Tumor necrosis factor-alpha-induced apoptosis in a human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) is counteracted by transforming growth factor-alpha

Pulmonary surfactant is a complex mixture of lipids and proteins that functions to keep alveoli from collapsing at the end of expiration. Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine has been identified as the most important component for lowering surface tension at the air-liquid interface. Hydrophobic surfactant apoproteins, SP-B and SP-C, play essential roles in the biophysical functions of the surfactant phospholipids. Hydrophilic surfactant apoproteins (SP-A and SP-D) that are members of C-type lectin superfamily, interact with phospholipids and glycolipids and modulate host defense functions in the lung. SP-A also plays an important role in regulating phospholipid homeostasis in the alveolar spaces. Recent advances in genetics and molecular biology have clarified the structure-function relationship of surfactant apoproteins.     

Comparison of M. longissimus dorsi pigment concentration from implanted and control Angus and Limousin bulls and steers

M. longissimus dorsi total pigment concentration, visual color score and 24-h pH values were evaluated in a 2(3) factorial design that included bulls versus steers, Zeranol implants versus control and Angus versus Limousin comparisons. Bulls had greater total pigment concentration than steers (3.25 versus 2·90 mg/g; P < 0·01) and darker colored lean (P < 0·01). Twenty-four hour pH values did not differ between bulls and steers. Zeranol implanting and breed had no effect on total pigment concentration or visual color score; however, Limousin had higher (P < 0·05) 24-h pH values than Angus. The initial slaughter group (N = 10; average age = 256 days) had 34% less total pigment than the final slaughter group (N = 48; average age = 458 days). The correlation between visual color score and total pigment concentration was -0·65. These results indicate that the darker colored lean from bulls is due in part to an increase in pigment concentration.     

Static and Dynamic Slider Air-Bearing Behavior in Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording Under Thermal Flying Height Control and Laser System-Induced Protrusion

The air bearing’s response to regions of elevated temperature on its bounding surfaces (the slider and disk) may be an important consideration in the head–disk interface design of heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) systems. We implement the general non-isothermal molecular gas lubrication equation into an iterative static solver and dynamic air-bearing solver to evaluate the effect of localized heating of the air-bearing surface (ABS) due to the near-field transducer (NFT). The heat-dissipating components in our simplified HAMR design are the NFT, laser diode, and thermal flying height control (TFC) heater. We investigate the effect of each HAMR slider component on ABS temperature and thermal deformation and the slider’s flying height. The NFT induces a localized thermal spot and protrusion on the larger TFC bulge, and it is the location of maximum temperature. This ABS temperature profile alters the air-bearing pressure distribution, increasing the pressure at the hot NFT location compared with predictions of an isothermal air-bearing solver, so that the center of the pressure acting on the ABS is slightly closer to the trailing edge, thereby decreasing the pitch angle and increasing the minimum flying height. Other researchers have shown that the NFT’s thermal response time may be much faster than its protrusion response time (Xu et al. in IEEE Trans Magn 48:3280–3283, 2012). The slider’s dynamic response to a time-varying NFT thermal spot on the ABS while the combined TFC and NFT induced thermal protrusion remains constant is investigated with our dynamic air-bearing solver. We simulate the slider’s step response to a suddenly applied ABS temperature profile and a pulsed temperature profile that represents laser-on over data zones and laser-off over servo zones. The sudden (step) or rapid (pulse) increase in ABS temperature induces a sudden or rapid increase in pressure at the NFT location, thereby exciting the air bearing’s first pitch mode. For the slider design and simulation conditions used here, the result of the pitch mode excitation is to alter the position of the center of pressure in the slider’s length direction, thereby changing the pitch moment. In response, the pitch angle and minimum flying height change. The step response decays after approximately 0.15 ms. Because the laser duty cycle is much shorter than this response time, a periodic disturbance is predicted for the center of pressure coordinate, pitch angle, and minimum flying height. The peak-to-peak minimum flying height modulations are relatively small (only up to 0.126 nm); more significantly, the time-averaged minimum flying height increases 0.5 nm for the NFT that reached 208 °C compared to simulations of the isothermal ABS at ambient temperature.     

Functional, Nutritional, and Rheological Properties of Protein Powders from Arrowtooth Flounder and their Application in Mayonnaise

ABSTRACT: Arrowtooth flounder soluble protein powder (AFSP) and arrowtooth flounder insoluble protein powder (AFISP) were evaluated for their functional, nutritional, and rheological properties. AFSP and AFISP contained 80% and 79% protein and 5.9% and 14.9% fat, respectively. Yield of AFSP (8.6%) was less than AFISP (13.1%). AFSP and AFISP had desirable essential amino acid and mineral contents. Emulsion stability of AFSP was greater than AFISP. Fat and water absorptions (mL/g protein) were 5.2 and 1.8 for AFSP, respectively, and 3.3 and 4.2 for AFISP Mayonnaises made from AFSP had greater emulsion stability than mayonnaise made from AFISP. Mayonnaises from both AFSP and AFISP possessed pseudoplastic and viscoelastic characteristics.     

Physicochemical Properties of Microencapsulated ω‐3 Salmon Oil with Egg White Powder

The objective of this study was to produce microencapsulated omega(ω)‐3 fatty acids (PUFAs) fortified egg white (EW) powders and to characterize their nutritional and physical properties. Stable emulsions (E‐SO‐EW) containing 3.43 (g/100 g) salmon oil (SO), 56.21 (g/100 g) EW, and 40.36 (g/100 g) water and a control (E‐EW) containing EW and water were prepared. E‐SO‐EW and E‐EW were separately spray dried at 130, 140, and 150 °C inlet air temperatures. This resulted in 3 microencapsulated SO fortified EW powders (SO‐EW), and 3 dried EW powders (DEW). The powders were analyzed for microencapsulation efficiency (ME), color, fatty acids methyl esters, protein, fat, moisture, ash, amino acids, minerals, microstructure, and particle size. The EPA and DHA content of SO and the ME of the powders were not affected by the inlet air temperature. The crude protein content of SO‐EW powders was approximately 24 (g/100 g) lower than dried EW powders. Leucine was the most abundant essential amino acid found in all the powders. Most of the powders’ median particle size ranged from 15 to 30 μm. The study demonstrated that microencapsulated ω‐3 salmon oil with high quality EW protein can be produced by spray drying.     

Effect of precooking and polyphosphate treatment on the quality of catfish fillets cooked in pouch in boiling water

Cooking or reheating food in a vacuum‐sealed bag has been a common method of preparing vegetables, meats and poultry products. However, there are very few examples of vacuum‐sealed bags designed for cooking catfish fillets. The objective was to examine properties of raw frozen and precooked frozen catfish fillets that were cooked in a vacuum‐sealed pouch in boiling water. The effect of a commercial polyphosphate blend (IQF) on product properties was also evaluated. Sample analyses included weight loss, proximate content, colour (CIE L*a*b*), pH, mechanical texture and lipid peroxidation (TBARS) measurements. Both raw frozen and precooked frozen IQF fillets showed a significantly lower per cent moisture loss after cooking, of less than 2.7% relative to the fillets without polyphosphate (6.2–7.4%). Colour analysis showed a significantly higher b*(C) (yellowness) value for fillets without polyphosphate. Similar texture properties were observed between cooking treatments, with a harder texture (~1.3–1.7 times) determined for fillets without polyphosphate.     

Fabrication and characterization of high-speedpolyurethane-disperse red 19 integrated electrooptic modulators foranalog system applications

The fabrication and characterization of polymeric electrooptic modulators, made of a thermally crosslinkable polyurethane with Disperse Red 19 side chains, are summarized in this paper. Straight channel and Mach-Zehnder modulators have been fabricated, packaged and tested for the fiber-optic analog transmission system applications. Device performances including halfwave voltage, insertion loss, on-off ratio, and modulation frequency responses were measured. Long-term halfwave voltage stability, dc-bias voltage stability, and optical power handling capability at 1.3-μm wavelength were investigated. A carrier-to-noise ratio of 53 dB and 80-channel television transmission have been demonstrated using the packaged polymer modulators     

Impact of surface layer on In0.52Al0.48As/In0.53Ga0.47As/InP high electron mobilitytransistors

The surface potential of FETs has shown a strong effect on the channel potential and charge control in the channel. A study of the role of undoped versus doped cap layers in In_0.52Al_0.48As-In_0.53Ga_0.47 As-InP high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMT) is discussed. As the result of surface potential effect, direct comparison of 0.3×150-μm² gate devices yielded improved gate breakdown characteristics and a DC output conductance of less than 15 mS/mm for the surface undoped structure compared to 50 mS/mm for the doped structure. The surface undoped MEMT achieved a very high maximum stable gain of 19.2 dB compared to 16.0 dB for the surface doped HEMT at 18 GHz, largely due to the improved g_m/g ₀ ratio. This study demonstrates that control of the surface potential in In_0.52Al_0.48As-In_0.53Ga _0.47As-InP HEMTs is consistent with the effect of a gate recess in MESFETs. This study also shows that, in achieving high-gain applications of HEMTs, the surface potential near the gate edge should be optimized through unconventional surface layer design     

Semiconductor-platelet fibre-optic temperature sensor

We report a novel transmission fibre-optic temperature sensor consisting of a semiconductor platelet sandwiched between two parallel fibre ends. A new configuration eliminates the influence of the fibre absorption and the coupling factor of the fibre coupler on the measurement result.