Generation of long plasma channels in air by focusing ultrashort laser pulses with an axicon

We show that by focusing ultrashort-pulsed laser beams in air with an axicon, relatively long plasma channels can be generated. The axicon generates Bessel-like beams, where the on-axis intensity stays high over distances much longer compared to focusing with conventional lenses. We developed a scheme to detect the presence of the plasma, based on its screening property. Using this scheme, we detected plasma channels longer than 1 m and 3.5 m generated by 8 mJ and 90 mJ input pulse energies, respectively. Our simulations show that axicon focusing can yield self-guided propagation with or without contribution of plasma, depending on the input pulse power.     

Muscle skin temperature responses for hamstring and quadriceps to aerobic and anaerobic test conditions in Turkish Olympic Sailing Athletes

Olympic class sailing is a competitive sport and requires several abilities. An understanding of the responses to aerobic and anaerobic loading will be useful for assessing the training programs, protective strategies and possibility of injuries. Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine lower extremity main muscles skin temperature responses to aerobic and anaerobic test conditions in Turkish Olympic Sailing Athletes. Eighteen sailing athletes were assessed during preseasonal assessment period. Temperatures of quadriceps and hamstring muscle groups were evaluated bilaterally during rest and after Wingate Treadmill tests. Wingate test was accepted as an indicator of anaerobic performance and Treadmill test as an aerobic performance. Infrared thermography was performed to assess the skin temperature at anterior and posterior parts of thigh for both legs. In the triplicate comparison, the temperature changes between the rest, aerobic test and anaerobic test conditions were significant (p?<?0.05). In the analysis to determine the difference between the compared groups; for both muscle groups, temperature change after anaerobic performance was not significant; in contrast to this result the change in muscle temperature after aerobic performance was significant (p?<?0.05). Energetic—metabolic activity of major muscle groups of lower extremities during aerobic and anaerobic performance are important for injury prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and return to play. Present study shows that aerobic performance or activities requires higher energetic-metabolic activity.

     

Non-Alkaloid Cholinesterase Inhibitory Compounds from Natural Sources

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative disorder of different brain regions accompanied by distresses and affecting more than 25 million people in the world. This progressive brain deterioration affects the central nervous system and has negative impacts on a patient’s daily activities such as memory impairment. The most important challenge concerning AD is the development of new drugs for long-term treatment or prevention, with lesser side effects and greater efficiency as cholinesterases inhibitors and the ability to remove amyloid-beta(Aβ) deposits and other related AD neuropathologies. Natural sources provide promising alternatives to synthetic cholinesterase inhibitors and many have been reported for alkaloids while neglecting other classes with potential cholinesterase inhibition. This review summarizes information about the therapeutic potential of small natural molecules from medicinal herbs, belonging to terpenoids, coumarins, and phenolic compounds, and others, which have gained special attention due to their specific modes of action and their advantages of low toxicity and high efficiency in the treatment of AD. Some show superior drug-like features in comparison to synthetic cholinesterase inhibitors. We expect that the listed phytoconstituents in this review will serve as promising tools and chemical scaffolds for the discovery of new potent therapeutic leads for the amelioration and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.     

Games,Critical Paths and Assignment Problems in Permutation Flow Shops and Cyclic Scheduling Flow Line Environments

In this paper we address the non-pre-emptive flow shop scheduling problem for makespan minimization in a new modelling framework. A lower bound generation scheme is developed by using appropriately defined linear assignment problems and, based on this new approach, a special class of permutation flow shop problems is identified. We present a game theoretic interpretation of our modelling approach which leads to an integer programming formulation of the scheduling problem. A new branch and bound scheme is developed based on these results. The major advantage of our modelling framework and branch-and- bound approach is that it can be easily extended to address a general class of cyclic scheduling problems for production flow lines with blocking. After a discussion of this extension, we report on computational experience that indicates the very satisfactory performance of the new optimal solution procedure for cyclic scheduling problems with finite capacity buffers.     

Extremely simple device for measuring 20-fs pulses

We demonstrate an extremely simple frequency-resolved optical-gating device (GRENOUILLE) capable of measuring pulses with spectra wider than 100 nm. Its nearly all-reflective geometry minimizes the material dispersion, allowing accurate measurement of pulses as short as 19 fs.     

Green-nano approach to nanostructured polypyrrole

Bulk quantities of polypyrrole nanofibers and nanospheres can be synthesized with a facile, one-step "green-nano" chemical oxidative polymerization approach, by simply using different reaction media.     

Synthesis, antihistaminic action and theoretical studies of (4-methoxybenzyl)(1,4,5,6-tetrahydropirimidin-2-yl)amine hydroiodide

In this study, (4-methoxybenzyl)(1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidin-2-yl)amine hydroiodide (2) was synthesized by reaction of 2-methylmercapto-1,4,5,6-tetrahydropyrimidine hydroiodide (1) and 4-methoxybenzylamine. The synthesized compound was tested for its in vitro H1-antihistaminic activity on guinea pig trachea. A promising bronchorelaxant effect of 2 was observed in histamine-contracted guinea pig tracheal chain via H1 receptor antagonism. In addition, the molecular geometry and gauge including atomic orbital (GIAO) ¹H chemical shift values of the title compound in the ground state were calculated using the density functional method (DFT/UB3LYP) and Hartree–Fock (HF) approach using 6–311G+(d), 6–311G+(d,p), LANL2DZ, DGDZVP, and DGDZVP2 basis sets and compared with the experimental data. According to the experimental and theoretical results, HF/6–311G+(d) showed a better fit to experimental values in evaluating ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) chemical shift values. Theoretical studies supported our findings, revealing the N₁₂ atom as the most nucleophilic. In addition, other structures of the compound such as the aromatic ring and OCH₃ group increased this property.