Pluronic lecithin organogel of 5-aminosalicylic acid for wound healing

5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is an aminosalicylate anti-inflammatory drug, which is also known as mesalazine or mesalamine. Currently employed in treating inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis, inflamed anus or rectum, and maintain remission in Crohn's disease. Evidence from the researchers highlighted its significant re-epithelization in allergic asthma, aphthous, and gastric ulcerative conditions. The objective of the study was to formulate the pluronic lecithin organogel (PLO) containing 5-ASA and evaluate its wound-healing ability in a full thickness excision wound rat model. The data obtained from in silico docking studies revealed 5-ASA is having an affinity towards the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) specifically towards beta1. Among various formulations prepared (F1 to F8), F1, and F6 have shown a maximum in vitro drug release with optimum pH and viscosity. From MTT assay it was found that selected PLO formulations showed no toxicity and enhanced cell proliferation in HaCaT cell lines. In vivo wound-healing studies in albino Wistar rats has revealed that PLO accelerates wound closure and reepithelization to the statistically significant level on day 3 (p?相似文献   

Failure Analysis and Robust Optimization of an Exhaust Manifold Diffuser Plate

Diffuser plates in exhaust system manifolds are designed to provide uniform flow pattern within the manifold for maximum utilization of the catalytic converter substrate during high-temperature applications. In this paper, failure analysis of a diffuser which survived only 20% duration of a manifold crack test and various design optimization studies of the diffuser plate using computer-aided engineering (CAE) analyses are presented. During the manifold crack test, the failure occurred at the inner and outer periphery of the diffuser. Metallurgical failure analysis coupled with CAE thermal fatigue analysis of the component concluded that thermal fatigue was the root cause of the failure. The new recommended robust design showed considerable improvement in the thermal durability of the diffuser plate assembly.     

Anthelmintic treatment improves the hemoglobin and serum ferritin concentrations of Tanzanian schoolchildren

To investigate the relationships between helminth infections and iron status among school-aged children, 1,115 Tanzanian children in grades 2 through 5 were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. The children in the treatment group were screened for infection with Schistosoma haematobium and hookworm at baseline, 3 months, and 15 months; infected children were given albendazole against hookworm and praziquantel against schistosomiasis. The control group received a placebo and did not undergo parasitological screening until 15 months after the baseline. Hematological variables were compared between the treatment and control groups. The main results were, first, that the hemoglobin concentration significantly improved after treatment for hookworm (p < .001) by 9.3 g/L in children treated for hookworm only and by 8.8 g/L in children treated for hookworm and schistosomiasis. The ferritin concentration also improved in children treated for schistosomiasis (p = .001) or hookworm (p = .019). Second, a longitudinal analysis of the data from the children in the control group showed that hookworm and schistosomiasis loads were negatively associated with hemoglobin and ferritin concentrations. Moreover, ferritin concentrations increased as C-reactive protein levels increased. Overall, the results showed that anthelmintic treatment is a useful tool for reducing anemia in areas with high hookworm and schistosomiasis endemicity. The empirical relationship between ferritin and C-reactive protein indicated that simple procedures for adjusting cutoff points for the use of ferritin as an indicator of low iron stores were unlikely to be useful in this population.     

Starch Hydrolysate,an Optimal and Economical Source of Carbon for the Secretion of Citric Acid by Yarrowia lipolytica (DS-1)

Using Yarrowia lipolytica (DS-1), secretion of citric acid is studied as a function of carbon sources such as glucose, fructose, hydrol, sucrose, cane sugar molasses, kerosene (all available commercially) and tapioca starch hydrolysate, invert sucrose and invert cane sugar molasses (all prepared in laboratory). On the basis of their acceptability by DS-1 for citric and isocitric acid secretion, it is concluded that (a) sucrose and cane sugar molasses (with/without inversion) served as poor carbon sources, (b) fructose, hydrol, impure tapioca starch hydrolysate (96 DE w/w) and invert sucrose served as relatively better carbon sources and (c) purified tapioca starch hydrolysate (96 DE w/w) was the best carbon source to substitute glucose by giving comparable (75%) efficiency of conversion and economical advantage.     

Epoxidized linolenic acid salts as multifunctional additives for the thermal stability of plasticized PVC

Calcium and zinc salts of epoxidized linolenic acid were synthesized and used as multifunctional additives, to minimize or prevent the reaction of epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) with liberated hydrochloric acid (HCl) during the thermal degradation of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) in particular. These metal epoxy salts were incorporated as thermal stabilizers for both diisodecyl phthalate and ESO–plasticized PVC blends that underwent thermal degradation studies at 170°C. The overall performance of these metal epoxy salts was examined by thermal gravimetric analysis and visual color retention of the PVC blends. The weight loss profiles of the metal salt stabilized PVC were comparable to those of blends containing metal stearates. There were, however, vast improvements in color retention of the plasticized PVC using these novel additives. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41736.     

Modeling of time to corrosion-induced cover cracking in reinforced concrete structures

Service life of the concrete structures depends on the protective action provided by the cover concrete against the susceptibility of the reinforcement to the corrosive environment. Depending on the level of the oxidation of metallic iron, corrosion products may have much greater volume than the original iron that gets consumed by the process of corrosion. This volume expansion is mainly responsible for exerting the expansive radial pressure at the steel-concrete interface and development of hoop tensile stresses in the surrounding concrete resulting ultimately in the through cracking of the cover concrete. This cover cracking would indicate the loss of the service life for the corrosion-affected structures. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to develop analytical models for predicting the time to cover cracking by considering the residual strength of the cracked concrete and the stiffness provided by the combination of the reinforcement and expansive corrosion products. The problem is modeled as a boundary value problem wherein the governing equations are expressed in terms of the radial displacement and the analytical solutions are presented considering a simple 2-zone model for the cover concrete viz. cracked or uncracked. The analytical models are then evaluated through their ability to reproduce available experimental trends and subsequently a sensitivity analysis has also been carried out to show the influence of the various variable parameters of the proposed models with reference to the experimental trends.     

适用于长距离输电网络的通用电压崩溃指标

首先提出一个广义电压崩溃指标（Generalized Voltage Collapse Index,缩写为GVCI）,定义为含有大容抗的长距离辐射型输电系统（架空线或海底电缆）距离最大稳定极限负荷的当前负荷裕度．GVCI为瞬时值,可用于保护和控制装置的整定,通过相量测量单元（PMU）所提供的局部测量值实现控制和保护功能．用一个简单的两母线双回线系统对所提出的GVCI指标的有效性进行了测试,通过扩展GVCI,用解析方式分析有载调压变压器（OLTC）的运行对电压崩溃的影响;并将GVCI与分析电压崩溃时常用的L指标进行了比较,讨论GVCI在地理位置偏远的风力发电场的可能应用．     

Performance assessment of hybrid composite friction materials based on flyash–rock fibre combination

Friction composites based on several combinations of flyash and inorganic mineral rock fibres such as lapinus™ fibre were fabricated, characterised and tribo-evaluated. The tribo-performance in terms of their friction-fade and friction-recovery behaviour has been rigorously evaluated while synchronously taking into account of the in situ braking induced temperature rise in the disc at the braking interface on a Krauss friction testing machine following pulse velocity wave (PVW) 3212 norms as per the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) regulations. The fade behaviour has been observed to be highly dependent on the combination of flyash–lapinus fibre e.g. fade remained maximum (45%) in the composite with the highest amount of lapinus fibre content and lowest amount of flyash whereas the frictional fluctuations in terms of μ_max − μ_min has been observed to be higher in case of low flyash–high lapinus fibre combination. The recovery response seemed unaffected by the disparity of ingredients and remained consistently stable within the range of 112 ± 2%. The analysis of friction and wear performance has revealed that flyash along with lapinus fibre provide thermo-mechanical stability and overall mechanical integrity to the system causing reduction in friction-fade whereas wear was found to be more recovery-controlled and less fade controlled. Worn surface morphology investigation using SEM has been carried out which has revealed that the interplay of flyash–lapinus combination and topographical attributes vis-a-vis dynamics of contact patches (formation–destruction) largely influence the friction and wear performance of such composites.     

Nanoscale adhesion,friction and wear studies of biomolecules on silane polymer-coated silica and alumina-based surfaces

Proteins on biomicroelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS) confer specific molecular functionalities. In planar FET sensors (field-effect transistors, a class of devices whose protein-sensing capabilities we demonstrated in physiological buffers), interfacial proteins are analyte receptors, determining sensor molecular recognition specificity. Receptors are bound to the FET through a polymeric interface, and gross disruption of interfaces that removes a large percentage of receptors or inactivates large fractions of them diminishes sensor sensitivity. Sensitivity is also determined by the distance between the bound analyte and the semiconductor. Consequently, differential properties of surface polymers are design parameters for FET sensors. We compare thickness, surface roughness, adhesion, friction and wear properties of silane polymer layers bound to oxides (SiO₂ and Al₂O₃, as on AlGaN HFETs). We compare those properties of the film–substrate pairs after an additional deposition of biotin and streptavidin. Adhesion between protein and device and interfacial friction properties affect FET reliability because these parameters affect wear resistance of interfaces to abrasive insult in vivo. Adhesion/friction determines the extent of stickage between the interface and tissue and interfacial resistance to mechanical damage. We document systematic, consistent differences in thickness and wear resistance of silane films that can be correlated with film chemistry and deposition procedures, providing guidance for rational interfacial design for planar AlGaN HFET sensors.