Mineral Preservatives in the Wood of Stradivari and Guarneri

Following the futile efforts of generations to reach the high standard of excellence achieved by the luthiers in Cremona, Italy, by variations of design and plate tuning, current interest is being focused on differences in material properties. The long-standing question whether the wood of Stradivari and Guarneri were treated with wood preservative materials could be answered only by the examination of wood specimens from the precious antique instruments. In a recent communication (Nature, 2006), we reported about the degradation of the wood polymers in instruments of Stradivari and Guarneri, which could be explained only by chemical manipulations, possibly by preservatives. The aim of the current work was to identify the minerals from the small samples of the maple wood which were available to us from the antique instruments. The ashes of wood from one violin and one cello by Stradivari, two violins by Guarneri, one viola by H. Jay, one violin by Gand-Bernardel were analyzed and compared with a variety of commercial tone woods. The methods of analysis were the following: back-scattered electron imaging, X-ray fluorescence maps for individual elements, wave-length dispersive spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and quantitative microprobe analysis. All four Cremonese instruments showed the unmistakable signs of chemical treatments in the form of chemicals which are not present in natural woods, such as BaSO4, CaF2, borate, and ZrSiO4. In addition to these, there were also changes in the common wood minerals. Statistical evaluation of 12 minerals by discriminant analysis revealed: a. a difference among all four Cremona instruments, b. the difference of the Cremonese instruments from the French and English antiques, and c. only the Cremonese instruments differed from all commercial woods. These findings may provide the answer why all attempts to recreate the Stradivarius from natural wood have failed. There are many obvious implications with regard to how the green tone wood should be treated, which chould lead to changes in the practice of violin-making. This research should inspire others to analyze more antique violins for their chemical contents

Panspermia, Past and Present: Astrophysical and Biophysical Conditions for the Dissemination of Life in Space

Astronomically, there are viable mechanisms for distributing organic material throughout the Milky Way. Biologically, the destructive effects of ultraviolet light and cosmic rays means that the majority of organisms arrive broken and dead on a new world. The likelihood of conventional forms of panspermia must therefore be considered low. However, the information content of dam-aged biological molecules might serve to seed new life (necropanspermia).Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Review

Method for treating hyperbilirubinemia

Methods and preparations for treating hyperbilirubinemia utilizing chitosan salts as the active agent. A method of preparing the chitosan salts for oral administration in a liquid carrier is disclosed.U

Method for treating hyperbilirubinemia

Methods and preparations for treating hyperbilirubinemia utilizing chitosan salts as the active agent. A method of preparing the chitosan salts for oral administration in a liquid carrier is disclosed.U

Synthesis and properties of some cyclic AMP alkyl phosphotriesters

Cyclic AMP was converted to its phosphotriesters according to the classical approach of phosphate activation with a sulfonyl chloride, followed by esterification with an alcohol. The methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl and cetyl triesters were prepared, and some of their physical-chemical properties determined. Alkaline hydrolysis of these alkyl phosphotriesters resulted predominantly in ring opening. On the other hand, nucleophilic attack by thiourea led to the formation of cAMP as the main product. The conclusion can be drawn from these results that cAMP phosphotriesters could serve as suitable storage forms of cAMP, and cyclic triesters may be the best vehicle of transporting nucleotides through biological membranes