Anti‐static Agent Containing Zinc Oxide and its Modification for PA6 Fiber

A new anti‐static agent was synthesized from zinc oxide‐adipic acid‐polyethylene glycol and caprolactam by three‐step reactions. The antistatic agent (called poly(ether ester amide zinc oxide) or PEEAZ) was analyzed by IR and DSC. The results showed that zinc oxide existed in the main chain of PEEAZ. The glass temperature and melt temperature of poly(ether ester amide zinc oxide) (referred to as PEEAZ in the following) decreased with increasing poly(ether ester zinc oxide) increasing in PEEAZ. Antistatic PA6 fiber was obtained by adding PEEAZ 2–8% (wt/wt) to PA6 during blend spinning. The specific resistance and the static half‐value period of PA6 fiber was less than 10⁹Ω · cm and 60 sec, respectively. Excellent antistatic property remained after being washed 30 times.     

Evolution of (GaAl) n Clusters and Chemisorptions of H2 on (GaAl) n Clusters

The growth behavior of (GaAl) _n (n = 1–12) and the chemisorptions of hydrogen on the ground state geometries have been studied with the three-parameter hybrid generalized gradient approximation due to Becke-Lee–Yang–Parr (B3LYP). The dissociation energy, the second-order energy differences, and the HOMO–LUMO gaps indicate that the magic numbers of the calculated (GaAl) _n clusters are n = 4 and 6. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a systematic study of chemisorptions of hydrogen on gallium aluminum clusters. The onefold top site of aluminum atom is identified to be the most favorable chemisorptions site for one hydrogen chemisorptions on most (GaAl) _n clusters. In general, dissociative chemisorptions of a hydrogen molecule on a top site of aluminum atom is found common for all sizes clusters considered here except for (GaAl) _n (n = 1–3) clusters. The stability of the (GaAl) _n H _m complexes shows that both large second-order difference and large fragmentation energies for (GaAl)₁₀H₂ and (GaAl)₁₁H₂ make these species behaving like magic clusters.     

Direct Blue 71 staining as a destaining‐free alternative loading control method for Western blotting

In Western blotting, a suitable loading control is indispensable for correcting errors in the total amount of loaded protein. Immunodetection of housekeeping proteins and total protein staining have traditionally been used as loading control methods. Direct Blue 71 (DB71) staining—a novel, sensitive, dye‐binding staining method compatible with immunodetection—may offer advantages over these traditional loading control methods. Three common neuroscientific samples (human plasma, human oligodendrocytes, and rat brain) were employed to assess DB71 staining as a loading control method for Western blotting. DB71, CBB, one traditional housekeeping protein, and one protein of interest were comparatively assessed for reliability and repeatability and linear dynamic range over 2.5–40 μg of protein loaded. DB71's effect on the reliability and repeatability and linear dynamic range of immunoreaction were also assessed. Across all three sample types, DB71 was either equivalent or superior to CBB and housekeeping protein‐based methods in terms of reliability and repeatability and linear dynamic range. Across all three sample types, DB71 staining did not impair the reliability and repeatability or linear dynamic range of immunoreaction. Our results demonstrate that the DB71 staining can be used as a destaining‐free alternative loading control method for Western blotting.     

Mixed-ligand oxovanadium complexes incorporating Schiff base ligands: synthesis, DNA interactions, and cytotoxicities

Three oxovanadium complexes, namely [VO(NOSAA)(bpy)] (1) (NOSAA = 2-hydroxy-5-nitrosalicylidene anthranilic acid, bpy = 2,2′-bipyridyl), [VO(NOSAA)(4,4′-dimebpy)] (2) (4,4′-dimebpy = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′- bipyridyl), and [VO(NOSAA)(phen)] (3) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), have been prepared and characterized. The binding modes and strengths of these complexes with calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) were studied using various techniques. The chemical nuclease activities and photocleavage reactions of the complexes were also tested. All three complexes interact with CT-DNA through intercalative modes, and complex 3 possesses the largest binding affinity. All three complexes can efficiently cleave pBR322 DNA upon irradiation or under physiological conditions in the presence of H₂O₂, and complex 3 has the best cleaving ability. In vitro experimental results showed that the three complexes are cytotoxic against myeloma (Ag8.653) and gliomas (U251) cell lines and complex 3 again showed the highest efficacy.     

Gelation behavior and phase separation of macroporous methylsilsesquioxane monoliths prepared by in situ two-step processing

An in situ two-step processing using an initial acid catalysis step accompanied by an epoxide-mediated condensation step in the presence of ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl) is reported, and macroporous cocontinuous methylsilsesquioxane (MSQ) monoliths have been successfully prepared by this processing. We explain the hydrolysis, gelation behavior and phase separation of MTMS(methyltrimethoxysilane)-MeOH(methanol)-HCl-PO(propylene oxide) system and the in situ effect of NH₄Cl, and examine the macroporous morphology and pore structures of MSQ monoliths obtained under different conditions. Macroporous MSQ monolith under optimized conditions possesses a narrow macropore size distribution between 3 to 10 μm, surface area as high as 366 m²·g^?1 and minimal shrinkage of only 1 %.     

Synthesis and Morphology Control of AM‐6 Nanofibers with Tailored ‐V‐O‐V‐ Intermediates

Microporous vanadosilicates with octahedral VO₆ and tetrahedral SiO₄ units, better known as AM‐6, have been hydrothermally synthesized with different morphologies by controlling the Na/K molar ratio of the initial gel mixtures. The morphology of the AM‐6 materials changed from bulky cube to nanofiber aggregates as the Na/K molar ratio decreased from 1.9 to 0.2. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the VO₃^? intermediate species plays an important role in the formation of the nanofiber morphology. The orientation of ‐V‐O‐V‐ chains in nanofiber aggregates was examined by confocal polarized micro‐Raman spectroscopy. It was found that these aggregates are assemblies of short ‐V‐O‐V‐ chains perpendicular to the axis of nanofibers. The obtained AM‐6 nanofibers greatly increase the exposed proportion of V? O terminals, and thus improve the catalytic performance.     

Tissue imaging and serum lipidomic profiling for screening potential biomarkers of thyroid tumors by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Changes in serum lipidome and in tissue lipidome are associated with cancer. In this study, tissue mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) and serum lipid profiling by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (MALDI-FTICR MS) were performed to investigate significantly changed lipids in both tumor (malignant thyroid cancer (MTC) and benign thyroid tumor (BTT)) tissues and sera. Y-scatterplots of variable importance in the projection (VIP) values vs. fold change values indicate that change trends in the levels of ten lipids (i.e., phosphatidylcholine (PC)(34:1), PC(36:1), PC(38:6), phosphatidic acid (PA) (36:2), PA(36:3), PA(38:3), PA(38:4), PA(38:5), PA(40:5), and sphingomyelin (SM)(34:1)) in both tissues and sera from MTC patients, BTT patients, and normal individuals are significantly associated with these three types of pathophysiological status. In order to examine their diagnostic ability, 289 serum samples from 124 MTC patients, 43 BTT patients, and 122 normal controls were randomly divided into the training set and validation set. A biomarker of PC(34:1) exhibited excellent diagnostic ability to differentiate both MTC and BTT patients from normal individuals, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve value of 0.984, a sensitivity of 96.4 %, and a specificity of 92.7 %. A panel which included PA(36:3) and SM(34:1) could distinguish between MTC and BTT, with an area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.961, a sensitivity of 87.8 %, and a specificity of 92.9 %. It is worth noting that a panel consisting of PC(34:1), PA(36:3), and SM(34:1) could differentiate MTC patients from both BTT patients and normal individuals, with an AUC of 0.841, a sensitivity of 86.6 %, and a specificity of 75.5 %.

Multicast communications in cognitive radio networks using directional antennas

This paper presents a study on multicast communications in cognitive radio networks (CRNs)using directional antennas. The objective is to maximize the throughput of the CRN. The spectrum is divided into multiple channels and licensed to the primary network. While the CRN is accessing the spectrum, the interference power is carefully controlled to avoid impacting the operation of the primary network. The mathematical model is presented and subsequently formulated as a mixed integer non‐linear programming (MINLP) problem, which is non‐deterministic polynomial‐time hard. Therefore, a greedy algorithm is designed to approximate the optimal performance. The MINLP problem is then relaxed and an upper bound is developed. Simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the greedy algorithm and the upper bound, which demonstrates the efficacy of the greedy algorithm as well as the tightness of the upper bound. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization and properties of plywood bioadhesive derived from cottonseed protein and sawdust cellulose

Cellulose - The development of plant adhesive with good bonding strength, water resistance and thermal stability remains challenging to replace formaldehyde-based adhesive resins that usually...