EPR Viscometric Measurements Using a C-Labeled Triarylmethyl Radical in Protein-based Biotherapeutics and Human Synovial Fluids.

The viscosity measurements are of clinical significance for evaluation of the potential pathological conditions of biological lubricants such as synovial fluids of joints, and for formulation and characterization of peptide- and protein-based biotherapeutics. Due to inherent potential therapeutic activity, protein drugs have proven to be one of the most efficient therapeutic agents in treatment of several life-threatening disorders, such as diabetes and autoimmune diseases. However, home-use applications for treating chronic inflammatory diseases, such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, necessitate the development of high-concentration insulin and monoclonal antibodies formulations for patient self-administration.

Between-Day Reliability of the Gait Characteristics and Their Changes During the 6-Minute Walking Test in People With Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Gait characteristics and their changes during the 6-minute walking test (6MWT) in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) have been described in the literature, which one may refer to as walking fatigability in the body function level of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. However, whether these metrics are reliable is unknown.

Objective: To investigate the between-day reliability of the gait characteristics and their changes in pwMS and healthy controls (HCs).

SOX71, A Biocompatible Succinyl Derivative of the Triarylmethyl Radical OX071 for In Vivo Quantitative Oxygen Mapping Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a biocompatible oximetric electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin probe with reduced self-relaxation, and sensitivity to oxygen for a higher signal-to-noise ratio and longer relaxation times at high oxygen concentration, compared to the reference spin probe OX071.

Procedures: SOX71 was synthesized by succinylation of the twelve alcohol groups of OX071 spin probe and characterized by EPR at X-Band (9.5 GHz) and at low field (720 MHz).

Toward a Nanoencapsulated EPR Imaging Agent for Clinical Use.

Purpose: Progress toward developing a novel radiocontrast agent for determining pO in tumors in a clinical setting is described. The imaging agent is designed for use with electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPRI), in which the collision of a paramagnetic probe molecule with molecular oxygen causes a spectroscopic change which can be calibrated to give the real oxygen concentration in the tumor tissue.

Procedures: The imaging agent is based on a nanoscaffold of aluminum hydroxide (boehmite) with sizes from 100 to 200 nm, paramagnetic probe molecule, and encapsulation with a gas permeable, thin (10-20 nm) polymer layer to separate the imaging agent and body environment while still allowing O to interact with the paramagnetic probe.

Transition of Mental Health Care for Transgender Youth Aged Between 16 and 24 Years Old.

Background: The transitional age (16-24 years old) is a clinically vulnerable period particularly important in mental health care. While several studies focus on this problem, few consider the specificity of the transgender population, a minority at risk of mental health issues. The purpose of this paper is to establish a review of the current literature addressing the transitional age and the transgender population in order to identify the issues met by this specific population in the transition of mental health care.

Multi-feature clustering of CTCF binding creates robustness for loop extrusion blocking and Topologically Associating Domain boundaries.

Topologically Associating Domains (TADs) separate vertebrate genomes into insulated regulatory neighborhoods that focus genome-associated processes. TADs are formed by Cohesin-mediated loop extrusion, with many TAD boundaries consisting of clustered binding sites of the CTCF insulator protein. Here we determine how this clustering of CTCF binding contributes to the blocking of loop extrusion and the insulation between TADs.

A new C trityl-based spin label enables the use of DEER for distance measurements.

Triarylmethyl (TAM)-based labels, while still underutilized, are a powerful class of labels for pulsed-Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) distance measurements. They feature slow relaxation rates for long-lasting signals, high stability for cellular experiments, and narrow spectral features for efficient excitation of the spins. However, the typical narrow line shape limits the available distance measurements to only single-frequency experiments, such as Double Quantum Coherence (DQC) and Relaxation Induced Dipolar Modulation Enhancement (RIDME), which can be complicated to perform or hard to process.

Biocompatible Monophosphonated Trityl Spin Probe, HOPE71, for In Vivo Measurement of pO, pH, and [P] by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

Hypoxia, acidosis, and elevated inorganic phosphate concentration are characteristics of the tumor microenvironment in solid tumors. There are a number of methods for measuring each parameter individually in vivo, but the only method to date for noninvasive measurement of all three variables simultaneously in vivo is electron paramagnetic spectroscopy paired with a monophosphonated trityl radical, pTAM/HOPE. While HOPE has been successfully used for in vivo studies upon intratissue injection, it cannot be delivered intravenously due to systemic toxicity and albumin binding, which causes significant signal loss.

Synthesis and characterization of a biocompatible C isotopologue of trityl radical OX071 for EPR viscometry.

We describe the synthesis, characterization, and application of an isotopologue of the trityl radical OX071, labeled with C at the central carbon (C). This spin probe features large anisotropy of the hyperfine coupling with the C ( = 1/2), leading to an EPR spectrum highly sensitive to molecular tumbling. The high biocompatibility and lack of interaction with blood albumin allow for systemic delivery and measurement of tissue microviscosity by EPR.

The linguistic constraints of precision of verbal working memory.

Working memory (WM) precision has received little interest in the verbal WM domain, contrary to the visual WM domain. The aim of this study was to assess the precision with which words can be maintained in verbal WM. A probe-recognition task was used, in which the amount of phonological overlap between target and probe items was varied (25-75%).

Early bilingual immersion school program and cognitive development in French-speaking children: Effect of the second language learned (English vs. Dutch) and exposition duration (2 vs. 5 years).

The results of studies targeting cognitive and academic advantages in children frequenting early bilingual immersion school programs (CLIL) have been contradictory. While the impact of the amount of CLIL experience has already been studied, the role of the second language learned has been little studied to account for differences among study findings. The link between executive skills (EF) and scholar abilities (e.

Large-scale synthesis of a monophosphonated tetrathiatriarylmethyl spin probe for concurrent measurement of O, pH and inorganic phosphate by EPR.

Low-field electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy paired with , a mono-phosphonated triarylmethyl radical, is an unmatched technique for concurrent and non-invasive measurement of oxygen concentration, pH, and inorganic phosphate concentration for investigations. However, the prior reported synthesis is limited by its low yield and poor scalability, making wide-spread application of unfeasible. Here, we report a new strategy for the synthesis of with significantly greater yields demonstrated on a large scale.

Perchlorinated Triarylmethyl Radical 99% Enriched C at the Central Carbon as EPR Spin Probe Highly Sensitive to Molecular Tumbling.

Soluble stable radicals are used as spin probes and spin labels for in vitro and in vivo electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and imaging applications. We report the synthesis and characterization of a perchlorinated triarylmethyl radical enriched 99% at the central carbon, . The anisotropy of the hyperfine splitting with the C ( = 26, = 25, = 199.

Biological Applications of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Viscometry Using a C-Labeled Trityl Spin Probe.

Alterations in viscosity of biological fluids and tissues play an important role in health and diseases. It has been demonstrated that the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum of a C-labeled trityl spin probe (C-dFT) is highly sensitive to the local viscosity of its microenvironment. In the present study, we demonstrate that X-band (9.

[Benefits and limitations of geriatric dysphagia screening tools].

This prospective study aims to evaluate both benefits and limitations of dysphagia screening tools (DePippo, EAT10, V-VST, the IOPI tongue-strength assessment) used in a geriatric unit. Among the 102 patients under study, 47 showed a dysphagia diagnosed by full logopedic examination. The sensitivity and the specificity of the screening tools were, respectively, 31,9 % and 83,6 % for EAT10, 86,9 % and 52,7 % for the V-VST and 76,6 % and 65,0 % for the DePippo test.

Exploration of Attentional and Executive Abilities in French-Speaking Children Immersed in Dutch Since 1, 2, 3, and 6 Years.

Advantages in diverse aspects of cognitive functioning have been reported in early bilinguals (Bialystok, 2011) as well as in children frequenting an early bilingual immersion school program (Nicolay and Poncelet, 2015). However, during the last decade, some studies failed to replicate these advantages. Currently, the presence of cognitive benefits in children frequenting an immersion program remains debated.

Swallowing function after severe COVID-19: early videofluoroscopic findings.

Introduction: The aim of this paper is to describe the early findings of swallowing analysis with videofluoroscopy of swallowing (VFS).

Methods: The 21 first patients (14 men and 7 women) who recovered from ARDS in context of COVID-19 were referred to VFS just before to maximum 14 days after their discharge from ICU. The swallowing impairments and the physiopathologic mechanism of them were prospectively analyzed by two swallowing experts: one radiologist, and one phoniatrician using penetration-aspiration scale (PAS) score.

Do serial order short-term memory and long-term learning abilities predict spelling skills in school-age children?

Compared to most human language abilities, the cognitive mechanisms underlying spelling have not been as intensively investigated as reading and therefore remain to this day less well understood. The current study aims to address this shortcoming by investigating the contribution of serial order short-term memory (STM) and long-term learning (LTL) abilities to emerging spelling skills. Indeed, although there are several reasons to assume associations between serial order memory and spelling abilities, this relationship has hardly been investigated empirically.

C isotope enrichment of the central trityl carbon decreases fluid solution electron spin relaxation times.

Electron spin relaxation times for perdeuterated Finland trityl 99% enriched in C at the central carbon (C-dFT) were measured in phosphate buffered saline (pH = 7.2) (PBS) solution at X-band. The anisotropic C hyperfine (A = A = 18 ± 2, A = 162 ± 1 MHz) and g values (2.

Investigating the Effects of Language-Switching Frequency on Attentional and Executive Functioning in Proficient Bilinguals.

Recent studies have proposed that the executive advantages associated with bilingualism may stem from language-switching frequency rather than from bilingualism (see, for example, Prior and Gollan, 2011). Barbu et al. (2018) showed that high-frequency switchers (HFLSs) outperformed low-frequency switchers (LFLSs) on a mental flexibility task but not on alertness or response inhibition tasks.

Synthesis, Characterization, and Application of a Highly Hydrophilic Triarylmethyl Radical for Biomedical EPR.

Stable tetrathiatriarylmethyl radicals have significantly contributed to the recent progress in biomedical electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) due to their unmatched stability in biological media and long relaxation times. However, the lipophilic core of the most commonly used structure (Finland trityl) is responsible for its interaction with plasma biomacromolecules, such as albumin, and self-aggregation at high concentrations and/or low pH. While Finland trityl is generally considered inert toward many reactive radical species, we report that sulfite anion radical efficiently substitutes the three carboxyl moieties of Finland trityl with a high rate constant of 3.

The contribution of serial order short-term memory and long-term learning to reading acquisition: A longitudinal study.

There is increasing evidence for an association between both serial order short-term memory (STM) and the long-term learning (LTL) of serial order information and reading abilities. In this developmental study, we examined the hypothesis that STM for serial order supports online grapheme-to-phoneme conversion processes during the initial stages of reading acquisition, whereas the LTL of serial order serves reading abilities at later stages, when reading starts to rely on more stable, long-term orthographic representations. We followed a sample of 116 French-speaking children from first (Time 1 [T1]) grade of primary school through second (Time 2 [T2]) and third (Time 3 [T3]) grade.

A C-Labeled Triarylmethyl Radical as an EPR Spin Probe Highly Sensitive to Molecular Tumbling.

A stable triarylmethyl spin probe whose electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrum is highly sensitive to molecular tumbling is reported. The strong anisotropy of the hyperfine coupling tensor with the central carbon of a C -labeled triarylmethyl radical enables the measurement of the probe rotational correlation time with applications to measure microviscosity and molecular dynamics.

Correction: Cognitive Advantage in Children Enrolled in a Second-Language Immersion Elementary School Program for One Year.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5334/pb.469.

CTCF modulates allele-specific sub-TAD organization and imprinted gene activity at the mouse Dlk1-Dio3 and Igf2-H19 domains.

Background: Genomic imprinting is essential for mammalian development and provides a unique paradigm to explore intra-cellular differences in chromatin configuration. So far, the detailed allele-specific chromatin organization of imprinted gene domains has mostly been lacking. Here, we explored the chromatin structure of the two conserved imprinted domains controlled by paternal DNA methylation imprints-the Igf2-H19 and Dlk1-Dio3 domains-and assessed the involvement of the insulator protein CTCF in mouse cells.