An In Situ Depot for Continuous Evolution of Gaseous H2 Mediated by a Magnesium Passivation/Activation Cycle for Treating Osteoarthritis

Inflammation is involved in many human pathologies, including osteoarthritis (OA). Hydrogen (H₂) is known to have anti‐inflammatory effects; however, the bioavailability of directly administered H₂ gas is typically poor. Herein, a local delivery system that can provide a high therapeutic concentration of gaseous H₂ at inflamed tissues is proposed. The delivery system comprises poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) microparticles that contain magnesium powder (Mg@PLGA MPs). Mg@PLGA MPs that are intra‐muscularly injected close to the OA knee in a mouse model can act as an in situ depot that can evolve gaseous H₂ continuously, mediated by the cycle of passivation/activation of Mg in body fluids, at a concentration that exceeds its therapeutic threshold. The analytical data that are obtained in the biochemical and histological studies indicate that the proposed Mg@PLGA MPs can effectively mitigate tissue inflammation and prevent cartilage from destruction, arresting the progression of OA changes.     

Syntheses and Diel-Alder Reactions of Bis(Alkylidene)Cyclohexanes

Substituted cyclohexene-fused 3-sulfolenes have been prepared by the direct deprotonation/alkylation reactions of a readily available starting material. These fused 3-sulfolenes undergo inter- and intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions at high temperatures to give properly substituted bi- and tricyclic molecules.     

Oxidation of formyl radical in solid O2 at 13 K: formation of formic acid and formylperoxyl radical,HC(O)OO

Formic acid and formylperoxy radical have been identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in the photo-oxidation of H₂CO and H₂¹³CO in solid O₂ and ¹⁸O₂. The mechanistic implication of this observation to gas phase oxidation reactions are discussed.     

Temperature Variations of Forced Convection in Porous Media for Heating and Cooling Processes: Internal Heating Effect of Viscous Dissipation

An analytical study on fully developed forced convection in a homogeneous porous medium is reported. Incorporating the internal heating effect of viscous dissipation, closed form solutions of the temperature distributions in the transverse direction are obtained and analyzed for both heating and cooling processes. Variations of Nusselt number as a function of Darcy number and Brinkman number and the existence of singularity in Nusselt number are also discussed. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Nonlinearly coupled vibrations of thin-walled elastic beams of open section

An account of certain subharmonic vibrations as observed during a resonant testing of thin-walled beams of monosymmetric open section for coupled torsional and bending vibrations is presented. The phenomenon can be described in terms of the vibrational modes of the beam. When the beam is excited at the resonant frequency of a higher mode, there is a tendency for the lowest mode to be excited, resulting in a high-order subharmonic oscillation. It is found that when such phenomenon occurs, the high-mode frequency is a multiple or near multiple of the fundamental frequency of the beam. Under such condition, the response of the beam consists of a superposition of the response of the high mode (harmonic response) and that of the fundamental mode (subharmonic response). The amplitude of the subharmonic motion is generally much larger than that of the harmonic response.     

Melt crystalfization and crystal morphology of two low molecular weight linear polyethylene fractions

Melt-crystallization behavior and single-crystal morphology of two low molecular weight (LMW) linear polyethylene (PE) fractions of 3900 and 5800 have been investigated. Linear growth rates along the b axis (G _b) of these fractions were measured via polarized light microscopy (PLM). The two fractions show a growth rate change at an undercooling of 17°C (at 117°C and 120°C, respectively, for these two fractions), which may be identified as the regime I/II transition. This transition does not correspond to a single-crystal morphological change from a truncated lozenge with curved (200) and (110) planes to a lenticular crystal as proposed previously. However, this morphological change can be observed at a temperature higher than the regime transition (at 122°C and 124°C), at which the cusps of the G _b data can be observed for these two fractions. Based on our morphological study via PLM, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiments, it is found that within a 2°C temperature region, the G _b change is accompanied by a sharp long period increase and a drastic change in single-crystal morphology from a truncated lozenge with curved (200) and (110) planes to a lenticular-shape crystal. The morphological change may result from a sudden increase in the G _b coupled with a smaller change in the growth rate along the a axis with undercooling. This implies that, within this temperature region (2°C), the crystals may undergo substantial changes in the geometry of the (110) and (200) crystal growth fronts and chain folding behavior.