Fabrication and characterization of polymer insulated carbon nanotube modified electrochemical nanoprobes.

Electrochemical nanoprobes were fabricated from polymer insulated multiwalled carbon nanotube modified tapping mode atomic force microscope probes. An electrochemically active length of carbon nanotube was exposed by laser ablation of the insulating polymer. Characterization of these probes is done by cyclic voltammetry of ferrocenemethanol in an aqueous solution and by finite element analysis. The fabricated nanoelectrodes were found to be stable and yielded an interfacial electron transfer rate constant (k(0)) of 1.073 +/- 0.36 cm s(-1) for ferrocenemethanol.

Verifying 4D gated radiotherapy using time-integrated electronic portal imaging: a phantom and clinical study.

BACKGROUND: Respiration-gated radiotherapy (RGRT) can decrease treatment toxicity by allowing for smaller treatment volumes for mobile tumors. RGRT is commonly performed using external surrogates of tumor motion. We describe the use of time-integrated electronic portal imaging (TI-EPI) to verify the position of internal structures during RGRT delivery METHODS: TI-EPI portals were generated by continuously collecting exit dose data (aSi500 EPID, Portal vision, Varian Medical Systems) when a respiratory motion phantom was irradiated during expiration, inspiration and free breathing phases. RGRT was delivered using the Varian RPM system, and grey value profile plots over a fixed trajectory were used to study object positions. Time-related positional information was derived by subtracting grey values from TI-EPI portals sharing the pixel matrix. TI-EPI portals were also collected in 2 patients undergoing RPM-triggered RGRT for a lung and hepatic tumor (with fiducial markers), and corresponding planning 4-dimensional CT (4DCT) scans were analyzed for motion amplitude. RESULTS: Integral grey values of phantom TI-EPI portals correlated well with mean object position in all respiratory phases. Cranio-caudal motion of internal structures ranged from 17.5-20.0 mm on planning 4DCT scans. TI-EPI of bronchial images reproduced with a mean value of 5.3 mm (1 SD 3.0 mm) located cranial to planned position. Mean hepatic fiducial markers reproduced with 3.2 mm (SD 2.2 mm) caudal to planned position. After bony alignment to exclude set-up errors, mean displacement in the two structures was 2.8 mm and 1.4 mm, respectively, and corresponding reproducibility in anatomy improved to 1.6 mm (1 SD). CONCLUSION: TI-EPI appears to be a promising method for verifying delivery of RGRT. The RPM system was a good indirect surrogate of internal anatomy, but use of TI-EPI allowed for a direct link between anatomy and breathing patterns.

Kinetic resolution of a tryptophan-radical intermediate in the reaction cycle of Paracoccus denitrificans cytochrome c oxidase.

The catalytic mechanism, electron transfer coupled to proton pumping, of heme-copper oxidases is not yet fully understood. Microsecond freeze-hyperquenching single turnover experiments were carried out with fully reduced cytochrome aa(3) reacting with O(2) between 83 micros and 6 ms. Trapped intermediates were analyzed by low temperature UV-visible, X-band, and Q-band EPR spectroscopy, enabling determination of the oxidation-reduction kinetics of Cu(A), heme a, heme a(3), and of a recently detected tryptophan radical (Wiertz, F. G. M., Richter, O. M. H., Cherepanov, A. V., MacMillan, F., Ludwig, B., and de Vries, S. (2004) FEBS Lett. 575, 127-130). Cu(B) and heme a(3) were EPR silent during all stages of the reaction. Cu(A) and heme a are in electronic equilibrium acting as a redox pair. The reduction potential of Cu(A) is 4.5 mV lower than that of heme a. Both redox groups are oxidized in two phases with apparent half-lives of 57 micros and 1.2 ms together donating a single electron to the binuclear center in each phase. The formation of the heme a(3) oxoferryl species P(R) (maxima at 430 nm and 606 nm) was completed in approximately 130 micros, similar to the first oxidation phase of Cu(A) and heme a. The intermediate F (absorbance maximum at 571 nm) is formed from P(R) and decays to a hitherto undetected intermediate named F(W)(*). F(W)(*) harbors a tryptophan radical, identified by Q-band EPR spectroscopy as the tryptophan neutral radical of the strictly conserved Trp-272 (Trp-272(*)). The Trp-272(*) populates to 4-5% due to its relatively low rate of formation (t((1/2)) = 1.2 ms) and rapid rate of breakdown (t((1/2)) = 60 micros), which represents electron transfer from Cu(A)/heme a to Trp-272(*). The formation of the Trp-272(*) constitutes the major rate-determining step of the catalytic cycle. Our findings show that Trp-272 is a redox-active residue and is in this respect on an equal par to the metallocenters of the cytochrome c oxidase. Trp-272 is the direct reductant either to the heme a(3) oxoferryl species or to Cu (2+)(B). The potential role of Trp-272 in proton pumping is discussed.

An oxo-ferryl tryptophan radical catalytic intermediate in cytochrome c and quinol oxidases trapped by microsecond freeze-hyperquenching (MHQ).

The pre-steady state reaction kinetics of the reduction of molecular oxygen catalyzed by fully reduced cytochrome oxidase from Escherichia coli and Paracoccus denitrificans were studied using the newly developed microsecond freeze-hyperquenching mixing-and-sampling technique. Reaction samples are prepared 60 and 200 micros after direct mixing of dioxygen with enzyme. Analysis of the reaction samples by low temperature UV-Vis spectroscopy indicates that both enzymes are trapped in the PM state. EPR spectroscopy revealed the formation of a mixture of two radicals in both enzymes. Based on its apparent g-value and lineshape, one of these radicals is assigned to a weakly magnetically coupled oxo-ferryl tryptophan cation radical. Implications for the catalytic mechanism of cytochrome oxidases are discussed.

Direct immobilization of native yeast iso-1 cytochrome C on bare gold: fast electron relay to redox enzymes and zeptomole protein-film voltammetry.

Cyclic voltammetry shows that yeast iso-1-cytochrome c (YCC), chemisorbed on a bare gold electrode via Cys102, exhibits fast, reversible interfacial electron transfer (k(0) = 1.8 x 10(3) s(-1)) and retains its native functionality. Vectorially immobilized YCC relays electrons to yeast cytochrome c peroxidase, and to both cytochrome cd(1) nitrite reductase (NIR) and nitric oxide reductase from Paracoccus denitrificans, thereby revealing the mechanistic properties of these enzymes. On a microelectrode, we measured nitrite turnover by approximately 80 zmol (49 000 molecules) of NIR, coadsorbed on 0.65 amol (390 000 molecules) of YCC.

[Spectral characteristics of human white blood cells fluorochromed with acridine orange]. / Spektral'nye kharakteristiki fliuorokhromirovannykh akridinovym oranzhevym kletok beloi krovi cheloveka.

It has been shown that the ratio between the intensity of luminescence band in the red spectrum region (640 nm) and that in the green one (530 nm) of acridine orange fluorochromed cells fixed under certain conditions alpha=I640/I530 is a specific character. The latter can be used for automatic classification of bone marrow cells and perypheric blood and for diagnostics of some pathological states of the cell. It has been found that the type of the changes of the ratio of alpha=I640/I530 at photochemical bleaching of fluorochromed cells under irradiation (436 nm) depends on the level of cell differentiation. Completely differentiated mature cells are characterized by a simultaneous decrease of luminescence intensity, both in the red (640 nm) and green (530 nm) spectrum regions. In undifferentiated cells (especially at the blast stage) a decrease of luminescence intensity in the red region (640 nm) is accompanied by an increase of the luminescence intensity in the green region (530 nm) which may serve as an additional specific character. The descovere effect of photobleaching of undifferentiated cells is suggested to be due to the photodestruction of dimers of acridine orange bound with monohelical regions of DNA.

Anomalous portosystemic anastomoses associated with chronic hepatic insufficiency in six young dogs.

Chronic hepatic insufficiency due to anomalies of the portal venous system was diagnosed in 6 young dogs. The disorder was characterized by a variety of abnormal central nervous system signs or ascites, or both. Laboratory findings were characteristic of chronic, generalized hepatic dysfunction. The diagnosis was established by angiographic studies of the portal venous system. Of the 6 dogs, 3 died, 1 was euthanatized, and 2 are still alive and require medical management for ascites.

[Ultrastructure of frog muscle fiber thick filaments at rest and during potassium contracture]. / Ul'trastruktura tolstykh nitei myshechnykh volokon liagushki v pokoe i pri kalievoi kontrakture

Isolated slow and intermediate frog muscle fibres were fixed in the rest state and under potassium contracture (50-100 mM KC1). The longitudinal and cross sections of two types of fibres were investigated. It was shown that at the rest the thick filaments of different fibres had similar length (1.6-1.65 mum), diameter (160-165 A) and the amount of subunits (12-13). Under potassium contracture the length of the thick filaments of both fibre types was shortened by 25-30% of the rest-length, the diameter of the slow fibres increased to 180-185 A, the diameter of the intermediate fibres to 200-220 A. The amount of subunits increased to 14-15 in slow fibres and to 17-18 in intermediate fibres. We believe that the ultrastructural changes observed in the thick filaments are a result of molecular transformation in these filaments, which seems to be important for maintaining the contracture.