Investigation of nitroxoline-human serum albumin interactions by spectroscopic methods

Nitroxoline is a wide spectrum antibacterial and is one of the most important urinary antiseptics.The interaction between nitroxoline and human serum albumin(HSA)has been investigated systematically by fluorescence spectroscopy,synchronous fluorescence,three-dimensional fluorescence,CD spectroscopy and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy.The results indicated that the quenching of HSA by nitroxoline was static.The corresponding thermodynamic parameters △H,△S and △G calculated according to van’t Hoff equation revealed that the intermolecular forces acting between nitroxoline and HSA were mainly hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces.The conformational changes in the interaction were studied by synchronous fluorescence,CD spectroscopy and three-dimensional fluorescence spectra which showed changes in the microenvironment and conformation of HSA.

Spectroscopic Measurements of Physiological Elements in Microdialysis Samples from Rat Brain,Flowering Plum Fruit and Pea

The basal levels of magnesium and copper in rat brain and flowering plum fruit dialysates, and the background concentration of calcium in pea dialysates have been determined with sensitive spectroscopic techniques including atomic absorption spectrometry and spectrophotometry based on amino G acid chlorophosphonazo. It is found that the magnesium level in flowering plum fruit dialysates is much lower than that in rat brain dialysates, indicating a considerable composition difference present between a plant dialysate and an animal one.

Quantum Spin Liquid Phase in the Shastry–Sutherland Model Detected by an Improved Level Spectroscopic Method

We study the spin-1/2 two-dimensional Shastry–Sutherland spin model by exact diagonalization of clusters with periodic boundary conditions, developing an improved level spectroscopic technique using energy gaps between states with different quantum numbers. The crossing points of some of the relative(composite) gaps have much weaker finite-size drifts than the normally used gaps defined only with respect to the ground state, thus allowing precise determination of quantum critical points even with small clusters. Our results support the picture of a spin liquid phase intervening between the well-known plaquette-singlet and antiferromagnetic ground states, with phase boundaries in almost perfect agreement with a recent density matrix renormalization group study, where much larger cylindrical lattices were used [J. Yang et al., Phys. Rev. B 105, L060409(2022)]. The method of using composite low-energy gaps to reduce scaling corrections has potentially broad applications in numerical studies of quantum critical phenomena.

Kinematics and stellar population properties of the Andromeda galaxy by using the spectroscopic observations of the Guoshoujing Telescope

The Andromeda galaxy was observed by the Guoshoujing Telescope （formerly named the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope -- LAMOST）, during the 2009 commissioning phase. Due to the absence of standard stars for flux calibration, we use the photometric data of 15 intermediate bands in the Beijing-Arizona-Taipei-Connecticut （BATC） survey to calibrate the spectra. In to- tal, 59 spectra located in the bulge and disk of the galaxy are obtained. Kinematic and stellar population properties of the stellar content are derived with these spectra. We obtain the global velocity field and calculate corresponding rotation velocities out to about 7 kpc along the major axis. These rotation velocity measurements comple- ment those of the gas content, such as the H I and CO. The radial velocity dispersion shows that the stars in the bulge are more dynamically thermal and the disk is more rotationally-supported. The age distribution shows that the bulge was formed about 12 Gyr ago, the disk is relatively younger and the ages of some regions along the spi- ral arms can reach as young as about 1 Gyr. These young stellar populations have a relatively richer abundance and larger reddening. The overall average metallicity of the galaxy approximates the solar metallicity and a very weak abundance gradient is gained. The reddening map gives a picture of a dust-free bulge and a distinct dusty ring in the disk.

Study of the continuum removal method for the Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M^3) and its application to Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium

The absorption band center of visible and near infrared reflectance spectra is a key spectral parameter for lunar mineralogical studies, especially for the mafic minerals（olivine and pyroxene） of mare basalts, which have two obvious absorption bands at 1000 nm（Band I） and 2000 nm（Band II）. Removal of the continuum from spectra, which was developed by Clark and Roush and used to isolate the particular absorption feature, is necessary to estimate this parameter. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper（M3） data are widely used for lunar mineral identification. However, M3 data show a residual thermal effect, which interferes with the continuum removal, and systematic differences exist among optical data taken during different optical periods. This study investigated a suitable continuum removal method and compared the difference between two sets of M3 data taken during different optical periods, Optical Period 1B（OP1B）and Optical Period 2A（OP2A）. Two programs for continuum removal are reported in this paper. Generally,a program respectively constructs two straight lines across Band I and Band II to remove the continuum,which is recommended for locating band centers, because it can find the same Band I center with different right endpoints. The optimal right endpoint for continuum removal is mainly dominated by two optical period data at approximately 2480 and 2560 nm for OP1 B and OP2 A data, respectively. The band center values derived from OP1 B data are smaller than those derived from OP2 A data in Band I but larger in Band II, especially for the spectra using longer right endpoints（〉2600 nm）. This may be due to the spectral slopes of OP1 B data being steeper than those of OP2 A data in Band I but gentler in Band II. These results were applied to Mare Humorum and Mare Nubium, and the measurements were found to mainly vary from intermediate- to high-Ca pyroxene.

Two new phenolic compounds from Artemisia sphaerocephala

Two new phenolic compounds were isolated from whole plant ofArtemisia sphaerocephala. The structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic methods as 4-（1-hydroxylethyl）-phenol-l-O-β-D-glucopyranoside and 4-O-acetophenone-β-D-gluco- pyranosyl-（1-3）-β-D-glucopyranoside.

Sky subtraction for LAMOST

Sky subtraction is a key technique in data reduction of multi-fiber spectra. Knowledge of characteristics related to the instrument is necessary to determine the method adopted in sky subtraction. In this study, we describe the sky subtraction method designed for the Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope （LAMOST） survey. The method has been integrated into the LAMOST 2D Pipeline v2.6 and applied to data from LAMOST DR3 and later. For LAMOST, calibration using sky emission lines is used to alleviate the position-dependent （and thus time-dependent） ,-~ 4% fiber throughput uncertainty and small wavelength instability （0.1/~） during observation. Sky subtraction using principal component analysis （PCA） further reduces 25% of the sky line residual from OH fines in the red part of LAMOST spectra after the master sky spectrum, which is derived from a B-spline fit of 20 sky fibers in each spectrograph. Using this approach, values are adjusted by a sky emission line and subtracted from each fiber. Further analysis shows that our wavelength calibration accuracy is about 4.5 km s-1, and the averages of residuals after sky subtraction are about 3% for sky emission lines and 3% for the continuum region. The relative sky subtraction residuals vary with moonlight background brightness, and can reach as low as 1.5% for regions that have sky emission lines during a dark night. Tests on F stars with both similar sky emission line strength and similar object continuum intensity show that the sky emission line residual of LAMOST is smaller than that of the SDSS survey.

Relative flux calibration for the Guoshoujing Telescope (LAMOST)

This paper presents a relative flux calibration method for the Guoshoujing Telescope （LAMOST）, which may be applied to connect a blue spectrum to a red spectrum to build the whole spectrum across the total wavelength range （3700 ～ 9000 A）. In each spectrograph, we estimate the effective temperatures of selected stars using a grid of spectral line indices in the blue spectral range and a comparison with stellar atmosphere models. For each spectrograph, stars of types A and F are selected as pseudo-standard stars, and the theoretical spectra are used to calibrate both the blue （3700 ～ 5900 A） and red spectrograph arms （5700 ～ 9000 A）. Then the spectral response function for these pseudo-standard stars could be used to correct the raw spectra provided by the other fibers of the spectrograph, after a fiber efficiency function has been derived from twilight flat-field exposures. A key problem in this method is the fitting of a pseudo stellar continuum, so we also give a detailed description of this step. The method is tested by comparing a small sample of LAMOST spectra calibrated in this way on stars also observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The result shows that the T eff estimation and relative flux calibration method are adequate.

Steps Towards a Fully Automated Classification and Redshiftmeasurement Pipeline for LAMOST Spectra. I.Continuum level and wavelength estimation for galaxies

The Large Sky-Area Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) under construction by the National Astronomical Observatories will yield up to four thousand multi-fiber spectra of stars and galaxies per field. The present series of papers describes the automated data-reduction pipeline currently being designed in order to cope with the anticipated flood of spectrographic data. In this preliminary paper, we present an automated method for estimating the continuum level, the positions of strong lines and the 4000 A break in galaxy spectra. In order to obtain detailed information on the continuum, we use a wavelet filter bank. After continuum fitting, our software searches for a 4000 A break and distinguishes between emission-line galaxies (ELGs) and non-ELGs according to whether the break is small or large. It then searches for strong lines and measures the intensities of emission lines and the equivalent widths of absorption lines. For non-ELGs, the absorption lines are identified automatically yielding redshift measurements.

Automated Separation of Stars and Normal Galaxies Based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with RBF Neural Networks

For LAMOST, the largest sky survey program in China, the solution of the problem of automatic discrimination of stars from galaxies by spectra has shown that the results of the PSF test can be significantly refined. However, the problem is made worse when the redshifts of galaxies are not available. We present a new automatic method of star/(normal) galaxy separation, which is based on Statistical Mixture Modeling with Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (SMM-RBFNN). This work is a continuation of our previous one, where active and non-active celestial objects were successfully segregated. By combining the method in this paper and the previous one, stars can now be effectively separated from galaxies and AGNs by their spectra-a major goal of LAMOST, and an indispensable step in any automatic spectrum classification system. In our work, the training set includes standard stellar spectra from Jacoby's spectrum library and simulated galaxy spectra of EO, SO, Sa, Sb types with redshift ranging from 0 to 1.2, and the test set of stellar spectra from Pickles' atlas and SDSS spectra of normal galaxies with SNR of 13. Experiments show that our SMM-RBFNN is more efficient in both the training and testing stages than the BPNN (back propagation neural networks), and more importantly, it can achieve a good classification accuracy of 99.22% and 96.52%, respectively for stars and normal galaxies.

The Coudé Echelle Spectrograph for the Xinglong 2.16m Telescope

A brief description of the NAO coude echelle spectrograph mounted on the 2.16 m telescope at Xinglong station is given. This echelle spectrograph is located at the coudé focus with a prism cross disperser. The echelle image covers the spectral region from 330 to 1100 nm displayed in 80 spectral orders in one exposure through two light beams. With a slit height of 2mm, spectral orders are separated by 15 to 23 pixels in blue region and by 7 to 19 pixels in red region. Alternatively, two additional resolution modes corresponding to different focal length cameras with resolving power R 16000, 170 000 in the blue beam and R = 13000, 170 000 in the red beam could be provided by this spectrograph. The bias, dark, wavelength calibration, flat field and science exposure are described in details. The limiting magnitude for 1 hour exposure with an S/N ratio of 100 scales to V = 9.5 in the red path and to V = 7.2 in the blue path.

Automated Stellar Classification for Large Surveys with EKF and RBF Neural Networks

An automated classification technique for large size stellar surveys is proposed. It uses the extended Kalman filter as a feature selector and pre-classifier of the data, and the radial basis function neural networks for the classification. Experiments with real data have shown that the correct classification rate can reach as high as 93%, which is quite satisfactory. When different system models are selected for the extended Kalman filter, the classification results are relatively stable. It is shown that for this particular case the result using extended Kalman filter is better than using principal component analysis.

Multidisciplinary and multiscale nanoscience research roadmap based on large scientific facilities

With the advancement of modern science and technology, large scientific facilities are increasingly oriented toward demand and application, and can be used for basic research as well as serving multiple disciplines. Developing large scientific facilities and related analytical technologies enhances understanding of large scientific facilities and popularizes their application in research across multiple disciplines. The combination of light or neutron sources from large scientific facilities and advanced analytical technologies can be achieved for materials structure information, dynamics study of chemical reactions, high dissociation of biomolecules, 3D visualization of energy materials or biological samples, etc. We first introduce the progress of domestic large scientific facilities of synchrotron radiation(SR) and free electron lasers(FELs) with different wavelengths and neutron sources.We further discuss the comparison between Chinese and typical foreign facilities in X-ray radiation from X-ray tubes, synchrotrons, X-ray FELs, and neutron sources based on physical parameters of light and neutron sources. In addition, we focus on the technological progress and perspectives combined with advanced X-ray radiation and neutron sources of large scientific facilities in China, especially in the nanoscience fields of energy catalysis and biological science. We hope that this roadmap will provide references on technology and methods to experimental users, as well as prospects for future development of technologies based on large research infrastructure facilities. Comprehensive studies and guidelines for basic research to practical application in various disciplines can be made with the assistance of large scientific facilities.

A spectroscopic method for determining thickness of quartz wave plate

A spectroscopic method to determine thickness on chromatic polarization interferometry. With of quartz wave plate is presented. The method is based the polarization-resolved transmission spectrum （PRTS） curve, the phase retardation of quartz wave plate can be determined at a wide spectral range from 200 to 2000 nm obviously. Through accurate judgment of extreme points of PRTS curve at long-wave band, the physical thickness of quartz wave plates can be obtained exactly. We give a measuring example and the error analysis. It is found that the measuring precision of thickness is mainly determined by the spectral resolution of spectrometer.

New approaches to diagnostics and treatment of cholangiocellular cancer based on photonics methods

Cholangiocellular cancer(CCC)is an oncological disease of the bile ducts characterized by a high mortality rate.To date,the use of standard methods for the diagnosis and treatment of CCC has not been able to reduce mortality from this disease.This work presents the results of fluorescence diagnostics(FD),which consists in using a modified optical fiber and photodynamic therapy(PDT)using a therapeutic laser instead of a low-intensity laser.This technique was tested on 43 patients in a clinical setting.The results obtained indicate a direct correlation between spectroscopic and video FD methods.Furthermore,a direct correlation was found between the photobleaching of a chlorin e6-based photosensitizer,with the commercial names of PhotoIon Radachlorin and Photoran and stricture regression.Our findings demonstrate the possibility of using a therapeutic laser with a wavelength of 660 nm for both diagnosis and treatment of bile ducts cancer,which results in a significant reduction of the operation time without decreasing its effectiveness.

Determination of Soil Parameters in Apple-Growing Regions by Near-and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy

Soil quality monitoring is important in precision agriculture.This study aimed to examine the possibility of assessing the soil parameters in apple-growing regions using spectroscopic methods.A total of 111 soil samples were collected from 11 typical sites of apple orchards,and the croplands surrounding them.Near-infrared(NIR) and mid-infrared(MIR) spectra,combined with partial least square regression,were used to predict the soil parameters,including organic matter(OM) content,pH,and the contents of As,Cu,Zn,Pb,and Cr.Organic matter and pH were closely correlated with As and the heavy metals.The NIR model showed a high prediction accuracy for the determination of OM,pH,and As,with correlation coefficients(r) of 0.89,0.89,and 0.90,respectively.The predictions of these three parameters by MIR showed reduced accuracy,with r values of 0.77,0.84,and 0.92,respectively.The heavy metals could also be measured by spectroscopy due to their correlation with organic matter.Both NIR and MIR had high correlation coefficients for the determination of Cu,Zn,and Cr,with standard errors of prediction of 2.95,10.48,and 9.49 mg kg-1 for NIR and 3.69,5.84,and 6.94 mg kg-1 for MIR,respectively.Pb content behaved differently from the other parameters.Both NIR and MIR underestimated Pb content,with r values of 0.67 and 0.56 and standard errors of prediction of 3.46 and 2.99,respectively.Cu and Zn had a higher correlation with OM and pH and were better predicted than Pb and Cr.Thus,NIR spectra could accurately predict several soil parameters,metallic and nonmetallic,simultaneously,and were more feasible than MIR in analyzing soil parameters in the study area.

Study of possibility of cell recognition in brain tumors

The brain has an exceptionally high requirement for energy metabolism,with glucose serving as the exclusive energy source.Cancers,including glioblastoma,have a high glucose uptake and rely on aerobic glycolysis for energy metabolism.The alternation of high-efficiency oxidative phosphorylation to a low-efficiency aerobic glycolysis pathway(Warburg effect)provides macromolecules for biosynthesis and proliferation.Current research indicates that the specific metabolism in the tumor tissue and nonnal brain tissue in the glioma allows the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid(5 ALA)-induced protoporphyrin IX(PpIX)and methylene blue(MB)to monitor and correct the development of the tumor.The focus is on the detection of the differences between tumor cells and tumorassociated macrophages/microglia using spectroscopic and microscopic methods,based on the fluorescent signals and the difference in the drug accumulation of photosensitizers(PSs).Since 5 ALA has long been used effectively in the clinic for fluorescent surgical navigation,it was employed as an agent to identify the localization of tumor tissue and study its composition,particularly tumor and immune cells(macrophages),which have also been shown to actively accumulate PpIX.However,since PpIX is photodynamically active,it can be considered effective as the main target of tumor tissue for further successful photodynamic therapy.MB was employed to visualize resident microglia,which is important for their activation/deactivation to prevent the reprogramming of the immune cells by the tumor.Thus,using two drugs,it is possible to prevent crosstalk between tumor cells and the immune cells of different geneses.