorption kinetics. Finally, the STM images provide evidence that underlying PdO(101) layers transfer oxygen to reduced surface domains, thus producing large domains of PdO(101) islands that coexist with reduced domains as well as the larger PdO(101) terraces of the initial surface. Re-oxidation of the surface acts to sustain the autocatalytic decomposition kinetics, and provides a mechanism for oxygen atoms to ultimately evolve from the subsurface of the PdO(101) film.     

Adaptive optics wide-field microscopy using direct wavefront sensing

We report a technique for measuring and correcting the wavefront aberrations introduced by a biological sample using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor, a fluorescent reference source, and a deformable mirror. The reference source and sample fluorescence are at different wavelengths to separate wavefront measurement and sample imaging. The measurement and correction at one wavelength improves the resolving power at a different wavelength, enabling the structure of the sample to be resolved.     

Orientable Hamilton Cycle Embeddings of Complete Tripartite Graphs II: Voltage Graph Constructions and Applications

In an earlier article the authors constructed a hamilton cycle embedding of in a nonorientable surface for all and then used these embeddings to determine the genus of some large families of graphs. In this two‐part series, we extend those results to orientable surfaces for all . In part II, a voltage graph construction is presented for building embeddings of the complete tripartite graph on an orientable surface such that the boundary of every face is a hamilton cycle. This construction works for all such that p is prime, completing the proof started by part I (which covers the case ) that there exists an orientable hamilton cycle embedding of for all , . These embeddings are then used to determine the genus of several families of graphs, notably for and, in some cases, for .     

Frameworks with forced symmetry II: orientation-preserving crystallographic groups

We give a combinatorial characterization of minimally rigid planar frameworks with orientation-preserving crystallographic symmetry, under the constraint of forced symmetry. The main theorems are proved by extending the methods of the first paper in this sequence from groups generated by a single rotation to groups generated by translations and rotations. The proof makes use of new families of matroids and submodular functions defined on crystallographic groups.