In Vivo Imaging of Inflammatory Phagocytes

1. Download : Download high-res image (288KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

Highlights? Inflammation status can be determined by luminol (acute) or lucigenin (chronic) ? Neutrophils mediate MPO-dependent luminol luminescence during acute inflammation ? Macrophages rely on Phox to produce lucigenin luminescence in chronic inflammation ? No need for ectopic expression of reporters using this imaging method     

A circular elastic cylinder under its own weight

An exact analysis of deformation and stress field in a finite circular elastic cylinder under its own weight is presented, with emphasis on the end effect. The problem is formulated on the basis of the state space formalism for axisymmetric deformation of a transversely isotropic body. Upon delineating the Hamiltonian characteristics of the formulation, a rigorous solution which satisfies the end conditions is determined by using eigenfunction expansion. The results show that the end effect is significant but confined to a local region near the base where the displacement and stress distributions are remarkably different from those according to the simplified solution that gives a uniaxial stress state. It is more pronounced in the cylinder with the bottom plane being perfectly bonded than in smooth contact with a rigid base.     

Breakup of a droplet at high velocity impacting a solid surface

We have studied the collision between a droplet of different liquids with high impact energy and a solid plate with varied surface roughness, which is characterized by a dimensionless Weber number (We, defined as the impact inertia of the droplet normalized by its surface force) extending up to 12,000 for water. To make such collision, a technique was developed to generate a single droplet with speed up to 42 m/s, which was initially driven by upstream air flow through a nozzle and accelerated to nearly the same velocity of the high-speed flow downstream. Via a high-speed photographing system, the various splashing mechanisms were investigated and a specific prompt splash on a smooth plate was found at sufficiently high We, which was different somehow from the conventionally defined one that was generally believed to occur only on a rough surface. The radius when multiple secondary droplets were shed out of the rim of the expanding lamella was found to scale almost invariantly with We at large values, whereas the coupled effect of liquid viscosity might affect the ultimate value.     

Translation drag coefficient of a self-similar assembly of spheres immersed in an incompressible fluid.

On the basis of deterministic fractals and the Rotne-Prager hydrodynamic interaction tensor, we confirm the asymptotic as well as the finite size scaling of the friction coefficient lambda of a self-similar structure. The fractal assembly is made of N spheres with its dimension varying from D < 1 to D = 3. The number of spheres can be as high as N approximately O(10(4)). The asymptotic scaling behavior of the friction coefficient per sphere is lambda approximately N(1/D-1) for D > 1, lambda approximately (lnN)(-1) for D = 1, and lambda approximately N(0) for D < 1. The crossover behavior indicates that while in the regime of D > 1 the hydrodynamic screening effect grows with the size, for D<1 it is limited in a finite range, which decays with decreasing D.     

多极板电流变阀应用于避震器之研究

以流动模式（flow mode)多极板之电流变阀（electrorheological valve)进行避震器阻尼力特性的研究。由于电极板的大小直接影响到流体流动的剪力及避雷器的阻尼力,因此使用多极板型式来探讨避震器的特性。设计有1－5个流道之并联及1－3个流道之串联多极板电流变阀的电流变避震器,并使用自制的电流变液进行实验。由研究结果显示,流动式并联极板之电流变避震器,一个流道之阻尼力最大,流道极板增加则阻尼力反而下降,而流动式串联多极板之电流变避震器之阻尼力则随极板数递增,故需要高阻尼力之避震器较适合使用串联多极板型式。     

Role of Microporosity of Activated Carbons on Their Adsorption Abilities for Phenols and Dyes

The amounts of adsorption of two commercial dyes, phenol, and 4-chlorophenol from water on activated carbons were measured at 30°C. The carbons were prepared from cane (bagasse) piths and were activated by steam. The activation temperature and time were in the ranges of 750–840°C and 2 h, respectively. It was shown that the isotherm data of all four solutes could be well fitted by the Langmuir equation under the conditions studied. The adsorption capacities of the solutes were correlated with the microporosity properties of the activated carbons including micropore volume and external surface area. Finally, the adsorption characteristics of the present carbons was compared with those prepared from various agricultural wastes.     

Some Methods Based on the D-Gap Function for Solving Monotone Variational Inequalities

The D-gap function has been useful in developing unconstrained descent methods for solving strongly monotone variational inequality problems. We show that the D-gap function has certain properties that are useful also for monotone variational inequality problems with bounded feasible set. Accordingly, we develop two unconstrained methods based on them that are similar in spirit to a feasible method of Zhu and Marcotte based on the regularized-gap function. We further discuss a third method based on applying the D-gap function to a regularized problem. Preliminary numerical experience is also reported.     

Hepatoprotective Activity of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. Seedpod Extract Attenuated Acetaminophen-Induced Hepatotoxicity

The aim is to investigate the effect of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) seedpod extract (LSE) on acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatotoxicity. LSE is rich in polyphenols and has potent antioxidant capacity. APAP is a commonly used analgesic, while APAP overdose is the main reason for drug toxicity in the liver. Until now, there has been no in vitro test of LSE in drug-induced hepatotoxicity responses. LSEs were used to evaluate the effect on APAP-induced cytotoxicity, ROS level, apoptotic rate, and molecule mechanisms. The co-treatment of APAP and LSEs elevated the survival rate and decreased intracellular ROS levels on HepG2 cells. LSEs treatment could significantly reduce APAP-induced HepG2 apoptosis assessed by DAPI and Annexin V/PI. The further molecule mechanisms indicated that LSEs decreased Fas/FasL binding and reduced Bax and tBid to restore mitochondrial structure and subsequently suppress downstream apoptosis cascade activation. These declines in COX-2, NF-κB, and iNOS levels were observed in co-treatment APAP and LSEs, which indicated that LSEs could ameliorate APAP-induced inflammation. LSE protected APAP-induced apoptosis by preventing extrinsic, intrinsic, and JNK-mediated pathways. In addition, the restoration of mitochondria and inflammatory suppression in LSEs treatments indicated that LSEs could decrease oxidative stress induced by toxic APAP. Therefore, LSE could be a novel therapeutic option for an antidote against overdose of APAP.     

Self-Assembly Behavior of Diacetylenic Acid Molecules upon Vapor Deposition: Odd–Even Effect on the Film Morphology

A series of linear carboxylic acids containing diacetylenic units at different positions along the chain (C₁₂H₂₅(C≡C)₂(CH₂)_nCOOH, n=7–11) were vacuum-deposited on clean silica substrates. The morphologies of the initial films after UV irradiation were studied. A clear odd–even effect on the morphology of the initial film was observed in that, depending on the spacer length between the diacetylenic unit and carboxyl head group, rings or dendrites of acid dimer layers were obtained. A molecular dynamic simulation of the aggregation process suggests that two competing intermolecular interactions and thus aggregation directions are involved and modulated by the odd or even carbon chain length. Further modulation of the interaction by substitution of a phenyl group at the terminus of the chain or by changing the carboxyl head group to an amidobenzoic acid head group led to a similar odd–even effect but with different dimensions or trends, which can be rationalized similarly. These results give the opportunity to create aligned conjugated polymer chains of different dimensions through self-assembly for applications in molecular/organic electronics.     

A constitutive restriction related to convexity of yield surfaces in plasticity

Summary An implication of the work assumption of Naghdi and Trapp is established for finitely deforming elastic-plastic materials. For a special class of materials, for which the plastic strain rate is normal to the yield surface in stress space, the result ensures convexity of the latter yield surface.

---

Zusammenfassung Unter der Voraussetzung der Arbeits-Hypothese von Naghdi und Trapp wird für endlich deformierbares elastisch-plastisches Material eine Konsequenz gezogen.Danach wird eine spezielle Klasse von Materialien betrachtet, für die die plastische Dehnungsrate senkrecht auf eine Fläche gerichtet ist. Diese Fläche umschließt den elastischen Bereich der sechsdimensionalen räumlichen Spannungen. Das Ergebnis zeigt, daß diese Konsequenz eine Konvexität dieser Fläche garantiert.