POSTPARTUM ELEVATED Β-HYDROXYBUTYRATE AND NON-ESTERIFIED FATTY ACIDS TOGETHER OR SEPARATELY AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH PLASMA METABOLITES, BODY CONDITION AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE IN DAIRY COWS

This study aimed to assess post-partum elevated nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) and β hydroxybutyrate (BHB), considered either togetheror separately,relative to the estrus cyclicity and first service pregnancy status of cows and their association withbody condition scores and some metabolites.Blood samples from 50 Montbéliarde dairy cowswere collected from 15 to 52 DIMto measure serum  BHB, NEFA,glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, urea nitrogen, total protein, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), γ-glutamyltransferase (γGT), calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium;and progesterone concentrations.Body condition score (BCS) was assessed at calving and at each time when blood samples were taken.Cows were considered as having post-partum elevated NEFA (H-NEFA) concentration if the concentration was≥0.70 mM and post-partum elevated BHB (H-BHB) concentration if the concentration was≥1.20 mM at 30 DIM. Overall, 93.33 % of cows having an elevated BHB show an elevated of NEFA and 51.61% of cows having an elevated NEFA have not an elevated BHB. Indeed, considering postpartum elevated NEFA as a predictor of sub-clinical ketotic cows can overrateresults. Whereas, considering postpartum elevated BHB as a predictor of cows with NEB can underestimate results. Excessive BCS at calving results in increasing the risk of post-partum elevated BHB. Cholesterol, triglycerides, AST, ALT, and urea were increased in cows having elevated BHB and NEFA compared with those having elevated NEFA only or healthy cows. Further, the risk of estrus cyclicity and pregnancy rate at first insemination (P/AI) was decreased in cows having both elevated BHB and NEFA or NEFA only

Orange/red photoluminescence enhancement upon sf6 plasma treatment of vertically aligned zno nanorods

Although the origin and possible mechanisms for green and yellow emission from different zinc oxide (ZnO) forms have been extensively investigated, the same for red/orange PL emission from ZnO nanorods (nR) remains largely unaddressed. In this work, vertically aligned zinc oxide nanorods arrays (ZnO nR) were produced using hydrothermal process followed by plasma treatment in argon/sulfur hexafluoride (Ar/SF6) gas mixture for different time. The annealed samples were highly crystalline with ~45 nm crystallite size, (002) preferred orientation, and a relatively low strain value of 1.45 × 10−3, as determined from X-ray diffraction pattern. As compared to as-deposited ZnO nR, the plasma treatment under certain conditions demonstrated enhancement in the room temperature photoluminescence (PL) emission intensity, in the visible orange/red spectral regime, by a factor of 2. The PL intensity enhancement induced by SF6 plasma treatment may be attributed to surface chemistry modification as confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies. Several factors including presence of hydroxyl group on the ZnO surface, increased oxygen level in the ZnO lattice (OL), generation of F−OH and F−Zn bonds and passivation of surface states and bulk defects are considered to be active towards red/orange emission in the PL spectrum. The PL spectra were deconvoluted into component Gaussian sub-peaks representing transitions from conduction-band minimum (CBM) to oxygen interstitials (Oi) and CBM to oxygen vacancies (VO) with corresponding photon energies of 2.21 and 1.90 eV, respectively. The optimum plasma treatment route for ZnO nanostructures with resulting enhancement in the PL emission offers strong potential for photonic applications such as visible wavelength phosphors

Electrochemical Stability Enhancement in Reactive Magnetron Sputtered VN Films upon Annealing Treatment

Vanadium nitride (VN) thin films were produced via direct-current reactive magnetron sputtering technique followed by vacuum annealing. The treatment was carried out at different temperatures for any effect on their electrochemical (EC) stability, up to 10,000 charge⁻discharge cycles in 0.5 M K2SO4 solution. The film surface chemistry was investigated by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscope (XPS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. For the as-deposited film, the oxide layer formed on the VN surface was unstable upon K2SO4 immersion treatment, along with ~23% reduction in the EC capacitance. Vacuum annealing under optimized conditions, however, made the oxide layer stable with almost no capacitance loss upon cycling for up to 10,000 cycles. Annealing treatment of the VN films makes them a potential candidate for long-term use in electrochemical capacitors

Plasma Treatment of Polystyrene Films—Effect on Wettability and Surface Interactions with Au Nanoparticles

Polystyrene (PS)/Gold (Au) is used for a wide range of applications, including composite nanofibers, catalysis, organic memory devices, and biosensing. In this work, PS films were deposited on silicon substrates via a spin coating technique followed by treatment with argon (Ar) plasma admixed with ammonia (NH3), oxygen (O2), or tetrafluoroethane (C2H2F4). X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed modified surface chemistry for Ar/O2, Ar/NH3, or Ar/C2H2F4 plasma treatment through the incorporation of oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine groups, respectively. Size-controlled magnetron sputter deposition of Au nanoparticles (NP) onto these plasma-treated PS films was investigated via XPS and AFM techniques. The interaction of the Au NPs, as probed from the XPS and AFM measurements, is discussed by referring to changes in surface chemistry and morphology of the PS after plasma treatment. The results demonstrate the effect of surface chemistry on the interaction of Au NPs with polymer support having different surface functionalities. The XPS results show that significant oxygen surface incorporation resulted from oxygen-containing species in the plasma itself. The surface concentration of O increased from 0.4% for the pristine PS to 4.5 at%, 35.4 at%, and 45.6 at% for the Ar/C2H4F4, Ar/NH3, and Ar/O2, respectively. The water contact angle (WCA) values were noticed to decrease from 98° for the untreated PS to 95°, 37°, and 15° for Ar/C2H2F4, Ar/NH3, and Ar/O2 plasma-modified PS samples, respectively. AFM results demonstrate that surface treatment was also accompanied by surface morphology change. Small Au islands are well dispersed and cover the surface, thus forming a homogeneous, isotropic structure. The reported results are important for exploiting Au NPs use in catalysis and sensing applications