Electrochemical sensing in solution��origins, applications and future perspectives

The origins of electrochemical sensing in solution are briefly surveyed together with the potential advantages of potentiometric and voltammetric sensors and biosensors. Selected applications and current trends are illustrated, and future perspectives are discussed.     

DNA vaccine containing the mycobacterial hsp65 gene prevented insulitis in MLD-STZ diabetes

Background  

Our group previously demonstrated that a DNA plasmid encoding the mycobacterial 65-kDa heat shock protein (DNA-HSP65) displayed prophylactic and therapeutic effect in a mice model for tuberculosis. This protection was attributed to induction of a strong cellular immunity against HSP65. As specific immunity to HSP60 family has been detected in arthritis, multiple sclerosis and diabetes, the vaccination procedure with DNA-HSP65 could induce a cross-reactive immune response that could trigger or worsen these autoimmune diseases.     

Wave attenuation model for dephasing and measurement of conditional times

Inelastic scattering induces dephasing in mesoscopic systems. An analysis of previous models to simulate inelastic scattering in such systems is presented and a relatively new model based on wave attenuation is introduced. The problem of Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations in conductance of a mesoscopic ring is studied. We show that the conductance is symmetric under flux reversal and the visibility of AB oscillations decays to zero as a function of the incoherence parameter, signaling dephasing. Further the wave attenuation model is applied to a fundamental problem in quantum mechanics, that of the conditional (reflection/transmission) times spent in a given region of space by a quantum particle before scattering off from that region.     

Hydroxyl radicals electrochemically generated in situ on a boron-doped diamond electrode

The hydroxyl radicals electrochemically generated in situ on a boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode have been investigated for the first time in different electrolyte media, over the whole pH range between 1 and 11. A more extensive characterisation of BDD electrochemical properties is very important to understand the reactivity of organic compounds towards electrochemical oxidation on the BDD electrode, which is related to their interaction with adsorbed hydroxyl radicals due to water oxidation on the electrode surface. An oxidation peak corresponding to the transfer of one electron and one proton was observed in pH <9 electrolytes, associated with the water discharge process and electrochemical generation of hydroxyl radicals, which can interact and enhance the electro-oxidation of organic compounds. In pH >9 electrolytes the electrochemical generation of hydroxyl radicals was not observed; ammonia buffer electrolyte gave a pH-independent peak corresponding to the ammonia oxidation reaction. Additionally, for most pH values studied, a few small peaks associated with the electrochemical interaction between non-diamond carbon species on the doped diamond electrode surface and the electrolyte were also seen, which suggests that the doped diamond is relatively unreactive, but not completely inert, and the electrogenerated hydroxyl radicals play a role as mediator in the oxidation of organics.     

Qualitative properties of modified equations

Suppose that a consistent one-step numerical method of orderr is applied to a smooth system of ordinary differential equations.Given any integer m 1, the method may be shown to be of orderr + m as an approximation to a certain modified equation. Ifthe method and the system have a particular qualitative propertythen it is important to determine whether the modified equationsinherit this property. In this article, a technique is introducedfor proving that the modified equations inherit qualitativeproperties from the method and the underlying system. The techniqueuses a straightforward contradiction argument applicable toarbitrary one-step methods and does not rely on the detailedstructure of associated power series expansions. Hence the conclusionsapply, but are not restricted, to the case of Runge-Kutte methods.The new approach unifies and extends results of this type thathave been derived by other means: results are presented forintegral preservation, reversibility, inheritance of fixed points.Hamiltonian problems and volume preservation. The techniquealso applies when the system has an integral that the methodpreserves not exactly, but to order greater than r. Finally,a negative result is obtained by considering a gradient systemand gradient numerical method possessing a global property thatis not shared by the associated modified equations.