Impairment of mitochondrial calcium handling in a mtSOD1 cell culture model of motoneuron disease

Background  

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of motor neurons (MN) in the brain stem and spinal cord. Intracellular disruptions of cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium have been associated with selective MN degeneration, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. The present evidence supports a hypothesis that mitochondria are a target of mutant SOD1-mediated toxicity in familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) and intracellular alterations of cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium might aggravate the course of this neurodegenerative disease. In this study, we used a fluorescence charged cool device (CCD) imaging system to separate and simultaneously monitor cytosolic and mitochondrial calcium concentrations in individual cells in an established cellular model of ALS.     

Determination of penicillins in milk using LC‐UV,LC‐MS and LC‐MS/MS

The aim of this work is to establish a method for the simultaneous determination of eight penicillins in milk samples by LC‐UV, LC‐MS and LC‐MS/MS. The procedure involves a step for clean‐up and to preconcentrate the analytes by SPE and a subsequent chromatographic analysis. LC‐UV, LC‐MS and LC‐MS/MS have been used for the simultaneous quantification of penicillins in milk. The proposed methods have been validated according to the EU guideline and present LOQ below the maximum limits of residues (MRLs) established by the European Union for penicillins in milk. The developed methods were applied to different milk samples obtained from cows medicated with penicillins.     

Nonlinear and adaptive frame approximation schemes for elliptic PDEs: Theory and numerical experiments

This article is concerned with adaptive numerical frame methods for elliptic operator equations. We show how specific noncanonical frame expansions on domains can be constructed. Moreover, we study the approximation order of best n‐term frame approximation, which serves as the benchmark for the performance of adaptive schemes. We also discuss numerical experiments for second order elliptic boundary value problems in polygonal domains where the discretization is based on recent constructions of boundary adapted wavelet bases on the interval. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2009     

Measurements of interfacial viscoelasticity with a quartz crystal microbalance: influence of acoustic scattering from a small crystal-sample contact

We discuss the influence of a limited contact size on measurements of high-frequency interfacial viscoelasticity performed with a combination of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) apparatus. In this instrument, a sphere-plate contact is established between an elastomeric lens and a quartz resonator. The analysis is carried out in the frame of the sheet-contact model, which states that both the shift of resonance frequency and the bandwidth are proportional to the contact area as long as the contact area is much smaller than the crystal itself. In particular, the ratio of the shift in bandwidth and the shift in frequency (termed the D-f ratio) is predicted to be constant and independent of geometry. However, the experiment does show a slight increase in the D-f ratio with the contact radius when the contact radius is comparable to the wavelength of sound inside the crystal. This effect can be explained by acoustic scattering.     

Silver-catalyzed asymmetric synthesis of 2,3-dihydrobenzofurans: a new chiral synthesis of pterocarpans

2,3-Dihydrobenzofurans can be diastereoselectively prepared by condensation of aromatic aldehydes with 2,3-dihydrobenzoxasilepines under the catalysis of Ag(I) complexes, and in the presence of a source of fluoride ion. The application of this strategy by using chiral catalysts leads to a new enantioselective total synthesis of natural cis-pterocarpans and their trans isomers. Through this method, the first enantioselective total synthesis of the antifungal agent (-)-pterocarpin was achieved. In addition, a new entry into the heteroaromatic system of 2,5-dihydrobenzoxepine is also presented.     

Synthesis, molecular structure, and reactivity of the isolable silylenoid with a tricoordinate silicon

The first tricoordinate fluorosilylenoid, (t-Bu2MeSi)2SiFLi.3THF (1), was synthesized, and its X-ray molecular structure was determined. 1 was synthesized in 40% yield by a bromine-lithium exchange reaction in THF of the corresponding fluorobromosilane with t-Bu2MeSiLi. 1 is best described as an R2SiF- anion attracted to a (Li.3THF)+ cation with a small contribution of resonance structure that consists of a silylene fragment and FLi.3THF. 1 reacts as a nucleophile with MeCl, PhH2SiCl, H2O, and MeOH, as an electrophile with MeLi, and as a silylene with Li (or t-BuLi) and Na, yielding alpha-lithium and alpha-sodium silyl radicals, respectively. Either photolysis or thermolysis of 1 yields the corresponding disilene R2Si=SiR2 (R = t-Bu2MeSi), probably via dimerization of R2Si:.     

Influence of electric field intensity, ionic strength, and migration distance on the mobility and diffusion in DNA surface electrophoresis

In order to increase the separation rate of surface electrophoresis while preserving the resolution for large DNA chains, e.g., genomic DNA, the mobility and diffusion of Lambda DNA chains adsorbed on flat silicon substrate under an applied electric field, as a function of migration distance, ionic strength, and field intensity, were studied using laser fluorescence microscope. The mobility was found to follow a power law with the field intensity beyond a certain threshold. The detected DNA peak width was shown to be constant with migration distance, slightly smaller with stronger field intensity, but significantly decreased with higher ionic strength. The molecular dynamics simulation demonstrated that the peak width was strongly related with the conformation of DNA chains adsorbed onto surface. The results also implied that there was no diffusion of DNA during migration on surface. Therefore, the Nernst-Einstein relation is not valid in the surface electrophoresis and the separation rate could be improved without losing resolution by decreasing separation distance, increasing buffer concentration, and field intensity. The results indicate the fast separation of genomic DNA chains by surface electrophoresis is possible.