TrkB Receptor Signalling: Implications in Neurodegenerative,Psychiatric and Proliferative Disorders

The Trk family of receptors play a wide variety of roles in physiological and disease processes in both neuronal and non-neuronal tissues. Amongst these the TrkB receptor in particular has attracted major attention due to its critical role in signalling for brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT3) and neurotrophin-4 (NT4). TrkB signalling is indispensable for the survival, development and synaptic plasticity of several subtypes of neurons in the nervous system. Substantial evidence has emerged over the last decade about the involvement of aberrant TrkB signalling and its compromise in various neuropsychiatric and degenerative conditions. Unusual changes in TrkB signalling pathway have also been observed and implicated in a range of cancers. Variations in TrkB pathway have been observed in obesity and hyperphagia related disorders as well. Both BDNF and TrkB have been shown to play critical roles in the survival of retinal ganglion cells in the retina. The ability to specifically modulate TrkB signalling can be critical in various pathological scenarios associated with this pathway. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms underlying TrkB signalling, disease implications and explore plausible ameliorative or preventive approaches.     

Fixation of Chromium in Wood from Dichromate and Chromate Salt Solutions

It has been reported that treatment of wood surfaces with aqueous solutions of chromium trioxide imparts some beneficial properties like weather resistance and some degree of water repellency. The work presented here aims at finding alternative ways of fixing chromium in wood with the avoidance of the very acidic and strong oxidant conditions of chromic acid solutions. This is because these solutions may affect the strength of wood, and are known to have a very high human toxicity. In this study, chromium has been fixed into wood from hexavalent chromium solutions at pH's of ～1.5 (CrO₃ aq.), ～3.8–3.9 (K₂Cr₂O₇ aq.) and ～9.5–10.3 (K₂CrO₄ aq.). For the CrO₃-solutions the effects of temperature and reaction time on the fixation of chromium were investigated. For the dichromate and chromate solutions, fixation experiments were carried out with Cr-concentration and reaction times as variables. It is shown that a 3%-fixation level of chromium in small wood specimens can be attained from dichromate and chromate solutions without significant mechanical damage to wood. On the other hand, even diluted CrO₃-solutions (0.01 M) impart serious strength reductions in wood at temperatures of 90° C and higher when reacted for 8 hours, and the chromium content of wood resulting from such treatment is of the order of only 1%.     

High Temperature Interactions Between Residual Oil Ash and Dispersed Kaolinite Powders

The potential use of sorbents to manage ultrafine ash aerosol emissions from residual oil combustion was investigated using a downfired 82 kW laboratory-scale refractory-lined combustor. The major constituents were vanadium (V), nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn). The overall ash content of residual oil is very low, resulting in total ash vaporization at 1725 K with appreciable vaporization occurring at temperatures as low as 1400 K. Therefore, the possibility of interactions between ash vapor and sorbent substrates exists. Kaolinite powder was injected at various locations in the combustor. Ash scavenging was determined from particle size distributions (PSDs) measured by a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. Impactor samples and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analyses supported these data. Injection of kaolinite sorbent was able to capture up to 60% of all the ash in the residual fuel oil. However, captures of ～ 30% were more common when sorbent injection occurred downstream of the combustion zone, rather than with the combustion air into the main flame. Without sorbent addition, baseline measurements of the fly ash PSD and chemical composition indicate that under the practical combustion conditions examined here, essentially all of the metals contained in the residual oil form ultrafine particles (～0.1 μ m diameter). Theoretical calculations showed that coagulation between the oil ash nuclei and the kaolinite sorbent could account for, at most, 17% of the metal capture which was always less than that measured. The data suggest that kaolinite powders reactively capture a portion of the vapor phase metals. Mechanisms and rates still remain to be quantified.     

A Cough Aerosol Simulator for the Study of Disease Transmission by Human Cough-Generated Aerosols

Aerosol particles expelled during human coughs are a potential pathway for infectious disease transmission. However, the importance of airborne transmission is unclear for many diseases. To better understand the role of cough aerosol particles in the spread of disease and the efficacy of different types of protective measures, we constructed a cough aerosol simulator that produces a human-like cough in a controlled environment. The simulated cough has a 4.2 l volume and is based on coughs recorded from influenza patients. In one configuration, the simulator produces a cough aerosol containing particles from 0.1 to 100 μm in diameter with a volume median diameter (VMD) of 8.5 μm and a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 2.9. In a second configuration, the cough aerosol has a size range of 0.1–30 μm, a VMD of 3.4 μm, and a GSD of 2.3. The total aerosol volume expelled during each cough is 68 μl. By generating a controlled and reproducible artificial cough, the simulator allows us to test different ventilation, disinfection, and personal protection scenarios. The system can be used with live pathogens, including influenza virus, which allows isolation precautions used in the healthcare field to be tested without risk of exposure for workers or patients. The information gained from tests with the simulator will help to better understand the transmission of infectious diseases, develop improved techniques for infection control, and improve safety for healthcare workers and patients.

Copyright 2013 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Water Vapor Pressure over Complex Particles,I: Sulfuric Acid Solution Effect

ABSTRACT

The equilibrium vapor pressures of water are calculated for two different geometric configurations: a liquid cap formed on a single substrate sphere and a liquid pendular ring formed about the contact point of a pair of adhering, identical spheres. The substrate is a structureless, macroscopic (i.e., radius R > 50 nm), relatively hydrophobic sphere. For each configuration, pure water and sulfuric acid solution are used separately as the interface liquid. In addition to the available surface tension measurements of sulfuric acid solution against air, our calculations utilize the tabulated data of activity of water over the sulfuric acid solution and the solution density. The substrate's interfacial tension against air is treated as a parameter in these calculations. Then, by using Young's equation as a constraint in our calculation, we can determine the contact angle of the surface liquid residing on substrate spheres for both configurations. We apply Kelvin's equation in combination with both water activity of sulfuric acid solution and combining relations (semiquantitative relations describing molecular forces) to perform the calculations in the macroscopic picture. The calculations show, for example, that the equilibrium water vapor pressure over a pendular ring containing relatively dilute sulfuric acid solution (e.g., 0.5–10%) is always less than the equilibrium vapor pressure over the same configuration with only pure water when both sphere radii are 100 nm and contact angle is around 20°. The results also show that if all conditions are the same, except geometric configuration, the pendular ring of condensation has a lower equilibrium vapor pressure than the cap of condensation does. Even more significantly, the graph of equilibrium vapor pressure vs volume of condensed water for the pendular ring configuration indicates unconstrained condensational growth at subsaturation relative humidity. In contrast, in the cap configuration, condensational growth is usually limited for any subsaturation relative humidity.