EFFECT OF CUP AND BALL TYPES ON MECHANO-CHEMICAL SYNTHES IS OF Al2O3–TiC NANOCOMPOSITE POWDER

Al2O3–TiC nanocomposite powder was successfully synthesized by ball milling TiO2, Al and graphite powders. Effects of cup and ball type, milling time and annealing were investigated. XRD was used to characterize milled and annealed powders. The morphological and microstructural evolutions were studied by SEM and TEM. Results showed that the formation of this composite begins after 20 h and completes after 35 h of milling with stainless steel cup and balls. In contrast, there is no reaction during milling (up to 80 h) with ZrO2 cup and balls. Fe and ZrO2 were the major impurities introduced during milling with stainless steel and ZrO2 cups, respectively. The Fe impurity was removed by leaching in 3HCl·HNO3 solution for 4 days. Mean grain size less than 7 nm was achieved at the end of milling. In spite of grain growth, this composite maintained its nanocrystalline nature after annealing at 1000°C

Attenuation of serum laminin concentrations upon treatment of chronic hepatitis

Objectives: The aim of this work was to determine the serum laminin level cutoff point for predicting liver fibrosis highlighting its diagnostic value and determining the effect of treatment on serum laminin concentrations. Methods: Serum laminin concentrations in chronic hepatitis patients (n=62) and controls (n=20) were compared by ELISA and stages of fibrosis were assessed according to the modified Knodell score system. Results: Mean serum laminin concentration in patients (91.9 ± 20.9 ng/ml) was greater than controls (46.2 ± 10.2 ng/ml; p <0.001). Serum concentrations of laminin in all stages of hepatic fibrosis were significantly higher than those of healthy controls (p <0.05). A cutoff point of 52ng laminin/ml of serum was obtained for the discrimination of various stages of liver fibrosis showing a good sensitivity (96.8%) and specificity (80%). After 6 months of treatment, a gradual decrease in serum laminin concentrations were observed, however the level was still higher than that of the healthy group (p<0.05). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the serum laminin concentration is a useful noninvasive marker of liver fibrosis and shows a strong positive correlation with different stages of the disease

Survey of heavy metal (copper, iron, lead, cadmium, zinc and nickel) concentrations and their effects on the water quality of Anzali wetland

Anzali International wetland is one of the most valuable water resources as registered in Ramsar convention with an extent of about 150 km2 in the south Caspian Sea. This wetland, not only has ecological and biological importance for migratory birds and rare fish species, but also is used for farms to discharge into the Caspian Sea through this wetland. Therefore its pollution control is very important for human life. In this study 6 elements (copper, iron, lead, zinc, cadmium and nickel ) in Anzali wetland were analyzed by Atomic Absorption spectroscopy method. . Water samples were collected from ten sampling sites seasonally and the results were compared with each other. The detection limits obtained were 0.016 ng/ml for cadmium, 0.02 ng/ml for copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn), 0.025 ng/ml for iron (Fe) and 0.026 ng/ml for nickel (Ni). Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) was 1.7%. The results showed that these heavy metals were present in the water. Concentrations of Cu (0.6 mg/l) were higher than international standards reported in some stations. This can be due to industries around the wetland. The average level of heavy metals was higher in spring than in the other seasons which can be due to increase in seasonal rainfall and intensity of flow from rivers to wetland

Influence of zinc incorporation on microstructure of hydroxyapatite to characterize the effect of pH and calcination temperatures

AbstractThis work was focused to study the existence of Zn2+ in structure, chemical composition as well as particle and crystallite size of hydroxyapatite (HAp) to characterize the effect of pH of the solution and calcination temperature. Non-stoichiometric HAp (nHAp) powders containing 4at.% zinc fraction were synthesized via solution–precipitation method. In order to characterize the effect of pH (values: 9 and 10.5) and two calcination temperatures (550 and 1000°C) on chemical composition, molecule internal bonds, particle and crystallite size of the synthesized powders, XRD, EDS, FTIR and SEM techniques were utilized. The results showed that zinc cations could be incorporated in the HAp atomic structure to form low crystalline single phase of nHAP. The pH adjustment to 10.5 caused the formation of powders with smaller particle and crystallite sizes. The results also indicated that calcination temperature up to 1000°C caused decomposition of zinc doped nHAp to β-tri calcium phosphate and tri zinc calcium phosphate phases which are used to control the speed of biodegradation

Tubular cell phenotype in HIV-associated nephropathy: Role of phospholipid lysophosphatidic acid

Collapsing glomerulopathy and microcysts are characteristic histological features of HIV-associated nephropathy (HIVAN). We have previously reported the role of epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) in the development of glomerular and tubular cell phenotypes in HIVAN. Since persistent tubular cell activation of NF kappa B has been reported in HIVAN, we now hypothesize that HIV may be contributing to tubular cell phenotype via lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) mediated downstream signaling. Interestingly, LPA and its receptors have also been implicated in the tubular interstitial cell fibrosis (TIF) and cyst formation in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Primary human proximal tubular cells (HRPTCs) were transduced with either empty vector (EV/HRPTCs), HIV (HIV/HRPTCs) or treated with LPA (LPA/HRPTC). Immunoelectrophoresis of HIV/HRPTCs and LPA/HRPTCs displayed enhanced expression of pro-fibrotic markers: a) fibronectin (2.25 fold), b) connective tissue growth factor (CTGF; 4.8 fold), c) alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA; 12 fold), and d) collagen 1(5.7 fold). HIV enhanced tubular cell phosphorylation of ILK-1, FAK, PI3K, Akt, ERKs and P38 MAPK HIV increased tubular cell transcriptional binding activity of NF-kappa B; whereas, a LPA biosynthesis inhibitor (AACOCF3), a DAG kinase inhibitor, a LPA receptor blocker (Ki16425), a NF-kappa B inhibitor (PDTC) and NF kappa B-siRNA not only displayed downregulation of a NF kappa B activity but also showed attenuated expression of profibrotic/EMT genes in HIV milieu. These findings suggest that LPA could be contributing to HIV-induced tubular cell phenotype via NF kappa B activation in HIVAN. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Cu2+-induced self-assembly and amyloid formation of a cyclic d,l-α-peptide: Structure and function

In a wide spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases, self-assembly of pathogenic proteins to cytotoxic intermediates is accelerated by the presence of metal ions such as Cu2+. Only low concentrations of these early transient oligomeric intermediates are present in a mixture of species during fibril formation, and hence information on the extent of structuring of these oligomers is still largely unknown. Here, we investigate dimers as the first intermediates in the Cu2+-driven aggregation of a cyclic D,L-alpha-peptide architecture. The unique structural and functional properties of this model system recapitulate the self-assembling properties of amyloidogenic proteins including beta-sheet conformation and cross-interaction with pathogenic amyloids. We show that a histidine-rich cyclic D,L-alpha-octapeptide binds Cu2+ with high affinity and selectivity to generate amyloid-like cross-beta-sheet structures. By taking advantage of backbone amide methylation to arrest the self-assembly at the dimeric stage, we obtain structural information and characterize the degree of local order for the dimer. We found that, while catalytic amounts of Cu2+ promote aggregation of the peptide to fibrillar structures, higher concentrations dose-dependently reduce fibrillization and lead to formation of spherical particles, showing self-assembly to different polymorphs. For the initial self-assembly step to the dimers, we found that Cu2+ is coordinated on average by two histidines, similar to self-assembled peptides, indicating that a similar binding interface is perpetuated during Cu2+-driven oligomerization. The dimer itself is found in heterogeneous conformations that undergo dynamic exchange, leading to the formation of different polymorphs at the initial stage of the aggregation process

Algebraic Properties of Modular Addition Modulo a Power of Two

Abstract; Modular addition modulo a power of two, is one of the most applicable operators in symmetric cryptography; therefore, investigating cryptographic properties of this operator has a significant role in design and analysis of symmetric ciphers. Algebraic properties of modular addition modulo a power of two have been studied for two operands by Braeken in fse’05. Also, the authors of this paper, have studied this operator, in some special cases, before. In this paper, taking advantage of previous researches in this area, we generalize algebraic properties of this operator for more than two summands. More precisely, we determine the algebraic degree of the component Boolean functions of modular addition of arbitrary number of summands modulo a power of two, as a vectorial Boolean function, along with the number of terms and variables in these component functions. As a result, algebraic degrees of the component Boolean functions of Generalized Pseudo-Hadamard Transforms are computed

The effect of nanosized carbon black on the physical and thermomechanical properties of Al2O3-SiC-SiO2-C Composite

The effects of using nanosized carbon black in the range of 010 weight percentages on the physical and thermomechanical properties of Al 2O3-SiC-SiO2 graphite refractory composites were investigated. Nanosized carbon black addition improved the relative heat resistance and oxidation resistance of composites. The bulk density of the composites is reduced with increasing carbon black (CB) content. Increase in CB content first causes an increase in the apparent porosity, but at more than 3wt amount of CB, a decrease of apparent porosity was observed. The cold crushing strength (CCS) increased with increasing CB content in samples fired at 800 °C and in samples fired at 1500 °C when the content is increased to 3wt, but the CCS decreased with increasing CB content in samples fired at 1500 °C when the CB content was less than 3wt. The composite without CB exhibits the highest value of CCS at firing temperature of 1500 °C

Hydrothermal synthesis of aligned hydroxyapatite nanorods with ultra-high crystalinity

Hydroxyapatite nanorods aligned with ultrahigh crystallinity and high-yield were successfully synthesized through a hydrothermal approach. In this experiment, a new composition of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide ((CH3 (CH2 )15N + (CH3 )3Br - ) was designated as CTAP)/Ca(NO3 )2 / (NH4)2HPO4/NaOH and distilled water under hydrothermal condition, to synthesize single crystal HAp nanorods with diameter of 20 ± 10 nm and length of 80 ± 20 nm, was introduced. Crystal phases were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was applied to investigate the morphology. The microstructure of the HAp products were further observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The purity and chemical composition of the as-synthesized powder was analyzed by FTIR and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP)

Large scale and low cost synthesis of multiwalled carbon nanotubes by mechanothermal absence catalysts

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were obtained by mechanothermal activation under argon atmosphere and subsequent annealing. The chemical activity and crystallinity grade of carbon atoms were studied at different milling times and annealing temperatures. The synthesised MWCNTs were characterised by X-ray diffraction, and their morphologies were observed by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Efficiency examination was measured using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) after heat treatment. In addition, the crystal structures were analysed in terms of their bright field images and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern of high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The mechanothermal method is of interest for fundamental understanding and for improvement of commercial synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In fact, the mechanothermal method guarantees the production of CNTs for different applications especially reinforcement materials in ceramic matrix composites (CMCs)