Changes in orcine muscle water characteristics during growth--an in vitro low-field NMR relaxation study

This study investigates the effects of developmental stage and muscle type on the mobility and distribution of water within skeletal muscles, using low-field (1)H-NMR transverse relaxation measurements in vitro on four different porcine muscles (M. longissimus dorsi, M. semitendinosus, M. biceps femoris, M. vastus intermedius) from a total of 48 pigs slaughtered at various weight classes between 25 kg and 150 kg. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed effects of both slaughter weight and muscle type on the transverse relaxation decay. Independent of developmental stage and muscle type, distributed exponential analysis of the NMR T(2) relaxation data imparted the existence of three distinct water populations, T(2b), T(21), and T(22), with relaxation times of approximately 1-10, 45-120, and 200-500 ms, respectively. The most profound change during muscle growth was a shift toward faster relaxation in the intermediate time constant, T(21). It decreased by approx. 24% in all four muscle types during the period from 25 to 150 kg live weight. Determination of dry matter, fat, and protein content in the muscles showed that the changes in relaxation time of the intermediate time constant, T(21), during growth should be ascribed mainly to a change in protein content, as the protein content explained 77% of the variation in the T(21) time constant. Partial least squares (PLS) regression revealed validated correlations in the region of 0.58 to 0.77 between NMR transverse relaxation data and muscle development for all the four muscle types, which indicates that NMR relaxation measurements may be used in the prediction of muscle developmental stage.     

Hemispiroalkaplanes: hydrocarbon cage systems with a pyramidal-tetracoordinate carbon atom and remarkable basicity

A new class of saturated hydrocarbons, in which a spiropentane-type unit is bound by a cyclic hydrocarbon, has been investigated by using ab initio molecular orbital calculations at the B3-LYP and MP2 levels. These molecules have been given the trivial name hemispiroalkaplanes. Hemialkaplanes, which are analogous molecules built-up from a neopentane-type unit and a cyclic hydrocarbon, have also been examined. The hemispiroalkaplanes are predicted to contain a pyramidal-tetracoordinate carbon atom that possesses a lone pair of electrons. Protonation at this apical carbon atom is found to be highly favourable, resulting in a remarkably high basicity for a saturated hydrocarbon. The proton affinities of the hemispiroalkaplanes are calculated to be more than 1170 kJmol(-1), even greater than that of the diamine "proton sponges". Structural parameters, heats of formation and strain energies for the novel hydrocarbons are detailed.     

A 7.3 ms isomer of 161Lu

An isomer of ¹⁶¹Lu with a half-life of 7.3 ± 0.4 ms has been discovered in the heavy-ion reaction ¹⁴⁸Sm(¹⁹F, 6n)^161mLu. Oneγ-ray transition with energy 135.8 ± 0.2 keV was observed, and a K-conversion coefficient of 1.1 ± 0.3 deduced in the decay of this isomer.     

Thapsigargin,constitution of a sesquiterpene lactone histamine liberator from thapsia garganica

The major skin irritating constituent of the root of Thapsia garganica L. has been shown to be a hexaoxygenated-C₆-guaianolide esterificated with four carboxylic acids.     

Carbaporphyrinoid chemistry has a silver lining! silver(III) oxybenzi-, oxynaphthi-, tropi-, and benzocarbaporphyrins

[structure: see text] Carbaporphyrinoid systems with semiquinone, cycloheptatriene, or indene subunits react under mild conditions with silver(I) acetate to give stable silver(III) organometallic derivatives.     

Structural and magnetoelectric properties of MFe<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript>–PZT (M = Ni,Co) and La<Subscript>x</Subscript>(Ca,Sr)<Subscript>1-x</Subscript>MnO<Subscript>3</Subscript>–PZT multilayer composites

Thick-film layered magnetoelectric composites consisting of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric phases have been synthesized with nickel ferrite (NFO), cobalt ferrite, La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO), or La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ (LCMO) and lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Structural, magnetic, and ferromagnetic resonance characterization shows evidence for defect-free ferrites, but deterioration of manganite parameters. The resistivity and dielectric constants are smaller than expected values. The magnetoelectric effect (ME) is stronger in ferrite–PZT than in manganite–PZT. The ME voltage coefficient _E at room temperature is the highest in NFO–PZT and the smallest for LCMO–PZT. The transverse ME effect is an order of magnitude stronger than the longitudinal effect. The magnitude of _E correlates well with magnetic permeability for the ferrites. PACS 75.80.+q; 75.70.Gg; 75.60.-d     

Preparation of a novel diphosphine-palladium macrocyclic complex possessing a molecular recognition site. Oxidative addition studies

A disphosphine-palladium(0) complex capable of recognising barbiturates has been prepared. Oxidative addition studies with a barbitiurate:aryl iodide conjugate provided new Pd(ii) complexes where the positioning of the Pd-bound aryl group is controlled by the molecular recognition event.     

Improved convergence in block copolymer self-consistent field theory by Anderson mixing

A modification to real space polymeric self-consistent field theory algorithms that greatly improves the convergence properties is presented. The method is based on Anderson mixing [D. G. Anderson, J. Assoc. Comput. Mach. 12, 547 (1965)], and each iteration computed takes negligibly longer to perform than with other methods, but the number of iterations required to reach a high accuracy solution is greatly reduced. No a priori knowledge of possible phases is required to apply this method. We apply our approach to a standard diblock copolymer melt, and demonstrate iteration reductions of more than a factor of 5 in some cases.