Equilibrum Composition of Thermal Plasma with Copper and Chromium Vapours Admixtures

Thermal plasma of electric arc is widely used in various technological applications: welding, cutting, lamps, spraying, protection of electrical installations, etc. Process efficiency is defined by different parameters that determine arc operation and influence the energy transfer within the medium. All energy exchanges depend on the medium, which is modified by the presence of the arc and more particularly by the appearance of new species from contact erosion. Sintered Cu-Cr composites are widely used as electrical contacts for vacuum circuit breakers. These materials take advantage of the high thermal and electrical conductivity of Cu and of the refractory and oxygen getter properties of reinforcing Cr particles. The aim of this paper is to give results of the calculation of the equilibrium composition of argon and air plasma with various admixtures of Cu and Cr

Optimization of 3-band Mean Absorption Coefficients

In this paper we present a process for mean absorption coefficient optimal band selection applied to the 3-band model of radiation in an air electrical arc. For fixed temperature, the divergence of radiation flux in an infinite cylindrical plasma column is calculated using spectrally resolved absorption coefficient and serves as a reference value. Optimization process is used to properly select the bands of 3-band mean absorption approximation using both unmodified and limited Planck mean absorption coefficient. The ac-curacy of aforementioned two approximation methods is evaluated

Estimation of the Intensively Blasted Electric Arc Model Sensitivity to Selected Variables

Results of measurements carried out on the fabricated experimental modular-type arc heater serve as input data for the designed simplified model of the intensively blasted electric arc burning in argon inside the cylindrical arc heater's anode channel. The axial dependence of the arc temperature and radius is expressed using the exponent, the current density on the cathode tip and the arc temperature at the end of the near-cathode boundary layer. These quantities form the vector of state variables that is sought to minimize the value of the objective function expressing the deviations between measured and computed values. On a typical example, the paper demonstrates the sensitivity of the modelling to individual state variables

Plasma Enzymatic Activity, Proteomics and Peptidomics in Covid-19-Induced Sepsis: A Novel Approach for the Analysis of Hemostasis

Introduction: Infection by SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent COVID-19 can cause viral sepsis. We investigated plasma protease activity patterns in COVID-19-induced sepsis with bacterial superinfection, as well as plasma proteomics and peptidomics in order to assess the possible implications of enhanced proteolysis on major protein systems (e.g., coagulation). Methods: Patients (=4) admitted to the intensive care units (ICUs) at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center with confirmed positive test for COVID-19 by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were enrolled in a study approved by the UCSD Institutional Review Board (IRB# 190699, Protocol #20-0006). Informed consent was obtained for the collection of blood samples and de-identified use of the data. Blood samples were collected at multiple time points and analyzed to quantify a) the circulating proteome and peptidome by mass spectrometry; b) the aminopeptidase activity in plasma; and c) the endopeptidase activity in plasma using fluorogenic substrates that are cleaved by trypsin-like endopeptidases, specific clotting factors and plasmin. The one patient who died was diagnosed with bacterial superinfection on day 7 after beginning of the study. Results: Spikes in protease activity (factor VII, trypsin-like activity), and corresponding increases in the intensity of peptides derived by hydrolysis of plasma proteins, especially of fibrinogen degradation products and downregulation of endogenous protease inhibitors were detected on day 7 for the patient who died. The activity of the analyzed proteases was stable in survivors. Discussion: The combination of multiomics and enzymatic activity quantification enabled to i) hypothesize that elevated proteolysis occurs in COVID-19-induced septic shock with bacterial superinfection, and ii) provide additional insight into malfunctioning protease-mediated systems, such as hemostasis

Fused 3-Hydroxy-3-trifluoromethylpyrazoles Inhibit Mutant Huntingtin Toxicity

[Image: see text] Here, we describe the selection and optimization of a chemical series active in both a full-length and a fragment-based Huntington’s disease (HD) assay. Twenty-four thousand small molecules were screened in a phenotypic HD assay, identifying a series of compounds bearing a 3-hydroxy-3-trifluoromethylpyrazole moiety as able to revert the toxicity induced by full-length mutant Htt by up to 50%. A chemical exploration around the series led to the identification of compound 4f, which demonstrated to be active in a Htt171–82Q rat primary striatal neuron assay and a PC12-Exon-1 based assay. This compound was selected for testing in R6/2 mice, in which it was well-tolerated and showed a positive effect on body weight and a positive trend in preventing ventricular volume enlargment. These studies provide strong rationale for further testing the potential benefits of 3-hydroxy-3-trifluoromethylpyrazoles in treating HD

Biophysical and electrochemical studies of protein-nucleic acid interactions

This review is devoted to biophysical and electrochemical methods used for studying protein-nucleic acid (NA) interactions. The importance of NA structure and protein-NA recognition for essential cellular processes, such as replication or transcription, is discussed to provide background for description of a range of biophysical chemistry methods that are applied to study a wide scope of protein-DNA and protein-RNA complexes. These techniques employ different detection principles with specific advantages and limitations and are often combined as mutually complementary approaches to provide a complete description of the interactions. Electrochemical methods have proven to be of great utility in such studies because they provide sensitive measurements and can be combined with other approaches that facilitate the protein-NA interactions. Recent applications of electrochemical methods in studies of protein-NA interactions are discussed in detail

A Comprehensive Map of Mobile Element Insertion Polymorphisms in Humans

As a consequence of the accumulation of insertion events over evolutionary time, mobile elements now comprise nearly half of the human genome. The Alu, L1, and SVA mobile element families are still duplicating, generating variation between individual genomes. Mobile element insertions (MEI) have been identified as causes for genetic diseases, including hemophilia, neurofibromatosis, and various cancers. Here we present a comprehensive map of 7,380 MEI polymorphisms from the 1000 Genomes Project whole-genome sequencing data of 185 samples in three major populations detected with two detection methods. This catalog enables us to systematically study mutation rates, population segregation, genomic distribution, and functional properties of MEI polymorphisms and to compare MEI to SNP variation from the same individuals. Population allele frequencies of MEI and SNPs are described, broadly, by the same neutral ancestral processes despite vastly different mutation mechanisms and rates, except in coding regions where MEI are virtually absent, presumably due to strong negative selection. A direct comparison of MEI and SNP diversity levels suggests a differential mobile element insertion rate among populations