Comparison of Biological and Chemical Predictors of Dermal Carcinogenicity of Petroleum Oils

Various methods have been proposed as a basis for cancer hazard labelling of petroleum products. The Institute of Petroleum analytical method termed IP 346/80 was recently recommended to the European Union as the preferred method for this purpose. In this report we compare IP 346/80 with several other predictors of dermal carcinogenicity, including the Mobil PAC Method, the Modified Ames Test (ASTM Method E 1687-95), and the ^32P-postlabelling assay for DNA adducts. Oils for assay were selected from a repository of samples previously subjected to mouse skin-painting bioassay. 120 oils were tested in the Modified Ames Assay, 57 by the Mobil PAC Method, 50 by Method IP 346/80, and 48 by the postlabelling procedure. The ability of each assay to distinguish between carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic oils was examined at various suggested discriminators, e.g. Mutagenicity Indices (MI) of 1.0 and 2.0, 3-7 ring PAC contents of 1% and 2% (w/w), and IP 346/80 DMSO-extractables of 2% and 3% (w/w). Various adduct levels were tested for maximum discrimination between carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic oils. The accuracy of each method is reported.     

Use of Difunctional Compounds During Rapid Steam Hydrolysis (Rash) Pretreatment

Mixed hardwood chips were treated with difunctional compounds as catalysts to study the reaction of wood with steam. The Rapid Steam Hydrolysis (RASH) pretreatment process was used for steam treatment. The difunctional compounds studied were maleic anhydride, phthalic anhydride, isophthalic acid, and terephthalic acid at 1.5% concentration based on dry wood weight. RASH pretreatment was performed for one minute at 180°C, 200°, 220°C, 230°C, 240°C, and 260°C. These compounds strongly modified the RASH pretreated material, especially the physical structure. Overall recovery of the pretreated catalyzed and uncatalyzed solids decreased with an increase in RASH temperatures. Catalyst addition did not make a difference on the recovery of pretreated solids. Cellulose degradation increased with temperature for catalyzed systems. Hemicellulose solubilization and degradation were extremely sensitive to the type of catalyst and RASH temperatures. Almost all of the hemicellulose was lost at higher temperatures. Lignin losses did not appear to be affected by the addition of catalyst except at 260°C. Enzymatic rates were improved by addition of the catalysts, especially at the lower temperatures. The maleic anhydride gave the highest enzymatic rates at all temperatures, and phthalic anhydride gave the second highest. The water solubles generally followed the same trends as the enzymatic hydrolysis rates and increased with the addition of catalysts, especially maleic anhydride.     

Lipids in infant formulas: Current and future innovations

Lipids in infant formulas are designed to mimic the composition of human milk and/or approximate the performance of the breastfed infant. Human milk lipids exhibit a complex, highly variable nature, varying by population, dietary intake, time of day, length of feeding and others. Continued understanding and characterization of human milk lipids has led to infant formula innovations aimed at a better comparison to human milk and/or improved dietary lipid utilization in the formula‐fed infant. The underlying aim of such innovation is the generation of outcomes as comparable to human milk feeding as possible. The present paper briefly reviews the current understanding of human milk lipid composition, with a focus on how this knowledge drives current and future innovations in the area of infant formula lipids.     

Numerically packing spheres in cylinders

A novel approach has been developed to numerically pack spheres in cylinders. The packing algorithm uses a simple sequential technique that is based on a dimensionless packing parameter. The dimensionless packing parameter includes both axial and radial variables in order to determine a sphere's sequential placement within a cylindrical packing structure. The numerical simulation has been applied to the loose packing of identical spheres in cylindrical containers with D/d ≥ 2.0. The predicted results for the mean porosity and the radial porosity distributions are validated against the available experimental data for spheres in cylindrical containers. The simulated results are highly accurate and the simple packing algorithm requires minimal computational prerequisites.     

Polymer degradation initiated via infectious behavior

Understanding polymer degradation phenomena is of critical importance for material reliability. A novel dual stage chemiluminescence detection system has been developed and applied to probe for material interaction effects during polymer degradation. Evidence is presented for the first time that in an oxidizing environment a degrading polymer A (in this case polypropylene, PP) is capable of infecting a different polymer B (in this case polybutadiene, HTPB) over a relatively large distance. In the presence of the degrading material A, the thermal degradation of polymer B is observed over a significantly shorter time period. Infectious intermediate volatiles from material A are able to initiate and shorten the degradation processes in material B. This observation documents infectious behavior that will have significant consequences for materials interactions, understanding material degradation processes and long-term aging effects in combined material exposures.     

The expanding role of mass spectrometry in metabolite profiling and characterization

Mass spectrometry has a strong history in drug-metabolite analysis and has recently emerged as the foremost technology in endogenous metabolite research. The advantages of mass spectrometry include a wide dynamic range, the ability to observe a diverse number of molecular species, and reproducible quantitative analysis. These attributes are important in addressing the issue of metabolite profiling, as the dynamic range easily exceeds nine orders of magnitude in biofluids, and the diversity of species ranges from simple amino acids to lipids to complex carbohydrates. The goals of the application of mass spectrometry range from basic biochemistry to clinical biomarker discovery with challenges in generating a comprehensive profile, data analysis, and structurally characterizing physiologically important metabolites. The precedent for this work has already been set in neonatal screening, as blood samples from millions of neonates are tested routinely by mass spectrometry as a diagnostic tool for inborn errors of metabolism. In this review, we will discuss the background from which contemporary metabolite research emerged, the techniques involved in this exciting area, and the current and future applications of this field.     

Disorder effects on the strain response of model polymer networks

Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate polymer networks made by either end-linking or randomly crosslinking a melt of linear precursor chains. The resulting network structures are very different, since end-linking leads to nearly ideal monodisperse networks, while random crosslinking leads to polydisperse networks, characterized by an exponential strand length distribution. Networks with average strand length 20 and 100 were generated. These networks were used to study the effects of disorder in the network connectivity on observables averaged either over the entire network or selected sub-structures. Heterogeneities in the randomly crosslinked networks cause significant differences in the localization of monomers, however, neither the localization of crosslinks nor the microscopic strain response are significantly affected. Compared to end-linked networks, randomly crosslinked networks have a slightly increased tube diameter, and as a result a slightly decreased shear modulus, but otherwise identical stress-strain behavior. For the investigated systems, we conclude that the microscopic strain response, tube diameter, and stress-strain relation are all insensitive to the heterogeneities due to the linking process by which the network were made.     

Assessment by Microscopy of the Coverage of Sludge Flocs by a Nano‐scale Surface Layer

Flocs are irregularly shaped suspended particles of complex structure and composition that occur naturally in aquatic systems. In water treatment facilities, the settling of flocs is extremely important. Transmission electron microscopy was used to quantify the formation of a nano‐scale surface layer on flocs from two laboratory bioreactors modelling a biological wastewater treatment facility. By comparing different floc populations, we demonstrated that flocs that settled quickly out of wastewater had a significant amount of this layer, whereas those with little nano‐scale surface layer had poor settling properties. This morphological feature of floc ultrastructure may permit engineering manipulations that promote floc settling.     

Prediction of Polymer Properties in LDPE Reactors

Summary: A new analysis tool is presented that uses the governing kinetic scheme to predict properties of low‐density polyethylene (LDPE) such as the detailed shape of the molecular weight distribution (MWD). A model that captures mixing details of autoclave reactor operation is used to provide a new criterion for the onset of MWD shouldering. Kinetic effects are shown to govern the existence of MWD shoulders in LDPE reactors, even when operation is far from perfectly‐mixed. MWD shoulders occur when the mean reaction environment has a relatively high radical concentration and has a high polymer content, and is at a low temperature. Such conditions maximize long chain formation by polymer transfer and combination‐termination, while limiting chain scission. For imperfectly‐mixed reactors, the blending of polymer‐distributions produced in different spatial locations has a small effect on the composite MWD. However, for adiabatic LDPE autoclaves, imperfect mixing broadens the stable range of mean reactor conditions, and thereby increases the possibility for MWD shouldering.

Polymer MWD produced in an LDPE autoclave reactor by various kinetic mechanisms.