Major-to-ultratrace elements in bone-marrow fluid as determined by ICP-AES and ICP-MS.

The major-to-ultratrace elements in human bone-marrow fluid were determined by ICP-AES (inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry), and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). The bone-marrow fluid sample was centrifuged prior to acid digestion to exclude the bone piece from bone marrow, and then digested with nitric acid. As a result, 20 elements could be determined over the concentration range from 1610 microg g(-1) for Na to 0.00043 microg g(-1) for W. It was found that Fe, Zn and Sb were enriched by ca. 264-, 7- and 15-fold, respectively, in bone-marrow fluid, compared to those in human blood serum. Alkali metals (K, Rb, Cs), except for Na, were also significantly enriched in bone-marrow fluid. Furthermore, the concentrations of various elements, such as Fe, P, Al, Zn, Cu, Se, Zr, Sn, Ag and W, were significantly higher than those in open seawater.     

Alkenylation of thiophenes at the 2-position with magnesium alkylidene carbenoids

Treatment of magnesium alkylidene carbenoids, generated from 1-chlorovinyl p-tolyl sulfoxides with isopropylmagnesium chloride at −78 °C in toluene, with 2-lithiothiophenes gave 2-alkenylated thiophenes in good to high yields. The intermediate of this reaction was found to be an alkenylmagnesium, which could be trapped with iodoalkanes and ethyl chloroformate. This procedure offers a novel and efficient one-pot synthesis of thiophenes having a disubstituted or a trisubstituted olefin at the 2-position from thiophenes in good yields.     

Preparation of dry powder inhalation with lactose carrier particles surface-coated using a Wurster fluidized bed

An attempt was made to produce carrier particles for dry powder inhalation with lactose carrier particles surface-coated using a Wurster fluidized bed. The lactose carrier particles were coated with lactose aqueous solution containing hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as a binder using a Wurster coating apparatus. Drug/carrier powder mixtures were prepared consisting of micronized salbutamol sulfate and lactose carriers under various particle surface conditions. These powder mixtures were aerosolized by a Jethaler((R)), and the in vitro deposition properties of salbutamol sulfate were evaluated by a twin impinger. The in vitro inhalation properties of the powder mixture prepared using the coated lactose carrier differed significantly compared with those of the powder mixture prepared using the uncoated lactose carrier, indicating improvements in in vitro inhalation properties of sulbutamol sulfate. In vitro inhalation properties increased with the surface coating time. This surface coating system would thus be valuable for increasing the in vitro inhalation properties of dry powder inhalation with lactose carrier particles.     

A DFT and direct MO dynamics study on the structures and electronic states of phenyl-capped terthiophene

The structures and electronic states of phenyl-capped terthiophene (denoted by P3T) and the ionic species of P3T have been investigated by means of density functional theory (DFT) and direct MO dynamics calculations. P3T is one of the high-performance molecular devices, which has been utilized as a semi-conductor. The calculations indicated that the neutral P3T has a non-planar structure whose the phenyl rings in both ends of thiophene chain are largely deviated from the molecular plane. The cation and anion radicals, dication and dianion were considered as its ionic states. The structure for cation radical of P3T is close to more planar than that of neutral P3T. The structures for anion radical, dication and dianion take a pure planar structure. The first excitation energy of neutral P3T is calculated to be 2.90 eV at the TD-B3LYP/6-31G(d)//B3LYP/6-311+G(d) level, while the P3T cation and anion radicals have lower excitation energies (1.22 and 1.10 eV, respectively). The direct MO dynamics calculation showed that neutral, cation and anion hold near planar structure at 300 K. On the other hand, oligothiophene (n = 5) and its ionic species are strongly deformed from the planar structure, and thiophene rings in both ends of chain rotate rapidly by thermal activation. The mechanism of the electron conductivity in P3T was discussed on the basis of theoretical results.     

Giant Nernst effect in the pseudogap phase of high Tc superconductors

We have investigated theoretically the Nernst effect in unconventional (d-wave) charge and spin density waves (UDW). In the presence of magnetic field, Landau levels are formed, and the gapless behaviour of the low energy excitations change into gapped behaviour. When additional electric field is applied, the quasiparticles drift with a velocity of E × B/B², and carry entropy. From this, the Nernst coefficient can be calculated using the Kelvin relation. The present results account very nicely for the measured Nernst signal in the pseudogap phase of high T_c superconductor La_2−xSr_xCuO₄ and Bi₂Sr_2−yLa_yCuO₆. This indicates that the large Nernst effect is a clear signiture of UDW.     

Real time addition or subtraction of two images by vector wave interferometry

The present article reports a new optical method for real time addition or subtraction of two photographic images. Two transparencies which are placed in the two arms of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with two orthogonal polarizers are subsequently added or subtracted by rotating an analyser inserted in the output beam. A linear combination of the amplitudes of the two images can also be observed for different orientations of the transmission axis of the analyser. Some experimental results are presented.     

Influence of storage humidity on the in vitro inhalation properties of salbutamol sulfate dry powder with surface covered lactose carrier

The influence of storage humidity on the in vitro inhalation properties of salbutamol sulfate dry powder with surface covered lactose carrier was investigated. In the present study, drug/carrier powder mixtures were prepared consisting of micronized salbutamol sulfate and lactose carriers with different particle surface conditions prepared by surface covering. Lactose carrier surfaces were covered with vegetable magnesium stearate (Mg-St-V) by a high-speed elliptical-rotor-type powder mixer (Theta-Composer). These powder mixtures were aerosolized by a Jethaler), and the in vitro inhalation properties of salbutamol sulfate were evaluated by a twin impinger. Compared with the powder mixed with uncovered lactose carrier, the in vitro inhalation properties of the powder mixture prepared using the surface covered lactose carrier were little decreased with increased in relative humidity (RH), showing that the in vitro inhalation properties of salbutamol sulfate were improved at high RH. Using this surface covering technique would thus be valuable for storage humidity of dry powder inhalation (DPI) with lactose carrier particles.     

Intermolecular methyl transfer on pyrolysis of carpronium chloride

The methyl transfer occurring in the production of methyl N,N-dimethyl-γ-aminobutyrate by pyrolysis of carpronium chloride was examined by means of pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry with the aid of some deuterated compounds. The mass spectra of methyl N,N-dimethyl-γ-aminobutyrate, produced from deuterated derivatives of carpronium chloride, showed inter alia, characteristic molecular ion peaks which indicated that the methyl of the trimethylammonium group transfers and displaces the methyl of the carbomethoxy group of the tertiary amino compound. The results show that an intermolecular methyl transfer occurs in part on pyrolysis of carpronium chloride, to form methyl N,N-dimethyl-γ-aminobutyrate in which the methyl oxygen is replaced by a methyl from the nitrogen of the original compound. The mechanism presented involves the bimolecular reaction between zwitterionic intermediates formed by ionic O-demethylation of carpronium chloride.