Sulfur-related air pollutants induce the generation of platelet-activating factor, 5-lipoxygenase- and cyclooxygenase-products in canine alveolar macrophages via activation of phospholipases A2

Recent studies have shown that long-term in vivo exposure of dogs to neutral sulfur(IV)/sulfite aerosols induces mild inflammatory reactions, whereas the combination of neutral sulfite with acidic sulfur(VI)/sulfate aerosols evokes less pronounced effects. To understand underlying mechanisms, we studied in vitro the role of lipid mediators in the responses of alveolar macrophages (AMs) to sulfur-related compounds under neutral (pH 7) or moderate acidic (pH 6) conditions. Canine AMs incubated with sulfite at pH 7 released threefold higher amounts of platelet-activating factor than control (P < 0.005). Generation of arachidonic acid, leukotriene B4, 5-hydroxy-eicosatetraenoic acid, prostaglandin E2, thromboxane B2 and 12-hydroxyheptadecatrienoic acid increased twofold (P < 0.0005). However, these metabolites remained unchanged following incubation of AMs with sulfite at pH 6 or with sulfate at pH 7 or pH 6. Mediator release by sulfite-treated AMs at pH 7 stimulated respiratory burst activity of neutrophils. Inhibition of MAPK pathway by PD 98059, of cytosolic (cPLA2) and secretory phospholipases A2 by AACOCF3 and thioetheramide-PC, respectively, reduced sulfite-induced eicosanoid formation in AMs. Sulfite activated cPLA2 activity twofold at pH 7. This mechanism of sulfite-stimulated responses in phospholipid metabolism predicts that chronic exposure to sulfur(IV)/sulfite is associated with a considerable health risk.     

Electrical and optical properties of oxygen doped GaN grown by MOCVD using N2O

Oxygen doped GaN has been grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using N₂O as oxygen dopant source. The layers were deposited on 2″ sapphire substrates from trimethylgallium and especially dried ammonia using nitrogen (N₂) as carrier gas. Prior to the growth of the films, an AIN nucleation layer with a thickness of about 300? was grown using trimethylaluminum. The films were deposited at 1085°C at a growth rate of 1.0 μm/h and showed a specular, mirrorlike surface. Not intentionally doped layers have high resistivity (>20 kW/square). The gas phase concentration of the N₂O was varied between 25 and 400 ppm with respect to the total gas volume. The doped layers were n-type with carrier concentrations in the range of 4×10¹⁶ cm⁻³ to 4×10¹⁸ cm⁻³ as measured by Hall effect. The observed carrier concentration increased with increasing N₂O concentration. Low temperature photoluminescence experiments performed on the doped layers revealed besides free A and B exciton emission an exciton bound to a shallow donor. With increasing N₂O concentration in the gas phase, the intensity of the donor bound exciton increased relative to that of the free excitons. These observations indicate that oxygen behaves as a shallow donor in GaN. This interpretation is supported by covalent radius and electronegativity arguments.     

Algorithms and software tools for ordering clone libraries: application to the mapping of the genome of Schizosaccharomyces pombe

A complete set of software tools to aid the physical mapping of a genome has been developed and successfully applied to the genomic mapping of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Two approaches were used for ordering single-copy hybridisation probes: one was based on the simulated annealing algorithm to order all probes, and another on inferring the minimum-spanning subset of the probes using a heuristic filtering procedure. Both algorithms produced almost identical maps, with minor differences in the order of repetitive probes and those having identical hybridisation patterns. A separate algorithm fitted the clones to the established probe order. Approaches for handling experimental noise and repetitive elements are discussed. In addition to these programs and the database management software, tools for visualizing and editing the data are described. The issues of combining the information from different libraries are addressed. Also, ways of handling multiple-copy probes and non-hybridisation data are discussed.     

Experimental study on the application of acoustic emission during the hydraulic pressurization of a reactor pressure vessel

The investigations were aimed at demonstrating the state of the art of acoustic emission testing (AET) of reactor pressure vessels. The object under investigation was the large reactor pressure vessel of the MPA in Stuttgart, a boiling-water reactor pressure vessel, which was provided with a multitude of flaws in weld seams and in the base material. Six hydrostatic tests approximately up to the working pressure of a boiling-water reactor (71 bar) were carried out. In addition to the global multichannel locating technique, also local monitoring techniques were applied. Global location permitted a large number of different indications to be detected simultaneously. Not all of the known flaws did, however, show the expected number of AE events. On the other hand, it was possible to detect flaws previously unknown to the AE staff in some weld seams; these indications were confirmed by nondestructive testing. It was demonstrated that the locating accuracy of local monitoring using signal analysis was improved by a factor of 20 to 30 compared to global monitoring.     

Mechanism of Oxide Nucleation in Lithium Aluminosilicate Glass-Ceramics

A commercial lithium aluminosilicate glass-ceramic material is investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy after different heat treatments. Evidence is presented that epitaxy of β-quartz crystals on ZrTiO₄-type crystallites is the critical step initiating silicate crystallization.     

The significance of defect chemistry for the rate of gas–solid reactions: three examples

Three examples are revisited in which the reaction rate could be reliably correlated with point defect chemistry highlighting the role of point defects as acid–base active centers. In the case of dehydrohalogenation of tertiary butyl chloride, AgCl becomes increasingly active as heterogeneous catalyst, if AgCl is homogeneously or heterogeneously doped. By such a procedure the silver vacancy concentration is adequately increased. The oxygen incorporation into SrTiO₃ offers an example in which the surface mechanism in terms of adsorbed species, oxygen vacancies and electronic centers has been elucidated. Appropriate surface coatings give rise to significant catalytic effects. Increasing iron (acceptor) doping not only changes the point defect chemistry but also the nature of the rate determining step. Lastly, the electrocatalytic function of Sr-doped LaMnO₃ is considered as regards oxygen reduction reaction and O²⁻ incorporation into Y-doped ZrO₂ in the context of solid oxide fuel cells. Again the defect chemistry is of prime importance for the reaction rate.