Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Preparation Step (preparation + step)
Kinds of Preparation Step Selected AbstractsData Preparation for Real-time High Quality Rendering of Complex ModelsCOMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM, Issue 3 2006Reinhard Klein The capability of current 3D acquisition systems to digitize the geometry reflection behaviour of objects as well as the sophisticated application of CAD techniques lead to rapidly growing digital models which pose new challenges for interaction and visualization. Due to the sheer size of the geometry as well as the texture and reflection data which are often in the range of several gigabytes, efficient techniques for analyzing, compressing and rendering are needed. In this talk I will present some of the research we did in our graphics group over the past years motivated by industrial partners in order to automate the data preparation step and allow for real-time high quality rendering e.g. in the context of VR-applications. Strength and limitations of the different techniques will be discussed and future challenges will be identified. The presentation will go along with live demonstrations. [source] Molecular dynamics simulations of the detoxification of paraoxon catalyzed by phosphotriesteraseJOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 15 2009Xin Zhang Abstract Combined QM(PM3)/MM molecular dynamics simulations together with QM(DFT)/MM optimizations for key configurations have been performed to elucidate the enzymatic catalysis mechanism on the detoxification of paraoxon by phosphotriesterase (PTE). In the simulations, the PM3 parameters for the phosphorous atom were reoptimized. The equilibrated configuration of the enzyme/substrate complex showed that paraoxon can strongly bind to the more solvent-exposed metal ion Zn,, but the free energy profile along the binding path demonstrated that the binding is thermodynamically unfavorable. This explains why the crystal structures of PTE with substrate analogues often exhibit long distances between the phosphoral oxygen and Zn,. The subsequent SN2 reaction plays the key role in the whole process, but controversies exist over the identity of the nucleophilic species, which could be either a hydroxide ion terminally coordinated to Zn, or the ,-hydroxo bridge between the ,- and ,-metals. Our simulations supported the latter and showed that the rate-limiting step is the distortion of the bound paraoxon to approach the bridging hydroxide. After this preparation step, the bridging hydroxide ion attacks the phosphorous center and replaces the diethyl phosphate with a low barrier. Thus, a plausible way to engineer PTE with enhanced catalytic activity is to stabilize the deformed paraoxon. Conformational analyses indicate that Trp131 is the closest residue to the phosphoryl oxygen, and mutations to Arg or Gln or even Lys, which can shorten the hydrogen bond distance with the phosphoryl oxygen, could potentially lead to a mutant with enhanced activity for the detoxification of organophosphates. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2009 [source] Loading of Bacterial Cellulose Aerogels with Bioactive Compounds by Antisolvent Precipitation with Supercritical Carbon DioxideMACROMOLECULAR SYMPOSIA, Issue 2 2010Emmerich Haimer Abstract Bacterial cellulose aerogels overcome the drawback of shrinking during preparation by drying with supercritical CO2. Thus, the pore network of these gels is fully accessible. These materials can be fully rewetted to 100% of its initial water content, without collapsing of the structure due to surface tension of the rewetting solvent. This rehydration property and the high pore volume of these material rendered bacterial cellulose aerogels very interesting as controlled release matrices. Supercritical CO2 drying, the method of choice for aerogel preparation, can simultaneously be used to precipitate solutes within the cellulose matrix and thus to load bacterial cellulose aerogels with active substances. This process, frequently termed supercritical antisolvent precipitation, is able to perform production of the actual aerogel and its loading in one single preparation step. In this work, the loading of a bacterial cellulose aerogel matrix with two model substances, namely dexpanthenol and L-ascorbic acid, and the release behavior from the matrix were studied. A mathematical release model was applied to model the interactions between the solutes and the cellulose matrix. The bacterial cellulose aerogels were easily equipped with the reagents by supercritical antisolvent precipitation. Loading isotherms as well as release kinetics indicated no specific interaction between matrix and loaded substances. Hence, loading and release can be controlled and predicted just by varying the thickness of the gel and the solute concentration in the loading bath. [source] Selective excitation of overlapping multiplets; the application of doubly selective and chemical shift filter experiments to complex NMR spectraMAGNETIC RESONANCE IN CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2007Sara J. Duncan Abstract Standard 1D TOCSY and NOE experiments have limitations where signals are severely overlapped. Here, two recently published selective excitation methods are evaluated, the first of which uses a chemical shift selective filter to select a single resonance based on its chemical shift, and the second of which is a doubly selective experiment comprising a 1D TOCSY preparation step and subsequent 1D NOE. We also demonstrate the improvement in spectral quality obtained by the use of the zero quantum filter, which is incorporated into both of these experiments. The application of these different methods of selectively exciting overlapped multiplets, to different types of samples is considered. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Serum protein profiling by solid phase extraction and mass spectrometry: A future diagnostics tool?PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 6 2009Anne K. Callesen Abstract Serum protein profiling by MS is a promising method for early detection of disease. Important characteristics for serum protein profiling are preanalytical factors, analytical reproducibility and high throughput. Problems related to preanalytical factors can be overcome by using standardized and rigorous sample collection and sample handling protocols. The sensitivity of the MS analysis relies on the quality of the sample; consequently, the blood sample preparation step is crucial to obtain pure and concentrated samples and enrichment of the proteins and peptides of interest. This review focuses on the serum sample preparation step prior to protein profiling by MALDI MS analysis, with particular focus on various SPE methods. The application of SPE techniques with different chromatographic properties such as RP, ion exchange, or affinity binding to isolate specific subsets of molecules (subproteomes) is advantageous for increasing resolution and sensitivity in the subsequent MS analysis. In addition, several of the SPE sample preparation methods are simple and scalable and have proven easy to automate for higher reproducibility and throughput, which is important in a clinical proteomics setting. [source] Continuous shipboard sampling system for determination of triple oxygen isotopes and O2/Ar ratio by dual-inlet mass spectrometryRAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 23 2006V. V. S. S. Sarma A continuous shipboard sampling system was developed for the determination of the isotopic composition of the triple oxygen isotopes and oxygen to argon (O2/Ar) ratios in dissolved air. In this system, dissolved air is separated by a hollow fiber membrane degassing module. This system collects dissolved air quantitatively and rapidly. The sample flow rate through the membrane is critical for the fractionation of the oxygen isotopes and the O2/Ar ratio and should be <2 mL/min. Fractionation of oxygen between the liquid and gas phase of the air-saturated water was found to be similar to that of earlier reports. The advantages of this method over existing techniques include rapid collection of samples (30 min/sample), high efficiency in extraction of gases from the liquid phase, and the lack of a sample preparation step (e.g. degassing). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Determination of organic acids in urine by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography,ion trap tandem mass spectrometry previous ,in sample' derivatization with trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborateBIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHY, Issue 10 2008Marco Pacenti Abstract A method for the determination of the organic acids directly in the urine employing derivatization with trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate as a methylating agent and sequential extraction by head space and direct immersion/solid phase microextraction is reported. Furoic acid, hippuric acid, methylhippuric acid, mandelic acid, phenylglyoxylic acid and trans, trans muconic acid contained in urine and proposed by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists as biological exposure indices were determined after a fast and economically convenient preparation step and sensitive gas chromatography,ion trap,mass spectrometry/tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Urine is rather a complex sample and hence the acquisition method required specific GC-MS instrumentation capable of supporting the changeover, fully automated during a single chromatographic separation, from mass to tandem mass spectrometry and both chemical and electron ionization modes. The automation of the analytical method provides a number of advantages, including reduced analysis time for both routine analysis and method development, and greater reproducibility. The equilibrium and kinetics of this substances vs head space/direct immersion-solid phase microextraction were investigated and evaluated theoretically. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Effective elimination of nucleic acids from bacterial protein samples for optimized blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresisELECTROPHORESIS, Issue 14 2009Jingdan Liang Abstract Nucleic acids remaining within bacterial protein samples from Streptomyces lividans and Escherichia coli were found to interfere significantly with blue native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE), a technique used frequently for analyzing bacterial protein complexes in proteomics studies. We have used ultracentrifugation and/or precipitation of cell lysates with streptomycin sulfate to eliminate nucleic acids from total and/or membrane protein samples. Nucleic acid-binding proteins were first enriched by precipitation with streptomycin sulfate, and contaminating nucleic acids were then eliminated by precipitation by adding polyethyleneimine. The performance of BN-PAGE was found to be dramatically improved by these sample preparation steps. [source] Microfluidic chips for mass spectrometry-based proteomicsJOURNAL OF MASS SPECTROMETRY (INCORP BIOLOGICAL MASS SPECTROMETRY), Issue 5 2009Jeonghoon Lee Abstract Microfluidic devices coupled to mass spectrometers have emerged as excellent tools for solving the complex analytical challenges associated with the field of proteomics. Current proteome identification procedures are accomplished through a series of steps that require many hours of labor-intensive work. Microfluidics can play an important role in proteomic sample preparation steps prior to mass spectral identification such as sample cleanup, digestion, and separations due to its ability to handle small sample quantities with the potential for high-throughput parallel analysis. To utilize microfluidic devices for proteomic analysis, an efficient interface between the microchip and the mass spectrometer is required. This tutorial provides an overview of the technologies and applications of microfluidic chips coupled to mass spectrometry for proteome analysis. Various approaches for combining microfluidic devices with electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) are summarized and applications of chip-based separations and digestion technologies to proteomic analysis are presented. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Loss characteristics of coplanar waveguide transmission lines fabricated with copper nanoparticlesMICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2010Hee-Jo Lee Abstract This article investigates the high frequency characteristics of coplanar waveguide (CPW) lines fabricated with inkjet-printing technology on BT substrates. The optimal metallic thickness of a printed CPW line is approximately estimated to be 3 ,m. When printed lines with higher electrical conductivity are realized through additional surface preparation steps, the findings of this study suggest that the RF performance level of these printed lines will be comparable to that of the copper clad laminate lines in the microwave frequency region. Finally, aspects of such improvements as well as applications of these types of printed lines are discussed. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 52: 780,782, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24987 [source] Quantitative analysis of polymeric proanthocyanidins in birch leaves with normal-phase HPLCPHYTOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS, Issue 3 2006Maarit Karonen Abstract The proanthocyanidin composition and content in the leaves of nine birch species (Betula albosinensis, B. ermanii, B. maximowicziana, B. nana, B. papyrifera, B. pendula, B. platyphylla, B. pubescens, and B. pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) were studied with different methods including colorimetric assay, HPLC coupled with PAD or ESI/MS and NMR. Total proanthocyanidin content was determined using the acid butanol assay. A normal phase-HPLC method was applied for the analysis of polymeric proanthocyanidins. The content of polymeric proanthocyanidins was estimated from a late eluting peak in the chromatogram. With this HPLC method, quantitative analysis of polymeric proanthocyanidins could be performed directly from leaf extracts: no additional purification or preparation steps were required. It was shown that birch leaves contained mainly polymeric proanthocyanidins with a degree of polymerisation greater than 10. Total proanthocyanidin content (expressed as dry weight) was found to vary from 44 mg/g (B. papyrifera) to 145 mg/g (B. nana), and polymeric proanthocyanidin content from 39 mg/g (B. pendula) to 119 mg/g (B. nana). Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Determination of urinary androgen glucuronides by capillary electrophoresis with electrospray tandem mass spectrometryBIOMEDICAL CHROMATOGRAPHY, Issue 4 2009Sung-Hee Cho Abstract Capillary electrophoresis,electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (CE-ESI/MS/MS) is a simple and highly sensitive method for quantifying seven urinary androgen glucuronides. The urine samples were diluted and filtered through a membrane filter, and the filtrate was injected into a CE-MS/MS system without further sample preparation steps such as extraction and derivatization. The calibration ranges were 0.01,5 µg/mL for glucuronides of androsterone and 11, -OHAn-3G, and 5,500 ng/mL for glucuronides of 11-ketoAn, DHEA, testosterone, epitestosterone and DHT. The linearity of the method was 0.992,0.998, and the limits-of-detection at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 were 5,10 ng/mL. The coefficients of variation were in the range of 4.0,9.0% for intra-day assay and 4.1,9.8% for inter-day assay. The proposed method may be applicable to metabolic profiling in both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Supported Membranes with Well-Defined Polymer Tethers,Incorporation of Cell ReceptorsCHEMPHYSCHEM, Issue 3 2004Oliver Purrucker Abstract We report the design of supported lipid membranes attached to the surface by tailored lipopolymer tethers. A series of well-defined lipopolymers were synthesized by means of living cationic polymerization of 2-methyl-2-oxazolines. The polymers were equipped with a silane coupling group on the proximal, and lipid anchors on the distal chain ends. The length of the intermediate hydrophilic polymer tether was varied (n=14, 18, 33) to change the distance between the membrane and the substrate. Supported membranes have been prepared in two-steps. First, a suitable lipopolymer/lipid mixture was deposited by Langmuir,Blodgett transfer, and annealed to establish the covalent coupling to the surface. On the dry lipopolymer/lipid monolayer, the upper leaflet was deposited by vesicle fusion. Optimization of both preparation steps resulted in the formation of stable and defect-free membranes. Impacts of the spacer length and the lipopolymer fraction upon the lateral diffusivity of the lipids were systematically compared by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). First experiments on the incorporation of a large transmembrane cell receptor (integrin ,IIb,3) into the polymer-tethered membrane suggested that the length of the polymer tether plays a crucial role in distribution of the proteins on the surface. [source] | ||||||||||