Accreditation and Quality Assurance - The production of Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) is one of the essential activities of the National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology... 相似文献
Recent developments in wastewater treatment have led to a renewed interest to obtain elemental sulphur (S°) as a by-product from bioreactors. However, practical studies are limited by the gap of adequate analytical techniques for its determination. This paper provides a statistical study and matrix effect evaluation of an adapted spectrophotometric method for routine S° analyses in aqueous samples, based on a methodology previously described by Hart (1961). Four complex matrices were tested: domestic sewage and effluent samples from three different bioreactors. Tested performance criteria included linearity, matrix effect, limit of detection and quantification and S° recovery. Results were linear (R2 = 0.99994) in the studied range (5 to 100 mg S° L?1) and no matrix effect was observed. The accuracy was based on recovery values that varied from 100% to 106%. The colloidal S° separation and extraction protocol was also considered suitable for aqueous samples, reaching more than 99.0% of S° recovery. 相似文献
The human macrophage galactose-type lectin (MGL), expressed on macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs), modulates distinct immune cell responses by recognizing N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) containing structures present on pathogens, self-glycoproteins, and tumor cells. Herein, NMR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were used to investigate the structural preferences of MGL against different GalNAc-containing structures derived from the blood group A antigen, the Forssman antigen, and the GM2 glycolipid. NMR spectroscopic analysis of the MGL carbohydrate recognition domain (MGL-CRD, C181-H316) in the absence and presence of methyl α-GalNAc (α-MeGalNAc), a simple monosaccharide, shows that the MGL-CRD is highly dynamic and its structure is strongly altered upon ligand binding. This plasticity of the MGL-CRD structure explains the ability of MGL to accommodate different GalNAc-containing molecules. However, key differences are observed in the recognition process depending on whether the GalNAc is part of the blood group A antigen, the Forssman antigen, or GM2-derived structures. These results are in accordance with molecular dynamics simulations that suggest the existence of a distinct MGL binding mechanism depending on the context of GalNAc moiety presentation. These results afford new perspectives for the rational design of GalNAc modifications that fine tune MGL immune responses in distinct biological contexts, especially in malignancy. 相似文献
The diesterase Rv0805 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a dinuclear metallohydrolase that plays an important role in signal transduction by controlling the intracellular levels of cyclic nucleotides. As Rv0805 is essential for mycobacterial growth it is a promising new target for the development of chemotherapeutics to treat tuberculosis. The in vivo metal‐ion composition of Rv0805 is subject to debate. Here, we demonstrate that the active site accommodates two divalent transition metal ions with binding affinities ranging from approximately 50 nm for MnII to about 600 nm for ZnII. In contrast, the enzyme GpdQ from Enterobacter aerogenes, despite having a coordination sphere identical to that of Rv0805, binds only one metal ion in the absence of substrate, thus demonstrating the significance of the outer sphere to modulate metal‐ion binding and enzymatic reactivity. CaII also binds tightly to Rv0805 (Kd≈40 nm ), but kinetic, calorimetric, and spectroscopic data indicate that two CaII ions bind at a site different from the dinuclear transition‐metal‐ion binding site. CaII acts as an activator of the enzymatic activity but is able to promote the hydrolysis of substrates even in the absence of transition‐metal ions, thus providing an effective strategy for the regulation of the enzymatic activity. 相似文献
Afterglows of mixed gas of N2 and H2(0–2.5%) flowing microwave discharges in a 5 mm diameter tube connected to a 5 L reactor via a tube of 1.8 cm diameter and 50 cm long, have been studied using optical emission spectroscopy. The obtained results at the entrance of the afterglow tube of 1.8 cm diameter: Short time afterglow (SA), (10–3 s) and inside the 5 L reactor: Long time afterglow (LA), (10–2 s) were then compared. It was found that, in N2 at 2 Torr, 0.5 slpm, the active specie density ratios had a constant value of 10–2 for N/N2, but decreased respectively from 10–3 to 10–4 for N2 (X,v?>?13)/N2 and from 10–6 to 10–8 for N+2 /N2. By directly connecting the discharge tube inside the 5 L reactor, the density increases by 10 for N2 (X,v?>?13) and by 102 for N2+ by changing the afterglow from LA(10?2 s) to a SA(10–3 s). Moreover and by adding 1% of H2 to N2, the N/N2 and H/H2 ratios had constant values of 1% and 0.2% respectively. The SA(10–3 s) appeared to be more efficient for surface treatments than the LA (10–2 s).
Popgraphene (PopG) is a new 2D planar carbon allotrope which is composed of 5–8–5 carbon rings. PopG is intrinsically metallic and possesses excellent thermal and mechanical stability. In this work, we report a detailed study of the thermal effects on the mechanical properties of PopG membranes using fully-atomistic reactive (ReaxFF) molecular dynamics simulations. Our results showed that PopG presents very distinct fracture mechanisms depending on the temperature and direction of the applied stretching. The main fracture dynamics trends are temperature independent and exhibit an abrupt rupture followed by fast crack propagation. The reason for this anisotropy is due to the fact that y-direction stretching leads to a deformation in the shape of the rings that cause the breaking of bonds in the pentagon-octagon and pentagon-pentagon ring connections, which is not observed for the x-direction. PopG is less stiff than graphene membranes, but the Young's modulus value is only 15 % smaller. 相似文献