Impact of intravenous nicotine on BOLD signal response to photic stimulation

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is increasingly being applied in the study of brain effects of nicotine. In addition, because tobacco smoking is common, many subjects studied with fMRI for other reasons may have appreciable levels of nicotine in plasma and brain during scanning. However, there is concern that the vascular effects of nicotine may alter the coupling between blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal and neuronal activity. The objective of this study was to test for evidence of alteration of BOLD signal response of occipital cortex, a region with a relatively low concentration of neuronal nicotine receptors, to photic stimulation during intravenous infusion of nicotine. Nine nicotine dependent healthy smokers were withdrawn from nicotine under controlled conditions and then scanned while receiving photic stimulation and successive intravenous infusions of saline and nicotine. No evidence for an effect of nicotine on BOLD signal response to photic stimulation was detected at the doses studied. This observation suggests that nicotine does not alter the coupling between BOLD signal and neuronal activity in the visual cortex.     

Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Pyridine-2,6-dicarboxamide and Furan-2,5-dicarboxamide Derivatives

Derivatives based on pyridine-2-6- and furan-2,5-dicarboxamide scaffolds reveal numerous chemical properties and biological activities. This fact makes them an exciting research topic in supramolecular and coordination chemistry and in discovering new pharmacologically-active compounds. This work aimed to obtain a series of symmetrical pyridine-2-6- and furan-2,5-dicarboxamides through a condensation reaction of the appropriate acyl chlorides and aromatic amides. Successful syntheses were confirmed with NMR spectroscopy. We solved their crystal structures for seven compounds; two pyridine and five furan derivatives. Based on our crystallographic studies, we were able to indicate supramolecular features of the crystals under investigation. Additionally, Hirshfeld surface analysis allowed us to calculate a distribution of intermolecular contacts in the dicarboxamide crystals.     

Reactions of N‐phthalylamino acid chlorides with trialkyl phosphites

Reaction of commercially available trialkyl phosphites with N‐phthalylamino acids gave mixtures of seven products, whereas the same reaction carried out with pure triethyl phosphite yielded only the desired 2‐(N‐phthalylamino)‐1‐oxoalkanephosphonates. These compounds underwent rearrangement to the same types of products that were obtained with the commercial phosphites. This latter series of reactions was promoted by the presence of dialkyl phosphites. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 11:232–239, 2000     

Biological Effects of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma on Skin Cancer

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - Cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (CAPPs) increasingly attracted scientific attention in the field of medicine, especially oncology. Because of the surface...     

Molecular dynamics for collisions of heavy ions

Ying-Xun Zhang, Ning Wang, and their collaborators systematically reviewed the molecular dynamics and its application to heavy ion collisions at low and intermediate energies [6].     

Directional approach to gradual cover: the continuous case

Computational Management Science - The objective of the cover location models is covering demand by facilities within a given distance. The gradual (or partial) cover replaces abrupt drop from full...