A comparison of extraction chromatography TEVA? resin and MRT AnaLig? Tc-02 methods for 99Tc determination

Two commercial products??molecular recognition technology (MRT) product AnaLig^?Tc-02 gel and extraction chromatography TEVA^? resin were successfully tested for the separation of ⁹⁹Tc. The results obtained for both procedures were compared in terms of activities and recoveries. The demonstrated linear model clearly proves that the residua fulfill the Gaussian model, without any autocorrelation and trend for NPL Alpha?CBeta high 2003 intercomparison reference sample.     

Convergence chromatographic determination of camphor in the essential oil of Tanacetum parthenium L.

Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium L., Asteraceae) is a perennial medicinal plant which has been used to alleviate the symptoms of migraine, headache and rheumatoid arthritis and possesses numerous pharmacological activities. An ultra‐high‐performance supercritical fluid chromatographic method (UHPSFC) was developed and validated in accordance with the International Conference on Harmonization guidelines in order to determine the camphor content of the volatile oil, which was accurate, precise, robust and selective. The method was validated for specificity, accuracy (100.2%), repeatability and intermediate precision, linearity (r² > 0.999), limit of detection (2.055 μg/mL), limit of quantification (6.228 μg/mL) and robustness. The common range of accuracy and linearity was between 0.125 and 1.000 mg/mL. Steam distillation was carried out in order to study the essential oil yield of three different T. parthenium L. samples originating from Hungarian medicinal herb collections. The camphor content of the essential oils from the aerial parts of feverfew samples from different origin was compared. Although the composition of the essential oil is well reported, a validated quantitative UHPSFC method for the determination of the constituents is presented herein for the first time.     

In-situ mechanical characterization of wurtzite InAs nanowires

High aspect ratio vertical InAs nanowires were mechanically characterized in a scanning electron microscope equipped with two micromanipulators. One, equipped with a calibrated atomic force microscope probe, was used for in-situ static bending of single nanowires along the 〈11–20〉 crystallographic direction. The other one was equipped with a tungsten tip for dynamic resonance excitation of the same nanowires. This setup enabled a direct comparison between the two techniques. The crystal structure was analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, and for InAs nanowires with a hexagonal wutzite crystal structure, the bending modulus value was found to BM=43.5 GPa. This value is significantly lower than previously reported for both cubic zinc blende InAs bulk crystals and InAs nanowires. Besides, due to their high resonance quality factor (Q>1200), the wurtzite InAs nanowires are shown to be a promising candidate for sub-femtogram mass detectors.     

Axiomatizability of positive algebras of binary relations

We consider all positive fragments of Tarski??s representable relation algebras and determine whether the equational and quasiequational theories of these fragments are finitely axiomatizable in first-order logic. We also look at extending the signature with reflexive, transitive closure and the residuals of composition.     

Enhanced In Vitro Refolding of Soluble Human Glucocorticoid-Induced TNF Receptor-Related Ligand

The glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor (GITR) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily. Attachment of GITR to its ligand (GITRL) regulates diverse biological functions, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. In this study, the extracellular region of human GITRL (hGITRL) was cloned, expressed, and purified. The coding sequence of the extracellular region of hGITRL was isolated from human brain cDNA and inserted in pET20b vector. The hGITRL was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) Star at 37 and 25 °C. The majority of the protein was found in inclusion bodies. We identified three important factors for efficient refolding of hGITRL: a ratio of GSH/GSSG, pH, and addition of polyethylene glycol. The renaturated protein was purified by Ni-NTA chromatography. The overall yield of the expression and refolding was higher than 50 mg/l E. coli culture grown at 37 °C. Size exclusion chromatography showed that hGITRL exists as mixture of various multimeric forms in solution. We tested the association of recombinant hGITRL with THP-1 and U937 cell lines and its activity to promote extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase phosphorylation. The results showed that the recombinant protein was biologically active.     

Inclusion of α-lipoic acid in β-cyclodextrin. Physical–chemical and structural characterization

The inclusion of α-lipoic acid (LA) in β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) by increasing the aqueous solubility and photostability can enhance its medicinal use in the oral administration. Different preparation methods were employed to obtain an α-lipoic acid-β-cyclodextrin (LA-β-CD) inclusion complex and to determine the physical–chemical characteristics and the interactions present in this compound. The formation of the solid inclusion compound was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). FTIR and DSC data confirm the new obtained compound. The crystalline structure of this compound belongs to the monoclinic system with four molecules in the unit cell. ¹H NMR spectroscopic method was employed to study the inclusion process in aqueous solution. Job plots derived from the ¹H NMR spectral data demonstrated an 1:1 stoichiometry of the inclusion complex in liquid state. 2D NMR data suggest the orientation of LA with the carboxyl group near to narrower rim of the β-CD.