Identification of chemicals and their metabolites from PHY906, a Chinese medicine formulation,in the plasma of a patient treated with irinotecan and PHY906 using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS)

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is increasingly being used in combination with Western medicine. In general, TCM is comprised of multiple components in sharp contrast to Western medicine, where a single active chemical is used. Presently, there are no well-established standards for most of the chemical compounds of TCM and their respective metabolites. Moreover, there are no formal analytical methods for the identification of these chemicals, especially in trace amounts. The ability to measure the pharmacokinetic behaviors of chemicals and their metabolites from these herbal formulations are critical in understanding of the action of TCM. This paper describes the use of LC/MS/MS along with enzyme treatments and n-octanol/water partition coefficient, to investigate the chemical components of PHY906 and their metabolites in the plasma of a patient with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with irinotecan and PHY906. The chemicals from an aqueous extract of PHY906 and the plasma from a patient was prepared and separated on an Agilent ZORBAX-SB C₁₈ column, and eluted with acetonitrile/0.05% (v/v) formic acid. From the PHY906 aqueous extract, a total of 57 compounds and 27 metabolites were identified and tentatively assigned structures based on their identified mass spectrometry, enzyme digestion and n-octanol/water partition coefficient. In contrast, analysis of patient plasma identified only 33 chemicals and new metabolites. These findings demonstrated that LC/MS/MS was and effective and reliable method for studying the parent chemicals of the Chinese herbal medicine PHY906 and their metabolites in a patient with metastatic colorectal cancer.     

Influence of gamma radiation on the colour strength and fastness properties of fabric using turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) as natural dye

The effect of gamma radiation on the dyeing of cotton with extract of turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) powder has been investigated. Cotton fabric and turmeric powder were irradiated to absorbed doses of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 kGy using Co-60 gamma irradiator. Dyeing parameters such as temperature, pH and mordant concentration were optimized. Dyeing was performed using un-irradiated and irradiated cotton with the extracts of un-irradiated and irradiated turmeric powder in order to investigate the effect of radiation treatment on the colour strength of dyed fabric. The reported data of un-irradiated and irradiated fabrics dyed with un-irradiated and irradiated dyes were obtained using the spectraflash SF-650. The colourfastness to light, rubbing- and washing-fastness properties showed that gamma irradiation has improved the dyeing characteristics from fair to good.     

A unified three point approximating subdivision scheme

In this paper,we propose a three point approximating subdivision scheme,with three shape parameters,that unifies three different existing three point approximating schemes.Some sufficient conditions for subdivision curve C0 to C3 continuity and convergence of the scheme for generating tensor product surfaces for certain ranges of parameters by using Laurent polynomial method are discussed.The systems of curve and surface design based on our scheme have been developed successfully in garment CAD especially for clothes modelling.     

Harmonic and intermodulation performance of optical-fiber Mach–Zehnder microphone

In this paper, closed-form mathematical expressions are obtained for the amplitudes of the harmonic and intermodulation products of the fiber optic Mach–Zehnder microphone excited by a multitone acoustical perturbation. The results show the strong dependence of the harmonic and intermodulation performance on the amplitude of the acoustical perturbation tones and the phase shift produced by the DC bias voltage applied to the reference fiber of the Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The results also show that depending on the phase shift produced by the DC bias voltage, either the third-order or the second-order intermodulation will be dominant. Compared to previously published results for other types of microphones, it appears that the phase shift produced by the DC bias voltage plays an important role in deciding the order of the dominant intermodulation product.     

Control of the Entanglement Between Two Atoms Trapped in Spatially Separated Cavities Connected by an Optical Fiber

We investigate the dynamics of entanglement by means of concurrence for the case of two atoms which are trapped in spatially separated cavities connected by an optical fiber. It is shown that the phenomenon of sudden birth of entanglement occurs under some certain conditions. Moreover, it is found that the entanglement between two atoms can be controlled and manipulated by changing cavity-fiber coupling strength and the amplitude of the atom.     

Scheme for the teleportation of bipartite entangled state of the two cavity modes

In this paper, we propose a scheme for the teleportation of general two-partite entangled state of zero and one photon state from one bimodal cavity to another. The scheme can be realized by using cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED).     

Single atom entropy squeezing for two two-level atoms interacting with a binomial field

In this paper we consider a system of two two-level atoms interacting with a binomial field in an ideal cavity. We investigate the time evolution of the single atom entropy squeezing, atomic inversion and the linear entropy for the present system. Furthermore, the relationship between the entropy squeezing and the entanglement is investigated. It is shown that the amounts of the nonclassical effects exhibited in the entropy squeezing are dependent on the different initial conditions. The entropy squeezing can give information on the corresponding linear entropy.     

Hot-electron-driven enhancement of spin-lattice coupling in Gd and Tb 4f ferromagnets observed by femtosecond x-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Femtosecond x-ray magnetic circular dichroism was used to study the time-dependent magnetic moment of 4f electrons in the ferromagnets Gd and Tb, which are known for their different spin-lattice coupling. We observe a two-step demagnetization with an ultrafast demagnetization time of 750 fs identical for both systems and slower times which differ sizeably with 40 ps for Gd and 8 ps for Tb. We conclude that spin-lattice coupling in the electronically excited state is enhanced up to 50 times compared to equilibrium.     

Effect on photophysical properties of colloidal ZnS quantum dots by doping with cobalt, copper, and cobalt�Ccopper mixtures

Colloidal ZnS quantum dots (QDs) are prepared by passing H₂S gas through a solution of Zn(CH₃COO)₂ in acetonitrile. Photophysical properties are investigated using UV?CVisible and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The spectrum shows an absorption shoulder at 271 nm representing a band gap of 4.6 eV. The doping of ZnS QDs with Co, Cu, and a mixture of Co and Cu not only increased the band gap to 0.2 eV but also turns these otherwise colorless QDs to blue in color due to cobalt, and green due to Cu. The observed emission in the visible region suggests that the dopants may have induced additional excited states to the ZnS QDs. This absorbance in the visible region can be utilized in the optoelectronic applications.     

Living fungal hyphae-templated porous gold microwires using nanoparticles as building blocks

Abstract  

A simple and environmentally benign green method is reported to decorate growing fungal hyphae with high loading of gold nanoparticles, which were initially produced using aqueous tea extract as a sole reducing/stabilizing agent. Inoculation of fungal spores in aqueous suspension of nanoparticles led to the growth of intensely red-coloured fungal hyphae due to the accumulation of gold nanoparticles. Heat treatment of these hybrid materials led to the formation of porous gold microwires. This report is thus an interesting example of using green and sustainable approach to produce nanostructured materials which have potential applications in catalysis, sensing and electronics.