Use of hyperpolarized [1-C]pyruvate and [2-C]pyruvate to probe the effects of the anticancer agent dichloroacetate on mitochondrial metabolism in vivo in the normal rat

Development of hyperpolarized technology utilizing dynamic nuclear polarization has enabled the measurement of ¹³C metabolism in vivo at very high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In vivo mitochondrial metabolism can, in principle, be monitored with pyruvate, which is catalyzed to acetyl-CoA via pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH). The purpose of this work was to determine whether the compound sodium dichloroacetate (DCA) could aid the study of mitochondrial metabolism with hyperpolarized pyruvate. DCA stimulates PDH by inhibiting its inhibitor, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase. In this work, hyperpolarized [1-¹³C]pyruvate and [2-¹³C]pyruvate were used to probe mitochondrial metabolism in normal rats. Increased conversion to bicarbonate (+ 181±69%, P=.025) was measured when [1-¹³C]pyruvate was injected after DCA administration, and increased glutamate (+ 74±23%, P=.004), acetoacetate (+ 504±281%, P=.009) and acetylcarnitine (+ 377±157%, P=.003) were detected when [2-¹³C]pyruvate was used.     

The 7Li (n,γ)8Li radiative capture at astrophysical energies

The possibility to construct intercluster interaction potentials in continuous and discrete spectra is shown in one‐channel cluster model based on the classification of orbital states according to Young schemes. These potentials usually contain Pauli forbidden states, and correctly describe elastic scattering phase shifts taking into account resonance behavior and main characteristics of the bound states of nuclei in the considering cluster channel. The versions of intercluster interaction potentials describing the resonance nature of some phase shifts of the n⁷Li elastic scattering at low energies and the P₂ ground state of ⁸Li in the n⁷Li cluster channel have been constructed for the demonstration of this approach. The possibility of describing the total cross sections of ⁷Li (n,γ)⁸Li within the energies from 5 meV (5 · 10^‐3 eV) to 1 MeV, including resonance at 0.25 MeV, has been demonstrated for the potentials obtained in the potential cluster model with forbidden states.     

Non-Radiative Triggering of Long-Lived Nuclear Isomers

The triggering of long-lived isomeric nuclei by non-radiative excitation to a relatively short-lived mediating state is considered. Coulomb triggering in inelastic scattering of heavy ions, a transfer of triggering energy from resonant electron transitions of atomic shell (NEET) and triggering by capture of a free electron into a bound atomic state (NEEC) are discussed. Cross sections for the above processes of non-radiative triggering are presented and the relative efficiencies of these different triggering mechanisms are discussed. Numerical estimates are presented for the selected isomers. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Hyperfine Spectroscopy with Nuclear Resonant Scattering of Synchrotron Radiation

Since its observation in 1985 nuclear resonant scattering of synchrotron radiation has become an excellent tool to study hyperfine interactions in solids. It combines the advantages of both local probe experiments and scattering techniques and gives valuable information on magnetic and electronic structures in case of NFS experiments. Experiments benefit from the outstanding beam quality of 3rd generation synchrotron radiation sources, as the small beam size and divergence. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

电子和原子核散射研究原子核结构

本文综述了近年来我们组利用电子散射结合相对论平均场模型对奇特核结构的研究.我们发展了相对论平均场框架下的磁电子散射方法,并用其研究一些中子晕及质子晕核的基态组态,例如,23O,17,29C和23Al.研究发现,原子核不同组态的弹性磁形状因子彼此差别很大.其次,我们发展了相对论平均场框架下的弹性库伦电子散射方法,并用该方法研究了奇特核的电荷分布.研究发现,丰质子核中扩展的电荷密度分布可以通过库伦电子散射来测量.这种方法还被进一步推广用于计算弹性宇称不守恒电子散射,研究了一些典型原子核的中子密度分布,例如,Ca同位素链,N=50同中子素链以及N=Z的双幻核.结果表明,宇称不守恒非对称度的振幅主要由质子和中子形状因子极小值之间的距离决定.这些结果为下一代电子-核对撞机上的电子散射实验提供了有用的参考.     

Time-like proton form factor measurement with P(-)ANDA

The electromagnetic probe is an excellent tool to investigate the structure of the nucleon. The nearly 4π detector PANDA, will allow to make a precise determination of the electromagnetic form factors of the proton in the time-like region with unprecedented precision. In the one-photon exchange approximation, the center of mass unpolarized differential cross section of the reaction pp → e~+e~- is a linear combination of the squared moduli of the electric G_E and magnetic G_M proton form factors. The precise measurement of the angular distribution over almost full angular range then directly gives these quantities. At present only two experiments have provided the ratio R = |G_E|/|G_M| but with large statistical uncertainties. It is shown that with strict PID cuts and a kinematic fit, the dominant background, (p)p→π~+π~-, can be supressed to much less than 1% of the signal, without affecting the extraction of the ratio R. PANDA will therefore offer a unique opportunity to measure the ratio with a precision ranging from <1% at low q~2 up to 30 % for q~2 =14 (GeV/c)~2.     

Evidence of self-affine multiplicity fluctuation of target residues in ^84Kr-AgBr interactions at 1.7 AGeV

Self-affine multiplicity scaling is investigated in the framework of a two-dimensional factorial moment methodology using the concept of the Hurst exponent （H）. Analyzing the experimental data of target evaporated fragments emitted in ^84Kr-AgBr interactions at 1.7 AGeV revealed that the best power law behavior is exhibited for H = 0.3 indicating a self-arlene multiplicity fluctuation pattern. A signal of multifractality is also observed from knowledge of the anomalous fractal dimension dq extracted from the intermittency exponent aq of the anisotropic phase space scenario.     

Nucleon aPF2 Superfluid Pairing Gap in Asymmetry Nuclear Matter

The 3 P F2 superfluidity of neutron and proton is investigated in isospin-asymmetric nuclear matter within the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approach and the BCS theory by adopting the Argonne V14 and the Argonne V18 nucleonnucleon interactions. We find that pairing gaps in the 3PF2 channel predicted by adopting the AV14 interaction are much larger than those by the AV18 interaction. As the isospin-asymmetry increases, the neutron 3 pF2 superfluidity is found to increase rapidly, whereas the proton one turns out to decrease and may even vanish at high enough asymmetries. As a consequence, the neutron 3pF2 superfluidity is much stronger than the proton one at high asymmetries and it predominates over the proton one in dense neutron-rich matter.     

Superfluid nuclear matter in BCS theory and beyond

Medium polarization effects are studied for ¹S₀ pairing in nuclear matter within BHF approach. The screening potential is calculated in the RPA limit, suitably renormalized to cure the low density mechanical instability of nuclear matter. The self-energy corrections are consistently included resulting in a strong     

Nuclear Uptake of Gold Nanoparticles Deduced Using Dual‐Angle X‐Ray Fluorescence Mapping

Studies into the cell nucleus' incorporation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are often limited by ambiguities arising from conventional imaging techniques. Indeed, it is suggested that to date there is no unambiguous imaging evidence for such uptake in whole cells, particularly at the single nanoparticle level. This shortcoming in understanding exists despite the nucleus being the most important subcellular compartment in eukaryotes and gold being the most commonly used metal nanoparticle in medical applications. Here, dual‐angle X‐ray flouresence is used to show individually resolved nanoparticles within the cell nucleus, finding them to be well separated and 79% of the intranuclear population to be monodispersed. These findings have important implications for nanomedicine, illustrated here through a specific exemplar of the predicted enhancement of radiation effects arising from the observed AuNPs, finding intranuclear dose enhancements spanning nearly five orders of magnitude.