Forbidden hyperfine transitions in electron spin resonance of Mn2+ in NaCl single crystal

Forbidden hyperfine transitions are observed in the electron spin resonance spectrum of divalent Mn⁵⁵ ion in NaCl single crystal for a particular associated pair. From the measurements of the M = + 1/2 → ?1/2, Δm = ± 1 transitions the parametersQ′ and Q″ of the nuclear electric quadrupole part of the spin-Hamiltonian H_o = Q′ [I_z ² ? 1/3 I (I + 1)] + Q″ (I_x ²?I_y ²) are found to be + 1.70 × 10^?4 cm.^?1 and +0.16 × 10^?4 cm.^?1 respectively.     

Crystal field contribution to Mössbauer isomer shift

The crystal field hamiltonian H_c = B₂⁰Y₂⁰ + B₂²(Y₂² + Y₂^?2) commonly used in the study of electron-spin resonance is employed to obtain new contributions to the ⁵⁷Fe³⁺ isomer shift in the Mössbauer effect. A numerical estimate of the shift is also presented.     

Ferroelectric soft-mode contribution to zero-field splitting: Paramagnetic resonance investigation of phase transition in Mn2+-doped NaNO2

The contribution of the ferroelectric soft-mode to the zero-field splitting is calculated and separated from the thermal contribution arising from the splitting due to the electron-phonon interaction. The predicted effect is compared with the measured values in Mn²⁺-doped NaNO₂.     

Protein recognition using synthetic surface-targeted agents

The design of synthetic agents to disrupt protein-protein interactions has received relatively little attention in recent years. In this review we describe strategies for targeting different types of protein surfaces using mimetics of protein secondary or tertiary structure. In this way strong and selective binding to a protein surface has be achieved and disruption of clinically important protein-protein interactions has been demonstrated in models of human disease.     

Directed denaturation: room temperature and stoichiometric unfolding of cytochrome C by a metalloporphyrin dimer

Using circular dichroism, UV-vis, and trypsin proteolysis, we have shown how a metalloporphyrin dimer induces the unfolding of a protein, cytochrome c, under physiologically relevant conditions and accelerates its rate of proteolytic degradation.     

Anharmonic properties of rocksalt structure solids

An effort has been made for obtaining the anharmonic properties of rocksalt structure solids starting from primary physical parameters viz. nearest-neighbor distance and hardness parameter assuming long- and short-range potentials at elevated temperatures. The elastic energy density for a deformed crystal can be expanded as power series of strains for obtaining coefficients of quadratic, cubic and quartic terms which are known as the second-, third- and fourth-order elastic constants, respectively. When the values of the higher-order elastic constants are known for a crystal, many of the anharmonic properties of the crystal can be treated within the limit of the continuum approximation in a quantitative manner. In this study, higher-order elastic constants are computed up to their melting temperature for rocksalt structure solids, which are alkali cyanides, sodium and potassium halides. The first order pressure derivatives of second- and third-order elastic constants, the second-order pressure derivatives of second-order elastic constants and partial contractions are also evaluated at different temperatures for these substances. The results thus obtained are compared with experimental data and found in well agreement with present values.     

Viscous potential flow analysis of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with mass transfer and vaporization

Viscous potential flow analysis of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability with heat and mass transfer has been studied. A dispersion relation has been obtained. Stability criterion is given by a critical value of relative velocity. It has been found that heat and mass transfer has destabilizing effect on relative velocity when lower fluid viscosity is low while it has stabilizing effect when lower fluid viscosity is high. Various graphs have been plotted for relative velocity and growth rate. In statically unstable situation viscosity has stabilizing effect while in statically stable situation it has destabilizing effect.     

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: infarct size is an independent predictor of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease

Background

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) can accurately determine infarct size. Prior studies using indirect methods to assess infarct size have shown that patients with larger myocardial infarctions have a worse prognosis than those with smaller myocardial infarctions.

Objectives

This study assessed the prognostic significance of infarct size determined by CMR.

Methods

Cine and contrast CMR were performed in 100 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing routine cardiac evaluation. Infarct size was determined by planimetry. We used Cox proportional hazards regression analyses (stepwise forward selection approach) to evaluate the risk of all-cause death associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors, symptoms of heart failure, medication use, left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular mass, angiographic severity of CAD and extent of infarct size determined by CMR.

Results

Ninety-one patients had evidence of myocardial infarction by CMR. Mean follow-up was 4.8±1.6 years after CMR, during which time 30 patients died. The significant multivariable predictors of all-cause mortality were extent of myocardial infarction by CMR, extent of left ventricular systolic dysfunction, symptoms of heart failure, and diabetes mellitus (P<.05). The presence of infarct greater than or equal to 24% of left ventricular mass and left ventricular ejection fraction less than or equal to 30% were the most optimal cut-off points for the prediction of death with bivariate adjusted hazard ratios of 2.11 (95% confidence interval 1.02-4.38) and 4.06 (95% confidence interval 1.73-9.54), respectively.

Conclusions

The extent of myocardial infarction determined by CMR is an independent predictor of death in patients with CAD.     

Principal eigenvector field segmentation for reproducible diffusion tensor tractography of white matter structures

The study was aimed to test the feasibility of utilizing an algorithmically determinable stable fiber mass (SFM) map obtained by an unsupervised principal eigenvector field segmentation (PEVFS) for automatic delineation of 18 white matter (WM) tracts: (1) corpus callosum (CC), (2) tapetum (TP), (3) inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), (4) uncinate fasciculus (UNC), (5) inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO), (6) optic pathways (OP), (7) superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF), (8) arcuate fasciculus (AF), (9) fornix (FX), (10) cingulum (CG), (11) anterior thalamic radiation (ATR), (12) superior thalamic radiation (STR), (13) posterior thalamic radiation (PTR), (14) corticospinal/corticopontine tract (CST/CPT), (15) medial lemniscus (ML), (16) superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP), (17) middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP) and (18) inferior cerebellar peduncle (ICP). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-derived fractional anisotropy (FA) and the principal eigenvector field have been used to create the SFM consisting of a collection of linear voxel structures which are grouped together by color-coding them into seven natural classes to provide PEVFS signature segments which greatly facilitate the selection of regions of interest (ROIs) for fiber tractography using just a single mouse click, as compared with a manual drawing of ROIs in the classical approach. All the 18 fiber bundles have been successfully reconstructed, in all the subjects, using the single ROIs provided by the SFM approach, with their reproducibility characterized by the fact that the ROI selection is user independent. The essentially automatic PEVFS method is robust, efficient and compares favorably with the classical ROI methods for diffusion tensor tractography (DTT).