Design of one-dimensional ferromagnet based on polyacetylene chain

As a model for organic ferromagnetism in a one-dimensional system, substituted polyacetylenes are re-considered on the basis of the molecular orbital (MO) and the crystal orbital (CO) methods. The semiempirical MO calculations with configuration interaction for the dimer model show that the exchange interaction on poly[(4-oxyphenyl)acetylene] (1) is negative in spite of Ovchinnikov's prediction, due to the direct interaction between the adjacent pendant spins. On the other hand, it is shown that a polyacetylene chain with phenoxy radicals as pendants on every other active site can become a one-dimensional feromagnet. Moreover, the CO calculations by means of the unrestricted Hartree-Fock method give a theoretical background for the realization of a ground state with macroscopic spin alignment on the improved model chain.     

Analyses of liquid film models applied to horizontal and near horizontal gas–liquid slug flows

An analysis of liquid film models for horizontal and near horizontal gas–liquid slug flows is developed. The models’ formulations employ the one dimensional separated phase momentum equations. The formulations differ among themselves, by neglecting some terms on the momentum balance and also on the closure relations. A comparative analysis discloses the differences amongst the formulations. The sensitivity of the liquid film models to the changes on the bubble velocity, liquid slug holdup and liquid viscosity is accessed through a series of parametric runs. Finally, the model is tested against experimental data taken for continuous horizontal slug flow. The tests were designed to check if the models are able to capture the stochastic film properties provided the properly closure relations.     

Modeling of extraction behavior of docosahexaenoic acid ethyl ester by utilizing slug flow prepared by microreactor

The liquid–liquid extraction dynamics of an ethyl ester of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA‐Et) with silver ion was investigated. The kinetic model was derived according to the following stepwise processes: Diffusion of DHA‐Et across the organic film, complex‐formation between DHA‐Et and silver ion at the interface, and diffusion of extracted complex across the aqueous film. The kinetic parameters for the complex‐formation reaction were determined from the investigation with the stirred transfer cell. With the proposed model and determined parameters, we predicted the uptakes of DHA‐Et for the extraction system utilizing a slug flow prepared by a microchip. The calculated uptakes showed good correlation to the experimental data. The theoretical investigation suggested that the fast equilibration realized for the slug flow extraction system was due to the large specific interfacial area of the slug caused by the presence of wall film and the thin liquid film caused by the internal circulation. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010     

Alteration of T-lymphocyte subpopulations in patients with primary renal diseases and systemic lupus erythematosus

Forty-eight patients with a variety of primary renal diseases and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were examined for the proportion of circulating T lymphocytes bearing receptors for IgM (T mu cells) or IgG (T gamma cells). Although the control group showed strikingly similar mean values for both T mu and T gamma cells, the whole group of patients with primary renal diseases and SLE showed a wide scatter of values. Sixteen patients with primary renal diseases and SLE had higher proportions of T gamma cells than the control group, whereas seven patients with chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN), lipoid nephrosis (LN), and SLE showed very marked decrease in the proportions of T gamma cells in the peripheral blood. On the other hand, six out of the total group of patients had low proportions of T mu cells in the peripheral blood. However, no consistent relationship between the proportion of T mu and T gamma cells was found in our study. These findings indicate that there exists a heterogeneity of T-lymphocyte subpopulation distribution in some patients with primary renal diseases and SLE. The possible significance of these phenomena in the pathophysiology of renal diseases is discussed.     

An application of the 2-nitrobenzenesulfenyl method to proteomic profiling of human colorectal carcinoma: A novel approach for biomarker discovery

In the development of novel biomarkers, the proteomic approach is advantageous because using it the cancer-associated proteins can be directly identified. We previously developed a 2-nitrobenzenesulfenyl (NBS) method to improve quantitative proteome analysis. Here, we applied this method to proteomic profiling of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) to identify novel proteins with altered expression in CRC. Each pair of tumor and normal tissue specimens from 12 CRC patients was analyzed, and approximately 5000 NBS-labeled paired peaks were quantified. Peaks with altered signal intensities (>1.5-fold) and occurring frequently in the samples (>70%) were selected, and 128 proteins were identified by MS/MS analyses as differentially expressed proteins in CRC tissues. Many proteins were newly revealed to be CRC related; 30 were reported in earlier studies of CRC. Six proteins that were up-regulated in CRC (ZYX, RAN, RCN1, AHCY, LGALS1, and VIM) were further characterized and validated by Western blot and immunohistochemistry. All six were found to be CRC-localized, either in cancer cells or in stroma cells near the cancer cells. These results indicate that the proteins identified in this study are novel candidates for CRC markers, and that the NBS method is useful in proteome mining to discover novel biomarkers.