AMORPHOUS ICE MADE BY "MELTING" AT 77 K

La glace I semble fondre lorsqu'elle est comprimée sous une pression de 10 kbars à 77 K ; elle se transforme en une nouvelle forme de glace amorphe dont la masse volumique est de 1,31 g cm-3 sous une pression de 10 kbars, et de 1,17 g cm-3 sous une pression de zéro.Ice I appears to melt when compressed to 10 kbar at 77 K to form a new kind of amorphous ice having a density of 1.31 g cm-3 at 10 kbar and 1.17 g cm-3 at zero pressure

Isotherms and crystallography of the hydrides of the system CaxEu1 12xNi5

The hydriding of the system CaxEu1 12xNi5 has been examined for various values of x using in-situ X-ray diffraction and pressure-composition measurement at 298 K. The single phase solutions which exist in this ternary intermetallic system for x = 0 to 0.25 and 0.8 to 1.0 exhibit hydriding behaviour closely related to that of the corresponding end member binary. Significant changes in the stability, ease of activation and the composition range of the hydrides of the ternaries compared to that of the \u201crelated\u201d binaries are observed.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Dichloroacetate modulates the oxidative stress and inflammatory response to exercise in COPD.

Background Impaired skeletal muscle function contributes to exercise intolerance in patients with COPD. Exercise-induced oxidative stress may initiate or accelerate impaired muscle function. Dichloroacetate (DCA) activates muscle pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC) at rest, reducing inertia in mitochondrial energy delivery at the onset of exercise and thereby diminishing anaerobic energy production. This study aimed to determine whether DCA infusion may also reduce exercise-induced systemic oxidative stress and inflammatory response in COPD patients. Methods A randomized, double-blind crossover design was used in which thirteen COPD patients performed maximal cycle exercise after an IV infusion of DCA (50mg/kilogram body mass) or saline (placebo). Venous blood was sampled before, immediately after, 30 min and 2h after exercise. Urine samples were obtained before and 2h after exercise. Results Peak workload improved significantly after DCA compared to placebo (10%; p < 0.01). Urinary uric acid after exercise was significantly lower in the DCA condition when compared to placebo, whereas no significant difference was observed for urinary malondialdehyde. Oxidized glutathione (GSSG) was significantly increased 2h after exercise in the placebo condition (p < 0.02), but not after DCA. No changes in reduced glutathione (GSH), GSSG/GSH ratio and superoxide dismutase activity were observed. Plasma IL-6 significantly increased 2h after exercise only in the DCA condition (p < 0.01). Conclusions This study shows that the improved performance after a pharmacological intervention known to activate PDC was accompanied by an enhanced IL-6 response and a limited reduction in exercise-induced systemic oxidative stress. Trial registration National Research Register (www.nrr.nhs.uk) Identifier: N0123180712

The new metals and alloys compilation, a powerful materials analysis tool

A new compilation of Metals and Alloys indexes of powder diffraction and structural data has been completed. This compilation is designed to make characterization of metallic and related nonmetallic materialsl easier and more accurate. To achieve these goals, the existing Metals and Alloys Powder Diffraction File (M A PDF) contents were greatly increased to make the M A PDF contents similar to standard metallurgical references. Then six new indexes based on the M A PDF were developed