LC Coupled with TOFMS for Metabonomics Study of Mini-pigs with Atherosclerosis

In this study, serum metabolic profiles of mini-pigs with atherosclerosis (AS) were analyzed by LC–TOFMS. Partial least-squares to latent structure-discriminant analysis and orthogonal projection to latent structure-discriminant analysis were used for group differentiation and selection of potential biomarkers. The mini-pig disease models were constructed by feeding a high-fat diet and inducing coronary injury, in accordance with the mechanism of AS pathogenesis. To characterize the development of AS, serum samples were collected and analyzed at two time points (two and ten weeks). Separate distinct clustering of results from normal and model mini-pigs could be observed for both the two and ten-week samples. With the development of AS, the metabolism of the model mini-pigs was more substantially disturbed. Major metabolites contributing to the discrimination were fatty acids, lysophosphatidylcholines, and bile acids. These potential biomarkers are related with inflammation, oxidative stress, and abnormal lipid and energy metabolism.

     

Scope and regioselectivity of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of azides with methyl 2-perfluoroalkynoates for an easy,metal-free route to perfluoroalkylated 1,2,3-triazoles

1,3-Dipolar cycloadditions of methyl 2-perfluoroalkynoates with various azides have been examined, leading to a simple metal-free synthetic protocol for the synthesis of perfluoroalkylated 1,2,3-triazoles. The regiochemical results demonstrated that the cycloaddition was controlled by FMO (the frontier molecular obitals) interaction and steric hindrance in transition states.     

X-ray CT in the detection of palm weevils

Early detection of the red palm weevils (RPW) is a major challenge in agriculture among all kinds of palm trees due to the nature of the insect and the difficulty to trace them through their life stages associated with the tree life. Many methods have been applied for the weevil detection such as X-ray diffraction techniques, fluoroscopy and ultrasound. On the other hand, the idea of tomography has been used for other purposes such as the determination of the age of the tree and for applied environmental studies. Such technology can also reveal the weevil in principle. In this study, we explore the use of X-ray CT for weevil detection with the Monte Carlo method. A model of the stem of a palm tree is developed for simulations. MCNPX is chosen to carry out the simulations for the radiography tally in the code. The tally records the 2D data of the X-ray beams irradiating the tree model. An iterative reconstruction method for cone beam CT is applied to obtain the 3D slices of the tree model. We are exploring the minimum number of projection angles and the detectability of the weevil. We shall also report the sensitivity of weevil detection using X-ray CT with a large set of simulations with different weevil sizes and tree diameters.