Chemical properties and origin of dust aerosols in Beijing during springtime

Ground observation of dust aerosols was conducted in Beijing in the spring of 2005 in order to investigate the element composition and origin of mineral dust. Mass concentrations of most mineral elements of particles increased during dust events. Mineral elements were predominant in the sums of total element loadings in both dusty and non-dusty days. Mg, Si, Fe, Al or Ti can be used as an indicator of dust outflow; Cl can be viewed as an evidence of dust particles mixing with anthropogenic emissions. Mineral and pollutant elements showed a bimodal mass particle-size distribution (MSD) in non-dusty days, and a trimodal distribution in dusty days, but their peak concentrations fell in different size stages. Zn and S were mainly enriched in fine particles, whereas Cl was enriched in medium particles, but most mineral elements and Cu were enriched in coarse particles. Mineral elements were dominated by crustal material in dusty even non-dusty days, but pollutant elements were from non-crustal material including local and remote sources. Back trajectory analysis indicated that dust particles in Beijing mainly originated from the Gobi and desert regions of Mongolian and northern China.     

Optimization of MR diffusion-weighted imaging acquisitions for pancreatic cancer at 3.0 T

Objectives

To investigate and optimize diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) acquisitions for pancreatic cancer at 3.0 T.

Methods

Forty-five patients with pancreatic cancer were examined by four DWI acquisitions with b values = 0 and 600 s/mm² at 3.0 T, including breath-holding DWI (BH-DWI), respiratory-triggered DWI (TRIG-DWI), respiratory-triggered DWI with inversion–recovery technique (TRIGIR-DWI), and free-breathing DWI with inversion–recovery technique (FBIR-DWI). Artifacts, contrast ratio (CR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of pancreatic cancer were statistically compared among DWI acquisitions.

Results

TRIGIR-DWI displayed the lowest artifacts and highest CR compared to other DWI acquisitions. CNRs of pancreatic cancer in TRIG-DWI and TRIGIR-DWI were statistically higher than that in FBIR-DWI and BH-DWI. Different ADCs between pancreatic cancer and noncancerous pancreatic tissues were noticed by a paired-samples T test in TRIG-DWI (p = 0.017), TRIGIR-DWI (p = 0.00001) and FBIR-DWI (p = 0.000041).

Conclusions

TRIGIR-DWI may be the optimal acquisition of DWI for pancreatic cancer at 3.0 T.     

脂肪酶催化乳酸与乙醇合成乳酸乙酯的反应动力学

对脂肪酶催化乳酸与乙醇合成乳酸乙酯反应的动力学进行了研究,根据乒乓机制和双底物抑制的特性建立了反应速率方程.反应时间常数(tR)和扩散时间常数(tD)的计算结果表明,酯化反应速率未受到明显的限制.反应速率方程可以很好地预测实验结果,由非线性拟合得到的动力学参数中,乳酸(A)和乙醇(B)的抑制常数分别为KiA=10.7mmol/L和KiB=275.0mmol/L.这说明乳酸作为短链极性脂肪酸,对酶的失活作用远大于乙醇.乳酸在微液层中聚集并产生了使酶失活的低pH值环境,同时在酯化反应中存在竞争性抑制作用.