A general treatment of the configuration statistics of polysaccharides.

A treatment of the configurational statistics of polysaccharides is given in the isomeric state approximation. All classes of linear polysaccharides of specifiec chemical sequence are treated simultaneously. Chain tortuosity arising from torsional motions about the chemical bonds of the glycosidic linkages is recognized explicitly as is the possibility for conformational isomerism of the sugar residues. Valence angles and lengths are taken to be fixed at the equilibrium values, and pyranose residues in their chair conformations are treated as inflexible constituents of the skeletal structure. Pyranose and furanose forms capable of pseudorotation may be incorporated as rigid skeletal entities as well, provided suitable attention is given to the selection and interpretation of the conformational isomeric states included. Separation of the configuration energy into independent contributions is shown to be impossible in general. Methods are described for assessing the influence of neighbor interactions on the populations of the several conformers of the sugar residues. The relative conformational free energy of the flexible and chair form conformers of pyranose sugars is discussed, and appropriate measures of polysaccharide chain flexibility and stiffness are suggested.     

Spectrophotometric flow injection analysis of formaldehyde in aqueous solutions using 3-methyl-2-benzthiazolinone hydrazone

Summary A flow injection method for the determination of formaldehyde was developed. It is based on its reaction with 3-methyl-2-benzthiazolinone hydrazone (MBTH) to yield a blue formazan anion. Typically 180 l samples are injected into a buffered carrier stream with a frequency of 30 per hour. This sample line merges with the reagent stream containing MBTH, whereupon an azine is formed. After merging with a second stream containing an acidic solution of FeCl₃ as reagent, MBTH is oxidized to an intermediate that attacks the azine yielding the formazan dye with an _max at 635 nm. The method was applied to formaldehyde concentrations in the range from 0.15 mg/l to 15 mg/l. The relative standard deviation was 2.3% for 3 mg/l formaldehyde, and 5.1% for 0.3 mg/l, respectively. Strong reducing agents like nitrite interfere seriously. Out of the family of carbonyl compounds only acetaldehyde and propionaldehyde cause strong positive interference.     

Relaxation Results for Hybrid Inclusions

The Filippov–Wa?ewski relaxation theorem describes when the set of solutions to a differential inclusion is dense in the set of solutions to the relaxed (convexified) differential inclusion. This paper establishes relaxation results for a broad range of hybrid systems which combine differential inclusions, difference inclusions, and constraints on the continuous and discrete motions induced by these inclusions. The relaxation results are used to deduce continuous dependence on initial conditions of the sets of solutions to hybrid systems.     

Multimodal imaging: an evaluation of univariate and multivariate methods for simultaneous EEG/fMRI

The combination of electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been proposed as a tool to study brain dynamics with both high temporal and high spatial resolution. Multimodal imaging techniques rely on the assumption of a common neuronal source for the different recorded signals. In order to maximally exploit the combination of these techniques, one needs to understand the coupling (i.e., the relation) between electroencephalographic (EEG) and fMRI blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals.     

Real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging: methods and applications

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been limited by time-consuming data analysis and a low signal-to-noise ratio, impeding online analysis. Recent advances in acquisition techniques, computational power and algorithms increased the sensitivity and speed of fMRI significantly, making real-time analysis and display of fMRI data feasible. So far, most reports have focused on the technical aspects of real-time fMRI (rtfMRI). Here, we provide an overview of the different major areas of applications that became possible with rtfMRI: online analysis of single-subject data provides immediate quality assurance and functional localizers guiding the main fMRI experiment or surgical interventions. In teaching, rtfMRI naturally combines all essential parts of a neuroimaging experiment, such as experimental design, data acquisition and analysis, while adding a high level of interactivity. Thus, the learning of essential knowledge required to conduct functional imaging experiments is facilitated. rtfMRI allows for brain-computer interfaces (BCI) with a high spatial and temporal resolution and whole-brain coverage. Recent studies have shown that such BCI can be used to provide online feedback of the blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal and to learn the self-regulation of local brain activity. Preliminary evidence suggests that this local self-regulation can be used as a new paradigm in cognitive neuroscience to study brain plasticity and the functional relevance of brain areas, even being potentially applicable for psychophysiological treatment.     

Cortex-based independent component analysis of fMRI time series

The cerebral cortex is the main target of analysis in many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies. Since only about 20% of the voxels of a typical fMRI data set lie within the cortex, statistical analysis can be restricted to the subset of the voxels obtained after cortex segmentation. While such restriction does not influence conventional univariate statistical tests, it may have a substantial effect on the performance of multivariate methods.

Here, we describe a novel approach for data-driven analysis of single-subject fMRI time series that combines techniques for the segmentation and reconstruction of the cortical surface of the brain and the spatial independent component analysis (sICA) of the functional time courses (TCs). We use the mesh of the white matter/gray matter boundary, automatically reconstructed from high-spatial-resolution anatomical MR images, to limit the sICA decomposition of a coregistered functional time series to those voxels which are within a specified region with respect to the cortical sheet (cortex-based ICA, or cbICA). We illustrate our analysis method in the context of fMRI blocked and event-related experimental designs and in an fMRI experiment with perceptually ambiguous stimulation, in which an a priori specification of the stimulation protocol is not possible.

A comparison between cbICA and conventional hypothesis-driven statistical methods shows that cortical surface maps and component TCs blindly obtained with cbICA reliably reflect task-related spatiotemporal activation patterns. Furthermore, the advantages of using cbICA when the specification of a temporal model of the expected hemodynamic response is not straightforward are illustrated and discussed. A comparison between cbICA and anatomically unconstrained ICA reveals that — beside reducing computational demand — the cortex-based approach improves the fitting of the ICA model in the gray matter voxels, the separation of cortical components and the estimation of their TCs, particularly in the case of fMRI data sets with a complex spatiotemporal statistical structure.     

Facile, efficient conjugation of a trifunctional lanthanide chelate to a peripheral benzodiazepine receptor ligand

[reaction: see text] Receptor-mediated imaging and therapy of diseased tissue is rapidly gaining favor in the medical community. The synthesis and facile aqueous/organic coupling of a peripheral-type benzodiazepine receptor ligand to a cyclen-based fluorophore is described herein. The contrast agent QM-CTMC-PK11195, when chelated with lanthanides, produces bright luminescence and good MRI contrast and can potentially serve as an imaging and demarcation agent for certain types of cancers.     

Mechanismus der Amin-eliminierungen bei der Elektronenstoßinduzierten Fragmentierung von 1.3-Diaminopropanen

1,3-Diaminopropanes exhibit strong elimination of amines from the molecular ions upon electron-impact. This is followed by secondary reactions in the course of which a substituent from the C-2 of the propane unit is eliminated and also a N-substituent to a smaller degree. Lowering the electron density at only one nitrogen atom by appropriate substituents causes a decrease in the intensity of both [M–amine]⁺˙ ions. The corresponding fragmentation processes were investigated by means of deuterium labelling.     

Letter: Gödel-Type Space-Time Metrics

A simple group theoretic derivation is given of the family of space-time metrics with isometry group SO(2,1) × SO(2) × first described by Gödel, of which the Gödel stationary cosmological solution is the member with a perfect-fluid stress-energy tensor. Other members of the family are shown to be interpretable as cosmological solutions with an electrically charged perfect fluid and a magnetic field.