Influence of centrifugation treatment on the lubricating properties of human whole saliva

AbstractAn important function of human saliva is to serve as oral lubricant during mastication process and then effectively reduce tooth wear. Thus, centrifuged human whole saliva has been used as a substitute for human whole saliva for many in vitro studies on dental tribology. However, the difference in lubricating properties between human whole saliva and centrifuged saliva remains unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of centrifugation on the lubricating properties of human whole saliva. In this paper, the lubrication of both human whole saliva and centrifuged saliva on human tooth enamel were comparatively studied in vitro using a nano-scratch tester. The structure, composition, and mechanical properties of salivary pellicle were characterized. Result showed that food debris and high molecular weight proteins in human whole saliva were removed by centrifugation. However, the low molecular weight proteins were still in saliva. Under the lubrication of human whole saliva, the salivary pellicle formed on the enamel surface was uneven, and its mechanical properties were inhomogeneous. But a smooth and homogeneous salivary pellicle was obtained upon the enamel surface under lubrication of centrifuged saliva. Moreover, there were no significant deference in friction coefficient and wear volume of tooth enamel between human whole saliva and centrifuged saliva lubricating conditions. In summary, centrifuged saliva exhibited similar lubrication to human whole saliva. Centrifugation treatment does not impair the lubricating properties of human saliva. On the contrary centrifugation can help minimize the effect of cell and food debris

Interplay between weak and strong phases and direct CP violation from the charmless B-meson decays

[[abstract]]We present a general analysis on charmless B-meson decays B→ππ and πK. It is noticed that the final state interactions and inelastic rescattering effects must be significant in order to understand the consistency of the current data. By using general isospin decompositions, the isospin amplitudes and the corresponding strong phases could be extracted from a global χ2 fit of the experimental data. We emphasize that in general there are two, rather than one, relative strong phases in the decomposition. In the assumption of two equal strong phases as considered in the literature, the current data, especially the ones concerning B→π0K0(±) decays, will imply a large isospin amplitude |a3/2c|>40, which is larger by a factor of 5 than the one from the naive factorization estimation. When two different strong phases are considered, all the isospin amplitudes can become, within the 1σ level, comparable with the theoretical values. We also show that the difference between the two strong phases cannot be too large and will be restricted by the most recent upper bound of B→π0π0 decay. In any case, the strong phases are found to be large and the branching ratio of B→π0π0 is likely to be enhanced by an order of magnitude in comparison with the one obtained from the naive factorization approach. Direct CP violations in all decay modes are also calculated and found to be close to the sensitivity of the present experiments.[[fileno]]2010129010052[[department]]物理

Expression of wheat gibberellins 2-oxidase gene induced dwarf or semi-dwarf phenotype in rice

Gibberellins (GAs) are a class of plant hormones that play important roles in diverse aspects during plant growth and development. A series of GA synthesis and metabolism genes have been reported or proved to have essential functions in different plant species, while a small number of GA 2-oxidase genes have been cloned or reported in wheat. Previous studies have provided some important findings on the process of GA biosynthesis and the enzymes involved in its related pathways. These may facilitate understanding of the complicated process underlying GA synthesis and metabolism in wheat. In this study, GA 2-oxidase genes TaGA2ox1-1, TaGA2ox1-2, TaGA2ox1-3, TaGA2ox1-4, TaGA2ox1-5, and TaGA2ox1-6 were identified and further overexpressed in rice plants to investigate their functions in GA biosynthesis and signaling pathway. Results showed overexpression of GA 2-oxidase genes in rice disrupted the GA metabolic pathways and induced catalytic responses and regulated other GA biosynthesis and signaling pathway genes, which further leading to GA signaling disorders and diversity in phenotypic changes in rice plants

Three-dimensional flow structure behind an Ahmed vehicle model

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.The lasting high fuel cost has recently inspired resurgence in drag reduction research for vehicles, which calls for a thorough understanding of the vehicle wake. The simplified Ahmed vehicle model is characterized by controllable flow separation, thus especially suitable for this purpose. In spite of a considerable number of previous investigations, our knowledge of flow around this model remains incomplete. This work aims to revisit turbulent flow structure behind this model. Two rear slant angles, i.e., α = 25º and 35º, of the model were examined, representing two distinct flow regimes. The Reynolds number was 5.26×104 based on the model height (H) and incident flow velocity. Using particle image velocimetry (PIV), flow was measured with and without a gap (g/H = 0.174) between the vehicle underside and ground in three orthogonal planes, viz. the x-z, x-y and y-z planes, where x, y and z are the coordinates along longitudinal, transverse and spanwise directions, respectively. The flow at g/H = 0 serves as an important reference for the understanding of the highly complicated vehicle wake (g/H ≠ 0). While reconfirming the well documented major characteristics of the mean flow structure, both instantaneous and time-averaged PIV data unveil a number of important features of the flow structure, which have not been previously reported. As such, considerably modified flow structure models are proposed for both regimes. The time-averaged velocities, second moments of fluctuating velocities and vorticity components are presented and discussed, along with their dependence on g/H in the two distinct flow regimes.dc201

The Transformation from Translucent into Transparent Rare Earth Ions Doped Oxyfluoride Glass-Ceramics with Enhanced Luminescence

Article reporting a scenario where a translucent Er3+−Yb3+ doped oxyfluoride precursor glass-ceramic (P-GC) becomes transparent with increasing crystal size and crystallinity

Effect of a Nonuniform Radial/Axial Tip Clearance on the Flow Field in a Mixed-Flow Pump

The effect of a nonuniform radial/axial tip clearance on the flow field in a mixed-flow pump was studied by numerical simulation of the unsteady flow in the pump with two tip clearance shapes using the standard Reynolds average Navier–Stokes turbulence model, and the equations were solved with the SIMPLEC computational algorithm. The external characteristics, distribution of static pressure, streamline flow of the tip clearance, and vorticity in the impeller are analyzed. The accuracy of numerical simulation was assessed by comparing experimental data with computational results. Although a nonuniform tip clearance leads to a decline in the pump head, which is more pronounced under part-load conditions, the configuration with a nonuniform tip clearance (c = 0.5–1 mm) provides the more uniform velocity and pressure distribution both in the circumferential and axial directions, as the leakage vortex intensity is weakened and its shedding is suppressed. The research results pointed the way for improving the unsteady flow in the mixed-flow pump.Изучено влияние неравномерного зазора на поле течения в радиально-осевом насосе с помощью численного моделирования нестационарного течения в насосе с зазором двух конфигураций на основе стандартной модели турбулентности RNG k , выполнено решение уравнений с применением алгоритма SIMPLE. Проанализированы внешние характеристики, распределение статического давления, потока в зазоре и турбулентности в импеллере. Проведена оценка достоверности численного моделирования путем сравнения экспериментальных данных с результатами расчетов. Показано, что неравномерный зазор вызывает уменьшение напора в насосе, что становится более выраженным в условиях частичного нагружения, но конфигурация с неравномерным зазором (с = 0,5 1,0 мм) обеспечивает более равномерные скорость и распределение давления в касательном и осевом направлениях, поскольку интенсивность обтекания с кольцевым вихрем уменьшается, а его сброс замедляется. Полученные результаты открывают путь к стабилизации нестационарного потока в радиально-осевом насосе

Effects of Exogenous Cellulase Source on In Vitro Fermentation Characteristics and Methane Production of Crop Straws and Grasses

In vitro fermentation experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of 3 sources of exogenous cellulase products (EC) at 4 dose rates (DR) (0, 12, 37 and 62 IU/g of DM) on degradation of forage and methane production by mixed rumen micro-organisms of goats. The maximum gas production (Vf) of grasses was higher (P<0.001) in Neocallimastix patriciarum (NP) group than those in Trichoderma reesei (TR) and Trichoderma longibrachiatum (TL) groups. Quadratic increases in dry matter degradation (DMD) of forage and neutral detergent fiber (NDFD) of straw were observed for all EC, with optimum DR in the low range. Supplementation of EC originated from TR and NP increased (P<0.001) DMD of forage compared to that from TL. Addition of EC originated from TR and NP also decreased pH value, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and methane (CH4) production compared to that from TL. Quadratic decreases in pH value, NH3-N and CH4 of forage were noted for EC of TR and NP, and with optimum DR in the low range. For short chain fatty acid, the EC of NP increased total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) and acetate concentration and the ratio of acetate to propionate of forage compared with EC of TL and TR, and with optimum DR in the low to medium range. It was concluded that the source of EC differed in fiber degradation and methane emission, and with optimum DR of TR in the low range (from 12 to 37 U/g DM) in improving fiber degradation and decreasing methane emission

Higgs-Mediated tau --> mu and tau --> e transitions in II Higgs doublet Model and Supersymmetry

We study the phenomenology of the mu-tau and e-tau lepton flavour violation (LFV) in a general two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) including the supersymmetric case. We consider several LFV decay modes of the charged fermion tau, namely tau-> l_jgamma, tau->l_j l_k l_k and tau-> l_jeta. The predictions and the correlations among the rates of the above processes are computed. In particular, it is shown that tau->l_jgamma processes are the most sensitive channels to Higgs-mediated LFV specially if the splitting among the neutral Higgs bosons masses is not below the 10% level.Comment: v2=published version: 13 pages, 4 figures, text improved and reference added. Two loop effects (relevant for tau->l_jgamma) added. Conclusions unchange