电压敏感染料di-4-ANEPPS在灌注液中的光谱特性

研究了电压敏感染料di-4-ANEPPS在溶液中的吸收光谱和荧光光谱特性.结果表明,染料的吸收峰在480 nm附近,加入钙阻断剂BDM不会影响染料的吸收峰位.染料在去离子水和新鲜台氏液中的荧光发射光谱峰位近似,而在灌注后的台氏液中染料的荧光峰位有蓝移现象.这些研究结果为心脏光学标测系统的设计提供了理论依据.     

Pharmacophore Mapping Combined with dbCICA Reveal New Structural Features for the Development of Novel Ligands Targeting α4β2 and α7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

The neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) belong to the ligand-gated ion channel (GLIC) group, presenting a crucial role in several biological processes and neuronal disorders. The α4β2 and α7 nAChRs are the most abundant in the central nervous system (CNS), being involved in challenging diseases such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, and anxiety disorder, as well as alcohol and nicotine dependencies. In addition, in silico-based strategies may contribute to revealing new insights into drug design and virtual screening to find new drug candidates to treat CNS disorders. In this context, the pharmacophore maps were constructed and validated for the orthosteric sites of α4β2 and α7 nAChRs, through a docking-based Comparative Intermolecular Contacts Analysis (dbCICA). In this sense, bioactive ligands were retrieved from the literature for each receptor. A molecular docking protocol was developed for all ligands in both receptors by using GOLD software, considering GoldScore, ChemScore, ASP, and ChemPLP scoring functions. Output GOLD results were post-processed through dbCICA to identify critical contacts involved in protein-ligand interactions. Moreover, Crossminer software was used to construct a pharmacophoric map based on the most well-behaved ligands and negative contacts from the dbCICA model for each receptor. Both pharmacophore maps were validated by using a ROC curve. The results revealed important features for the ligands, such as the presence of hydrophobic regions, a planar ring, and hydrogen bond donor and acceptor atoms for α4β2. Parallelly, a non-planar ring region was identified for α7. These results can enable fragment-based drug design (FBDD) strategies, such as fragment growing, linking, and merging, allowing an increase in the activity of known fragments. Thus, our results can contribute to a further understanding of structural subunits presenting the potential for key ligand-receptor interactions, favoring the search in molecular databases and the design of novel ligands.     

Counterexamples Concerning Quasiconformal Extensions of Strongly Starlike Functions

M. Fait, J. Krzyz and J. Zygmunt proved that a strongly starlike function of order α on the unit disk can be extended to a k-quasiconformal mapping with k ≤ sin（απ/2） on the whole complex plane C which fixes the point at infinity. An open question is whether such a function can be extended to a k-quasiconformal mapping with k 〈α to the whole plane C. In this paper we will give a negative approach to the question.     

拟非扩张映像族的公共不动点的迭代方法

引入了修正的杂交投影迭代算法,用来构造Hilbert空间中拟非扩张映像族的公共不动点.使用新的算法证明了几个强收敛定理.新算法的优点是不要求映像具有次闭性质.     

Mapping Cd-induced membrane permeability changes of single live cells by means of scanning electrochemical microscopy

Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM) is a powerful, non-invasive, analytical methodology that can be used to investigate live cell membrane permeability. Depth scan SECM imaging allowed for the generation of 2D current maps of live cells relative to electrode position in the x-z or y-z plane. Depending on resolution, one depth scan image can contain hundreds of probe approach curves (PACs). Individual PACs were obtained by simply extracting vertical cross-sections from the 2D image. These experimental PACs were overlaid onto theoretically generated PACs simulated at specific geometry conditions. Simulations were carried out using 3D models in COMSOL Multiphysics to determine the cell membrane permeability coefficients at different locations on the surface of the cells. Common in literature, theoretical PACs are generated using a 2D axially symmetric geometry. This saves on both compute time and memory utilization. However, due to symmetry limitations of the model, only one experimental PAC right above the cell can be matched with simulated PAC data. Full 3D models in this article were developed for the SECM system of live cells, allowing all experimental PACs over the entire cell to become usable. Cd²⁺-induced membrane permeability changes of single human bladder (T24) cells were investigated at several positions above the cell, displaced from the central axis. The experimental T24 cells under study were incubated with Cd²⁺ in varying concentrations. It is experimentally observed that 50 and 100 μM Cd²⁺ caused a decrease in membrane permeability, which was uniform across all locations over the cell regardless of Cd²⁺ concentration. The Cd²⁺ was found to have detrimental effects on the cell, with cells shrinking in size and volume, and the membrane permeability decreasing. A mapping technique for the analysis of the cell membrane permeability under the Cd²⁺ stress is realized by the methodology presented.     

Stiffness quantification of conductive polymers for bioelectrodes

Conductive polymer (CP) coatings can improve the performance of metallic bioelectrodes in implantable devices, a benefit which is partially attributed to the “softer” material interface. However, due to the nature of CP fabrication on metallic substrates, accurate quantification of mechanical properties has been difficult to achieve. This study demonstrates that peak‐force quantitative nanomechanical mapping (PF‐QNM) is a robust technique for determining the modulus of CP coatings. The effect of dopant size, chemistry, and film hydration on the mechanical properties of poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene) (PEDOT) is also examined. Analysis of PEDOT doped with poly(styrene sulfonate) produced across five different thicknesses confirms the utility of PF‐QNM in yielding quantitative, repeatable moduli in both the dry and hydrated state. By doping PEDOT with paratoluene sulfonate and perchlorate (ClO₄) it is shown that the hydrophilicity and the size of the dopant are both critical factors influencing CP mechanical properties in the hydrated environment. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014 , 52, 666–675     

Improving the accuracy of discontinuous Galerkin schemes at boundary layers

The resolution of boundary layers typically requires fine grids in the wall normal direction, which leads to anisotropic elements being refined towards the wall. Best practice guidelines for the mesh generation of stretched boundary layer grids exist for the finite volume or finite difference discretizations. A similar resolution of boundary layers with DG schemes can be achieved with a coarser grid because of the subgrid resolution of the DG scheme. High order schemes incorporate the possibility of high order element mappings, resulting in different resolution properties inside the element. In this paper, we show that the use of an internal element mapping in combination with a stretched grid can be used to reduce the error of the boundary layer approximation by an order of magnitude in comparison with the classical linear internal element mapping. The boundary layer is modeled by a one‐dimensional singular perturbation problem. In addition, we discuss the construction of the element mappings by interpolation and investigate the limits of the stretching function such that the resulting element Jacobian remains positive. A parameter study shows the influence of the element mapping for different polynomial degrees on the solution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stable quasimaps to GIT quotients

We construct new compactifications with good properties of moduli spaces of maps from nonsingular marked curves to a large class of GIT quotients. This generalizes from a unified perspective many particular examples considered earlier in the literature.     

Analysis of Caffeine Deutero Isotopomers by Gas Chromatography and Atomic Emission Detection

Abstract

This paper describes the behaviour of various caffeine deutero isotopo-mers analyzed using gas chromatography coupled wiih atomic emission detection. Results are given concerning the linearity of the response and the detection limits for carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and deuterium. It is demonstrated that neither the number of deuterium atoms per isotopomer nor the location of deuterium labeling modify the analytical response.