A monolithic and flexible fluoropolymer film microreactor for organic synthesis applications

A photocurable and viscous fluoropolymer with chemical stability is a highly desirable material for fabrication of microchemical devices. Lack of a reliable fabrication method, however, limits actual applications for organic reactions. Herein, we report fabrication of a monolithic and flexible fluoropolymer film microreactor and its use as a new microfluidic platform. The fabrication involves facile soft lithography techniques that enable partial curing of thin laminates, which can be readily bonded by conformal contact without any external forces. We demonstrate fabrication of various functional channels (similar to 300 mu m thick) such as those embedded with either a herringbone micromixer pattern or a droplet generator. Organic reactions under strongly acidic and basic conditions can be carried out in this film microreactor even at elevated temperature with excellent reproducibility. In particular, the transparent film microreactor with good deformability could be wrapped around a light-emitting lamp for close contact with the light source for efficient photochemical reactions with visible light, which demonstrates easy integration with optical components for functional miniaturized systems.open1112Ysciescopu

Motion-correlated flow distortion and wave-induced biases in air-sea flux measurements from ships

Direct measurements of the turbulent air–sea fluxes of momentum, heat, moisture and gases are often made using sensors mounted on ships. Ship-based turbulent wind measurements are corrected for platform motion using well established techniques, but biases at scales associated with wave and platform motion are often still apparent in the flux measurements. It has been uncertain whether this signal is due to time-varying distortion of the air flow over the platform or to wind–wave interactions impacting the turbulence. Methods for removing such motion-scale biases from scalar measurements have previously been published but their application to momentum flux measurements remains controversial. Here we show that the measured motion-scale bias has a dependence on the horizontal ship velocity and that a correction for it reduces the dependence of the measured momentum flux on the orientation of the ship to the wind. We conclude that the bias is due to experimental error and that time-varying motion-dependent flow distortion is the likely source

Direct determination of the air-sea CO₂ gas transfer velocity in Arctic sea-ice regions

The Arctic Ocean is an important sink for atmospheric CO₂. The impact of decreasing sea-ice extent and expanding marginal ice zones on Arctic air-sea CO₂ exchange depends on the rate of gas transfer in the presence of sea ice. Sea ice acts to limit air-sea gas exchange by reducing contact between air and water, but is also hypothesised to enhance gas transfer rates across surrounding open water surfaces through physical processes such as increased surface-ocean turbulence from ice-water shear and ice-edge form drag. Here we present the first direct determination of the CO₂ air-sea gas transfer velocity in a wide range of Arctic sea-ice conditions. We show that the gas transfer velocity increases near-linearly with decreasing sea-ice concentration. We also show that previous modeling approaches overestimate gas transfer rates in sea-ice regions

Plasma Pro-Endothelin-1 Peptide Concentrations Rise in Chronic Kidney Disease and Following Selective Endothelin A Receptor Antagonism

The new analyses described in this article were funded by the Medical Research Council (Grant G0801509). Additional funding was from the British Heart Foundation (Project Grant PG/05/91), Encysive Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer. Dr Dhaun is supported by a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Clinical Research Fellowship (FS/13/30/29994)

Single event upset studies for the ATLAS SCT and pixel optical links

Optical data transmission has been chosen for the ATLAS Pixel and SemiConductor Tracker to deliver both timing and control information to the detector modules and transmit tracking data to the remote computer room. Radiation hardness of individuals optical components and their ASICs drivers have been reported in previous papers. We will report here the Single Event Upset studies carried out on a customised optopackage using a high-energy pion beam. It will be shown that the system is sufficiently robust to SEU at the ATLAS SCT level

Pair Interaction Potentials of Colloids by Extrapolation of Confocal Microscopy Measurements of Collective Structure

A method for measuring the pair interaction potential between colloidal particles by extrapolation measurement of collective structure to infinite dilution is presented and explored using simulation and experiment. The method is particularly well suited to systems in which the colloid is fluorescent and refractive index matched with the solvent. The method involves characterizing the potential of mean force between colloidal particles in suspension by measurement of the radial distribution function using 3D direct visualization. The potentials of mean force are extrapolated to infinite dilution to yield an estimate of the pair interaction potential, $U(r)$. We use Monte Carlo (MC) simulation to test and establish our methodology as well as to explore the effects of polydispersity on the accuracy. We use poly-12-hydroxystearic acid-stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PHSA-PMMA) particles dispersed in the solvent dioctyl phthalate (DOP) to test the method and assess its accuracy for three different repulsive systems for which the range has been manipulated by addition of electrolyte.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figure

Laimaphelenchus suberensis sp. nov. associated with Quercus suber in Portugal

Laimaphelenchus suberensis sp. nov. obtained from declining Quercus suber trees of Herdade da Gouveia de Baixo, Alentejo, Portugal, is described and illustrated based on morphological, biometrical and molecular characters. The diagnosis of Laimaphelenchus species has been commonly based on the presence or absence of a vulval flap and on the shape structure of the tail tip. The species described here has been included in the Laimaphelenchus group without vulval flap, and can be distinguished from morphologically similar species by its tail tip shape structure that has a stalk-like terminus and three diffuse tubercles with 4–6 finger-like protrusions. For the molecular analyses, the mitochondrial DNA region from the cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtCOI), the D2-D3 expansion segments of the large subunit (LSU) and small subunit (SSU) of rRNA gene were amplified and sequenced. Sequences of L. suberensis sp. nov. clustered separately from all Laimaphelenchus spp. with available sequences in Genbank, confirming its identification as a new species. This is the second report of the genus Laimaphelenchus in Portugal, associated with Q. suber: L. heidelbergi and L. suberensis sp. nov.This research was supported by CFE, CIEPQPF and FEDER funds through the ‘Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade – COMPETE’ and by national funds through FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia under the projects UID/BIA/04004/2013, PEst-C/EQB/UI0102/2013 and FCOMP-01-0124-008937 (Ref. PTDC/BIA–BEC/102834/2008) and by Instituto do Ambiente, Tecnologia e Vida (IATV). Carla Maleita (SFRH/BPD/85736/2012) and Sofia Costa (SFRH/BPD/ 102438/2014) were financed by MEC National funding and The European Social Fund through POCH (Programa Operacional Capital Humano).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Epigenetic regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 by methylation of c8orf4 in pulmonary fibrosis

Fibroblasts derived from the lungs of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) produce low levels of prostaglandin (PG) E(2), due to a limited capacity to up-regulate cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). This deficiency contributes functionally to the fibroproliferative state, however the mechanisms responsible are incompletely understood. In the present study, we examined whether the reduced level of COX-2 mRNA expression observed in fibrotic lung fibroblasts is regulated epigenetically. The DNA methylation inhibitor, 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5AZA) restored COX-2 mRNA expression by fibrotic lung fibroblasts dose dependently. Functionally, this resulted in normalization of fibroblast phenotype in terms of PGE(2) production, collagen mRNA expression and sensitivity to apoptosis. COX-2 methylation assessed by bisulfite sequencing and methylation microarrays was not different in fibrotic fibroblasts compared with controls. However, further analysis of the methylation array data identified a transcriptional regulator, chromosome 8 open reading frame 4 (thyroid cancer protein 1, TC-1) (c8orf4), which is hypermethylated and down-regulated in fibrotic fibroblasts compared with controls. siRNA knockdown of c8orf4 in control fibroblasts down-regulated COX-2 and PGE(2) production generating a phenotype similar to that observed in fibrotic lung fibroblasts. Chromatin immunoprecipitation demonstrated that c8orf4 regulates COX-2 expression in lung fibroblasts through binding of the proximal promoter. We conclude that the decreased capacity of fibrotic lung fibroblasts to up-regulate COX-2 expression and COX-2-derived PGE(2) synthesis is due to an indirect epigenetic mechanism involving hypermethylation of the transcriptional regulator, c8orf4