In vivo studies on the toxic effects of microcystins on mitochondrial electron transport chain and ion regulation in liver and heart of rabbit

This study examined the toxic effects of microcystins on mitochondria of liver and heart of rabbit in vivo. Rabbits were injected i.p. with extracted microcystins (mainly MC-RR and -LR) at two doses, 12.5 and 50 MCLReq. mu g/kg bw, and the changes in mitochondria of liver and heart were studied at 1, 3,12, 24 and 48 h after injection. MCs induced damage of mitochondrial morphology and lipid peroxidation in both liver and heart. MCs influenced respiratory activity through inhibiting NADH dehydrogenase and enhancing succinate dehydrogenase (SDH). MCs altered Na+-K+-ATPase and Ca2+-Mg2+-ATPase activities of mitochondria and consequently disrupted ionic homeostasis, which might be partly responsible for the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP). MCs were highly toxic to mitochondria with more serious damage in liver than in heart. Damage of mitochondria showed reduction at 48 h in the low dose group, suggesting that the low dose of MCs might have stimulated a compensatory response in the rabbits. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A novel application to quantum dot materials to the active region of superluminescent diodes

We have proposed a new superluminescent diodes (SLD) aimed at wide spectrum-quantum dot superluminescent diodes (QD-SLD), which is characterized by the introduction of a self-assembled asymmetric quantum dot pairs active region into conventional SLID structure. We investigated the structure and optical properties of a bilayer sample with different InAs deposition amounts in the first and second layer. We find that the structure of a self-assembled asymmetric quantum dot pairs can operate up to a 150 nm spectral width. In addition, as the first QDs' density can modulate the density of the QDs on the second layer, due to relatively high QDs density of the first layer, we can get the strong PL intensity from a broad range. We think that for the broad spectral width and the strong PL intensity, this structure can be a promising candidate for QW-SLD. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Sagnac interferometry as a probe to the commutation relation of a macroscopic quantum mirror

Single photon Sagnac interferometry as a probe to macroscopic quantum mechanics is considered at the theoretical level. For a freely moving macroscopic quantum mirror susceptible to radiation pressure force inside a Sagnac interferometer, a careful analysis of the input-output relation reveals that the particle spectrum readout at the bright and dark ports encode information concerning the noncommutativity of position and momentum of the macroscopic mirror. A feasible experimental scheme to probe the commutation relation of a macroscopic quantum mirror is outlined to explore the possible frontier between classical and quantum regimes. In the Appendix, the case of Michelson interferometry as a feasible probe is also sketched.

Impacts of the embedded windings to the field quality of dipole

Cooler Storage Ring (CSR) of Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) consists of a main ring (CSRm) and an experimental ring (CSRe). Two particular C-type dipoles with embedded windings are used in the injection beam line of CSRm. They also act as the prototype dipoles of CSRe. The windings are designed to improve the field quality by their trimming current. The current impacts on field homogeneity and multipole components are investigated by a hall sensor and a long coil, respectively. The experiment shows that a field homogeneity of +/- 1.0 x 10(-3) can be reached by adjusting the trimming currents, though the multipole components change correspondingly. In our case, the quadrupole component is decreased to a low level with the octupole, decapole and 12-pole ones increased slightly when the trimming current is optimized.

Syntheses of fully sulfonated polyaniline nano-networks and its application to the direct electrochemistry of cytochrome c

Fully sulfonated polyaniline nano-particles, nano-fibrils and nano-networks have been achieved for the first time by electrochemical homopolymerization of orthanilic acid using a three-step electrochemical deposition procedure in a mixed solvent of acetonitrile (ACN) and water. The diameter of the uniform nano-particles is about 60nm, and the nano-fibrils can be organized in two-dimensional (21)) or three-dimensional (313) non-periodic networks with good electrical contact. Average distance between contacts is about 850 and 600 nm for a 2D and 3D system, respectively. The details of the poly(orthanilic acid) (POA) nano-structure were examined with a field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM). The structure and properties of POA were characterized with FTIR, UV-vis and electrochemical methods. The 3D POA nano-networks coated platinum electrode gave a direct electrochemical behavior of horse heart cytochrome c (Cyt c) immobilized on this electrode surface, a pair of well-defined redox waves with formal potential (E-ol) of -0.032 V (versus Ag/AgCl) was achieved. The interaction between Cyt c and POA makes the formal potential shift negatively compared to that of Cyt c in solution. Spectrophotometric and electrochemical methods were used to investigate the interaction of Cyt c with POA.

RELATIONSHIP OF THE SEQUENCE DISTRIBUTION OF A POLYMER TO THE CATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF ITS ND COMPLEX

The sequence distribution of the monomeric units in the styrene-acrylic acid copolymer has been obtained by calculation. The probability of long sequences of styrene increases with an increase in the content of the monomer in the copolymer. The highest distribution of short sequences of styrene takes place for the copolymer containing equimolecular amounts of styrene and acrylic acid. The copolymer which has this latter structure is inadequate for the synthesis of highly active supported complexes. When the distributions of long and short sequences of styrene are approximately equal, the activity of the Nd and Fe prepared polymer complexes is higher.