Chlorinated crosslinked adsorbents

High crosslinked copolymers based on poly(ethylstyrene-co-divinylbenzene), bead shaped, have chlorinated, resulting in adsorbents with a high content of chlorine (45.0% Cl). The chlorination process of the copolymer beads (0.40–0.80 mm in diameter) was carried out in 1,2-dichloroethane in the presence of a Friedel–Crafts catalyst (AlCl₃, FeCl₃), at 5–40°C, yielding yellow beads without any cracks and good mechanical strength. The chlorination degree of the samples is high because each vinyl aromatic unit contains 1.8–2.2 chlorine atoms. The chlorinated copolymer samples were used to retain Cephalosporine C from standard solutions comparatively with commercial adsorbents (Amberlite XAD-4 Rohm, Haas Co.; SP-206/7, Mitsubishi Kasai Corp., Japan). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 70: 1579–1587, 1998     

Combining formal verification and conformance testing for validating reactive systems

This paper presents a combination of verification and conformance testing techniques to support the formal validation of reactive systems. The idea is to use symbolic test selection techniques to extract subgraphs (components) from a specification, and to perform the verification on the components rather than on the whole specification. Under reasonable sufficient conditions, this constitutes a sound compositional verification technique, in the sense that a property verified on the components also holds on the whole specification. This may considerably reduce the global verification effort. Moreover, once verified, a component forms the basis of an adequate test case, i.e. when executed on an implementation, it will not issue false positive or negative verdicts with respect to the verified properties. The approach has been implemented using the STG test selection tool and the PVS theorem prover. It is demonstrated here on a smart‐card application: the Common Electronic Purse System. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Targeting S100A9 Reduces Neutrophil Recruitment,Inflammation and Lung Damage in Abdominal Sepsis

S100A9, a pro-inflammatory alarmin, is up-regulated in inflamed tissues. However, the role of S100A9 in regulating neutrophil activation, inflammation and lung damage in sepsis is not known. Herein, we hypothesized that blocking S100A9 function may attenuate neutrophil recruitment in septic lung injury. Male C57BL/6 mice were pretreated with the S100A9 inhibitor ABR-238901 (10 mg/kg), prior to cercal ligation and puncture (CLP). Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissue were harvested for analysis of neutrophil infiltration as well as edema and CXC chemokine production. Blood was collected for analysis of membrane-activated complex-1 (Mac-1) expression on neutrophils as well as CXC chemokines and IL-6 in plasma. Induction of CLP markedly increased plasma levels of S100A9. ABR-238901 decreased CLP-induced neutrophil infiltration and edema formation in the lung. In addition, inhibition of S100A9 decreased the CLP-induced up-regulation of Mac-1 on neutrophils. Administration of ABR-238901 also inhibited the CLP-induced increase of CXCL-1, CXCL-2 and IL-6 in plasma and lungs. Our results suggest that S100A9 promotes neutrophil activation and pulmonary accumulation in sepsis. Targeting S100A9 function decreased formation of CXC chemokines in circulation and lungs and attenuated sepsis-induced lung damage. These novel findings suggest that S100A9 plays an important pro-inflammatory role in sepsis and could be a useful target to protect against the excessive inflammation and lung damage associated with the disease.     

An optimized FAIRE procedure for low cell numbers in yeast

We report an optimized low‐input FAIRE‐seq (Formaldehyde‐Assisted Isolation of Regulatory Elements‐sequencing) procedure to assay chromatin accessibility from limited amounts of yeast cells. We demonstrate that the method performs well on as little as 4 mg of cells scraped directly from a few colonies. Sensitivity, specificity and reproducibility of the scaled‐down method are comparable with those of regular, higher input amounts, and allow the use of 100‐fold fewer cells than existing procedures. The method enables epigenetic analysis of chromatin structure without the need for cell multiplication of exponentially growing cells in liquid culture, thus opening the possibility of studying colony cell subpopulations, or those that can be isolated directly from environmental samples.     

Controlled growth-reversal of catalytic carbon nanotubes under electron-beam irradiation

The growth of carbon nanotubes from Ni catalysts is reversed and observed in real time in a transmission electron microscope, at room temperature. The Ni catalyst is found to be Ni3C and remains attached to the nanotube throughout the irradiation sequence, indicating that C most likely diffuses on the surface of the catalyst to form nanotubes. We calculate the energy barrier for saturating the Ni3C (2-13) surface with C to be 0.14 eV, thus providing a low-energy surface for the formation of graphene planes.     

Template-free electrodeposition of highly oriented and aspect-ratio controlled ZnO hexagonal columnar arrays

We report an easy one-step template-free electrodeposition method for preparing large arrays of ZnO hexagonal nanocolumns, vertically oriented on a Au-coated Si substrate. Systematic scanning electron microscopy investigations revealed the potential of this method for obtaining a high degree of verticality and orientation of the nanostructures and for controlling their aspect-ratio in an easy manner. Further structural studies demonstrated that the as-obtained ZnO nanocolumns present a well defined hexagonal symmetry exhibiting an excellent crystallinity.     

Bioresponse to nanotubes: surface chemistry of carbon nanotubes impacts the growth and expression of water channel protein in tomato plants (small 15/2012)

A tomato plant grows on medium supplemented with multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The correlations between the level of aggregation, the type of functional group on the surface of applied carbon nanotubes, plant growth performance and the expression of tomato water channel protein in the cell membranes of roots exposed to multi-walled carbon nanotubes are documented and discussed by A. S. Biris, M. V. Khodakovskaya, and co-workers.     

Effect of the calcium to phosphorus ratio on the setting properties of calcium phosphate bone cements

α-Tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP) has become the main reactant of most experimental and commercial ceramic bone cements. It has calcium-to-phosphorus (Ca/P) ratio of 1.50. The present study expands and reports on the microstructures and mechanical properties of calcium phosphate (CP) cements containing sintered monolithic reactants obtained in the interval 1.29??1.50 were composed of α-TCP, tetracalcium phosphate and hydroxyapatite; (d) only the reactant with Ca/P?=?1.50 was monophasic and was made of α-TCP, which transformed during the setting into calcium deficient hydroxyapatite; (e) CP-cements developed different crystal microstructures with specific features depending on the Ca/P ratio of the starting reactant.     

Characterization and three-dimensional reconstruction of synthetic bone model foams

Sawbones© open-cell foams with different porosity grades are being used as synthetic bone-like models for in vitro mechanical and infiltration experiments. However, a comprehensive characterization of these foams is not available and there is a lack of reliable information about them. For this reason two of these foams (Refs. 1522-505 and -507) have been characterized at the micro architectural level by scanning electron microscopy, computed tomography and image data analysis. BoneJ open software and ImageJ open software were used to obtain the characteristic histomorphometric parameters and the three dimensional virtual models of the foams. The results showed that both foams, while having different macro porosities, appeared undistinguishable at the micro scale. Moreover, the micro structural features resembled those of osteoporotic rather than healthy trabecular bone. It is concluded that Sawbones© foams behave reasonably as synthetic bone-like models. Consequently, their use is recommended for in vitro comparison purposes of both mechanical and infiltration testing performed in real vertebra. Finally, the virtual models obtained, which are available under request, can favour comparisons between future self-similar in vitro experiments and computer simulations.