A Lumber Missionary in Central America

Armed with that most necessary and important of all credentials, a vaccination certificate, and orders to make a survey of the Central American market in the interest of west coast lumber, the writer landed at Puerto Barrios, Guatemala, in early January of 1928. In only a most innocent way could I have been as happy as I was to leave the good old United Fruit steamer from New Orleans, for, while the next three months’ experiences were to be ones of interest at all times, they were also to be ones in which I experienced many kinds of travel, all bad

Electrostatic extraction of cold molecules from a cryogenic reservoir

We present a method which delivers a continuous, high-density beam of slow and internally cold polar molecules. In our source, warm molecules are first cooled by collisions with a cryogenic helium buffer gas. Cold molecules are then extracted by means of an electrostatic quadrupole guide. For ND$_3$ the source produces fluxes up to $(7 \pm ^{7}_{4}) \times 10^{10}$ molecules/s with peak densities up to $(1.0 \pm ^{1.0}_{0.6}) \times 10^9$ molecules/cm$^3$. For H$_2$CO the population of rovibrational states is monitored by depletion spectroscopy, resulting in single-state populations up to $(82 \pm 10)$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, changes to the text, updated figures and reference

Chemoenzymatic Probes for Detecting and Imaging Fucose-α(1-2)-galactose Glycan Biomarkers

The disaccharide motif fucose-α(1-2)-galactose (Fucα(1-2)Gal) is involved in many important physiological processes, such as learning and memory, inflammation, asthma, and tumorigenesis. However, the size and structural complexity of Fucα(1-2)Gal-containing glycans have posed a significant challenge to their detection. We report a new chemoenzymatic strategy for the rapid, sensitive detection of Fucα(1-2)Gal glycans. We demonstrate that the approach is highly selective for the Fucα(1-2)Gal motif, detects a variety of complex glycans and glycoproteins, and can be used to profile the relative abundance of the motif on live cells, discriminating malignant from normal cells. This approach represents a new potential strategy for biomarker detection and expands the technologies available for understanding the roles of this important class of carbohydrates in physiology and disease

Magnetic Anisotropy and Relaxation of Pseudotetrahedral [N2O2] Bis Chelate Cobalt II Single Ion Magnets Controlled by Dihedral Twist Through Solvomorphism

The methanol solvomorph 1 amp; 8201; amp; 8901; amp; 8201;2MeOH of the cobalt II complex [Co LSal,2 amp; 8722;Ph 2] 1 with the sterically demanding Schiff base ligand 2 [1,1 amp; 8242; biphenyl] 2 ylimino methyl phenol HLSal,2 amp; 8722;Ph shows the thus far largest dihedral twist distortion between the two chelate planes compared to an ideal pseudotetrahedral arrangement. The cobalt II ion in 1 amp; 8201; amp; 8901; amp; 8201;2MeOH exhibits an easy axis anisotropy leading to a spin reversal barrier of 55.3 amp; 8197;cm amp; 8722;1, which corresponds to an increase of about 17 amp; 8201; induced by the larger dihedral twist compared to the solvent free complex 1. The magnetic relaxation for 1 amp; 8201; amp; 8901; amp; 8201;2MeOH is significantly slower compared to 1. An in depth frequency domain Fourier transform FD FT THz EPR study not only allowed the direct measurement of the magnetic transition between the two lowest Kramers doublets for the cobalt II complexes, but also revealed the presence of spin phonon coupling. Interestingly, a similar dihedral twist correlation is also observed for a second pair of cobalt II based solvomorphs, which could be benchmarked by FD FT THz EP

Microsystem Technology for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)

AbstractAAL is certainly an application area with sensor as well as actuator needs. Some of the requirements can be fulfilled by state of the art technology; some areas however still need a lot of R&D efforts for potential applications in homes. The contribution describes two areas of interest and actual development: One is the topic of robust fire detection; the other domain is fall detection. For both application areas one has to understand both the state of the art and the drawbacks of the current solutions. One can state clearly that there is a huge potential for the development of new microsystems. Still one has to keep in mind that usage in elderly homes also requires consent and cooperation of the users which is the focus of the user centered design principle

Bismuth coating of non-tunneled haemodialysis catheters reduces bacterial colonization: a randomized controlled trial

Background. Haemodialysis (HD) catheter-related blood stream infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with acute and chronic renal failure

Thermotropic phase behavior and headgroup interactions of the nonbilayer lipids phosphatidylethanolamine and monogalactosyldiacylglycerol in the dry state

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although biological membranes are organized as lipid bilayers, they contain a substantial fraction of lipids that have a strong tendency to adopt a nonlamellar, most often inverted hexagonal (H_II) phase. The polymorphic phase behavior of such nonbilayer lipids has been studied previously with a variety of methods in the fully hydrated state or at different degrees of dehydration. Here, we present a study of the thermotropic phase behavior of the nonbilayer lipids egg phosphatidylethanolamine (EPE) and monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) with a focus on interactions between the lipid molecules in the interfacial and headgroup regions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Liposomes were investigated in the dry state by Fourier-transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Dry EPE showed a gel to liquid-crystalline phase transition below 0°C and a liquid-crystalline to H_IItransition at 100°C. MGDG, on the other hand, was in the liquid-crystalline phase down to -30°C and showed a nonbilayer transition at about 85°C. Mixtures (1:1 by mass) with two different phosphatidylcholines (PC) formed bilayers with no evidence for nonbilayer transitions up to 120°C. FTIR spectroscopy revealed complex interactions between the nonbilayer lipids and PC. Strong H-bonding interactions occurred between the sugar headgroup of MGDG and the phosphate, carbonyl and choline groups of PC. Similarly, the ethanolamine moiety of EPE was H-bonded to the carbonyl and choline groups of PC and probably interacted through charge pairing with the phosphate group.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provides a comprehensive characterization of dry membranes containing the two most important nonbilayer lipids (PE and MGDG) in living cells. These data will be of particular relevance for the analysis of interactions between membranes and low molecular weight solutes or soluble proteins that are presumably involved in cellular protection during anhydrobiosis.</p