Quantification of Conversion Degree and Monomer Elution from Dental Composite Using HPLC and Micro-Raman Spectroscopy

The purpose of the study was to analyze the correlation between the quantity of eluted monomers from dental resin-based composite using reverse-phase HPLC and the degree of conversion (DC) using micro-Raman spectroscopy, and to evaluate the influence of the energy of polymerization delivered on the composite material and the applied resin layer thickness on these properties. There was direct proportion in degree of conversion and inverse proportion in monomer elution when the energy of light polymerization was increased from 20 to 40 J cm^?2; however, further increase in energy density did not influence significantly the DC and the elution of monomers. Investigating the depth of cure significant differences could be measured both in DC and the elution of monomers. 1 mm layer increment up to 3 mm from the top led to 10 % decrease in DC and 30–35 % increase in monomer elution. Further increase in depth from 3 to 4 mm caused 30 % drop in DC and 55 % increase in the amount of leached monomers. The overall result of the findings indicates that direct correlation exists between DC of composite and the elution of unreacted monomers.     

Role of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in the staging of COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an imminent public health catastrophe. A proper severity marker is desperately needed to reflect the progress of the disease in a stage-specific manner (GOLD I–IV/A–D). The aim of the study was testing the applicability of thermodynamic analysis of blood, identifying different stages of COPD patients against each other and healthy controls. Sera from 63 COPD patients were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Patients formed four groups according to their GOLD severity stages, and smoking or ex-smoking subgroups were further analysed. In total, 18 GOLD A, 17 GOLD B, 16 GOLD C and 12 GOLD D patients’ DSC characteristics were investigated. Nine healthy sera (smoker and non-smoker controls) were evaluated using the same methodology. Enthalpy and melting parameters of severe COPD patients are significantly different from those in the early stages and from healthy subjects. There are clearly visible trends in both features in all stages as COPD progresses. The thermal denaturation parameters are significantly different between the smokers and non-smokers in advanced COPD stages (C&D). Healthy controls do not differ significantly according to their smoking status. The new thermophysical method described here has a potential to be applicable as a stage and/or symptom score of the individual COPD patients. Longitudinal studies are needed to monitor DSC changes of the same patients during progression and/or stagnation.     

Prediction of protein disorder at the domain level

Intrinsically disordered/unstructured proteins exist in a highly flexible conformational state largely devoid of secondary structural elements and tertiary contacts. Despite their lack of a well defined structure, these proteins often fulfill essential regulatory functions. The intrinsic lack of structure confers functional advantages on these proteins, allowing them to adopt multiple conformations and to bind to different binding partners. The structural flexibility of disordered regions hampers efforts solving structures at high resolution by X-ray crystallography and/or NMR. Removing such proteins/regions from high-throughput structural genomics pipelines would be of significant benefit in terms of cost and success rate. In this paper we outline the theoretical background of structural disorder, and review bioinformatic predictors that can be used to delineate regions most likely to be amenable for structure determination. The primary focus of our review is the interpretation of prediction results in a way that enables segmentation of proteins to separate ordered domains from disordered regions.     

Time variations of 222Rn concentration and air exchange rates in a Hungarian cave

A long-term radon concentration monitoring was carried out in the Pál-völgy cave, Budapest, Hungary, for 1.5 years. Our major goal was to determine the time dependence of the radon concentration in the cave to characterise the air exchange and define the most important environmental parameters that influence the radon concentration inside the cave. The radon concentration in the cave air was measured continuously by an AlphaGuard radon monitor, and meteorological parameters outside the cave were collected simultaneously. The air's radon concentration in the cave varied between 104 and 7776 Bq m^?3, the annual average value was 1884±85 Bq m^?3. The summer to winter radon concentration ratio was as high as 21.8. The outside air temperature showed the strongest correlation with the radon concentration in the cave, the correlation coefficient (R) was 0.76.     

Athermal effects in ion implanted layers

Abstract

Defect structure and electrical characterization of boron and arsenic implanted layers has been investigated for implantation under athermal (light) excitation. This Photon Assisted (PA) implantation owes its specific properties to an additional electric field acting on charged particles including carriers and charged defects. It was shown that in case of n-type silicon this extra field draws charged vacancies and self-interstitials towards each other and, thus, diminishes transient diffusion of boron. This effect resulted in junctions which are about 20% shallower compared to conventionally processed reference wafers. Experiments using light of an Ar-ion laser and white light of a high pressure Xe arc lamp were compared. Some deactivation of carriers in the deeper laying parts of the p-region was always a by-product.     

Application of cyclodextrins in environmental bioassays for soil

Based on our former experience on contaminant solubilisation and mobilisation in the process of soil remediation we used cyclodextrins as additives in environmental bioassays, for improving solubility and bioavailability of the contaminant in soil and as a consequence sensitivity of the bioassay. In this article we introduce the findings on the application of RAMEB (randomly methylated ??-cyclodextrin) for testing PCP (pentachlorophenol) in soil, in three bioassays: bacterial luminescence-inhibition test with Vibrio fischeri, protozoon growth inhibition test with Tetrahymena pyriformis, and Ames mutagenicity test. We applied RAMEB which has a high solubilising capacity on many typical soil contaminant and PCP, because contradictory results were published for its toxicity and mutagenicity. The RAMEB-aided Ames test, gave a sudden and expressed increase in the mutagenicity of PCP, however, Ames mutagenicity was negative without cyclodextrin (CD). Based on these results we tried to apply RAMEB for increasing sensitivity of other bioassays, such as acute toxicity tests with different test organisms. According to our results the effect of RAMEB on bioavailability and toxic effect depends not only on the K _ow value (octanol?Cwater partition coefficient) of the chemical substances, but also on the test organism, the water-content of the test-matrix and the applied concentration of RAMEB, as well as its ratio to PCP. We collected all the characteristics of the bioassays applied for PCP and some other contaminants and showed the measured effect data in comparison with each other. We found that in the complex system of soil and soil suspension, used in the bioassays, the interactions between soil solid, water and gaseous phases, as well as between the test organism and RAMEB result in K _ow dependent partition of the contaminant between solid and water phases of soil, RAMEB, and the test organism. The conclusion is that RAMEB undoubtedly has an influence on the fate and behaviour of the contaminant in soil and soil suspensions, and the direction of the RAMEB-induced changes depends on the effective concentration of the RAMEB in the bioassay, the time of contact, the type of test organism, and the characteristics of the RAMEB?Ccontaminant complex. In those cases, when RAMEB increased the effect of a contaminated environmental sample, this CD-induced increase can be considered as a ??realistic worse case?? situation, which can be very useful in risk assessment, resulting in a moderate overestimate in the value of environmental risk.     

Electron irradiation assisted annealing of boron and phosphorus implanted silicon layers

Radíatíon annealing due to a 1.0 MeV election beam of intensity 25 μA/cm² was studied in silicon samples implanted with phosphorus and boron ions and annealed at 350–500°C. A significant annealing enhancement as compared to thermal annealing has been observed in phosphorus-implanted samples. In boron-implanted samples, a fast initial rise of electrical activity is followed by a continuous decrease of carrier concentration. The results are interpreted in terms of two competing processes: electron irradiation induced removal of post-implantation defects and introduction of simple electrically active defects.