The renin-angiotensin system in the mammalian central nervous system

The brain renin-angiotensin system enables the formation of different biological active forms of angiotensins within the brain. All enzymes and peptides necessary for the biosynthesis of these angiotensins have been recognized within the central nervous system. Since there are considerable mismatches concerning the localization of the different enzymes, this system is not fully understood. Moreover, since alternative pathways of the angiotensin biosynthesis exists, localization and generation, especially of the short forms of biologically active angiotensins, are largely enigmatic. The brain renin-angiotensin system mediates several classic physiological effects including body water balance, maintenance of blood pressure, sexual behaviors, and regulation of pituitary gland hormones. Beside these classic functions, the brain renin-angiotensin system has more subtle functions involving complex mechanisms such as learning and memory. The mechanisms of action seem to differ depending on the utilized different bioactive angiotensin fragments, which are formed by the action of a variety of enzymes. This phenomenon appears to represent an important mechanism for neuromodulation. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that the renin-angiotensin system is involved in neurological disorders, as e.g. Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.     

Optimization of time resolution and detection limit for online measurements of 222Rn in water

The online measurements of radon in flowing water with high temporal resolution and a lower limit of detection of some Bq/l is of growing interest in environmental research and earth sciences. Promising new fields of application in hydrogeology are the study of exchange and mixing processes and the monitoring of pumping procedures before and during groundwater sampling. A suitable, simple method has been proposed by Surbeck based on the separation of air and water by a diffusion membrane. Process parameters influencing the temporal resolution as well as the radon detection efficiency have been studied. Considering these results a new instrument has been developed enabling online radon-in-water measurement with time resolution of about one minute.     

Quadratically constrained least squares and quadratic problems

Summary We consider the following problem: Compute a vectorx such that Ax–b₂=min, subject to the constraint x₂=. A new approach to this problem based on Gauss quadrature is given. The method is especially well suited when the dimensions ofA are large and the matrix is sparse.It is also possible to extend this technique to a constrained quadratic form: For a symmetric matrixA we consider the minimization ofx ^T A x–2b ^T x subject to the constraint x₂=.Some numerical examples are given.This work was in part supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DCR-8412314 and by the National Institute of Standards and Technology under Grant 60NANB9D0908.     

Geometro-stochastic quantization of a theory for extended elementary objects

The geometro-stochastic quantization of a gauge theory based on the (4,1)-de Sitter group is presented. The theory contains an intrinsic elementary length parameter R of geometric origin taken to be of a size typical for hadron physics. Use is made of a soldered Hilbert bundle over curved spacetime carrying a phase space representation of SO(4, 1) with the Lorentz subgroup related to a vierbein formulation of gravitation. The typical fiber of is a resolution kernel Hilbert space constructed in terms of generalized coherent states related to the principal series of unitary irreducible representations of SO(4, 1), namely de Sitter horospherical waves for spinless particles characterized by the parameter . The framework is, finally, extended to a quantum field-theoretical formalism by using bundles with Fock space fibers constructed from .Supported in part by NSERC Research Grant No. A5206.     

The mean square of Dirichlet series associated with automorphic forms

Letf be a non-holomorphic automorphic form of real weight and eigenvalue λ=1/4?ρ ², ?ρ≥0, which is defined with respect to a Fuchsian group of the first kind. Assume that ∞ is a cusp of this group and denote bya _∞,n,a _∞,n ,n ∈ ?, the Fourier coefficients off at ∞. Following Hecke and Maas we prove that under suitable assumptions the associated Dirichlet seriesL ⁺ (f, s) = ∑ _{n > 0} a _∞,n (n + μ_221E;)^?s andL ^? (f, s) = ∑ _{n < 0} a _∞,n |n + μ_221E;|^?s have meromorphic continuation in the entire complex plane and statisfy a certain functional equation (μ_∞ denotes the cusp parameter of the cusp ∞). We are interested in mean square estimates of these functions. Iff is not a cusp form we prove $$\int_0^T {|L^ \pm (f,\Re _\rho + it)|^2 dt = T(\log T)^a (B^ \pm + o(1)),}$$ wherea is either 1, 2 or 4, andB ^± is a constant. A similar result is true iff is a cusp form. In case of a congruence group the termo(1) can be replaced byO ((logT)^?1).     

Massenspektrometrische Untersuchung von Amiden: III—Intramolekulare Nucleophile Substitution bei der Methyl-Abspaltung aus Crotonsaurepiperidid und Vinylogen Derivaten

The methyl cleavage from piperidides of type CH₃(CH?CH)_nCONC₅H₁₀ with n = 1 to 3 does not proceed via ring contraction as shown earlier with n = 0. The fragmentation can be formulated with the concept of neighbouring group participation of the amide function which leads to a cyclic transition state. Investigations with a ²H-labelled compound in the case of n = 1 as well as energy measurements (AP, IP, E_k) agree with this assumption.     

Novel enantioselective strong cation exchangers based on sulfodipeptide selectors: evaluation for enantiomer separation of chiral bases by nonaqueous capillary electrochromatography

Strong cation exchange (SCX)-type chiral stationary phases (CSPs) based on beta-amino sulfonic acid-terminated dipeptide derivatives as chiral selectors, immobilized on thiol-modified silica particles (3.5 microm), were synthesized and applied to enantiomer separations of chiral bases by nonaqueous capillary electrochromatography (CEC). The effect of structural variations of the sulfodipeptide selectors on the separation factors alpha was investigated. These studies included variation of the acid-terminal amino sulfonic acid residue, variation of the configurations, i.e., comparison of the diastereomeric (S,S)- and (R,S)-configurations of the sulfodipeptides, and finally comparison of sulfodipeptide selectors with corresponding beta-amino sulfonic acid analogs. In general, the capillary columns (100 microm ID) packed with the new SCX-type CSPs showed enantioselectivity for an elaborated set of chiral basic drugs in CEC acting by an enantioselective cation-exchange retention mechanism. N-[N-(4-Allyloxy-3,5-dichlorobenzoyl)-leucyl]-2-amino-3,3-dimethylbutane sulfonic acid, in particular with (R,S)-configuration, turned out to be a more effective SCX-type selector than a more rigid analog based on N-[N-(4-Allyloxy-3,5-dichlorobenzoyl)-leucyl]-2-pyrrolidinemethane sulfonic acid. Both of the former diastereomers were capable to baseline-resolve the enantiomers of ca. 40% of the tested basic chiral solutes including sympathomimetics and beta-blockers, while for the latter SCX-type CSPs only 10-20% of the selected solutes afforded resolutions > 1.5.