Correlation between secretagogue-induced Ca2+ influx, intracellular Ca2+ levels and secretion of catecholamines in cultured adrenal chromaffin cells

BACKGROUND: Complex branched muscle fibers are frequently observed in the muscles of mdx mutant mice and/or in damaged muscles. To investigate whether the complex branched fibers were present in the compensatory hypertrophied muscles of rats, we examined the morphological changes in these muscles. METHODS: We examined the hypertrophied plantaris (PLA) muscle of the Wistar male rats, prepared by surgical ablation of synergistic muscles. The muscle was examined using three-dimensional analysis with scanning electron microscopy, immunohistochemical detection of proliferating cells using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) and histological and histochemical characterization. Studies were performed at 48 hours, 2, 4, 6, 10, and 15 weeks after surgical preparation. RESULTS: The muscle hypertrophy ratio (muscle weight relative to the contralateral intact control side), gradually increased from 2 to 10 weeks, and the peak value (48.6%) occurred at the 10th week. The total number of fibers did not change significantly at any time interval. However, the number of branched muscle fibers increased significantly (P < 0.05) after 6 weeks, and accounted for about 2.5% of the total fibers at the 15th week. Most branched fibers showed complex features resembling the "anastomosing syncytial reticulum" described in myopathic animals. The fibers were observed mainly in the middle and distal portions of the PLA muscle. The proportion and distribution of proliferating cells in the entire PLA muscle corresponded with the distribution of the complex branched fibers. These results were also observed in muscle tissues prepared for histological and histochemical examination. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a large proportion of complex branched fibers in a limited segment of the compensatory hypertrophied muscle suggests that this hypertrophy model represents a pathological and/or pathophysiological hypertrophy model rather than a normal physiological process.     

Analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphism in the bovine growth hormone gene related to growth performance and carcass quality of Korean Native Cattle

This research was conducted to find restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) markers related to growth performance and meat quality of Korean Native Cattle. DNA was extracted from the blood of Korean Native Cattle steers and Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA digested with restriction enzymes was performed using a bovine growth hormone (GH) cDNA probe. The restriction enzyme that detected RFLPs most frequently was TaqI. Digested fragments with TaqI revealed 6.15, 5.2, 4.5, 4.3, 2.6, 2.4, 1.6, 0.5, 0.3 and 0.2 kb bands. The most frequent band was 1.6 kb, which was exhibited in 11 out of 15 animals. In GH-TaqI RFLP, the 4.3 kb band was correlated with average daily gain (p = 0.021) and carcass weight (p = 0.035). No markers related to meat quality were found.     

Study on the transaction linkage technique combined with the designated terminal for 5G-enabled IoT

With the growth of the scale of the market for Internet banking and e-commerce, the number of Internet-based financial markets has been increasing. Meanwhile, hacking incidents continuously affect Internet-banking services. For this reason, a countermeasure is required to improve the security of the online identification process. The current security and authentication mechanisms applied to financial services, such as Internet banking services for 5G-enabled IoT, do not ensure security. In this paper, a transaction-linkage technique with which the designated terminal is combined is proposed to solve this fundamental problem. The technique improves the security of online identification mechanisms because it is possible to counteract all of the existing security threats. The proposed technique supports mutual authentication and is safe from eavesdropping attacks, replay attacks, spoofing attacks, and service-denial attacks. Moreover, the technique supports non-repudiation by storing the transaction history in a transaction-linkage device. We believe that the security of Internet-banking services for 5G-enabled IoT will be increased through the utilization of the proposed technique.     

Role of coagulation in membrane filtration of wastewater for reuse

This study explains the role of coagulation in membrane filtration of wastewater for reuse. For this purpose, a coagulation-ultrafiltration (UF) membrane system was used to treat secondary effluent from a nearby wastewater treatment plant using a rotating biological contactor. The study proceeded with the hypothesis that coagulation could affect membrane filtration through two phenomena: change in particle characteristics and contaminant loading reduction. If fouling reduction were observed at a low alum dosage, coagulation would affect membrane performance by changing particle characteristics because contaminant reduction could not be possible at low dosage. If fouling reduction were observed only at a high alum dosage, the role of coagulation would be contaminant loading reduction. Results showed that both phenomena were important. Coagulation improved the membrane performance by changing particle characteristics at a low alum dosage. The improvement was achieved through both a change in particle characteristics and contaminant loading reduction at a high alum dosage. Particle size among various characteristics was found the most important for membrane fouling. Coagulation increased particle size, which led to a reduction of fouling. The beneficial effect from coagulation was observed at both fouling steps of pore blocking/adsorption and cake formation. Coagulation pretreatment was also beneficial for the improvement of the permeate quality in terms of organic matter.     

A pilot plant study for catalytic decomposition of PCDDs/PCDFs over supported chromium oxide catalysts

Chromium oxide catalysts supported on TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ were examined in a fixed-bed flow reactor system for the removal of PCE (perchloroethylene), a simulant of 2,3,7,8-TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin), and in a pilot plant employing actual flue gas from a sintering plant for the removal of PCDDs/PCDFs (poly-chlorinated dibenzo-dioxin/poly-chlorinated dibenzo-furan). The 12.5 wt.% chromium oxides supported on TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ revealed excellent stability and performance of PCE removal in the feed gas stream containing water vapor. In a pilot plant study, the catalysts washcoated on the honeycomb reactor revealed 93–95% of PCDDs/PCDFs removal activity over CrO_x/Al₂O₃-HC20 (CrO_x/Al₂O₃ catalyst washcoated on 20 cell-honeycomb), and more than 99% of the decomposition activity over CrO_x/TiO₂-HC20 (CrO_x/TiO₂ catalyst washcoated on 20 cell-honeycomb) at 325 °C and 5000 h⁻¹ of reactor space velocity without the de novo synthesis of PCDDs/PCDFs. In particular, CrO_x/TiO₂-HC20 showed 94% of PCDDs/PCDFs decomposition activity even at 280 °C reaction temperature. The catalyst also exhibited significant NO removal activity. The chromium oxide seems to be a promising catalyst for the removal of PCDDs/PCDFs and NO_x contained in the flue gas.     

Compositional dependence of thermal and elastic properties of Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni bulk metallic glasses

Starting from the quaternary Cu47Ti34Zr11Ni8 alloy, the compositional dependence of thermal and elastic properties of Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni alloys was systematically investigated. Quaternary Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni alloys can be cast directly from the melt into copper molds to form fully amorphous strips or rods with the thickness of 3-6 mm. The evidence of the amorphous nature of the cast rods was provided by X-ray spectra. The measured glass transition temperature (Tg) and crystallization temperature (Tx) were obtained for the alloys using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at the heating rate of 20 K/s. In the results, the differences between the glass temperature and the crystallization tempera-ture (△Tx=Tx-Tg) are measured with values ranging up to 33-55 K. The reduced glass transition temperature (Trg), which is the ratio of the glass temperature to the liquidus temperature (T1), is often used as an indication of the glass-forming ability of metallic alloys. For the present Cu-Ti-Zr-Ni alloys, this ratio is typically in the range of 0.5838-0.5959, characteristic of metallic alloys with good glass-forming ability. The elastic constants for several selected alloys were measured using ultrasonic methods. The values of the elastic shear modulus, bulk modulus, and Poisson's ratio were also given.     

Constrained doubly coprime factorization for all stabilizing ℋ∞ controllers

The conventional Youla parameterization (equivalently Q-Parameterization) approach to solve ?_∞ optimal control problems requires solving the well-known matrix dilation optimization as a method for satisfying the ?_∞-norm constraint of the closed-loop transfer matrix. As an alternative, this paper presents a constrained doubly coprime factorization so that the ?_∞-norm constraint of the closed-loop transfer matrix can be satisfied without the need for matrix dilation optimization. For a given ?_∞-norm constraint, a constrained plant is suggested from a state estimator that includes the worst-case disturbance and estimation effects. Then, the constrained doubly coprime factorization is derived from the constrained plant model. All the stabilizing ?_∞ controllers are expressed by using the constrained coprime factors. Finally, an application example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

Dynamic stability of a cantilevered Timoshenko beam on partial elastic foundations subjected to a follower force

This paper presents the dynamic stability of a cantilevered Timoshenko beam with a concentrated mass, partially attached to elastic foundations, and subjected to a follower force. Governing equations are derived from the extended Hamilton’s principle, and FEM is applied to solve the discretized equation. The influence of some parameters such as the elastic foundation parameter, the positions of partial elastic foundations, shear deformations, the rotary inertia of the beam, and the mass and the rotary inertia of the concentrated mass on the critical flutter load is investigated. Finally, the optimal attachment ratio of partial elastic foundation that maximizes the critical flutter load is presented.     

Composition-Dependent Thermoelectric Properties of n-Type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 Doped with In4Se3

We present the effects of In₄Se₃ addition on thermoelectric properties of n-type Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3. In this study, polycrystalline (In₄Se₃) _x -(Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3)_1?x pellets were prepared by mechanical alloying followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The thermoelectric properties such as Seebeck coefficient and electrical and thermal conductivities were measured in the temperature range of 300 K to 500 K. Addition of In₄Se₃ into Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 resulted in segregation of In₄Se₃ phase within Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 matrix. The Seebeck coefficient of the (In₄Se₃) _x -(Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3)_1?x samples exhibited lower values compared with that of pure Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 phase. This reduction of Seebeck coefficient in n-type (In₄Se₃) _x -(Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3)_1?x is attributed to the formation of unwanted p-type phases by interdiffusion through the interface between (In₄Se₃) _x and (Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3)_1?x as well as consequently formed Te-deficient matrix. However, the decrease in electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity with addition of In₄Se₃ leads to an enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) at a temperature range over 450 K: a maximum ZT of 1.0 is achieved for the n-type (In₄Se₃)_0.03-(Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3)_0.97 sample at 500 K.