High-tech breakthrough DNA scanner for reading sequence and detecting gene mutation

The 17″×14″ X-ray film, gels, and blots are widely used in DNA research. However, DNA laser scanners are costly and unaffordable for the majority of surveyed biotech scientists who need it. The high-tech breakthrough analytical personal scanner (PS) presented in this report is an inexpensive 1 lb hand-held scanner priced at 2–4% of the bulky and costly 30–95 lb conventional laser scanners. This PS scanner is affordable from an operation budget and biotechnologists, who originate most science breakthroughs, can acquire it to enhance their speed, accuracy, and productivity. Compared to conventional laser scanners that are currently available only through hard-to-get capital-equipment budgets, the new PS scanner offers improved spatial resolution of 20 μm, higher speed (scan up to 17″×14″ molecular X-ray film in 48 s), 1–32,768 gray levels (16-bits), student routines, versatility, and, most important affordability. Its programs image the film, read DNA sequences automatically, and detect gene mutation. In parallel to the wide laboratory use of PC computers instead of mainframes, this PS scanner might become an integral part of a PC-PS powerful and cost-effective system where the PS performs the digital imaging and the PC acts on the data.     

C?H Bond dissociation of acetylene: Local density functional calculations

The C? H bond dissociation energy of acetylene was computed by both ab initio approaches and density functional theory in a local density approximation (DFT–LDA ). Structures and energies for acetylene and its dissociation products (the ethynyl and hydrogen radicals) are presented and compared. Using directly computed HCCH and HCC· energies and the exact H· value, the DFT–LDA calculations are found to yield C? H dissociation energies ranging from 129 to 131 kcal/mol, in good agreement with recent experimental and the highest level theoretical results. The DFT–LDA results show little dependence upon the computational procedure used to obtain geometries.     

Synthesis and structural characterisation of [(Ph3P)AuCo(CO)3(PPh3)]

Summary [(Ph₃P)AuCo(CO)₃(PPh₃)] has been synthesised from [(Ph₃P)AuCo(CO)₄], PPh₃v and Me₃NO in acetonitrile. Its molecular structure, determined by single-crystal x-ray crystallography, consists of an almost linear P-Au-Co-P arrangement in which the Co atom is in a slightly distorted trigonalbipyramidal geometry, with the Au and P atoms occupying the apical sites. The Au-Co bond length of 2.450(1) ? is shorter than that reported for [(Ph₃P)AuCo(CO)₄]. The carbonyl ligands are bent towards the Au atom and the mean Au-Co-C angle is 81(1)°.     

Automatische Analyse und Simulation von NMR-Spektren

Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry -     

Vibronisches Spektralverhalten von Molekülen: XX. Theoretische Untersuchung der S2←S0-Absorption des Pyrens im Rahmen der Herzberg-Teller-Näherung erster Ordnung

Summary On the basis of the completely-optimized S₀ and S₂ molecular geometries of pyrene the vibrational structure of the electronic S₂S₀ transition was calculated within both the Condon approach and the first-order Herzberg-Teller approach. The theoretical results demonstrate the significant influence of vibronic coupling. An analysis of the active vibrational modes is given. The theory-experiment comparison within the Herzberg-Teller approach is satisfactory.

     

Treatment of Malignant Melanoma by High-Peak-Power 1064 nm Irradiation Followed by Photodynamic Therapy

Irradiation of B16 pigmented melanoma subcutaneously transplanted in C57 mice with a single 650 mj pulse (10 ns) of 1064 nm light from a Q-switched Nd: YAG laser caused instantaneous bleaching of the pigmented tissue. Visual and histological examination of the resulting gray-colored tumor revealed the breakdown of melanosomes with no detectable alteration of the normal and tumor-overlying skin. Histological examination of the irradiated tumor showed some degree of vascular damage; the depth of the photodamage was not affected by the successive delivery of three consecutive light pulses. The bleached tumor grew at a modestly slower rate but the high-peak-power (HPP) laser treatment did not affect the tumor concentration of a photodynamic sensitizer Si(IV)-naphthalocyanine (isoBO-SiNc) intravenously injected 24 h before Nd : YAG irradiation. Treatment of the B16 pigmented melanoma by photodynamic therapy (PDT: 1 mg/kg isoBO-SiNc, 300 mW/cm², 520 J/cm²) from a 774 nm diode laser immediately after the 1064 nm irradiation resulted in a 16 day delay of tumor regrowth, which was markedly longer than the delay (ca 6 days) obtained after PDT under identical conditions without the preirradia-tion. Thus, pretreatment of pigmented tumors with HPP 1064 nm light appears to enhance their susceptibility to conventional PDT. The tumor response was further enhanced by repeating the combined HPP/PDT treatment at an interval of 10 days (regrowth delay: 27 days), as well as by applying hyperthermia immediately after HPP/PDT (regrowth delay: ca 34 days).     

The CeO(2)(+) Cation: Gas-Phase Reactivity and Electronic Structure

"Bare" CeO(2)(+) ions can be prepared in the gas phase by consecutive oxidation of Ce(+) with O(2) and NO(2). The ability to activate saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons is investigated by use of Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. In the reactions of CeO(2)(+) with linear and branched alkanes C-H bond activation is observed almost exclusively. In contrast, both oxygen-atom transfer and C-H bond activation processes occur when thermalized CeO(2)(+) cations react with simple alkenes and aromatic compounds. C-C bond activation is not observed at all. Insight into the structural and electronic properties of neutral CeO(2) and cationic CeO(2)(+) is provided by means of quasirelativistic density-functional and ab initio pseudopotential calculations. They reveal a (2)Sigma(u)(+) ground state for CeO(2)(+) which is best described as a linear cerium dioxide with a resonating pi bond. Finally, we discuss the influence of oxo ligands on the chemistry of the cationic CeO(n)()(+) (n = 0-2) species toward hydrocarbons.     

Synthesis and crystal structures of heterobimetallic Fe-Cd,Fe-Zn,and Fe-In complexes containing hemilabile phosphorus/oxygen and silicon/oxygen bridging ligands

The reactions of K[Fe{Si(OMe)₃}(CO)₃(PY)][PY=Ph₂PCH₂C(O)Ph, Ph₂PCH₂C(O)[(-C₅H₄)FeCp] (Cp=⁵-C₅H₅), Ph₂P(CH₂)₂CN] with CdCl₂·2.5H₂O, ZnX ₂ (X=Cl, I) or InCl₃ afforded Fe-Cd-Fe or Fe-M(-X)₂ M-Fe (M=Cd, Zn, In;X=Cl, I) and Fe-InCl₂ complexes. Some of them contain an unusual and labile -²-SiO alkoxysilyl bridge which may be associated with a bridging mode for the ketophosphine ligand (first such example structurally established), thus providing original results in bimetallic chemistry on the intramolecular coordination of oxygendonor functions ofchemically different hemilabile ligands firmly attached to a neighboring metal center. The structures of the trinuclear complex (3), of the chlorobenzene solvate of the tetranuclear complex (4a·C₆H₅Cl) and of [mer-(OC)₃{(EtO)₃Si} (4e) have been determined by X-ray diffraction. Crystals of 3 are orthorhombic, space groupPbcn, witha=19.010(4),b=11.766(5),c=26.998(7)Å, andZ=4. Crystals of4a·C₆H₅Cl are monoclinic, space groupC2/c witha=22.455(3),b=17.680(2),c=16.627(4)Å, =90.80(4)°, andZ=4. Crystals of4e are monoclinic, space groupC2/c witha=25.392(5),b=18.554(6),c=16.28(1)Å, =120.73(3)°, andZ=4. The structures were solved using direct methods and Fourier difference techniques and refined by blocked full-matrix least squares toR=0.035 (R _w =0.049) for 2719 observed reflections, toR=0.042 (R _w =0.056) for 3082 observed reflections, and toR=0.057 (R _w =0.075) for 1850 observed reflections for3, 4a·C₆H₅Cl and4e, respectively. The Fe-Zn complexes (9a), (9b) and (9c) were prepared and characterized by spectroscopic methods.Part 21 in the Series: Complexes with Functional Phosphines. Part 20: P. Braunstein, S. Coco Cea, A. DeCian, and J. Fischer (1992).Inorg. Chem. 31, 4203.     

A subjective Bayesian approach to the theory of queues II — Inference and information in M/M/1 queues

This is a sequel to Part I of A Subjective Bayesian Approach to the Theory of Queues. The focus here is on inference and a use of Shannon's measure of information for assessing the amount of information conveyed by the various types of data from queues. The notation and terminology used here is established in Part I.     

Sharpness of the phase transition in percolation models

The equality of two critical points — the percolation thresholdp _H and the pointp _T where the cluster size distribution ceases to decay exponentially — is proven for all translation invariant independent percolation models on homogeneousd-dimensional lattices (d1). The analysis is based on a pair of new nonlinear partial differential inequalities for an order parameterM(,h), which forh=0 reduces to the percolation densityP — at the bond densityp=1–e ^– in the single parameter case. These are: (1)MhM/h+M ²+MM/, and (2) M/|J|MM/h. Inequality (1) is intriguing in that its derivation provides yet another hint of a ³ structure in percolation models. Moreover, through the elimination of one of its derivatives, (1) yields a pair of ordinary differential inequalities which provide information on the critical exponents and . One of these resembles an Ising model inequality of Fröhlich and Sokal and yields the mean field bound 2, and the other implies the result of Chayes and Chayes that . An inequality identical to (2) is known for Ising models, where it provides the basis for Newman's universal relation and for certain extrapolation principles, which are now made applicable also to independent percolation. These results apply to both finite and long range models, with or without orientation, and extend to periodic and weakly inhomogeneous systems.Research supported in part by the NSF Grant PHY-8605164Also in the Physics Department