Effects of Particle Sizes on Sintering Behavior of 316L Stainless Steel Powder

In rapidly evolving powder injection molding technology, the wide prevalence of various microstructures demands the powders of smaller particle sizes. The effects of particle size on the sintering behavior are critical to not only shape retention of microstructure but also its mechanical properties. This study investigates the effects of three different particle sizes on the sintering behavior of the 316L stainless steel (STS316L) samples, prepared by powder injection molding, via the dilatometry experiments. For this purpose, the STS316L powders of three different mean particle sizes, i.e., 2.97, 4.16, and 8.04 mu m, were produced for STS316L. The samples for the dilatometry test were prepared through powder-binder mixing, injection molding, and solvent and thermal debinding. Dilatometry experiments were carried out with the samples in a H-2 atmosphere at three different heating rates of 3, 6, and 10 K/min. The shrinkage data obtained by dilatometry experiments was collected and analyzed to help understand the densification and the sintering behaviors in terms of particles size and heating rate. The master sintering curve (MSC) model was used to quantify the effects of particle sizes. In addition, we investigated the microstructure evolutions in terms of particles sizes.open1186sciescopu

Search for CP violation in D0 and D+ decays

A high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay modes D+ to K-K+pi+, D0 to K-K+ and D0 to pi-pi+. We have measured the following CP asymmetry parameters: A_CP(K-K+pi+) = +0.006 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.005, A_CP(K-K+) = -0.001 +/- 0.022 +/- 0.015 and A_CP(pi-pi+) = +0.048 +/- 0.039 +/- 0.025 where the first error is statistical and the second error is systematic. These asymmetries are consistent with zero with smaller errors than previous measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Generation of NSE-MerCreMer Transgenic Mice with Tamoxifen Inducible Cre Activity in Neurons

To establish a genetic tool for conditional deletion or expression of gene in neurons in a temporally controlled manner, we generated a transgenic mouse (NSE-MerCreMer), which expressed a tamoxifen inducible type of Cre recombinase specifically in neurons. The tamoxifen inducible Cre recombinase (MerCreMer) is a fusion protein containing Cre recombinase with two modified estrogen receptor ligand binding domains at both ends, and is driven by the neural-specific rat neural specific enolase (NSE) promoter. A total of two transgenic lines were established, and expression of MerCreMer in neurons of the central and enteric nervous systems was confirmed. Transcript of MerCreMer was detected in several non-neural tissues such as heart, liver, and kidney in these lines. In the background of the Cre reporter mouse strain Rosa26R, Cre recombinase activity was inducible in neurons of adult NSE-MerCreMer mice treated with tamoxifen by intragastric gavage, but not in those fed with corn oil only. We conclude that NSE-MerCreMer lines will be useful for studying gene functions in neurons for the conditions that Cre-mediated recombination resulting in embryonic lethality, which precludes investigation of gene functions in neurons through later stages of development and in adult

Systemic chemotherapy with doxorubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine for metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Although numerous chemotherapeutic agents have been tested, the role of systemic chemotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been clarified. New therapeutic strategies are thus needed to improve outcomes, and we designed this study with new effective drug combination. METHODS: Twenty-nine patients with histologically-confirmed, metastatic HCC received a combination chemotherapy with doxorubicin 60 mg/m(2 )and cisplatin 60 mg/m(2 )on day 1, plus capecitabine 2000 mg/m(2)/day as an intermittent regimen of 2 weeks of treatment followed by a 1-week rest. RESULTS: The median age was 49 years (range, 32–64) and 19 patients were hepatitis B virus seropositive. Child-Pugh class was A in all patients and 4 had Zubrod performance status of 2. The objective response rate was 24% (95% CI 9–40) with 6 stable diseases. The chemotherapy was generally well tolerated despite one treatment-related death. CONCLUSION: Combination chemotherapy with doxorubicin, cisplatin and capecitabine produced modest antitumor activity with tolerable adverse effects in patients with metastatic HCC

Deficiency of Thioredoxin Binding Protein-2 (TBP-2) Enhances TGF-β Signaling and Promotes Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) has critical roles in regulating cell growth, differentiation, apoptosis, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of various cancer cells. TGF-β-induced EMT is an important step during carcinoma progression to invasion state. Thioredoxin binding protein-2 (TBP-2, also called Txnip or VDUP1) is downregulated in various types of human cancer, and its deficiency results in the earlier onset of cancer. However, it remains unclear how TBP-2 suppresses the invasion and metastasis of cancer.In this study, we demonstrated that TBP-2 deficiency increases the transcriptional activity in response to TGF-β and also enhances TGF-β-induced Smad2 phosphorylation levels. Knockdown of TBP-2 augmented the TGF-β-responsive expression of Snail and Slug, transcriptional factors related to TGF-β-mediated induction of EMT, and promoted TGF-β-induced spindle-like morphology consistent with the depletion of E-Cadherin in A549 cells.Our results indicate that TBP-2 deficiency enhances TGF-β signaling and promotes TGF-β-induced EMT. The control of TGF-β-induced EMT is critical for the inhibition of the invasion and metastasis. Thus TBP-2, as a novel regulatory molecule of TGF-β signaling, is likely to be a prognostic indicator or a potential therapeutic target for preventing tumor progression

Measurement of the Relative Branching Fraction of Υ(4S)\Upsilon(4S) to Charged and Neutral B-Meson Pairs

We analyze 9.7 x 10^6 B\bar{B}$ pairs recorded with the CLEO detector to determine the production ratio of charged to neutral B-meson pairs produced at the Y(4S) resonance. We measure the rates for B^0 -> J/psi K^{(*)0} and B^+ -> J/psi K^{(*)+} decays and use the world-average B-meson lifetime ratio to extract the relative widths f+-/f00 = Gamma(Y(4S) -> B+B-)/Gamma(Y(4S) -> B0\bar{B0}) = = 1.04 +/- 0.07(stat) +/- 0.04(syst). With the assumption that f+- + f00 = 1, we obtain f00 = 0.49 +/- 0.02(stat) +/- 0.01(syst) and f+- = 0.51 +/- 0.02(stat) +/- 0.01(syst). This production ratio and its uncertainty apply to all exclusive B-meson branching fractions measured at the Y(4S) resonance.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

First Observation of τ→3πηντ\tau\to 3\pi\eta\nu_{\tau} and τ→f1πντ\tau\to f_{1}\pi\nu_{\tau} Decays

We have observed new channels for $\tau$ decays with an $\eta$ in the final state. We study 3-prong tau decays, using the $\eta\to\gamma\gamma$ and \eta\to 3\piz decay modes and 1-prong decays with two \piz's using the $\eta\to\gamma\gamma$ channel. The measured branching fractions are \B(\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}\pi^{-}\pi^{+}\eta\nu_{\tau}) =(3.4^{+0.6}_{-0.5}\pm0.6)\times10^{-4} and \B(\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}2\piz\eta\nu_{\tau} =(1.4\pm0.6\pm0.3)\times10^{-4}. We observe clear evidence for $f_1\to\eta\pi\pi$ substructure and measure \B(\tau^{-}\to f_1\pi^{-}\nu_{\tau})=(5.8^{+1.4}_{-1.3}\pm1.8)\times10^{-4}. We have also searched for $\eta'(958)$ production and obtain 90% CL upper limits \B(\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}\eta'\nu_\tau)<7.4\times10^{-5} and \B(\tau^{-}\to \pi^{-}\piz\eta'\nu_\tau)<8.0\times10^{-5}.Comment: 11 page postscript file, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

ΛΛˉ\Lambda\bar{\Lambda} Production in Two-Photon Interactions at CLEO

Using the CLEO detector at the Cornell $e^+e^-$ storage ring, CESR, we study the two-photon production of $\Lambda \bar{\Lambda}$, making the first observation of $\gamma \gamma \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}$. We present the cross-section for $\gamma \gamma \to \Lambda \bar{\Lambda}$ as a function of the $\gamma \gamma$ center of mass energy and compare it to that predicted by the quark-diquark model.Comment: 10 pages, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Cold-adapted RTX lipase from antarctic Pseudomonas sp. strain AMS8: isolation, molecular modeling and heterologous expression

A new strain of psychrophilic bacteria (designated strain AMS8) from Antarctic soil was screened for extracellular lipolytic activity and further analyzed using molecular approach. Analysis of 16S rDNA showed that strain AMS8 was similar to Pseudomonas sp. A lipase gene named lipAMS8 was successfully isolated from strain AMS8, cloned, sequenced and overexpressed in Escherichia coli. Sequence analysis revealed that lipAMS8 consist of 1,431 bp nucleotides that encoded a polypeptide consisting of 476 amino acids. It lacked an N-terminal signal peptide and contained a glycine- and aspartate-rich nonapeptide sequence at the C-terminus, which are known to be the characteristics of repeats-in-toxin bacterial lipases. Furthermore, the substrate binding site of lipAMS8 was identified as S207, D 255 and H313, based on homology modeling and multiple sequence alignment. Crude lipase exhibited maximum activity at 20 C and retained almost 50 % of its activity at 10 C. The molecular weight of lipAMS8 was estimated to be 50 kDa via sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The optimal expression level was attained using the recombinant plasmid pET32b/BL21(DE3) expressed at 15 C for 8 h, induced by 0.1 mM isopropyl β-D thiogalactoside (IPTG) at E. coli growth optimal density of 0.5