Scheduling sports tournaments on a single court minimizing waiting times

We consider a sports tournament for an odd number of teams where every team plays exactly two matches in each round and all matches have to be scheduled consecutively on a single court. We construct schedules for any number of teams minimizing waiting times.     

Identification and quantitation of phenolic compounds in faecal matrix by capillary gas chromatography and nano-electrospray mass spectrometry

Very few relevant methods have been described for the detection and quantitation of phenolic compounds in faecal matrix. Extraction with conventional organic solvents such as chloroform/methanol (2:1, Folch reagent), methanol and ethanol (72%) showed high extraction efficiency for lipids and also gave good recovery of the major phenolic compounds present in the matrix. However, in comparison with a newly developed phosphate buffer method, the yield of minor phenolics was negligible when detected by these conventional methods. Conventional methods also lead to contamination of the ion source of the mass spectrometer and rapid deterioration of column performance mostly due to the high concentration of lipids. However, if the faecal matrix is initially extracted with phosphate buffer, and the extract acidified and re-extracted with diethyl ether, the range and yield of phenolic compounds are enhanced and the problem of lipid contamination is substantially alleviated. Following pilot studies and optimisation of the procedure, individual phenolic compounds (n = 29) were identified by nano-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (nano-ESI-MS), nano-ESI-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/EI-MS) and quantitated (n = 27) by GC/MS in subsets (n = 5) of faecal samples, collected during the European Agency for Cancer Prevention calcium/fibre intervention study from four European countries (Italy, Germany, Spain and Denmark). A range of phenolic compounds (mainly acids) was detected, dominated by phenylacetic, benzoic, phenylpropionic and m-hydroxyphenylpropionic acids, representing on average 9.91 (93%), 8.25 (92%), 9.45 (95%) and 11.05 (98%) mM in the Italian, German, Spanish and Danish samples, respectively. The new method should enable large epidemiologic, case-control and intervention studies on the relevance of phenolic antioxidants in the aetiology of colorectal cancer to be conducted in the future.     

Scheduling non-professional table-tennis leagues

In this paper we consider a sports league scheduling problem which occurs in planning non-professional table-tennis leagues. The problem consists in finding a schedule for a time-relaxed double round robin tournament where different hard and soft constraints have to be taken into account. We model the problem as an integer linear program and a multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem, respectively. Based on the second model a heuristic solution algorithm is proposed, which proceeds in two stages using local search and genetic algorithms. Computational results show the efficiency of the approaches.     

Synthesis,quality control and tissue distribution of 2-[18F]-nicotinic acid diethylamide,a potential agent for regional cerebral function studies

2-[¹⁸F]-nicotinic acid diethylamide was prepared by nucleophilic aromatic substitution in an acetamide melt of the corresponding chloro-compound and purified by high pressure liquid chromatography. Optimization of the reaction conditions led to a maximum radiochemical yield of about 50% within less than one half-life of¹⁸F. Tissue distribution of 2-[¹⁸F]-nicotinic acid diethylamide in various organs of mice showed a very fast accumulation of activity in the brain (mean body concentration MBC-239%) with a brain to blood ratio of 1.34.     

Influence of labelling with radiohalogens in 2−18F-, 6−18F- and 6−123I-nicotinic acid diethylamide on biodistribution in mice

By comparison of three halogenated nicotinic acid derivatives, viz. 2–¹⁸F-, 6–¹⁸F-and 6–¹²³I-nicotinic acid diethylamide (2–¹⁸F-NADA, 6–¹⁸F-NADA, 6–¹²³I-NADA) the biodistribution of¹⁸F-and¹²³I-radioactivity in mice was determined. For the two fluoro-compounds the results indicate nearly similar time-activity curves in almost all organs investigated, while the iodo-derivative exhibits significant differences: for the brain and the heart a complete elimination of¹²³I-radioactivity takes place within 4 hours, time-activity curves of the liver and the kidneys show higher maximal accumulations compared to the fluorinated derivatives and activity in the stomach increases continously within a time period of 2 hours to a maximum which is about 5 times higher than that of 6–¹⁸F-NADA. For the lung drastic differences can also be observed in case of 6–¹²³I-NADA which accumulates with a dose of about 40%/g already 30 seconds after injection and exceeds the corresponding values for 2–¹⁸F-NADA and 6–¹⁸F-NADA by a factor of about 6, followed by a biexponential decrease. De-fluorination reactions from the aromatic ring can be excluded, as could be shown by the low accumulation of¹⁸F-radioactivity in bones after application of 6–¹⁸F-NADA.     

Role of the ubiquitin proteasome system in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder. Although a subject of intense research, the etiology of PD remains poorly understood. Recently, several lines of evidence have implicated an intimate link between aberrations in the ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) and PD pathogenesis. Derangements of the UPS, which normally functions as a type of protein degradation machinery, lead to alterations in protein homeostasis that could conceivably promote the toxic accumulation of proteins detrimental to neuronal survival. Not surprisingly, various cellular and animal models of PD that are based on direct disruption of UPS function reproduce the most prominent features of PD. Although persuasive, new developments in the past few years have in fact raised serious questions about the link between the UPS and PD. Here I review current thoughts and controversies about their relationship and discuss whether strategies aimed at mitigating UPS dysfunction could represent rational ways to intervene in the disease. Publication history: Republished from Current BioData's Targeted Proteins database (TPdb; http://www.targetedproteinsdb.com).     

Radiopharmaceuticals

By nucleophilic isotope exchange, 6-¹²³I-nicotinic acid diethylamide (6-¹²³I-NADA) was synthesized in a solution of the starting compound and catalytic amounts of CuCl in acetic acid. After purification by high pressure liquid chromatography radiochemical yields up to 97% could be obtained within 10 minutes. In mice the radioactivity was rapidly accumulated in the brain reaching the maximum (4.16%/g) 0.5 minutes after i.v. injection and eliminated by a fast and a slow phase. At the maximum of accumulation the brain/blood ratio was 1.21, decreasing to less than 0.15 already after one hour.     

Ion plated indium oxide : infrared and optical study

The high optical transparency of ion plated indium oxide combined with their mechanical hardness and good environmental stability have opened up numerous applications in the line of sophisticated optoelectronic devices. Indium is evaporated at a low oxygen pressure on to an ordinary glass substrate mounted under the cathode and biased by a r.f. generator at 13,6 M Hz. Infrared spectra are recorded in the range 5000–200 cm^?1 by A.T.R. and reflexion-absorption spectroscopy, and show between 800 and 200 cm^?1 bands due to stretching and bending modes predicted by a factor group analysis. A tentative assignment is made of the highest frequency. Last U.V. and visible spectra are discussed.     

Synthesis of N-isopropyl-p-123I-amphetamine and biodistribution in rats

The described labelling and purification preparation of N-isopropyl-p-¹³¹I-amphetamine /¹³¹I-IMP/ represents a fast and efficient method to obtain a compound that fulfils all criteria of purity for its in-vivo application. After isotope exchange and quality control¹³¹I-IMP could be obtained with radiochemical yields in the range between 68% and 78% with a radiochemical purity of 98–99%. As demonstrated in animal experiments the cerebral affinity of IMP offers a possibility for the diagnosis of brain diseases in clinical studies when the product is labelled with¹²³I.