Engineered Material from Natural Fibre for Interior Design Applications

Some natural fibres including jute, flax, hemp, kenaf and sisal have been found very promising for potential applications as reinforcement in engineered composite materials. The environmental drivers, such as ability to absorb CO2 during production in contrary to synthetic materials and having non-toxic characteristics, have made them ideal candidates for incorporation into composites for industrial and technical applications that do not require very high mechanical resistance, for examples, window and doorframes, indoor furniture panels, automotive panels and upholstery, parcel shelves, noise insulating panels etc. This paper discusses fabrication and mechanical performance testing of multi-layered jute fabrics reinforced thermoplastic composite material. Jute hessian fabrics were sandwiched in 0° orientation into several layers of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) polymeric sheets and pressed at high temperature and pressure to form composite laminates. Microscopic analysis revealed that the fibre and yarn orientation of fabrics within composite remained intact and no visible void was identified. Mechanical performance of the composites having a small percentage of fibre content was found to have improved significantly when compared to the pure HDPE laminates. The tensile and flexural strength of the laminate composite with optimum number of layers (6-layer makes a weight fraction of 18.50%) were improved by more than 50%, while flexural modulus was also increased significantly. Fracture morphology of the composite investigated by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) showed good adhesion of the jute fabrics with the polymer matrices

Influenza C virus NS1 protein counteracts RIG-I-mediated IFN signalling

The nonstructural proteins 1 (NS1) from influenza A and B viruses are known as the main viral factors antagonising the cellular interferon (IFN) response, inter alia by inhibiting the retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) signalling. The cytosolic pattern-recognition receptor RIG-I senses double-stranded RNA and 5'-triphosphate RNA produced during RNA virus infections. Binding to these ligands activates RIG-I and in turn the IFN signalling. We now report that the influenza C virus NS1 protein also inhibits the RIG-I-mediated IFN signalling. Employing luciferase-reporter assays, we show that expression of NS1-C proteins of virus strains C/JJ/50 and C/JHB/1/66 considerably reduced the IFN-β promoter activity. Mapping of the regions from NS1-C of both strains involved in IFN-β promoter inhibition showed that the N-terminal 49 amino acids are dispensable, while the C-terminus is required for proper modulation of the IFN response. When a mutant RIG-I, which is constitutively active without ligand binding, was employed, NS1-C still inhibited the downstream signalling, indicating that IFN inhibitory properties of NS1-C are not necessarily linked to an RNA binding mechanism

Percutaneous mitral valve edge-to-edge Repair: In-hospital results and 1-year follow-up of 628 patients of the 2011-2012 pilot European Sentinel Registry

The use of transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) has gained widespread acceptance in Europe, but data on immediate success, safety, and long-term echocardiographic follow-up in real-world patients are still limited

Climate change, flooding and food security in south Asia

Climate change, Flooding, Food security, Poverty, Women, Children,

Purification and characterization of protease and chitinase from Bacillus cereus TKU006 and conversion of marine wastes by these enzymes

[[abstract]]A chitinase- and protease-producing bacterium was isolated and identified as Bacillus cereus TKU006. The better condition on our tests for protease and chitinase production was found when the culture was shaken at 25°C for 2 days in 25 mL of medium containing 2% shrimp shell powder (w/v), 0.1% K2HPO4, and 0.05% MgSO4·7H2O. The molecular masses of TKU006 protease and chitinase determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were approximately 39 and 35 kDa, respectively. The optimum pH, optimum temperature, pH stability, and thermal stability of TKU006 protease and chitinase were 9, 50°C, 3–11, 50°C and 5, 40°C, 3–11, 60°C, respectively. TKU006 protease was inhibited completely by EDTA, indicating that the TKU006 protease was a metalloprotease. The TKU006 protease and chitinase retained 61%, 60%, 73%, and 100% and 60%, 60%, 71%, and 96% of its original activity in the presence of 2% Tween 20, 2% Tween 40, 2% Triton X-100, and 1 mM SDS, respectively. The antioxidant activity of TKU006 culture supernatant was determined through the scavenging ability on DPPH with 70% per milliliter. In conclusion, the novelties of the TKU006 protease and chitinase include its high stability to the surfactants and pH. Besides, with this method, we have shown that marine wastes can be utilized to generate a high-value-added product and have revealed its hidden potential in the production of functional foods.[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]SCI[[countrycodes]]US