Burning Rate Augmentation of BAMO Based Propellants

Thermal decomposition and the burning properties of BAMO based propellants with HMX or AN/HMX have been investigated. The heat generated by the azide binder decomposition initiated and accelerated the thermal decomposition of HMX and AN. Ammonium perchlorate (AP) and lead stearate with carbon black significantly altered the mechanisms of the thermal decomposition and the burning properties of the HMX based propellants. AP showed an increase in burning rate with a slight decrease in burning rate pressure exponent. The lead catalyst yielded high value of the burning rate with the lowest pressure exponent. The ammonium dichromate also influenced the mechanisms of the thermal decomposition and the burning properties of the AN/HMX samples. The combination of ammonium dichromate and copper chromite was the most effective on the burning rate augmentation of AN/HMX based propellants. AN sublimed and evaporated from the condensed phase and mainly reacted exothermically in the gas phase HMX and AN/HMX based propellants showed smokeless burning characteristics in the small rocket motor combustion tests.     

铁液处理状态对初生奥氏体形核的作用机制

对Fe-C亚共晶合金熔液在1723K保温1h,进行熔融玻璃净化处理,并在净化过的铁液中添加灰铸铁、白口铁和电解铁试块,探讨铁液净化和碳元素加入方式对初生奥氏体形核过冷度、形核数量和生长方式的影响。结果表明,铁液经玻璃处理后,初晶与共晶形核困难。当在净化过的铁液中添加灰铸铁后,初晶和共晶均易于形核。不同处理状态分别起着消除或生成“Fe的富集区”的作用,时初生奥氏体的非自发形核有着显著的影响。     

Effects of processing and cooking on the levels of pesticide residues in soybean samples

The effects of processing and cooking on the levels of pesticide residues in soybean samples were investigated for 14 pesticides in pre-harvest samples. On soaking, the transfer ratios (%, total pesticide residue amount in product/that in soybean) of soaked soybean were greater than 60% for most of the pesticides investigated. The transfer ratio of soymilk ranged from 37% to 92%, and that of tofu ranged from 7% to 63%. The processing factor (Pf, the concentration (mg/kg) of pesticide in product/that in soybean) of tofu ranged from 0.026 to 0.28. These values varied among pesticides. There was a high correlation between the log P(ow) and the transfer ratio of tofu. The test described here should be useful to obtain the transfer ratios of pesticide residues in processing and/or cooking steps.     

Evaluation of drug toxicity with hepatocytes cultured in a micro-space cell culture system

A micro-space cell culture system was recently developed in which cells such as hepatocytes can be cultured and formed into a multicellular three-dimensional (3D) architecture. In this study, we assessed the performance of HepG2 cells cultured in this micro-space cell culture system in a drug toxicity test, and evaluated the effects of micro-space culture on their hepatocyte-specific functions. The micro-space cell culture facilitated the formation of 3D HepG2 cell architecture. HepG2 cells cultured in a micro-space culture plate exhibited increased albumin secretion and enhanced mRNA expression levels of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme compared to those cultured in a monolayer culture. When the cells were exposed to acetaminophen, a hepatotoxic drug, the damage to the HepG2 cells grown in micro-space culture was greater than the damage to the HepG2 cells grown in monolayer culture. In addition, human primary hepatocytes grown in micro-space culture also exhibited increased albumin secretion, enhanced CYP mRNA expression levels and increased sensitivity to acetaminophen compared to those grown in monolayer culture. These results suggest that this micro-space culture method enhances the hepatocyte-specific functions of hepatocytes, including drug-metabolizing enzyme activities, making hepatocytes grown in the micro-space culture system a useful tool for evaluating drug toxicity in vitro.     

Temperature- and pH-responsive photosensitization activity of polymeric sensitizers based on poly-N-isopropylacrylamide

We previously reported that a copolymer consisting of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and benzophenone (BP) units, behaves as a photosensitizer showing temperature-controlled oxygenation activity in water (J. Am. Chem. Soc.2006, 128, 8751). This polymer shows a heat-induced oxygenation enhancement at low temperature region (5-20 °C), while showing a heat-induced oxygenation suppression at high temperature region (20-60 °C), resulting in an off-on-off activity profile against the temperature window. This is driven by a heat-induced phase transition of the polymer from coil to micelle and then to globule states. In the present work, effects of adding an amine component (N-[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]acrylamide: DMAPAM) to the polymer on the sensitization activity were studied, where the relationship between the phase transition behavior and the activity was clarified by several spectroscopic analyses. The polymers, poly(NIPAM_x-co-BP_y-co-DMAPAM_z), show activity controlled by temperature and pH. The off-on-off activity profile shifts to higher temperature with a pH decrease. This is because protonation of the DMAPAM units leads to an increase in the polymer polarity and, hence, the polymer aggregates at higher temperature. In addition, increase in the DMAPAM content of the polymer leads to further shift of the activity profile. In contrast, at pH < 8, no activity enhancement is observed because complete protonation of the DMAPAM units suppresses polymer aggregation.     

Profiling and Imaging of Phospholipids in Brains of Abcd1‐Deficient Mice

ABCD1 is a gene responsible for X‐linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X‐ALD), and is critical for the transport of very long‐chain fatty acids (VLCFA) into peroxisomes and subsequent β‐oxidation. VLCFA‐containing lipids accumulate in X‐ALD patients, although the effect of ABCD1‐deficiency on each lipid species in the central nervous system has not been fully characterized. In this study, each phospholipid and lysophospholipid species in Abcd1‐deficient mice brains were profiled by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry. Among the phospholipid and lysophospholipid species that are significantly more enriched in Abcd1‐deficient mice brains, VLCFA were present in 75, 15, 5, 4, and 1 species of phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine, and lysophosphatidylethanolamine, respectively. Most VLCFA were incorporated at the sn‐1 position of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine. Among the phospholipid species that are significantly less enriched in Abcd1‐deficient mice brains, odd‐numbered saturated or mono‐unsaturated fatty acyl moieties are contained in all phosphatidylcholine species. In addition, a number of phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylserine species contained highly unsaturated fatty acyl moieties. Intriguingly, 44:1 phosphatidylcholine with VLCFA was mainly distributed in the gray matter, such as the cortex, but not in the white matter in the cerebrum and cerebellum. These results show that ABCD1‐deficiency causes metabolic alternation of long‐chain fatty acids and VLCFA. Moreover, our results imply a molecular mechanism for the incorporation of saturated or monounsaturated VLCFA into the sn‐1 position of phospholipids, and also indicate that the distribution of phospholipids with VLCFA may correlate with the development of X‐ALD.     

添加钛、铌、锰、硫及镁对亚共晶灰铸铁初生奥氏体形核及生长的影响

共晶铸铁在共晶凝固时,熔体中碳的状态,即“C的微小集合体”已经被深入研究.然而时于与初生奥氏体密切相关的铁原子的状态,即“铁的微小集合体”却缺乏研究.本文作者提出,在亚共晶灰铸铁熔体中,初晶γ的形核受“Fe的富集部”的影响,而“Fe的富集部”的形成及消失与“C的微小集合体”有关.研究表明,初生奥氏体的形核过冷度、形核数和晶核生长形貌随工艺条件如过热度、保温时间和冷却速率而变化.本文讨论了在熔体的过热度、保温时间和冷却速率固定的条件下,钛、铌、锰、硫和镁这五种添加元素对亚共晶灰铸铁初晶γ的凝固过程的影响.     

Guiding and blocking of highly charged ions through a single glass capillary

Highly charged ions produced in an electron beam ion trap, I^q+, q = 10-50, were transmitted through a tapered glass capillary having diameter of at the end. We found that for a particular beam current, there exists an optimum tilting angle of the capillary in which a steady output of ions is observed, while for smaller angles, the ion counts first rise, then gradually decay on a time scale of minutes. In the case of steady transmission, the charge state distribution is found to be slightly towards the lower side.     

Imaging dynamics of charge-auto-organisation in glass capillaries

Multiply charged ion beam transmission through insulating capillaries is today a very active field of research. Thanks to the work of several groups during the last five years, several features of this unexpected process have been evidenced. The open challenge is to understand and control the self-organized charging-up of the capillary walls, which leads finally to the ion transmission. Up to now, the specific charge distribution on the inner surface, as well as the dynamics of the build-up, are still to be understood. While capillaries usually studied are microscopic pore networks etched in different materials, our concern is in macroscopic single capillaries made of glass. With a length of several centimeters and a diameter of a few micrometers at the exit, these capillaries have nevertheless the same aspect ratio as the etched pores (length/diameter ≈ 100). One of the leading goals of this research on single capillaries is to produce multi-charged ion beams with diameters smaller than a micrometer (nano-beams). These glass capillaries offer the opportunity to be used as an ion funnel due to their amazing properties of guiding and focusing highly charged ion beams without altering neither their initial charge state nor the beam emittance (<10⁻³ π mm mrad). However, the understanding of the underlying process is not complete and relies on models assuming charge patches distributed along the capillary and which still need to be tested. We present the first observation imaging the dynamics of the charging-up process in single glass capillaries. During the build-up of the self-organized charge deposition on the capillary walls, the 230 keV Xe²³⁺ transmitted beam is deflected back and forth several times as the outgoing current increases. This is in agreement with the picture of charge patches created sequentially along the capillary and thus deflecting the beam until a stationary state is reached.     

The Association of Cholesterol Uptake and Synthesis with Histology and Genotype in Cortisol-Producing Adenoma (CPA)

Cortisol-producing adenoma (CPA) is composed of clear and compact cells. Clear cells are lipid abundant, and compact ones lipid poor but associated with higher production of steroid hormones. PRKACA mutation (PRKACA mt) in CPA patients was reported to be associated with more pronounced clinical manifestation of Cushing’s syndrome. In this study, we examined the association of histological features and genotypes with cholesterol uptake receptors and synthetic enzymes in 40 CPA cases, and with the quantitative results obtained by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis in 33 cases to explore their biological and clinical significance. Both cholesterol uptake receptors and synthetic enzymes were more abundant in compact cells. GC-MS analysis demonstrated that the percentage of compact cells was inversely correlated with the concentrations of cholesterol and cholesterol esters, and positively with the activity of cholesterol biosynthesis from cholesterol esters. In addition, hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which catalyzes cholesterol biosynthesis from cholesterol esters, tended to be more abundant in compact cells of PRKACA mt CPAs. These results demonstrated that both cholesterol uptake and biosynthesis were more pronounced in compact cells in CPA. In addition, more pronounced HSL expression in compact cells of PRKACA mt CPA could contribute to their more pronounced clinical manifestation.