Examination of Changes in 6-minute Walk Distance and Related Factors in Patients with Perioperative Peripheral Arterial Disease

Objective: This study aimed to clarify the effects of pre- and postoperative physical function on the 6-minute walking distance (6MWD) in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Method: Forty-two elderly patients with PAD who were hospitalized for revascularization and able to walk independently were included in the study. The 6MWD, ankle brachial index (ABI), weight-bearing index (WBI), gait, and intermittent claudication distance (ICD) were measured before and after the surgery, and skeletal muscle index was measured only before surgery. Analyses were performed by comparing the pre- and postoperative values of each factor using a paired t-test. In addition, multiple regression analysis was performed with 6MWD as the dependent variable before and after surgery. Results: Postoperatively, pain disappeared in 22 patients, and ABI, ICD, 6MWD, and stride length improved significantly. ICD and stride length were extracted as factors related to 6MWD before and after surgery, and ABI, WBI, and stride length were extracted as factors related to 6MWD after surgery. Conclusion: The improvement of intermittent claudication associated with revascularization suggests a stronger influence of functional aspects on postoperative 6MWD.     

Novel plasma biomarker surrogating cerebral amyloid deposition

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common and devastating dementia. Simple and practical biomarkers for AD are urgently required for accurate diagnosis and to facilitate the development of disease-modifying interventions. The subjects for the study were selected on the basis of PiB amyloid imaging by PET. Forty PiB-positive (PiB+) individuals, including cognitively healthy controls (HC), and mild cognitive impairment and AD individuals, and 22 PiB-negative (PiB−) HC participated. Employing our novel highly sensitive immunoprecipitation-mass spectrometry, we measured plasma amyloid β-proteins (Aβs; Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42) and Aβ-approximate peptides (AβAPs), which were cleaved from amyloid precursor protein (APP). Among the AβAPs, APP669-711 appeared to be a good reference for deciphering pathological change of Aβ1-42. We evaluated the performance of the ratio of APP669-711 to Aβ1-42 (APP669-711/Aβ1-42) as a biomarker. APP669-711/Aβ1-42 significantly increased in the PiB+ groups. The sensitivity and specificity to discriminate PiB+ individuals from PiB− individuals were 0.925 and 0.955, respectively. Our plasma biomarker precisely surrogates cerebral amyloid deposition.     

Identification and quantification of amyloid beta-related peptides in human plasma using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Proteolytic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β-secretase and γ-secretase leads to the generation and deposition of amyloid β (Aβ) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). N-terminally or C-terminally truncated Aβ variants have been found in human cerebrospinal fluid and cultured cell media using immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry. Unfortunately, the profile of plasma Aβ variants has not been revealed due to the difficulty of isolating Aβ from plasma. We present here for the first time studies of Aβ and related peptides in human plasma. Twenty-two Aβ-related peptides including novel peptides truncated before the β-secretase site were detected in human plasma and 20 of the peptides were identified by tandem mass spectrometry. Using an internal standard, we developed a quantitative assay for the Aβ-related peptides and demonstrated plasma dilution linearity and the precision required for their quantitation. The present method should enhance the understanding of APP processing and clearance in AD progression.     

Photocleavage reaction of bromine substituted aromatic acyl compounds studied by CIDEP and transient absorption spectroscopy

The photocleavage of the CBr bond in bromoacetylnaphthalene is investigated by transient absorption and time resolved EPR spectroscopy. In the transient absorption of 2-bromo-2′-acetylnaphthalene, the absorption band observed at λ_max ~440 nm is assigned to the triplet state of the parent molecule. After decay of the triplet absorption, a long lived absorption band is observed at λ_max ~380 nm, which is assigned to naphthoylmethyl radical. The yield of this radical is not dependent on the concentration of oxygen even though the absorption band of the triplet state was quenched by addition of oxygen. Thus we conclude that the spin multiplicity of the precursor molecule is singlet. The CW time resolved EPR spectrum shows a typical E?/A CIDEP pattern of three hyperfine lines of the naphthoylmethyl radical. This result suggests some contribution from triplet precursor molecules. However, a careful analysis of the time profile of the CIDEP intensity observed by FT-EPR revealed that the polarization is generated from the radical pair mechanism (RPM) from the encountered pair of two free naphthoylmethyl radicals and the radical-triplet pair mechanism. RPM polarization by the geminate radical pair, formed by the Br atom and the naphthoylmethyl radical, is not observed. This fact indicates that large spin-orbit coupling (Δg and/or fast spin relaxation by g anisotropy) spoils the RPM polarization. The finding is in contrast to the recent observation of RPM polarization in the Cl cleavage reaction of 1-(chloromethyl)naphthalene.     

EXTRACTION OF RETINAL FROM Paramecium bursaria

Abstract— The ciliated protozoan Paramecium bursaria is photosensitive. Retinal, which is the chromophore of the visual pigments of many multicellular animals, was extracted from P. bursaria and identified by HPLC. The procedure of identification was based on the change in polarity achieved by reducing retinal with sodium borohydrate to form retinol. This method is useful for the detection of small amounts of retinal in cells containing large amounts of other substances with similar polarity. The presence of retinal in P. bursaria suggests that this ciliate may contain a photoreceptor pigment with retinal as the chromophore.     

Top quark properties

Since the top quark was discovered at Tevatron in 1995, many top quark properties have been measured. However, the top quark is still interesting due to unique features which originate from the extremely heavy mass, and providing various test grounds on the Standard Model as well as searches for a new physics. Though the measurements of the top quark had been performed only at Tevatron so far, LHC is now ready for measurements with more top quarks than Tevatron. In this article, recent measurements of top quark properties from Tevatron (CDF and D?) as well as LHC (ATLAS and CMS) are presented.     

LiNi0.5-xAl2xMn1.5-xO4的制备、结构及电化学特征

采用喷雾干燥法合成了LiNi0.5-xAl2xMn1.5-xO4(0≤2x≤0.15)正极材料,研究Al掺杂对LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4材料结构与电化学性能的影响.通过X射线衍射(XRD)、扫描电子显微镜(SEM)、电感耦合等离子体-原子发射光谱(ICP-AES)、傅里叶红外光谱(FTIR)、循环伏安(CV)和充放电测试等手段对其结构及电化学性能进行表征.结果表明,Al取代Ni和Mn使材料的晶体结构发生了转变,空间群由P4332转变为Fd3m,同时增大了锂离子的扩散速率,提高了材料的倍率性能.在室温下,LiNi0.4 5Al0.1Mn1.45O4表现了最好的倍率性能,当放电电流为0.5 C时,放电容量为126 mA.h/g,当放电电流增加到5 C时,放电容量为109 mA.h/g,保持率达到了87%.此外,Al取代Ni和Mn有效降低了材料在高温下的Mn溶解量,从而有效改善了材料在高温大倍率下的循环性能.LiNi0.45Al0.1Mn1.45O4材料在50℃,倍率为3 C时,放电容量为121.7mA.h/g,循环50次后,仍可保留初始容量的94%.     

Thermosensitive Particles with Unusual Morphology Prepared by Dispersion Copolymerization

The monodispersed polymeric particles with an unusual structure were prepared by the dispersion copolymerization of acrylonitrile/styrene（AN/St） in mixed solvents of ethanol/water by using the poly（N-isopropylacrylamide） （PNIPAAm） macromonomer as a reaction stabilizer. It was found that the AN monomer plays a key role in the formation of the particles with special morphology analyzed via scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The reaction parameters have remarkable influences on the particle size and morphology. The particles possess a thermosensitive property according to the result of laser light scattering（LLS）.     

水热法制备无定形ZnSnO3/C复合材料及其电化学性能研究

采用葡萄糖水热碳化法制备了碳包覆无定形ZnSnO3复合材料(ZnSnO3/C),并利用采用X射线衍射、透射电镜、恒电流充放电测试和交流阻抗技术表征、观察与测试样品的结构、形貌以及电化学性能.实验结果表明,ZnSnO3/C复合材料具有典型的核壳结构,ZnSnO3/C复合料表现较高的比容量和优异的循环性能,100周期循环比容量仍保持659 mAh·g-1.