Analysis of imatinib in bone marrow and plasma samples of chronic myeloid leukaemia patients using solid phase extraction LC-ESI-MS

The LC-ESI-MS was developed and validated for the analysis of imatinib in plasma and bone marrow samples using deuterated imatinib (D(8)-IM) as an internal standard. The biological samples were extracted using Strata-X-C SPE cartridges and separated on C<sub>8</sub> column (50 x 3 mm, 3 µm), and methanol: 0.1% formic acid (70:30) was delivered at the rate of 0.7 ml/min as a mobile phase. Imatinib was quantified in samples by monitoring the ions m/z 494.3 for imatinib and 502.3 for D<sub>8</sub>-imatinib on mass spectrometer. The method was linear in the concentration range of 1-1500 ng/250 µl in spiked human plasma samples and limit of quantification was 5 ng/mL. Inter-day and intra-day variations in spiked human plasma spiked with 50, 250 and 500 ng /mL were less than 3.16%. The repeatability and reproducibility and other parameters of the methods were also validated. The method was employed for the analysis of the imatinib in human plasma and bone marrow samples. The drug levels in bone marrow and plasma samples were correlated to the degree of cytogenetic response. No significant difference of imatinib level between blood and bone marrow in IM-treated patients dosed to steady state was observed

The BRAHMS ring imaging Cherenkov detector

A Ring Imaging \v{C}erenkov detector built for the BRAHMS experiment at the Brookhaven RHIC is described. This detector has a high index of refraction gas radiator. \v{C}erenkov light is focused on a photo-multiplier based photon detector with a large spherical mirror. The combination of momentum and ring radius measurement provides particle identification from 2.5 GeV/c up to 35 GeV/c for pions and kaons and well above 40 GeV/c for protons during runs that had the radiator index of refraction set at $n-1=1700 \times 10^{-6}$

Test-Retest Reliability of the SWAY Balance Mobile Application

The SWAY Balance Mobile Application is an FDA-cleared balance testing system which uses the built-in tri-axial accelerometers of a mobile electronic device to objectively assess postural movement. The system was designed to provide a means of quantitative balance assessment in clinical and on-field environments. The purpose of this study was to determine the intrasession and intersession reliability, as well as the minimum difference to be considered real, of the SWAY Balance Mobile Application

Dynamic user authentication based on mouse movements curves

In this paper we describe a behavioural biometric approach to authenticate users dynamically based on mouse movements only and using regular mouse devices. Unlike most of the previous approaches in this domain, we focus here on the properties of the curves generated from the consecutive mouse positions during typical mouse movements. Our underlying hypothesis is that these curves have enough discriminative information to recognize users. We conducted an experiment to test and validate our model in which ten participants are involved. Back propagation neural network is used as a classifier. Our experimental results show that behavioural information with discriminating features is revealed during normal mouse usage, which can be employed for user modeling for various reasons, such as information assets protection

Cu NMR Study of Detwinned Single Crystals of Ortho--II YBCO6.5

Copper NMR has been used as a local probe of the oxygen ordering in Ortho--II YBa2Cu3O6.5 crystals grown in BaZrO3 crucibles. Line assignments have been made to each of the expected crystallographically inequivalent sites. The presence of distinct and narrow lines for these sites as well as the lack of a line known to be associated with oxygen defects indicates that these crystals are highly stoichiometric. Our estimate of the lower limit on the chain length is consistent with that derived from X-ray diffraction measurements. In addition, we have found no evidence for static magnetic moments, in contrast to some previous results.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Physica

Entanglement and Timing-Based Mechanisms in the Coherent Control of Scattering Processes

The coherent control of scattering processes is considered, with electron impact dissociation of H$_2^+$ used as an example. The physical mechanism underlying coherently controlled stationary state scattering is exposed by analyzing a control scenario that relies on previously established entanglement requirements between the scattering partners. Specifically, initial state entanglement assures that all collisions in the scattering volume yield the desirable scattering configuration. Scattering is controlled by preparing the particular internal state wave function that leads to the favored collisional configuration in the collision volume. This insight allows coherent control to be extended to the case of time-dependent scattering. Specifically, we identify reactive scattering scenarios using incident wave packets of translational motion where coherent control is operational and initial state entanglement is unnecessary. Both the stationary and time-dependent scenarios incorporate extended coherence features, making them physically distinct. From a theoretical point of view, this work represents a large step forward in the qualitative understanding of coherently controlled reactive scattering. From an experimental viewpoint, it offers an alternative to entanglement-based control schemes. However, both methods present significant challenges to existing experimental technologies

Abundance Analysis of HE2148-1247, A Star With Extremely Enhanced Neutron Capture Elements

Abundances for 27 elements in the very metal poor dwarf star HE2148-1247 are presented, including many of the neutron capture elements. We establish that HE2148-1247 is a very highly s-process enhanced star with anomalously high Eu as well, Eu/H about half Solar, demonstrating the large addition of heavy nuclei at [Fe/H] = -2.3 dex. Ba and La are enhanced by a somewhat larger factor and reach the solar abundance, while Pb significantly exceeds it. Ba/Eu is ten times the solar r-process ratio but much less than that of the s-process, indicating a substantial r-process addition as well. C and N are also very highly enhanced. We have found that HE2148-1247 is a radial velocity variable. The C, N and the s-process element enhancements thus presumably were produced through mass transfer from a former AGB binary companion. The large enhancement of heavy r-nuclides also requires an additional source as this is far above any inventory in the ISM at such low [Fe/H]. We further hypothesize that accretion onto the white dwarf from the envelope of the star caused accretion induced collapse of the white dwarf, forming a neutron star, which then produced heavy r-nuclides and again contaminated its companion. (abridged)Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal. Companion paper by Qian and Wasserburg follow

Idea-caution before exploitation:the use of cybersecurity domain knowledge to educate software engineers against software vulnerabilities

The transfer of cybersecurity domain knowledge from security experts (‘Ethical Hackers’) to software engineers is discussed in terms of desirability and feasibility. Possible mechanisms for the transfer are critically examined. Software engineering methodologies do not make use of security domain knowledge in its form of vulnerability databases (e.g. CWE, CVE, Exploit DB), which are therefore not appropriate for this purpose. An approach based upon the improved use of pattern languages that encompasses security domain knowledge is proposed

Absolute Free Energy of Binding Calculations for Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor in Complex with a Druglike Inhibitor

Calculation of the absolute free energy of binding (ΔGbind) for a complex in solution is challenging owing to the need for adequate configurational sampling and an accurate energetic description, typically with a force field (FF). In this study, Monte Carlo (MC) simulations with improved side-chain and backbone sampling are used to assess ΔGbind for the complex of a druglike inhibitor (MIF180) with the protein macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) using free energy perturbation (FEP) calculations. For comparison, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were employed as an alternative sampling method for the same system. With the OPLS-AA/M FF and CM5 atomic charges for the inhibitor, the ΔGbind results from the MC/FEP and MD/FEP simulations, −8.80 ± 0.74 and −8.46 ± 0.85 kcal/mol, agree well with each other and with the experimental value of −8.98 ± 0.28 kcal/mol. The convergence of the results and analysis of the trajectories indicate that sufficient sampling was achieved for both approaches. Repeating the MD/FEP calculations using current versions of the CHARMM and AMBER FFs led to a 6 kcal/mol range of computed ΔGbind. These results show that calculation of accurate ΔGbind for large ligands is both feasible and numerically equivalent, within error limits, using either methodology

Phase separation in t-J ladders

The phase separation boundary of isotropic t-J ladders is analyzed using density matrix renormalization group techniques. The complete boundary to phase separation as a function of J/t and doping is determined for a chain and for ladders with two, three and four legs. Six-chain ladders have been analyzed at low hole doping. We use a direct approach in which the phase separation boundary is determined by measuring the hole density in the part of the system which contains both electrons and holes. In addition we examine the binding energy of multi-hole clusters. An extrapolation in the number of legs suggests that the lowest J/t for phase separation to occur in the two dimensional t-J model is J/t~1.Comment: 8 pages in revtex format including 13 embedded figures, one reference adde