Hydrothermal synthesis of large maghemite nanoparticles: influence of the pH on the particle size

Maghemite nanoparticles with sizes in the range 10–110 nm and good monodispersity have been synthesized by co precipitation at room temperature from Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ ions by a (N(CH₃)₄OH) solution, followed by an hydrothermal treatment at 200 °C and an oxidation step with Fe(NO₃)₃. The influence of the incubation time (at 200 °C) and of the pH of the autoclaved solution on the particles size has been studied. It was found that the pH value allows to tune the size of the maghemite particles. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Intravascular ultrasound allows a hyperplasia diagnosis in vivo in rat as accurate as histomorphometry

Objective and motivation

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) allows in vivo invasive intra-luminal real-time examination of the arterial wall structure. In this study, we aimed to validate for the first time the in vivo IVUS performing as a diagnostic tool by comparison to the well-established histomorphometry approach, in the largely used rat model of carotid angioplasty model that mimics the angioplasty procedure in humans.

Methods

Atherosclerotic lesions were allowed to develop during four weeks after balloon catheter inflation of the left carotid artery, whereas the intact right carotid artery was used as control. Four weeks after injury, a Boston Scientific 40 MHz device to perform IVUS exams in vivo on both carotid arteries. Then, both carotid arteries were examined in vitro by histomorphometry and correlation between IVUS and histomorphometric parameters (plaque plus media cross-sectional areas [CSA] and eccentricity index) were researched.

Results

After ANOVA analysis, comparative statistical analysis showed significant correlations between IVUS and histomorphometry when examining the intact right carotid artery (r = 0.662 with p < 0.003 for plaque plus media CSA; r = 0.774 with p < 0.002 for eccentricity index), but also when exploring the injured left carotid artery (r = 0.805 with p < 0.0001 for plaque plus media CSA; r = 0.775 with p < 0.002 for eccentricity index).

Conclusions and outcome

We report here for the first time the ability of IVUS to study therapeutic vascular effects in vivo in alive rats. This result is of major importance since it will allow this device to be used for restenosis drug testing in rat model of carotid angioplasty.     

The dimeric unit [La(H2O)4(m-PO3C6H4COOH)(m-PO2(OH)C6H4COOH)(m-PO(OH)2C6H4COOH)]2 as building block of layered hybrid material

A new hybrid organic–inorganic material with the structural formula unit [La(H₂O)₄(m-PO₃C₆H₄COOH)(m-PO₂(OH)C₆H₄COOH)(m-PO(OH)₂C₆H₄COOH)]₂ (or [La(H₂O)₄C₂₁H₁₈O₁₅P₃]₂) has been synthesized under hydrothermal condition from La(NO₃)₃·6H₂O and 3-phosphonobenzoic acid (m-PO(OH)₂–C₆H₄–COOH) which is a rigid organic precursor possessing two types of functional groups: phosphonic acid and carboxylic acid. The two units of the produced hybrid are linked together by hydrogen bonds leading to a layered framework composing of by a repetition of inorganic and organic slices. The organic layers consist of dimeric units made of two meta-phosphono-benzoic acid linked together by hydrogen bonds involving their COOH groups. Two kinds of dimeric units are observed: PO₃C₆H₄COOH?HOOCC₆H₄PO(OH)₂, present 2 times in the structure, and PO₂(OH)C6H4COOH?HOOCC₆H₄PO₂(OH). The material crystallises in a monoclinic cell (C2/c (15) space group) with the following parameters: a = 42.515(4) Å, b = 7.4378(6) Å, c = 20.307(2) Å, β = 118.031(6)°, V = 5668.2(9) Å³, Z = 4, density = 1.908 g/cm³.     

Syndiotactic Polystyrene / Fullerene Composites: Elucidation of Structural Aspect

Summary: Syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS), an attractive polymer due to its wide range of application, forms polymer-solvent intercalates with a large variety of solvent molecules ranging from liquids to solids. Recently, it has been realized that sPS intercalate prepared from SPS/naphthalene gel is more promising of making mesoporous materials. Here, the composite of sPS/fullerene have been prepared by taking advantage of sublimation of naphthalene. The different techniques as like XRD, SEM, HRTEM, FT-IR, DSC, TGA etc have been employed to characterized sPS/fullerene composite. XRD investigation shows the presence of δ form sPS in the composite. SEM and HRTEM reveal the fibrillar network with fringe like structure in presence of fullerene only and the average diameter of fibril has increased as compared to pure sPS fibrils. The conductivities of these fibrils have been increased with increasing amount of fullerene.     

Physical Gels of a Syndiotactic Polystyrene Derivative with a Large Side-Chain Group

Summary: Gelation of syndiotactic poly(p-tert-butylstyrene) (sPTBS), a syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) derivative having a larger side-chain group, was first examined with several solvents. The temperature-concentration phase diagram of sPTBS/trans-decalin gel clearly exhibited that sPTBS formed a polymer-solvent molecular compound with a ratio of 2.7 trans-decalin per one monomer unit. Our polarized fluorescence technique demonstrated that there appeared to exist more spacious free volume among sPTBS chains than sPS in a gel state. A cause determining the morphology of sPTBS with organic solvents was discussed in the present paper.     

Propagation de fronts dans les équations de Fisher–KPP avec diffusion fractionnaire

We study in this Note the Fisher–KPP equation where the Laplacian is replaced by the generator of a Feller semigroup with slowly decaying kernel, an important example being the fractional Laplacian. Contrary to what happens in the standard Laplacian case, where the stable state invades the unstable one at constant speed, we prove here that invasion holds at an exponential in time velocity. These results provide a mathematically rigorous justification of numerous heuristics about this model. To cite this article: X. Cabré, J.-M. Roquejoffre, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 347 (2009).     

NMR analysis of a Tau phosphorylation pattern

The phosphorylation of the neuronal Tau protein modulates both its physiological role of microtubule binding and its aggregation into paired helical fragments observed in Alzheimer's diseased neurons. However, detailed knowledge of the role of phosphorylation at specific sites has been hampered by the analytical difficulties to evaluate the level of site-specific phosphate incorporation. Even with recombinant kinases, mass spectrometry and immunodetection are not evident for determining the full phosphorylation pattern in a qualitative and quantitative manner. We show here that heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy on a 15N labeled Tau sample modified by the cAMP dependent kinase allows identification of all phosphorylation sites, measures their level of phosphate integration, and yields kinetic data for the enzymatic modification of the individual sites. Filtering through the 15N label discards the necessity of any further sample purification and allows the in situ monitoring of kinase activity at selected sites. We finally demonstrate that the NMR approach can equally be used to evaluate potential kinase inhibitors in a straightforward manner.     

Theoretical spectroscopy of the calcium dimer in the A 1Sigma(u)+, c3Pi(u), and a3Sigma(u)+ manifolds: an ab initio nonadiabatic treatment

Nonadiabatic theory of molecular spectra of diatomic molecules is presented. It is shown that in the fully nonadiabatic framework, the rovibrational wave functions describing the nuclear motions in diatomic molecules can be obtained from a system of coupled differential equations. The rovibrational wave functions corresponding to various electronic states are coupled through the relativistic spin-orbit coupling interaction and through different radial and angular coupling terms, while the transition intensities can be written in terms of the ground state rovibrational wave function and bound rovibrational wave functions of all excited electronic states that are electric dipole connected with the ground state. This theory was applied in the nearly exact nonadiabatic calculations of energy levels, line positions, and intensities of the calcium dimer in the A (1)Sigma(u) (+)(1 (1)S+1 (1)D), c (3)Pi(u)(1 (3)P+1 (1)S), and a (3)Sigma(u) (+)(1 (3)P+1 (1)S) manifolds of states. The excited state potentials were computed using a combination of the linear response theory within the coupled-cluster singles and doubles framework for the core-core and core-valence electronic correlations and of the full configuration interaction for the valence-valence correlation, and corrected for the one-electron relativistic terms resulting from the first-order many-electron Breit theory. The electric transition dipole moment governing the A (1)Sigma(u) (+)<--X (1)Sigma(g) (+) transitions was obtained as the first residue of the frequency-dependent polarization propagator computed with the coupled-cluster method restricted to single and double excitations, while the spin-orbit and nonadiabatic coupling matrix elements were computed with the multireference configuration interaction wave functions restricted to single and double excitations. Our theoretical results explain semiquantitatively all the features of the observed Ca(2) spectrum in the A (1)Sigma(u) (+)(1 (1)S+1 (1)D), c (3)Pi(u)(1 (3)P+1 (1)S), and a (3)Sigma(u) (+)(1 (3)P+1 (1)S) manifolds of states.     

Electrochemistry of immobilized redox enzymes: kinetic characteristics of NADH oxidation catalysis at diaphorase monolayers affinity immobilized on electrodes

In the class of NADH:acceptor oxidoreductases, the diaphorase from Bacillus stearothermophilusis a particularly promising enzyme for sensing NADH, and indirectly a great number of analytes, when coupled with a NAD-dependent dehydrogenase as well as for the design of mono- and multienzyme affinity sensors. The design and rational optimization of such systems require devising immobilization procedures that prevent dramatic losses of the enzymatic activity and a full kinetic characterization of the immobilized enzyme system. Two immobilization procedures are described, which involve recognition of the biotinylated diaphorase by a monolayer of neutravidin adsorbed on the electrode surface either directly or through the intermediacy of a monolayer of biotinylated rabbit immunoglobulin. Thorough kinetic characterization of the two systems is derived from cyclic voltammetric responses. A precise estimate of the enzyme coverages is obtained after comparing the enzyme kinetics of the immobilized and the homogeneous system.