The concept of internal solubilization in peptide synthesis: ethylene glycol-based protecting groups

A novel, ethylene glycol-based protecting group is designed and synthesized for use in solid phase peptide synthesis. Ether and ester type protected amino acids are prepared. The acid stability of the new protecting group showed complete Fmoc/t-Bu compatibility. The new derivatives are tested in solid phase peptide synthesis, with a ‘difficult’ sequence to examine the disruption of peptide aggregation.     

Local 3D perturbation experiments for probing the ELM stability

Empirical estimates indicate that the transient divertor power load induced by type-I ELMs in the standard H-mode ITER scenario might result in intolerably short target life times. Significant experimental effort has been put on the exploration of recipes to avoid or at least mitigate the ELM size by external intervention. Experimental ELM mitigation studies (and related modeling) are of interest from different points of views. First, the active intervention gives access to new, externally controlled ELMy discharge scenarios and ELM diagnostic techniques. Second, the ELM response on the type and amplitude of the applied perturbation provides additional hints on the ELM stability. Third, mitigated ELMs, possibly different from spontaneous ones, and their scaling are of interest ‘per se’, in case that mitigation is to be finally applied in ITER. In this contribution we report on ELM mitigation results in ASDEX Upgrade, where we further restrict the scope to those methods involving 3D, local non-axisymmetric perturbations. Perturbations applied were cryogenic pellet injection, localized supersonic pulsed injection of D gas and laser blow of from targets carrying C or Al micro pellets. The corresponding perturbations differ strongly both in the space and time domain and provide an instrument to probe the local stability. Varying the parameters of the external perturbations by e.g. changing the amount of injected material or the injection speed we mapped out the ELM trigger threshold with high spatial and temporal resolutions. Presented at the Workshop “Electric Fields, Structures and Relaxation in Edge Plasmas”, Tarragona, Spain, July 3–4, 2005.     

On the effect of surface rippling on the generation of harmonics in laser plasmas

Experiments were carried out using a tightly focused, prepulse-free KrF laser of 700 fs pulse duration. Harmonics up to 20 eV were generated at an intensity of 1.5×10¹⁷ W/cm² from the plasma on the surface of solid targets. The observation of diffuse harmonics propagation for intensities above 10¹⁶ W/cm² and the fact that polarization of the harmonics appears to be mixed for the highest intensities are attributed to the surface rippling which is an intrinsic consequence of the unstable balance between plasma expansion and light pressure. PACS 52.25.Os; 52.35.Py; 52.50.Jm     

DSC measurement of cartilage destruction caused by septic arthritis

Summary Treatment of a bacterial arthritis is a challenging task for a clinician as inadequate therapy can cause cartilage destruction and can result in severe osteoarthritis of the affected joint. The development of cartilage destruction in septic arthritis is not known in details. The aim of this study was to follow this process by calorimetric method. We induced experimental septic arthritis in knee joints of seven New Zealand rabbits by single inocculation of Staphylococcus aureusOKI 112001 culture (1.5 mL 8·10⁸±5% c.f.u.). The first rabbit died on the 11^thday. At that time all the other subjects were made overslept and samples were isolated from the cartilage of the femurs for calorimetric measurement. The DSC scans clearly demonstrated the development of infective structural destruction in cartilage from the first to the tenth day of incubation. In case of healthy control the melting temperatures (T_m) were: 49.7, 55 and 63.4°C and the total calorimetric enthalpy change (ΔH) was 0.55 J g^-1. After the first day the enthalpy decreased (0.375 J g^-1), the first two transition temperature shifted towards higher temperature: 57 and 63.15°C. Up to the fourth day the effect of infection culminated with T_mof 49.3, 55.9, 59.4, 62.8°C and further decrease of the ΔH. At the fifth day the effect of infection is culminated in two separable thermal denaturation events (with 55 and 63.3°C T_ms) with high jump in ΔHindicating the dramatic change of the structure of rabbit cartilage, so this time elapsed seems to be critical from the point of view of practical clinical relevance too. Between the 7^thand 11^thdays practically we had same melting temperatures (50 and 63°C) with low (~0.24 J g^-1) enthalpy.     

Thermoanalytical Investigations on Intercalated Kaolinites

The thermal behaviour of ordered kaolinites from Hungary and Australia intercalated with potassium acetate, cesium acetate and urea has been investigated by simultaneous TG-DTG-DTA, TG-MS, Raman microscopy and XRD. Remarkable changes in the thermal decomposition pattern of the intercalates were obtained as a function of the nature of the intercalating re-agents. Replacing the potassium cation to cesium leads to a change in the OH environments resulting in a more complicated dehydroxylation pattern. The urea intercalates can be decomposed completely without dehydroxylating the mineral, although further treatments are necessary to restore the original d-spacing. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.