A rapid method for the preparation of ganglioside Glac2 (GD3)

A method is described for the preparation of ganglioside G_lac2 [(II³(NeuAc)₂-LacCer, GD3] from cream of bovine milk using liquid-phase extraction with methanol or ethanol followed by anion exchange chromatography. The method is rapid and inexpensive; 1 kg cream, centrifuged from 14–15 L of bovine milk, yields approximately 70 mg of pure ganglioside G_lac2. The sialic acid constituent of ganglioside G_lac2 isolated from bovine milk cream consists solely of theN-acetylneuraminic acid derivative. The major components of its ceramide consist of octadecasphing-4-enine and the 22∶0 (behenic acid) and 23∶0 fatty acids. Short hand notations for gangliosides are according to Wiegandt (Ref. 1). G_lac2, (II³(NeuAc)₂-LacCer) is NeuAcα,8NeuAcα,-3Galβ,4Glcβ,1Cer; G_tet1, (II³NeuAc-Gg₄Cer) is Gal\,3GalNAcβ,-4(NeuAcα,3)Galβ,4Glcβ,1Cer.     

The crossflow piston bed

The moving piston bed is a device for producing washed crystals from a slurry feed. Necessary for predicting the quality of a conceptual bed geometry is an evaluation method which accurately reveals the flow patterns in the dynamic system. The electrical analog method serves as a versatile guide to an evolutionary development of improved designs.All beds with a submerged drainage port have, for a given geometry, a unique relationship between loss of displacement fluid and rate of bed advance. The hydraulic diagram is unchanged, by the magnitude of applied forces. For rating productive capacity the use of gravity forces as a reference standard is recommended.A crossflow design is developed that predicts a productive rate over three times that achievable by downflow washing.     

Multi‐carrier platform for wireless communications. Part 2: OFDM and MC‐CDMA systems with high‐performance,high‐throughput via innovations in spreading

Multi‐carrier technologies in general, and OFDM and MC‐CDMA in particular, are an integral part of the wireless landscape. In this second part of a two‐part survey, the authors present an innovative set of spreading codes known as CI codes, and demonstrate how these significantly increase performance and capacity in OFDM and MC‐CDMA systems, all the while eliminating PAPR concerns. Regarding OFDM: the spreading of each symbol over all N carriers using CI spreading codes (replacing the current one symbol per carrier strategy) are presented. CI codes are ideally suited for spreading OFDM since, when compared to traditional OFDM, CI‐based OFDM systems achieve the performance of coded OFDM (COFDM) while maintaining the throughput of uncoded OFDM, and, at the same time, eliminate PAPR concerns. When applied to MC‐CDMA, CI codes provide a simple means of supporting 2N users on N carriers while maintaining the performance of an N‐user Hadamard Walsh code MC‐CDMA system, i.e., CI codes double MC‐CDMA network capacity without loss in performance. The CI codes used in OFDM and MC‐CDMA systems are directly related to the CI pulse (chip) shapes used to enhance TDMA and DS‐CDMA (see part 1): hence, the CI approach provides a common hardware platform for today's multi‐carrier/multiple‐access technologies, enabling software radio applications. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Separation and micro-detection of oligosaccharides of glycosphingolipids by high performance cellulose thin-layer chromatography-autoradiofluorography

A method is described for the microscale characterization of the oligosaccharides of glycosphinglolipids using high-performance cellulose thin-layer chromatography and autoradiofluorography. With this procedure the oligosaccharides of neutral glycosphingolipids as well as gangliosides were analyzed at an average detection of 10 pmol. The method was tested with the known glycolipds from the erythrocytes of man, sheep, rabbit and guinea pig. As a further application small quantities of the as yet unidentified glycolipids of rat erythrocyte ghosts were isolated and their oligosaccharides determined.     

Glycosphingolipid component profiles of human gliomas correlate with histological tumour types: analysis of inter-individual and tumour-regional distribution

Three types of glycosphingolipid (GSL) component profiles have been established for human intracranial gliomas. GSL-type I shows only Glac- and lacto-series-sialoglycolipids. Type II consist of Glac- and Gtri-gangliosides, whereas only GSL-type III contains sulphatide and, as a major neutral glycolipid, galactocerebroside, besides gangliosides of the Glac-, Gtri-, and Gtet-families. Whole gliomas of malignancy grading I/II, III and IV, display GSL-Types III, II, and I, respectively. Thus, the GSL component distribution of the samples taken after surgery from three individual gliomas and two biopsies correlate closely with the general diagnosis of these tumours. Arthrobacter ureafaciens sialidase was used for the characterization of gangliosides. GSL-type analysis of multiple regional samples, taken from necropsy and biopsy, were determined by microanalysis of microscopic cryostat section, and shown to be in good agreement with their histology. The results validate the relevance of tumour ganglioside analysis for the characterization and diagnosis of gliomas.     

Diameter of the cell-to-cell junctional membrane channels as probed with neutral molecules

The cell-to-cell channels in the junctions of an insect salivary gland and of insect and mammalian cells in culture were probed with fluorescent molecules-neutral linear oligosaccharides, neutral branched glycopeptides, and charged linear peptides. From the molecular dimensions of the largest permeants and smallest impermeants the permeation-limiting channel diameter was obtained: 16 to 20 angstroms for the mammalian cells and 20 to 30 angstroms for the insect cells.     

Novel glycoinositolphosphosphingolipids, basidiolipids, from Agaricus

From the edible mushroom, the basidiomycetes Agaricus bisporus and Agaricus campestris, a novel carbohydrate-homologous series of four glyco-inositol-phospho-sphingolipids, designated basidiolipids, was isolated and the constituents purified. The chemical structures of the basidiolipids were elucidated to be: Manpbeta1-2inositol1-phospho-ceramide, Galpalpha-6[Fucpalpha-2]Galpbeta-6Manpbeta-2i nositol1-phospho-ceramide, Galpalpha-6Galpalpha-6[Fucpalpha-2]Galpbeta- 6Manpbeta-2inositol1-phospho-ceramide and Galpalpha-6Galpalpha-6Galpalpha-6[Fucpalpha-2] Galpbeta-6Manpbeta-2ino sitol1-phospho-ceramide. All four glycolipids contained a ceramide which was composed of phytosphingosine and predominantly alpha-hydroxy-behenic and alpha-hydroxy-lignoceric acid.     

High-throughput, high-performance OFDM via pseudo-orthogonal carrier interferometry spreading codes

The paper introduces to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems a novel pseudo-orthogonal carrier interferometry spreading code which spreads each parallel data stream over all the OFDM carriers. Pseudo-orthogonal carrier interferometry (PO-CI) spreading codes are carefully selected to introduce the following benefits to OFDM: up to 2N parallel data streams can be coded onto N carriers, with little degradation in performance; when rate 1/2 channel coding is applied in addition to PO-CI spreading codes, the resulting binary phase-shift keying OFDM systems demonstrate the performance of coded OFDM and the throughput of uncoded OFDM; PO-CI codes are carefully selected to spread in a manner which eliminates the peak-to-average power ratio problems characteristic of traditional OFDM.     

Myths about freeze desalting

Since the inception of freezing as a process for desalting sea water, a variety of misconceptions about the process have evolved and persisted, even when countered with scientific and engineering information to the contrary. Such misconceptions or myths have been very damaging to the commercial development of freezing as a competitive desalination process. A number of these myths are explored with respect to their engineering validity and a comparison is made between freezing and other important desalination processes.