Interpretation of spin relaxation in polyisobutylene in terms of specific motions

Porton and carbon spin-lattice relaxation times T₁ and nuclear Overhauser enhancements are interpreted in terms of motions likely in linear polyisobutylene. Most of the interpretation is based on relaxation data in the literature, but some additional ¹H and ¹³C pulse Fourier transform experiments were conducted to resolve a disagreement in the literature concerning cross relaxation between the two types of protons present in polyisobutylene. Spin relaxation in solution and the bulk is accounted for by three specific motions considered as independent sources of motional modulation of the dipole–dipole interaction. The first motion is overall isotropic rotatory diffusion which has a known dependence on molecular weight, intrinsic viscosity, and solvent viscosity for polymers in solution, and a known dependence on molecular weight and viscosity for bulk polymers. The effects of overall tumbling account for a decrease of T₁ for the methylene and methyl carbons with increasing molecular weight in solution and increase of T₁ of methylene carbons with molecular weight in bulk. The second motion considered is backbone rearrangements caused by the three-bond jump. This motion dominates relaxation of the methylene carbons either in solution or in the bulk allowing for the determination of the associated correlation time. The correlation time characterizing the occurrence of the three-bond jump in a 5% (wt/vol) solution in CCI₄ at 45°C is 58 psec, and in the bulk at 45°C it is 11 nsec. The last motion included in the model is methyl-group rotation about the threefold symmetry axis. The methyl-group rotational correlation time is 0.20 nsec in a 5% (wt/vol) solution in CCI₄ at 45°C and 0.33 nsec in the bulk at 45°C. The concentration dependence of the backbone motion contrasts strongly with the corresponding dependence of methyl-group rotation.     

Isotropic fluid phases of dipolar hard spheres

Monte Carlo simulations are used to calculate the equation of state and free energy of dipolar hard sphere fluids at low temperatures and densities. Evidence for the existence of isotropic-fluid-isotropic-fluid phase transitions is presented and discussed. Condensation in the dipolar hard sphere fluid is unusual in that it is not accompanied by large energy or entropy changes. An explanation of this behavior is put forward.     

Significant Associations Between Sun Exposure and Adiposity Were Not Observed in Breast and Prostate Cancer Patients in a Cross‐sectional Analysis

Obesity is a significant health problem worldwide. Exposure to low‐dose ultraviolet radiation (like that in sunlight) suppresses the development of obesity in mice; however, the nature of the associations between sun exposure and adiposity is not well understood in humans. The present study characterized cross‐sectional relationships between sun exposure and adiposity in a convenience cohort of breast (n = 269; mean age = 58 years) and prostate (n = 78; mean age = 69 years) cancer patients. Participants were enrolled in a 3‐month exercise program in Perth, Australia. Self‐reported questionnaires measured time spent outdoors (previous week, winter and summer), sex, age, treatment received and physical activity levels. Adiposity measures included body mass index, waist‐hip ratio and body fat percentage (measured via DXA). In unadjusted models, greater time spent outdoors across all times was significantly associated with lower waist‐hip ratio, while greater time spent outdoors in the last winter was associated with lower body fat percentage, but not when stratified by sex. There were no statistically significant associations between time spent outdoors and adiposity after adjusting for sex, age, treatments received and physical activity. Longitudinal studies in larger populations may elucidate significant associations not found in our study due to the cross‐sectional design and power limitations.     

Electroenzymatic Nitrogen Fixation Using a MoFe Protein System Immobilized in an Organic Redox Polymer

We report an organic redox‐polymer‐based electroenzymatic nitrogen fixation system using a metal‐free redox polymer, namely neutral‐red‐modified poly(glycidyl methacrylate‐co‐methylmethacrylate‐co‐poly(ethyleneglycol)methacrylate) with a low redox potential of ?0.58 V vs. SCE. The stable and efficient electric wiring of nitrogenase within the redox polymer matrix enables mediated bioelectrocatalysis of N₃^?, NO₂^? and N₂ to NH₃ catalyzed by the MoFe protein via the polymer‐bound redox moieties distributed in the polymer matrix in the absence of the Fe protein. Bulk bioelectrosynthetic experiments produced 209±30 nmol NH₃ nmol MoFe^?1 h^?1 from N₂ reduction. ¹⁵N₂ labeling experiments and NMR analysis were performed to confirm biosynthetic N₂ reduction to NH₃.     

Imaging of lipids in rat heart by MALDI-MS with silver nanoparticles

Lipids are a major component of heart tissue and perform several important functions such as energy storage, signaling, and as building blocks of biological membranes. The heart lipidome is quite diverse consisting of glycerophospholipids such as phosphatidylcholines (PCs), phosphatidylethanolamines (PEs), phosphatidylinositols (PIs), phosphatidylglycerols (PGs), cardiolipins (CLs), and glycerolipids, mainly triacylglycerols (TAGs). In this study, mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enabled by matrix implantation of ionized silver nanoparticles (AgNP) was used to map several classes of lipids in heart tissue. The use of AgNP matrix implantation was motivated by our previous work showing that implantation doses of only 10¹⁴/cm² of 2 nm gold nanoparticulates into the first 10 nm of the near surface of the tissue enabled detection of most brain lipids (including neutral lipid species such as cerebrosides) more efficiently than traditional organic MALDI matrices. Herein, a similar implantation of 500 eV AgNP^? across the entire heart tissue section results in a quick, reproducible, solvent-free, uniform matrix concentration of 6 nm AgNP residing near the tissue surface. MALDI-MSI analysis of either positive or negative ions produce high-quality images of several heart lipid species. In negative ion mode, 24 lipid species [16 PEs, 4 PIs, 1 PG, 1 CL, 2 sphingomyelins (SMs)] were imaged. Positive ion images were also obtained from 29 lipid species (10 PCs, 5 PEs, 5 SMs, 9 TAGs) with the TAG species being heavily concentrated in vascular regions of the heart.     

Voltammetric sizing of inert particles.

The average size of inert particles is determined using a simple electrochemical procedure. Alumina particles are deposited on an edge-plane graphite electrode, and a cyclic voltammogram is recorded. The scan rate employed varies between 0.2 and 2 V s(-1). At these scan rates the diffusion layer thickness is greater than the size of the alumina particles, minimizing the influence of the particles' height on the observed voltammetry. The average size of the particles is determined via comparison of the experimental voltammograms with simulations.