Study on reproductive endocrinology of human placenta (III)--Hormonal regulation of progesterone production by trophoblast tissue of first trimester.

The effect of hormones on progesterone secretion by 6-8 week human trophoblast tissue cultured in serum-free medium has been investigated. GnRH at low concentration (10(-10)-10(-8) mol/L) stimulated progesterone secretion, while high dose (10(-6)-10(-5) mol/L) produced inhibitory effect. The progesterone secretion could be significantly decreased by addition of anti-hCG antiserum or monoclonal anti-hCG IgG in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Various concentrations of TRH, PGE2, PGF2 alpha, testosterone and estradiol were found to be ineffective. These data indicate clearly that progesterone production by human trophoblast tissue at early gestation stage is under the modulation of GnRH and hCG.     

Influence of preparation methods on structure and properties of PA6/PA66 blends: A comparison of melt‐mixing and in situ blending

The blends composed of polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 66 (PA66) were obtained using two different preparation methods, one of which was the melt‐mixing through a twin‐screw extruder and the subsequent injection molding; and the other, the in situ blending through anionic polymerization of ε‐caprolactam in the presence of PA66. For the former, there existed a remarkable improvement in toughness but a drastic drop in strength and modulus; however, for the latter, a reverse but less significant trend of mechanical properties change appeared. Various characterizations were conducted, including the analyses of crystalline morphology, crystallographic form, and crystallization and melting behaviors using polarized optical microscopy (POM), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively; observation of morphology of fractured surface with scanning electron microscope (SEM); measurement of glass transition through dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA); and the intermolecular interaction as well as the interchange reaction between the two components by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT‐IR) and ¹³C solution NMR. The presence and absence of interchange reaction was verified for the in situ and melt‐mixed blends, respectively. It is believed that the transreaction resulted in a drop in glass transition temperature (T_g) for the in situ blends, contrary to an increase of T_g with increasing PA66 content for the melt‐mixed ones. And the two kinds of fabrication methods led to significant differences in the crystallographic form, spherulite size and crystalline content and perfection as well. Accordingly, it is attempted to explain the reasons for the opposite trends of changes in the mechanical properties for these two blends. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1176–1186, 2007     

Slow cyclotron instability in a high-power backward-wave oscillator

The linear dispersion relation of a backward-wave oscillator (BWO), derived earlier by the authors, is modified to include effects of RF surface current at the beam-vacuum interface. This modified dispersion relation results in an unstable interaction between the slow cyclotron mode (SCM) and the structure mode in addition to the conventional Cherenkov instability caused by the slow space charge mode. Numerical analysis is then carried out using parameters of a BWO experiment at University of Maryland. Fine structure of the SCM instability is elucidated. The analysis indicates that BWO radiation would not be suppressed near cyclotron absorption in an infinitely long system.     

Expert systems for HPLC in biochemistry—The knowledge base for selection of HPLC column system in the separation of amino acids,peptides and proteins

The strategy of expert system for high performance liquid chromatography was discussed, the attentions are mainly placed on the knowledge base for selection of column system, separation modes and detection modes in the analysis of amino acids, peptides and proteins.     

On new forms of motive differential equations of a mechanical system relative to non-inertial frame

Based on D'Alembert's principle of a mechanical system relative to non-inertial frame and by introducing the concept of the generalized inertial potential, new forms of differential equations of motion of a mechanical system with holonomic and the non-holonomic constraints relative to the non-inertial frame are obtained. The merits and demerits between our method and the Newtonian dynamic method as well as the analytic dynamic method are discussed comparatively. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the application of the motive differential equations in the new forms.     

On the persistence of elliptic lower-dimensional tori in Hamiltonian systems under the first Melnikov condition and Rüssmann’s non-degeneracy condition

In this paper we formulate a theorem on the persistence of elliptic lower-dimensional invariant tori for nearly integrable analytic Hamiltonian systems under the first Melnikov condition and Rüssmann’s non-degeneracy condition, and give the measure estimates of parameters for the non-resonance conditions under Rüssmann’s non-degeneracy condition, which is essential for the proof of our result.     

Stagnation flow on a cylinder with partial slip--an exact solution of the Navier-Stokes equations

The stagnation slip flow on an axially moving cylinder is studied.The Navier–Stokes and energy equations reduce to nonlinearordinary differential equations under a similarity transform.For large slip, the flow field decays exponentially into potentialflow. The heat transfer can be expressed as an incomplete gammafunction. In general, the heat transfer increases with slip,Prandtl number and Reynolds number.     

Numerical study on performance of disk MHD generator using frozen inert gas plasma

In an magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator using a frozen inert gas plasma (FIP), the availability of a frozen argon plasma, the influence of plasma uniformity at the generator inlet on the performance, and the feasibility of a large-scale generator are numerically examined by /spl gamma/-/spl theta/ two-dimensional simulation. The FIP is produced by pre-ionizing inert gas without an alkali metal seed at the generator inlet, then the ionization degree of the plasma is kept almost constant in the whole of the channel because of considerable slow recombination of the inert gas just like frozen reaction plasma. It is found that not only helium, but also argon frozen plasma MHD generation is realized, although highly accurate control of inlet ionization degree is necessary for argon. It is important to reduce the nonuniformity of plasma properties at the generator inlet in order to raise the maximum enthalpy extraction ratio. Even for the large-scale generator with 1000-MW thermal input, the ionization degree is kept almost constant in the whole of the channel and the high performance is obtainable. This result is extremely attractive for the FIP MHD generator.     

Nonlinear magneto-optical diffraction by two-dimensional magnetic superstructures

Nonlinear (at the second-harmonic frequency of the incident light) optical reflection by two-dimensional magnetic superstructures is theoretically studied. A square lattice of magnetic dots and a hexagonal lattice of magnetic bubbles (cylindrical magnetic domains) are considered. Because the periods of these structures are comparable with the wavelengths of the fundamental and the second-harmonic radiation, it would be possible to observe diffraction at the second-harmonic frequency. A polarization analysis of nonlinearly diffracted radiation is performed and the numbers of observable diffraction orders for the above structures are estimated. Received: 10 January 2002 / Published online: 11 June 2002     

Quantification of stable minor species in confined flames by cavity ring-down spectroscopy: application to NO

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is used to measure the NO mole fraction formed in the burnt gases of low-pressure premixed flames. It is shown that the line-of-sight absorption is greatly increased by the contribution of the NO molecules surrounding the burner. This contribution has been quantified by developing a mathematical procedure taking into account the spatial and spectral features of the CRDS measurement. Calculations have been undertaken in the general case of a stable species not consumed in the flame. The most sensitive parameter is the temperature both in the flame and outside the flame. Simulations allow the selection of the best spectroscopic transitions for a given flame (i.e. a given temperature profile), ensuring the weakest influence of the inaccuracy affecting the temperature determination. High quantum states belonging to the A–X (0–1) band of NO have been found to be the most valuable and have led to a NO mole fraction determination with an accuracy of ±13%. NO absorption in the flame was completely masked using the A–X (0–0) band. Finally, the prompt-NO mole fraction formed in a methane/air flame stabilized at 33 Torr is obtained by combining CRDS and laser induced fluorescence techniques. Received: 12 October / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002