Synthesis and characterization of biocompatible hydroxyapatite coated ferrite

Ferrite particles coated with biocompatible phases can be used for hyperthermia treatment of cancer. We have synthesized substituted calcium hexaferrite, which is not stable on its own but is stabilized with small substitution of La. Hexaferrite of chemical composition (CaO)_0.75(La₂0₃)_0.20(Fe₂O₃)₆ was prepared using citrate gel method. Hydroxyapatite was prepared by precipitating it from aqueous solution of Ca(NO₃)₂ and (NH₄)₂HPO₄ maintaining pH above 11. Four different methods were used for coating of hydroxyapatite on ferrite particles. SEM with EDX and X-ray diffraction analysis shows clear evidence of coating of hydroxyapatite on ferrite particles. These coated ferrite particles exhibited coercive field up to 2 kOe, which could be made useful for hysteresis heating in hyperthermia. Studies by culturing BHK-21 cells and WBC over the samples show evidence of biocompatibility. SEM micrographs and cell counts give clear indication of cell growth on the surface of the sample. Finally coated ferrite particle was implanted in Kasaulli mouse to test its biocompatibility. The magnetic properties and biocompatibility studies show that these hydroxyapatite coated ferrites could be useful for hyperthermia.     

Pack cementation process for the formation of refractory metal modified aluminide coatings on nickel-base superalloys

The vapour phase compositions of a series of pack powder mixtures containing elemental Al and Hf or W powders as depositing sources and CrCl₃·6H₂O or AlF₃or CrF₃as activators were analysed in an attempt to further develop the pack cementation process to codeposit Al and Hf or W to form diffusion coatings on nickel base superalloys. The results suggested that Al could be codeposited with Hf, but not with W, from the vapour phase. Compared with both AlF₃and CrF₃, CrCl₃·6H₂O has been shown to be a more suitable activator for codepositing Al with Hf. The optimum coating temperature was identified to be in the range of 1050°C to 1150°C. Based on the thermochemical analysis, a series of coating deposition studies were undertaken, which confirmed that codeposition of Al and Hf could be achieved at a deposition temperature of 1100°C in the CrCl₃·6H₂O activated packs containing elemental Al and Hf powders. The coating obtained had a multilayer structure consisting of a Ni₇Hf₆Al₁₆top layer and a NiAl layer underneath, followed by a diffusion zone, which revealed that the coating was formed by the outward Ni diffusion. It is suggested that the compositions suitable for codeposition of Al and Hf could be effectively identified by comparing the vapour pressures of HfCl₄and HfCl₃with that of AlCl in the packs activated by chloride salts. It has also been experimentally demonstrated that, although W could not be deposited from the vapour phase, a high volume of fine W particles can be entrapped into the outer NiAl coating layer formed by the outward Ni diffusion using a modified pack configuration. This leads to the formation of a composite coating layer with W particles evenly distributed in a matrix of NiAl. It is suggested that this modified pack process could be similarly applied to develop nickel aluminide coatings containing other refractory metals that may not be codeposited with Al from the vapour phase.     

TEM Studies of High Temperature Corrosion Behaviour of TiAl Intermetallics with Surface Modifications

The oxidation/sulphidation behaviour of a Ti‐46.7Al‐1.9W‐0.5Si alloy with a TiAl₃ diffusion coating was studied in an environment of H₂/H₂S/H₂O at 850^oC. The kinetic results demonstrate that the TiAl₃ coating significantly increased the high temperature corrosion resistance of Ti‐46.7Al‐1.9W‐0.5Si. The SEM, EDX, XRD and TEM analysis reveals that the formation of an Al₂O₃ scale on the surface of the TiAl₃‐coated sample was responsible for the enhancement of the corroison resistance. The Ti‐46.7Al‐1.9W‐0.5Si alloy was also modified by Nb ion implantation. The Nb ion implanted and as received sampels were subjected to cyclic oxidation in an open air at 800^oC. The Nb ion implantation not only increased the oxidation resistance but also substantially improved the adhesion of scale to the substrate.     

46,XX/69,XXX diploid-triploid mixoploidy with hypothyroidism and precocious puberty

We report a 20 month old female patient with diploid-triploid mixoploidy (46,XX/69,XXX) syndrome with hypothyroidism and precocious puberty. The triploid cell line was only expressed in the fibroblast culture and comprised the majority (95%) of the cells. Chromosome analysis of the fetal blood sample and peripheral blood sample were normal. The patient shows typical features of full triploidy (growth and severe mental retardation, cranial and facial dysmorphism, complete syndactyly of fingers 3/4, partial syndactyly of toes 2/3) and facial but no body asymmetry. At the age of 5 months central hypothyroidism and precocious puberty were diagnosed. Thin pigmented streaks were visible on the wrists and legs of the patient at the age of 16 months. This is the first patient reported so far with 46,XX/69,XXX mixoploidy suffering from hypothyroidism and precocious puberty.     

Dynamic simulations of the molecular conformations of wild type and mutant xanthan polymers suggest that conformational differences may contribute to observed differences in viscosity

Xanthan gum is an exopolysaccharide secreted by the bacterium Xanthamonas campestris whose ability to make solutions viscous at low concentrations and over a pH and temperature range have generated much interest in both academic and industrial environments. Mutant Xanthamonas strains have been derived that produce xanthan gums with an altered or variant subunit chemical structure and different measured viscosities when compared with the wild type (wt) form of the polymer. Two variant gums were targeted as potentially interesting in this study, these being the nonacetylated tetramer (natet) and the acetylated tetramer (atet), which both lack a side-chain terminal mannose residue and in one case (natet) lacks an acetate group on an internal mannose residue. Solutions of these tetrameric gums possess viscosities higher (natet) and lower (atet) than the wt gum, and therefore we have attempted to determine whether these molecules possess unique conformational preferences when compared with the wt and with each other. In this manner we can initiate an understanding of how a polysaccharide's conformation contributes to its solution properties. The GEGOP software permits a sampling of the static and dynamic equilibrium states of carbohydrate molecules, and this software was employed to calculate equilibrium states of representative oligosaccharides with chemical structures representative of xanthan-like molecules. Energy minimization techniques revealed similar local minima for all three molecules. Some of these minima are comprised of elongate backbone conformations (A type) in which side chains fold onto backbone surfaces. Other minima with A backbones possessed side chains in less intimate backbone contact especially when calculations were performed with a low dielectric constant. This phenomenon was particularly pronounced in the wt molecule where an increased number of negatively charged side-chain residues experience charge repulsion resulting in reduced side-chain-backbone contact. Metropolis Monte Carlo (MMC) dynamic simulations performed with an elevated temperature factor (1000 K) allowed a better qualitative representation of conformational space than 300 K simulations. Employing a nonhierarchical cluster analysis method (population density profile: PDP) coupled with a classification scheme, it was possible to partition resulting MMC data sets into conformational families. This analysis revealed that in simulations performed with different dielectric constant values (10, 25, and infinity) all molecules possessed primarily A-type backbones. Less elongate, more open helical backbone forms (B, C, D, J, and Flat-a) did occur during the simulations but were populated to a lesser extent. In the natet molecule significantly open helical backbones existed (E, F, G, H, and I) that did not occur in the lower viscosity wt and atet molecules. PDP clustering methods and subsequent conformational classification applied to the first residue (mannose) of the side chain permitted a determination of side-chain orientation. Comparison of all three molecules indicated a larger population of side-chain conformational families in less direct backbone contact for the wt molecule than either of the variant molecules (natet/atet) suggesting that the side chains in the wt are more flexible. Thus, a major conformational difference between the high viscosity natet and the lower viscosities of the wt/atet is the increased amount of open helical backbone in the natet. In addition, the significant difference between the higher viscosity wt and the lower viscosity atet is the increase side-chain flexibility in the wt. We hypothesize that conformational differences of this kind could form a partial explanation of the observed differences in viscosity between these xanthan-like polymers.     

SHAPE GENERALIZED ISOTHERMAL EFFECTIVENESS FACTOR FOR FIRST-ORDER KINETICS

A generalized effectiveness factor equation (Eq. (32)), in terms of modified Bessel functions, is derived for a catalyst pellet of arbitrary shape. The derivation is based on utilizing an appropriate one-dimensional approximation for the Laplacian in an arbitrary shaped body subjected to a uniform external concentration field. The comparison of the result with the available expressions for various geometries is highly satisfactory. It unifies the expressions for the three fundamental shapes, viz., infinite slab, infinite cylinder and sphere, and also compares very well with the exact solutions for finite shapes over the entire range of the Thiele modulus.     

Complementarity and Additivity for Covariant Channels

This paper contains several new results concerning covariant quantum channels in d ≥ 2 dimensions. The first part, Sec. 3, based on [4], is devoted to unitarily covariant channels, namely depolarizing and transpose-depolarizing channels. The second part, Sec. 4, based on [10], studies Weyl-covariant channels. These results are preceded by Sec. 2 in which we discuss various representations of general completely positive maps and channels. In the first part of the paper we compute complementary channels for depolarizing and transpose-depolarizing channels. This method easily yields minimal Kraus representations from non-minimal ones. We also study properties of the output purity of the tensor product of a channel and its complementary. In the second part, the formalism of discrete noncommutative Fourier transform is developed and applied to the study of Weyl-covariant maps and channels. We then extend a result in [16] concerning a bound for the maximal output 2-norm of a Weyl-covariant channel. A class of maps which attain the bound is introduced, for which the multiplicativity of the maximal output 2-norm is proven. The complementary channels are described which have the same multiplicativity properties as the Weyl-covariant channels.