35 research outputs found
Heterogeneous Nucleation of Protein Crystals on Fluorinated Layered Silicate
Here, we describe an improved system for protein crystallization based on heterogeneous nucleation using fluorinated layered silicate. In addition, we also investigated the mechanism of nucleation on the silicate surface. Crystallization of lysozyme using silicates with different chemical compositions indicated that fluorosilicates promoted nucleation whereas the silicates without fluorine did not. The use of synthesized saponites for lysozyme crystallization confirmed that the substitution of hydroxyl groups contained in the lamellae structure for fluorine atoms is responsible for the nucleation-inducing property of the nucleant. Crystallization of twelve proteins with a wide range of pI values revealed that the nucleation promoting effect of the saponites tended to increase with increased substitution rate. Furthermore, the saponite with the highest fluorine content promoted nucleation in all the test proteins regardless of their overall net charge. Adsorption experiments of proteins on the saponites confirmed that the density of adsorbed molecules increased according to the substitution rate, thereby explaining the heterogeneous nucleation on the silicate surface
Characterisation of soils under long-term crop cultivation without fertilisers: a case study in Japan
Effects of microbial inoculation on composting of household organic waste using passive aeration bin
Uranium in vegetable foodstuffs: should residents near the Cunha Baixa uranium mine site (Central Northern Portugal) be concerned ?
Large uranium accumulations in vegetable
foodstuffs may present risks of human health if they
are consumed. The objective of this study was to
evaluate the uranium concentrations in different
vegetable foodstuffs and grown in agricultural soils,
which are then consumed by the residents of the
village of Cunha Baixa (Portugal),—located in an
former uranium mining area. This study was conducted
to address concerns expressed by the local
farmers as well as to provide data for uranium-related
health risk assessments for the area. Soils, irrigation
water and edible tissues of lettuce, potato, green bean,
carrot, cabbage, apple and maize (Latuca sativa L.,
Solanum tuberosum L., Phaseolus vulgaris L., Daucus
carota L., Brassica oleracea L., Malus domestica
Borkh, Zea mays L., respectively) were sampled and
uranium determined. High uranium concentrations were found in some soils (Utotal[50 mg/kg), in
irrigation waters (218 to 1,035 lg/l) and in some
vegetable foodstuffs (up to 234, 110, 30, 26, 22, 16 and
1.6 lg/kg fresh weight for lettuce, potato with peel,
green bean pods, cabbage, corn, carrot and apple,
respectively). However, the results of the toxicity
hazard analysis were reassuring the estimated level
of uranium exposure through the ingestion of these
vegetable foodstuffs was low, suggesting no chemical
health risk (hazard quotient \1) to this uranium
exposure pathway for a local residents during their
lifetime, even for the most sensitive part of the
population (child)
An Alternative Approach to Assess the Habitat Selection of Folsomia candida in Contaminated Soils
CRIMSON: An open-source software framework for cardiovascular integrated modelling and simulation
In this work, we describe the CRIMSON (CardiovasculaR Integrated Modelling and SimulatiON) software environment. CRIMSON provides a powerful, customizable and user-friendly system for performing three-dimensional and reduced-order computational haemodynamics studies via a pipeline which involves: 1) segmenting vascular structures from medical images; 2) constructing analytic arterial and venous geometric models; 3) performing finite element mesh generation; 4) designing, and 5) applying boundary conditions; 6) running incompressible Navier-Stokes simulations of blood flow with fluid-structure interaction capabilities; and 7) post-processing and visualizing the results, including velocity, pressure and wall shear stress fields. A key aim of CRIMSON is to create a software environment that makes powerful computational haemodynamics tools accessible to a wide audience, including clinicians and students, both within our research laboratories and throughout the community. The overall philosophy is to leverage best-in-class open source standards for medical image processing, parallel flow computation, geometric solid modelling, data assimilation, and mesh generation. It is actively used by researchers in Europe, North and South America, Asia, and Australia. It has been applied to numerous clinical problems; we illustrate applications of CRIMSON to real-world problems using examples ranging from preoperative surgical planning to medical device design optimization.Beatson International Cancer Conference on '24 Years of Ras and Human Cancerhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/175816/2/CRIMSON An open-source software framework for cardiovascular integrated modelling and simulation.pdfDescription of CRIMSON An open-source software framework for cardiovascular integrated modelling and simulation.pdf : Published versio