Erythrocytes Prevent Degradation of Carnosine by Human Serum Carnosinase

The naturally occurring dipeptide carnosine (β-alanyl-l-histidine) has beneficial effects in different diseases. It is also frequently used as a food supplement to improve exercise performance and because of its anti-aging effects. Nevertheless, after oral ingestion, the dipeptide is not detectable in human serum because of rapid degradation by serum carnosinase. At the same time, intact carnosine is excreted in urine up to five hours after intake. Therefore, an unknown compartment protecting the dipeptide from degradation has long been hypothesized. Considering that erythrocytes may constitute this compartment, we investigated the uptake and intracellular amounts of carnosine in human erythrocytes cultivated in the presence of the dipeptide and human serum using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. In addition, we studied carnosine’s effect on ATP production in red blood cells and on their response to oxidative stress. Our experiments revealed uptake of carnosine into erythrocytes and protection from carnosinase degradation. In addition, no negative effect on ATP production or defense against oxidative stress was observed. In conclusion, our results for the first time demonstrate that erythrocytes can take up carnosine, and, most importantly, thereby prevent its degradation by human serum carnosinase.     

Development of an assembly process and reliability investigations for flip-chip LEDs using the AuSn soldering

 A packaging process for flip-chip LEDs (light emitting diodes) is described. The LEDs are picked and placed on a silicon substrate wafer. After reflow the substrates are individualized. AuSn solder is used for the interconnection. The solder compounds, Au and Sn, are electroplated separately: Sn on the silicon substrate and Au on the chip. The interconnections formed by tin-rich and by gold-rich intermetallic phases are compared. The metallurgy and the reliability of the LEDs are investigated. The superiority of the gold-rich interconnection is demonstrated. Received: 30 May 2001 / Accepted: 17 July 2001     

Dynamic light scattering studies on random cross-linking of polystyrene in semi-dilute solution

The random cross-linking of appropriately functionalized polystyrene in semi-dilute toluene solution (c = 0.01–0.05 g/mL) was studied by time-dependent measurements of dynamic light scattering. Macroscopic gelation occurred from concentrations as low as 0.02 g/mL. The gelation time, determined from the first appearance of fluctuations of the scattering intensity and the initial amplitude of the intensity correlation function (ICF), decreases markedly from about 100 min to 10 min with an increase of polymer concentration or cross-linker content. After the gel point, the ICFs display a characteristic power-law decay. The power-law exponent, n = 0.75 ± 0.06, does not change with (i) extent of reaction, (ii) polymer concentration, and (iii) cross-linker concentration, within the inspected ranges. This universal behavior is traced back to the fact that gelation took place as a result of random cross-linking of existent macromolecules, whose state of solution does not change markedly during conversion.     

Nanoporous gold bumps for low temperature bonding

Nanoporous gold bumps have been deposited on silicon wafers by electroplating a silver–gold alloy followed by etching the silver. An open-porous cellular structure of gold at meso-scale is left on top of the bumps. For flip chip bonding we found low temperature and low force bonding conditions. The porous interconnects have very promising properties, like compressibility and reduced stiffness, which should result in higher bond yield and extended reliability.     

聚丙烯织物的涂料印花

涂料印花适用于各类纤维的染色。等离子处理可解决涂料印花用于聚丙烯织物时的色牢度问题，通过试验证明等离子处理的作用。     

Long-term installations of the DC-potential drop method in four nuclear power plants and the accuracies thereby obtained for monitoring of crack initiation and crack growth

After a total monitored operational timescale of almost five years on long-term installations, both in the laboratory and in four nuclear power plants, evidence can be put forward that the DC-potential drop method is now, at its current stage of development, suitable for inspecting and monitoring material regions such as, e.g. weld seams in pipework, for crack initiation and crack growth at power plant temperatures. This function can be performed with reliability and high sensitivity. The inspection and monitoring of cracks on the internal surface of the pipework can also be carried out from the external surface. The studies have shown that the method is basically able to monitor the growth of cracks found at discontinuous intervals using permanently installed potential probes, i.e. from plant inspection to plant inspection, while a transition to continuous monitoring is possible at any time. Thus a measure of redundancy can be provided for conventional ultrasonic and radiographic inspection, in particular for difficult to check austenitic weld seams. The method can also be seen as an alternative to the conventional techniques. When necessary, the cracks found can be measured more accurately than was previously possible with conventional ultrasonic and radiographic inspections. The total exposure to radiation can be reduced in comparison to other methods of inspection.     

Untersuchungen zur Größenbestimmung von Korrosionsrissen bei der manuellen Ultraschallprüfung

Investigations to Determine the Size of Corrosion Cracks For determining the size of corrosion cracks with ultrasound a multifrequency test method is described. By applying this procedure corrosion cracks of a size smaller than 2 mm are correctly evaluated independent of their position and of the reflection factor. Examples are presented and discussed for some practical applications.     

Conceptual coherence affects phonological activation of context objects during object naming.

In 4 picture-word interference experiments, speakers named a target object that was presented with a context object. Using auditory distractors that were phonologically related or unrelated either to the target object or the context object, the authors assessed whether phonological processing was confined to the target object or not. Phonological activation of the context objects was reliably observed if the target and context objects were embedded in a conceptually coherent scene (e.g., if the picture showed a mouse eating some cheese), regardless of whether the target was cued by its thematic role (agent vs. patient) or by color. However, this activation dissipated if the two objects were presented in an arbitrary object array (e.g., if the cheese was presented along with a finger). These findings suggest that conceptual coherence among multiple objects affects the information flow in the conceptual-lexical system during speech planning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Is there semantic interference in delayed naming?

The semantic interference effect in the picture–word interference task is interpreted as an index of lexical competition in prominent speech production models. Janssen, Schirm, Mahon, and Caramazza (2008) challenged this interpretation on the basis of experiments with a novel version of this task, which introduced a task-switching component. Participants either named the picture or read the word, depending on the word's color. Janssen et al. reported semantic interference in picture naming, regardless of whether the word appeared simultaneously with the picture (immediate naming) or 1,000 ms after the picture (delayed naming). Because picture name retrieval is completed in less than 1,000 ms, the finding in delayed naming was taken as evidence against the lexical competition account. In 3 sets of experiments conducted in German and English, we tested for semantic effects in Janssen et al.'s task-switching version and in the standard picture–word interference task. Using identical materials, we obtained sizeable interference effects in the standard task (Experiments 2, 4, and 6) but no effects in the task-switching version (Experiments 1, 3, and 5). When the word reading trials of the task-switching version were replaced with no-go trials (Experiment 7), semantic interference reemerged in immediate naming but was still absent in delayed naming. The experiments question the reliability of Janssen et al.'s critical finding and suggest that theoretical inferences about the origin of semantic effects in the standard picture–word interference task based on results from the task-switching version used by Janssen et al. are difficult to draw. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)