Pulse plating effect on microstructure and corrosion properties of Zn–Ni alloy coatings

The influence of pulse plating parameters on the surface morphology, grain size, lattice imperfection and corrosion properties of Zn–Ni alloy has been studied. The coatings were electrodeposited in an alkaline cyanide-free solution. AFM was applied for surface morphology examination, XRD measurements were carried out for phase composition and texture analysis, electron probe microanalysis was used for alloy chemical composition studies, while electrochemical techniques were applied for corrosion performance evaluation. The pulse plated Zn–Ni coatings appeared to consist of the γ-Zn₂₁Ni₅ phase and the composition of the alloy depended on the plating parameters. The grain size, lattice imperfection and homogeneity of grain distribution were established to be the main factors determining corrosion behaviour of the coating. Presented at the 4th Baltic Conference on Electrochemistry, Greifswald, March 13–16, 2005     

Bis induces growth inhibition and differentiation of HL-60 cells via up-regulation of p27

Bis (Bag-3, CAIR), a Bcl-2-interacting protein, promotes the anti-apoptotic activity of Bcl-2 and increased levels of Bis have been observed in several disease models. The involvement of Bcl-2 and some Bcl-2-binding proteins in differentiation has recently been reported. However, the relevance of Bis to cellular differentiation remains unknown. The findings herein show that Bis expression is up-regulated during the differentiation of HL-60 cells. To investigate the effect of Bis expression on differentiation, we established Bis-overexpressing HL-60 cells (HL-60-bis). HL-60-bis cells have a low nuclear: cytoplasmic ratio and indented nucleus in Wright- Giemsa staining, and an increased expression of CD11b in immunofluorescence study, indicating the promotion of differentiation. The overexpression of Bis also resulted in a retarded cell growth rate, accompanied by the accumulation of HL-60 cells at the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, which was sustained during the differentiation process. Western blot analysis revealed that the expression of p27, a representative inducer of cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase, was increased 2.5-fold in HL-60-bis cells compared to HL-60-neo cells. These results suggest that the Bis induced growth inhibition of HL-60 cells promotes G0/G1 phase arrest via up-regulation of p27, which seems to be a prerequisite for differentiation. Further studies will be required to define the exact roles of Bis on cellular differentiation more precisely.     

The predictive accuracy for estimating infinite dilution activity coefficients by γ∞-based UNIFAC

The predictive accuracy for estimating infinite dilution activity coefficients by a modification of the UNIFAC method wherein the group interaction parameters were based on only data (referred to as -based UNIFAC) has been studied. Estimates and measured values were compared for six prototypical solutes in a series of homologous n-alkanes, l-alcohols and alkanenitrile solvents. Despite the fact that the interaction parameters were derived using only data, this approach still gave serious errors due to several inherent problems in the original UNIFAC model. Its performance is sometimes even poorer than that of the original UNIFAC method. For example for nitromethane in alcohols and p-dioxane in nitriles values predicted by the -based UNIFAC are essentially zero. The large errors for these systems are most likely due to inaccurate interaction parameters in the -based UNIFAC method.     

纳米级金膜微电极的制作,表征及异相催化反应

报道了纳米级金膜微电极的制作方法，用ＸＰＳ及ＳＥＭ对电极表面进行了表征，考察了该电极的循环伏安及计时电流特性，在聚吡咯修饰微带金电极上成功地实现了葡萄糖氧化酶和电子传递媒体Ｆｅ（ＣＮ）６＾３－的同时固定，并研究了ＧＯＤ／Ｆｅ（ＣＮ）６＾３－／ＰＰｙ微酶电极对葡萄糖的响应，稳态响应电流与葡萄糖浓度之间存在Ｍｉｃｈｅａｌｉｓ－Ｍｅｎｔｅｎ动力学特征。     

疏水化淀粉衍生物研究进展

淀粉化学品已广泛应用于各行各业,但由于传统淀粉化学品只有单一的亲水性,应用受到限制。淀粉的疏水化改性是提高淀粉化学品应用性能、赋予淀粉新的性能和功能性、进而拓宽淀粉化学品应用领域的重要方法,淀粉的疏水化改性已成为目前国内外的研究热点。本文综述了近年来制备的新的疏水化淀粉衍生物及其制备新工艺和性能研究方面的进展。     

Modification of the Orientation of Substitution Reactions on Thiophene and Furan Derivatives

Under normal conditions, thiophene and furan derivatives are substituted in the α position, and no convenient alternative methods for the preparation of β-substitution products have been available until now. The present article describes a method that permits the synthesis of many β-substituted thiophenes and furans. In this method, the carbonyl group in α-aldehydes or ketones of the thiophene and furan series is blocked by complex formation with an excess of aluminum chloride, so that electrophilic substitution takes place in position 4. In another useful method, the carbonyl group is blocked by acetalization. The acetals can be metalated in the ring by organolithium compounds.     

Click chemistry to construct fluorescent oligonucleotides for DNA sequencing

"Click chemistry" 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between alkynyl 6-carboxyfluorescein (FAM) and azido-labeled single-stranded (ss) DNA was carried out under aqueous conditions to produce FAM-labeled ssDNA in quantitative yield. The FAM-labeled ssDNA was successfully used as a primer to produce DNA sequencing products with single-base resolution in a capillary electrophoresis DNA sequencer with laser-induced fluorescence detection.     

Improved expression by cytomegalovirus promoter/enhancer and behavior of vascular endothelial growth factor gene after myocardial injection of naked DNA

Direct injection of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene plasmid DNA into the myocardium was shown to induce development of new blood vessels to increase the circulation in the heart of patients with coronary artery diseases. However, such angiogenic gene therapy (via naked DNA) was limited by low level of gene expression. Furthermore, the temporal and spatial characteristics of VEGF gene transfer in the heart are not known. In this study, we demonstrated that a plasmid vector, containing the human cytomegalovirus immediate early (HCMV IE) promoter and enhancer, induces greater expression of gene in the rat heart monitored by gene fused to the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) reporter, than four different viral and cellular promoters. Interestingly, expression of VEGF121 protein showed an earlier peak, a shorter duration, and a wider distribution than that of CAT only. Therefore, a plasmid vector with an HCMV IE promoter/enhancer provides clear advantages over other previously developed plasmids. Furthermore, expression profile of VEGF121 gene may provide useful information in the design of angiogenic gene therapy in the heart.     

Study on glucose oxidase fermentation coupled with membrane dialysis

The repression of glucose oxidase (GOD) biosynthesis by catabolites during fermentation can be alleviated through membrane dialysis fermentation (MDF). The results show that the volumetric enzyme productivity of MDF was two times higher than that of the control (fermentation without dialysis), and its total enzyme activity was increased by 30–50%. The operation conditions of MDF, such as pore size of the membrane, initiating time for membrane dialysis, and volume of dialysate used, were optimized. The content of amino acids and organic acids in the fermentation broth and the dialysate in the reservoir were assessed by amino acid analyzer and ionic chromatography, respectively. The relationship among the contents of pyruvic acid, gluconic acid, and enzyme activity during fermentation was analyzed quantitatively. Furthermore, the effect of membrane dialysis technology applied to the low-yield strain was found to be more effective than that applied to the high-yield strain.     

Hydrodynamic microfabrication via"on the fly" photopolymerization of microscale fibers and tubes

A microfluidic apparatus capable of creating continuous microscale cylindrical polymeric structures has been developed. This system is able to produce microstructures (e.g. fibers, tubes) by employing 3D multiple stream laminar flow and "on the fly"in-situ photopolymerization. The details of the fabrication process and the characterization of the produced microfibers are described. The apparatus is constructed by merging pulled glass pipettes with PDMS molding technology and used to manufacture the fibers and tubes. By controlling the sample and sheath volume flow rates, the dimensions of the microstructures produced can be altered without re-tooling. The fiber properties including elasticity, stimuli responsiveness, and biosensing are characterized. Responsive woven fabric and biosensing fibers are demonstrated. The fabrication process is simple, cost effective and flexible in materials, geometries, and scales.