A TR ESR Study of the Quenching of Photoexcited Dioxouranium (VI) Salts by Stable Nitroxyl Free Radicals

TR ESR spectroscopy was applied to the study of the quenching of excited dioxouranium (VI) (uranyl) nitrate and sulfate by stable nitroxyl radicals of the 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) family. Photoexcitation of uranyl in solutions of alcohols of moderate viscosity (η = 3-10 cP) in the presence of TEMPO leads to CIDEP signals of TEMPO due to a radical triplet pair mechanism (RTPM). Polarized nitroxyls were also observed in solutions of polyelectrolyte sodium poly(styrenesulfonate), NaPSS, in the presence of the nitroxyl with a positively charged trimethylammonium group. Photolysis of uranyl salts in solutions of alcohols leads to the generation of free radicals of alcohols. No CIDEP of these radicals was observed, distinguishing U2 2+* from its organic analog, the triplet benzophenone. The probable reason for the lack of polarization in uranyl photoreduction reactions is the difficult access of free radicals to the U atom of the solvated radical UO2+ (V); this atom bears the unpaired electron. The role of polyelectrolytes in the enhancement of the quenching of excited states is discussed. Results are in agreement with the statement that photoexcited uranyl has a triplet multiplicity

Polyurethane Nanocomposites

This review describes the present state of science and technology of photopolymerizable (UV-curable) polyurethane (PU) nanocomposites which include nanosilica and organically-modified clay (organoclay). A number of documented improvements of properties of PU nanocomposites compared to the pristine PU are presented. Many data on the structure and properties of PU nanocomposites were obtained not only for UV-cured urethane acrylate oligomers, but also for nanocomposites produced in the dark reactions. These data are critically reviewed. There is an expectation in the field of dramatic improvement of properties of PU nanocomposites under low loading (1-5 wt%) of organoclay

Magnetic and spin effects in the photoinitiation of polymerization

Application of a moderate external magnetic field increases the efficiency of triplet photoinitiators of polymerization. The reasons for this observation are briefly outlined. Such well-documented magnetic and spin effects as the magnetic isotope effect (MIE) and chemically induced dynamic nuclear and electron polarization (CIDNP and CIDEP) have been observed under the photolysis of photoinitiators. CIDEP results are emphasized. The study of CIDEP under the photolysis of initiators allows the detection and identification of free radicals of initiators and the spin multiplicity of the reacting photoinitiator (triplet or singlet). The transfer of the spin polarization of the initiator free radical to monomers is a promising technique for following radical reaction pathways. The results of a CIDEP study of the sensitized decomposition of phosphine oxide photoinitiators are presented

Blubber Transciptome Response to Acute Stress Axis Activation Involves Transient Charges in Adipogenesis and Lipolysis in Fast-Adapted Marine Mammal

Stress can compromise an animal\u27s ability to conserve metabolic stores and participate in energy-demanding activities that are critical for fitness. Understanding how wild animals, especially those already experiencing physiological extremes (e.g. fasting), regulate stress responses is critical for evaluating the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on physiology and fitness, key challenges for conservation. However, studies of stress in wildlife are often limited to baseline endocrine measurements and few have investigated stress effects in fasting-adapted species. We examined downstream molecular consequences of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation by exogenous adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) in blubber of northern elephant seals due to the ease of blubber sampling and its key role in metabolic regulation in marine mammals. We report the first phocid blubber transcriptome produced by RNAseq, containing over 140,000 annotated transcripts, including metabolic and adipocytokine genes of interest. The acute response of blubber to stress axis activation, measured 2 hours after ACTH administration, involved highly specific, transient (lasting \u3c24 \u3ehours) induction of gene networks that promote lipolysis and adipogenesis in mammalian adipocytes. Differentially expressed genes included key adipogenesis factors which can be used as blubber-specific markers of acute stress in marine mammals of concern for which sampling of other tissues is not possible

Efficient error correction and haplotypes reconstruction for deep sequencing of hepatitis c amplicons

Секция 1. Защита информации и компьютерный анализ данныхWe present two new highly efficient pyrosequencing error correction algorithms: (i) k-mer – based error correction (KEC); and (ii) empirical frequency threshold (ET). Both were compared to the recently published clustering algorithm SHORAH to evaluate the relative performance using 24 experimental datasets obtained by 454-sequencing of amplicons with known sequences. We found that all three algorithms showed similar performance in terms of finding true haplotypes, but KEC and ET methods significantly outperformed SHORAH both in terms of their ability to remove false haplotypes and to estimate the frequency of true ones

Projections of the current and future disease burden of hepatitis C virus infection in Malaysia

The prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in Malaysia has been estimated at 2.5% of the adult population. Our objective, satisfying one of the directives of the WHO Framework for Global Action on Viral Hepatitis, was to forecast the HCV disease burden in Malaysia using modelling methods.An age-structured multi-state Markov model was developed to simulate the natural history of HCV infection. We tested three historical incidence scenarios that would give rise to the estimated prevalence in 2009, and calculated the incidence of cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease, and death, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) under each scenario, to the year 2039. In the baseline scenario, current antiviral treatment levels were extended from 2014 to the end of the simulation period. To estimate the disease burden averted under current sustained virological response rates and treatment levels, the baseline scenario was compared to a counterfactual scenario in which no past or future treatment is assumed.In the baseline scenario, the projected disease burden for the year 2039 is 94,900 DALYs/year (95% credible interval (CrI): 77,100 to 124,500), with 2,002 (95% CrI: 1340 to 3040) and 540 (95% CrI: 251 to 1,030) individuals predicted to develop decompensated cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, respectively, in that year. Although current treatment practice is estimated to avert a cumulative total of 2,200 deaths from DC or HCC, a cumulative total of 63,900 HCV-related deaths is projected by 2039.The HCV-related disease burden is already high and is forecast to rise steeply over the coming decades under current levels of antiviral treatment. Increased governmental resources to improve HCV screening and treatment rates and to reduce transmission are essential to address the high projected HCV disease burden in Malaysia

What factors determine the severity of hepatitis A‐related acute liver failure?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87020/1/j.1365-2893.2010.01410.x.pd

Terrestrial birth and body size tune UCP1 functionality in seals

The molecular evolution of the mammalian heater protein UCP1 is a powerful biomarker to understand thermoregulatory strategies during species radiation into extreme climates, such as aquatic life with high thermal conductivity. While fully aquatic mammals lost UCP1, most semiaquatic seals display intact UCP1 genes, apart from large elephant seals. Here, we show that UCP1 thermogenic activity of the small-bodied harbor seal is equally potent compared to terrestrial orthologs, emphasizing its importance for neonatal survival on land. In contrast, elephant seal UCP1 does not display thermogenic activity, not even when translating a repaired or a recently highlighted truncated version. Thus, the thermogenic benefits for neonatal survival during terrestrial birth in semiaquatic pinnipeds maintained evolutionary selection pressure on UCP1 function and were only outweighed by extreme body sizes among elephant seals, fully eliminating UCP1-dependent thermogenesis

The Influence of an External Chromomagnetic Field on Color Superconductivity

We study the competition of quark-antiquark and diquark condensates under the influence of an external chromomagnetic field modelling the gluon condensate and in dependence on the chemical potential and temperature. As our results indicate, an external chromomagnetic field might produce remarkable qualitative changes in the picture of the color superconducting (CSC) phase formation. This concerns, in particular, the possibility of a transition to the CSC phase and diquark condensation at finite temperature.Comment: 27 pages, RevTex, 8 figures; the version accepted for the publication in PRD (few references added; new numerical results added; main conclusions are not changed