Radiolabelling of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanoparticles for radiotracer studies

Industrially manufactured titanium dioxide nanoparticles have been successfully radiolabelled with ⁴⁸V by irradiation with a cyclotron-generated proton beam. Centrifugation tests showed that the ⁴⁸V radiolabels were stably bound within the nanoparticle structure in an aqueous medium, while X-ray diffraction indicated that no major structural modifications to the nanoparticles resulted from the proton irradiation. In vitro tests of the uptake of cold and radiolabelled nanoparticles using the human cell line Calu-3 showed no significant difference in the uptake between both batches of nanoparticles. The uptake was quantified by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry and high resolution γ-ray spectrometry for cold and radiolabelled nanoparticles, respectively. These preliminary results indicate that alterations to the nanoparticles’ properties introduced by proton bombardment can be controlled to a sufficient extent that their further use as radiotracers for biological investigations can be envisaged and elaborated.     

Aerobic Iron‐Based Cross‐Dehydrogenative Coupling Enables Efficient Diversity‐Oriented Synthesis of Coumestrol‐Based Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators

An iron‐based cross‐dehydrogenative coupling (CDC) approach was applied for the diversity‐oriented synthesis of coumestrol‐based selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs), representing the first application of CDC chemistry in natural product synthesis. The first stage of the two‐step synthesis of coumestrol involved a modified aerobic oxidative cross‐coupling between ethyl 2‐(2,4‐dimethoxybenzoyl)acetate and 3‐methoxyphenol, with FeCl₃ (10 mol %) as the catalyst. The benzofuran coupling product was then subjected to sequential deprotection and lactonization steps, affording the natural product in 59 % overall yield. Based on this new methodology other coumestrol analogues were prepared, and their effects on the proliferation of the estrogen receptor (ER)‐dependent MCF‐7 and of the ER‐independent MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells were tested. As a result, new types of estrogen receptor ligands having an acetamide group instead of the 9‐hydroxyl group of coumestrol were discovered. Both 9‐acetamido‐coumestrol and 8‐acetamidocoumestrol were found more active than the natural product against estrogen‐dependent MCF‐7 breast cancer cells, with IC₅₀ values of 30 and 9 nM , respectively.     

Dynamic data structures for fat objects and their applications

We present several efficient dynamic data structures for point-enclosure queries, involving convex fat objects in or . Our planar structures are actually fitted for a more general class of objects – (β,δ)-covered objects – which are not necessarily convex, see definition below. These structures are more efficient than alternative known structures, because they exploit the fatness of the objects. We then apply these structures to obtain efficient solutions to two problems: (i) finding a perfect containment matching between a set of points and a set of convex fat objects, and (ii) finding a piercing set for a collection of convex fat objects, whose size is optimal up to some constant factor.     

Strong bulk-edge coupling in the compressible half-filled quantum Hall state

We study bulk and edge correlations in the compressible half-filled state, using a modified version of the plasma analogy. The corresponding plasma has anomalously weak screening properties, and as a consequence we find that the correlations along the edge do not decay algebraically as in the Laughlin (incompressible) case, while the bulk correlations decay in the same way. The results suggest that due to the strong coupling between charged modes on the edge and the neutral fermions in the bulk, reflected by the weak screening in the plasma analogue, the (attractive) correlation hole is not well defined on the edge. Hence, the system there can be modeled as a free Fermi gas of electrons. We finally comment on a possible scenario, in which the Laughlin-like dynamical edge correlations may nevertheless be realized.     

On the performance of the ICP algorithm

We present upper and lower bounds for the number of iterations performed by the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm. This algorithm has been proposed by Besl and McKay as a successful heuristic for matching of point sets in d-space under translation, but so far it seems not to have been rigorously analyzed. We consider two standard measures of resemblance that the algorithm attempts to optimize: The RMS (root mean squared distance) and the (one-sided) Hausdorff distance. We show that in both cases the number of iterations performed by the algorithm is polynomial in the number of input points. In particular, this bound is quadratic in the one-dimensional problem, under the RMS measure, for which we present a lower bound construction of Ω(nlogn) iterations, where n is the overall size of the input. Under the Hausdorff measure, this bound is only O(n) for input point sets whose spread is polynomial in n, and this is tight in the worst case.We also present several structural geometric properties of the algorithm under both measures. For the RMS measure, we show that at each iteration of the algorithm the cost function monotonically and strictly decreases along the vector Δt of the relative translation. As a result, we conclude that the polygonal path π, obtained by concatenating all the relative translations that are computed during the execution of the algorithm, does not intersect itself. In particular, in the one-dimensional problem all the relative translations of the ICP algorithm are in the same (left or right) direction. For the Hausdorff measure, some of these properties continue to hold (such as monotonicity in one dimension), whereas others do not.     

A Spray‐Based Technique for the Production of MnS Thin Films

A spray‐based technique, originally developed for the production of semiconductor nanocrystals, is utilized for the preparation of high‐quality nanocrystalline thin films, as demonstrated with manganese sulfide. The films are formed by the use of pneumatic‐assisted thermospray or pneumatic nebulizers. Our simple, low‐cost, and low‐temperature process results in a dense and phase‐pure grain structure. The concepts and benefits of this technique are described and discussed. The film characteristics show dependence on the experimental parameters, in particular the rate of solvent vaporization. Three alternative film formation mechanisms are suggested for cases with varied experimental conditions.     

Intrinsic fluorescence polarization of amniotic fluid: II. Toward a noninvasive method for the determination of fetal lung maturity

The present study compares two methods for the determination of fetal lung maturity: the novel intrinsic fluorescence polarization ratio (IFPR) and the commercial TDx-FLMII. Amniotic fluid (AF) samples were collected from 69 women during the second and third trimesters of singleton pregnancies. Thirty-three samples were tested for IFPR only after centrifugation, and the rest were examined both before and after centrifugation. Of the latter 33 samples, 29 were assessed for lung maturity with the TDx-FLMII method as well. The results showed that IFPR values decreased with the advance in gestational age (r = 0.77, p < 0.05, n = 69). A significant correlation was found between IFPR of centrifuged and noncentrifuged samples (r = 0.94, p < 0.05, n = 36). A significant correlation was demonstrated between IFPR and TDx-FLMII values of centrifuged (r = 0.75, p < 0.05, n = 29) and noncentrifuged (r = 0.63, p < 0.05, n = 29) samples and moreover, samples considered mature by TDx-FLMII had low values of IFPR (n = 10). It can be concluded that the IFPR method can utilize noncentrifuged AF, thus suggested as a potential noninvasive method.     

Minimally corrected partial atomic charges for non-covalent electrostatic interactions

We develop a new scheme for determining molecular partial atomic charges (PACs) with external electrostatic potential (ESP) closely mimicking that of the molecule. The PACs are the ‘minimal corrections’ to a reference set of PACs necessary for reproducing exactly the tensor components of the Cartesian zero-, first- and second- molecular electrostatic multipoles. We evaluate the quality of ESP reproduction when ‘minimally correcting’ (MC) Mulliken, Hirshfeld or iterative-Hirshfeld reference PACs. In all these cases, the MC-PACs significantly improve the ESP while preserving the reference PACs’ invariance under the molecular symmetry operations. When iterative-Hirshfeld PACs are used as reference, the MC-PACs yield ESPs of comparable quality to those of the ChElPG charge fitting method.     

Fly Cheaply: On the Minimum Fuel Consumption Problem

In planning a flight, stops at intermediate airports are sometimes necessary to minimize fuel consumption, even if a direct flight is available. We investigate the problem of finding the cheapest path from one airport to another, given a set of n airports in ² and a function l: ² × ² → ⁺ representing the cost of a direct flight between any pair. Given a source airport s, the cheapest-path map is a subdivision of ² where two points lie in the same region iff their cheapest paths from s use the same sequence of intermediate airports. We show a quadratic lower bound on the combinatorial complexity of this map for a class of cost functions. Nevertheless, we are able to obtain subquadratic algorithms to find the cheapest path from s to all other airports for any well-behaved cost function l: our general algorithm runs in O(n^{4/3 +} ) time, and a simpler, more practical variant runs in O(n^{3/2 +} ) time, while a special class of cost functions requires just O(n log n) time.     

Reduced Endocannabinoid Tone in Saliva of Chronic Orofacial Pain Patients

Background: the endocannabinoid system (ECS) participates in many physiological and pathological processes including pain generation, modulation, and sensation. Its involvement in chronic orofacial pain (OFP) in general, and the reflection of its involvement in OFP in salivary endocannabinoid (eCBs) levels in particular, has not been examined. Objectives: to evaluate the association between salivary (eCBs) levels and chronic OFP. Methods: salivary levels of 2 eCBs, anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), 2 endocannabinoid-like compoundsN-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA), N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA), and their endogenous precursor and breakdown product, arachidonic acid (AA), were analyzed using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry in 83 chronic OFP patients and 43 pain-free controls. The chronic OFP patients were divided according to diagnosis into musculoskeletal, neurovascular/migraine, and neuropathic pain types. Results: chronic OFP patients had lower levels of OEA (p = 0.02) and 2-AG (p = 0.01). Analyzing specific pain types revealed lower levels of AEA and OEA in the neurovascular group (p = 0.04, 0.02, respectively), and 2-AG in the neuropathic group compared to controls (p = 0.05). No significant differences were found between the musculoskeletal pain group and controls. Higher pain intensity was accompanied by lower levels of AA (p = 0.028), in neuropathic group. Conclusions: lower levels of eCBs were found in the saliva of chronic OFP patients compared to controls, specifically those with neurovascular/migraine, and neuropathic pain. The detection of changes in salivary endocannabinoids levels related to OFP adds a new dimension to our understanding of OFP mechanisms, and may have diagnostic as well as therapeutic implications for pain.