Induction of forward mutations at the thymidine kinase locus of mouse lymphoma cells: evidence for electrophilic and non-electrophilic mechanisms

A database of 209 chemicals tested for induction of forward mutations at the heterozygous thymidine kinase (TK +/-) locus in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells was analyzed for structure-activity relationships using the MultiCASE expert system. Consistent with evidence of several contributing biological mechanisms, these studies suggest that such mutations may occur by more than one mechanism. As might be expected, there was evidence for a component involving direct electrophilic attack on the cellular DNA, in a manner previously established as causative in the induction of mutations in Salmonella. In addition, however, there was also strong evidence for another mechanism or mechanisms involving chromosome missegregation, cellular toxicity or an alternate site of action, such as the microtubules.     

Applications of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Skin Regeneration and Rejuvenation

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent stem cells derived from adult stem cells. Primary MSCs can be obtained from diverse sources, including bone marrow, adipose tissue, and umbilical cord blood. Recently, MSCs have been recognized as therapeutic agents for skin regeneration and rejuvenation. The skin can be damaged by wounds, caused by cutting or breaking of the tissue, and burns. Moreover, skin aging is a process that occurs naturally but can be worsened by environmental pollution, exposure to ultraviolet radiation, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and undernourishment. MSCs have healing capacities that can be applied in damaged and aged skin. In skin regeneration, MSCs increase cell proliferation and neovascularization, and decrease inflammation in skin injury lesions. In skin rejuvenation, MSCs lead to production of collagen and elastic fibers, inhibition of metalloproteinase activation, and promote protection from ultraviolet radiation-induced senescence. In this review, we focus on how MSCs and MSC-derived molecules improve diseased and aged skin. Additionally, we emphasize that induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived MSCs are potentially advanced MSCs, which are suitable for cell therapy.     

Integrated fertilizer requirements of groundnut-wheat cropping system

Investigations were carried out in a long term field experiment from 1976 to 1982, on a loamy sand soil to find out the fertilizer requirements of groundnut and wheat grown in fixed rotation. Application of 26 kgP/ha to wheat alone was found to be sufficient for both wheat and succeeding groundnut. Application of phosphorus to both wheat and groundnut did not result in extra beneficial effect over P application to wheat alone. However, application of 26 kg P/ha to groundnut alone was not sufficient for succeeding wheat. There was no response from K application (25 kg K/ha) in either of these two crops. Increasing the dose of N from 50–150 kg/ha to wheat significantly increased the grain yield of wheat but the pod yield of succeeding groundnut were markedly lowered. Response of wheat to 150 kg N/ha was more marked when P was also applied to wheat and response was less when P was applied to preceding groundnut alone. Zinc application at 6.25 kg/ha to wheat alone resulted in significant increase in grain yield of wheat and pod yield of succeeding groundnut.     

Amelioration of mechanical brittleness in hyperbranched polymer. 1. Macroscopic evaluation by dynamic viscoelastic relaxation

Hyperbranched poly(ether ketone)-b-linear poly(ether ketone)-b-hyperbranched poly(ether ketone) (HLHPEK) triblock copolymers with two different block compositions were prepared as an approach to improve the mechanical brittleness of hyperbranched poly(ether ketone) (HPEK). From the time-temperature superposition of dynamic shear moduli, G′(ω) and G″(ω), of HPEK and two HLHPEKs, it was investigated that the junction points between G′(ω) and G″(ω) shifted to the higher frequencies and the rubbery plateau region spread wider over the reduced frequency axis as the linear blocks were introduced and their compositions were increased. Such changes in viscoelastic response were consequences of increase in the amount of chain entanglements additionally formed by the linear blocks. In order to verify the effect of the linear block incorporation on amelioration of the mechanical brittleness, the degree of brittleness and its improvement were evaluated from the temperature dependence of the shift factors, a_Ts, experimentally obtained during the superposition of the dynamic moduli and of the average viscoelastic relaxation times, τ_HNs, determined with empirical Havriliak-Negami distribution function. From the nonlinear curve fittings of the a_Ts and the τ_HNs by the Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher equation, the degree of brittleness for HPEK and HLHPEK triblock copolymers were quantified as values of the material parameter D, an indicative of deviation from the linear Arrhenius behavior and a measure of fragility of the given material. The tendency of increasing D values with the linear block compositions confirmed substantial improvement of the mechanical brittleness in the HLHPEK triblock copolymers compared to HPEK. Therefore, the approach to copolymerize HPEK with its chemically analogous linear counterpart was verified to be an effective strategy to impart molecular entanglements and hence ameliorate the mechanical brittleness on the basis of macroscopic rheological evaluation.     

Correlation of vapor-liquid equilibria for binary mixtures with free energy-based equation of state mixing rules: Carbon dioxide with alcohols, hydrocarbons, and several other compounds

The correlation of vapor-liquid equilibrium data for high-pressure carbon dioxide systems is of interest in a number of industrial applications, including supercritical extraction. Here, we consider the correlation of data for 12 binary systems of carbon dioxide separately with alcohols, with hydrocarbons, and with acetone, benzene, and water. The Wong-Sandler (W-S) and modified Huron — Vidal first order (MHV1) free energy-based equation of state mixing rules (the W-S and MHV1 models) were used in the calculations. Both combined equation of state+free energy models generally resulted in good correlations of the experimental data over wide ranges of temperature and pressure with temperature — independent parameters. However, for the carbon dioxide+water system, the W-S model produced an 11% average absolute deviation in pressure, while no parameter that resulted in an AAD in pressure of less than 20% could be found for the MHV1 model.     

Conceptual and basic designs of the Mobile Harbor crane based on topology and shape optimization

The Mobile Harbor (MH) has been recently proposed as a novel maritime cargo transfer system that can move to a container ship anchored in the deep sea and handle containers directly at sea with the aid of a stabilized MH crane. Because this system operates under at-sea conditions, the MH crane must be designed to support an inertia load and wind force, as well as its self-weight. The wave-induced motions of the MH, e.g. rolling, pitching, and heaving, generate a significant amount of inertia load, which has not been considered in the design of conventional quayside cranes installed on stable ground. Wind force is also a critical design factor due to the higher wind velocity in the open sea. In addition to the aforementioned structural rigidity, mass minimization is also important in the structural design of MH cranes because it reduces the overturning moment and therefore enhances ship stability. In this paper, the sensitivities of the design-dependent loads (i.e. self-weight, inertia load, and wind force) are derived with respect to the design variables, and then a topology optimization is conducted with the derived sensitivities in order to obtain a conceptual design. Then, the conceptual design is elaborated into a three-dimensional basic design through shape optimization with design regulations for offshore cranes. Through the integrated design process with the topology and shape optimizations, a conceptual and basic design is successfully obtained for the MH crane.     

Effect of reaction kinetics of polymer electrolyte on the ion‐conductive behavior for poly(oligo oxyethylene methacrylate)–LiTFSI mixtures

The effect of the reaction kinetics on the ionic conductivity for a comblike‐type polyether (MEO) electrolyte with lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) was characterized by DSC, complex impedance measurements, and ¹H pulse NMR spectroscopy. The ionic conductivity of these electrolytes was affected by the reaction condition of the methacrylate monomer and revealed by the glass transition temperature (T_g), spin–spin relaxation time (T₂), steric effects of the terminal groups, and the number of charge carriers indicated by the VTF kinetic parameter. In this system, the electrolytes prepared by the reaction heating rate of 10°C/min of MEO–H and 15°C/min of MEO–CH₃ showed maximum ionic conductivity, σ_i, two to three times higher in magnitude than that of the σ_i of the others at room temperature. As experimental results, the reaction kinetic rate affected the degree of conversion, the ionic conductivity, and the relaxation behaviors of polyether electrolytes. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 2149–2156, 2003     

Synthesis of nanodispersed oxides of vanadium, titanium, molybdenum, and tungsten on mesoporous silica using atomic layer deposition

The advantages of the atomic layer deposition (ALD) method for preparation of tungsten, vanadium, titanium, and molybdenum oxide catalyst supported on mesoporous silica are discussed, with emphasis on the importance of synthesis conditions on dispersion, structure and activity of the resulting materials. A suite of complementary techniques such as DRS-UV/Vis, BET, ¹H-NMR, XRD, and TEM were used to study the structural properties of the supported metal oxides, and probe reactions such as 2-butanol dehydration and ethanol partial oxidation were used to demonstrate the potential advantages of the ALD-prepared catalysts. Specifically, highly dispersed oxides of titanium, molybdenum, and tungsten oxide on mesoporous silica were synthesized using the ALD method. It is also demonstrated that attainment of high dispersions of vanadium oxide on mesoporous silica requires the presence of at least a single layer of titanium oxide due to the well-known poor interaction between vanadia and silica. The highly dispersed catalysts prepared here by ALD methods exhibited superior catalytic performance relative to those prepared using conventional incipient wetness impregnation.     

Human tracking and silhouette extraction for human–robot interaction systems

In this study, we propose a new integrated computer vision system designed to track multiple human beings and extract their silhouette with a pan-tilt stereo camera, so that it can assist in gesture and gait recognition in the field of Human–Robot Interaction (HRI). The proposed system consists of three modules: detection, tracking and silhouette extraction. These modules are robust to camera movements, and they work interactively in near real-time. Detection was performed by camera ego-motion compensation and disparity segmentation. For tracking, we present an efficient mean shift-based tracking method in which the tracking objects are characterized as disparity weighted color histograms. The silhouette was obtained by two-step segmentation. A trimap was estimated in advance and then effectively incorporated into the graph-cut framework for fine segmentation. The proposed system was evaluated with respect to ground truth data, and it was shown to detect and track multiple people very well and also produce high-quality silhouettes.