The effects of freeze/thaw periods and drying methods on isotopic and elemental carbon and nitrogen in marine organisms, raising questions on sample preparation

Stable isotopes are an increasingly important tool in trophic linkage ecological studies. In studies of large marine animals, isotopic sampling is often given secondary priority to sampling for diversity and biomass aspects. Consequently, isotopic samples are frequently collected subsequent to repeated freezing and thawing of animals, and the results of these studies are often based on the assumption that this pre-treatment does not affect the isotopic values. Our study tested this assumption and examined the difference between oven- and freeze-drying on isotopic values and elemental carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratios. The values for δ(15)N and δ(13)C, percentage nitrogen and carbon, and the C:N ratios were determined from the tissues of six marine species, including invertebrates and fish, as (1) fresh samples, (2) samples thawed once, and (3) samples thawed twice. The drying method, thawing treatment and their interaction did significantly affect the δ(15)N and δ(13)C isotope values for all species. Oven-dried samples had slightly higher δ(13)C and δ(15)N values than freeze-dried samples, although not significant in most instances. For most species, oven-drying produced lower carbon and nitrogen percentage than freeze-drying for samples that had been thawed once, but the C:N ratio was unaffected by the drying method. Repeated freezing and thawing did not affect the isotope values, but it did decrease the percentage carbon and nitrogen for both desiccation methods. We recommend drying samples from fresh wherever possible, and careful choice of desiccation method in light of the fact that most lipid models are based on oven-dried samples and oven-drying could cause enrichment of (15)N or (13)C through evaporation of volatile compounds richer in lighter isotopes such as some lipids. Finally, we recommend that further studies on the specific effects of freezing and desiccation on elasmobranchs is needed. Overall we recommend the use of freeze-drying when possible and to use the samples from freshly caught organisms.     

A comparison of two methods for estimating DCE-MRI parameters via individual and cohort based AIFs in prostate cancer: A step towards practical implementation

Multi-parametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and specifically Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE) MRI, play increasingly important roles in detection and staging of prostate cancer (PCa). One of the actively investigated approaches to DCE MRI analysis involves pharmacokinetic (PK) modeling to extract quantitative parameters that may be related to microvascular properties of the tissue. It is well-known that the prescribed arterial blood plasma concentration (or Arterial Input Function, AIF) input can have significant effects on the parameters estimated by PK modeling. The purpose of our study was to investigate such effects in DCE MRI data acquired in a typical clinical PCa setting. First, we investigated how the choice of a semi-automated or fully automated image-based individualized AIF (iAIF) estimation method affects the PK parameter values; and second, we examined the use of method-specific averaged AIF (cohort-based, or cAIF) as a means to attenuate the differences between the two AIF estimation methods.     

Spherically symmetric inhomogeneous dust collapse in higher dimensional space-time and cosmic censorship hypothesis

We consider a collapsing spherically symmetric inhomogeneous dust cloud in higher dimensional space-time. We show that the central singularity of collapse can be a strong curvature or a weak curvature naked singularity depending on the initial density distribution.     

Scattering by small defects in the neighbourhood of a fluid-solid interface

The scattering of incident plane elastic waves by a varietyof different defects that lie upon a fluid-solid interface isconsidered here using matched asymptotic expansions. The expansionscheme is developed in terms of a parameter , the ratio of typicaldefect length scale to a typical wavelength of the incidentfield, taken to be small. Three different canonical situations occur and these are illustratedvia three specific examples treated here: a rigid strut, anedge crack, and a rigid strip. In each case the leading-ordermatching is performed to identify the leading-order contributionof the defect to the acoustic field in the far field. In particular,each defect is identified with a source of dipole response ininterfacial stress of displacement. It is shown in the limit as s<<s1 that in the inner problemsthe fluid and solid pieces uncouple in a particularly convenientmanner allowing analytical solutions to be deduced. These arethen matched with appropriate outer solutions.     

Diastereoselective assembly of pentanuclear circular helicates

Reaction of a ligand which contains two N-donor and O-donor tridentate domains separated by a 1,3-phenylene spacer unit with Zn(2+) ions results in a pentanuclear circular helicate [Zn(5)(L)(5)](10+) and this structure persists in both the solid and solution state. The formation of this high nuclearity species is governed by unfavourable steric interactions between the phenyl units which destabilize the simple linear helicate. Incorporation of enantiopure units within the ligand strand controls the diastereoselectivity with up to 80% d.e.     

Informatics methods to enable sharing of quantitative imaging research data

Introduction

The National Cancer Institute Quantitative Research Network (QIN) is a collaborative research network whose goal is to share data, algorithms and research tools to accelerate quantitative imaging research. A challenge is the variability in tools and analysis platforms used in quantitative imaging. Our goal was to understand the extent of this variation and to develop an approach to enable sharing data and to promote reuse of quantitative imaging data in the community.

Methods

We performed a survey of the current tools in use by the QIN member sites for representation and storage of their QIN research data including images, image meta-data and clinical data. We identified existing systems and standards for data sharing and their gaps for the QIN use case. We then proposed a system architecture to enable data sharing and collaborative experimentation within the QIN.

Results

There are a variety of tools currently used by each QIN institution. We developed a general information system architecture to support the QIN goals. We also describe the remaining architecture gaps we are developing to enable members to share research images and image meta-data across the network.

Conclusions

As a research network, the QIN will stimulate quantitative imaging research by pooling data, algorithms and research tools. However, there are gaps in current functional requirements that will need to be met by future informatics development. Special attention must be given to the technical requirements needed to translate these methods into the clinical research workflow to enable validation and qualification of these novel imaging biomarkers.     

On a Simple Nonisothermal Adsorption Experiment with Organic Vapors and an Inertial Microbalance To Study the Surface Properties of Hybrid (Organic/Inorganic) Porous Materials

A nonisothermal adsorption experiment using a controlled flow of cyclopentane in the 333-313 K range is used to simultaneously estimate the specific surface area and micropore volume of a hybrid (organic/inorganic) alcogel. For reference, the method is also applied to an all-inorganic material with a more rigid structure, namely, a high surface area SiO(2)-Al(2)O(3). The proposed data analysis provides guidelines to determine whether adsorption data on a certain adsorbate/adsorbent system can be modeled effectively as a convolution of BET (meso- and macropore) and Dubinin-Radushkevitch (DR, micropore) contributions. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

Meson production in p + d reactions

Total and differential cross sections for the reactions p + d → ³He + m ⁰ with m=π, η and p + d → ³H+π⁺ were measured with the GEM detector at COSY for beam momenta between threshold and the maximum of the corresponding baryon resonance. For both reactions a strong forward-backward asymmetry was found. The data were compared with model calculations. The aspect of isospin symmetry breaking is studied. Representing the GEM Collaboration     

Working group report: Heavy-ion physics and quark-gluon plasma

This is the report of Heavy Ion Physics and Quark-Gluon Plasma at WHEPP-09 which was part of Working Group-4. Discussion and work on some aspects of quark-gluon plasma believed to have created in heavy-ion collisions and in early Universe are reported.     

Interaction between explosive and analyte layers in explosive matrix-assisted plasma desorption mass spectrometry

An HMX/insulin two-layer system was chosen as a model for further investigation of the matrix properties of explosive materials for protein analytes in plasma desorption mass spectrometry. The dependencies of the molecular ion yield and average charge state as a function of the analyte thickness were studied. An increase in the charge state of multiply protonated molecular species was confirmed as the major matrix effect, with the average charge state z at the smallest thickness studied being higher than in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and closer to the value obtained in electrospray ionization under standard acidic conditions. Observed charge state distributions are significantly narrower than the corresponding Poisson distributions, which suggests that the protonation of insulin is limited in plasma desorption by the number of basic sites in the molecule, similar to electrospray ionization. Both the curve displaying total molecular ion yield and the one showing the total charge (proton) yield as a function of the insulin thickness have maxima at a thickness different from an insulin monolayer. These observations diminish the significance of a matrix/analyte interface mechanism for the explosive matrix assistance. Instead, a mechanism related to the chemical energy release during conversion of the explosive after the ion impact is proposed. As additional mechanisms, enhanced protonation of the analyte through collisions with products of the explosive decay is considered, as well as electron scavenging by other products, which leads to a higher survival probability of positively charged protein molecular ions. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.