Resolution of Enantiomers of Novel C2‐Symmetric Aminobisphosphinic Acids via Diastereomeric Salt Formation With Quinine

C₂‐symmetric N,N‐bis(phosphinomethyl)amines were prepared by the thermal reaction of aromatic aldehydes with ammonia and hypophosphorus acid as previously described. Both enantiomers of C₂‐symmetric N,N‐bis(phosphinomethyl)amine were obtained in a high enantiomeric purity through the diastereomeric salt formation with (–)‐quinine, and subsequent fractional crystallization. X‐ray crystallographic analysis of one of the diastereomeric salts clearly revealed that (–)‐quinine could be an efficient resolving agent for obtaining the single enantiomer (R,R)‐N,N‐bis(phosphinomethyl)amine. Chirality 27:71–74, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Numerical Modeling of Intraventricular Flow during Diastole after Implantation of BMHV

This work presents a numerical simulation of intraventricular flow after the implantation of a bileaflet mechanical heart valve at the mitral position. The left ventricle was simplified conceptually as a truncated prolate spheroid and its motion was prescribed based on that of a healthy subject. The rigid leaflet rotation was driven by the transmitral flow and hence the leaflet dynamics were solved using fluid-structure interaction approach. The simulation results showed that the bileaflet mechanical heart valve at the mitral position behaved similarly to that at the aortic position. Sudden area expansion near the aortic root initiated a clockwise anterior vortex, and the continuous injection of flow through the orifice resulted in further growth of the anterior vortex during diastole, which dominated the intraventricular flow. This flow feature is beneficial to preserving the flow momentum and redirecting the blood flow towards the aortic valve. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt to numerically model intraventricular flow with the mechanical heart valve incorporated at the mitral position using a fluid-structure interaction approach. This study facilitates future patient-specific studies.     

Comparison of human-induced pluripotent stem cells and mesenchymal stem cell differentiation potential to insulin producing cells in 2D and 3D culture systems in vitro

Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in the world that is chronic, progressive, and costly, and causes many complications. Common drug therapies are not able to cure it, and pancreas transplantation is not responsive to the high number of patients. The production of the insulin producing cells (IPCs) from the stem cells in the laboratory and their transplantation to the patient's body is one of the most promising new approaches. In this study, the differentiation potential of the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into IPCs was compared to each other while cultured on poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) nanofibrous scaffold as a 3D substrate and tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) as a 2D substrate. Although the expression level of the insulin, Glut2 and pdx-1 genes in stem cells cultured on 3D substrate was significantly higher than the stem cells cultured on 2D substrate, the highest expression level of these genes was detected in the iPSCs cultured on PLGA-PEG. Insulin and C-peptide secretions from differentiated cells were also investigated and the results showed that secretions in cultured iPSCs on the PLGA-PEG were significantly higher than cultured iPSCs on the TCPS and cultured MSCs on both PLGA-PEG and TCPS. In addition, insulin protein was also expressed in the cultured iPSCs on the PLGA-PEG significantly higher than cultured MSCs on the PLGA-PEG. It can be concluded that differentiation potential of iPSCs into IPCs is significantly higher than human MSCs at both 2D and 3D culture systems.     

Concentration of mammalian genomic DNA using two‐phase aqueous micellar systems

The concentration of biomarkers, such as DNA, prior to a subsequent detection step may facilitate the early detection of cancer, which could significantly increase chances for survival. In this study, the partitioning behavior of mammalian genomic DNA fragments in a two‐phase aqueous micellar system was investigated using both experiment and theory. The micellar system was generated using the nonionic surfactant Triton X‐114 and phosphate‐buffered saline (PBS). Partition coefficients were measured under a variety of conditions and compared with our theoretical predictions. With this comparison, we demonstrated that the partitioning behavior of DNA fragments in this system is primarily driven by repulsive, steric, excluded‐volume interactions that operate between the micelles and the DNA fragments, but is limited by the entrainment of micelle‐poor, DNA‐rich domains in the macroscopic micelle‐rich phase. Furthermore, the volume ratio, that is, the volume of the top, micelle‐poor phase divided by that of the bottom, micelle‐rich phase, was manipulated to concentrate DNA fragments in the top phase. Specifically, by decreasing the volume ratio from 1 to 1/10, we demonstrated proof‐of‐principle that the concentration of DNA fragments in the top phase could be increased two‐ to nine‐fold in a predictive manner. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2009;102: 1613–1623. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Highly Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity of Graphitic Tube Encapsulating Nitrided CoxFey Alloy

Nonprecious metals are promising catalysts to avoid the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in next‐generation regenerative fuel cells or metal–air batteries. Therefore, development of nonprecious metal catalysts for ORR is highly desirable. Herein, precise tuning of the atomic ratio of Fe and Co encapsulated in melamine‐derived nitrogen‐rich graphitic tube (NGT) is reported. The Co_1.08Fe_3.34 hybrid with metal? nitrogen bonds ( 1 : Co_1.08Fe_3.34@NGT) shows remarkable ORR catalytic activities (80 mV higher in onset potential and 50 mV higher in half‐wave potential than those of state‐of‐the‐art commercial Pt/C catalysts), high current density, and stability. In acidic solution, 1 also shows compatible performance to commercial Pt/C in terms of ORR activity, current density, stability, and methanol tolerance. The high ORR activity is ascribed to the co‐existence of Fe? N, Co? N, and sufficient metallic FeCo alloys which favor faster electron movement and better adsorption of oxygen molecules on the catalyst surface. In the alkaline anion exchange membrane fuel cell setup, this cell delivers the power density of 117 mW cm^?2, demonstrating its potential use for energy conversion and storage applications.     

Analysis of read length limiting factors in Pyrosequencing chemistry

Pyrosequencing is a bioluminometric DNA sequencing technique that measures the release of pyrophosphate during DNA synthesis. The amount of pyrophosphate is proportionally converted into visible light by a cascade of enzymatic reactions. Pyrosequencing has heretofore been used for generating short sequence reads (1-100 nucleotides) because certain factors limit the system's ability to perform longer reads accurately. In this study, we have characterized the main read length limiting factors in both three-enzyme and four-enzyme Pyrosequencing systems. A new simulation model was developed to simulate the read length of both systems based on the inhibitory factors in the chemical equations governing each enzymatic cascade. Our results indicate that nonsynchronized extension limits the obtained read length, albeit to a different extent for each system. In the four-enzyme system, nonsynchronized extension due mainly to a decrease in apyrase's efficiency in degrading excess nucleotides proves to be the main limiting factor of read length. Replacing apyrase with a washing step for removal of excess nucleotide proves to be essential in improving the read length of Pyrosequencing. The main limiting factor of the three-enzyme system is shown to be loss of DNA fragments during the washing step. If this loss is minimized to 0.1% per washing cycle, the read length of Pyrosequencing would be well beyond 300 bases.     

The effect of fractionated gamma knife radiosurgery on visual acuity in patients with optic nerve tumor

BackgroundStereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) method has been considered the first-line treatment option to treat patients involved with pre-optic nerve tumors. However, studies have shown that using fractionated SRS, normal tissue sparing and tumor dose can be strongly increased simultaneously. Our main goal was to illustrate the effects of fractionated SRS approach in optic nerve tumor treatment and its adjacent sensitive structures.Materials and methods19 patients involved in optic nerve tumor with clinical symptoms of vision loss were treated with Gamma Knife radiosurgery in three sessions with 12 hours intervals between them. The prescribed dose was about 6.0 ± 1.2 Gy. Patient-related parameters including pre-treatment and after-treatment tumor size, visual acuity and visual field were evaluated using the Snell chart and MRI imaging. Patients were followed for about 14 months.ResultThe overall result showed vision improvement for patients with low and moderate visual loss. However, there was no significant improvement in patients with severe visual loss. Relative improvement was observed in blind patients, although poorly. There was no evidence of growth, recurrence, or new tumor after treatment in patients.ConclusionFractionated gamma knife radiosurgery offers a safe and effective alternative for benign lesions adjacent to the optic nerve.