Influence of Electronic Modulation of Phenanthroline-Derived Ligands on Separation of Lanthanides and Actinides.

The solvent extraction, complexing ability, and basicity of tetradentate N-donor 2,9-bis(5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1,2,4-benzotriazin-3-yl)-1,10-phenanthroline (CyMe4-BT- Phen) and its derivatives functionalized by Br, hydroxyphenyl, nitryl were discussed and compared. It was demonstrated that four BTPhen ligands are able to selectively extract Am(lll) over Eu(lll). It was notable that the distribution ratio of 5-nitryl-CyMe4-BTPhen for Eu(lll) was suppressed under 0.02, which was much lower compared to DEu(lll) = 1 by CyMe4-BTPhen. The analysis of the effect of the substituent on the affinity to lanthanides was conducted by UV/vis and fluorescence spectroscopic titration. The stability constants of various ligands with Eu(lll) were obtained by fitting titration curve. Additionally, the basicity of various ligands was determined to be 3.1 ± 0.1, 2.3 ± 0.2, 0.9 ± 0.2, 0.5 ± 0.1 by NMR in the media of CD3OD with the addition of DClO4. The basicity of ligands follows the order of L1 > L2 > L3 > L4, indicating the tendency of protonation decreases with the electron-withdrawing ability increase.

Hybrid Fiber-Optic Sensing Integrating Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Analysis and Fiber Bragg Grating for Long-Range Two-Parameter Measurement.

Distributed fiber sensing (DFS) can provide real-time signals and warnings. The entire length of fiber optic cable can act as a sensing element, but the accuracy is sometimes limited. On the other hand, point-to-point fiber sensing (PPFS) is usually implemented using one or more fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) at specific positions along with the fiber for the monitoring of specific parameters (temperature, strain, pressure, and so on). However, the cost becomes expensive when the number of FBGs increases. A hybrid fiber sensing scheme is thus proposed, combining the advantages of DFS and PPFS. It is based on a Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (BOTDA) fiber system with additional FBGs embedded at certain positions where it is necessary to detect specific parameters. The hybrid fiber sensing system has the advantages of full sensing coverage at essential locations that need to be carefully monitored. In our work, the test results showed that the proposed system could achieve a sensing distance of 16 km with the single-mode fiber with a 2 m spatial resolution. For FBG parameter measurements, the temperature variation was 52 °C, from 25 °C to 77 °C, with a temperature sensitivity of 23 pm/°C, and the strain was from 0 to 400 µÎµ, with a strain sensitivity of 0.975 pm/µÎµ, respectively, using two FBGs.

Development and validation of a multi-residue analytical method for veterinarian and human pharmaceuticals in livestock urine and blood using UHPLC-QTOF.

The aim of this work is to contribute to the assessment of multi-residue analysis of veterinarian and human pharmaceuticals using UHPLC-QTOF in livestock urine and blood (cattle, chicken, sheep and pig). Firstly, an in-house database including compound name, monoisotopic mass, chemical formula, retention time, chemical structure, and three CID MS-MS spectra of the 234 selected drugs were built for qualitative detection. Secondly, the method validation result showed that all the 234 drugs exhibited good linearity with determination coefficients (R2) higher than 0.999. Then, the distribution of the drugs recoveries, intra-day RSD and inter-day RSD results for all seven matrices were tested. Finally, after a carefully cross check, 150 veterinarian and human pharmaceuticals could meet the methodological requirements (recovery, 50-120%; intra-day RSD ≤ 15%, inter-day RSD ≤ 20%) in all seven matrices. Our results suggested that although the main applications of UHPLC-QTOF are directed towards detection and identification of the compounds, this method should be also applied for quantitative purposes.

[The Research Development of FTIR in Analyzing Material Structures].

Safety issues of animal derived food have been emerging one after another, and the using of the illegal addictives and abuse of high-risk chemicals bred for livestock have been increasingly serious from melamine, lean meat powder, Sudan Red, plasticizing agent, waste oils to leather milk. How to determine these chemicals faces severe challenges. Infrared spectroscopy is the same powerful for material structures as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and ultraviolet spectrum. There are few researches about quality and safety of livestocks products. In this article, some researches in analyzing structures has been reviewed, including studies of spectral features, molecular conformation, stability, homologous series, derivative and reaction products, inferring functional groups of macromolecular compounds and molecular structural formula and distinguishing complex biological samples. Forming the new thought screening contaminants maybe used for animals is expected to early warning addictives causing serious food safety problems that is to build the comprehensive analysis methods for these matters on the basis of creating spectrum or functional groups databases designed for animal products.

Controlled Phase and Tunable Magnetism in Ordered Iron Oxide Nanotube Arrays Prepared by Atomic Layer Deposition.

Highly-ordered and conformal iron oxide nanotube arrays on an atomic scale are successfully prepared by atomic layer deposition (ALD) with controlled oxidization states and tunable magnetic properties between superparamagnetism and ferrimagnetism. Non-magnetic α-Fe2O3 and superparamagnetic Fe3O4 with a blocking temperature of 120 K are in-situ obtained by finely controlling the oxidation reaction. Both of them exhibit a very small grain size of only several nanometers due to the nature of atom-by-atom growth of the ALD technique. Post-annealing α-Fe2O3 in a reducing atmosphere leads to the formation of the spinel Fe3O4 phase which displays a distinct ferrimagnetic anisotropy and the Verwey metal-insulator transition that usually takes place only in single crystal magnetite or thick epitaxial films at low temperatures. The ALD deposition of iron oxide with well-controlled phase and tunable magnetism demonstrated in this work provides a promising opportunity for the fabrication of 3D nano-devices to be used in catalysis, spintronics, microelectronics, data storages and bio-applications.

[Randomized Clinical Trial for Treatment of Patients with Acute Ischemic Cerebral Stroke by Acupoint Injection of Cobalamin or Gangliosides].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical therapeutic effect of acupoint injection of medicine in the treatment of patients with acute cerebral ischemia stroke (ACIS). METHODS: Ninety ACIS patients were randomized into control, Cobalamin and Gangliosides groups (n=30 in each group). Patients of the control group were treated by routine medication (i.e., drugs for improving microcirculation, anti-platelet aggregation, cerebral dehydration, neuronutrition, intracranial pressure reduction and blood lipid-lowering, etc.) and motor function rehabilitation training, once daily, six times a week for two weeks; and those of the Cobalamin and Gangliosides groups were treated by injection of Cobalamin (1 mL) or Gangliosides (1 mL) into Baihui (GV 20) and Zusanli (ST 36), respectively and rehabilitation training (being the same to the control group). The patients' motor ability and physical status were assessed according to clinical neurologic deficit score (CNDS) and activity of daily living scale (ADLS). RESULTS: After the treatment, of the three 30 cases in the control, Cobalamin and Gangliosides groups, 0, 4 and 2 were cured, 9, 15 and 14 experienced marked improvement in their symptoms, 12, 8 and 10 were improved, 9, 3 and 4 invalid, with the effective rates being 70.0%(21/30), 90.0%(27/30) and 86.7%(26/30), respectively. In comparison with pre-treatment, the CNDS of the three groups were all significantly decreased and the ADLS notably increased (P<0.05). The effects of both Cobalamin and Gangliosides were remarkably better than those of the control in lowering CNDS and raising ADLS (P<0.05), and the score of ADLS in the Cobalamin group was markedly higher than that in the Gangliosides group (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Acupoint injection of both Cobalamin and Gangliosides can effectively improve acute ischemic stroke patients' neurological function and daily life living ability.

Coevolution between human's anticancer activities and functional foods from crop origin center in the world.

Cancer is the leading cause of death around the world. Anticancer activities from many functional food sources have been reported in years, but correlation between cancer prevalence and types of food with anticancer activities from crop origin center in the world as well as food source with human migration are unclear. Hunger from food shortage is the cause of early human evolution from Africa to Asia and later into Eurasia. The richest functional foods are found in crop origin centers, housing about 70% in the world populations. Crop origin centers have lower cancer incidence and mortality in the world, especially Central Asia, Middle East, Southwest China, India and Ethiopia. Asia and Africa with the richest anticancer crops is not only the most important evolution base of humans and origin center of anticancer functional crop, but also is the lowest mortality and incidence of cancers in the world. Cancer prevention of early human migrations was associated with functional foods from crop origin centers, especially Asia with four centers and one subcenter of crop origin, accounting for 58% of the world population. These results reveal that coevolution between human's anticancer activities associated with functional foods for crop origin centers, especially in Asia and Africa.

Nano-scale surface morphology evolution of Cu/Ti thin films.

This paper discusses solid-phase reaction, agglomeration and dendritic growth of Cu/Ti/Si thin films with different sublayer thickness, 70 nm Cu/20 nm Ti/Si and 20 nm Cu/70 nm Ti/Si, annealed using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) method at the temperature from 500 degrees C to 800 degrees C. The crystal structure is examined using XRD, and the surface morphology is measured by SEM and AFM. The sheet resistance is measured using four-point probe method. The dendritic patterns can be obtained in both thin films at high temperature but the density is not similar. For 70 nm Cu/20 nm Ti/Si thin films, Cu agglomerates at the annealed temperature upon to 700 degrees C and thin film is still crystalline after 800 degrees C. For 20 nm Cu/70 nm Ti/Si thin films, Cu agglomerated completely only after 500 degrees C and thin film has amorphous structure annealed after 800 degrees C.

Strategies of functional food for cancer prevention in human beings.

Functional food for prevention of chronic diseases is one of this century's key global challenges. Cancer is not only the first or second leading cause of death in China and other countries across the world, but also has diet as one of the most important modifiable risk factors. Major dietary factors now known to promote cancer development are polished grain foods and low intake of fresh vegetables, with general importance for an unhealthy lifestyle and obesity. The strategies of cancer prevention in human being are increased consumption of functional foods like whole grains (brown rice, barley, and buckwheat) and by-products, as well some vegetables (bitter melon, garlic, onions, broccoli, and cabbage) and mushrooms (boletes and Tricholoma matsutake). In addition some beverages (green tea and coffee) may be protective. Southwest China (especially Yunnan Province) is a geographical area where functional crop production is closely related to the origins of human evolution with implications for anticancer influence.

Aglaianine, a new bisamide from Aglaia abbreviata.

Aglaianine (1), a new cinnamic acid-derived bisamide, together with 10 known compounds was isolated from the 95% ethanol extraction of the leaves of Aglaia abbreviata. The structure of 1 was elucidated by means of spectroscopic methods.

[Development of specific antibodies against ciprofloxacin].

AIM: To prepare specific antibodies against ciprofloxacin (CIP) and characterize the antibodies properities with ELISA, then lay the foundation for development of CIP rapid detection kit. METHODS: New Zealand white rabbits and BALB/c mice were immunized with CIP-cBSA conjugate, CIP-nOVA and CIP-cOVA serving as coating antigen were used to screen antisera, indirect (competitive) ELISA was developed to determine the titer and specificity of the antisera. RESULTS: Seven antisera against CIP were obtained, two of them were high specific to CIP with IC(50); 1 µg/L, the titer of which was 4 000 and 2 000, respectively.The antisera had some degree cross-reactivity with ENR, NOR and OFL, but had hardly cross-reactivity with PEN, KAN and QEN. CONCLUSION: The antibodies with high specificity developed in this study can be used to develop CIP detecting kit.

Chemical constituents from the leaves of Aglaia perviridis.

A new cinnamic acid-derived bisamide 1 and a new oplopanone-type sesquiterpenoid diglycoside 2, together with 11 known compounds, were isolated from the 95% ethanolic extract of the leaves of Aglaia perviridis. Their structures were elucidated by chemical and spectroscopic methods.

[The zonal characteristics and cultivated types difference of functional components in brown rice for core collection of Yunnan rice].

The zonal characteristics and cultivated types difference of functional components in brown rice of 907 accessions for primary core collection for rice landrace from 16 prefectures of five rice regions in Yunnan Province were determined by ultraviolet spectrophotometry of DU640 type from BECKMAN. The analytical results showed that the contents mg x (100 g)(-1) of total flavone in brown rice is 306.98 +/- 192.75, the content of upland (341.74 +/- 185.11) is the most significantly higher than that of lowland (290.41 +/- 193.72), that of the glutinous (315.54 +/- 197.64) is significantly higher than non-glutinous (171.68 +/- 11.76), that of early-mid (318.25 +/- 197.93) is the most significantly higher than late (282.12 +/- 178.11), that of red rice (379.22 +/- 197.70) and purple rice (365.61 +/- 195.44) are the most significantly higher than white rice (216.96 +/- 142.11), and that of nuda (332.68 +/- 196.22) is significantly higher than non-nuda (300. 48 +/- 191.14). Among five rice regions, in turn III (327.13) > LL (324.23) > IV (273.11) > V (270.16) > I (258.26), namely it is the most significantly highest (p < 0.01) for contents of total flavone from South Yunnan (II, III) than that of middle Yunnan; It is the most significantly highest from Simao prefecture than that of 8 prefectures, but it is the most significantly low from Baoshan prefecture than that of 7 prefectures. The contents mg x (100 g)(-1) of g-amino butyric acid (GABA) in brown rice is 7.43 +/- 2.53, the content of lowland (7.59 +/- 2. 56) is the most significantly higher than that of upland (7.09 +/- 2.45), that of non-glutinous (8.55 +/- 2.88) is the most significantly higher than glutinous (7.10 +/- 2.32), that of late (7.88 +/- 2.64) is the most significantly higher than early-mid (7.23 +/- 2.45), that of white rice (8.38 +/- 2.66) is the most significantly higher than red rice (6.63 +/- 2.14) and purple rice (7.34 +/- 2.18); Among five rice regions in turn II (7.69) > I (7.40) > IV (7.39) > III (7.33) > V (6.64), viz. the content of GABA from South Yunnan single/double cropping rice region is clearly higher than that of Northwest Yunnan cold highland japonica rice region; It is significant difference of GABA content in brown rice for that Simao prefecture South Yunnan and Yuxi as well as Baoshan prefecture, at least than that of 5 prefectures. The contents (%) of resistant starch in brown rice is 0.75 +/- 0.29, the contents of indica (0.78 +/- 0.35) is significantly higher than japonica (0.74 +/- 0.24), that of glutinous (0.78 +/- 0.31) is the most significantly higher than non-glutinous (0. 67 +/- 0.22), that of late (0.77 +/- 0. 35) is the most significantly higher than early-mid (0.75 +/- 0.26), that of red rice (0.81 +/- 0.30) and purple rice (0.70 +/- 0.30) is the most significantly higher than white rice (0.69 +/- 0.27); Among five rice regions in turn I (0.83) > II (0.79) > III (0.76) > V (0. 55) > IV (0.50), namely it is the highest (p < 0.01) for contents of resistant starch from the middle and South Yunnan province (I, II, III) than that of northern rice regions (V, IV), and the lowest for contents of resistant starch of Lijiang prefecture of northwestern and Zaotong of northeastern in this province compared to that of 13 prefectures except Diqing prefectures. These results not only reveal the most significant difference between lowland versus upland, glutinous versus nonglutinous, early/mid rice and red/purple versus white rice based on the contents of total flavone and resistant starch as well as g-amino butyric acid (GABA) in brown rice (p < 0.01), and no significant difference between indica and japonica, awn and no-awn, and common rice and aromatic/soft rice, but also elucidate obvious zonal characteristics of three functional components in brown rice of Yunnan rice. The above results provided theory bases for the genetic breeding and production of functional rice and solve the problems of chronic for human being.

[The zonal characterization of elemental concentrations in brown rice of core collection for rice landrace in Yunnan Province by ICP-AES].

In the present paper, the contents of 8 elements in brown rice of 789 accessions core collection for rice landrace from 16 prefectures of five rice regions in Yunnan province were determined by ICP-AES technique. The method proves to be simple, rapid, highly sensitive and accurate, and can be used to determine many elements at the same time. Its recovery ratio obtained by standard addition method ranged from 97.1% to 110.2%, and its RSD was from 0.7% to 4.4%. The analytical results showed that the elemental concentrations (mg x kg(-1) ) in brown rice are in turn of P(3 834.83 +/- 486.49) > K(2 567.72 +/- 336.74) > Mg (2 567.72 +/- 336.74) > Ca (153.67 +/- 55.90) > Zn( 33.35 +/- 13.65) > Fe(32.08 +/- 25.51) > Cu (14.22 +/- 11.85) > Mn(13.58 +/- 3.22). The highest P content is in brown rice from the northwest Yunnan with the rich nonferrous metals and most abundance of biodiversity in the world, the highest Ca, Mg, Fe and Zn concentrations are in brown rice from the middle Yunnan with early cambrian fauna and phosphorite enrichment, and the highest Cu and Mn contents are in brown rice from the southwest Yunnan with the prominent crop diversity. The distributing zones with the highest P and K, middle Ca, Mg and Mn and lowest Fe and Zn in Yunnan are the enrichment zone of minal resources and largest biodiversity. As far as we know, this is the first report that the zonal characterstics of mineral elemental concentractions in brown rice are associated with a lot of factors, such as biodiversity center, enrichment zone of minal resources, origin of life, mountain ranges and rivers and so on, and further it was deduced that the asymmetry of distribution for mineral elements and its reciprocity of mountain ranges and rivers are the key of origin of life. The above results provided reliable data and theory bases for the malnourished Fe and Zn and Ca for 4 billion people in the world, origin of life, the genetic breeding and production of functional rice.

[Correlation of mineral elements between milled and brown rice and soils in Yunnan studied by ICP-AES].

In the present paper, the contents of 18 mineral elements in milled and brown rice of 55 accessions elite cultivars as well as corresponding soils were determined by ICP-AES technique. The method proves to be simple, rapid, highly sensitive and accurate, and can be used to determine many elements at the same time, its recovery ratio obtained by standard addition method ranged between 93.1% and 110.2%, and its RSD was from 0.8% to 5.1%. The analytical results showed that 18 mineral elements (S, Mo, Ba, Ni, Fe, Cr, Na, Al, Cu, P, Sn, Zn, B, Mn, Mg, Ca, Sr and K) are the important active compositions of functional rice, and their mean contents in milled rice are in the order of P>K>S>Mg>Ca>Zn>Na>Al>Mn>Fe>Cu>B >Mo>Ni>Sn>Cr>Ba>Sr, in brown rice in the order of P>K>Mg>S>Ca>Zn>Mn>Al>Na>Fe>Cu>B>Mo>Sn> Ni>Cr>Ba>Sr, but in soil in the order of Fe>Al>Ca>K>Mg>P>S>Mn>B>Na>Ba>Zn>Cr>Cu>Ni>Sn>Mo> Sr; 16 mineral elements in milled and brown rice (except for S and P) are clearly lower than that in soils. The correlation of 8 microelements (Mo, Ni, Cr, Sr, Mn, Zn, Cu and Na) in milled and brown rice is closer than that of 6 macroelements (P, K, Mg, Ca, S and Al). There are rich Fe, Al and Ca in Yunnan soils, but 4 elements (P, K, Mg and S) are in high priority in milled and brown rice; The milled rice used for the staple is easier to place a premium on chronics than brown rice. The above results provided reliable data and theory bases for genetic breeding and production of functional rice, and for further solving the chronics and the malnourished problems with insufficient Fe, Zn and Ca for 4 billion people in the world.

[Determination of mineral elements in brown rice of near-isogenic lines population for Japonica rice by ICP-AES].

In the present paper, the contents of 17 mineral elements (S, Mo, Ni, Fe, Cr, Na, Al, Cu, P, Sn, Zn, B, Mn, Mg, Ca, Sr and K) in brown rice of 264 plant lines in near-isogenic lines (NILs) population and parents for Japonica rice were determined by ICP-AES technique. The method proved to be simple, rapid, highly sensitive and accurate, and can be used to determine many elements at the same time. Its recovery ratio obtained by standard addition method ranged between 92.3% and 110.27%, and its RSD was lower than 6%. The analytical results showed that NILs for various mineral elements based on the BC5F5 population consisting of 261 lines were developed from a cross between NIL (BC4F5) and Towada. To our knowledge, this is the first report on that near-isogenic lines NIL(BC4F5) with the important value for high mineral elements associated with cold tolerance at booting stage have been bred. The results of the determination show that the brown rice is rich in eleven elements such as P, K, Mg, S, Ca, Zn, Mn, Na, Fe, Cu and Al necessary to human health. There is smaller variation of 5 macroelements (11.15%-16.45%) but larger variation of 12 microelements (16.57%-94.96%) in brown rice from populations. There is significant correlation among 95 from 136 pairs in 17 elements, moreover, especially the correlation (0.531**-0.921**) among 15 pairs of six micro-elements (Mo, Ni, Al, Sn, Cr and Sr) associated with the active components of functional rice is relatively higher than that of 10 pairs (0.175**-0.867**) of 5 macroelements (P, K, Ca, Mg and S), revealing the importance of microelements to catalysing and synthesizing the active components of functional rice. The above results provided reliable data and theory bases for gene location and cloning of controlling elements contents in brown rice, and further revealed the molecular and physiological mechanism of the relation between mineral elements in brown rice and cold tolerance at booting stage in japonica rice from Yunnan Province of China.

[Evaluation of morphological traits on near-isogenic lines of cold tolerance and molecular validation at booting stage in Japonica rice].

Five parents and their near-isogenic lines (NILs) were grown in field experiments in Kunming (elevation 1916 m, two kinds of water temperatures at booting stage were 19.5 +/- 0.7 degrees C and 17.8 +/- 1.1 degrees C) and Aziying (elevation 2150 m, water temperature at booting stage was 18.2 +/- 0.22 degrees C), Yunnan, China, in 2004. Seventeen agronomic traits and SSR molecular markers were clustered by Statistica. The results showed that: (1) The morphological traits of NILs of cold tolerance and recurrent parents (Towada) at booting stage were similar, but the traits related cold tolerance, such as spike neck length, full grains, seed setting rate, anther length, anther volume, were different obviously; (2) using 7 markers had polymorphism between Towada and NILs were chosen from 78 SSR markers, the cold tolerance of NILs proved to be different to Towada. This demonstrates that these NILs were promising population for fine mapping and cloning genes for cold tolerance.

[Effects of MTNR1A gene on litter size in a large white and a landrace herd].

Two pairs of primers were designed based on the known sequence in GenBank for amplification of MTNR1A gene in a Large White and a Landrace herd. Using PCR-SSCP (single strand conformation polymorphism), we found a single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP) within the product amplified from the first pair of primers. PCR products from randomly selected different genotypes were sequenced after were recovered and purified. Results revealed a synonymous single base mutation(G-->A) at +159bp(sequence numbering based on Genbank accession number U73326) for the BB genotype. When analyzed for association with litter size traits, this MTNR1A SNP was found to have no significant effect on litter size traits.