A comparative study of the antithrombotic effect through activated endothelium of garlic powder and tomato extracts using a rodent model of collagen and epinephrine induced thrombosis

Food Science and Biotechnology - In this study, garlic powder, tomato extract and a mixture of both were analyzed for anti-thrombotic effects using a collagen and epinephrine induced thrombosis...     

Physical properties of resin-reinforced glass ionomer cement modified with micro and nano-hydroxyapatite

Hydroxyapatite is a biologically compatible material and a major component of dental enamel and bone tissue. Because of its biocompatibility and structural similarity to human teeth and the skeletal system, a number of dental studies have evaluated its application as a bone substitute or dental restorative material. This study was to evaluate the differences in bonding strength and resistance to demineralization between micro-hydroxyapatite and nano-hydroxyapatite added to self-cured resin-reinforced/modified glass ionomer cement. RelyX was used as the base glass ionomer cement material and for the control group. 10% micro-hydroxyapatite added glass ionomer cement was named experimental group 1, and 10% nano-hydroxyapatite added glass ionomer cement was named experimental group 2. Physical tests for ISO9917-1:2007 in each group was acceptable, except the setting time of nano-hydroxyapatite added glass ionomer cement, which exceeded maximum setting time. Bonding strength was greatest in nano-hydroxyapatite glass ionomer cement, and cohesive failure was common in all specimens. When fractured surface was observed under SEM, spherical particles were observed in experimental groups containing hydroxyapatite particles, and they were more prevalent in nano-HA added glass ionomer cement group than in micro-hydroxyapatite added group. Both experimental groups exhibited greater resistance to demineralization compared to the control group, and there was no significant difference between the experimental groups. Under SEM, nano-hydroxyapatite added glass ionomer cement exhibited increased resistance to demineralization compared to micro-hydroxyapatite added glass ionomer cement.     

Evaluation of a hot oil immersion drying method for the upgrading of crushed low-rank coal

Coal is the most abundant fuel on earth, and low-rank coal (LRC) such as sub-bituminous coal and lignite makes up about half of all coal deposits. LRC is inconvenient to use due to its low caloric value and high content of moisture together with the strong tendency of spontaneous combustion due to these oxygen rich coals, etc. Solving these problems would substantially improve the efficiency of LRC usage. In this study, we describe a drying technique utilizing hot oil immersion. This upgrading process may be executed easily under relatively low temperature condition due to the difference of heat capacity and thereby pressure gradient between coal and heating oil. This results in greatly reducing its energy cost. Drying tests of Indonesian lignite were performed with refined waste oil and B-C heavy oil, which were heated to 120°C, 130°C or 140°C. Following 10 min of treatment, the moisture content of the upgraded coal was improved from 32% to 2.0–3.2%, and its high heating value from 3,000 kcal/kg to 6,000 kcal/kg.     

Citrus-derived auraptene stimulates angiogenesis by activating the Erk- and PI3K/Akt/eNOS-dependent signaling pathways in human umbilical vein endothelial cells

Auraptene is a citrus-derived natural monoterpene that has been shown to exert anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant roles. Since little is known about other biological functions of auraptene, we examined the efficacy of auraptene for stimulating angiogenesis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Treatment with low concentrations of auraptene stimulated endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation. Furthermore, auraptene activated Erk, Akt, and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and increased NO production. Auraptene also partially induced the phosphorylation of VEGFR2. Furthermore, auraptene-induced activation of Erk, Akt, and eNOS were significantly inhibited by the inhibitors PD98059, LY294002, and l-NIO dihydrochloride. These results suggest that auraptene stimulates angiogenesis by regulating the VEGFR2, Erk, and PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling pathways.     

Highly uniform and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering from DNA-tailorable nanoparticles with 1-nm interior gap

An ideal surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanostructure for sensing and imaging applications should induce a high signal enhancement, generate a reproducible and uniform response, and should be easy to synthesize. Many SERS-active nanostructures have been investigated, but they suffer from poor reproducibility of the SERS-active sites, and the wide distribution of their enhancement factor values results in an unquantifiable SERS signal. Here, we show that DNA on gold nanoparticles facilitates the formation of well-defined gold nanobridged nanogap particles (Au-NNP) that generate a highly stable and reproducible SERS signal. The uniform and hollow gap (～1 nm) between the gold core and gold shell can be precisely loaded with a quantifiable amount of Raman dyes. SERS signals generated by Au-NNPs showed a linear dependence on probe concentration (R(2) > 0.98) and were sensitive down to 10 fM concentrations. Single-particle nano-Raman mapping analysis revealed that >90% of Au-NNPs had enhancement factors greater than 1.0 × 10(8), which is sufficient for single-molecule detection, and the values were narrowly distributed between 1.0 × 10(8) and 5.0 × 10(9).     

Fabrication of nano-structured SPR chip for sensitivity enhancement

We used the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) method for preparation of large area, defect-free monolayer silica particle film as a template for the fabrication of nano-structure Au pattern on a conventional Au substrate for Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). Well organized, trigonal pyramid shaped Au nano-structures were able to construct on 34 separate chips in one fabrication process. The dimensions of trigonal pyramid nano-structures were precisely controlled by changing the particle size of the silica LB template. The nano-structure Au patterned SPR chips provides the enhancement of sensitivity in SPR analysis. The sensitivity enhancement of nano-structure patterned chips was evaluated by comparison with conventional flat Au chips. The nano-structure patterned substrate demonstrated a sensitivity enhancement up to 120% compared to a conventional SPR chip when ethanol solution was used as an analyte.     

Animal model of intestinal anti-inflammatory effect of ginger-cinnamon complex

Food Science and Biotechnology - This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of ginger-cinnamon mixture using an animal model of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced intestinal inflammation....     

Impact of node distance on selfish replica allocation in a mobile ad-hoc network

Many data replication techniques have been proposed to minimize performance degradation caused by network partitioning in a mobile ad-hoc network. Most of them assume that all mobile nodes collaborate fully in terms of sharing their memory space. However, in reality, some nodes may selfishly decide to only cooperate partially, or not at all, with other nodes. Recently, a new approach to selfish replica allocation has been proposed to handle node selfishness. However, there is still much room for improvement. We empirically observe that the previous selfish replica allocation strategy suffers from long query delay and poor data accessibility, because it utilizes only non-selfish nodes that may be faraway nodes. In this paper, we propose a novel replica allocation strategy in the presence of selfish nodes, that takes into account both selfish behavior and node distance. Moreover, through a novel node leveling technique, we utilize the memory space of all connected nodes, including selfish nodes. The conducted simulations demonstrate that the proposed strategy outperforms existing replica allocation techniques in terms of data accessibility, query delay, and communication cost.     

Analysis of phytohormones and phosphate solubilization in Photorhabdus spp.

Bacteria of the genus Photorhabdus are nematodes (Heterorhabditidae) symbiont and highly entomopathogenic in nature. Present study was concerned to investigate the effects of Photorhabdus temperata M1021 and Photorhabdus luminescens TT01 on plant morphology and physiology (‘Dongjin-beyo’ and ‘waitoc’). A significant (p<0.05) increase in the plant growth attributes including total plant length, root length, biomass, and chlorophyll contents were observed after treatment with culture extracts. Moreover indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production by respective bacteria was confirmed by GCMS analysis. IAA production through tryptophan independent pathway was confirmed in P. temperata M1021 and P. luminescens TT01. Phosphate solubilization capability was also investigated by growing them on pikovskaya (PVK) agar as well as on PVK liquid medium with pH 7 at 28±2°C for 14 days. IAA production and phosphate solubilization capability of these bacteria could be the potential factors for plant growth promotion.     

Integrated on-chip 0.35 μm BiCMOS current-mode DC–DC buck converter

A current-mode DC–DC buck converter with a fully integrated power module is presented in this article. The converter is implemented using BiCMOS technology in amplifier and power MOSFET in a current sensor. The current sensor is realised by the power lateral double-diffused MOSFET with the aspect ratio much larger than that of a matched p-MOSFET. In addition, BiCMOS technology is applied in the error amplifier for an accurate current sensing and a fast transient response. The DC–DC converter is fabricated with 0.35?µm BiCMOS process. Experimental results show that the fully integrated converter operates at 1.3?MHz switching frequency with a supply voltage of 5?V. The output DC voltage is obtained as expected and the output ripple is controlled to be within 2% with a 30?µH off-chip inductor and 100?µF off-chip capacitor.