Determination of dimethoxyphenethylamine derivatives in urine by deuterium labeled internal standards

The use of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) in forensic analysis is increasing. To exploit fully the capabilities of MS, labeled standards, that can be used to improve the performance of the quantitative analysis, and to increase accuracy and precision, are required. A series of deuterated internal standards, corresponding to the 2C-series of phenethylamine derivatives, including 4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine-d6 (2C-B), 4-chloro-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine-d6 (2C-C), 4-iodo-2,5-dimethoxy-phe¬nethyl-amine-d6 (2C-I), 4-ethylthio-2,5-dimethoxy-phenethylamine-d6 (2C-T-2) and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-n-propylthiophenethylamine-d6 (2C-T-7), were synthesized. These deuterated compounds were used to analyze for the corresponding unlabeled compounds in urine. The analysis was performed using GC–MS, with the selected ion monitoring (SIM) technique, whereby good results were achieved

catena-Poly[silver(I)-μ-acridine-9-carboxyl­ato-κ3 N:O,O′]

In the title coordination polymer, [Ag(C14H8NO2)]n, the AgI cation is coordinated by two O atoms and one N atom from two symmetry-related acridine-9-carboxyl­ate ligands in a distorted trigonal-planar geometry. The metal atoms are connected by the ligands to form chains running parallel to the b axis. π–π stacking inter­actions [centroid-to-centroid distances 3.757 (2)–3.820 (2) Å] and weak Ag⋯O inter­actions further link the chains to form a layer network parallel to the ab plane. The AgI cation is disordered over two positions, with refined site-occupancy factors of 0.73 (3):0.27 (3)

Effects of “living high-training low” on male/female obese adolescent’s morphological indices and glucose/lipid metabolism

Abstract Objective:This study aims to investigate the effects of 4 weeks living high-training low (HiLo) on obese adolescent’s body composition, glucose/lipid metabolism and gender differences. Method: 37 overweight and obese adolescents (13-16 old), volunteers participated in the fully closed weight-loss exercises. They were randomly divided into two groups as the normal oxygen group (n=19) and hypoxia group (n=18) and exercised an intervention for four-weeks. For the normal oxygen group, aerobic exercises and diet control intervention methods were used. Exercise intensity and individualized exercise prescription were based upon subject health condition and exercise tolerance test. Dieticians according to subject basal metabolic rate formulated a reasonable diet to ensure the calories and essential nutrient supply. For the hypoxia group, except aerobic exercise and diet control intervention, every night the subjects lived in hypoxic room equipped with hypoxia systems and they were exposed to an altitude of about 2,700 m (10 hours per day) for 4 weeks. Before and after hypoxic exposure, obesity related morphological and blood biochemical indices (blood glucose, blood lipid panel (includes 4 main lipoproteins,etc)) were separately analyzed, calculate homeostasis model assessment was used to estimate insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and insulin secretion (HOMA-β) index. Results: (1) After hypoxia intervention, morphological indices, immunology indices, blood insulin and blood fat in average significantly decreased in both groups; Moreover blood glucose did not change significantly. In normal oxygen group and hypoxia group ,HOMA-IR and HOMA-β index significantly decreased. (2) Hypoxia combined with exercise and alimentary control have different effects on male/female obese adolescent’s morphological indices and glucose/lipid metabolism that were shown by: 1. Male in hypoxia group showed weight, BMI and body fat significantly decreased more than normal oxygen group, the two groups lean body mass did not change significantly. Moreover, female in hypoxia group showed lean body mass significantly decreased more than normal oxygen group, the two group’s weight, BMI and body fat did not change significantly. 2. Between the two groups, for male subjects HOMA-IR and HOMA-β index did not change significantly; in hypoxia group, for female subjects HOMA-β index decreased, but there was an upward trend in normal oxygen group, the two groups change significantly. Conclusion: (1) The two interventions methods can significantly improve the obese adolescent’s morphological and glucose/lipid metabolism indices. (2) The effects of the two interventions methods on morphological and glucose/lipid metabolism indices are due to gender differences, it should be used selectively based on the current situation

Fully Automated Detection of Corticospinal Tract Damage in Chronic Stroke Patients

Structural integrity of the corticospinal tract (CST) after stroke is closely linked to the degree of motor impairment. However, current methods for measurement of fractional atrophy (FA) of CST based on region of interest (ROI) are time-consuming and open to bias. Here, we used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) together with a CST template with healthy volunteers to quantify structural integrity of CST automatically. Two groups of patients after ischemic stroke were enrolled, group 1 (10 patients, 7 men, and Fugl-Meyer assessment (FMA) scores ⩽ 50) and group 2 (12 patients, 12 men, and FMA scores = 100). CST of FAipsi, FAcontra, and FAratio was compared between the two groups. Relative to group 2, FA was decreased in group 1 in the ipsilesional CST (P<0.01), as well as the FAratio (P<0.01). There was no significant difference between the two subgroups in the contralesional CST (P=0.23). Compared with contralesional CST, FA of ipsilesional CST decreased in group 1 (P<0.01). These results suggest that the automated method used in our study could detect a surrogate biomarker to quantify the CST after stroke, which would facilitate implementation of clinical practice

Local Magnetic Field Role in Star Formation

We highlight distinct and systematic observational features of magnetic field morphologies in polarized submm dust continuum. We illustrate this with specific examples and show statistical trends from a sample of 50 star-forming regions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; to appear in the EAS Proceedings of the 6th Zermatt ISM Symposium "Conditions and Impact of Star Formation from Lab to Space", September 201

Magnetic monopole induced polarons in atomic superlattices

Magnetic monopoles have been realized as emergent quasiparticles in both condensed matter and ultracold atomic platforms, with growing interests in the coupling effects between the monopole and different magnetic quasiparticles. In this work, interaction effects between monopoles and magnons are investigated for an atomic pseudospin chain. We reveal that the monopole can excite a virtual magnon cloud in the paramagnetic chain, thereby giving rise to a new type of polaron, the monopole-cored polaron (McP). The McP is composed of the monopole as the impurity core and the virtual magnon excitation as the dressing cloud. The magnon dressing facilitates the Dirac string excitation and impacts the monopole hopping. This induces an anti-trapping effect of the McP, which refers to the fact that the dressing enhances the mobility of the McP, in contrast to the self-trapping of the common polarons. Moreover, heterogeneous bipolarons are shown to exist under the simultaneous doping of a north and a south monopole. The heterogeneous bipolaron possesses an inner degree of freedom composed of two identical impurities. Our investigation sheds light on the understanding of how the coupling between the impurity core and the dressing cloud can engineer the property of the polaro

Orderly arranged NLO materials on exfoliated layeredtemplates based on dendrons with alternating moietiesat the periphery†

Nonlinear optical dendrons with alternating terminal groups of the stearyl group (C18) and chromophorewere prepared through a convergent approach. These chromophore-containing dendrons were used asthe intercalating agents for montmorillonite via an ion-exchange process. An orderly exfoliatedmorphology is obtained by mixing the dendritic structure intercalated layered silicates with a polyimide.As a result, optical nonlinearity, i.e. the Pockels effect was observed for these nanocomposites withoutresorting to the poling process. EO coefficients of 9–22 pm V 1 were achieved despite that relativelylow NLO densities were present in the nanocomposites, particularly for the samples comprising thedendrons with alternating moieties. In addition, the hedging effects of the stearyl group on the selfalignmentbehavior, electro-optical (EO) coefficient and temporal stability of the dendron-intercalatedmontmorillonite/polyimide nanocomposites were also investigated

AtHMA4 drives natural variation in leaf Zn concentration of Arabidopsis thaliana

Zinc (Zn) is an essential element for plant growth and development, and Zn derived from crop plants in the diet is also important for human health. Here, we report that genetic variation in Heavy Metal-ATPase 4 (HMA4) controls natural variation in leaf Zn content. Investigation of the natural variation in leaf Zn content in a world-wide collection of 349 Arabidopsis thaliana wild collected accessions identified two accessions, Van-0 and Fab-2, which accumulate significantly lower Zn when compared with Col-0. Both quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis and bulked segregant analysis (BSA) identified HMA4 as a strong candidate accounting for this variation in leaf Zn concentration. Genetic complementation experiments confirmed this hypothesis. Sequence analysis revealed that a 1-bp deletion in the third exon of HMA4 from Fab-2 is responsible for the lose of function of HMA4 driving the low Zn observed in Fab-2. Unlike in Fab-2 polymorphisms in the promoter region were found to be responsible for the weak function of HMA4 in Van-0. This is supported by both an expression analysis of HMA4 in Van-0 and through a series of T-DNA insertion mutants which generate truncated HMA4 promoters in the Col-0 background. In addition, we also observed that Fab-2, Van-0 and the hma4-2 null mutant in the Col-0 background show enhanced resistance to a combination of high Zn and high Cd in the growth medium, raising the possibility that variation at HMA4 may play a role in environmental adaptation

Interferon regulatory factor-1 together with reactive oxygen species promotes the acceleration of cell cycle progression by up-regulating the cyclin E and CDK2 genes during high glucose-induced proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells

BACKGROUND: The high glucose-induced proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) plays an important role in the development of diabetic vascular diseases. In a previous study, we confirmed that Interferon regulatory factor-1 (Irf-1) is a positive regulator of the high glucose-induced proliferation of VSMCs. However, the mechanisms remain to be determined. METHODS: The levels of cyclin/CDK expression in two cell models involving Irf-1 knockdown and overexpression were quantified to explore the relationship between Irf-1 and its downstream effectors under normal or high glucose conditions. Subsequently, cells were treated with high glucose/NAC, normal glucose/H(2)O(2), high glucose/U0126 or normal glucose/H(2)O(2)/U0126 during an incubation period. Then proliferation, cyclin/CDK expression and cell cycle distribution assays were performed to determine whether ROS/Erk1/2 signaling pathway was involved in the Irf-1-induced regulation of VSMC growth under high glucose conditions. RESULTS: We found that Irf-1 overexpression led to down-regulation of cyclin D1/CDK4 and inhibited cell cycle progression in VSMCs under normal glucose conditions. In high glucose conditions, Irf-1 overexpression led to an up-regulation of cyclin E/CDK2 and an acceleration of cell cycle progression, whereas silencing of Irf-1 suppressed the expression of both proteins and inhibited the cell cycle during the high glucose-induced proliferation of VSMCs. Treatment of VSMCs with antioxidants prevented the Irf-1 overexpression-induced proliferation of VSMCs, the up-regulation of cyclin E/CDK2 and the acceleration of cell cycle progression in high glucose conditions. In contrast, under normal glucose conditions, H(2)O(2) stimulation and Irf-1 overexpression induced cell proliferation, up-regulated cyclin E/CDK2 expression and promoted cell cycle acceleration. In addition, overexpression of Irf-1 promoted the activation of Erk1/2 and when VSMCs overexpressing Irf-1 were treated with U0126, the specific Erk1/2 inhibitor abolished the proliferation of VSMCs, the up-regulation of cyclin E/CDK2 and the acceleration of cell cycle progression under high glucose or normal glucose/H(2)O(2) conditions. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that the downstream effectors of Irf-1 are cyclin E/CDK2 during the high glucose-induced proliferation of VSMCs, whereas they are cyclin D1/CDK4 in normal glucose conditions. The Irf-1 overexpression-induced proliferation of VSMCs, the up-regulation of cyclin E/CDK2 and the acceleration of cell cycle progression are associated with ROS/Erk1/2 signaling pathway under high glucose conditions