Statistical model of the powder flow regulation by nanomaterials

Fine powders often tend to agglomerate due to van der Waals forces between the particles. These forces can be reduced significantly by covering the particles with nanoscaled adsorbates, as shown by recent experiments. In the present work a quantitative statistical analysis of the effect of powder flow regulating nanomaterials on the adhesive forces in powders is given. Covering two spherical powder particles randomly with nanoadsorbates we compute the decrease of the mutual van der Waals force. The dependence of the force on the relative surface coverage obeys a scaling form which is independent of the used materials. The predictions by our simulations are compared to the experimental results.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, LaTeX; reviewed version with minor changes, published (Powder Technology

Modulation of epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) expression in mouse lung infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa

BACKGROUND: The intratracheal instillation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa entrapped in agar beads in the mouse lung leads to chronic lung infection in susceptible mouse strains. As the infection generates a strong inflammatory response with some lung edema, we tested if it could modulate the expression of genes involved in lung liquid clearance, such as the α, β and γ subunits of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and the catalytic subunit of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase. METHODS: Pseudomonas aeruginosa entrapped in agar beads were instilled in the lung of resistant (BalB/c) and susceptible (DBA/2, C57BL/6 and A/J) mouse strains. The mRNA expression of ENaC and Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase subunits was tested in the lung by Northern blot following a 3 hours to 14 days infection. RESULTS: The infection of the different mouse strains evoked regulation of α and β ENaC mRNA. Following Pseudomonas instillation, the expression of αENaC mRNA decreased to a median of 43% on days 3 and 7 after infection and was still decreased to a median of 45% 14 days after infection (p < 0.05). The relative expression of βENaC mRNA was transiently increased to a median of 241%, 24 h post-infection before decreasing to a median of 43% and 54% of control on days 3 and 7 post-infection (p < 0.05). No significant modulation of γENaC mRNA was detected although the general pattern of expression of the subunit was similar to α and β subunits. No modulation of α(1)Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase mRNA, the catalytic subunit of the sodium pump, was recorded. The distinctive expression profiles of the three subunits were not different, between the susceptible and resistant mouse strains. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that Pseudomonas infection, by modulating ENaC subunit expression, could influence edema formation and clearance in infected lungs

The Long Term Response of Birds to Climate Change: New Results from a Cold Stage Avifauna in Northern England

The early MIS 3 (55–40 Kyr BP associated with Middle Palaeolithic archaeology) bird remains from Pin Hole, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England are analysed in the context of the new dating of the site’s stratigraphy. The analysis is restricted to the material from the early MIS 3 level of the cave because the upper fauna is now known to include Holocene material as well as that from the Late Glacial. The results of the analysis confirm the presence of the taxa, possibly unexpected for a Late Pleistocene glacial deposit including records such as Alpine swift, demoiselle crane and long-legged buzzard with southern and/or eastern distributions today. These taxa are accompanied by more expected ones such as willow ptarmigan /red grouse and rock ptarmigan living today in northern and montane areas. Finally, there are temperate taxa normally requiring trees for nesting such as wood pigeon and grey heron. Therefore, the result of the analysis is that the avifauna of early MIS 3 in England included taxa whose ranges today do not overlap making it a non-analogue community similar to the many steppe-tundra mammalian faunas of the time. The inclusion of more temperate and woodland taxa is discussed in the light that parts of northern Europe may have acted as cryptic northern refugia for some such taxa during the last glacial. These records showing former ranges of taxa are considered in the light of modern phylogeographic studies as these often assume former ranges without considering the fossil record of those taxa. In addition to the anomalous combination of taxa during MIS 3 living in Derbyshire, the individuals of a number of the taxa are different in size and shape to members of the species today probably due to the high carrying capacity of the steppe-tundra

Design Sensitivities By the Adjoint Variable Method in Nonlinear Structural Dynamics

This paper describes a new algorithm to calculate gradients of system responses with respect to design changes. The algorithm uses the adjoint variable method, and is compared with an algorithm employing the direct differentiation method. Both algorithms are closely related to the response calculation by the Newmark and Newton-Raphson methods in nonlinear mechanical and structural systems. In linear dynamics the method yielding the smallest number of sensitivity equations is preferred. In nonlinear structural dynamics the direct method is better included in the response calculation, hence the adjoint method can be less efficient for large structural systems even with a smaller number of sensitivity equations. 1 Introduction In a sensitivity analysis the gradients of response functionals with respect to the design variables are calculated. These gradients, sometimes denoted design sensitivities, are used to evaluate the effects of design variations, and are used by gradient-based mathe..

Surgical management of colloid cyst of the third ventricle

The aim of this study of third ventricular colloid cysts (TVCC) from a defined population was to estimate the incidence, the presenting features, the surgical treatment, the treatment related complications, and the clinical and surgical outcomes