Study of the effect of BDMA catalyst in the epoxy novolac curing process by isothermal DSC

Epoxy novolac/anhydride cure kinetics has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry under isothermal conditions. The system used in this study was an epoxy novolac resin (DEN431), with nadic methyl anhydride as hardener and benzyldimethylamine as accelerator. Kinetic parameters including the reaction order, activation energy and kinetic rate constants, were investigated. The cure reaction was described with the catalyst concentration, and a normalized kinetic model developed for it. It is shown that the cure reaction is dependent on the cure temperature and catalyst concentration, and that it proceeds through an autocatalytic kinetic mechanism. The curing kinetic constants and the cure activation energies were obtained using the Arrhenius kinetic model. A suggested kinetic model with a diffusion term was successfully used to describe and predict the cure kinetics of epoxy novolac resin compositions as a function of the catalyst content and temperature. Copyright © 2003 Society of Chemical Industry     

Oxidative degradation of polyamide reverse osmosis membranes: Studies of molecular model compounds and selected membranes

Selected aromatic amides were used to model the chemical reactivity of aromatic polyamides found in thin‐film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Chlorination and possible amide bond cleavage of aromatic amides upon exposure to aqueous chlorine, which can lead to membrane failure, were investigated. Correlations are made of the available chlorine concentration, pH, and exposure time with chemical changes in the model compounds. From the observed reactivity trends, insights are obtained into the mechanism of RO membrane performance loss upon chlorine exposure. Two chemical pathways for degradation are shown, one at constant pH and another that is pH‐history dependent. An alternative strategy is presented for the design of chlorine‐resistant RO membranes, and an initial performance study of RO membranes incorporating this strategy is reported. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 1173–1184, 2003     

Human alpha 2-macroglobulin is an osteogenic growth peptide-binding protein

The osteogenic growth peptide (OGP) is a 14mer mitogen of osteoblastic and fibroblastic cells. Physiologically, OGP is present in high abundance in human and other mammalian sera. Most of the serum OGP is complexed noncovalently to heat sensitive, high molecular weight OGP-binding proteins (OGPBPs). Changes in serum OGP levels that follow bone marrow ablation and the low doses of exogenous OGP required for the stimulation of bone formation suggest a regulatory role for the OGPBPs. In the present work, the OGP binding activity was monitored by competitive binding to [3-125I(Tyr10)]-sOGP and the corresponding complexes were demonstrated on nondenaturing cathodic polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We show that OGP binds to both native and activated human plasma alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M). alpha 2M was also immunoidentified in reduced and nonreduced SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of OGP-affinity purified plasma-derived proteins. Immunoreactive OGP was detected in commercial preparations of both forms of alpha 2M; OGP was purified to homogeneity from the commercial preparation of activated alpha 2M. In MC3T3 E1 cells, native alpha 2M, at concentrations < 50 ng/mL, had a substantially increased mitogenic effect in the presence of synthetic, native-like, OGP (sOGP). Similar amounts of activated alpha 2M inhibited the sOGP proliferative effect. These results suggest that the native alpha 2M enhances the immediate availability of OGP to its target cells. Activated alpha 2M may participate in the removal of OGP from the system.     

Continuous-wave quantum yields of various cobalamins are influenced by competition between geminate recombination and cage escape

Quantum yields of photolysis of the cobalt-carbon bond for three cobalamin compounds were measured with a continuous-wave laser at 442 nm under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Aerobically, the initial homolysis product, Co(II) cobalamin, is trapped by oxygen to form aquocobalamin. Use of an excess of the radical trapping reagent 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxyl, under anaerobic conditions, scavenges the carbon radical and allows detection of the cobalt(II) photoproduct. Quantum yields measured under anaerobic conditions for 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin (phi (Co-C alpha),442 = 0.20 +/- 0.03) and methylcobalamin (phi (Co-C alpha),442 = 0.35 +/- 0.03) are in agreement with the values obtained under aerobic conditions (phi (Co-C alpha),442 = 0.19 +/- 0.04 and phi (Co-C alpha),442 = 0.36 +/- 0.04, respectively). Additionally, the quantum yield values for 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin and its base-off derivative (phi (Co-C alpha),442 = 0.045 +/- 0.015) match those obtained on a nanosecond time scale [Chen, E., & Chance, M. R. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 256, 12987-12994]. A comparison of quantum yields obtained anaerobically for 5'-deoxyadenosylcobalamin and methylcobalamin in H2O versus ethylene glycol shows a 4-fold decrease for the former cobalamin and no change for the latter. These quantum yields are evaluated in terms of time-independent radical separation distances.     

Spontaneous rise of fetal platelet counts despite increasing anti-HPA-5b antibodies

A 47-year-old woman with seronegative polyarthritis, diarrhea, and photosensitivity dermatitis was found to have Crohn's disease and pellagra. The presence of high values of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid in the urine began the exhaustive investigations and finally enterotomy. No mass lesion was found. Argyrophilic cells were not increased in areas of inflamed intestinal mucosa or the normal mucosa. The disagreement between biochemical and histologic findings was attributed to sampling error. Antiinflammatory treatment for Crohn's disease was given and the gastrointestinal and articular symptoms improved, excretion of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid returned to normal and there was no relapse of pellagra. Pellagra as a complication of Crohn's disease has been described in 4 cases; malnutrition and intestinal malabsorption were the proposed mechanisms for the niacin deficiency and pellagra of those patients. In the current case, the pathogenesis of pellagra may be accounted to wastage of tryptophan by an increased pool of intestinal argyrophilic cells, suggested by increased urinary excretion of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid.     

Improved atrial function in bicaval versus standard orthotopic techniques in cardiac transplantation

Atrial geometry is preserved in the bicaval technique of cardiac transplantation. Using Doppler echocardiography, we investigated the impact of this technique on preservation of atrial function and found that echocardiographic indexes of atrial function are improved in bicaval cardiac transplants versus the standard orthotopic transplants.     

Recurrent gains of 1q, 8 and 12 in the Ewing family of tumours by comparative genomic hybridization

Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) was used to detect copy number changes of DNA sequences in the Ewing family of tumours (ET). We analysed 20 samples from 17 patients. Fifteen tumours (75%) showed copy number changes. Gains of DNA sequences were much more frequent than losses, the majority of the gains affecting whole chromosomes or whole chromosome arms. Recurrent findings included copy number increases for chromosomes 8 (seven out of 20 samples; 35%), 1q (five samples; 25%) and 12 (five samples; 25%). The minimal common regions of these gains were the whole chromosomes 8 and 12, and 1q21-22. High-level amplifications affected 8q13-24, 1q and 1q21-22, each once. Southern blot analysis of the specimen with high-level amplification at 1q21-22 showed an amplification of FLG and SPRR3, both mapped to this region. All cases with a gain of chromosome 12 simultaneously showed a gain of chromosome 8. Comparison of CGH findings with cytogenetic analysis of the same tumours and previous cytogenetic reports of ET showed, in general, concordant results. In conclusion, our findings confirm that secondary changes, which may have prognostic significance in ET, are trisomy 8, trisomy 12 and a gain of DNA sequences in 1q.     

Massively parallel algorithms for trace-driven cache simulations

Considers the use of massively parallel architectures to execute a trace-driven simulation of a single cache set. A method is presented for the least-recently-used (LRU) policy, which, regardless of the set size C, runs in time O(log N) using N processors on the EREW (exclusive read, exclusive write) parallel model. A simpler LRU simulation algorithm is given that runs in O(C log N) time using N/log N processors. We present timings of this algorithm's implementation on the MasPar MP-1, a machine with 16384 processors. A broad class of reference-based line replacement policies are considered, which includes LRU as well as the least-frequently-used (LFU) and random replacement policies. A simulation method is presented for any such policy that, on any trace of length N directed to a C line set, runs in O(C log N) time with high probability using N processors on the EREW model. The algorithms are simple, have very little space overhead, and are well suited for SIMD implementation