Anisotropic expansion in gypsum-bonded cristobalite investment mold

OBJECTIVE: To determine the response of white blood cells in endovascular aortic aneurysm repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven patients treated with an endoluminal procedure (AAA-E) and seven patients undergoing conventional surgery (AAA-C) were included (all males, aged 52-80 years). A panel of monoclonal antibodies against CD11a, CD11b, CD11c, CD18 and L-selectin was used. To determine the surface receptors on both circulating and sequestered white blood cells, plasma from the patients and cells from healthy donors were combined for flow-cytometry. RESULTS: The expression of CD11a adhesion molecules only showed slight variations regarding granulocytes, but was more pronounced on monocytes, however, without significant differences between the two patient groups, CD11b, CD11c and CD18 molecules on both granulocytes and monocytes were significantly upregulated 60 min after the endovascular procedure compared to conventional aneurysm repair, and L-selectin molecules were by this time correspondingly cleaved off. CONCLUSION: Endovascular aneurysm repair differed significantly from conventional aneurysm surgery with peak adhesion molecule expression 60 min after balloon deflation, probably caused by release of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha).     

Therapeutic effects of beclomethasone dipropionate enemas on colon damage of inflammatory bowel disease model rats]

The effects of beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP) enemas on ulcerative colitis were investigated by administrating BDP enemas to Fischer male rats with an inflammatory bowel disease induced by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzensulfonic acid (TNB). After administration of a TNB ethanol solution to rats, diarrhea and melena were found in all rats, and the wet tissue weights of the colons in the rats increased by erosion and thickness of epithelial mucous membranes with edema. BDP enemas were administered to the rats one time a day at a dose of 20 or 50 micrograms of BDP for 4 or 11 days from the day 3 after TNB treatment, respectively. After dosing of BDP, the rate of rats developing diarrhea and melena decreased more with time in comparison with that of BDP-free rats, and the symptoms of all rats developing the diseases were improved on the day 4 after administration of a dose of 50 micrograms of BDP. A dose dependent recovery in the wet tissue weights and scores of damages, and the myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the tissue were found at the early days (until the day 4). However, their measurements on the day 11 at each dose of BDP were not different from those of control rats significantly, as the damages in the colons of the control rats were recovered naturally with time. In conclusion, the clinical usefulness of BDP enemas was supported by elucidating the dose dependent effect of BDP at the early days in the model rats with an inflammatory bowel disease induced by TNB.     

BCR-ABL induces neurite-like structures and BCR lacking the SH2-binding domain induces cell rounding in PC12 cells

The activated tyrosine kinase oncoprotein BCR-ABL is responsible for pathogenesis of Philadelphia chromosome-positive human leukemias. Because BCR carries a GAP (GTPase-activating protein) activity toward cytoskeleton-related small GTP-binding proteins, we utilized a neuronal PC12 cell system to test morphogenic potentials of BCR-ABL or BCR. We report here unique morphological phenotypes of PC12 cells expressing either BCR-ABL or a BCR mutant which lacks the SH2-binding domain (BCR Delta162-413). Although MAP kinase was not activated in PC12 cells expressing BCR-ABL, they showed incomplete neurite extensions even in the absence of the nerve growth factor (NGF). Overproduction of BCR Delta162-413 in PC12 cells, on the other hand, induced cell rounding in the absence of NGF. Interestingly, those cells could hardly make terminal differentiation in the presence of NGF and continued to grow without changing their round shape, although NGF receptor as well as MAP kinase appeared to be activated. Interestingly, the botulinum C3 toxin induced neurite-like structures in PC12 cells overexpressing BCR Delta162-413 without NGF.     

Visualization of TiO2 Reduction Behavior in Molten Salt Electrolysis

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - An in situ observation technique of the TiO2 interfacial behavior in molten LiCl-KCl electrolysis was developed. The variation of the thin TiO2...     

Poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) gel‐based macroporous monolith for continuous‐flow recovery of palladium(II) ions

Macroporous monoliths, composed of thermoresponsive, tertiary‐aminated, and crosslinking monomers, were prepared for continuous‐flow separation of palladium(II) ions. N ‐Isopropylacrylamide was required to form the porous structure in the monoliths, indicating that the mechanism of porous structure formation involved polymerization‐induced phase separation of the poly(N ‐isopropylacrylamide) gel. Tertiary‐aminated monoliths showed adsorption selectivity for palladium(II) ions in hydrochloric media, compared with copper(II) ions. The maximum capacities of the monoliths with tertiary amine contents of 10, 20, 30, and 70 mol % for palladium(II) ions were 0.6, 1.1, 1.3, and 2.3 mmol/g, respectively. Darcy's permeabilities of water through the macroporous monolith were 10^?14 to 10^?13 m², and those were comparable to that through a commercially available membrane filter with a pore size of several micrometers. In the continuous‐flow process, the macroporous monolith with tertiary amine selectively adsorbed palladium(II) ions in the coexistence of copper(II) ions with 10 times higher concentration than the palladium(II) ions. The palladium(II) ions were eluted from the macroporous monolith, and the concentration of palladium(II) ions in the eluate was up to 45 times of that in the feed solution. The average enrichment factor and total recovery percentage of palladium(II) ions were 8.7 times and 95%, respectively. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134 , 44385.     

Effects of arc current and electrode size on electrode erosion in ac plasma torches

Heavy erosion of the electrode is a problem in using ac plasma torches. In a series of our studies, the effects of electrode stem size (diameter and length) and tip shape on the electrode erosion were clarified at a low current of 200 A. In this paper, on the basis of the 200-A data, in order to reduce the electrode erosion with the current increased, the effects of current and electrode size on electrode erosion were clarified experimentally and analytically between 100 and 550 A. The electrode used was of solid type and the material was tungsten containing 2 wt% of lanthanum oxide. The plasma gas was argon. Main results are as follows. (1) As the current increased, the electrode erosion increased linearly. In the case of thin electrodes (8 mm ø), between 450 and 550 A, the electrode tip was molten partially and the electrode erosion increased rapidly over 5 mg/h. However, for thick electrodes (13 mm ø), the electrode erosion did not increase rapidly. (2) The temperature distribution along the electrode axis was calculated. As a result, a good correlation was obtained between the calculated temperature of electrode tip and the measured electrode erosion. As the tip temperature decreased to 3000 K (cf. tungsten melting point: 3660 K), the electrode erosion decreased below 5 mg/h of the linearly increasing range.     

Structural and mechanistic roles of three consecutive Pro residues of porcine NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase for the binding of β-NADH

Well-conserved three consecutive Pro residues (Pro247–249) in the NADH-binding subdomain of NADH-cytochrome b₅ reductase were proposed to form a basal part of the NADH-binding site. To investigate the structural and mechanistic roles of these residues, we expressed site-directed mutants for a soluble domain of the porcine enzyme where each of the residues was replaced with either Ala or Leu residue, respectively, using a heterologous expression system in Escherichia coli. Six mutants (P247A, P247L, P248A, P248L, P249A, and P249L) were produced as a fusion protein containing a 6×His-tag sequence at the NH₂-terminus and were purified to homogeneity with a stoichiometric amount of bound FAD. Mutations were each confirmed for the purified proteins by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Steady-state kinetic analyses for NADH:ferricyanide reductase and NADH:cytochrome b₅ reductase acitivities were conducted for all the mutants. Substitution of Pro247 with Leu residue was found to significantly decrease k_cat with slight increase in K_m for the physiological electron donor NADH. However, K_m values for the electron acceptors (both cytochrome b₅ and ferricyanide) of P247L were found to be decreased significantly. Such changes were not observed for P247A or other four mutants. These results suggested that Pro247 among the three consecutive Pro residues has the most important role for the formation of a binding site cavity and that only a slight change in the side-chain volume at this residue from Ala to Leu residue affected the electron transfer reaction from NADH and, further, on the recognition of ferricytochrome b₅.     

Method for calibrating system parameters of a multidirectional interferometers system

A multidirectional interferometer system has been proposed and developed to measure the position and orientation of a positioning stage. In this method the system parameters, such as positions of the corner-cube reflectors and directions of the rays in the interferometers, must be determined beforehand. However, it is difficult to find ways to determine the system parameters for each different system with necessary accuracy. This paper proposes a systematic method for calibrating the system parameters when the number of the interferometers is larger than the degrees of freedom of the stage. The method is verified for a two-dimensional stage by both simulation and experiment.