Development and Validation of a Quantitative Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry Confirmatory Method for Phenylbutazone in Equine Plasma

The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone is known to have a number of adverse side effects, however, its use in the equine remains widespread. To protect the human consumer, an action level of 50 ng mL^?1 in plasma has been agreed by the European Union and regulatory compliance requires a methodology validated to the EU guidelines SANCO/1805/200 revision 6. Accordingly, a GC-MS method has been developed and validated to serve this purpose. The method counters the adverse effects of strong protein binding and the instability of phenylbutazone at low pH. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) allows the acquisition of three diagnostic ions and the use of a deuterated internal standard secures good quantitative performance.     

Calculators in Elementary School Mathematics Instruction

Due to the increased availability of hand-held calculators, teachers at all grade levels must now face the prospect of having to change both how they teach mathematics as well as what mathematics they teach. Since most teachers did not learn mathematics with the help of technology, they need time to adjust to both a new learning environment and a new teaching one. Through federal funds, the Texas Education Agency has created mathematics staff development modules which help teachers learn about calculators, mathematics, and the integration of calculators in mathematics instruction. This article presents games based upon those included in the staff development modules. Each game was designed to promote exploration of mathematical relationships via a calculator, specifically, Texas Instrument's Math Explorer.     

Homogeneous immunoassay of phenobarbital by phase-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy

A new technique for determination of phenobarbital by homogeneous fluoroimmunoassay is described. Simultaneous determination of free and antibody-bound fluorescein-labelled phenobarbital is accomplished by making phase-resolved fluorescence measurements, in which selectivity is provided by the difference between the fluorescence lifetimes of the two species, as well as by the difference in fluorescence intensities. The technique requires no specialized reagents other than those inherent in immunoassay (antibody, antigen and labelled antigen). Problems due to non-specific binding of labelled antigen to sample matrix components can be alleviated by addition of a relative excess of albumin.     

Microwave spectrum and rotational isomerism of n-propyl isocyanide

The microwave spectrum of n-propyl isocyanide has revealed the existence of two rotational isomers, trans (methyl trans to the isocyanide substituent), and gauche. Plausible structures have been fitted to the data, giving the gauche dihedral angle as 119° ± 2° from the trans position. Stark effect measurements have yielded dipole moments for the two rotamers: μ_trans = 4.16 ± 0.02 D and μ_gauche = 4.10 ± 0.09 D. The rotational constants of the trans form are A = 23 700 ± 100, B = 2407.632 ± 0.020, and C = 2278.853 ± 0.030 MHz, and those of the gauche form are A = 10 208.983 ± 0.030, B = 3479.219 ± 0.015, and C = 2859.981 ± 0.015 MHz. It has been found from relative intensity measurements that the gauche ground state is slightly more stable than the trans ground state, with an energy difference of 99 ± 45 cm^?1. Several vibrationally excited states have been assigned to the torsional motion around the central carbon-carbon bond, the CNC bending motion, and the methyl internal rotation. The torsional vibration frequency is 114 ± 20 cm^?1 in the trans form and 123 ± 20 cm^?1 in the gauche form. A four-term potential function for internal rotation about the central CC bond has been determined.     

Tight Bounds for Averaging Multi-Frequency Differential Inclusions,Applied to Control Systems

We present new tight bounds for averaging differential inclusions, which we apply to multi-frequency inclusions consisting of a sum of time periodic set-valued mappings. For this family of inclusions we establish a tight estimate of order O (??) on the approximation error. These results are then applied to control systems consisting of a sum of time-periodic functions.     

Tight estimates for general averaging applied to almost-periodic differential equations

Estimates are presented for the averaging method of ordinary differential equations. Previous results are improved by relaxing the conditions under which they hold, and by providing tight bounds for the estimations for almost-periodic differential equations and quasi-periodic differential equations.     

Measurement of the K(L) charge asymmetry

We present a measurement of the charge asymmetry delta(L) in the mode K(L)-->pi(+/-)e(-/+)nu based on 298 x 10(6) analyzed decays. We measure a value of delta(L) = [3322+/-58(stat)+/-47(syst)]x10(-6), in good agreement with previous measurements and 2.4 times more precise than the current best published result. The result is used to place more stringent limits on CPT and DeltaS = DeltaQ violation in the neutral kaon system.     

Dansylated aminopropyl controlled pore glass: a model for silica-liquid solvation

We have prepared a series of aminopropyl controlled pore glass (CPG) particles that have been labeled with a solvatochromic fluorescent probe molecule (dansyl). We report on the behavior of the attached dansyl reporter as a function of dansyl-to-amine molar ratio (i.e., dansyl loading), solvent dipolarity, and surface-residue end capping. In these experiments, we systematically adjust the dansyl loading by 10(5); a range much larger than ever explored. The dansylated CPG particles were also end capped with trimethylchlorosilane to derivatize most of the residual silanol and/or aminopropyl groups. The attached dansyl molecules can be surrounded by other dansyl molecules; they can be distributed within an ensemble of sites with differing physicochemical properties, and/or they can be distributed in sites that are restrictive to dansyl motion and/or solvent inaccessible. At high dansyl loadings, the majority of the dansyl groups are solvated by other dansyl moieties and solvent does not significantly alter the local microenvironment surrounding the average dansyl molecule (i.e., the cybotactic region) to any significant level. At intermediate dansyl loadings, the average distance between the dansyl groups increases and solvent is able to access/solvate/wet the dansyl groups and alter their cybotactic region to a greater extent. At the lowest dansyl loadings studied, the results suggest that these dansyl moieties are localized within solvent inaccessible/restrictive SiO2 sites (e.g., small pores).