Effects of Imprinting and Water Activity on Transesterification and Thermostability with Lipases in Ionic Liquid

The effect of bio-imprinting and water activity on catalytic activities and the thermostability of lipases was investigated for transesterification using vinyl acetate and benzyl alcohol as substrates in ionic liquid, [Cnmim][PF6] (n=4,6,8), and benzene. The catalytic activities were enhanced by imprinting in benzene and [C4mim][PF6], and the relations between the transesterification activities and the water activity in both solvents were approximately bell shaped. The reactivity of the transesterification in benzene was higher than that in [C4mim][PF6]. The effects of water activity and imprinting on the kinetic parameters in [C4mim][PF6] were examined. Without controlling the water content, the values of Km,VA and Km,BA (Michaelis constants of vinyl acetate and benzyl alcohol, respectively) decreased, and the values of Vm (maximum rate) increased by imprinting. On the other hand, by controlling the water content in the organic media, the values of Vm, Km,VA, and Km,BA increased by imprinting. The activities of lipase in ionic liquid are more strongly affected by water activity and imprinting than those in benzene. We observed effects of water activity on thermostability but none from imprinting. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Superconducting state in the non-centrosymmetric Mg_{9.3}Ir_{19}B_{16.7} and Mg_{10.5}Ir_{19}B_{17.1} revealed by NMR

We report ^{11}B NMR measurements in non-centrosymmetric superconductors Mg_{9.3}Ir_{19}B_{16.7} (T_c=5.8 K) and Mg_{10.5}Ir_{19}B_{17.1} (T_c=4.8 K). The spin lattice relaxation rate and the Knight shift indicate that the Cooper pairs are predominantly in the spin-singlet state with an isotropic gap. However, Mg_{10.5}Ir_{19}B_{17.1} is found to have more defects and the spin susceptibility remains finite even in the zero-temperature limit. We interpret this result as that the defects enhance the spin-orbit coupling and bring about more spin-triplet component.Comment: for a proper, high-resolution Fig.5, contact the corresponding autho

Research on the Prolonged Effect of Physical Education Class on University Students: Effect Verification of the Intervention Program

Abstract The purpose of this study was to verify the prolonged effect of the intervention program on university students in physical education class. Subjects were 211 university students who participated in physical education class. The intervention group is comprised of 81 students (40 males, 41 females), and the control group is comprised of 128 students (80 males, 48 females). All data were obtained through questionnaires. The questionnaires consisted of personal characteristics, skills relating to bachelor's degree ability (communication skill, teamwork skill, problem-solving skill, leadership skill), and exercise behavior (the stage of exercise behavior change, self-efficacy for exercise, decisional balance). The questionnaire data were obtained "at the beginning of the semester (pre)", "at the end of the semester (post)", and "two years after the end of the semester (the two-year follow-up)". Communication program and behavior change skills were applied to the intervention group. The main finding was that the stage of exercise behavior changed in the intervention group. Comparing "pre" with "post", the ratio of students with improved stage was 51.8%; the ratio of students who maintained their stage was 37.3%; and the ratio of students whose stage worsened was 10.8%. Additionally, comparing "post" with "the two-year follow-up", the ratio of students with improved stage was 19.3%; the ratio of students who maintained their stage was 43.4%; and the ratio of students whose stage worsened was 37.3%. The results of twoway repeated measures ANOVA (group-time) showed that there were significant interactions for S. Nakayama et al. 248 "perceived benefits of exercise (Pros)", "decoding skill", "properly transmitted skill", "teamwork skill", and "leadership skill". The results of one-way repeated measures ANOVA showed that "properly transmitted skill", "teamwork skill", and "leadership skill" significantly increased on account of the intervention program post and at the two-year follow-up. These results indicate that the intervention program on university students, which consists of a communication program and behavior change skills, was partly effective for improving skills relating to bachelor's degree ability two years after the end of semester

Size-controlled quantum dots reveal the impact of intraband transitions on high-order harmonic generation in solids

Since the discovery of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) in solids1,2,3, much effort has been devoted to understand its generation mechanism and both inter- and intraband transitions are known to be essential1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. However, intraband transitions are affected by the electronic structure of a solid, and how they contribute to nonlinear carrier generation and HHG remains an open question. Here we use mid-infrared laser pulses to study HHG in CdSe and CdS quantum dots, where quantum confinement can be used to control the intraband transitions. We find that both HHG intensity per excited volume and generated carrier density increase when the average quantum dot size is increased from about 2 to 3 nm. We show that the reduction in sub-bandgap energy in larger quantum dots enhances intraband transitions, and this—in turn—increases the rate of photocarrier injection by coupling with interband transitions, resulting in enhanced HHG

Magnetic Properties of Ab initio Model for Iron-Based Superconductors LaFeAsO

By using variational Monte Carlo method, we examine an effective low-energy model for LaFeAsO derived from an ab initio downfolding scheme. We show that quantum and many-body fluctuations near a quantum critical point largely reduce the antiferromagnetic (AF) ordered moment and the model not only quantitatively reproduces the small ordered moment in LaFeAsO, but also explains the diverse dependence on LaFePO, BaFe2As2 and FeTe. We also find that LaFeAsO is under large orbital fluctuations, sandwiched by the AF Mott insulator and weakly correlated metals. The orbital fluctuations and Dirac-cone dispersion hold keys for the diverse magnetic properties.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Effects of Long-Range Correlations on Nonmagnetic Mott Transitions in Hubbard model on Square Lattice

The mechanism of Mott transition in the Hubbard model on the square lattice is studied without explicit introduction of magnetic and superconducting correlations, using a variational Monte Carlo method. In the trial wave functions, we consider various types of binding factors between a doubly-occupied site (doublon, D) and an empty site (holon, H), like a long-range type as well as a conventional nearest-neighbor type, and add independent long-range D-D (H-H) factors. It is found that a wide choice of D-H binding factor leads to Mott transitions at critical values near the band width. We renew the D-H binding picture of Mott transitions by introducing two characteristic length scales, the D-H binding length l_{DH} and the minimum D-D distance l_{DD}, which we appropriately estimate. A Mott transition takes place at l_{DH}=l_{DD}. In the metallic regime (l_{DH}>l_{DD}), the domains of D-H pairs overlap with one another, thereby doublons and holons can move independently by exchanging the partners one after another. In contrast, the D-D factors give only a minor contribution to the Mott transition.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Using the relationship between brain tissue regional saturation of oxygen and mean arterial pressure to determine the optimal mean arterial pressure in patients following cardiac arrest: A pilot proof-of-concept study.

INTRODUCTION: Prospectively assess cerebral autoregulation and optimal mean arterial pressure (MAPOPT) using the dynamic relationship between MAP and regional saturation of oxygen (rSO2) using near-infrared spectroscopy. METHODS: Feasibility study of twenty patients admitted to the intensive care unit following a cardiac arrest. All patients underwent continuous rSO2 monitoring using the INVOS(®) cerebral oximeter. ICM+(®) brain monitoring software calculates the cerebral oximetry index (COx) in real-time which is a moving Pearson correlation coefficient between 30 consecutive, 10-s averaged values of MAP and correspond rSO2 signals. When rSO2 increases with increasing MAP (COx ≥0.3), cerebral autoregulation is dysfunctional. Conversely, when rSO2 remains constant or decreases with increasing MAP (COx <0.3), autoregulation is preserved. ICM+(®) fits a U-shaped curve through the COx values plotted vs. MAP. The MAPOPT is nadir of this curve. RESULTS: The median age was 59 years (IQR 54-67) and 7 of 20 were female. The cardiac arrest was caused by myocardial infarction in 12 (60%) patients. Nineteen arrests were witnessed and return of spontaneous circulation occurred in a median of 15.5min (IQR 8-33). Patients underwent a median of 30h (IQR 23-46) of monitoring. COx curves and MAPOPT were generated in all patients. The mean overall MAP and MAPOPT were 76mmHg (SD 10) and 76mmHg (SD 7), respectively. MAP was outside of 5mmHg from MAPOPT in 50% (SD 15) of the time. Out of the 7672 5-min averaged COx measurements, 1182 (15%) were at 0.3 or above, indicating absence of autoregulation. Multivariable polynomial fractional regression demonstrated an increase in COx with increasing temperature (P=0.008). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated the feasibility to determine a MAPOPT using cerebral oximetry in patients after cardiac arrest

A Novel Unsupervised Method to Identify Genes Important in the Anti-viral Response: Application to Interferon/Ribavirin in Hepatitis C Patients

Background: Treating hepatitis C with interferon/ribavirin results in a varied response in terms of decrease in viral titer and ultimate outcome. Marked responders have a sharp decline in viral titer within a few days of treatment initiation, whereas in other patients there is no effect on the virus (poor responders). Previous studies have shown that combination therapy modifies expression of hundreds of genes in vitro and in vivo. However, identifying which, if any, of these genes have a role in viral clearance remains challenging. Aims: The goal of this paper is to link viral levels with gene expression and thereby identify genes that may be responsible for early decrease in viral titer. Methods: Microarrays were performed on RNA isolated from PBMC of patients undergoing interferon/ribavirin therapy. Samples were collected at pre-treatment (day 0), and 1, 2, 7, 14 and 28 days after initiating treatment. A novel method was applied to identify genes that are linked to a decrease in viral titer during interferon/ribavirin treatment. The method uses the relationship between inter-patient gene expression based proximities and inter-patient viral titer based proximities to define the association between microarray gene expression measurements of each gene and viral-titer measurements. Results: We detected 36 unique genes whose expressions provide a clustering of patients that resembles viral titer based clustering of patients. These genes include IRF7, MX1, OASL and OAS2, viperin and many ISG's of unknown function. Conclusion: The genes identified by this method appear to play a major role in the reduction of hepatitis C virus during the early phase of treatment. The method has broad utility and can be used to analyze response to any group of factors influencing biological outcome such as antiviral drugs or anti-cancer agents where microarray data are available. © 2007 Brodsky et al