Volatile organic compounds generated by cultures of bacteria and viruses associated with respiratory infections

Respiratory infections (RI) can be viral or bacterial in origin. In either case, the invasion of the pathogen results in production and release of various volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The present study examines the VOCs released from cultures of five viruses (influenza A, influenza B, adenovirus, respiratory syncitial virus and parainfluenza 1 virus), three bacteria (Moraxella catarrhalis, Haemophilus influenzae and Legionella pneumophila) and Mycoplasma pneumoniae isolated colonies. Our results demonstrate the involvement of inflammation‐induced VOCs. Two significant VOCs were identified as associated with infectious bacterial activity, heptane and methylcyclohexane. These two VOCs have been linked in previous studies to oxidative stress effects. In order to distinguish between bacterial and viral positive cultures, we performed principal component analysis including peak identity (retention time) and VOC concentration (i.e. area under the peak) revealing 1‐hexanol and 1‐heptadecene to be good predictors. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of the crystal structure of U6Fe5Al8Si9 by electron crystallography

The crystal structure of U₆Fe₅Al₈Si₉ was re-determined by electron crystallography, using selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and high resolution (HRTEM) images, taken along the [0 0 1] direction. The obtained results are very similar to those found previously by X-ray powder diffraction. The differences between the atomic positions found by SAED and HRTEM images and those found by X-ray powder diffraction were 0.11 and 0.08 Å, respectively.     

Detection of Cyclo‐N5− in THF Solution

Compelling evidence has been found for the formation and direct detection of the cyclopentazole anion (cyclo‐N₅^?) in solution. The anion was prepared from phenylpentazole in two steps: reduction by an alkali metal to form the phenylpentazole radical anion, followed by thermal dissociation to yield cyclo‐N₅^?. The reaction solution was analyzed by HPLC coupled with negative mode mass spectrometry. A signal with m/z 70 was eluted about 2.1 min after injection of the sample. Its identification as N₅ was supported by single and double labeling with ¹⁵N, which yielded signals at m/z=71 and 72, respectively, with identical retention times in the HPLC column. MS/MS analysis of the m/z=70 signal revealed a dissociation product with m/z=42, which can be assigned to N₃^?. To our knowledge this is the first preparation of cyclo‐N₅^? in the bulk. The compound is indefinitely stable at temperatures below ?40 °C, and has a half‐life of a few minutes at room temperature.     

Spectral properties of Schrödinger operators on radial N-dimensional infinite trees

We study the discreteness of the spectrum of Schrödinger operators which are defined on a class of radial N-dimensional rooted trees of a finite or infinite volume, and are subject to a certain mixed boundary condition. We present a method to estimate their eigenvalues using operators on a one-dimensional tree. These operators are called width-weighted operators, since their coefficients depend on the section width or area of the N-dimensional tree. We show that the spectrum of the width-weighted operator tends to the spectrum of a one-dimensional limit operator as the sections width tends to zero. Moreover, the projections to the one-dimensional tree of eigenfunctions of the N-dimensional Laplace operator converge to the corresponding eigenfunctions of the one-dimensional limit operator.     

Negombins A-I, new chlorinated polyfunctional diterpenoids from the marine sponge Negombata species

Nine novel compounds designated negombins A-I (1-9) were isolated, together with latrunculin, from the Tanzanian sponge Negombata sp. The nine are sacculatane type diterpenes, previously only known from liverworts. The structures of the compounds were elucidated by interpretation of MS and 1D and 2D NMR spectra. A possible biogenesis initiated by the naturally rare chloronium ion is suggested, possibly hinting to a guest microorganism as the source of the compounds. Compound 4 is toxic to brine shrimp larvae.     

Ground state alternative for <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-Laplacian with potential term

Let Ω be a domain in , d ≥ 2, and 1 < p < ∞. Fix . Consider the functional Q and its Gateaux derivative Q′ given by If Q ≥ 0 on, then either there is a positive continuous function W such that for all, or there is a sequence and a function v > 0 satisfying Q′ (v) = 0, such that Q(u _k ) → 0, and in . In the latter case, v is (up to a multiplicative constant) the unique positive supersolution of the equation Q′ (u) = 0 in Ω, and one has for Q an inequality of Poincaré type: there exists a positive continuous function W such that for every satisfying there exists a constant C > 0 such that . As a consequence, we prove positivity properties for the quasilinear operator Q′ that are known to hold for general subcritical resp. critical second-order linear elliptic operators.     

Improved Aldehyde Synthesis: Preparation of 3α, 7α, 12α-Triacetoxy-5β-Cholan-23-al with Ruthenium Tetroxide in Neutral Medium

In relation to our studies on the metabolism of neutral sterols² we have prepared several substituted 24-norcholanic acids. Ruthenium tetroxide was selected as the oxidizing agent^3,4 in the formation of 24-norcholic acid^5,6 from the olefin, 3α, 7α, 12α-triacetoxy-24, 24-diphenyl-5β-chol-23-ene (II), (Fig. 1) since CrO₃ provided multiple products⁵.     

The photo-dissociation of the pyrrole-ammonia complex--the role of hydrogen bonding in Rydberg states photochemistry

The photochemistry of the pyrrole-ammonia cluster is analyzed theoretically. Whereas in neat pyrrole the dominant photochemical reaction is H-atom cleavage, recent experiments show that in pyrrole-ammonia clusters the major reaction is H-transfer to form the NH(4) radical (solvated by ammonia molecules in the case of large clusters) and the pyrrolyl radical. A mechanism involving the hydrogen-bonded Rydberg state is offered to account for these results and verified computationally. Two minima are located on the lowest excited singlet PES. Both of them are Rydberg states, one leads to the formation of NH(4) and pyrrolyl radicals, the other is connected to the πσ* state through a relatively high barrier, leading to a 3-body dissociation reaction to form a pyrrolyl radical, ammonia and an H-atom. The former is the energetically and statistically preferred one.