Sex-Related Differences in Murine Models of Chemically Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis

We developed two models of chemically induced chronic lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis in mice (intratracheally administered hydrochloric acid (HCl) and intratracheally administered nitrogen mustard (NM)) and investigated male–female differences. Female mice exhibited higher 30-day survival and less weight loss than male mice. Thirty days after the instillation of either HCl or NM, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid displayed a persistent, mild inflammatory response, but with higher white blood cell numbers and total protein content in males vs. females. Furthermore, females exhibited less collagen deposition, milder pulmonary fibrosis, and lower Ashcroft scores. After instillation of either HCl or NM, all animals displayed increased values of phosphorylated (activated) Heat Shock Protein 90, which plays a crucial role in the alveolar wound-healing processes; however, females presented lower activation of both transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathways: ERK and SMAD. We propose that female mice are protected from chronic complications of a single exposure to either HCl or NM through a lesser activation of TGF-β and downstream signaling. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms that confer a protective effect in females could help develop new, gender-specific therapeutics for IPF.     

Perforated Sheets Exhibiting Negative Poisson's Ratios

Sheets made from readily available conventional materials containing diamond or star shaped perforations are shown to exhibit various Poisson's ratio values which could also be negative (auxetic). This behavior may be exhibited in both tension and compression and can be explained through models based on “rotating rigid units.” This provides an easy manner for the manufacture of auxetic or conventional systems at any scale which can be tailor made to exhibit particular values of the Poisson's ratio.     

Membrane‐Surface Anchoring of Charged Diacylglycerol‐Lactones Correlates with Biological Activities

Synthetic diacylglycerol‐lactones (DAG‐lactones) are effective modulators of critical cellular signaling pathways, downstream of the lipophilic second messenger diacylglycerol, that activate a host of protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes and other nonkinase proteins that share similar C1 membrane‐targeting domains with PKC. A fundamental determinant of the biological activity of these amphiphilic molecules is the nature of their interactions with cellular membranes. This study examines the biological properties of charged DAG‐lactones exhibiting different alkyl groups attached to the heterocyclic nitrogen of an α‐pyridylalkylidene chain, and particularly the relationship between membrane interactions of the substituted DAG‐lactones and their respective biological activities. Our results suggest that bilayer interface localization of the N‐alkyl chain in the R² position of the DAG‐lactones inhibits translocation of PKC isoenzymes onto the cellular membrane. However, the orientation of a branched alkyl chain at the bilayer surface facilitates PKC binding and translocation. This investigation emphasizes that bilayer localization of the aromatic side residues of positively charged DAG‐lactone derivatives play a central role in determining biological activity, and that this factor contributes to the diversity of biological actions of these synthetic biomimetic ligands.     

多元感知与多元描绘

自从电影问世以后,"复制"现实就成为人类现代文明的一大特征。计算机和互联网技术的出现更把"整体"复制渗透到人们生活的方方面面。这种无限次复制的现象被称为当代的"多元化感知"。明星建筑师库哈斯利用这种"多元感知"对自己设计的波尔多住宅进行了"多元描绘",揭示了一座普通住屋背后不易被觉察的空间细节和行为情节,启示我们应当积极探索建筑和新媒体以及新的表达方式之间的关系。     

Experimental study on micro EDM-drilling of Ti6Al4V using helical electrode

There is a growing interest in the machining of micro-holes with high aspect-ratio in difficult-to-machine alloys for the aerospace industry. Processes based on electro discharge machining (EDM) and developed for the manufacture of both micro-electrode and micro-hole are actually used, but most of them involve micro-EDM machines. In this work, the influence of EDM parameters on material removal rate, electrode wear, machining time and micro-hole quality when machining Ti6Al4V is studied. Due to an inefficient removal of debris when increasing hole depth, a new strategy based on the use of helical-shaped electrodes has been proposed. The influence of helix angle and flute depth with respect to process performance has been addressed. Main results include 37% reduction in machining times (hole diameter 800 μm) when using electrode helix angle of 45° and flute-depth of 50 μm, and an additional 19% with flute-depth of 150 μm. Holes of 661 μm diameter and as much as 6.81 mm depth, which yields in aspect ratio of 10:1, have successfully been machined in Ti6Al4V.     

Complementary geometric formulations for electrostatics

The simultaneous use of a pair of complementary discrete formulations for electrostatic boundary value problems (BVPs) allows to accurately compute electromagnetic quantities, such as capacitance or electrostatic force with a minimum computational effort. In fact, the two formulations provide the upper and lower bounds for these quantities and their averages result quite close to the exact solution even for extremely coarse meshes. Despite the potential benefit to the many three‐dimensional large‐scale applications, taking advantage of this feature is not exploited in practice due to theoretical difficulties in the potential design. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap by rigorously introducing a pair of three‐dimensional complementary geometric formulations to solve electrostatic BVPs on domains covered by conformal polyhedral meshes. In particular, an original formulation based on a vector potential is introduced by using cohomology theory with integer coefficients. It is shown how the so‐called thick links are needed, which are representatives of the second cohomology group generators of the dielectric region. Two easy‐to‐implement graph‐theoretic algorithms to automatically find such a basis with optimal computational complexity are described. Some benchmark problems are presented to show how the simultaneous use of both formulations yields to a sensible computational advantage. Therefore, solvers based on complementary formulations should be embedded in the next‐generation of electromagnetic Computer‐Aided Engineering (CAE) softwares. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Composites with needle-like inclusions exhibiting negative thermal expansion: A preliminary investigation

In this work a simple cylindrical structure with a stiff needle-like inclusion embedded within a much softer matrix is presented and analysed with the aim of obtaining a system with tunable thermal expansion properties. It is shown that by the correct combination of the thermal and mechanical properties of the matrix and inclusion, it is possible to design a system which can be tailor-made to exhibit particular values of the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) in the radial direction and also negative thermal expansion (NTE). In particular an analytical model to quantify the radial strain with changes in temperature is derived and verified through finite element analysis. The model is used to find correct property combinations which lead to particular values of thermal expansion which could also be negative or zero.