Perinatal outcomes of unplanned out-of-hospital deliveries: a case-control study.

Purpose: To compare the pregnancy and perinatal outcomes of unplanned home or car births vs. in-hospital deliveries.

Methods: A retrospective, case-control study of women who underwent unplanned out-of-hospital deliveries vs.

Does the transfer of a poor quality embryo together with a good quality embryo affect the In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) outcome?

Background: IVF cycles which result in only one good quality embryo, and a second poor quality embryo present a dilemma when the decision involves transferring two embryos. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a poor quality embryo has a negative effect on a good quality embryo when transferred along with a good quality embryo.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles involving single embryo transfers (SET) and double embryo transfers (DET).

Low level light therapy by LED of different wavelength induces angiogenesis and improves ischemic wound healing.

Background And Objective: Low-level light therapy (LLLT) has been revealed as a potential means to improve wound healing. So far, most studies are being performed with irradiation in the red to near-infrared spectra. Recently, we showed that blue light (470 nm) can significantly influence biological systems such as nitric oxide (NO) metabolism and is able to release NO from nitrosyl-hemoglobin or mitochondrial protein complexes.

Focus issue introduction: Laser Ignition Conference.

The purpose of this feature issue is to share information on laser ignition and related sciences and technologies. This feature offers five papers in the field that cover aspects of laser-induced laser ignition, including novel giant pulse micro-lasers, new phenomena of laser breakdown, advanced combustion systems and applications. These topics were chosen from the first Laser Ignition Conference (LIC) covering the topics of high brightness lasers for ignition and diagnostics, laser ignited engines for power generators and vehicles, and from a joint symposium with the Laser Display Conference covering applications of high brightness lasers.

A monobromobimane-based assay to measure the pharmacokinetic profile of reactive sulphide species in blood.

Background And Purpose: Hydrogen sulphide (H(2)S) is a labile, endogenous metabolite of cysteine, with multiple biological roles. The development of sulphide-based therapies for human diseases will benefit from a reliable method of quantifying H(2)S in blood and tissues.

Experimental Approach: Concentrations of reactive sulphide in saline and freshly drawn whole blood were quantified by reaction with the thio-specific derivatization agent monobromobimane, followed by reversed-phase fluorescence HPLC and/or mass spectrometry.

Detection of exhaled hydrogen sulphide gas in healthy human volunteers during intravenous administration of sodium sulphide.

Introduction: Hydrogen sulphide (H(2)S) is an endogenous gaseous signaling molecule and potential therapeutic agent. Emerging studies indicate its therapeutic potential in a variety of cardiovascular diseases and in critical illness. Augmentation of endogenous sulphide concentrations by intravenous administration of sodium sulphide can be used for the delivery of H(2)S to the tissues.

14-fs pulse generation in Kerr-lens mode-locked prismless Cr:LiSGaF and Cr:LiSAF lasers: observation of pulse self-frequency shift.

Kerr-lens mode-locked Kr-laser-pumped Cr:LiSGaF and Cr:LiSAF lasers containing only two newly developed low-loss chirped mirrors instead of conventional dielectric resonator mirrors and generating pulses of widths as small as 14-fs with as much as 100 mW of average output power are reported. We report what is to our knowledge the first experimental observation of a pulse self-frequency shift in crystalline active media that are characteristic of such short pulses at megawatt intracavity peak powers. We also believe this phenomenon to be one of the significant limiting factors for pulse duration in femtosecond Cr:LiSAF-type lasers.

Directly diode-pumped tunable continuous-wave room-temperature Cr4+:YAG laser.

We report what is to our knowledge the first directly diode-pumped tunable (over 120 nm) continuous-wave Cr(4+): YAG laser, operating near 1.5 microm . At room temperature the laser delivered as much as 200 mW of power at 4 W of absorbed pump power.

Investigation of the early stages in laser-induced ignition by Schlieren photography and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy.

Laser ignition has been discussed widely as a potentially superior ignition source for technical appliances such as internal combustion engines. Ignition strongly affects overall combustion, and its early stages in particular have strong implications on subsequent pollutant formation, flame quenching, and extinction. Our research here is devoted to the experimental investigation of the early stages of laser-induced ignition of CH4/air mixtures up to high pressures.

Mapping protein pockets through their potential small-molecule binding volumes: QSCD applied to biological protein structures.

Previously we demonstrated a method, Quantized Surface Complementarity Diversity (QSCD), of defining molecular diversity by measuring shape and functional complementarity of molecules to a basis set of theoretical target surfaces [Wintner E.A. and Moallemi C.

Hollow-core photonic-crystal fibres for laser dentistry.

Hollow-core photonic-crystal fibres (PCFs) for the delivery of high-fluence laser radiation capable of ablating tooth enamel are developed. Sequences of picosecond pulses of 1.06 microm Nd:YAG-laser radiation with a total energy of about 2 mJ are transmitted through a hollow-core photonic-crystal fibre with a core diameter of approximately 14 microm and are focused on a tooth surface in vitro to ablate dental tissue.

Laser ablation of dental tissues with picosecond pulses of 1.06-microm radiation transmitted through a hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber.

Sequences of picosecond pulses of 1.06-microm Nd:YAG laser radiation with a total energy of approximately 2 mJ are transmitted through a hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber with a core diameter of approximately 14 microm and are focused onto a tooth's surface in vitro to ablate dental tissue. The hollow-core photonic-crystal fiber is shown to support the single-fundamental-mode regime for 1.

A reagent-based strategy for the design of large combinatorial libraries: a preliminary experimental validation.

Combinatorial library design can be carried out at either the reagent or the product level. Various reports in the literature have come to conflicting conclusions in favor of one over the other. In this paper a reagent-based screening library design strategy is presented.

In situ investigation of laser-induced ignition and the early stages of methane-air combustion at high pressures using a rapidly tuned diode laser at 2.55 microm.

The laser-induced ignition of methane/air-mixtures at elevated pressures was investigated by an absorption spectroscopic technique. A room temperature continuous wave InGaAsSb/AlGaAsSb quantum well ridge diode laser was wavelength tuned around 2.55 mum by periodically modulating the injection current from 0 to 174 mA at a 5 kHz repetition rate.

Synthesis of bicyclic pyrimidine derivatives as ATP analogues.

A highly efficient and general solid-phase synthesis of bicyclic pyrimidine derivatives that target purine dependent proteins is reported. The synthesis of the key intermediate, 4,6-disubstituted-5-amino-pyrimidine, involved reduction of the corresponding nitro derivatives using 1,1'-dioctyl-viologen in a triphasic milieu. The mild reduction conditions enable the use of any acid labile solid support as well as a wide range of combinatorial substituents, thus enabling the synthesis of large libraries of highly diverse bicyclic pyrimidines.

Quantized surface complementarity diversity (QSCD): a model based on small molecule-target complementarity.

A model of molecular diversity is presented. The model, termed "Quantized Surface Complementarity Diversity" (QSCD), defines molecular diversity by measuring molecular complementarity to a fully enumerated set of theoretical target surfaces. Molecular diversity space is defined as the molecular complement to this set of enumerated surfaces.

Rapid characterization of combinatorial libraries using electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry.

The relatively new field of combinatorial chemistry has enabled researchers to create large mixtures of compounds that can be screened for leads in developing potential drug candidates. The new synthetic method has also created a need for better procedures to analyze the complex mixtures that are generated. The immediate goal in most cases is to verify the synthetic procedure and to determine the purity and completeness of the library sample before binding studies are initiated.

Prismless passively mode-locked femtosecond Cr:LiSGaF laser.

A Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSrGaF laser containing no intracavity prisms has been demonstrated for the first time to the authors' knowledge. The laser produced stable near-transform-limited 44-fs pulses with an output power of 200 mW, tunable between 833 and 857 nm. Low-loss Gires-Tournois structured dielectric mirrors were used for dispersion control.

Application of capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization mass spectometry in the determination of molecular diversity.

By means of capillary electrophoresis coupled online to electrospray ionization MS, a library of theoretically 171 disubstituted xanthene derivatives was analyzed. The method allowed the purity and makeup of the library to be determined: 160 of the expected compounds were found to be present, and 12 side-products were also detected in the mixture. Due to the ability of capillary electrophoresis to separate analytes on the basis of charge, most of the xanthene derivatives could be resolved by simple capillary electrophoresis-MS procedures even though 124 of the 171 theoretical compounds were isobaric with at least one other molecule in the mixture.

Efficient continuous-wave TEM(00) and femtosecond Kerr-lens mode-locked Cr:LiSrGaF laser.

Efficient high-power (900-mW) TEM(00) cw operation of a Cr:LiSrGaF laser pumped by a Kr(+) laser is demonstrated. The results of laser and spectroscopic analysis, including upconversion and excited-state absorption, are presented and used for the optimization of this laser. Kr(+)-laser-pumped mode-locked femtosecond operation (64 fs) was performed.

Characterization of the complexity of small-molecule libraries of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry.

The growing interest in combinatorial chemistry has led us to explore new analytical methods for the analysis of complex molecular libraries. Because an investigation of large mixtures with 10(4)-10(5) different chemical entities was not realistic, an alternative approach was pursued that included the analysis of small representative sublibraries using positive and negative ion electrospray mass spectrometry. The detailed analysis of these model mixtures, containing up to 55 components, allowed us to obtain important information about the composition of a library with considerable complexity.

Sub-20-fs, kilohertz-repetition-rate Ti:sapphire amplifier.

A simple four-pass Ti:sapphire amplifier is seeded by sub-10-fs pulses generated from a mirror-dispersion-controlled Ti:sapphire laser. Pulses of 17-18-fs duration with energies up to 50 and 100 microJ have been produced at repetition rates of 2 and 1 kHz, respectively. Because of the absence of a pulse stretcher, this performance is achieved from an extremely compact system.

New promise in combinatorial chemistry: synthesis, characterization, and screening of small-molecule libraries in solution.

Background: The increasing interest in combinatorial chemistry as a tool for the development of therapeutics has led to many new methods of creating molecular libraries of potential lead compounds. Current methods have made it possible to develop libraries of several million compounds. As a result, the limiting factor in the screening of libraries has become the identification and characterization of active species.

Operation of a femtosecond Ti:sapphire solitary laser in the vicinity of zero group-delay dispersion.

We report the operating characteristics of a self-mode-locked Ti:sapphire solitary laser at reduced group-delay dispersion. The generation of asymptotically equal to 12.3 fs near-sech(2) optical pulses at 775 nm is reported, together with experimental evidence for the dominant role of third-order dispersion (TOD) as a limiting factor to further pulse shortening in the oscillator.