Active to sterile neutrino mixing limits from neutral-current interactions in MINOS

Results are reported from a search for active to sterile neutrino oscillations in the MINOS long-baseline experiment, based on the observation of neutral-current neutrino interactions, from an exposure to the NuMI neutrino beam of 7.07×10(20) protons on target. A total of 802 neutral-current event candidates is observed in the Far Detector, compared to an expected number of 754 ± 28(stat) ± 37(syst) for oscillations among three active flavors. The fraction f(s) of disappearing ν(μ) that may transition to ν(s) is found to be less than 22% at the 90% C.L.     

An Efficient Acylation of Free Glycosylamines for the Synthesis of N-Glycosyl Amino Acids and N-Glycosidic Surfactants for Membrane Studies

Abstract

Treatment of free glycosylamines with 3-acyl-5-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-2 (3H)-thiones 6 or with acids and 5-methyl-2-thioxo-1,3,4-thiadiazole-3(2H)-carbothioic acid S-(5-methyl-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl) ester 7 in hydroorganic media afforded N-acylglycosylamines in high yields and without any competitive deglycosylation. This reaction found applications in the synthesis of N-glycopeptide building blocks and of glycosidic non ionic surfactants. Results concerning surface activities of two N-acylglycosylamines are reported. The new non ionic N-octanoyl-β-D-glucosylamine surfactant exhibited efficacy and selectivity in the extraction of membrane proteins, enhanced the activity of a membrane succinate dehydrogenase and proved thus useful for membrane studies.     

Assessing the mechanical properties of a molecular spring

We report on the dramatic effect of increasing helix diameter on the hybridization of oligopyridine-dicarboxamide strands into double helices. Upon replacing a single pyridine by a 1,8-diazaanthracene unit within an oligomeric strand, a 4.7 A enlargement of the helix diameter occurs parallel to the long anthracene axis. This structure change results in a spectacular stabilization of the double helical hybrids derived from these strands (factors of over 10(7)). Detailed investigations of the hybridization process using X-ray crystallography, NMR, fluorescence measurements and molecular mechanics calculations allowed us to assign the duplex stabilization to two enthalpic effects. First, the increase in diameter results in an augmented surface, involved in intermolecular pi-pi stacking. Second, the enlarged diameter leads to a lower tilt angle of the helical strand, with respect to the helix axis, which in turn results in smaller dihedral angles at the aryl-amide linkages and thus a considerably lowered enthalpic cost of the spring-like extension of the strands during the hybridization process. These results provide novel insights into how subtle tuning of molecular components may result in considerable and rationalizable changes in double helical supramolecular architectures.     

MEMS electrodynamic loudspeakers for mobile phones

This paper presents a MEMS structure of electrodynamic loudspeakers dedicated to mobile phone applications. The major goals are to obtain a high electroacoustic conversion efficiency and a high fidelity acoustic quality. The originalities lie in a rigid silicon membrane and in its suspension by a set of silicon beams. The moving coil is a planar copper microcoil electroplated on the silicon membrane whose microstructure was optimized for providing both rigidity and lightness of the mobile part.This paper presents different magnetic structures of the motor for this MEMS loudspeaker. These structures are ironless, only made out of permanent magnets which are bonded on the substrate. They are studied and optimized thanks to analytical formulations of the magnetic field created by the permanent magnets. Results are presented for a deep RIE etched 7.5 mm radius silicon membrane structured with 40 stiffening ribs and on a 30 μm thick microcoil with 35 turns.     

Quantitative Acoustic Microscopy for Determination of Properties of Hard Coatings

 For quantitative assessment of the properties of hard coatings there is an increasing demand for testing methods with high reliability of the test results, especially concerning the independence of the method and the comparability between different laboratories. This includes the knowledge about all the factors which influence the test procedure itself, determination of best testing conditions, testing of these conditions in round-robins to get a view of the comparability of results, and formulation of guidelines for standardization. In a European project several test methods for hard coatings on steel were investigated for this purpose and the elastic moduli of the coating and coating thickness were determined non-destructively by means of quantitative acoustic microscopy. This method and the instruments available had not yet been certified in the fields of coatings simply owing to the absence of standardised signal processing, followed by the determination of sound velocities and materials parameter extraction. For this purpose four laboratories carried out investigations and measurements on reference samples and on two types of hard coatings (titanium nitride and C-doped chromium) on M2 tool steel.     

HPLC�CDAD Analysis of Hydrochlorothiazide and Irbesartan in Hypertensive Patients on Fixed-Dose Combination Therapy

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) and the angiotensin II type 1 receptor antagonist (ARB) irbesartan (IRBE) are well-known antihypertensive drugs, frequently administered as a low-dose combination in a single pill. In this work, a simple, sensitive, and selective high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method with diode-array detection was developed for simultaneous determination of HCTZ and IRBE levels in the plasma of hypertensive patients given a fixed combination of 12.5 mg HCTZ and 300 mg IRBE. Compounds were extracted from acidified plasma samples with 3 mL ethyl acetate, and eluted at 6 and 19 min from a C₄ column by elution with an acetonitrile?Cphosphate buffer (pH 3.6) mobile-phase gradient at a flow rate of 1 mL min^?1. The assay was linear over the ranges 2.5?C500 and 20?C4,000 ng mL^?1 for HCTZ and IRBE, respectively. Overall intra-assay and inter-assay variation were within acceptance limits. Limits of quantification were 2.5 and 20 ng mL^?1 for HCTZ and IRBE, respectively. Plasma samples remained stable for 12 h at room temperature, through three thaw?Cfreeze cycles, and for 2 and 7 months at ?20 °C. In hypertensive patients, residual concentrations were 22.3 ± 6.0 and 241.8 ± 39.0 ng mL^?1 for HCTZ and IRBE, respectively. There was no interference from other co-administered drugs. Despite the different physicochemical properties of HCTZ and IRBE, our method enables accurate measurement of both drugs for assessment of compliance by patients treated by fixed-dose combination therapy with HCTZ?CIRBE.     

Etude de nitrophénylhydrazones α-carbonylées—I. RMN des molécules modèles acycliques

The study of the α-carbonyl nitrophenylhydrazones by NMR requires a good knowledge of the hydrazono group and the effects it produces, compared with the carbonyl, on the protons of the carbon chain. It is possible to attain this objective by the NMR study of aliphatic and aromatic ketones and their arylhydrazones (ortho,para and diNO₂). The values of chemical shift of the ketone protons are used as reference, from which the following influences are shown: the identity of the proton studied (methyl, methylene or methyne); its position with respect to the hydrazone group (in α, β or γ); its substitution. The anisotropy of the nitrophenylhydrazono group thus demonstrated seems to be due firstly to the free pair of the double-bonded nitrogen, and secondly to the nitro group and its polarisation. The effects produced by the carbon and nitrogen chains on one another seem to indicate that the hydrogen-carrying nitrogen must possess a hybridisation near sp². Finally, the chemical shift of the proton linked with the nitrogen is very sensitive to the various substitutions of the molecule, which would seem to indicate its ‘sensor’ rôle in the α-carbonyl hydrazones.     

Kinetics of Helix‐Handedness Inversion: Folding and Unfolding in Aromatic Amide Oligomers

A series of helically folded oligoamides of 8‐amino‐2‐quinoline carboxylic acid possessing 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or 16 units are prepared following convergent synthetic schemes. The right‐handed (P) and the left‐handed (M) helical conformers of these oligomers undergo an exchange slow enough to allow their chromatographic separation on a chiral stationary phase. Thus, the M conformer is isolated for each of these oligomers and its slow racemization in hexane/CHCl₃ solutions is monitored at various temperatures using chiral HPLC. The kinetics of racemization at different temperatures in hexane/CHCl₃ (75:25 vol/vol) are fitted to a first order kinetic model to yield the kinetic constant and the Gibbs energy of activation for oligomers having 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 or 16 quinoline units. This energy gives the first quantitative measure of the exceptional stability of the helical conformers of an aromatic amide foldamer with respect to its partly unfolded conformations that occur between an M helix and a P helix. The trend of the Gibbs energy as a function of oligomer length suggests that helix‐handedness inversion does not require a complete unfolding of a helical strand and may instead occur through the propagation of a local unfolding separating two segments of opposite handedness.     

The chemistry of wine polyphenolic C-glycosidic ellagitannins targeting human topoisomerase II

Polyphenolic nonahydroxyterphenoyl-containing C-glycosidic oak ellagitannins are found in wine as a result of the aging of this beverage in oak-made barrels. Once in the slightly acidic wine (pH approximately 3-4), some of these complex natural products such as (-)-vescalagin (1), but not its C-1 epimer (-)-castalagin (2), can capture grape-derived nucleophilic entities such as ethanol, the flavanols catechin (10a) and epicatechin (10b), the anthocyanin oenin (13b), and the thiolic glutathione (16) to furnish condensation products with retention of configuration at the C-1 locus. A computer-aided rationale of this high diastereoselectivity is given. These condensation products can contribute to the modulation of organoleptic properties of the wine, as evidenced by the 23 nm bathochromic shift color absorbance observed with the novel oenin-based anthocyano-ellagitannin (15b). Hydrolysis of 1 under solvolytic conditions furnished another novel compound that we refer to as vescalene (21), in addition to the known (-)-vescalin (18). Of pharmacological importance is the fact that most of these found-in-wine water-soluble ellagitannin derivatives are much more potent than etoposide (VP-16) at inhibiting top2-mediated DNA decatenation in vitro (top2=topoisomerase II)). The known (-)-vescalin (18) and the novel vescalene (21) fully inhibited top2 at 10 microM concentration!