Multi-element determinations of trace elements in glass by instrumental photon activation analysis

An instrumental photon activation method is reported for multi-element determinations in glass. The concentrations of 17 elements in NBS standard glass can be determined by irradiation with 30-MeV bremsstrahlung and measurement of the resulting γ-rays with a Ge(Li) detector. The average of all relative standard deviations is 2.7%; the relative deviations from the NBS certified values range from 1.4 to 3.4%.     

Control of diameter of ZnO nanorods grown by chemical vapor deposition with laser ablation of ZnO

We made a study of controlling diameters of well-aligned ZnO nanorods grown by low-pressure thermal chemical vapor deposition combined with laser ablation of a sintered ZnO target, which was developed by us. Until now, it has been impossible to control diameters of ZnO nanorods, while the growth orientation was maintained well-aligned. In this study we developed a multi-step growth method to fabricate well-aligned nanorods whose diameters could be controlled. Metal Zn vapor and O₂ are used as precursors to grow ZnO nanorods. N₂ is used as a carrier gas for the precursors. A substrate is an n-Si (111) wafer. A sintered ZnO target is placed near the substrate and ablated by a Nd–YAG pulsed laser during ZnO nanorod growth. The growth temperature is 530 C and the pressure is 66.5 Pa. A vertical growth orientation of ZnO nanorods to the substrate is realized in the first-step growth although the diameter cannot be controlled in this step. When an O₂ flow rate is 1.5 sccm, well-aligned nanorods with 100 nm diameter are grown. Next, the second-step nanorods are grown on only the flat tip of the first-step nanorods. The diameters of the second-step nanorods can be controlled by adjusting the O₂ flow rate, and the growth direction is kept the same as that of the first-step nanorods. When the O₂ flow rate in second-step growth is smaller than 0.6 sccm, the diameter of the second-step nanorods is 30–50 nm. When the O₂ flow rate is between 0.75 and 3.0 sccm, the diameter is almost same as that of the first-step nanorods. When the O₂ flow rate is larger than 4.5 sccm, the diameter is increased with increasing O₂ flow rate. Further, the third-step ZnO nanorods with gradually increased diameters can be grown on the second-step nanorods with 1.5 sccm O₂ flow rate and without laser ablation.     

Procyanidins are potent inhibitors of LOX-1: a new player in the French Paradox

Lectin-like oxidized LDL receptor-1 (LOX-1) is an endothelial receptor for oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and plays multiple roles in the development of cardiovascular diseases. We screened more than 400 foodstuff extracts for identifying materials that inhibit oxLDL binding to LOX-1. Results showed that 52 extracts inhibited LOX-1 by more than 70% in cell-free assays. Subsequent cell-based assays revealed that a variety of foodstuffs known to be rich in procyanidins such as grape seed extracts and apple polyphenols, potently inhibited oxLDL uptake in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells expressing LOX-1. Indeed, purified procyanidins significantly inhibited oxLDL binding to LOX-1 while other ingredients of apple polyphenols did not. Moreover, chronic administration of oligomeric procyanidins suppressed lipid accumulation in vascular wall in hypertensive rats fed with high fat diet. These results suggest that procyanidins are LOX-1 inhibitors and LOX-1 inhibition might be a possible underlying mechanism of the well-known vascular protective effects of red wine, the French Paradox.     

Non-classical control of solid-state aggregation-induced enhanced circularly polarized luminescence in chiral perylene diimides

Organic fluorescent molecules are gaining importance because of their potential applications in many devices. Optically active N,N′-bis((1R)-1-naphthylethyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide [(R,R)-1-BNP] and N,N′-bis((1R)-2-naphthylethyl)perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide [(R,R)-2-BNP] and their antipode, [(S,S)-1-BNP and (S,S)-2-BNP], emit aggregation-induced enhanced (AIEnh) circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) on both a solid organic polymer film (poly(methyl methacrylate)) and solid inorganic KBr pellet. An opposite chirality is essential for generating CPL of inverted sign. However, a pair of enantiomeric organic molecules may not always be easy to prepare. Interestingly, the chiral perylene fluorophores synthesized in this study can emit both positive and negative AIEnh-CPL in the solid state, depending on their position on the naphthylene groups. In addition, no CPL was observed in these compounds from their dilute solutions.     

Chiral recognition of apple procyanidins by complexation with oxotitanium phthalocyanine

A series of supramolecular complexes formed between oxotitanium(IV) phthalocyanine and apple procyanidins have exhibited characteristic bisignate CD signals in the Q region (ca. 700 nm). The helicity of the oligomeric procyanidins is proposed to be left-handed on the basis of the CD analyses. [structure: see text]     

3D particle measurements by single beam two-views magnified digital in-line holography

Holography technique can be used for 3D measurement of particle positions. However, in general in-line holography, accurate determination of the object’s position in the optical axis direction is difficult. In order to overcome this defect, we proposed a two-views recording technique combined with a digital in-line holography. The two-views recording is executed by only one camera with the assistance of one mirror, capturing the real image of a particle and the mirror image of the same particle simultaneously. This method keeps simplicity of optical alignment and is free from a difficult calibration of multiple cameras. It was confirmed that the proposed technique can reduce the uncertainty in the depth direction to about 1 pixel. For application of this method to micro-PIV, magnified recording is desired. In this paper, magnified holograms were also taken through a lens. It was confirmed that the uncertainty in the optical-axis direction can be reduced to a few pixels by the proposed technique for the magnified holograms.     

Apple (Malus pumila) procyanidins fractionated according to the degree of polymerization using normal-phase chromatography and characterized by HPLC-ESI/MS and MALDI-TOF/MS

Our previously reported method for the fractionation of apple procyanidins was modified successfully to achieve the separation of (epi)catechins and procyanidins (ranging from dimers to octamers) according to the degree of polymerization. Normal-phase chromatography was employed, using a hexane-methanol-ethyl acetate mixture as the mobile phase. Each fraction was characterized using high-performance liquid-chromatography electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI/MS) and matrix-assisted laser-desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS). This method will be useful for the evaluation of the physiological functions of proanthocyanidins and for the elucidation of their individual structures.     

Dynamics of large-scale eddies in turbulent flows

A model equation based on the equipartition of the turbulent dissipation is proposed for describing the dynamics of large-scale eddies in turbulent flows. The equation is reducible to the equation of motion of an inviscid fluid, so that the motion of the large-scale eddies can be described in terms of inviscid fluid dynamics. It is found that the large-scale eddies are always weakened by the background turbulence and their evolution is slowed down compared with the corresponding inviscid motion. In the case of turbulent mixing layer, its linear growth in downstream direction is accounted for by the exponential growth in time of the perturbation in an inviscid plane vortex sheet.