Model calculations for mass transfer with mixing in ladle metallurgy

It is well known that in secondary metallurgy during gas stirring, zones with differing degrees of homogeneity can occur in the liquid steel. By means of model calculations it will be demonstrated under which conditions mixing has to be considered for mass-transfer phenomena, as for example desulphurization. Under unfavourable conditions, i.e. large regions with low flow velocities – so-called dead zones – and low values for the exchange volume flow between these regions and the bulk volume, the equalization of concentration will become the rate-determining step for the total mass transfer. In order to avoid or minimize dead zones, the general flow pattern in the ladle has to be optimized.     

A focal stress gradient-dependent mass transfer mechanism for atherogenesis in branching arteries

A new arterial wall permeability function, based on the local wall shear stress gradient, has been developed and employed to simulate enhanced low density lipoprotein transfer across the endothelium. the atherosclerotic model used is that of the aorto-celiac junction of rabbits. The experimentally validated computer simulation model for convection mass transfer provides further evidence that the wall shear stress gradient is a reliable predictor of critical atherogenic sites in branching arteries. Some of the underlying biological aspects of atherogenesis due to locally significant and sustained wall shear stress gradient values are briefly discussed.     

Recent advances on large arteries in hypertension

EF-Tu is involved in the binding and transport of the appropriate codon-specified aminoacyl-tRNA to the aminoacyl site of the ribosome. We and others have recently shown that the Escherichia coli EF-Tu, in additon to its acknowledged role in translation elongation, displays chaperone-like properties. We report here that EF-Tu, like thioredoxin, protein disulfide isomerase, and DsbA, catalyzes protein disulfide formation (oxidative renaturation of reduced RNase), reduction (reduction of insulin disulfides), and isomerization (refolding of randomly oxidized RNase). In contrast with most protein disulfide isomerases which possess vicinal cysteines and form an intramolecular disulfide upon oxidation, EF-Tu, which does not possess vicinal cysteines, forms intermolecular disulfides upon oxidation, resulting in the appearance of multimeric forms.     

Adenoviral gene transfer in arteries of hypercholesterolemic nonhuman primates

Osteoid osteoma, a benign bone tumor, has traditionally been treated with operative excision. A recently developed method for percutaneous ablation of the tumor has been proposed as an alternative to operative treatment. The relative outcomes of the two approaches to treatment have not previously been compared, to our knowledge. The rates of recurrence and of persistent symptoms were compared in a consecutive series of eighty-seven patients who were managed with operative excision and thirty-eight patients who were managed with percutaneous ablation with radiofrequency. Patients who had a spinal lesion were excluded. The minimum duration of follow-up was two years. There was a recurrence, defined as the need for subsequent intervention, after operative treatment in six (9 per cent) of sixty-eight patients who had been managed for a primary lesion and in two of nineteen who had been managed for a recurrent lesion. The average length of the hospital stay was 4.7 days for the patients who had a primary lesion and 5.1 days for those who had a recurrent lesion. There was a recurrence after percutaneous treatment in four (12 per cent) of thirty-three patients who had been managed for a primary lesion and in none of five who had been managed for a recurrent lesion. The average length of the hospital stay was 0.2 day for these thirty-eight patients. With the numbers available, we could detect no significant difference between the two treatments with regard to the rate of recurrence. The rate of persistent symptoms (that is, symptoms that did not necessitate additional treatment) was greater than the rate of recurrence. According to responses to a questionnaire, eight (30 per cent) of twenty-seven patients had persistent symptoms after operative treatment and six (23 per cent) of twenty-six patients had persistent symptoms after percutaneous treatment with radiofrequency. Two patients had complications after operative excision, necessitating a total of five additional operations. There were no complications associated with the percutaneous method. The results of the present study suggest that percutaneous ablation with radiofrequency is essentially equivalent to operative excision for the treatment of an osteoid osteoma in an extremity. The percutaneous method is preferred for the treatment of extraspinal osteoid osteoma because it generally does not necessitate hospitalization, it has not been associated with complications, and it is associated with a rapid convalescence.     

Emulsification and mass transfer in ladle metallurgy

Measurements of slag emulsification in gas-stirred ladles were carried out in cold-model systems of different geometric sizes. Detaching of slag droplets – necessary for efficient emulsification – only takes place if the flow velocity at the slag/metal interface exceeds a certain level. The use of a centric nozzle leads at high gas flow rates to considerably larger degrees of emulsification than eccentric stirring. The reason of this phenomenon is that the recirculation flow during centric gas injection transports larger amounts of emulsified droplets into deeper regions of the melt while during eccentric stirring there is more time for reseparation of slag droplets into the top slag. Comparing emulsification results with mass-transfer measurements, the dependence between rate constants as well as degrees of emulsification and Froude number shows similar behaviour.     

Thrombus generation after adenovirus-mediated gene transfer into atherosclerotic arteries

Thrombosis represents a major issue during arterial local delivery. We evaluated the occurrence of thrombosis after adenovirus (Ad)-mediated gene transfer into normal and atherosclerotic arteries. A replication-deficient Ad vector expressing the beta-galactosidase reporter gene (Ad.RSV betagal; 4 x 10(9) PFU) was injected into normal and atherosclerotic arteries (n = 11 in both groups). The contralateral artery received either an Ad vector carrying no transgene (Ad.MLPnull) (n = 7 in both groups, 4 x 10(9) PFU) or vehicle buffer (n = 4 in normal group, n = 8 in atherosclerotic group). Animals were sacrificed 3 days following gene transfer for thrombus detection and assessment of beta-galactosidase activity. Thrombus was absent in normal arteries and in atherosclerotic arteries injected with vehicle buffer only. In contrast, nonocclusive thrombus was present in atherosclerotic arteries injected with either Ad.RSV betagal (5 of 11) or Ad.MLPnull (3 of 7). Beta-galactosidase activity was predominantly found in the endothelial layer of the transfected arteries. Gene transfer and expression occurred despite the presence of the thrombus (4 of 5), and its efficiency did not significantly differ regardless of the thrombus. We conclude that thrombus frequently occurred in atherosclerotic arteries after Ad-mediated gene transfer. Further studies are warranted to identify the mechanisms of thrombus generation after Ad-mediated gene transfer into atherosclerotic arteries.     

Interfacial phenomena and mass transfer in extractive metallurgy

Interfacial phenomena play an important role in pyrometallurgical processes and knowledge of them and of physical properties involved is necessary for understanding the mechanisms and the kinetics of such reactions. A large number of measurements, performed at Irsid under equilibrium conditions, are presented in this review. Several experimental techniques were used and more particularly: – Sessile drop method for measurement of liquid metals surface tension and contact angle liquid metal/solid oxide; – measurement of the contact angle between a liquid slag drop and its liquid metal substrate from which the interfacial tension can be derived; – direct determination of the interfacial tension from X-ray pictures of metal drops immersed in the slag. The systems studied consisted, for the metal phase, of binary and ternary Fe alloys containing C, Mn, Si, O, S and, for the slag phase, binary and ternary mixtures made from CaO, SiO₂, Al₂O₃, MnO, iron oxides, CaF₂ and Na₂O. A strong effect of O and S potentials was observed. For non-equilibrium conditions, however, the dynamic interfacial tension between liquid metal and slag decreases sharply when an intense mass transfer occurs through the interface. The potential consideration of interfacial turbulence phenomena (Marangoni effect) in metallurgical reactions is also discussed.     

Model experiments on mass transfer in ladle metallurgy

Model experiments on mass transfer in gas-stirred ladles were carried out in reactors of different geometric dimensions. The model system consists of: water, cyclohexan as model slag, iodium as element to be extracted from water into slag phase, and compressed air as stirring gas. The experimental results show that when using an eccentric bottom nozzle, rate constants of mass transfer are always smaller than with centric gas injection. Centric stirring leads to comparatively larger increases of rate constants if a certain gas flow rate is exceeded. Both results can be explained by different emulsification conditions of slag phase. Theoretical calculations of residence times show that mainly the emulsification of small droplets taken along by the recirculation flow is responsible for accelerations of mass transfer in gas-stirred ladles.     

Intraparticle mass transfer in high-speed chromatography of proteins

Styrene 7,8-oxide and ethylene oxide are widely used genotoxic bulk chemicals, which have been associated with potential carcinogenic hazard for occupationally exposed workers. Both epoxides alkylate DNA preferentially at the N-7 position of guanine and consequently produce single-strand breaks and alkali labile sites in the DNA of exposed cells. In order to study the role of human microsomal epoxide hydrolase (hmEH) in protecting cells against genotoxicity of styrene 7,8-oxide and ethylene oxide, we expressed the cDNA of hmEH in V79 Chinese hamster cells. We obtained a number of cell clones that expressed functionally active epoxide hydrolase. Among these, the clone 92hmEH-V79 revealed an especially high enzymatic mEH activity toward styrene 7,8-oxide (10 nmol converted per mg of protein per min, measured in the 9,000 x g supernatant of the cell homogenate), that was 100 times higher than that determined in mock-transfected cells and within the range of mEH activity in human liver. Styrene 7,8-oxide-induced DNA single-strand breaks/alkali labile sites (dose range 10 microM to 1 mM styrene 7,8-oxide) measured by the alkaline elution technique were significantly lower in the 92hmEH-V79 cells as compared to the mock-transfected cells. The protection against styrene 7,8-oxide genotoxicity in 92hmEH-V79 cells could be abolished by addition of valpromide, a selective inhibitor of microsomal epoxide hydrolase. These results clearly show that the metabolism of styrene 7,8-oxide by hmEH in 92hmEH-V79 cells was responsible for the protection against styrene 7,8-oxide genotoxicity. On the other hand, no protective effect of epoxide hydrolase expression could be observed on ethylene oxide-induced DNA damage with the recombinant cell line over a dose range of 0.5-2.5 mM ethylene oxide. This selectivity of the protective effect on epoxide genotoxicity thus appears to be an important factor that must be taken into account for the prediction of the genotoxic risk of epoxides themselves or compounds that can be metabolically activated to epoxides.     

Electrical conduction and mass transfer in crystalline oxides

The electrical conductivity of oxides is closely related to the reducibility or oxidizability of their metals. The experimental results of the authors and reported data are used to explain the behavior of the electrical conductivity of solid oxides and its relation to mass transfer with allowance for the ionic structure of these oxides.     

Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation of large arteries in normoalbuminuric insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

Vascular complications in diabetes mellitus are associated with endothelial dysfunction. Whether endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired in normoalbuminuric patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is controversial. Using a noninvasive echo-Doppler method, we investigated endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent vasodilation in the brachial artery of IDDM patients. There were 52 normoalbuminuric and normotensive patients with IDDM (aged 31.9 +/- 9.8 years; diabetes duration, 14.9 +/- 7.9 years; glycated hemoglobin, 7.9 +/- 1.2%) and 52 healthy control group (C) subjects comparable for age and sex studied. Brachial artery diameter was measured at baseline, during postocclusion reactive hyperemia (flow-mediated, endothelium-dependent dilation [FMD]), and after 400 micrograms glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) sublingually (endothelium-independent vasodilation). Vasodilation was expressed as the percentage change relative to the baseline diameter. Baseline flow and blood pressure were similar for IDDM patients and C. Baseline vessel diameter was slightly larger in IDDM patients (3.10 +/- 0.52 mm) compared with C (2.89 +/- 0.55 mm, P = 5.0). FMD in IDDM patients was decreased (12.0 +/- 9.1% versus 15.7 +/- 9.5% in C, P = .046), as was GTN-induced vasodilation (14.9 +/- 8.2% versus 18.3 +/- 8.5% in C, P = .045). After correction for the difference in baseline diameter, FMD and GTN-induced dilation were not different between the groups. GTN-induced vasodilation decreased slightly with increasing diabetes duration. There was no relation between the vasodilatory responses and HbA1c. In normoalbuminuric IDDM patients, endothelium-dependent as well as endothelium-independent vasodilation are normal when the difference in baseline diameter is taken into account.     

Use of temporary bypass in surgical treatment of limbs large arteries injuries

The results of application of temporary bypass in surgical treatment of injuries of large arteries of the limbs in 40 victims are analysed. The causes of thrombosis of temporary shunt are studied its wide use is thought unreasonable. Indications for the use of temporary bypass in patients with damages of large arteries of the limbs at the stages of qualified surgical and specialised angiosurgical care are determined.     

Fluid dynamics and mass transfer in submerged gas-particle jets

A room temperature model of a submerged gas-particle jet was used to investigate the hydrodynamics and gas-liquid mass transfer in such systems. Air or CO₂ was used to inject particles of silica sand into water. In some cases, the sand was coated with resin to produce a hydrophobic surface. The flow regimes of behavior were observed: In the bubbling flow regime large bubbles of gas are formed and penetrated by a stream of particles which did not entrain gas, and in the steady jet flow regime the gas and particles travel together in a narrow cone. The second flow regime is favored by a high gas velocity, a small particle size, and a high ratio of particles to gas in the jet. The surface characteristics of the injected particles do not appear to affect this transition. A CO₂-NaOH solution model was used to determine the effects of inert particle injection of the rate of mass transfer from gas to liquid. The rate of mass transfer was higher in steady cone jets, because under these conditions, the gas is dispersed into finer bubbles and carried deeper in the bath. Formerly Graduate Student in the Department of Civil Engineering, Mechanics, and Metallurgy, University of Illinois at Chicago     

Mixing with heat and mass transfer in metallurgical systems

In the first part of this paper, general aspects of research needs in the field of heat and mass transfer in metallurgical systems are discussed as this field is important for innovative iron and steelmaking processes. In the second part, special research needs are mentioned which have to be considered under the view of the first part.     

In vivo adenoviral vector-mediated gene transfer into balloon-injured rat carotid arteries

Homozygotes for the dsy1 desynaptic mutant of maize show massive failure of chiasma maintenance during diplotene and diakinesis. Although some chiasmata persist until anaphase I in most microsporocytes expressing this mutant, homozygotes are completely or nearly completely sterile, owing apparently to disjunctive irregularities. Pachytene synaptic errors and some synaptic failure also are found, but recombination nodules are common in homologously synapsed regions, and equational separation of a heterozygous knob into univalents or open arms at diakinesis clearly demonstrates that chiasma failure occurs following crossing-over. A wider than normal synaptonemal complex central region and uniform apparent weakness of central region cross connections to spreading procedures strongly suggest the presence of a genetic lesion in a synaptonemal complex central region component. The dsy1 mutant may provide an especially important source of material for molecular studies on the nature of chiasma maintenance mechanism.     

Adenovirus-mediated transfer of a dominant-negative H-ras suppresses neointimal formation in balloon-injured arteries in vivo

Sixteen Holstein cows in midlactation were used in a design based on a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square with the last period removed to determine the influence of particle size of beet pulp neutral detergent fiber (NDF) on its effectiveness as a replacement for alfalfa NDF. Diets were a low forage, low fiber diet [12.1 g of alfalfa NDF/100 g of dry matter (DM)], a normal forage diet (low forage plus 7.8 g of additional alfalfa NDF/100 g of DM), and two low forage diets with 5.3 g of NDF/100 g of DM from either whole or finely ground dried sugar beet pulp. Replacement of alfalfa fiber with beet pulp fiber increased milk protein yield because of the tendencies toward increased milk yield and protein concentration. However, milk fat concentration and yield were unaffected. The addition of beet pulp fiber, either whole or ground, to the basal low forage, low fiber diet did not affect yields of milk, protein, or fat, but milk protein concentration tended to be lower for cows fed the beet pulp diets than for cows fed the basal diet. Reducing the particle size of beet pulp increased DM intake but did not affect any of the milk yield measurements. Particle size reduction of beet pulp did not reduce its effectiveness as a fiber source as measured by changes in milk fat content.