E. V. Sharova

N-Tris[(2-aminoethyl)-2-(diphenylphosphoryl) acetamide)] - novel CMPO tripodand: synthesis, extraction studies and luminescent properties of lanthanide complexes

A ligand system containing three carbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) moieties attached to a tripodal platform with a central nitrogen atom has been synthesized for metal complexation and extraction from neutral and nitric acid solutions. Liquid-liquid extractions performed for Ln(III), both from neutral and acidic media, show excellent extraction properties which exceeded those for the known mono- and di-CMPO derivatives as well as the related tripodands. A considerable enhancement of the DLn values was observed in the presence of IL ([bmim][Tf2N]) in the organic phase towards lanthanide ions from 3M HNO3 solutions. The protonation of the central amine nitrogen atom of the ligand 1 in the acidic media provides also the effective extraction of the perrhenate anionic complexes. The europium complexes formed by mono- and tris-CMPO ligands in the solid state, as well as Eu(III) and Tb(III) complexes generated in solutions, possess intensive luminescence at 300K

Electroencephalographic Intercentral Interaction as a Reflection of Normal and Pathological Human Brain Activity

The authors summarized EEG findings and defined the nature of the intercentral EEG relationships in different functional states in healthy subjects and patients with organic cerebral pathology, based on a coherence analysis. Similar EEG characteristics in healthy individuals were identified: an anterior-posterior gradient of average coherence levels, the type of cortical-subcortical relationships in anterior cerebral structures. Right- and left-handed individuals showed frequent and regional differences in EEG coherence, which mainly reflected specificity of intracortical relationships. Development and regression of pathology in right-and left-handed individuals with organic brain lesions were thought to be caused by these differences. Lesions of regulatory structures (diencephalic, brain stem and limbic structures) provoked a more diffused kind of changes of intercentral relationships, in contrast to cortical pathology. These changes tended to reciprocate. The dynamic nature of intercentral relationships and their interhemispheric differences was revealed when changing functional states of the brain (increase and decrease of functional level) in healthy individuals and patients with organic cerebral pathology in the process of conscious and psychic activity restoration. Changing activity predominance of certain regulatory structures was considered one of the most important factors determining the dynamic nature of EEG coherence.

Extraction properties of β-aminophosphine oxides towards lanthanides and alkaline earth metals

AbstractThe investigation of the extraction properties of a series of polyoligodentate β-aminophosphine oxides 1–8 bearing from one to six phosphine oxide groups in a molecule towards Ln(III) and alkaline earth metals ions from neutral media has revealed that, using common diluents, the extraction efficiency increases with an increase of a number of P=O functions in a ligand. The addition of ionic liquid, namely 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl]imide ([bmim][NTf2]), significantly increasing the extraction efficiency and application of IL concentration of 0.05 M (in 1,2-dichloroethane) providing the maximum recovery of metal ions with Lu/La separation factor reaching up to 91. Hexapodal tris[bis(2-diphenylphosphorylethyl)aminoethyl]amine 8 demonstrates the highest extraction under all conditions applied and the separation factor for U and Eu of this compound exceeded 103.

[fMRI-EEG study of healthy human brain responses to functional loads].

The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and EEG responses to identical functional (visual and motor) loads have been compared in ten healthy subjects with the use of individual structural MRIs of the brain. It has been established that an increase in the coherence of the EEG α waves corresponds mostly to the zone of the fMRI response (as a +BOLD reaction). Reactive rearrangements, according to the data of fMRI and, particularly, EEG studies, are characterized by pronounced interindividual variation, which increases along with the functional test complexity. The fMRI responses have shown a greater locality and closer dependence on the modality of presented stimuli than EEG rearrangements, which underline the systemic character of brain response to functional loads. The −BOLD response accompanying the local +BOLD effect is more generalized, without distinct topographic referencing to the functional load modality; it conforms most of all to the decrease in the EEG’s coherence.

The role of cerebral regulatory structures in the formation of human EEG

This article generalizes the results of many years’ studies of the EEG of patients with tumorous lesions in the diencephalic, brainstem, and limbic structures, which fulfill the regulatory function in ensuring integral brain activity. The specific features of the inclusion of individual structures under investigation in the organization of the intra- and interhemispheric relations of cortical biopotentials were demonstrated against the background of diffuse changes in the biopotentials that reflect the systemic character of neurodynamic reorganizations when the regulatory brain structures are involved in the pathological process. This study expands the idea of the predominant functional connection of the diencephalic structures with the right hemisphere and brainstem structures with the left one with determination of the regional specific features of changes in the intrahemispheric EEG coherences. The distinguishing features of intercentral relations when the limbic structures are involved in the pathological process show similarity with the neurodynamic reorganizations in patients with lesions in both diencephalic and (even more so) brainstem structures. Universal elements were detected in the formation of integral adaptive reactions of the brain with lesions in its regulatory structures, which reflects their close functional interaction and makes it possible to consider them the individual links of an integral regulatory system. The study revealed reciprocal changes in various forms of electrical activity, which reflects reciprocation of interaction of individual regulatory structures. This is one of the EEG equivalents of the formation of adaptive-compensatory cerebral reactions. The specificity of influence of the studied regulatory structures are clearly seen in situations of their morphofunctional isolation observed during cerebral coma. In these conditions, when the cortex is functionally inactive, the authors demonstrated the dynamic character of changes in interhemispheric asymmetry, which reflects the dominance of individual links of the regulatory system playing the role of supreme regulator of life support of the body in critical states.

Individual variation of fMRT responses to eye opening, motor, and speech tests in healthy subjects

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study the variation of functional changes that arise in the brain in response to similar tests in healthy subjects. The approach was assumed to demonstrate diverse individual strategies of achieving the same external (behavioral) response via different brain mechanisms and to identify the factors responsible for the diversity. Hemodynamic (fMRI) responses to activation of attention while opening the eyes or performing motor (consecutively moving the fingers of the right and left hands) and speech (mentally repeating the months of the year or the days of the week in the backward order) tests were determined in 21 healthy subjects aged 21–30 years, including 14 males and 7 females. A variation in fMRI responses was observed, i.e., three or four types of reactive hemodynamic changes were seen in the same test in the group, the prevalence of each type varying from 40 to 10% in one test. The responses showed distinct gender differences, and their specifics depended on the nature of the functional test. In motor and speech tests performed with the eyes closed, the fMRI responses in the females were more specific and local than in the males. In motor tests, the fMRI responses of the males compared with the females were characterized by a greater involvement of the frontal regions, which are responsible for regulatory functions. In the activation test (eye opening), the fMRI responses were more diffuse in the females and more local in the males.

Structural-Functional Characteristics of Brain Functioning on Performance and Imagination of Motor Tasks in Healthy People (EEG and fMRI studies)

Bioelectrical (EEG) and hemodynamic (fMRI responses) reactions of the brain to motor tasks for the right and left hands and imaginary performance of those tasks were studied in 15 healthy right-handed subjects (21–39 years old). In real movements, the main fMRI response was recorded in the central gyri of the contralateral (to the working hand) hemisphere. Activation zones were also seen in the supplementary motor area and the ipsilateral hemisphere of the cerebellum. The corresponding EEG showed increases in the coherence of the high-frequency alpha and beta frequencies in the activated hemisphere. Imagination of movements produced fMRI reactions which were highly variable in terms of extent and topography; weakening of responses was seen in the motor zone and cerebellum, with increased activation of subcortical structures in the parietal associative zones. Changes in the EEG in this situation were very variable; there were increases in the coherence of high-frequency alpha and beta oscillations, in the right hemisphere. Changes in spectral power were similar in real and imaginary movements and consisted of increases in the power and mean frequency of beta oscillations not confined to the activated hemisphere but also appearing in the left hemisphere. These reflected the nonspecific component of the responses.

Potential of a Wavelet Synchronization Method for Assessing the Long-Latency Components of Auditory Evoked Potentials in Healthy Humans

The traditional characteristics of long-latency event-related potentials, which are established indictors of higher nervous activity, include the amplitude-time parameters of the components, the topography of power levels, and identification of the locations of equivalent dipole sources. Evaluation of the synchronization of event-related activity is difficult because of the short duration of the process. Wavelet analysis overcomes the disadvantages of traditional Fourier analysis and allows calculation of these characteristics, particularly phase synchronization. The present report is methodological in nature. It proposes an approach to the component analysis of wavelet synchronization of averaged auditory event-related potentials in healthy humans in states with different levels of concentration of attention. The differences seen in the spatial organization of signals seen on listening to sounds and counting them indicate the potential of this methodological approach.

EEG correlates of the states of visual and auditory attention in healthy subjects

In order to determine more accurately the EEG markers of different types of attention (AT) of a healthy adult, 14 young healthy subjects (aged 18–30 years) were subjected to spectral coherent analysis of the electrical activity of the brain in the baseline state and during activation of different forms of AT (the orienting response to the sound tone and opening of the eyes, involuntary and voluntary visual AT). In the last two cases, specially developed computer-aided techniques were used. The quantitative differences in the states were assessed on the basis of nonparametric (the Mann-Whitney test) and parametric (Student’s t test) statistics. In three subjects, EEG and fMRI comparisons of the brain response to opening of the eyes were made. It was shown that the activation of different forms of AT in healthy subjects is accompanied by considerable diffuse nonspecific changes in the EEG spectral coherent characteristics (a decrease in the average spectral frequency and power, as well as in coherence) in combination with more local, more often oppositely directed shifts in the region of the cortical representation of the working analyzer. Complex systemic rearrangements of the brain activity involving all components of the activating system, as well as the specifics of different forms of AT connected with the rearrangement of activity between its divisions, are reflected in the diffuse changes of intercentral interaction. For example, marked reactivity of the symmetrical frontopolar (Fp1-Fp2) and the anterotemporal (F7-F8) cortical areas with unidirectional maximum shifts during voluntary AT is likely to reflect the responses of the frontothalamic component of the activating system. The reciprocity of the behavior of interhemispheric frontopolar and temporal relationships seems to be determined by the activity of its different components: frontothalamic and hippocampal. The local component of the EEG response to opening of the eyes in the form of increased α coherence in the occipital areas is coupled with increased oxygenation of blood in the cortical representation of the visual analyzer (the +BOLD effect of the fMRI response).

Electrographic Correlates of Brain Reactions to Afferent Stimuli in Postcomatose Unconscious States after Severe Brain Injury

Analysis of the character and systemic organization of cerebral reactions to external effects aids in adequate evaluation of functional and adaptive human capabilities in norm and pathology. Changes in the spatiotemporal organization of the EEG (according to visual and spectral coherence analyses, as well as localization of equivalent dipole sources of pathological EEG phenomena) and the electrooculogram in response to afferent stimuli at different stages of postcomatose recovery of mental activity were studied in 84 patients with severe brain injury in a prolonged postcomatose unconscious state. Both standard indifferent (a rhythmically flashing light and an acoustic tone) and functionally significant (a moving contrasting black-and-white strip, a red spot, the mother’s voice, music, etc.) afferent stimuli were used. Functionally different reactive changes in the EEG were detected even in deep inhibition of consciousness (a vegetative state). EEG reactions including a strengthening of pathological foci in the CNS with dominant features suggested a poor prognosis. In the absence of such foci, a positive activating effect on mental recovery was found for afferent stimulation, in particular, functionally significant stimulation. Selective sensitivity of the CNS to certain external stimuli was observed for certain unconscious states.