Sprouted wheat grain with ferritin overexpression as a potential source of iron for cereal product fortification

Grains of winter wheat (Korweta variety) were partially germinated in an abiotic stress condition (0–15 mM FeSO₄ solutions) in order to accumulate iron by ferritin overexpression. The physical, chemical, biochemical properties and technological parameters of the obtained material as well as their resistance to an insect storage pest—granary weevil—were analyzed. Sprouted wheat grains with overexpression of ferritin contain 52 times more iron, more than 50 % in form of ferritin. The contents of reducing sugars, crude protein, fiber and ash as well as amylolytic activity increased significantly in sprouted wheat grain, while starch, fat, wet gluten, falling number and inhibition activity against granary weevil α-amylase decreased. Germinated wheat grain enriched with iron strongly affected granary weevil developmental parameters. Despite the fact that technological parameters of the product were deteriorated, it is worth to consider this material application as an iron supplement for cereal products, when the application of soybean is impossible.     

Stripping of copper coatings from steel in Cr(VI)-free commercial bath

In this work the electrochemical characteristics of copper and steel in chromate, cyanide, and phosphate baths as well as in a commercial bath (ENSTRIP S-180), in the absence of chromium and cyanides were determined. Average rates of copper coatings stripping from steel in the above mentioned baths and the baths influence on the morphology of steel surfaces were described. It was found that the commercial bath ENSTRIP S-180 could be successfully used for stripping of copper coatings from steel elements.     

The Influence of Structural Parameters on the Reactivity of Model Complexes for Compound II: A Mini Review

The present brief review aims at elucidation of the parameters affecting the properties and reactivity of high valent iron(IV) oxo porphyrin complexes, being models of compound II reactive intermediate known from biochemistry of cytochromes and peroxidases. The stress is put on the influence of the axial ligand and porphyrin ring substituents, with special attention on implications for their catalytic activity.     

Structural and electrical properties of Cr-doped SrTiO3 porous materials

Series of single-phase materials with assumed formula SrTi_1?xCr_xO₃ (where x = 0, 1, 4, 6 mol.%) were obtained by sol-gel method. The structure and microstructure of materials were characterised by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy methods. Moreover, the study of electrical properties and evaluation of chemical stability in CO₂/H₂O atmosphere was performed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and thermogravimery methods, respectively. The possibility of participation of Cr-doped strontium titanate in oxidation–reduction processes was analysed by temperature-programed reduction (TPR) and temperature-programed oxidation (TPOx) measurements. The changes of lattice parameters together with XPS analysis, the Seebeck coefficient measurements results and TPR profiles obtained for SrTi_1?xCr_xO₃ materials prove the presence of chromium on +3 and +6 oxidation stages. Thus, chromium can be treated as both acceptor- and donor-type dopant in the SrTiO₃ structure. The Cr³⁺/Cr⁶⁺ ratio strongly affects the electrical properties, as the change of conduction mechanism was observed. The results of performed stability test clearly indicate that incorporation of chromium into SrTiO₃ structure results with decrease of chemical stability in CO₂ atmosphere.     

Fabrication of nanoporous TiO2 by electrochemical anodization

The formation of self-organized porous titania is achieved by electrochemical anodization under a potentiostatic regime. Anodic titanium oxide (ATO) was fabricated by a three-step self-organized anodization of the Ti foil in an ethylene glycol electrolyte containing 0.38 wt% of NH₄F and 1.79 wt% of H₂O. Anodizing was carried out at the constant cell potential ranging from 30 to 70 V at the temperature of 20 °C. It was found that nanoporous TiO₂ arrays can be obtain only after a short duration of the third step (10 min). The influence of anodizing potential on the structural parameters of porous anodic titania including pore diameter, interpore distance, wall thickness, porosity and pore density was extensively studied. The linear dependencies between interpore distance, pore diameter and wall thickness upon the anodizing potential were found. The regularity of pore arrangement was monitored qualitatively by fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) of top-view FE-SEM images. It was found that the best arrangement of nanopores is observed at 40 V. This finding was confirmed by the analysis of pore circularity. The highest circularity of pores was observed once again at 40 V.     

The effect of reaction product on the rate of addition of acetic acid to epichlorohydrin in the presence of chromium(III) acetate

The kinetics of addition of acetic acid to epichlorohydrin carried out in the presence of both the reaction product and chromium(III) acetate catalyst have been studied. At an equimolar ratio of reagents the dilution of the reacting mixture with the reaction product has been found not to affect the reaction order. The presence of product in the starting mixture, as well as temperature increase, considerably reduces the selectivity of reaction. Side reactions of epichlorohydrin are activated. Activation energy, enthalpy and entropy of the reaction all decrease in the presence of reaction product. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

Development of a surface to increase retinal pigment epithelial cell (ARPE-19) proliferation under reduced serum conditions

Age related macular degeneration of the eye is brought about by damage to the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and is a major cause of adult blindness. One potential treatment method is transplantation of RPE cells grown in vitro. Maintaining RPE cell viability and physiological function in vitro is a challenge, and this must also be achieved using materials that can be subsequently used to deliver an intact cell sheet into the eye. In this paper, plasma polymerisation has been used to develop a chemically modified surface for maintaining RPE cells in vitro. Multiwell plates modified with a plasma copolymer of allylamine and octadiene maintained RPE cell growth at a level similar to that of TCPS. However, the addition of bound glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) to the plasma polymerised surface significantly enhanced RPE proliferation. Simply adding GAG to the culture media had no positive effect. It is shown that a combination of plasma polymer and GAG is a promising method for developing suitable surfaces for cell growth and delivery, that can be applied to any substrate material.     

Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Thin Remote Microwave Plasma CVD a-Si:N:C Films from a Single-Source Precursor

Silicon carbonitride (a-Si:N:C) films produced by remote plasma chemical vapor deposition (RP-CVD) were investigated. Tetramethyldisilazane as a single-source precursor and (H₂+N₂) upstream gas mixture for plasma generation were used. The influence of the upstream gas composition on the structure, density, mechanical and tribological properties of the films deposited on p-type Si (001) wafers (both heated—T _s =300°C and unheated—T _s =30°C) are reported. The H₂ RP-CVD process was found to result in the formation of outstanding low friction (0.04) and high hardness (H=27-31 GPa) a-Si:N:C films exhibiting promisingly high H/E values.     

How many protein‐coding genes are there in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome?

We have compared the results of estimations of the total number of protein-coding genes in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome, which have been obtained by many laboratories since the yeast genome sequence was published in 1996. We propose that there are 5300-5400 genes in the genome. This makes the first estimation of the number of intronless ORFs longer than 100 codons, based on the features of the set of genes with phenotypes known in 1997 to be correct. This estimation assumed that the set of the first 2300 genes with known phenotypes was representative for the whole set of protein-coding genes in the genome. The same method used in this paper for the approximation of the total number of protein-coding sequences among more than 40 000 ORFs longer than 20 codons gives a result that is only slightly higher. This suggests that there are still some non-coding ORFs in the databases and a few dozen small ORFs, not yet annotated, which probably code for proteins.