Metallothionein as a biomarker for mercury in tissues of rat fed orally with cinnabar

Cinnabar, as one of the most widely used mineral drugs in traditional Chinese medicines, has been proven to have prominent curative effects in clinical use for more than 2000 years. But the safety and toxicity of the drug has been under constant debate in clinic usage. Metallothionein (MT) contains about 30% of cysteine in the molecule, and plays an important detoxification role against heavy metals. In this study, it was used as a biomarker to assess mercurial accumulation in rats fed orally with cinnabar. After feeding rats with cinnabar by gastric gavage at different dosages and at different times, the distribution of heavy metals (including mercury, copper and zinc) and MT was investigated among rat tissues, including liver, kidney, heart, brain, testis and blood. Metals and MT determinations were carried out using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and a modified mercury saturation assay technique respectively. The results indicated that mercury was easily accumulated in the tissues of rats exposed to cinnabar, especially in kidney. For example: at a feeding dosage of 5 g kg^?1 (bw) for 4 weeks, the mercury concentrations in kidney were 13, 8.7, 21.6 and 26 times those in liver, testis, brain and heart respectively; and at 2.5 g kg^?1 (bw) for 2 weeks, the mercury concentrations in kidney were 21, 2.1, 3 and 21 times those in liver, testis, brain and heart respectively. In addition, mercury in kidney and liver of all cinnabar groups was significantly higher than that of the control group (P < 0.01). A high positive correlation observed between MT concentrations and mercury levels in both liver and kidney (R² = 0.9299, P < 0.02 for liver; R² = 0.9923, P < 0.0008 for kidney) indicated that MT could be used as a biomarker for mercury in tissues. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New Interfaces for Coupling TLC with TOF SIMS

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - Two interfaces have been tested for coupling thin-layer chromatography (TLC) with time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry...     

Un modèle mathématique de cyclone

The source waves are some particular solutions to genuinely non linear hyperbolic systems with a source term, whose propagation velocity is a constant determined by the roots of this source term. We propose a system of 2 equations on a 2 dimension space, which model the velocity field of the atmosphere near the ground. The source term is made of three parts: a given pressure gradient, a friction or aspiration effect and the Coriolis force. In the case where these parameters are constant, we build a solution which is a constant outside a circular crown. The internal circle represents the eye's wall of the hurricane and corresponds to a share shock wave. The external circle is a set generating the bifurcation which actually models the hurricane. To cite this article: A.-Y. LeRoux et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 339 (2004).     

A quantum time lens for ultracold neutrons

The possibility of creating a time lens, an analogue of the zone plate in X-ray optics, for ultracold neutrons is experimentally demonstrated. The neutron energy was changed by means of a purely quantum effect: the phase modulation of a neutron wave at a variable modulation frequency. The modulator was a phase grating with variable spatial period moving across the neutron beam.     

A strong law of large numbers for generalized random sets from the viewpoint of empirical processes

In this article we prove a strong law of large numbers for Borel measurable nonseparably valued random elements in the case of generalized random sets.

     

TERAHERTZ QUALITY CONTROL OF POLYMERIC PRODUCTS

We report on experiments that evaluate the potential of terahertz (THz) time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) for quality control of polymeric compounds. We investigate specimens out of a polyethylene compound with silver-coated titanium dioxide nanospheres and a glass-fiber reinforced epoxy composite. We further examine an industrial polymer product produced by injection molding. Our data demonstrates that THz imaging is a powerful tool for contactless quality control in the polymer industry.     

Lieb–Thirring Inequalities for Schrödinger Operators with Complex-valued Potentials

Inequalities are derived for power sums of the real part and the modulus of the eigenvalues of a Schrödinger operator with a complex-valued potential.     

Differentiation of chiral phosphorus enantiomers by P and H NMR spectroscopy using amino acid derivatives as chemical solvating agents

The ability of commercially available amino acid derivatives, especially Fmoc-Trp(Boc)-OH, to differentiate enantiomers of chiral phosphonates, phosphinates, phosphates, phosphine oxides, and phosphonamidates is demonstrated with (31)P, (13)C, and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. The chiral differentiation provided a rapid and convenient method for measuring the enantiomeric purity of these phosphorus compounds.