Arsenazo, 2-(4-arsonophenyl(azo-7-(4-antipyril)azo-1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphtalene disulphonic acid as reagent for calcium ions. New parameters for metallochromic indicator characterization

Ca(II) ions react with arsenazo, 2-(4-arsonophenyl)-azo-7-(4-antipyril)azo-l,8-dihydroxy-3,5-naphtalene disulphonic acid, at pH 10.0 to produce a blue complex, with stoichiometry 11, and stability constant of 6.64×10⁵. Its molar absorptivity is 3.78×10⁴1·mol^–1 cm^–1. This reagent has been used as metallochromic indicator in the complexometric titration of Ca. Its colour transition has been specified by tristimulus colourimetry. New parameters are defined and compared to Ringbom's parameters.     

Post-pneumonectomy evaluation of the chest: a prospective comparative study of MRI with CT

A comparative study of 11 pneumonectomized patients was undertaken in order to evaluate the respective advantages and drawbacks of MRI and CT in post-operative follow-up. Nine patients were healthy at the time of the study and two presented with tumor recurrence. MR examination included 500/40 ms axial, and frontal 800/40-80 ms or 1300/60-120 ms nongated spin echo sequences. MRI was slightly more efficient in identifying vascular stump and main nodal stations, and detected better than CT tumoral and metastatic spread in cancer recurrences. It was as informative as CT in evaluating postpneumonectomy space and bronchial stump. It was noncontributory in the detection of calcifications. Although clips were visible with MRI, their location was less definite than with CT, a potential pitfall when radiotherapy is planned.     

Effects of innate immune receptor stimulation on extracellular α-synuclein uptake and degradation by brain resident cells

Synucleinopathies are age-related neurological disorders characterized by the progressive deposition of α-synuclein (α-syn) aggregates and include Parkinson’s disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Although cell-to-cell α-syn transmission is thought to play a key role in the spread of α-syn pathology, the detailed mechanism is still unknown. Neuroinflammation is another key pathological feature of synucleinopathies. Previous studies have identified several immune receptors that mediate neuroinflammation in synucleinopathies, such as Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). However, the species of α-syn aggregates varies from study to study, and how different α-syn aggregate species interact with innate immune receptors has yet to be addressed. Therefore, we investigated whether innate immune receptors can facilitate the uptake of different species of α-syn aggregates. Here, we examined whether stimulation of TLRs could modulate the cellular uptake and degradation of α-syn fibrils despite a lack of direct interaction. We observed that stimulation of TLR2 in vitro accelerated α-syn fibril uptake in neurons and glia while delaying the degradation of α-syn in neurons and astrocytes. Internalized α-syn was rapidly degraded in microglia regardless of whether TLR2 was stimulated. However, cellular α-syn uptake and degradation kinetics were not altered by TLR4 stimulation. In addition, upregulation of TLR2 expression in a synucleinopathy mouse model increased the density of Lewy-body-like inclusions and induced morphological changes in microglia. Together, these results suggest that cell type-specific modulation of TLR2 may be a multifaceted and promising therapeutic strategy for synucleinopathies; inhibition of neuronal and astroglial TLR2 decreases pathogenic α-syn transmission, but activation of microglial TLR2 enhances microglial extracellular α-syn clearance.Subject terms: Parkinson''s disease, Neurodegeneration     

Capillary electrophoresis-electrospray-mass spectrometry in peptide analysis and peptidomics

In the present work, an exhaustive review of the main developments and applications of CE-MS for peptide analysis is given. This review includes the use of different CE separation modes, MS analyzers, capillary coatings, preconcentration techniques, on-chip applications as well as other different multidimensional strategies for peptide analysis. Key applications are critically discussed and relevant works published from January 2000 to May 2007 are summarized including information concerning the type of sample, CE-MS parameters as well as some figures of merit of the different CE-MS procedures developed for peptide analysis and peptidomics.     

Leaves of Citrus aurantifolia exhibit a different sensibility to solar UV-B radiation according to development stage in relation to photosynthetic pigments and UV-B absorbing compounds production

Plants of Citrus aurantifolia grown in a greenhouse without solar UV radiation (UVR) were transferred outdoors to evaluate the effect of solar UV-B radiation (UVBR, 280–315 nm) in prior-developed leaves, constituted by apical bud and those fully expanded before being taken outdoors, and post-developed leaves, formed by those expanded outdoors. Results demonstrated that over a 40 d outdoor period leaf chlorophyll content and distribution pattern were different with and without solar UVBR. Chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll contents in both treatments were higher in prior-developed leaves than in post-developed ones. However, highest values were observed in prior-developed leaves under solar UVBR, whereas in post-developed leaves an opposite trend was observed. Carotenoids content in prior-developed leaves was higher with solar UVBR, whereas in post-developed leaves there were no significant differences in both with and without solar UVBR. In addition, prior-developed leaves under solar UVBR accumulated flavonoids, but not anthocyanins. Growth parameters (e.g. DW, DW/FW ratio, LMA, plant height, length and width of foliar lamina) did not show significant differences between plants grown with and without solar UVBR. Thus, our results demonstrated that C. aurantifolia leaves exhibited a different sensibility to solar UVBR according to development stage in relation to photosynthetic pigments and UV-B absorbing compounds production. In addition, the solar UVBR was not necessary as inductor of photosynthetic protection mechanisms in a short-time growth period. On the other hand, our results also demonstrated that solar UVBR acted as an effective feeding deterrent against citrus leafminer.     

Multicanonical MCMC for sampling rare events: an illustrative review

Multicanonical MCMC (Multicanonical Markov Chain Monte Carlo; Multicanonical Monte Carlo) is discussed as a method of rare event sampling. Starting from a review of the generic framework of importance sampling, multicanonical MCMC is introduced, followed by applications in random matrices, random graphs, and chaotic dynamical systems. Replica exchange MCMC (also known as parallel tempering or Metropolis-coupled MCMC) is also explained as an alternative to multicanonical MCMC. In the last section, multicanonical MCMC is applied to data surrogation; a successful implementation in surrogating time series is shown. In the appendix, calculation of averages and normalizing constant in an exponential family, phase coexistence, simulated tempering, parallelization, and multivariate extensions are discussed.     

From a trinuclear platinum(III) phosphido derivative to a platinum(II) cluster: formation of a P-C bond

Reaction of the trinuclear Pt(III)-Pt(III)-Pt(II) [(C6F5)2Pt(III)(mu-PPh2)2Pt(III)(mu-PPh2)2Pt(C6F5)2] (2) derivative with NBu4Br or NBu4I results in the formation of the trinuclear Pt(II) complexes [NBu4][(PPh2C6F5)(C6F5)Pt(mu-PPh2)(mu-X)Pt(mu-PPh2)2Pt(C6F5)2] [X = I (3), Br (4)] through an intramolecular PPh2/C6F5 reductive coupling and the formation of the phosphine PPh2C6F5. The trinuclear Pt(II) complex [(PPh2C6F5)(C6F5)Pt(mu-PPh2)Pt(mu-PPh2)2Pt(C6F5)2] (5), which displays two Pt-Pt bonds, can be obtained either by halide abstraction in 4 or by refluxing of 2 in CH2Cl2. This latter process also implies an intramolecular PPh2/C6F5 reductive coupling. Treatment of complex 5 with several ligands (Br-, H-, and CO) results in the incorporation of the ligand to the cluster and elimination of one (X = H-) or both (X = Br-, CO) Pt-Pt bonds, forming the trinuclear complexes [NBu4][(PPh2C6F5)(C6F5)Pt(mu-PPh2)(mu-X)Pt(mu-PPh2)2Pt(C6F5)2] [X = Br (6), H (7)] or [(PPh2C6F5)(C6F5)Pt(mu-PPh2)2Pt(mu-PPh2)(CO)Pt(C6F5)2(CO)] (8). The structures of the complexes have been established on the basis of 1H, 19F, and 31P NMR data, and the X-ray structures of the complexes 2, 3, 5, and 7 have been established. The chemical relationship between the different complexes has also been studied.     

Structural characteristics of silica sonogels prepared with additions of isopropyl alcohol

Wet silica gels with approximately 1.4 x 10(-3) mol SiO2/cm3 and approximately 92 vol % liquid phase were obtained from sonohydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) with different additions of isopropyl alcohol (IPA). The IPA/TEOS molar ratio R was changed from 0 to 4. Aerogels were obtained by supercritical CO2 extraction. The samples were analyzed by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and nitrogen adsorption. The wet gels exhibit mass fractal structure with fractal dimension increasing from D approximately 2.10 to D approximately 2.22, characteristic length xi decreasing from approximately 9.5 to approximately 6.9 nm, as R increases from 0 to 4, and an estimated characteristic length for the primary silica particles lower than approximately 0.3 nm. The supercritical process apparently eliminates a fraction of the porosity, increasing the mass fractal dimension and shortening the fractality domain in the mesopore region. The fundamental role of isopropyl alcohol on the structure of the resulting aerogels is to decrease the porosity and the pore mean size as R changes from pure TEOS to R = 4. A secondary structure appearing in the micropore region of the aerogels can be described as a mass/surface fractal structure, with correlated mass fractal dimension Dm approximately 2.7 and surface fractal dimension Ds approximately 2.3, as inferred from SAXS and nitrogen adsorption data.     

Hydrolysis Rates of TMOS Catalyzed by Oxalic Acid and Stimulated by Ultrasound

A simple calorimetric method was employed to study the kinetics of the hydrolysis of the solventless TMOS-water mixtures, under ultrasound stimulation, as a function of the concentration of oxalic acid. The reaction rates were obtained, in relative units, from the measured thermal peak of the reaction as a non-separated function of both the sonication time and the instantaneous temperature of the medium. For concentrations of oxalic acid below 0.01 M, polycondensation reaction starts before complete hydrolysis. For concentrations of oxalic acid above 0.01 M, hydrolysis is complete and, in addition, the inverse of the time, as measured from the starting of ultrasound action until the maximum hydrolysis heat release, was found to be a reasonable relative measure of the average hydrolysis rate constant. The average hydrolysis rate constant was found to be proportional to the square root of the molar concentration of the oxalic acid. This result is in agreement with the literature if we assume small dissociation degree for the catalyst in such a solventless alkoxyde-water medium.     

Isolable p- and m-[((t)Bu2MeSi)2Si]2C6H4: disilaquinodimethane vs triplet bis(silyl radical)

Isomeric p- and m-disilaquinodimethanes 2 and 4 were synthesized by the reductive dehalogenation of the corresponding p- and m-bis(halosilyl)benzenes 1 and 3, respectively, and were isolated and structurally characterized. The X-ray diffraction and solid-state NMR studies of 2 revealed its singlet quinodimethane structure featuring two exocyclic Si═C double bonds with some singlet biradical contribution. In contrast, the X-ray crystallography and EPR measurements of 4 disclosed its biradical nature, described as a triplet ground state bis(silyl radical).