Assessing the impact of the physical properties of industrially produced carbon nanotubes on their interaction with human primary macrophages in vitro

Currently it is not fully understood how carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may affect human health. Despite this, CNTs are produced at a tonne mass scale yearly. Due to their large production and intended use within a variety of applications it is imperative that a clear understanding of the hazard potential of CNTs is gained. The aim of this study therefore was to assess the impact of five different industrially produced CNTs which varied in their physical properties on the viability of human monocyte derived macrophages (MDM), and subsequently, at sub-lethal concentrations (0.005-0.02 mg/mL), their ability to cause oxidative stress and a pro-inflammatory response in these important immune cells over a 24-h period. None of the CNTs caused significant cytotoxicity up to 0.02 mg/mL after 24 h. Only the long multi-walled CNTs (MWNCTs) caused a significant, dose-dependent (0.005-0.02 mg/mL) reactive oxygen species production, whilst bundled MWCNTs showed a significant tumor necrosis factor alpha release after 24 h exposure at 0.02 mg/mL. No effects were observed for either tangled MWCNTs or short MWCNTs. It can be concluded from the findings of the present study that the industrially produced CNTs studied can cause hazardous effects in vitro that may be associated with their physical propertie

Data mining crystallization kinetics

The population balance model is a valuable modelling tool which facilitates the optimization and understanding of crystallization processes. However, in order to use this tool, it is necessary to have previous knowledge of the crystallization kinetics, specifically crystal growth and nucleation. The majority of approaches to achieve proper estimations of kinetic parameters require experimental data. Over time, a vast amount of literature on the estimation of kinetic parameters and population balances has been published. Considering the availability of data, in this work a database was built with information on solute, solvent, kinetic expression, parameters, crystallization method and seeding. Correlations were assessed and cluster structures identified by hierarchical cluster analysis. The final database contains 336 datapoints of kinetic parameters from 185 different sources. The data were analysed using kinetic parameters of the most common expressions. Subsequently, clusters were identified for each kinetic model. With these clusters, classification random forest models were made using solute descriptors, seeding, solvent, and crystallization methods as classifiers. Random forest models had an overall classification accuracy higher than 70% whereby they were useful for providing rough estimates of kinetic parameters, although these methods have some limitations

Aqueous solubility of organic salts. Investigating trends in a systematic series of 51 crystalline salt forms of methylephedrine

A dataset consisting of structures and aqueous solubility and melting point data for 51 salt forms of the phenylethylamine base methylephedrine is presented. Analysis showed correlation between solubility and melting point and between melting point of the salt and melting point of the parent acid, but no correlation of salt solubility with solubility of the parent acid. Identification of associations was aided by examining chemically sensible subgroups of the dataset, and this approach highlighted significantly different relationships between solubility and melting point for these subgroups. Thus, for example, the expected negative correlation between solubility and melting point was found for 24 anhydrous benzoate salts, but a positive correlation observed for 8 halide salts. Hydrated forms were anomalous. Packing analysis identified groups of structures that were isostructural with respect to cation packing. Correlation between solubility and melting point was found to be greatest within these isostructural groups, implying a role for packing structure in determining solubility

Flexible modelling of the dissolution performance of directly compressed tablets

In this study, a compartmental disintegration and dissolution model is proposed for the prediction and evaluation of the dissolution performance of directly compressed tablets. This dissolution model uses three compartments (Bound, Disintegrated, and Dissolved) to describe the state of each particle of active pharmaceutical ingredient. The disintegration of the tablet is captured by three fitting parameters. Two disintegration parameters, β0 and βt,0 , describe the initial disintegration rate and the change in disintegration rate, respectively. A third parameter, α, describes the effect of the volume of dissolved drug on the disintegration process. As the tablet disintegrates, particles become available for dissolution. The dissolution rate is determined by the Nernst-Brunner equation, whilst taking into account the hydrodynamic effects within the vessel of a USP II (paddle) apparatus. This model uses the raw material properties of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (solubility, particle size distribution, true density), lending it towards early development activities during which time the amount of drug substance available may be limited. Additionally, the strong correlations between the fitting parameters and the tablet porosity indicate the potential to isolate the manufacturing effects and thus implement the model as part of a real-time release testing strategy for a continuous direct compression line

Sex-Stratified Genome-Wide Association Study of Multisite Chronic Pain in UK Biobank

Chronic pain is highly prevalent worldwide and imparts a significant socioeconomic and public health burden. Factors influencing susceptibility to, and mechanisms of, chronic pain development, are not fully understood, but sex is thought to play a significant role, and chronic pain is more prevalent in women than in men. To investigate sex differences in chronic pain, we carried out a sex-stratified genome-wide association study of Multisite Chronic Pain (MCP), a derived chronic pain phenotype, in UK Biobank on 178,556 men and 209,093 women, as well as investigating sex-specific genetic correlations with a range of psychiatric, autoimmune and anthropometric phenotypes and the relationship between sex-specific polygenic risk scores for MCP and chronic widespread pain. We also assessed whether MCP-associated genes showed expression pattern enrichment across tissues. A total of 123 SNPs at five independent loci were significantly associated with MCP in men. In women, a total of 286 genome-wide significant SNPs at ten independent loci were discovered. Meta-analysis of sex-stratified GWAS outputs revealed a further 87 independent associated SNPs. Gene-level analyses revealed sex-specific MCP associations, with 31 genes significantly associated in females, 37 genes associated in males, and a single gene, DCC, associated in both sexes. We found evidence for sex-specific pleiotropy and risk for MCP was found to be associated with chronic widespread pain in a sex-differential manner. Male and female MCP were highly genetically correlated, but at an rg of significantly less than 1 (0.92). All 37 male MCP-associated genes and all but one of 31 female MCP-associated genes were found to be expressed in the dorsal root ganglion, and there was a degree of enrichment for expression in sex-specific tissues. Overall, the findings indicate that sex differences in chronic pain exist at the SNP, gene and transcript abundance level, and highlight possible sex-specific pleiotropy for MCP. Results support the proposition of a strong central nervous-system component to chronic pain in both sexes, additionally highlighting a potential role for the DRG and nociception

Regioselective reaction of heterocyclic N-oxides, an acyl chloride and cyclic thioethers

Treatment of electron deficient pyridine N-oxides with 4-nitrobenzoyl chloride and a cyclic thioether in the presence of triethylamine leads to the corresponding 2-functionalized product in up to 74% iso-lated yield. The transformation can also be accomplished with alternative nitrogen containing hetero-cycles including quinolines, pyrimidines, and pyrazines. To expand the scope of the transformation diisopropyl ether can be used as the reaction medium to allow for the use of solid thioether substrates

Soft systems methodology: a context within a 50-year retrospective of OR/MS

Soft systems methodology (SSM) has been used in the practice of operations research and management science OR/MS) since the early 1970s. In the 1990s, it emerged as a viable academic discipline. Unfortunately, its proponents consider SSM and traditional systems thinking to be mutually exclusive. Despite the differences claimed by SSM proponents between the two, they have been complementary. An extensive sampling of the OR/MS literature over its entire lifetime demonstrates the richness with which the non-SSM literature has been addressing the very same issues as does SSM