Coating Requirements for an ICF Dry-Wall Design

A new concept for protecting the first wall of an ICF reactor has been developed which relies heavily on a coating to protect the steel tubes which comprise the first wall. This coating must survive the pellet explosion, be ductile, and be compatible with the materials in the ICF pellet. Calculations indicate that tantalum is the best choice for the coating material and that tantalum coated steel tubes can handle fusion thermal powers of 3500 MW in a 10 m radius spherical chamber

The varied roles of nuclear receptors during vertebrate embryonic development

Nuclear receptors comprise a superfamily of sequence-specific transcription factors whose members have diverse roles during development. This review will summarize the developmental roles of selected members of the nuclear receptor superfamily

Cardiovascular development: towards biomedical applicability: Epicardium-derived cells in cardiogenesis and cardiac regeneration

During cardiogenesis, the epicardium grows from the proepicardial organ to form the outermost layer of the early heart. Part of the epicardium undergoes epithelial-mesenchymal transformation, and migrates into the myocardium. These epicardium- derived cells differentiate into interstitial fibroblasts, coronary smooth muscle cells, and perivascular fibroblasts. Moreover, epicardium-derived cells are important regulators of formation of the compact myocardium, the coronary vasculature, and the Purkinje fiber network, thus being essential for proper cardiac development. The fibrous structures of the heart such as the fibrous heart skeleton and the semilunar and atrioventricular valves also depend on a contribution of these cells during development. We hypothesise that the essential properties of epicardium-derived cells can be recapitulated in adult diseased myocardium. These cells can therefore be considered as a novel source of adult stem cells useful in clinical cardiac regeneration therapy

Antagonizing retinoic acid receptors increases myeloid cell production by cultured human hematopoietic stem cells

Activities of the retinoic acid receptor (RAR)α and RARγ are important to hematopoiesis. Here, we have investigated the effects of receptor selective agonists and antagonists on the primitive human hematopoietic cell lines KG1 and NB-4 and purified normal human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Agonizing RARα (by AGN195183) was effective in driving neutrophil differentiation of NB-4 cells and this agonist synergized with a low amount (10 nM) of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) to drive monocyte differentiation of NB-4 and KG1 cells. Treatment of cultures of human HSCs (supplemented with stem cell factor ± interleukin 3) with an antagonist of all RARs (AGN194310) or of RARα (AGN196996) prolonged the lifespan of cultures, up to 55 days, and increased the production of neutrophils and monocytes. Slowing down of cell differentiation was not observed, and instead, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells had expanded in number. Antagonism of RARγ (by AGN205728) did not affect cultures of HSCs. Studies of CV-1 and LNCaP cells transfected with RAR expression vectors and a reporter vector revealed that RARγ and RARβ are activated by sub-nM all-trans retinoic acid (EC(50)–0.3 nM): ~50-fold more is required for activation of RARα (EC(50)–16 nM). These findings further support the notion that the balance of expression and activity of RARα and RARγ are important to hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell expansion and differentiation

Impurity and gas throughput control for TNS

A model of the interaction between an ignited plasma and a wall is utilized to study the impact of impurities and recycled fuel ions and helium ash on the burn time of the plasma. The model indicates that the impurity concentration, n/sub im/, grows exponentially toward a maximum value determined by the confinement time for impurities, tau/sub im/, the sputtering coefficient, S/sub i/, and the isolation coefficient, ..cap alpha... The time for n/sub im/ to reach a critical value and quench the plasma was determined for representative impurities, C, Mo, W, Fe, under various conditions of plasma temperature. Methods for extending the burn time by minimizing the effective sputtering coefficient of the wall and increasing the isolation of the plasma from the wall are reviewed. The carbides, B/sub 4/C and SiC, are found to have encouraging sputtering properties but their thermal, chemical and mechanical properties need to be evaluated before they can be recommended for use as first walls. The magnetic divertor is the preferred isolation scheme. Because the divertor carries impurities and leaked fuel and helium ions to a burial chamber, required pumping speeds are found to be very high for TNS plasmas and supplemental particle trapping systems must be introduced in order to reduce the required pump speed to attainable values