Pure iron grains are rare in the universe

The abundant forms in which the major elements in the universe exist have been determined from numerous astronomical observations and meteoritic analyses. Iron (Fe) is an exception, in that only depletion of gaseous Fe has been detected in the interstellar medium, suggesting that Fe is condensed into a solid, possibly the astronomically invisible metal. To determine the primary form of Fe, we replicated the formation of Fe grains in gaseous ejecta of evolved stars by means of microgravity experiments. We found that the sticking probability for formation of Fe grains is extremely small; only several atoms will stick per hundred thousand collisions, so that homogeneous nucleation of metallic Fe grains is highly ineffective, even in the Fe-rich ejecta of Type Ia supernovae. This implies that most Fe is locked up as grains of Fe compounds or as impurities accreted onto other grains in the interstellar medium

Efficacy of intravenous sedation and oral nifedipine in dental implant patients with preoperative hypertension - a retrospective study of 516 cases

International audienceThis paper proposes a first attempt to define a two scales kinetic theory to describe concentrated suspensions involving short fibers, nano-fibers or nanotubes. In this case, fiber-fiber interactions can not be neglected and rich microstructures issued from these interactions can be observed, involving a diversity of fibers clusters or aggregates with complex kinematics, and different sizes and shapes. These clusters can interact to create larger clusters and also break because the flow induced hydrodynamic forces. In this paper we propose a double-scale model to describe such microstructure: at the finest scale we study the cluster kinematic based on the behaviour of the rods that constitute it, at a coarser scale, we use clusters distribution to derive the effect of the clusters presence on the suspensions properties

Aid Proliferation and Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Analysis

In this paper, we examine whether aid proliferation hinders aid effectiveness in promoting economic growth. We employ a wide variety of specifications of the standard aid-growth regression using Roodman's (2007a) dataset. Specifically, we include a donor-concentration index as a proxy for donor proliferation and the interaction term between aid and a donor-concentration index as additional independent variables. Our best empirical results are in favor of a hypothesis that aid proliferation involves a negative effect on economic growth of the recipient countries with proper correction for possible biases arising from omitted variable and endogeneity problems.

A New Assay Method of Retinal Reductase Activity in Rat Intestinal Mucosa and Its Enzymatic Properties

ラット小腸粘膜のレチナール還元酵素(RRase)のin vitroにおける活性測定法を確立すると共に,その系におけるレチナールの還元及び酸化反応について調べた.小腸のRRaseは摂取されたβ-カロテンなどプロビタミンAから生じるレチナールをレチノールに変える作用が主たる役割と考えられる酵素である.小腸粘膜ホモジェネートを用いてin vitroでRRase活性を測定すると,比活性の再現性が乏しく,またホモジェネート中でのRRaseの速やかな失活が起こる.これを防ぐためには,酵素調製用緩衝液にニコチンアミドやNADHなどのニコチンアミド誘導体を2mM以上加えるのが有効であることを見いだした.最適pHは4.3,cofactorとしてGSHを要求する点はすでにGoodmanらが報告している通りであるが,GSH以外のチオール試薬もGSHと同様に有効であった.EDTA添加によって活性を殆ど失うが,Ca2+,Mg2+の添加で活性が回復することから,これらが金属イオンとして要求されていると思われる.RRaseのkm値は83.3μMであり,200μM以上のレチナールを用いて活性測定を行うと120minで基質レチナールの40%以上が還元される.このことは,レチナール還元反応がレチノール生成に大きく傾いた反応であることを示すものである

Bacterial and fungal bioburden reduction on material surfaces using various sterilization techniques suitable for spacecraft decontamination

Planetary protection is a guiding principle aiming to prevent microbial contamination of the solar system by spacecraft (forward contamination) and extraterrestrial contamination of the Earth (backward contamination). Bioburden reduction on spacecraft, including cruise and landing systems, is required to prevent microbial contamination from Earth during space exploration missions. Several sterilization methods are available; however, selecting appropriate methods is essential to eliminate a broad spectrum of microorganisms without damaging spacecraft components during manufacturing and assembly. Here, we compared the effects of different bioburden reduction techniques, including dry heat, UV light, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP), and oxygen and argon plasma on microorganisms with different resistance capacities. These microorganisms included Bacillus atrophaeus spores and Aspergillus niger spores, Deinococcus radiodurans, and Brevundimonas diminuta, all important microorganisms for considering planetary protection. Bacillus atrophaeus spores showed the highest resistance to dry heat but could be reliably sterilized (i.e., under detection limit) through extended time or increased temperature. Aspergillus niger spores and D. radiodurans were highly resistant to UV light. Seventy percent of IPA and 7.5% of H2O2 treatments effectively sterilized D. radiodurans and B. diminuta but showed no immediate bactericidal effect against B. atrophaeus spores. IPA immediately sterilized A. niger spores, but H2O2 did not. During VHP treatment under reduced pressure, viable B. atrophaeus spores and A. niger spores were quickly reduced by approximately two log orders. Oxygen plasma sterilized D. radiodurans but did not eliminate B. atrophaeus spores. In contrast, argon plasma sterilized B. atrophaeus but not D. radiodurans. Therefore, dry heat could be used for heat-resistant component bioburden reduction, and VHP or plasma for non-heat-resistant components in bulk bioburden reduction. Furthermore, IPA, H2O2, or UV could be used for additional surface bioburden reduction during assembly and testing. The systemic comparison of sterilization efficiencies under identical experimental conditions in this study provides basic criteria for determining which sterilization techniques should be selected during bioburden reduction for forward planetary protection

Tissue-specific expression of histone H3 variants diversified after species separation

Additional file 3: Predicted CDS of human histone H3/H4 variants, contains Table S2, which lists the CDS locus information of the predicted human histone H3 and H4 variants in an Excel file