Evaluation of extraction methods for quantification of aqueous fullerenes in urine

There is a growing concern about the human and environmental health effects of fullerenes (e.g., C(60)) due to their increasing application in research, medicine, and industry. Toxicological and pharmacokinetic research requires standard methods for extraction and detection of fullerenes from biological matrices such as urine. The present study validates the use of liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) methods in conjunction with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for the quantitative determination of C(60) in human and synthetic urine as compared with ultrapure water. Glacial acetic acid, which is necessary to prevent emulsions during LLE, inhibited C(60) detection by LC-MS, but this could be mitigated with evaporation. Aqueous C(60) aggregates (nC(60)) were spiked at 180 μg/L into the components of a synthetic urine recipe to determine their individual impacts on extraction and detection. Urea, creatinine, and a complex protein (i.e., gelatin) were found to impair SPE, leading to a low recovery rate of 43 ± 4% for C(60) spiked into human urine. In contrast, C(60) was consistently recovered from synthetic matrices using LLE, and recovery in human urine was 80 ± 6%. These results suggest that LLE combined with LC-MS is suitable for studying the clearance of fullerenes from the body. LLE is a robust technique that holds promise for extracting C(60) from other complex biological matrices (e.g., blood, sweat, amniotic fluid) in toxicological studies, enabling a better understanding of the behavior of fullerenes in human and animal systems and facilitating a more comprehensive risk evaluation of fullerenes.     

Conformational transitions of glycine induced by vibrational excitation of the O-H stretch

Vibrational energy flow and conformational transitions following excitation of the OH stretching mode of the most stable conformer of glycine are studied by classical trajectories. "On the fly" simulations with the PM3 semiempirical electronic structure method for the potential surface are used. Initial conditions are selected to correspond to the ν=1 excitation of the OH stretch. The main findings are: (1) An an equilibrium-like ratio is established between the populations of the 3 lowest-lying conformers after about 10 picoseconds. (2) There is a high probability throughout the 150 ps of the simulations for finding the molecule in geometries far from the equilibrium structures of the lowest-energy conformers. (3) Energy from the initial excited OH (ν=1) stretch flows preferentially to 5 other vibrational modes, including the bending motion of the H atom. (4) RRK theory yields conformational transition rates that deviate substantially from the classical trajectory results. Possible implication of these results for vibrational energy flow and conformational transitions in small biological molecules are discussed.     

A conjecture of Erd?s on graph Ramsey numbers

The Ramsey number r(G) of a graph G is the minimum N such that every red–blue coloring of the edges of the complete graph on N vertices contains a monochromatic copy of G. Determining or estimating these numbers is one of the central problems in combinatorics.One of the oldest results in Ramsey Theory, proved by Erd?s and Szekeres in 1935, asserts that the Ramsey number of the complete graph with m edges is at most . Motivated by this estimate Erd?s conjectured, more than a quarter century ago, that there is an absolute constant c such that for any graph G with m edges and no isolated vertices. In this short note we prove this conjecture.     

Small subgraphs of random regular graphs

The main aim of this short paper is to answer the following question. Given a fixed graph H, for which values of the degree d does a random d-regular graph on n vertices contain a copy of H with probability close to one?     

Measurement of Spatial-Frequency and Amplitude Responses of a CCD-Matrix Image-Registration Device

A unique method for studying spatial-frequency and amplitude responses of an image-registration device on the basis of a CCD matrix is developed. A monochromatic light-intensity distribution arising from Fraunhofer diffraction on two equal slits is used as an input signal. A quantitative approach to a spatial resolution of the CCD matrix for registration of a periodic image is developed. The dependence of the rms contrast degree of the output signal on the spatial frequency of the image recorded is studied experimentally. The optical scheme developed and the method proposed for treatment of a digitized signal allow one to determine the amplitude response of the registration device over the whole surface of the CCD matrix and to determine the admissible level of the average intensity of the radiation registered.     

Identification of the bow stabilization mechanism by numerical simulation of the laminar asymmetric flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past a cylinder with a projecting disk

The mechanism responsible for the bow stabilization that arises as a result of the deformation of the spatial vortex structures that are organized in the flow of a fluid past a cylinder with a projecting thin disk is analyzed by solving the Navier-Stokes equations using a factorized finite-volume method and a simplified approach based on analytical specification of the metric coefficients. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 138–142 (November 1998)     

Limit distributions of random functionals on a process

The article introduces the notion of a limit distribution of random linear functionals on a linear measure space with respect to some spherically invariant measure. It is proved that if the limit distribution exists, it is constant, i.e., a typical distribution of the linear functional exists.     

Monotonicity of the mean distance for empiricial dependent Gaussian samples

The monotonicity is proved of the mean distance in the sense of Kantorovich for two repeatedly independently obtained dependent Gaussian samples with respect to the natural order in the space of Gaussian centered measures in a finite-dimensional coordinate space.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova AN SSSR, Vol. 158, pp. 167–168, 1987.     

Rotational hysteresis loss and anisotropy in yttrium garnet ferrite single crystals

The rotational hysteresis loss in Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ single crystals is found to increase with the field up to 2.5–3 kOe at all temperatures between –183 and 250 ° C, this being followed by a fall, a further peak at 8–10 kOe, and a slow fall, with some residual effect even at 20 kOe. This loss is sensitive to heat treatment; annealing for 2 hr at 275 ° C greatly reduces the loss at –183 ° C and halves the main (second) peak at 20 ° C. These anomalies do not occur in ferrites with the spinel structure. The first anistropy constant is slightly reduced at all temperatures as a result of annealing.