Comparison of the Microsolvation of CaX (X = F, Cl, Br, I) in Water: Size-Selected Anion Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Theoretical Calculations.

To understand the microsolvation of alkaline-earth dihalides in water and provide information about the dependence of solvation processes on different halides, we investigated CaBr(HO), CaI(HO), and CaF(HO) ( = 0-6) clusters using size-selected anion photoelectron spectroscopy and conducted theoretical calculations on these clusters and their neutrals. The results are compared with those of CaCl(HO) clusters reported previously. It is found that the vertical detachment energies (VDEs) of CaCl(HO), CaBr(HO), and CaI(HO) show a similar trend with increasing cluster size, while the VDEs of CaF(HO) show a different trend.

Hydration processes of barium chloride: Size-selected anion photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations of BaCl-water clusters.

In order to understand the hydration processes of BaCl, we investigated BaCl(HO) (n = 0-5) clusters using size-selected anion photoelectron spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The structures of neutral BaCl(HO) clusters up to n = 8 were also investigated by theoretical calculations. It is found that in BaCl(HO) , the Ba-Cl distances increase very slowly with the cluster size.

Trehalose facilitates DNA melting: a single-molecule optical tweezers study.

Using optical tweezers, here we show that the overstretching transition force of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) is lowered significantly by the addition of the disaccharide trehalose as well as certain polyol osmolytes. This effect is found to depend linearly on the logarithm of the trehalose concentration. We propose an entropic driving mechanism for the experimentally observed destabilization of dsDNA that is rooted in the higher affinity of the DNA bases for trehalose than for water, which promotes base exposure and DNA melting.

[Sexual dimorphisms of dopaminergic neurons in rat substantia nigra].

There are sex differences in some brain areas in mammalians. Parkinson's disease (PD), caused by the mesencephalic substantia nigra (SN) dopaminergic neuronal loss, displays sexual difference, i.e.