Neutral and Cationic Bis-Chelate Monoorganosilicon(IV) Complexes of 1-Hydroxy-2-pyridinone

A series of spirocyclic monoorganosilicon compounds of the form RSi(OPO)2Cl [R = phenyl (1); p-tolyl (2); benzyl (3); Me (4); tBu (5); thexyl (6)] (OPO = 1-oxo-2-pyridinone) was synthesized and characterized by 1H , 13C, and 29Si NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and elemental analysis. In the solid state, complexes 1, 2, and 3 are neutral and possess cis-OPO ligands in an octahedral arrangement, and complexes 4, 5, and 6 are cationic and possess effectively trans­-OPO ligands in nearly ideal square pyramidal geometries along the Berry-pseudorotation coordinate. In 4-6, chloride dissociation is attributed to the additive effect of multiple intermolecular C—H∙∙∙Cl interactions in their crystals. In DMSO-d6 solution, compounds 1-6 form cationic hexacoordinate DMSO adducts with trans-OPO ligands, all of which undergo dynamic isomerization with energy barriers of ~18-19 kcal/mol. Compounds with better leaving groups, (p-tolyl)Si(OPO)2X [X = I (7); X = triflate (8)], exhibit identical solution NMR spectra as 2, supporting anion dissociation in each. The fluoride derivatives RSi(OPO)2F [R = benzyl (9); Me (10)] exhibit hexacoordinate geometries with cis­-OPO ligands in the solid state and exhibit dynamic isomerization in solution. Overall, these studies indicate, in both the solid and solution states, that the trans-OPO ligand arrangement is favored when anions are dissociated and a cis­-OPO ligand arrangement when anions are coordinated

Chelation and Stereodynamic Equilibria in Neutral Hypercoordinate Organosilicon Complexes of 1-Hydroxy-2-pyridinone

A series of neutral organosilicon compounds, R3Si(OPO) [R = Me (1), Et (2), Ph (3)], cis-R2Si(OPO)2 [R = Me (4), Et (5), iPr (6), tBu (7), Ph (9)], (CH2)3Si(OPO)2 (8), and cis-R2Si(OPO)Cl [R = Me (10), Et (11)] (OPO = 1-oxo-2-pyridinone) have been prepared and fully characterized. X-ray crystallographic analyses show 1 to be tetracoordinate, 3, 7, and 10 to be pentacoordinate, and 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 to be hexacoordinate. In the hexacoordinate structures, a mixture of diastereomers is observed in the form of C/N site disorder in each OPO ligand. Variable-temperature 13C and 29Si NMR studies indicate reversible Si←OC bond dissociation occurring in all pentacoordinate and hexacoordinate complexes to a varying degree with greater tendency toward dissociation in hydrogen-bonding donor solvents. Significant weakening of the dative Si←OC bond in 3 is observed in the co-crystallized adduct solvate, 3·Ph3SiOH·½C5H12, providing structural evidence for the decrease in coordination number of the OPO ligand by hydrogen-bonding donors. In the hexacoordinate complexes, increasing steric bulk of ancillary ligands also was found to promote dissociation. 1H and 13C VT-NMR studies of 4, 6, 8, and 9 indicate stereoisomerization equilibria concurrent with Si←OC bond dissociation proposed to occur through trigonal bipyramidal intermediates.

Electromigration-Induced Propagation of Nonlinear Surface Waves

Due to the effects of surface electromigration, waves can propagate over the free surface of a current-carrying metallic or semiconducting film of thickness h_0. In this paper, waves of finite amplitude, and slow modulations of these waves, are studied. Periodic wave trains of finite amplitude are found, as well as their dispersion relation. If the film material is isotropic, a wave train with wavelength lambda is unstable if lambda/h_0 < 3.9027..., and is otherwise marginally stable. The equation of motion for slow modulations of a finite amplitude, periodic wave train is shown to be the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. As a result, envelope solitons can travel over the film's surface.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Optimized loading of an optical dipole trap for the production of Chromium BECs

We report on a strategy to maximize the number of chromium atoms transferred from a magneto-optical trap into an optical trap through accumulation in metastable states via strong optical pumping. We analyse how the number of atoms in a chromium Bose Einstein condensate can be raised by a proper handling of the metastable state populations. Four laser diodes have been implemented to address the four levels that are populated during the MOT phase. The individual importance of each state is specified. To stabilize two of our laser diode, we have developed a simple ultrastable passive reference cavity whose long term stability is better than 1 MHz

Chromatic Illumination Discrimination Ability Reveals that Human Colour Constancy Is Optimised for Blue Daylight Illuminations

The phenomenon of colour constancy in human visual perception keeps surface colours constant, despite changes in their reflected light due to changing illumination. Although colour constancy has evolved under a constrained subset of illuminations, it is unknown whether its underlying mechanisms, thought to involve multiple components from retina to cortex, are optimised for particular environmental variations. Here we demonstrate a new method for investigating colour constancy using illumination matching in real scenes which, unlike previous methods using surface matching and simulated scenes, allows testing of multiple, real illuminations. We use real scenes consisting of solid familiar or unfamiliar objects against uniform or variegated backgrounds and compare discrimination performance for typical illuminations from the daylight chromaticity locus (approximately blue-yellow) and atypical spectra from an orthogonal locus (approximately red-green, at correlated colour temperature 6700 K), all produced in real time by a 10-channel LED illuminator. We find that discrimination of illumination changes is poorer along the daylight locus than the atypical locus, and is poorest particularly for bluer illumination changes, demonstrating conversely that surface colour constancy is best for blue daylight illuminations. Illumination discrimination is also enhanced, and therefore colour constancy diminished, for uniform backgrounds, irrespective of the object type. These results are not explained by statistical properties of the scene signal changes at the retinal level. We conclude that high-level mechanisms of colour constancy are biased for the blue daylight illuminations and variegated backgrounds to which the human visual system has typically been exposed

Skunk River Review September 1990, vol 2

https://openspace.dmacc.edu/skunkriver/1005/thumbnail.jp

Regulation of the High Affinity IgE Receptor (FcεRI) in Human Neutrophils: Role of Seasonal Allergen Exposure and Th-2 Cytokines

The high affinity IgE receptor, FcεRI, plays a key role in the immunological pathways involved in allergic asthma. Previously we have demonstrated that human neutrophils isolated from allergic asthmatics express a functional FcεRI, and therefore it was of importance to examine the factors regulating its expression. In this study, we found that neutrophils from allergic asthmatics showed increased expression of FcεRI-α chain surface protein, total protein and mRNA compared with those from allergic non asthmatics and healthy donors (p<0.001). Interestingly, in neutrophils isolated from allergic asthmatics, FcεRI-α chain surface protein and mRNA expression were significantly greater during the pollen season than outside the pollen season (n = 9, P = 0.001), an effect which was not observed either in the allergic non asthmatic group or the healthy donors (p>0.05). Allergen exposure did not affect other surface markers of neutrophils such as CD16/FcγRIII or IL-17R. In contrast to stimulation with IgE, neutrophils incubated with TH2 cytokines IL-9, GM-CSF, and IL-4, showed enhanced FcεRI-α chain surface expression. In conclusion, these results suggest that enhanced FcεRI expression in human neutrophils from allergic asthmatics during the pollen season can make them more susceptible to the biological effects of IgE, providing a possible new mechanism by which neutrophils contribute to allergic asthma

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is associated with a variant in low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality and has a significant heritability. We carried out a genome-wide association discovery study of 1866 patients with AAA and 5435 controls and replication of promising signals (lead SNP with a p value &lt; 1 × 10-5) in 2871 additional cases and 32,687 controls and performed further follow-up in 1491 AAA and 11,060 controls. In the discovery study, nine loci demonstrated association with AAA (p &lt; 1 × 10-5). In the replication sample, the lead SNP at one of these loci, rs1466535, located within intron 1 of low-density-lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) demonstrated significant association (p = 0.0042). We confirmed the association of rs1466535 and AAA in our follow-up study (p = 0.035). In a combined analysis (6228 AAA and 49182 controls), rs1466535 had a consistent effect size and direction in all sample sets (combined p = 4.52 × 10-10, odds ratio 1.15 [1.10-1.21]). No associations were seen for either rs1466535 or the 12q13.3 locus in independent association studies of coronary artery disease, blood pressure, diabetes, or hyperlipidaemia, suggesting that this locus is specific to AAA. Gene-expression studies demonstrated a trend toward increased LRP1 expression for the rs1466535 CC genotype in arterial tissues; there was a significant (p = 0.029) 1.19-fold (1.04-1.36) increase in LRP1 expression in CC homozygotes compared to TT homozygotes in aortic adventitia. Functional studies demonstrated that rs1466535 might alter a SREBP-1 binding site and influence enhancer activity at the locus. In conclusion, this study has identified a biologically plausible genetic variant associated specifically with AAA, and we suggest that this variant has a possible functional role in LRP1 expression.</p

Genome-wide interaction study of a proxy for stress-sensitivity and its prediction of major depressive disorder

Individual response to stress is correlated with neuroticism and is an important predictor of both neuroticism and the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD). Identification of the genetics underpinning individual differences in response to negative events (stress-sensitivity) may improve our understanding of the molecular pathways involved, and its association with stress-related illnesses. We sought to generate a proxy for stress-sensitivity through modelling the interaction between SNP allele and MDD status on neuroticism score in order to identify genetic variants that contribute to the higher neuroticism seen in individuals with a lifetime diagnosis of depression compared to unaffected individuals. Meta-analysis of genome-wide interaction studies (GWIS) in UK Biobank (N = 23,092) and Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (N = 7,155) identified no genome-wide significance SNP interactions. However, gene-based tests identified a genome-wide significant gene, ZNF366, a negative regulator of glucocorticoid receptor function implicated in alcohol dependence (p = 1.48x10-7; Bonferroni-corrected significance threshold p < 2.79x10-6). Using summary statistics from the stress-sensitivity term of the GWIS, SNP heritability for stress-sensitivity was estimated at 5.0%. In models fitting polygenic risk scores of both MDD and neuroticism derived from independent GWAS, we show that polygenic risk scores derived from the UK Biobank stress-sensitivity GWIS significantly improved the prediction of MDD in Generation Scotland. This study may improve interpretation of larger genome-wide association studies of MDD and other stress-related illnesses, and the understanding of the etiological mechanisms underpinning stress-sensitivity