Zinc l-pyrrolidone carboxylate inhibits the UVA-induced production of matrix metalloproteinase-1 by in vitro cultured skin fibroblasts, whereas it enhances their collagen synthesis

Reduced collagen matrix in the dermis constitutes one of the characteristic features of chronologically aged skin, which is further enhanced on the sun-exposed portions of the body by chronic ultraviolet light (UV) irradiation, inducing the unique changes associated with skin photoageing. The zinc salt of l-pyrrolidone carboxylate (Zinc PCA) has long been used as a cosmetic ingredient, because of its astringent and anti-microbial properties. In the present study, by employing cultured normal human dermal fibroblasts, we found that Zinc PCA suppressed UVA-induced activation of activator protein-1 (AP-1) and reduced matrix metalloproteinase-1 production in these cells, which is thought to be involved in collagen degradation in photoaged skin. Moreover, Zinc PCA treatment of the cells increased the expression of an ascorbic acid transporter mRNA, SVCT2, but not SVCT1, resulting in the enhanced production of type I collagen. Based on these in vitro findings, we consider Zinc PCA to be a promising candidate for an anti-skin ageing agent.     

Application of bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide-based ionic liquid electrolyte to silicon-nickel-carbon composite anode for lithium-ion batteries

An ionic liquid electrolyte containing bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (FSI) anion without any solvent is applied to a silicon-nickel-carbon (Si-Ni-carbon) composite anode for rechargeable lithium (Li)-ion batteries. The FSI-based ionic liquid electrolyte successfully provides a stable, reversible capacity for the Si-Ni-carbon anode, which is comparable to the performance observed in a typical commercialized solvent-based electrolyte, while a common ionic liquid electrolyte containing bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI) anion without FSI presents no reversible capacity to the anode at all. Ac impedance analysis reveals that the FSI-based electrolyte provides very low interfacial and charge-transfer resistances at the Si-based composite anode, even when compared to the corresponding resistances observed in a typical solvent-based electrolyte. Galvanostatic cycling of the Si-based composite anode in the FSI-based electrolyte with a charge limitation of 800 mAh g⁻¹ is stable and provides a discharge capacity of 790 mAh g⁻¹ at the 50th cycle, corresponding to a cycle efficiency of 98.8%.     

Application of system identification modelling to solar hybrid systems for predicting radiation, temperature and load

Uncertainties in local solar radiation, ambient temperature and thermal load data have been one of the major factors limiting the reliability and efficiency of solar thermal hybrid systems. In the present paper, moving average auto regressive exogenous (ARX) model based reasoning has been mooted and modified to include moving average method, as an effective tool for predictions of these data. The results show that the method is quite robust and is capable of predicting fairly accurate results, which would make these systems more viable in areas where meteorological data are not available or vague.     

Benign intracerebellar cyst without epithelial lining

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) was localized in human middle ear cholesteatoma tissue by an immunoperoxidase technique using rabbit anti-human PDGF IgG. PDGF was found mainly in basal cells and in granulation tissue, and especially involved monocytes and fibroblast-like cells. The external ear canal epithelium was not significantly stained by anti-human PDGF. Findings demonstrate that the presence of PDGF in cholesteatoma is in response to inflammation and wound healing in the middle ear. PDGF in vitro was found to stimulate protein synthesis and cellular terminal differentiation of basal keratinocytes. PDGF also stimulated monocytes to form multinucleated osteoclast-like cells. These multinucleated cells, in turn, induced the resorption of devitalized bovine bone. This bone resorption was seen in co-cultures of osteoblasts and multinucleated osteoclast-like cells in the presence of PDGF, suggesting that cell-to-cell interaction plays a role in bone resorption. The present study suggests that PDGF takes part in the clinical development and the destructive effect of cholesteatoma.     

Na<Superscript>+</Superscript>-fast ionic conducting glass-ceramics of silicophosphates

The Na⁺-fast ionic conducting glass-ceramics with Na₅YSi₄O₁₂ (N5)-type structure were successfully synthesized using the composition formula of Na_3+3x-y R_1-x P _y Si_3-y O₉ for a variety of rare earth ions, R, under the appropriate composition parameters. In the crystallization of N5-type glass-ceramics, its relatives (Na₃YSi₃O₉ (N3)- and Na₉YSi₆O₁₈ (N9)-type glass-ceramics) structurally belonging to the family of Na_24−3x Y _x Si₁₂O₃₆ were found to crystallize as the precursor phase at low temperatures. In order to produce N5 single phase glass-ceramics, the concentration of both phosphorus and rare earth was found important. The meaning of the composition was evaluated by thermodynamic and kinetic studies on the phase transformation of metastable N3 or N9 phases to stable N5 phase with Na⁺-fast ionic conductivity. The possible combinations of x and y became more limited for the crystallization of the fast ionic conducting phase as the ionic radius of R increased, while the Na⁺ conduction properties were more enhanced in the glass-ceramics of larger R. These results are discussed in view of the structure and the conduction mechanism. Also studied were the microstructural effects on the conduction properties, which were dependent upon the heating conditions of crystallization. These effects were understood in relation to the grain boundary conduction properties as well as the transmission electron microstructural morphology of grain boundaries.     

Experimental study and modeling of organic solvent reverse osmosis separations through organosilica membranes

Exceptionally stable, mechanically robust, and highly methanol-selective organosilica membranes, including Bis(triethoxysiyl)acetylene (BTESA), fluorine-doped bis(triethoxysiyl) methane (F-BTESM), and Cetyltrimethylammonium chloride-etched bis(trimethoxysiyl)hexane (CTAC-BTMSH), were prepared and utilized for organic solvent reverse osmosis (OSRO) separations. The BTESA membrane showed optimal separation performance regarding methanol/toluene and possessed the highest levels of both permeation flux and rejection. Continuous measurements were performed to highlight the molecule size/shape discrimination of BTESA membranes using compounds such as methanol/methyl acetate, methanol/dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and methanol/methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE). Also, a generalized solution-diffusion model was successful in predicting the permeation behaviors through organosilica membranes when used in an OSRO modality, and proved to be capable of accurate predictions on pressure-dependent permeation flux and rejection for a wide range of feed concentrations (0–55 wt%) and pressures (2–14 MPa). This study lends important insight for the development of organosilica membranes and process design for the energy-efficient OSRO separation of organic liquids.     

Toward a compression-based self-organizing recognizer: Preliminary implementation of PRDC-CSOR

The present paper introduces a new data analyzer, a compression-based self-organizing recognizer, the PRDC-CSOR (Pattern Representation scheme using Data Compression – Compression based Self ORganizing Recognizer), with a preliminary application to image data. The PRDC-CSOR is an extension of the authors’ previously proposed pattern representation scheme using data compression (PRDC). Contrary to the traditional statistical-model-based recognition system methods, the PRDC-CSOR constructs itself using incoming data only. The basic tool, compressibility, is an approximation of the Kolmogorov complexity K(x)$K(x)$ defined in an individual text x   as a countermeasure against the Shannon entropy H(X)$H(X)$ defined on an ensemble X. Due to this feature, a highly automatic self-organizing recognition system becomes possible as demonstrated in this paper.     

A control strategy for leveling load power fluctuations with a successive learning fuzzy-neural network based on prediction of average load power

The effective usage of power facilities can be realized by leveling the fluctuating active power and compensating the reactive power. A fuzzy control strategy of superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) has been proposed for this purpose. The control results depend on the values of the scaling factors in fuzzy reasoning. Therefore, to obtain better control results, the scaling factor should be successively adjusted according to the load power fluctuations. In this paper, a control strategy based on autotuning of scaling factors and a fuzzy singleton reasoning method using backpropagation in a neural network is proposed for leveling load fluctuations. The prediction and revision of the teaching signal in terms of the energy of the SMES is proposed. The learning rate and the revision of the teaching signal are discussed. Better leveling of load power fluctuation is shown to be achievable by using fuzzy logic and neural networks. © 1997 Scripta Technica, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 120(2): 72–81, 1997