Ultra-sensitive trace analysis of cyanide water pollutant in a PDMS microfluidic channel using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Rapid and highly sensitive trace analysis of cyanide water pollutant in an alligator teeth-shaped PDMS microfluidic channel was investigated using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Compared with previously reported analytical methods, the detection sensitivity was enhanced by several orders of magnitude.     

Synergistic effect of peroxiredoxin II antisense on cisplatin-induced cell death

Peroxiredoxin II (Prx II) is known not only to protect cells from oxidative damage caused by hydrogen peroxide (H202), but also to endow cancer cells with resistance to both H202 and cisplatin and to grant them radioresistance. In this study, we examined whether Prx II antisense could enhance cisplatin-induced cell death. When gastric cancer cells were transfected with various concentrations of Prx II antisense plasmid, pPrxII/AS, and then treated with the same concentrations of cisplatin, Prx II antisense enhanced cisplatin-induced cell death. The combination index (CI) at all doses of the combination was below 1, indicating that Prx II antisense sensitized cisplatin-induced cell death. This synergism was also observed in the cells transfected with a Prx II antisense oligomer. Our present results, therefore, suggest that Prx II antisense would be a very good sensitizer for cisplatin, and that Prx II as a target for chemosensitizers constitutes a promising avenue for future research.     

Synthesis of Cu2O coated Cu nanoparticles and their successful applications to Ullmann-type amination coupling reactions of aryl chlorides

We synthesized uniform Cu2O coated Cu nanoparticles from the thermal decomposition of copper acetylacetonate followed by air oxidation and used these nanoparticles as catalysts for Ullmann type amination coupling reactions of aryl chlorides     

Survival and recovery of yeast cells after simultaneous treatment of UV light radiation and heat

Cell survival, synergistic interaction, liquid-holding recovery (LHR) kinetics and inactivation forms after the simultaneous treatment with UV light (254 nm) and various high temperatures were studied in diploid yeast cells Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The synergistic interaction was observed within a certain temperature range in which there was a temperature that maximizes the synergistic effect. The LHR study revealed that both the extent and the rate of recovery greatly decreased with the increase in exposure temperature. A quantitative approach describing the LHR process as a decrease in the effective radiation dose was used to estimate the probability of recovery per unit time and the irreversible component of damage. Using the experimental data obtained and the mathematical model described, it was shown that the irreversible component, i.e. the fraction of cells incapable of recovery, increased with the exposure temperature, whereas the recovery constant, i.e. the probability of recovery per unit time, was independent of the exposure temperature. The increase in the irreversible component was accompanied by an increase in cell death without postirradiation division. It is concluded based on this that the synergistic interaction of UV light radiation and hyperthermia in yeast cells is not related to the impairment of the recovery process itself and that it may be attributed to an increased yield of the irreversible damage.     

Generalized Vector Variational and Quasi-Variational Inequalities with Operator Solutions

In a recent paper, Domokos and Kolumbán introduced variational inequalities with operator solutions to provide a suitable unified approach to several kinds of variational inequality and vector variational inequality in Banach spaces. Inspired by their work, in this paper, we further develop the new scheme of vector variational inequalities with operator solutions from the single-valued case into the multi-valued one. We prove the existence of solutions of generalized vector variational inequalities with operator solutions and generalized quasi-vector variational inequalities with operator solutions. Some applications to generalized vector variational inequalities and generalized quasi-vector variational inequalities in a normed space are also provided.     

Design of novel catalyst imbedding heteropoly acids in polymer films: Catalytic activity for ethanol conversion

Membrane-like H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ or H₅PMo₁₀V₂O₄₀-imbedded polymer films were prepared by blending these materials using a chloroform-methanol mixture as solvent, and they were tested as catalysts for the ethanol conversion reaction in a continuous flow fixed-bed reactor. It was found that the chloroform-methanol mixture itself gave no influence on the catalytic activity of bulk H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ and H₅PMo₁₀V₂O₄₀. Polysulfone, polyethersulfone and polyphenylene oxide were used as blending polymers in this study. H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀-imbedded polymer films showed a higher catalytic activity than H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ itself due to uniform and fine dispersion of H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ through polymer films, but the extent of activity and selectivity was varied according to a kind of polymer materials. It was revealed that H₃PMo₁₂O₄₀ or H₅PMo₁₀V₂O₄₀-imbedded polyphenylene oxide film showed much higher oxidation catalytic activity than the corresponding bulk heteropoly acids. This may be due to the interaction (or bonding) of proton of heteropoly acid with polyphenylene oxide, judging from the fact that glass transition temperature of polyphenylene oxide was increased after blending with heteropoly acid. The catalytic activity of the heteropoly acid imbedded in the same polymer was greatly affected by the composite of heteropoly acid. The permeabilities of reactants through polymer films also affected the product selectivity.     

Microscopic description of the absorption of bound pions

The absorption rates of bound 1s and 2p pions in some light nuclei have been investigated on the basis of a shell model picture modified by short range nucleonnucleon correlations. It turns out that the total absorption rate, the missing energy spectra and the single neutron energy spectra depend sensitively on the details of the correlation functions. The results of the present analysis indicate that one can obtain informations on the short range correlations from pion absorption experiments.