New synthesis of 2',3'-didehydro-2',3'-dideoxynucleosides.

The 3'-iodonucleoside 4 and the 3'-O-methylsulfonylthymidine 9 have been synthesized by condensation of silylated uracils 2 with methyl 5-O-tert-butyldiphensilyl-2,3-dideoxy-3-iodo-D-threo-pentofuran oside (3) and methyl 5-O-tert-butyldiphenylsilyl-2-deoxy-3-methylsulfonyl-D-erythro- pentofuranoside (8), respectively. The nucleoside 4 and 9 produced the corresponding 2',3'-didehydro-2',3'-dideoxynucleosides 5 in an elimination reaction on treatment with sodium methoxide. The compounds 5b showed no antiviral activity against HIV-1.     

Specific high performance liquid chromatographic determination of the molecular weight and concentration of hyaluronic acid in complex mixtures by labelled hyaluronate binding proteins.

A simple High performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for the specific determination of the molecular weight and concentration of hyaluronic acid (HA) in complex mixtures has been developed. Hyaluronate-binding proteins isolated from bovine cartilage labelled by 125I or fluoresceinisothiocyanate were used as specific markers. The specific binding affinities of the markers were compared and were found to have association constants of 1.6 x 10(7) M-1 and 1.2 x 10(7) M-1 respectively. The HA levels and molecular weight distributions can be easily determined in the range 10-500 ng/mL in complex mixtures by the use of markers, molecular sieving HPLC columns and appropriate detectors. It has been demonstrated clearly that the method is useful for the highly specific determination of the parameters in complex biological samples such as serum and synovial fluids and is recommended for clinical applications.     

Evaluation of Casimir Energies Through Spectral Functions

We consider applications of elliptic differential operators and their associated spectral functions in quantum field theory problems. The role of zeta functions and traces of heat kernels in the regularization of Casimir energies is emphasized, and the renormalization procedure is discussed with simple examples.     

Analysis of appearance of moving ionospheric disturbances of the “sickle” type at middle latitudes

We present the results of analysis of the data of vertical ionospheric sounding at the Zimenki test site (Nizhny Novgorod). The January and July ionograms are used to plot the dependences of the number of “sickle” type disturbances on the time of the day for the period from 1996 to 1992. A comparison with the scattering in an ionospheric F-layer for the same period is performed. A trend in the time series of the phenomenon observed is recorded. Radiophysical Research Institute, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 40, No. 12, pp. 1455–1462, December, 1997.     

Muonium in silicon tetrachloride

Muonium in liquid SiCl has been observed for the first time at low temperature (−65°C) The observed polarization of muonium is as much as 25% of the total spin polarization and shows a fast relaxation rate.     

Synthesis and properties of Hg-based high-T c superconductors

Il Nuovo Cimento D - The formation of Hg-based HTSC materials was investigated through the development of non-conventional techniques. The former was based on a singlestep synthesis at temperatures...     

Unified Interactive Multiple Objective Programming: An Open Architecture For Accommodating New Procedures

It has previously been shown that nine of the most prominent procedures of interactive multiple objective programming can be considered as special cases of a common procedure called the unified algorithm. In this paper, we show how four additional procedures can be similarly included in the unified approach. Also, the paper presents a procedure-switching matrix that depicts the possibilities for switching from one procedure to another, one iteration to the next, in the unified algorithm if so directed by a user.     

Application of thermal analysis to study the causes of disintegration in insulating systems

In the procduction of high-voltage insulating systems, disintegration and non-homogeneity occur in some cases and these factors can lead to the deterioration and even the breakdown such systems. In research into the causes of these phenomena DTA and TG were applied to study the course of hardening of the systems and to quantify the leaking substances. The results demonstrate the great value of thermal analysis in this field.     

Improved quantitation of 13-cis- and all-trans-acitretin in human plasma by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography.

A reliable analytical method has been developed for measurement of 13-cis- and all-trans-acitretin (Neotigason) in human plasma by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, with ultraviolet detection. Human plasma was obtained after centrifugation of whole blood samples and deproteinized by ethanolic denaturation. After liquid-liquid extraction with water-n-hexane, and aliquot ws chromatographed on a silica column using isocratic elution with n-hexane-methylsalicylate-acetic acid (200:18:0.6, v/v). The wavelength was set at 360 nm, and for plasma samples a limit of quantification of 3-4 ng/ml was obtained. All manipulations were carried out under dim light conditions to prevent photoisomerization.