A Pilot Survey of Vocal Health in Young Singers

The objective of this study was to determine the incidence of vocal problems in young choir singers and to correlate vocal problems with demographic and behavioral information. A questionnaire addressing vocal habits and hygiene was offered to 571 young choir singers, up to 25 years of age, who sing at least weekly; 129 (22.6%) responded. More than one-half of the respondents had experienced vocal difficulty, particularly older adolescents. Detrimental behaviors and circumstances surveyed were not reflective of the incidence of vocal difficulty, except for morning hoarseness, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and female gender after puberty. Voice care professionals should be aware that self-reported voice difficulties are common among young choral singers, especially postpubescent girls, and children with symptoms consistent with reflux (morning hoarseness) and emotional stress (insomnia). Laryngologists should communicate with choral conductors and singing teachers to enhance early identification and treatment of children with voice complaints, and to develop choral educational strategies that help decrease their incidence.     

Internally coordinated organozinc-transition metal compounds. Crystal structure of (CH3)2N(CH2)3ZnW(ν-C5H5)(CO)3

The stabilities of simple and internally coordinated organozinc-transition metal compounds towards disproportionation have been investigated by the microwave titration technique. Simple alkyl- and aryl-derivatives disproportionate to such an extent as to preclude isolation. Internal coordination was found to stabilize the asymmetric compounds, and several derivatives containing the dimethylaminopropyl group were isolated. The crystal structure of one of them, Me₂N(CH₂)₃-ZnW(Cp)(CO)₃, was determined by a single-crystal X-ray study. The crystals are orthorhombic, space group P2₁2₁2₁, with four molecular units in a cell with parameters a 8.406(1), b 12.179(2) and c 16.642(2) Å. The structure was solved by standard Patterson and Fourier techniques. The refinement, with anisotropic temperature factors for the two heavy atoms, converged at R_F = 0.092 (R_wF = 0.089) for 1536 observed reflections with I>2.5σ(I). The molecule consists of a central tungsten atom, surrounded in a tetragonal pyramidal fashion by a cyclopentadienyl group in the apical position and three carbon monoxyde molecules and a zinc atom occupying the basal positions. The zinc atom is three-coordinate, being surrounded by the tungsten atom and the chelating dimethylaminopropyl group; there is, however, a short intermolecular contact between zinc and a carbonyl oxygen atom at 2.61(3) Å.     

ESR study of monoalkylzinc-2,2′-bipyridine complexes RZn · Bipy

Paramagnetic species are formed when LiBipy is treated with various alkylzinc halides at ?100°C and the ESR spectra are discussed. The observation that the half-life times of the radical species appear to depend only on the nature of the alkyl group bound to zinc proves that monoalkylzinc-2,2′-bipyridine complexes are formed. The nature of the bonding between zinc and 2,2′-bipyridine is discussed.     

A validated gas chromatographic method for the evaluation of enzymatic enantioselectivity in kinetic resolution applications

An enantioselective gas chromatography (GC) method has been developed and validated for determination of the enantiomers of citronellol in kinetic resolution experiments. S-(-)-beta-Citronellol is a precursor of rose oxide. After solid-phase extraction (SPE) with ethyl acetate, the enantiomers of R-(+)-beta-citronellol and S-(-)-beta-citronellol and their corresponding acetate- and butyrate esters were separated through enantioselective GC respectively. The method was validated and found to be reproducible, specific, accurate, and precise. Analyte recoveries and detection limits were also determined. The applicability of this method was shown in a kinetic resolution experiment using lipase A of Bacillus subtilis.     

Reaction of diarylzinc compounds with copper(I) salts. Synthesis and characterization of arylcopper(I) compounds

The reaction of diarylzinc compounds with copper(I) salts is an excellent way of preparing stable arylcopper compounds in quantitative yields. These compounds have been characterized by IR, and by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. Cryoscopic molecular weight determinations show phenylcopper to be polymeric and 2-methylphenylcopper and 2,6-dimethylphenylcopper to be tetrameric in benzene. The compounds are believed to contain aryl groups bridging two copper atoms. Evidence is presented for rotation of these aryl groups around the C(1)—C(4) axis.     

Characterization of the Reaction of Chloroacetaldehyde with Single and Double Stranded DNA

Chloroacetaldehyde reacts with viral M13mp18 single and double stranded DNA to form the highly fluorescent adducts, etheno-AMP and etheno-CMP.

Absorbance and fluorescence spectroscopy can be used to monitor and characterize these reactions. Both single and double stranded DNA showed increases in the absorbance following reaction with the aldehyde. The fluorescence also increased in these two groups and continued to rise with increasing time of incubation until a point of saturation was reached. The fluorescence of the double stranded moiety was considerably enhanced following reaction with the aldehyde while that of the single stranded population was not, making this method appropriate for the separation of small quantities of the two populations of DNA.     

Application of the single comparator method to instrumental photon activation analysis

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Instrumental photon activation analysis (IPAA) is nondestructive and multi-elemental analysis method like instrumental neutron activation...     

Twist-Bend Nematic Glasses: The Synthesis and Characterisation of Pyrene-based Nonsymmetric Dimers

A selection of pyrene-based liquid crystal dimers have been prepared, containing either methylene-ether or diether linked spacers of varying length and parity. All the diether linked materials, CBOnO.Py (n=5, 6, 11, 12), exhibit conventional nematic and smectic A phases, with the exception of CBO11O.Py which is exclusively nematic. The methylene-ether linked dimer, CBnO.Py, with an even-membered spacer (n=5) was solely nematogenic, but odd-members (n=6, 8, 10) exhibited both nematic and twist-bend nematic phases. Replacement of the cyanobiphenyl fragment by cyanoterphenyl giving CT6O.Py, gave elevated melting and nematic-isotropic transition temperatures, and SmA and SmC_A phases were observed on cooling the nematic phase. Intermolecular face-to-face associations of the pyrene moieties drive glass formation, and all these materials have a glass transition temperature at or above room temperature. The stability of the glassy twist-bend nematic phase allowed for its study using AFM, and the helical pitch length, P_TB, was measured as 6.3 and 6.7 nm for CB6O.Py and CB8O.Py, respectively. These values are comparable to the shortest pitch of a twist-bend nematic phase measured to date.