A New Approach to Assess Gold Nanoparticle Uptake by Mammalian Cells: Combining Optical Dark‐Field and Transmission Electron Microscopy

Toxicological effects of nanoparticles are associated with their internalization into cells. Hence, there is a strong need for techniques revealing the interaction between particles and cells as well as quantifying the uptake at the same time. For that reason, herein optical dark‐field microscopy is used in conjunction with transmission electron microscopy to investigate the uptake of gold nanoparticles into epithelial cells with respect to shape, stabilizing agent, and surface charge. The number of internalized particles is strongly dependent on the stabilizing agent, but not on the particle shape. A test of metabolic activity shows no direct correlation with the number of internalized particles. Therefore, particle properties besides coating and shape are suspected to contribute to the observed toxicity.     

Serrated plastic flow behavior and microstructure in a Zr-based bulk metallic glass processed by surface mechanical attrition treatment

The serrated plastic flow, microstructure and residual stress of a Zr55 Cu30 Ni5 Al10 bulk metallic glass (BMG) undergone surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) have been investigated by a combina-tion of compression tests with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and the incremental hole-drilling strain-gage method.It is found that SMAT leads to various microstructural modifications and residual stress distribution in the surface layers of the Zr-based BMG due to the mechanically-induced nanocrystallization and generation of shear bands.As a re-sult, the BMG alloy exhibits a remarkable work-hardening like behavior and significant increase of plastic strain from less than 1% to 15%, and its plastic deformation dynamics yields a power-law distribution of shear avalanches.Based upon the analysis of the experimental results, it is indicated that this can be con-nected to the SMAT-induced microstructural modifications and the resulting residual compressive stress in the Zr-based BMG.     

Betriebliches Energiemanagement – Analysen, Methoden und Bewertungsmodelle zur Effizienzsteigerung

In recent years, the EU has been trying to increase political awareness of the energy problem. In 2007 and 2009, the first European energy strategy was adopted, the energy management standard EN 16001, which has been replaced by ISO 50001, was introduced in 2011. The introduction of an energy management standard in a company can contribute significantly to an increase of efficiency – already fixed in the Energy Efficiency Directive of the EU. The development of the Energy Pentagon – a model based on the decision-oriented business administration – allows individual industries to implement a customized holistic energy management. The model takes into account the three levels of management, namely the normative, strategic, and operational planning, and the five management functions, namely organization, personnel management, information, and control as well as the dynamic element of the development. The importance of enterprise energy management system is increasingly due to higher energy costs and a strong environmental awareness. In the future the focus should be increasingly on the implementation in SMEs and on a cost-effective analysis and evaluation of the efficiency gains particularly through the advancements in operational energy controlling.     

Increased Sulfur Precursors and Volatiles Production by the Leek <Emphasis Type="Italic">Allium porrum</Emphasis> in Response to Specialist Insect Attack

To defend themselves against herbivory, plants use a variety of direct and indirect strategies involving induced increases in secondary substances. Species of the Allium genus (Alliaceae), such as the leek Allium porrum (L.), produce nonprotein sulfur amino acids derived from cysteine, i.e., alk(en)yl-cysteine sulfoxides that are precursors of volatile thiosulfinates and disulfides. These defend most species including the specialist leek moth, Acrolepiopsis assectella. We determined by measuring the increase in the sulfur precursor propyl-cysteine sulfoxide (PCSO) if production of this precursor is induced in response to moth attack and mechanical wounding. The concentration of PCSO was determined by HPLC in 2- or 6-mo-old leeks after attacks of various intensity either by the specialist leek moth or by a generalist moth, Agrotis ipsilon. Injury-induced release of sulfur volatiles was measured by GC/MS after the attacks. Results showed an increase in the production of sulfur compounds in both the precursor and volatile form, occurring only in association with intensive attacks by leek moths. The increase in sulfur precursors also led to an increase in the release of sulfur volatiles. This induced response may provide an effective defense strategy against the plant’s main natural enemy, both directly and indirectly by attracting entomophagous insects.     

An inter-laboratory trial of the unified BARGE bioaccessibility method for arsenic, cadmium and lead in soil

The Bioaccessibility Research Group of Europe (BARGE) has carried out an inter-laboratory trial of a proposed harmonised in vitro physiologically based ingestion bioaccessibility procedure for soils, called the Unified BARGE Method (UBM). The UBM includes an initial saliva phase and simulated stomach and intestine compartments. The trial involved the participation of seven laboratories (five European and two North American) providing bioaccessibility data for As (11 samples), Cd (9 samples) and Pb (13 samples) using soils with in vivo relative bioavailability data measured using a swine model. The results of the study were compared with benchmark criteria for assessing the suitability of the UBM to provide data for human health risk assessments. Mine waste and slag soils containing high concentrations of As caused problems of poor repeatability and reproducibility which were alleviated when the samples were run at lower soil to solution ratios. The study showed that the UBM met the benchmark criteria for both the stomach and stomach & intestine phase for As. For Cd, three out of four criteria were met for the stomach phase but only one for the stomach & intestine phase. For Pb two, out of four criteria were met for the stomach phase and none for the stomach & intestine phase. However, the study recommends tighter control of pH in the stomach phase extraction to improve between-laboratory variability, more reproducible in vivo validation data and that a follow up inter-laboratory trial should be carried out.