Electrospun nylon 6,6 nanofibers functionalized with cyclodextrins for removal of toluene vapor

Functional nylon 6,6 nanofibers incorporating cyclodextrins (CD) were developed via electrospinning. Enhanced thermal stability of the nylon 6,6/CD nanofibers was observed due to interaction between CD and nylon 6,6. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies indicated the existence of some CD molecules on the surface of the nanofibers. Electrospun nylon 6,6 nanofibers without having CD were ineffective for entrapment of toluene vapor from the environment, whereas nylon 6,6/CD nanofibrous membranes can effectively entrap toluene vapor from the surrounding by taking advantage of the high surface‐volume ratio of nanofibers with the added advantage of inclusion complexation capability of CD presenting on the nanofiber surface. The modeling studies for formation of inclusion complex between CD and toluene were also performed by using ab initio techniques. Our results suggest that nylon 6,6/CD nanofibrous membranes may have potential to be used as air filters for the removal of organic vapor waste from surroundings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41941.     

Oxidatively Derived Volatile Compounds in Microencapsulated Fish Oil Monitored by Solid-phase Microextraction (SPME)

The stability of microencapsulated fish oil was studied during storage at 4 °C for up to 20 wk. Different coating mixtures consisting of gelatin or caseinate in blends with carbohydrates (sucrose, lactose, maltodextrin) were investigated. Oxidative stability of the microencapsulated fish oil was monitored by analysis of volatile compounds using gas chromatography olfactometry (GC‐O) or GC flame ionization (GC‐FID) (SPME‐HS‐GC/O or GC/ FID and HS‐GC/MS), Oxipres test, thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS), and sensory analysis. Coating mixture of caseinate and lactose showed slightly better stability than the sucrose and maltodextrin caseinate mixtures. Combination of fish gelatin and maltodextrin did not show as good oxidative stability as the coating blend of caseinate, lactose, and lecithin. Hexanal, 2‐nonenal and 2,4‐decadienals were selected as quality indicators to monitor the lipid oxidation during storage of the samples. SPME‐GC‐O analysis of these indicators showed that they were representative for the oxidation occurring in the microencapsulated fish oil. SPME‐GC‐FID analysis was sensitive enough to detect oxidative changes during storage. Oxidative stability test, TBARS results, and sensory analysis were in agreement with the SPME, indicating that SPME (polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene [PDMS/ DVB] fiber) can be a useful tool for rapid analysis of lipid oxidation in microencapsulated fish oil.     

Concerted regulation of low density lipoprotein receptor gene expression by follicle-stimulating hormone and insulin-like growth factor I in porcine granulosa cells: promoter activation, messenger ribonucleic acid stability, and sterol feedback

The consequences of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) dysfunction for neuroimmunoendocrine responses to an inflammatory challenge were studied in transgenic mice expressing antisense RNA directed against the GR [GR-impaired (GR-i) mice]. Mice were implanted intraperitoneally with a biotelemetry transmitter to monitor body temperature and locomotion. GR-i mice showed decreased locomotion and body temperature during the dark phase of the diurnal cycle. Intraperitoneal administration of saline caused a rapid increase in body temperature in control mice, which was terminated within 90 min. In GR-i mice, however, body temperature remained elevated for about 6 h. Intraperitoneal injection of endotoxin (10 micrograms/mouse) produced a biphasic fever in control mice. However, in endotoxin-injected GR-i mice, body temperature was not significantly different from their saline-injected controls during the first 6 h. Body temperature then increased and remained elevated during the night period. Both strains showed hypolocomotion after endotoxin. In a second experiment, mice were injected intraperitoneally with saline or endotoxin and killed after 1, 3, 6 or 24 h. In GR-i mice, endotoxin caused an augmented rise in plasma ACTH, but not in corticosterone levels. The endotoxin-induced increase in serum levels of interleukin-1 beta and interleukin-6 was not different between the strains. However, whereas in control mice tumour necrosis factor-alpha levels were below detection at the time points studied, substantial levels of this cytokine were found in the serum of GR-i mice 1 h after endotoxin administration. It may be concluded that life-long impairment of GR evolves in aberrant physiological and humoral responses to an acute inflammatory challenge. These findings expand our understanding about the neuroendocrine and physiological disturbances associated with stress-related disorders.     

Differential sensitivity of myosin-heavy-chain-typed fibers to distinct aggregates of nerve-mediated activation

We studied the regulatory effects of nerve-mediated activity on the early expression of embryonic and adult myosin heavy chains (MHC) within inactive though still innervated rat plantaris and soleus muscle fibers. To this end, we stimulated motor nerves that were quiescent following treatment with tetrodotoxin (TTX) with paradigms designed to partition the influence of neural activation frequency and assessed the selective expression and accumulation of MHCs within muscle fibers using an array of specific antibodies. We show rapid de novo expression of IIx MHC within select soleus fibers in response to high-frequency activation for more than 0.01% of daily time. High-frequency aggregates were also the most effective in preventing the TTX-induced reexpression of embryonic MHCs within specific fibers. Only configurations that included high-frequency trains for more than 0.01% of daily time or combined with 10 Hz stimulation preserved the size of select fibers, used as a measure of the net cellular content of MHC. The effectiveness of this preservation varied according to the muscle type and MHC expressed, and, in a subset of fibers, was influenced by contractile loading status. Our results demonstrate that distinct subsets of MHC-typed fibers are differentially sensitive to the neural activation cues mediating the cellular expression of these proteins.     

A randomized, controlled trial of a behavioral intervention to prevent sexually transmitted disease among minority women

Using annual bite-wing radiographs, the incidence and progression of approximal caries (4d-7m) were assessed longitudinally in teenagers and adolescents whose treatment had been based on remineralizing rather than restorative strategies. A closed cohort of 536 children initially was followed from 11 to 22 years of age. The scoring system was: 0 = no visible radiolucency; 1-2 = radiolucency in the enamel up to the enamel-dentin border; 3 = radiolucency with a broken enamel-dentin border but with no obvious progression in the dentin; 4 = radiolucency with obvious spread in the outer half of the dentin, and 5 = radiolucency in the inner half of the dentin. Caries rates were estimated as the number of new lesions/100 tooth surface-years, and the Kaplan-Meier estimate was used to calculate the cumulative survival time of each approximal surface. Three events were used: the transitions from states 0 to 2, 2 to 4 and 3 to 4. The results showed a considerable variation between the surfaces in both caries rates and survival time. For all surfaces combined, the median caries rate from state 0 to 2 was 3.9 new lesions/100 tooth surface-years; from state 2 to 4, the rate was 5.4, and from state 3 to 4 it was 20.3. Of the sound surfaces (state 0), 75% survived 6.3 years without reaching state 2. Given state 2, 75% survived 4.8 years without reaching the outer half of the dentin (state 4), while given a lesion at the enamel-dentin border (state 3), 75% survived 1.3 years without doing the same. The median survival time of lesions from state 3 to 4 was 3.1 years. The group with DMFSappr>1 at the age of 11-12 years had a risk of new approximal enamel lesions (state 0-2) that was 2.5 times greater than that of the group with DMFSappr = 0-1.     

FPGA Based Implementation and Comparison of Beamformers for CDMA2000

For the integration of smart antennas into third generation code division multiple access (CDMA) base stations, it still remains as a challenging task to implement smart antenna algorithms on programmable processors. In this paper, we study implementations of some CDMA compatible beamforming algorithms, namely least mean square (LMS), constant modulus (CM), and space code correlator (SCC) algorithms, using Xilinx??s Virtex family FPGAs. This study exhibits feasibility of implementing even simple, practical, and computationally small algorithms based on today??s most powerful FPGA technologies. 16 and 32 bits floating point implementations of the algorithms are investigated using both Virtex II and Virtex IV FPGAs. CDMA2000 reverse link baseband signal format is used in the signal modeling. Randomly changing fading and Direction-of-arrivals (DOAs) of multipaths are considered as a channel condition. The implementation results in terms of beamforming accuracy, FPGA resource utilization, weight vector computation time, and DOA estimation error are presented. Beamformer weight vectors using LMS and CM can be computed within less than 20 ??s on Virtex II FPGA and 10 ??s on Virtex IV FPGA, and using SCC it can be achieved within less than 22 ??s on Virtex IV FPGA. These results show that FPGAs provide approximately 500 times faster speed in implementations than our previous work with DSPs.