Magnetic Resonance Signal Amplification by Reversible Exchange of Selective PyFALGEA Oligopeptide Ligands Towards Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors

The biorelevant PyFALGEA oligopeptide ligand, which is selective towards the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), has been successfully employed as a substrate in magnetic resonance signal amplification by reversible exchange (SABRE) experiments. It is demonstrated that PyFALGEA and the iridium catalyst IMes form a PyFALGEA:IMes molecular complex. The interaction between PyFALGEA:IMes and H₂ results in a ternary SABRE complex. Selective 1D EXSY experiments reveal that this complex is labile, which is an essential condition for successful hyperpolarization by SABRE. Polarization transfer from parahydrogen to PyFALGEA is observed leading to significant enhancement of the ¹H NMR signals of PyFALGEA. Different iridium catalysts and peptides are inspected to discuss the influence of their molecular structures on the efficiency of hyperpolarization. It is observed that PyFALGEA oligopeptide hyperpolarization is more efficient when an iridium catalyst with a sterically less demanding NHC ligand system such as IMesBn is employed. Experiments with shorter analogues of PyFALGEA, that is, PyLGEA and PyEA, show that the bulky phenylalanine from the PyFALGEA oligopeptide causes steric hindrance in the SABRE complex, which hampers hyperpolarization with IMes. Finally, a single-scan ¹H NMR SABRE experiment of PyFALGEA with IMesBn revealed a unique pattern of NMR lines in the hydride region, which can be treated as a fingerprint of this important oligopeptide.     

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2020

International Journal of Computer Vision -     

Model validation and model structure determination

This paper gives a tutorial overview of basic approaches for model validation and model structure determination.Work partially supported by the Swedish Research Council for Engineering Sciences under contract 98-654.     

Higher Order Barycentric Coordinates

In recent years, a wide range of generalized barycentric coordinates has been suggested. However, all of them lack control over derivatives. We show how the notion of barycentric coordinates can be extended to specify derivatives at control points. This is also known as Hermite interpolation. We introduce a method to modify existing barycentric coordinates to higher order barycentric coordinates and demonstrate, using higher order mean value coordinates, that our method, although conceptually simple and easy to implement, can be used to give easy and intuitive control at interactive frame rates over local space deformations such as rotations.     

Passive sensitization of human airways induces myogenic contractile responses in vitro

We assessed effects of passive sensitization on human bronchial smooth muscle (BSM) response to mechanical stretching in vitro. Bronchial rings were sham (control) or passively sensitized overnight by using sera from donors demonstrating sensitivity to Dermatophagoides farinae and having immunoglobulin E (IgE) concentrations of 2,600 +/- 200 U/ml. Tissues were fixed isometrically to force transducers to measure responses to electrical field stimulation (EFS) and quick stretch (QS). The myogenic response to QS was normalized to the maximal response to EFS (%EFS). The myogenic response of sensitized BSM was 47.9 +/- 10.9 %EFS to a QS of approximately 6.5% optimal length (Lo); sham-sensitized tissues had a myogenic response of 13.5 +/- 6.4 %EFS (P = 0.012 vs. passively sensitized). A QS of approximately 13% Lo in sensitized BSM caused a response of 82.8 +/- 20.9 %EFS; sham-sensitized tissues developed a response of 38.2 +/- 17.3 %EFS (P = 0.004). BSM incubated with serum from nonallergic donors did not demonstrate increased QS response (4.6 +/- 1.4 %EFS, P = not significant vs. tissue exposed to atopic sera). However, tissues incubated in sera from nonatopic donors supplemented with hapten-specific chimeric IgE (JW8) demonstrated augmented myogenic response to QS of approximately 6.5% Lo (21.9 +/- 6.2 %EFS, P = 0. 027 vs. nonatopic sera alone). We demonstrate that passive sensitization of human BSM preparations causes induction and augmentation of myogenic contractions to QS; this hyperresponsiveness corresponds to the IgE concentration in sensitizing sera.     

Issues in nonlinear stochastic grey box identification

Grey box identification refers to the practice of identifying dynamical systems in model structures exploiting partial prior information. This contribution reviews a method for stochastic grey box identification and surveys experiences and lessons of applying it to a number of industrial processes. Issues to be addressed include advantages and costs of introducing stochastics into the model, the question of what contribution must be expected from the model designer as opposed to what can be formalized in computer algorithms, and an outlook on future plans to resolve present shortcomings.     

Retinal neurostimulator for a multifocal vision prosthesis.

A neurostimulator application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with scalable circuitry that can stimulate 14 channels, has been developed for an epi-retinal vision prosthesis. This ASIC was designed to allow seven identical units to be connected to control up to 98 channels, with the ability to stimulate 14 electrodes simultaneously. The neurostimulator forms part of a vision prosthesis, designed to restore vision to patients who have lost their sight due to retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. For charge balance, the neurostimulator was designed to stimulate with current sources and sinks operating together, and with the ability to drive a hexagonal mosaic of electrodes to reduce the electrical crosstalk that occurs when multiple bipolar stimulation sites are active simultaneously. A hexagonal mosaic of electrodes surrounds each stimulation site and has been shown to effectively isolate each site, increasing the ability to inject localized independent charge into multiple regions simultaneously.     

Efficient reconstruction from non-uniform point sets

We propose a method for non-uniform reconstruction of 3D scalar data. Typically, radial basis functions, trigonometric polynomials or shift-invariant functions are used in the functional approximation of 3D data. We adopt a variational approach for the reconstruction and rendering of 3D data. The principle idea is based on data fitting via thin-plate splines. An approximation by B-splines offers more compact support for fast reconstruction. We adopt this method for large datasets by introducing a block-based reconstruction approach. This makes the method practical for large datasets. Our reconstruction will be smooth across blocks. We give reconstruction measurements as error estimations based on different parameter settings and also an insight on the computational effort. We show that the block size used in reconstruction has a negligible effect on the reconstruction error. Finally we show rendering results to emphasize the quality of this 3D reconstruction technique.     

Ammoxidation of methylaromatics over vanadium phosphate catalysts II. Catalyst formation, active sites and reaction mechanism

The interactions of VOHPO₄· 0.5H₂O and (VO)₂P₂O₇ with the ammoxidation feed and the single components such as ammonia, oxygen, water and component mixtures were studied in detail using XRD and temperature-programmed reaction spectroscopy. The aim of this work was to improve the knowledge of the formation of the active phases or active sites of the catalysts from their precursors under the condition of the ammoxidation reaction. Similar catalytic properties of various applied VPO materials were discussed in terms of the presence of similar structure elements (domains of adjacent edge-sharing VO₆ octahedra-units and P-O-NH₄ groups).