Intercomparison of scanning probe microscopes

Comparison measurements on reference standards are reported in which 13 partners with different instruments took part. A set of prototype standards which had been produced and calibrated within a European project were used for the measurements. Here, results of measurements on a 240 nm step height standard and a two-dimensional lateral standard with a nominal pitch of 1 μm are reported.     

Inhibition of fibrinogen binding and surface recruitment of GpIIb/IIIa as dose-dependent effects of the RGD-mimetic MK-852

Mycobacterium simiae was the third most common mycobacterium identified over a 2-year period from a single clinical laboratory in southern Arizona. Thirty-three isolates from 25 patients were identified over 1 year. The isolation of M. simiae was considered clinically significant for only two of 23 evaluable patients. None of five patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection had clinical disease associated with M. simiae. Twenty isolates were available for detailed study. All but one of the 20 isolates were niacin-negative, and 11 were nonphotochromogenic. All 20 isolates had a triple-cluster pattern consistent with M. simiae by high-performance liquid chromatography, and restriction fragment patterns were identical for 16 isolates. Analysis of 16S rDNA confirmed the identity of all the tested isolates as M. simiae. In this study, M. simiae was a frequent clinical isolate but was rarely associated with disease. The organisms isolated were confirmed to be M. simiae but appeared to be phenotypically distinct strains of low virulence.     

Laser-induced predissociative fluorescence: dynamics and polarization and the effect of lower-state rotational energy transfer on quantitative diagnostics

Laser-induced predissociative fluorescence is often used for diagnostics because its short-lived upper states are minimally disturbed by collisions. We discuss the effects of lower-state collisions with parameters relevant to our atmospheric H(2)-O(2) flame. A pulse of tunable KrF excimer-laser light induces the A ? X, Q(1)(11), 3 ? 0 transition in OH. We measure the intensity and the polarization of the resulting A ? X, Q(1)(11), 3 ? 2 fluorescence as a function of laser brightness. A simple model that uses no adjustable parameters produces a reasonable fit to the data. It predicts that, even at very modest laser energies, the fluorescence intensity is almost directly proportional to the rate constant for rotational energy transfer (RET) within the lower vibrational state. That rate constant can be a strong function of local conditions. Furthermore, under typical operating conditions the excimer will pump an amount of OH out of the lower state that is many times as large as that originally present. This occurs because RET within the X-state continuously replenishes the lower state during the laser pulse. Even when this occurs, the signal may still vary linearly with laser intensity, and the polarization may be nearly that expected for weak pumping. At the higher laser intensities, a significant fraction of the measured OH arises from two-photon photodissociation of the water from the flame reaction.     

Digital PCR Panel for Sensitive Hematopoietic Chimerism Quantification after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

Accurate and sensitive determination of hematopoietic chimerism is a crucial diagnostic measure after allogeneic stem cell transplantation to monitor engraftment and potentially residual disease. Short tandem repeat (STR) amplification, the current “gold standard” for chimerism assessment facilitates reliable accuracy, but is hampered by its limited sensitivity (≥1%). Digital PCR (dPCR) has been shown to combine exact quantification and high reproducibility over a very wide measurement range with excellent sensitivity (routinely ≤0.1%) and thus represents a promising alternative to STR analysis. We here aimed at developing a whole panel of digital-PCR based assays for routine diagnostic. To this end, we tested suitability of 52 deletion/insertion polymorphisms (DIPs) for duplex analysis in combination with either a reference gene or a Y-chromosome specific PCR. Twenty-nine DIPs with high power of discrimination and good performance were identified, optimized and technically validated. We tested the newly established assays on retrospective patient samples that were in parallel also measured by STR amplification and found excellent correlation. Finally, a screening plate for initial genotyping with DIP-specific duplex dPCR assays was designed for convenient assay selection. In conclusion, we have established a comprehensive dPCR system for precise and high-sensitivity measurement of hematopoietic chimerism, which should be highly useful for clinical routine diagnostics.     

Generalized juntas and NP-hard sets

We show that many NP-hard sets have heuristic polynomial-time algorithms with high probability weight of correctness with respect to generalizations of Procaccia and Rosenschein’s junta distributions.     

Volatile sulfur compounds contributing to meat flavour. Part. I. Components identified in boiled meat

Volatile sulfur compounds from 3 samples of boiled meat (Longissimus dorsi and shoulder meat) have been isolated, separated from the whole flavour complex by mercuric chloride precipitation, regenerated, and examined by gas chromatography. Identification has been carried through by determining KOVÁTS-indices on 4 gas chromatographic columns of different polarity. 29 sulfur compounds have been identified with high certainty, 10 tentitatively. Among 17 thiols, 8 sulfides, 7 disulfides and trisulfides, and 7 heterocyclic compounds only 11 substances have been described previously in literature. The number of mercaptans especially exceeds hitherto knowledge.