Increase in the Intracellular Bulk Water Content in the Early Phase of Cell Death of Keratinocytes,Corneoptosis, as Revealed by 65 GHz Near-Field CMOS Dielectric Sensor

While bulk water and hydration water coexist in cells to support the expression of biological macromolecules, how the dynamics of water molecules, which have long been only a minor role in molecular biology research, relate to changes in cellular states such as cell death has hardly been explored so far due to the lack of evaluation techniques. In this study, we developed a high-precision measurement system that can discriminate bulk water content changes of ±0.02% (0.2 mg/cm³) with single-cell-level spatial resolution based on a near-field CMOS dielectric sensor operating at 65 GHz. We applied this system to evaluate the temporal changes in the bulk water content during the cell death process of keratinocytes, called corneoptosis, using isolated SG1 (first layer of stratum granulosum) cells in vitro. A significant irreversible increase in the bulk water content was observed approximately 1 h before membrane disruption during corneoptosis, which starts with cytoplasmic high Ca²⁺ signal. These findings suggest that the calcium flux may have a role in triggering the increase in the bulk water content in SG1 cells. Thus, our near-field CMOS dielectric sensor provides a valuable tool to dissect the involvement of water molecules in the various events that occur in the cell.     

Asymmetric conductivity of the Kondo effect in cold atomic systems

Motivated by recent theoretical and experimental advances in quantum simulations using alkaline earth(AE)atoms,we put forward a proposal to detect the Kondo physics in a cold atomic system.It has been demonstrated that the intrinsic spin-exchange interaction in AE atoms can be significantly enhanced near a confinement-induced resonance(CIR),which facilitates the simulation of Kondo physics.Since the Kondo effect appears only for antiferromagnetic coupling,we find that the conductivity of such system exhibits an asymmetry across a resonance of spin-exchange interaction.The asymmetric conductivity can serve as the smoking gun evidence for Kondo physics in the cold atom context.When an extra magnetic field ramps up,the spin-exchange process near Fermi surface is suppressed by Zee-man energy and the conductivity becomes more and more symmetric.Our results can be verified in the current experimental setup.     

Über den Einfluß von Isotopieeffekten auf die Verbreitung der Isotope in der Natur

Die Isotopenzusammensetzung der chemischen Elemente in ihren natürlichen Vorkommen wird von kernphysikalischen Vorgängen, vom Einfall extraterrestrischer Materie und, namentlich bei den leichten Elementen (etwa bis zum Chlor), von kinetischen und thermodynamischen Isotopieeffekten beeinfluβt. Deshalb ist die Kenntnis der in der Natur wirkenden Isotopieeffekte eine entscheidende Voraussetzung für das Verständnis der Gesetzmäβigkeiten der Verbreitung der Isotope in der Natur und für die Anwendung dieser Gesetzmäβigkeiten als Mittel der geo- und kosmoswissenschaftlichen Forschung und der Umweltforschung [1].     

SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC STUDY OF COMPLEX FORMATION BETWEEN SOME ALKALI AND ALKALINE EARTH CATIONS AND SEVERAL CONVENTIONAL (N,N), (N,O) AND (O,O) LIGANDS IN 95% ETHANOL

Abstract

The complexation of Li⁺, Na⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ with 1,10-phenanthroline, 2,2′-bipyridine, 1,2-phenylenediamine, 2-aminopyridine, 8-hydroxyquinoline, catechol and ethylene glycol was studied in 95% ethanol by means of a competitive spectrophotometric method using murexide as indicator. Formation constants of 1:1 conplexes were determined. In the case of all ligands used, the stability of the complexes was found to vary in the order Mg²⁺ > Ca²⁺ > Li⁺ > Na⁺. It was found that the structure influences the formation and stability of resulting complexes. Effects of various parameters on complexation are discussed.     

A new stable porous Pr-organic framework constructed by multi-iodine-substituted aromatic polycarboxylates: Synthesis,characterization, and selective adsorption of dyes

abstract

Poly[tris(dimethylformamide)(μ3-2,4,6-triiodol-1,3,5-benzene tricarboxylic acid)-praseodymium (III)] {Pr(TIBTC)(DMF)₃}_n (1) (H₃TIBTC = 2,4,6-triiodo-1,3,5-benzene tricarboxylic acid) was synthesized by the reaction of Pr(NO₃)₃·6H₂O and H₃TIBTC at 85°C in a pyrex vial. 1 was characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV–vis, TGA, PXRD, and atomic force microscopy analytical means. Each of the central Pr ions and the three carboxyl groups from the same ligand constitute a SBU, which is then joined by a carboxyl group to form a building block. In order to further explore the functional properties of 1, we used this compound for adsorption experiments. It is found that 1 can effectively adsorb anionic dyes in aqueous solutions. In particular, there is a good adsorption efficiency for coomassie brilliant blue R-250. Therefore, 1 shows good prospects for selective adsorption of anionic dyes from wastewater solution.     

Spectroscopic properties of the photoproducts of pyridoxal-5′-P irradiation: Catalytic site recognition of ribonuclease A

Photoproducts of pyridoxal-5-P, i.e., 4-pyridoxic-5-P and bis-pyridoxal-5-P, have been studied by spectroscopic methods. The spectroscopic properties of bis-pyridoxal-5-P (bis-PLP) resemble those of pyridoxal-5-P (PLP) under similar experimental conditions. The coupling of methylen hydrogens to the phosphorus atom has been shown by NMR spectroscopy. The singlet in the³¹P-NMR spectra and the triplet in¹H-undecoupled experiments confirm the presence of the phosphate group in the 5 position of the structure of the vitamin. The effect of pH and solvent composition on the relative distribution of species of bis-pyridoxine-5-P (bis-PNP) has been investigated by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The acid-base dissociation of the phosphate group is easily detected by emission spectroscopy. Bis-PNP and bis-PLP bind to the enzyme RNase A and they behave as competitive inhibitors with respect to the substrate cytidine-2-3-cyclic phosphate. The natural forms of vitamin B₆, pyridoxine, and pyridoxine-5-P have no effect on the catalytic activity of the protein. Experimental evidence derived from fluorescence and inhibition experiments is consistent with the hypothesis that bis-PNP recognizes the catalytic site of RNase A.     

用XRD和TPR技术考察制备方法和灼烧温度对钙钛矿型结构形成以及性质的影响

本文用柠檬酸络合物分解法、碳酸盐共沉淀分解法、硝酸盐直接分解法和陶瓷法合成了轻、重稀土钙钛矿型氧化物LnMnO_3(Ln=Sm.Er).用X-射线衍射(XRD)和程序升温还原(TPR)技术考察了制备方法和灼烧温度对钙钛矿型结构形成的影响.实验结果表明,用柠檬酸络合物分解法可以在较低的温度下得到单一相的钙钛矿氧化物,而陶瓷法的灼烧温度比其他方法所需的温度要高得多。不同方法得到的产物SmMmO_3对CO氧化反应的活性为:柠檬酸法～碳酸盐法～硝酸盐法>陶瓷法。实验表明,TPR技术在某些体系中可作为灵敏的物相分析辅助手段,它可在制备或反应过程中原位观察体系结构的变化,实验中观察到,稀土氧化物能促进某些过渡金属氧化物在稀土氧化物表面分散,能阻止它们形成晶态.本文还讨论了钙钛矿型氧化物的形成机理,提出了过渡金属氧化物的扩散是形成钙钛矿结构反应速率的决定步骤观点。     

A Monte Carlo method for an objective Bayesian procedure

This paper describes a method for an objective selection of the optimal prior distribution, or for adjusting its hyper-parameter, among the competing priors for a variety of Bayesian models. In order to implement this method, the integration of very high dimensional functions is required to get the normalizing constants of the posterior and even of the prior distribution. The logarithm of the high dimensional integral is reduced to the one-dimensional integration of a cerain function with respect to the scalar parameter over the range of the unit interval. Having decided the prior, the Bayes estimate or the posterior mean is used mainly here in addition to the posterior mode. All of these are based on the simulation of Gibbs distributions such as Metropolis' Monte Carlo algorithm. The improvement of the integration's accuracy is substantial in comparison with the conventional crude Monte Carlo integration. In the present method, we have essentially no practical restrictions in modeling the prior and the likelihood. Illustrative artificial data of the lattice system are given to show the practicability of the present procedure.     

Pseudo-Anosov Flows and Incompressible Tori

We study incompressible tori in 3-manifolds supporting pseudo-Anosov flows and more generally ZZ subgroups of the fundamental group of such a manifold. If no element in this subgroup can be represented by a closed orbit of the pseudo-Anosov flow, we prove that the flow is topologically conjugate to a suspension of an Anosov diffeomorphism of the torus. In particular it is non singular and is an Anosov flow. It follows that either a pseudo-Anosov flow is topologically conjugate to a suspension Anosov flow, or any immersed incompressible torus can be realized as a free homotopy from a closed orbit of the flow to itself. The key tool is an analysis of group actions on non-Hausdorff trees, also known as R-order trees – we produce an invariant axis in the free action case. An application of these results is the following: suppose the manifold has an R-covered foliation transverse to a pseudo-Anosov flow. If the flow is not an R-covered Anosov flow, then it follows that the manifold is atoroidal.