Stability of methylnicotinate in aqueous solution as utilized in the 'niacin patch test'

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The topical application of methylnicotinate results in a localized vasodilatatory response which has been found to differ from that observed to occur in healthy controls in a variety of medical conditions. The stability of the drug in aqueous solution is unclear while difficulties can be encountered when preparing methylnicotinate solutions for this purpose. To aid in the determination of how long solutions of the drug should be stored before discarding we have used a collection of aged batches of methylnicotinate to determine the stability of the drug in aqueous solution.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>The degradation of methylnicotinate was determined in batches which had been stored at 4°C for between 5 and 1062 days prior to analysis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. The major degradation product of methylnicotinate was nicotinic acid which formed at an approximate rate of 0.5% of the starting methylnicotinate concentration per annum. Furthermore, the ability of methylnicotinate solutions of different ages to induce vasodilatation was assessed in healthy volunteers. No significant difference in vasodilatatory response was apparent between batches which had been stored for between zero and 1057 days.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Methylnicotinate exhibits excellent chemical and biological stability in solution facilitating its use in clinical applications.</p

A DYNAMIC GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS OF U.S. BIOFUELS PRODUCTION

With the rising global interest in energy security and climate change mitigation, biofuels have gained the prominent attention of researchers and policy makers. The U.S. has emerged as the leading producer of biofuels and is aiming for achieving a target of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022 under its updated renewable fuels standard (RFS2) policy. In this paper, we study the longer-term global implications of large-scale renewable fuels production in the U.S. We utilize the GTAP v7.1 data base and introduce a detailed breakdown of agricultural crops, first and second generation biofuels and by-products. We update this fully disaggregated data base to reflect the 2010 global economy, based on secondary data for the sectors and regions included. We adapt the Applied Dynamic Analysis of Global Economy (ADAGE) model developed by Ross (2009) into a recursive dynamic framework and introduce agriculture, biofuels, and land use linkages. We construct a dynamic baseline from 2010 through 2050 in five-year time steps. The dynamics in the model comes from growth in GDP, population, capital accumulation, labor productivity, growth in natural resource stocks, and technological changes in the energy intensive and agricultural sectors. We implement a representative RFS2 policy scenario in the U.S for 2025, using two alternative approaches: (i) RFS permits approach – which assumes biofuels and petroleum fuels are perfect substitutes after adjusting for energy content, and (ii) Target share of biofuels in transportation fuels approach – which treats biofuels and petroleum fuels as imperfect substitutes. Both approaches offer insights regarding potential policy impacts, particularly on the international market and indirect land use change. Because the share approach keeps the biofuels share fixed in the regions outside the U.S., it does not result in dramatic changes in the rest of the world. In the permits approach, however, the regions without a specific policy requiring a given level of biofuels tend to reduce biofuels consumption. This is a result of the reduction in relative price of petroleum products as U.S. policy increases demand for biofuels and reduces global demand for petroleum, making renewable fuels less cost-competitive in the rest of the world.ADAGE, Biofuels, Computable General Equilibrium, Recursive Dynamic, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Rearrangement of {α-P2W15} to {PW6} moieties during the assembly of transition-metal-linked polyoxometalate clusters

We report the formation of two polyoxotungstates of the general formula [M6(PW6O26)(α-P2W15O56)2(H2O)2]23− (M = CoII or MnII), which contain {PW6} fragments generated from the [P2W15O56]12− precursor, which demonstrates for the first time the transformation of a Dawson lacunae into a Keggin lacunary building block. Solution analysis of the clusters has been conducted via electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry

An electrode design rule for high performance top-illuminated organic photovoltaics

An electrode design rule for high performance top-illuminated bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaics is proposed, that enables the device architecture to be simplified by removing the need for the electron selective layer at the interface with the low work function reflective electrode. This new guideline for electrode design is underpinned by device studies in conjunction with a study of the energetics at the interface between five widely used solution processed organic semiconductors of both electron donor and acceptor type, and a stable low work function reflective substrate electrode. The magnitude and distribution of space charge resulting from ground-state electron transfer from the electrode into each organic semiconductor upon contact formation is derived from direct measurements of the interfacial energetics using the Kelvin probe technique, which enables the variation in potential across the entire film thickness used in the devices to be probed

Inland extent of the Weddell Sea Rift imaged by new aerogeophysical data

Peer reviewedPostprin

Changes in vitamin biomarkers during a 2-year intervention trial involving increased fruit and vegetable consumption by free-living volunteers

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Spin correlations in Ca3Co2O6: A polarised-neutron diffraction and Monte Carlo study

We present polarised-neutron diffraction measurements of the Ising-like spin-chain compound Ca3Co2O6 above and below the magnetic ordering temperature TN. Below TN, a clear evolution from a single-phase spin-density wave (SDW) structure to a mixture of SDW and commensurate antiferromagnet (CAFM) structures is observed on cooling. For a rapidly-cooled sample, the majority phase at low temperature is the SDW, while if the cooling is performed sufficiently slowly, then the SDW and the CAFM structure coexist between 1.5 and 10 K. Above TN, we use Monte Carlo methods to analyse the magnetic diffuse scattering data. We show that both intra- and inter-chain correlations persist above TN, but are essentially decoupled. Intra-chain correlations resemble the ferromagnetic Ising model, while inter-chain correlations resemble the frustrated triangular-lattice antiferromagnet. Using previously-published bulk property measurements and our neutron diffraction data, we obtain values of the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions and the single-ion anisotropy.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Squark and slepton masses as probes of supersymmetric SO(10) unification

We carry out an analysis of the non-universal supersymmetry breaking scalar masses arising in SO(10) supersymmetric unification. By considering patterns of squark and slepton masses, we derive a set of sum rules for the sfermion masses which are independent of the manner in which SO(10) breaks to the Standard Model gauge group via its SU(5) subgroups. The phenomenology arising from such non-universality is unaffected by the symmetry breaking pattern, so long as the breaking occurs via any of the SU(5) subgroups of the SO(10) group.Comment: 15 pages using RevTe