Fifteenth International Conference on X-ray Absorption Fine Structure

The 15th International Conference on X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS15) was held at the Pullman Beijing West Wanda Hotel in Beijing, China, on July 22–28, 2012. The conference was chaired by Ziyu Wu (Chinese Academy of Sciences). In conjunction with XAFS15, the workshop “XAFS theory and nano particles” was held July 18–20, 2012, in Chiba, Japan, and chaired by T. Fujikawa.     

BOLD MRI response to hypercapnic hyperoxia in patients with meningiomas: correlation with Gadolinium-DTPA uptake rate

Because meningiomas tend to recur after (partial) surgical resection, radiotherapy is increasingly being applied for the treatment of these tumors. Radiation dose levels are limited, however, to avoid radiation damage to the surrounding normal tissue. The radiosensitivity of tumors can be improved by increasing tumor oxygen levels. The aim of this study was to investigate if breathing a hyperoxic hypercapnic gas mixture could improve the oxygenation of meningiomas. Blood oxygen level-dependent magnetic resonance imaging and dynamic Gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA contrast-enhanced MRI were used to assess changes in tumor blood oxygenation and vascularity, respectively. Ten meningioma patients were each studied twice; without and with breathing a gas mixture consisting of 2% CO(2) and 98% O(2). Values of T(2)* and the Gd-DTPA uptake rate k(ep) were calculated under both conditions. In six tumors a significant increase in the value of T(2)* in the tumor was found, suggesting an improved tumor blood oxygenation, which exceeded the effect in normal brain tissue. Contrarily, two tumors showed a significant T(2)* decrease. The change in T(2)* was found to correlate with both k(ep) and with the change in k(ep). The presence of both vascular effects and oxygenation effects and the heterogeneous response to hypercapnic hyperoxia necessitates individual assessment of the effects of breathing a hyperoxic hypercapnic gas mixture on meningiomas. Thus, the current MRI protocol may assist in radiation treatment selection for patients with meningiomas.     

Paper coatings with multi-scale roughness evaluated at different sampling sizes

Papers have a complex hierarchical structure and the end-user functionalities such as hydrophobicity are controlled by a finishing layer. The application of an organic nanoparticle coating and drying of the aqueous dispersion results in an unique surface morphology with microscale domains that are internally patterned with nanoparticles. Better understanding of the multi-scale surface roughness patterns is obtained by monitoring the topography with non-contact profilometry (NCP) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) at different sampling areas ranging from 2000 μm × 2000 μm to 0.5 μm × 0.5 μm. The statistical roughness parameters are uniquely related to each other over the different measuring techniques and sampling sizes, as they are purely statistically determined. However, they cannot be directly extrapolated over the different sampling areas as they represent transitions at the nano-, micro-to-nano and microscale level. Therefore, the spatial roughness parameters including the correlation length and the specific frequency bandwidth should be taken into account for each measurement, which both allow for direct correlation of roughness data at different sampling sizes.     

Air-coupled ultrasonic assessment of wood veneer

Air-coupled ultrasound (ACU) provides a tool to evaluate wood samples of small or moderate thickness (<30 mm) thereby avoiding direct contact or liquid coupling. Results of through-transmission ACU measurements on wood veneer samples and related products are reported with respect to a wide variety of quality aspects. Fluctuations in the averaged received signal levels appear to be correlated to the presence of natural or machine-induced thickness and density variations, flaws and grain damage, errors produced by the manufacturing process, insufficient bonding on a substrate, etc. In addition it is seen that the variability of the signal levels enables to distinguish between quarter and crown areas.     

Interplay between structure and size in a critical crystal nucleus

We study the kinetics of crystal nucleation of an undercooled Lennard-Jones liquid using various path-sampling methods. We obtain the rate constant and elucidate the pathways for crystal nucleation. Analysis of the path ensemble reveals that crystal nucleation occurs along many different pathways, in which critical solid nuclei can be small, compact, and face centered cubic, but also large, less ordered, and more body centered cubic. The reaction coordinate thus includes, besides the cluster size, also the quality of the crystal structure.     

Generalised expressions for the association and dissociation rate constants of molecules with multiple binding sites

ABSTRACT

Many proteins exhibit multiple binding patches. A patch may harbour a key chemical modification site, but may also simply act as a trap for the binding to another site. Here we consider the scenario in which one molecule (enzyme) binds another molecule (substrate) which contains two sites. We present microscopic expressions for the rate at which the enzyme binds to a particular site on the substrate, both for the scenario in which the enzyme directly binds the site without first visiting the other site, and for the case in which it may visit the other site an arbitrary number of times before binding to the site of interest. We also present the expressions for the corresponding dissociation reactions. These expressions can be used to compute in a single rare-event simulation of the dissociation pathway not only both the intrinsic and effective dissociation rate constants but also both association rate constants.     

A comparison study of multishot vs. single-shot DWI-EPI in the neonatal brain: reduced effects of ghosting compared to adults

In the neonatal brain, it is important to use a fast imaging technique to acquire all diffusion weighted images (DWI) for apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) calculation. Taking into account the occurrence of typical echo planar imaging (EPI) artifacts, we have investigated whether single-shot (SSh) or multishot (MSh) DWI-EPI should be preferred. In 14 neonates, 17 adult patients and 5 adult volunteers, DWIs are obtained both with SSh and MSh EPI. The occurrence of artifacts and their influence on the ADC are explored and further quantified using simulations and phantom studies. Two radiologists scored overall image quality and diagnosability of all images. Single-shot and MSh DWI-EPI scored equally well in neonates with respect to overall image quality and diagnosability. In newborns, more motion artifacts in MSh can be noticed while N/2-ghost artifacts in SSh occur less frequently than in adults. Both N/2-ghost and motion artifacts result in significant ADC abnormalities. There is a serious risk that these artifacts will be mistaken for genuine diffusion abnormalities. N/2-ghost artifacts are hardly noticed in the neonatal brain, which might be due to smaller cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) velocity than in adults. Apparent diffusion coefficient values in MSh are unreliable if motion occurs. We conclude that for ADC calculations in neonates SSh DWI-EPI is more reliable than MSh.