Bioaccumulation of heavy metals on adapted <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspergillus foetidus</Emphasis>

The development of the organisms extracellular and intracellular mechanisms for the uptake of heavy metals were conducted by using the natural detoxification strategies of the organism to toxicity. Aspergillus foetidus was used as a test case organism to examine these processes. Aspergillus foetidus was adapted to multi-metals (Al, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni and Zn) by a sequential method for tolerance development. The detoxification strategies of A. foetidus occurred by two mechanisms. The first mechanism is the production of extracellular metabolites that is capable of adsorbing and precipitating the metal ions on the cell surface. The second mechanism for the detoxification of metals is the intracellular binding of heavy metals to thiol containing compounds such as GSH and sequestering these metal–thiol complexes into sub-cellular compartments or vacuoles. These detoxification strategies resulted in adapted organisms with tolerance to multi-heavy metals concentrations and significantly higher metal uptake with adaptation.     

Transparent and flexible field emission display device based on single‐walled carbon nanotubes

A fully transparent and flexible field emission device (FED) has been demonstrated. Single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coated on arylite substrate were used as electron emitters for the FED and a novel metavanadate phosphor coated on the SWCNTs/arylite film was used as transparent and flexible screen. The SWCNTs/arylite based emitters and the SWCNTs/arylite/metal‐vanadate‐based phosphor showed a transmittance value of 92.6% and 54%, respectively. The assembled device also showed satisfactory transparency and flexibility as well as producing significant current. Metavanadate phosphor is considered to be an excellent candidate due to its superior luminescence properties and easy fabrication onto transparent and flexible conductive substrate at room temperature while retaining reasonable transparency of the substrate. Thus, its transparency and flexibility will open the door to next‐generation FEDs. (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Evaluation of the effects of Mitragyna speciosa alkaloid extract on cytochrome P450 enzymes using a high throughput assay

The extract from Mitragyna speciosa has been widely used as an opium substitute, mainly due to its morphine-like pharmacological effects. This study investigated the effects of M. speciosa alkaloid extract (MSE) on human recombinant cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme activities using a modified Crespi method. As compared with the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method, this method has shown to be a fast and cost-effective way to perform CYP inhibition studies. The results indicated that MSE has the most potent inhibitory effect on CYP3A4 and CYP2D6, with apparent half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC(50)) values of 0.78 μg/mL and 0.636 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, moderate inhibition was observed for CYP1A2, with an IC(50) of 39 μg/mL, and weak inhibition was detected for CYP2C19. The IC(50) of CYP2C19 could not be determined, however, because inhibition was <50%. Competitive inhibition was found for the MSE-treated CYP2D6 inhibition assay, whereas non-competitive inhibition was shown in inhibition assays using CYP3A4, CYP1A2 and CYP2C19. Quinidine (CYP2D6), ketoconazole (CYP3A4), tranylcypromine (CYP2C19) and furafylline (CYP1A2) were ACCESSused as positive controls throughout the experiments. This study shows that MSE may contribute to an herb-drug interaction if administered concomitantly with drugs that are substrates for CYP3A4, CYP2D6 and CYP1A2.     

Direct fabrication of aligned metal composite carbon nanofibers on copper substrate at room temperature and their field emission property

Direct growth of aligned metal composite carbon nanofibers (MCNFs) was achieved by a highly reproducible room temperature growth process on cost effective electrically conductive copper (Cu) substrate without any catalyst. The direct fabrication of MCNFs on electrically conductive substrate might offer new perspectives in the field of field emission displays (FEDs).     

Urine NMR Metabolomic Study on Biochemical Activities to Investigate the Effect of P. betle Extract on Obese Rats

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - The present studies are to evaluate the ability of PB to induce weight loss and urine metabolite profile of Piper betle L. (PB) leaf extracts using...     

Growth of Y-junction bamboo-shaped CNx nanotubes on GaAs substrate using single feedstock

Nitrogen-doped Y-junction bamboo-shaped carbon nanotubes were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition of monoethanolamine/ferrocene mixture on GaAs substrate at 950 °C. The use of monoethanolamine as the C/N feedstock simplifies the experimental arrangement by producing ammonia during the growth process. The structure, morphology and graphitization of as-grown nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (CN_x) were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy analysis. TEM analysis indicates that nanotubes have a bamboo-like structure. The nitrogen concentration on as-grown CN_x nanotube was found to be 7.8 at.% by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. XPS analysis also indicated that there are two different types of nitrogen atoms (pyridinic and graphitic) in these materials. The possible growth mechanism of formation of Y-junction CN_x nanotubes was briefly discussed. Field emission measurement suggested that as-grown CN_x nanotubes are excellent emitters with turn-on and threshold fields of 1.6 and 2.63 V/μm, respectively. The result indicated that monoethanolamine proves to be an advantageous precursor to synthesize Y-junction nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes and such nanotubes might be an effective material to fabricate various field emission devices.     

Formation of carbon nanostructures containing single-crystalline cobalt carbides by ion irradiation method

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) with a diameter of 17 nm, and carbon nanoneedles (CNNs) with sharp tips have been synthesized on graphite substrates by ion irradiation of argon ions with the Co supplies rate of 1 and 3.4 nm/min, respectively. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, combined with selected area electron diffraction patterns has been used to identify the chemical composition and crystallinity of these carbon nanostructures. The CNFs were found to be amorphous in nature, while the structures of the CNNs consisted of cubic CoC_x, orthorhombic Co₂C and Co₃C depending on the cobalt content in the CNNs. The diameter of the carbide crystals was almost as large as the diameter of the CNN. Compared to the ion-induced nickel carbides and iron carbides, the formation of single-crystalline cobalt carbides might be due to the high temperature produced by the irradiation.     

Formation and growth mechanisms of ion-induced iron-carbon nanocomposites at room temperature

The irradiation of graphite surfaces with a simultaneous Fe supply have resulted into the development of various types of carbon nanocomposites. Their morphologies - diameter, density, length and apex angle strongly depend on the ratios of Fe deposition rate (D_Fe) to ion sputtering rate (S_ion). By optimizing the ratio of D_Fe/S_ion (2.40%), the denser and well-aligned Fe-carbon nanocomposite fibers (Fe-CNFs) could be obtained, whose average length and diameter were 0.95 μm and 17 nm, respectively. As confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, the Fe-CNFs with amorphous-like or fine-polycrystalline phase were surely composed of carbon and Fe. Two types of growth models have been employed to explain the formation of metal-carbon nanocomposites.     

Influence of Ti additions on the martensitic phase transformation and mechanical properties of Cu–Al–Ni shape memory alloys

The effect of Ti additions on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Cu–Al–Ni shape memory alloys (SMA) was studied by means of a differential scanning calorimeter, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), a tensile test, a hardness test, and a shape memory effect test. The experimental results show that the Ti additions have an effective influence on the phase transformation behavior through generating a new phase into the microstructure, which is known as X-phase and/or controlling the grain size. The results of the XRD confirmed that the X-phase is a combination of two compounds, AlNi₂Ti and Ti₃·3Al. Nevertheless, it was found that with 0.7 mass% of Ti, the best phase transformation temperatures and mechanical properties were obtained. These improvements were due to the highest existence of the X-phase into the alloy along with a noticeable decrement of grain size. The Ti additions to the Cu–Al–Ni SMA were found to increase the ductility from 1.65 to 3.2 %, corresponding with increasing the strain recovery by the shape memory effect from 50 to 100 %; in other words, a complete recovery occurred after Ti additions.