Nitride MOVPE tops the bill

AbstractThe predominance of activity in the nitrides field and the emergence of in situ monitoring into mainstream metal organic vapour phase epitaxy were among the themes of the 8th European Workshop on MOVPE. The location of Prague close to the geographical centre of the united Europe did much to encourage participation from all corners of the continent, with over 200 delegates from 21 countries attending the workshop, held from 8–11 June 1999

Mapping groundwater denitrification potential : methodology report

An understanding of the fate of nitrate in groundwater is vital for managing risks associated with nitrate pollution, and to safeguard groundwater supplies and groundwater-dependent surface waters. One of the main mechanisms to control nitrate is the designation of nitrate vulnerable zones (NVZs). Recent review of the designation process in England has highlighted that in some locations measured groundwater nitrate concentrations are not as high as might be expected from knowledge of the surface loads of nitrate applied at the ground surface. A possible reason for this is that the nitrate is being transformed through denitrification. The aim of this work was to develop a weight of evidence approach to allow the assessment of denitrification potential across groundwater in England using literature and existing groundwater and other relevant data

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha enhances mRNA expression and secretion of interleukin-6 in cultured human airway smooth muscle cells

Airway smooth muscle (ASM) is considered to be an end-target cell for the effects of mediators released during airway wall inflammation. Several reports suggest that activated ASM may be capable of generating various proinflammatory cytokines. We investigated the effects of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, a potent proinflammatory cytokine, on cultured human ASM cells by examining the expression and release of the cytokine interleukin (IL)-6, cell proliferation, and the expression pattern of c-fos and c-jun, two nuclear proto-oncogenes constituting the activator protein-1 transcription factor. Growth-arrested cell monolayers were stimulated with human recombinant TNF-alpha in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. TNF-alpha stimulated the expression of IL-6 messenger RNA (mRNA), which was detected after 15 min, reaching a maximum at 1 h. IL-6 protein was readily detected in ASM cell-conditioned medium after 2 h of TNF-alpha stimulation. Protein levels increased in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. Release of IL-6 elicited by TNF-alpha was significantly inhibited by dexamethasone, cycloheximide, and nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA). TNF-alpha did not alter DNA biosynthesis up to 48 h or cell numbers up to 120 h. Northern blot analysis of proto-oncogene expression revealed that c-fos and c-jun mRNA levels were elevated after 30 min of TNF-alpha incubation with maximum levels at 1 h and 45 min, respectively. Expression of c-fos mRNA was downregulated by NDGA. Four hours of TNF-alpha treatment resulted in translocation of c-jun immunofluorescence from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in human ASM cells. Our results suggest that despite the lack of a mitogenic response to TNF-alpha, upregulation of primary response genes in human ASM cells may account for the induction of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6, in human airways

GATA-2 and GATA-3 regulate trophoblast-specific gene expression in vivo.

We previously demonstrated that the zinc finger transcription factors GATA-2 and GATA-3 are expressed in trophoblast giant cells and that they regulate transcription from the mouse placental lactogen I gene promoter in a transfected trophoblast cell line. We present evidence here that both of these factors regulate transcription of the placental lactogen I gene, as well as the related proliferin gene, in trophoblast giant cells in vivo. Placentas lacking GATA-3 accumulate placental lactogen I and proliferi

ANODIC BEHAVIOR OF ALLOY 22 IN HIGH NITRATE BRINES AT TEMPERATURES HIGHER THAN 100C

Alloy 22 (N06022) may be susceptible to crevice corrosion in chloride solutions. Nitrate acts as an inhibitor to crevice corrosion. Several papers have been published regarding the effect of nitrate on the corrosion resistance of Alloy 22 at temperatures 100 C and lower. However, very little is known about the behavior of this alloy in highly concentrated brines at temperatures above 100 C. In the current work, electrochemical tests have been carried out to explore the anodic behavior of Alloy 22 in high chloride high nitrate electrolytes at temperatures as high as 160 C at ambient atmospheres. Even though Alloy 22 may adopt corrosion potentials in the order of +0.5 V (in the saturated silver chloride scale), it does not suffer crevice corrosion if there is high nitrate in the solution. That is, the inhibitive effect of nitrate on crevice corrosion is active for temperatures higher than 100 C

Optimization of combined temozolomide and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) in mice after multimodality molecular imaging studies

Background: Successful treatments of patients with somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-overexpressing neuroendocrine tumours (NET) comprise somatostatin-analogue lutetium-177-labelled octreotate (177Lu-TATE) treatment, also referred to as peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), and temozolomide (TMZ) treatment. Their combination might result in additive effects. Using MRI and SPECT/CT, we studied tumour characteristics and therapeutic responses after different (combined) administration schemes in a murine tumour model in order to identify the optimal treatment schedule for PRRT plus TMZ. Methods: We performed molecular imaging studies in mice bearing SSTR-expressing H69 (humane small cell lung cancer) tumours after single intravenous (i.v.) administration of 30 MBq 177Lu-TATE or