On the role of the colloidal stability of mesoporous silica nanoparticles as gene delivery vectors

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles have been synthesized and functionalized with four different types of molecules containing amino groups, i.e., with primary amines only, with quaternary amines, with quaternized cyclic amines, or with polyethylenimine (PEI), which is formed by primary, secondary, and tertiary amines. These nanoparticles were then incubated with reporter plasmids and the ability of the resulting complexes to transfect human cells was studied. Only nanoparticles functionalized with PEI were efficient for transfection. The agglomeration behavior and the electrokinetic potential of the nanoparticle–plasmid complexes have been studied, as well as their cell internalization behavior using a fluorescent-labeled plasmid that allows its monitorization by confocal microscopy. The results indicate that the efficiency of PEI-functionalized nanoparticles for transfection resides to some extent in the different characteristics imparted to the nanoparticles regarding agglomeration and surface charge behavior.     

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy with a photonic crystal fiber based light source

A coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscope based on a Ti:sapphire femtosecond oscillator and a photonic crystal fiber is demonstrated. The nonlinear response of the fiber is used to generate the additional wavelength needed in the Raman process. The applicability of the setup is demonstrated by imaging of micrometer-sized polystyrene beads.     

转镜式高速扫描相机时间分辨率的测定

 介绍了产生时间分辨率的原因，测量时间分辨率在高速摄影中的作用，前人曾做过的工作，时间分辨率测定的难点；着重介绍了新的测量方法，给出了实际测定的结果。结果表明，对于GSJ型相机，时间分辨率可达8.6 ns，测量的均方根误差为1.1 ns。     

降温速率对Ag-SmBCO单畴生长中自发成核的影响

在前期的研究中曾通过Ag掺杂降低Sm123/Sm211体系熔点,利用Nd123冷籽晶技术成功制备出具有理想织构的SmBCO/Ag单畴块材.但在实验结果中发现相比于未掺杂坯体,掺入Ag后的SmBCO坯体生长速率下降,在所考察的慢冷温区里,生长速率呈不断减小趋势,最终因自发成核而无法继续生长,使得SmBCO单畴区域局限于15×15mm2范围内.为了抑制单畴生长中的自发成核现象,本文研究了降温速率对SmBCO/Ag单畴自发成核的影响.在两组不同条件下的降温速率实验中发现,不同的降温速率对体系自发成核的抑制效果是不同的.利用降低降温速率,成功地将掺Ag SmBCO单畴面积从15×15mm2增大至26×26mm2.     

Dynamics and nonlinearities of the BOLD response at very short stimulus durations

In designing a functional imaging experiment or analyzing data, it is typically assumed that task duration and hemodynamic response are linearly related to each other. However, numerous human and animal studies have previously reported a deviation from linearity for short stimulus durations (<4 s). Here, we investigated nonlinearities of blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) signals following visual stimulation of 5 to 1000 ms duration at two different luminance levels in human subjects. It was found that (a) a BOLD response to stimulus durations as short as 5 ms can be reliably detected; this stimulus duration is shorter than employed in any previous study investigating BOLD signal time courses; (b) the responses are more nonlinear than in any other previous study: the BOLD response to 1000 ms stimulation is only twice as large as the BOLD response to 5 ms stimulation although 200 times more photons were projected onto the retina; (c) the degree of nonlinearity depends on stimulus intensity; that is, nonlinearities have to be characterized not only by stimulus duration but also by stimulus features like luminance. These findings are especially of most practical importance in rapid event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experimental designs. In addition, an 'initial dip' response--thought to be generated by a rapid increase in cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen metabolism (CMRO2) relative to cerebral blood flow--was observed and shown to colocalize well with the positive BOLD response. Highly intense stimulation, better tolerated by human subjects for short stimulus durations, causes early CMRO2 increase, and thus, the experimental design utilized in this study is better for detecting the initial dip than standard fMRI designs. These results and those from other groups suggest that short stimulation combined with appropriate experimental designs allows neuronal events and interactions to be examined by BOLD signal analysis, despite its slow evolution.     

(Co)cyclic (Co)homology of Bialgebroids: An Approach via (Co)monads

For a (co)monad T _l on a category , an object X in , and a functor , there is a (co)simplex in . The aim of this paper is to find criteria for para-(co)cyclicity of Z ^*. Our construction is built on a distributive law of T _l with a second (co)monad T _r on , a natural transformation , and a morphism in . The (symmetrical) relations i and w need to satisfy are categorical versions of Kaygun’s axioms of a transposition map. Motivation comes from the observation that a (co)ring T over an algebra R determines a distributive law of two (co)monads and on the category of R-bimodules. The functor Π can be chosen such that is the cyclic R-module tensor product. A natural transformation is given by the flip map and a morphism is constructed whenever T is a (co)module algebra or coring of an R-bialgebroid. The notion of a stable anti-Yetter-Drinfel’d module over certain bialgebroids, the so-called  ×  _R -Hopf algebras, is introduced. In the particular example when T is a module coring of a  ×  _R -Hopf algebra and X is a stable anti-Yetter-Drinfel’d -module, the para-cyclic object Z _* is shown to project to a cyclic structure on . For a -Galois extension , a stable anti-Yetter-Drinfel’d -module T _S is constructed, such that the cyclic objects and are isomorphic. This extends a theorem by Jara and Ştefan for Hopf Galois extensions. As an application, we compute Hochschild and cyclic homologies of a groupoid with coefficients in a stable anti-Yetter-Drinfel’d module, by tracing it back to the group case. In particular, we obtain explicit expressions for (coinciding relative and ordinary) Hochschild and cyclic homologies of a groupoid. The latter extends results of Burghelea on cyclic homology of groups.     

icMRCI+Q理论研究CF离子12个-S态和23个?态的光谱性质

采用考虑Davidson修正的内收缩多参考组态相互作用(icMRCI+Q)方法结合相关一致基组aug-ccpV5Z和aug-cc-pV6Z计算了CF~+离子第一离解极限C~+(~2p_u)+F(~2P_u)对应的12个∧-S态(X~l∑~+,a~3∏,1~3∑~+,1~3Δ,1~1∑~-,1~1∑~-,1~3∑~-,2~1∑~+,1~1∏,2~3∏,2~1∏和2~3∑~+)所产生的23个Ω态的势能曲线.计算中考虑了旋轨耦合效应、核价相关和标量相对论修正以及将参考能和相关能分别外推至完全基组极限.基于得到的势能曲线,获得了束缚和准束缚的9个∧-S态和16个Ω态的光谱常数,并且X~1∑~+,a~3∏~(势阱一)∧-S态的光谱常数与已有的实验结果非常符合.此外,计算了CF自由基X~2∏态到CF~+离子束缚和准束缚的9个∧-S态的垂直电离势和绝热电离势,并且CF~+(X~1∑~+)←CF(X~2∏)和CF~+(a~3∏(势阱一))←CF(X~2∏)的垂直电离势和绝热电离势与相应的实验结果也非常符合.由a~3∏,1~1∏态和其他激发∧-S态势能曲线的交叉现象,借助于计算的旋轨耦合矩阵元,分析了a~3∏~(势阱一),1~1∏~(势阱一)和2~1∑~+态的预解离机理.计算的23个Ω态离解极限处的相对能量与实验结果十分吻合.最后计算了(2)0+~(势阱一)(v'=0-5),(1)1~(势阱一)(v'=0-5)和(2)1~(势阱一)(v'=0)到X0~+态跃迁的Franck-Condon因子和辐射寿命.     

H2O2–Ng dynamics predictions using an accurate potential energy surface

ABSTRACT

Based on ab initio calculations, our research group has built an analytical ground-state potential energy surface (PES) for hydrogen peroxide– noble gas (Ng) interactions, such as H₂O₂–He, H₂O₂–Ne, H₂O₂–Ar, H₂O₂–Kr, and H₂O₂–Xe complexes. From this PES, it was verified that the Ng presence does not affect the equilibrium values of the H₂O₂ dihedral angles. This happens because the H₂O₂ intramolecular barriers have much higher energies than the atom–bond interaction within these complexes. From this point of view, it is indeed reasonable to consider the H₂O₂ system as a rigid rotor, frozen at its equilibrium configuration. We present in this work the torsional motion for the H₂O₂ isolated system, the vibration–rotation energy levels and spectroscopic constants for hydrogen peroxide–noble gas by using the aforementioned PES. The predicted H₂O₂ torsional motions are in good agreement with both theoretical and experimental results available in the literature. Regarding H₂O₂–Ng ro-vibrational energies and spectroscopic constants, it is the first time that these calculations are presented in the literature. The current theoretical predictions are expected to be useful in the future experimental investigations.