Erosion-corrosion behaviour of dual phase medium carbon steel using a designed slurry pot

Abstract: A slurry pot has been designed, fabricated and evaluated for erosion-corrosion investigations. A variable voltage controller was used to vary the input voltage into the one-horse-power motor that controls the slurry pot. The actual speed of the slurry pot shaft was also calibrated using a non-contact digital tachometer. Voltages of 100 and 200 V resulted in rotational speeds of 1100 and 2100 rpm, respectively employed for the subsequent erosion-corrosion tests. Erosion-corrosion of a dual-phase carbon steel was investigated with the aid of the slurry pot in aerated 3.5 wt.% NaCl environments. The sample was normalised at 850 oC and then cooled in air to room temperature. Prior to the test, the normalised samples were heated to 700, 725, 750, 775, 800 and 825 oC, respectively and quenched in oil. Erosion-corrosion rates of between 0.027 to 1.26 g/cm2.hr at 1100 rpm and 0.57 to 1.9 g/cm2.hr at 2100 rpm were recorded. It was also observed that as hardness increased there was reduction in weight loss of the heat treated alloy

Optimization of Vitamin A in Red Guinea Corn-Millet Mix

This study focused on the optimization of vitamin A in guinea corn and millet mix. The concentration of vitamin A was investigated under the following conditions: blending time (1.5 - 5 hours), amount of red guinea corn (10 - 50g) and amount of agro residue (50-100 g) using Box-Behnken design. Statistically significant model (p<0.05) was developed to represent the relationship between the response (concentration of vitamin A) and the independent variables. The model showed a significant fit with experimental data with R2 values of 0.94. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the concentration of vitamin A was influenced by the blending time, amount of red guinea corn and amount of millet used. Additionally, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the concentration of vitamin A. The results showed that maximum concentration of 98.76 µg/100g for vitamin A was obtained at the optimum production conditions of blending time of 5hours, 49.79g of red guinea corn and 100g of millet. The blend produced at the optimized conditions satisfied the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) specification for recommended safe intake for all age groups, pregnant and nursing mothers

Effects of Methanolic Extract of Citrullus lanatus Seed on Experimentally Induced Prostatic Hyperplasia

Aims: To investigate the effects of methanolic extract of Citrullus lanatus seed (MECLS) on experimentally induced benign prostate hyperplasia. Study design: Animal model of experimentally induced prostatic hyperplasia. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ikenne Campus, Ikenne, Ogun State, Nigeria, between May 2010 and August 2010. Methodology: Twenty adult male Wistar rats weighing about 135-180g were randomly divided into four groups of five animals each. Group I, Normal control (NC) was given corn oil as placebo 1g/Kg BW; Group II, Hormone treated control (HTC), Groups III, and IV hormone and extract treated (HTEC), received continuous dosage of 300μg and 80μg of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) respectively on alternate days for three weeks subcutaneously in the inguinal region while the extract treated received an additional 2g/Kg BW (low dose) and 4g/Kg BW (high dose) of extract orally for 4 weeks after the successful induction of prostate enlargement. Immediately after induction some animals were randomly selected and sacrificed for gross inspection of prostate enlargement and sperm count evaluation, these procedures were repeated again after four weeks of extract treatment. Portion of the prostate were taken and processed routinely for paraffin embedding and stained with H&E. Results: Hormone treatment did not affect the body weight of the animals; however it caused a significant decrease in the weight of the testes and rendered all the rats azoospermia. In addition, treatment with extracts caused a significant decrease in the enlarged prostate, seminal vesicle and testes sizes in a dose related manner (P<0.05) compared to the hormone treated control. Histological examination of prostate revealed that the methanolic extract caused significant changes in its histo-architecture. There was an increase in the fibromuscular layer, decrease in prostatic acini size, shrinkage of epithelium, and no infolding of the epithelium into the lumen, rather, it appeared flat compared to the very distinct columnar epithelium of the hormone treated control and conspicuousness of the acini. The extracts further caused a dose dependent reduction in the prostates weight. PSA level was significantly lowered in both HTEC at low and high doses (P<0.05) in dose dependent manner. Conclusion: Administration of MECLS for one month reduced the prostate size significantly (P< 0.05), both at high and low dose, but could not restore the initial size of shrunken testes and severe oligospermia caused by the hormones. The histological studies clearly establish MECLS as a potential candidate in management of androgen dependent conditions like benign prostate hyperplasia