The influence of exogenous nitric oxide on the pathophysiology of angioplasty injury

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ECONOMICS OF INVESTMENT IN THE PRODUCTION OF DIRECT REDUCED IRON IN AUSTRALIA.

The economics of the manufacture of directly reduced iron (DRI) have been examined for the Australian scene using either coal or natural gas based processes. The evaluation has shown that in the present world economic climate DRI production appears to be unattractive for feasible fuel, capital, and raw material costs in Australia. Under more favourable international DRI price circumstances, the analysis has shown that either a large conventional natural gas based process or a coal based process with waste gas energy recovery would provide the best investment opportunity of the cases studied. However, the final feasibility will depend on local circumstances and, in particular, the local raw material and energy costs for the process

Downregulation of the ERK 1 and 2 mitogen activated protein kinases using antisense oligonucleotides inhibits proliferation of porcine vascular smooth muscle cells

The current model of the arterial response to injury suggests that proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells is a central event. Mitogen activated protein kinases are part of the final common pathway of intracellular signalling involved in cell division and thus constitute an attractive target in attempting to inhibit this proliferation. We hypothesised that antisense oligonucleotides to mitogen activated protein kinase would inhibit serum induced smooth muscle cell proliferation by downregulating the protein. Porcine vascular smooth muscle cells were cultured and an antisense oligonucleotide sequence against the ERK family of mitogen activated protein kinases (AMK1) was introduced by liposomal transfection. Sense oligonucleotides and a random sequence were used as controls. Proliferation was inhibited by AMK1 versus the sense controls, as assessed by tritiated thymidine incorporation (P<0.01). Immunoblots revealed downregulation of the target protein by AMK1 by 63% versus the sense control (P<0.05). In conclusion, antisense oligonucleotides specifically inhibited proliferation and downregulated the target protein. This is consistent with a central role for mitogen activated protein kinases in vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation in the porcine model. In addition, the data suggest a possible role for antisense oligonucleotides in the modulation of the arterial injury response

Jets blowing bubbles in the young radio galaxy 4C 31.04

International audienceWe report the discovery of shocked molecular and ionized gas resulting from jet-driven feedback in the low-redshift (z = 0.0602) compact radio galaxy 4C 31.04 using near-IR imaging spectroscopy. 4C 31.04 is a ∼100 pc double-lobed Compact Steep Spectrum source believed to be a very young active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is hosted by a giant elliptical with a |${\sim } 10^{9}\, \rm M_\odot$| multiphase gaseous circumnuclear disc. We used high spatial resolution, adaptive optics-assisted H- and K-band integral field Gemini/NIFS observations to probe (1) the warm (∼10^3 K) molecular gas phase, traced by ro-vibrational transitions of H_2, and (2), the warm ionized medium, traced by the [Fe ii]|$_{1.644\, \rm \mu m}$| line. The [Fe ii] emission traces shocked gas ejected from the disc plane by a jet-blown bubble |$300\!-\!400\, \rm pc$| in diameter, while the H_2 emission traces shock-excited molecular gas in the interior |${\sim } 1\, \rm kpc$| of the circumnuclear disc. Hydrodynamical modelling shows that the apparent discrepancy between the extent of the shocked gas and the radio emission can occur when the brightest regions of the synchrotron-emitting plasma are temporarily halted by dense clumps, while less bright plasma can percolate through the porous ISM and form an energy-driven bubble that expands freely out of the disc plane. Simulations suggest that this bubble is filled with low surface brightness plasma not visible in existing VLBI observations of 4C 31.04 due to insufficient sensitivity. Additional radial flows of jet plasma may percolate to ∼ kpc radii in the circumnuclear disc, driving shocks and accelerating clouds of gas, giving rise to the H_2 emission