Preparation and evaluation of spherical Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite granules with controlled surface microstructure as drug carriers

Spherical Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite (HA) granules are expected to be useful drug carriers in bony sites because of their bone regeneration and adsorption ability. In order to control drug loading and release ability of the granules, a controlled surface microstructure was constructed. Spherical Ca-deficient granules composed of micron-sized rod-shaped particles were prepared by hydrothermal treatment of α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP) granules, and then, submicron HA particles were precipitated on the obtained granules by immersion in a supersaturated calcium phosphate (CP) solution. When bovine serum albumin was used as a drug model, precipitation of submicron particles causes the loading capability to increase and the release rate to decrease. The spherical Ca-deficient HA granules with the controlled surface microstructure are expected to be useful drug carriers that can act as scaffolds for bone repair.     

Surface Oxidized Carbon Nanotubes Uniformly Coated with Nickel Ferrite Nanoparticles

We report a facile non-templated hydrothermal synthesis method for the production of nickel ferrite (NiFe₂O₄)/carbon nanotube nanocomposite comprised of oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotube (o-MWCNT) uniformly coated with nanoparticles of NiFe₂O₄ (1–5 nm). The carboxylate groups of the o-MWCNT coordinate the nanoparticles strongly at its surface, and the size of the NiFe₂O₄ particles can be controlled by the subtle variation of reaction time and the quantity of o-MWCNT used. We believe that this method can be extended to allow the uniform coating of different spinel-type materials onto o-MWCNT and other nanocarbon materials.     

Enhanced Homogenization of Vanadium in Spark Plasma Sintering of Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al Alloy from Titanium and V-Fe-Al Master Alloy Powder Blends

Strong and ductile powder metallurgy (PM) Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al alloy has been fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) of titanium and V-Fe-Al master alloy powder blends at 1100°C for 30 min under 30 MPa. The homogenization of vanadium, which dictates the realization of a uniform microstructure of the Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al alloy, was markedly accelerated by SPS. The mechanism is attributed to the intensive Joule heating effect produced by the direct current passing through the electric conducting powder blends, rather than through spark plasma discharge, because homogenization occurred mainly after near full identification had been achieved. The chemical and microstructural homogeneity ensured the achievement of excellent tensile properties of PM Ti-10V-2Fe-3Al in the as-sintered state, with tensile strength >1250 MPa and elongation >10%.     

Genetic Isolation among the Northwestern,Southwestern and Central-Eastern Indian Ocean Populations of the Pronghorn Spiny Lobster Panulirus penicillatus

The pronghorn spiny lobster Panulirus penicillatus is a highly valuable species which is widely distributed in Indo-West Pacific and Eastern Pacific regions. Mitochondrial DNA control region sequences (566–571 bp) were determined to investigate the population genetic structure of this species in the Indian Ocean. In total, 236 adult individuals of Panulirus penicillatus were collected from five locations in the Indian Ocean region. Almost all individuals had a unique haplotype. Intrapopulation haplotype (h) and nucleotide (π) diversities were high for each locality, ranging from h = 0.9986–1.0000 and π = 0.031593–0.043441. We observed distinct genetic isolation of population located at the northwestern and southwestern edge of the species range. Gene flow was found within localities in the central and eastern region of the Indian Ocean, probably resulting from an extended planktonic larval stage and prevailing ocean currents.     

Development of 28?GHz and 77?GHz, Mega-Watt Gyrotrons for Fusion Devices

A 28 GHz 1 MW with TE_8,3 cavity for GAMMA10 tandem mirror and a 77 GHz 1.5 MW gyrotron with TE_18,6 for Large Helical Device (LHD) have been developed to upgrade their Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) systems. In the 28 GHz gyrotron, the maximum power of 1.05 MW was obtained, which is in agreement with its design target value. And the high efficiency of 40% without collector potential depression (CPD) was obtained with 0.8 MW. In the first and second 77 GHz gyrotrons, 0.8 MW 3.6 sec., 0.3 MW 60 sec operations have been achieved, but several issues due to the stray RF and velocity dispersion have been found, too. In consideration of these, the design improvement was performed to aim at 1.5 MW in the third tube. In the short pulse test, the maximum output power of 1.6 MW and the maximum total efficiency of 49.4% with CPD were obtained. In the long pulse test, the pulse length extended to 5 sec with 1 MW, 1800 sec with 0.1 MW, 1.6 sec with 1.5 MW. Total injection power of 3.1 MW to LHD plasma has been achieved. It is shown that the electron beam pitch factor ?? decreases with increasing of beam current, comparing with the experimental and calculation results.     

Determination of levamisole in livestock products using high performance liquid chromatography

A method is described for the determination of the anthelmintic levamisole in muscle, liver, kidney and fat of cattle, swine and poultry using high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection. Levamisole was extracted from an alkaline sample with ethyl acetate and back-extracted with 0.1 mol/L hydrochloric acid. The extract was applied to an SCX solid-phase extraction column. The column was washed with water and methanol. Levamisole was eluted with a solution of ammonia in methanol. The eluate was evaporated to dryness and the residue was dissolved in the mobile phase and injected into the HPLC system. Mean recoveries from 0.01-0.10 microgram/g fortified muscle, liver, kidney and fat samples ranged from 78.3 to 99.8%. The detection limit for the assay was 0.005 microgram/g.     

Uniaxial Ratchetting Behavior of Solder Alloys and Its Simulation by an Elasto-Plastic-Creep Constitutive Model

Ratchetting deformation occurring at solder joints in electronic packaging is a concern for electronic devices. Therefore, ratchetting deformation due to thermal cycling at solder joints should be simulated by structural analysis employing tools such as the finite-element method (FEM). However, simulation of ratchetting deformation is difficult, and little modeling to simulate ratchetting deformation accurately has been reported. This work experimentally examines uniaxial ratchetting deformation of Pb-free and Pb-containing solder alloys to elucidate the effect of rate on uniaxial ratchetting. An elasto-plastic-creep constitutive model is developed to simulate uniaxial ratchetting deformation. The constitutive model incorporates a method to determine the material constants simply from a small number of pure tensile tests and subsequent stress relaxation tests. Uniaxial ratchetting deformation of solder alloys was successfully simulated using this constitutive model and simple method for material constant determination.     

Histone exchange activity and its correlation with histone acetylation status in porcine oocytes

In mammalian oocytes, histone H3 and histone H4 (H4) in the chromatin are highly acetylated at the germinal vesicle (GV) stage, and become globally deacetylated after GV breakdown (GVBD). Although nuclear core histones can be exchanged by cytoplasmic free histones in somatic cells, it remains unknown whether this is also the case in mammalian oocytes. In this study, we examined the histone exchange activity in maturing porcine oocytes before and after GVBD, and investigated the correlations between this activity and both the acetylation profile of the H4 N-terminal tail and the global histone acetylation level in the chromatin. We injected Flag-tagged H4 (H4-Flag) mRNA into GV oocytes, and found that the Flag signal was localized to the chromatin. We next injected mRNAs of mutated H4-Flag, which lack all acetylation sites and the whole N-terminal tail, and found that the H4 N-terminal tail and its modification were not necessary for histone incorporation into chromatin. Despite the lack of acetylation sites, the mutated H4-Flag mRNA injection did not decrease the acetylation level on the chromatin, indicating that the histone exchange occurs partially in the GV chromatin. In contrast to GV oocytes, the Flag signal was not detected on the chromatin after the injection of H4-Flag protein into the second meiotic metaphase oocytes. These results suggest that histone exchange activity changes during meiotic maturation in porcine oocytes, and that the acetylation profile of the H4 N-terminal tail has no effect on histone incorporation into chromatin and does not affect the global level of histone acetylation in it.     

Magnetoresponsive on-demand release of hybrid liposomes formed from Fe3 O4 nanoparticles and thermosensitive block copolymers

A new approach to control the release of encapsulated materials from liposomes by using thermosensitive block copolymers and magnetic nanoparticles is reported. Hydrophobized Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles are synthesized via the hydrothermal process, and can be incorporated into liposomal membranes by hydrophobic interactions. Thermosensitive block copolymers of (2-ethoxy)ethoxyethyl vinyl ether (EOEOVE) and octadecyl vinyl ether (ODVE) are synthesized by living cationic polymerization. The poly(EOEOVE) block acts as a temperature-sensitive moiety, and the poly(ODVE) block acts as an anchor unit. Hybrid liposomes encapsulating pyranine, a water-soluble fluorescent dye, are prepared from mixtures of phospholipids, the hydrophobized Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles, and the copolymer. While the hybrid liposomes released negligible amounts of pyranine under static conditions, the release of pyranine is drastically enhanced by alternating magnetic field irradiation. The magnetically induced release is attributed to the transition of the thermosensitive segment of the copolymer, which is caused by the release of localized heat from the Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles under magnetic stimuli, rather than the rupture of the capsules. The release rate of the hybrid capsules is controlled by varying the amount of Fe(3) O(4) nanoparticles embedded into the liposomes.