Conditional osmotic stress in yeast:a system to study transport through aquaglyceroporins and osmostress signaling

The accumulation and transport of solutes are hallmarks of osmoadaptation. In this study we have employed the inability of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae gpd1Δ gpd2Δ mutant both to produce glycerol and to adapt to high osmolarity to study solute transport through aquaglyceroporins and the control of osmostress-induced signaling. High levels of different polyols, including glycerol, inhibited growth of the gpd1Δ gpd2Δ mutant. This growth inhibition was suppressed by expression of the hyperactive allele Fps1-AΔ of the osmogated yeast aquaglyceroporin, Fps1. The degree of suppression correlated with the relative rate of transport of the different polyols tested. Transport studies in secretory vesicles confirmed that Fps1-Δ1 transports polyols at increased rates compared with wild type Fps1. Importantly, wild type Fps1 and Fps1-Δ1 showed similarly low permeability for water. The growth defect on polyols in the gpd1Δ gpd2Δ mutant was also suppressed by expression of a heterologous aquaglyceroporin, rat AQP9. We surmised that this suppression was due to polyol influx, causing the cells to passively adapt to the stress. Indeed, when aquaglyceroporin-expressing gpd1Δ gpd2Δ mutants were treated with glycerol, xylitol, or sorbitol, the osmosensing HOG pathway was activated, and the period of activation correlated with the apparent rate of polyol uptake. This observation supports the notion that deactivation of the HOG pathway is closely coupled to osmotic adaptation. Taken together, our "conditional" osmotic stress system facilitates studies on aquaglyceroporin function and reveals features of the osmosensing and signaling system. © 2005 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Influence of macroscopic residual stress fields on fatigue crack growth measurement in SiC particulate reinforced 8090 aluminium alloy

The effect of residual stresses, induced by cold water quenching, on the morphology of fatigue crack fronts has been investigated in a powder metallurgy 8090 aluminium alloy, with and without reinforcement in the form of 20 wt-%SiC particles. Residual stress measurements reveal that the surface compressive stresses developed in these materials are significantly greater than in conventional metallurgy ingot 8090, because surface yielding occurs on quenching. The yield stresses of the powder route materials are greater than those of ingot produced 8090 and hence greater surface stresses can be maintained. In fatigue, severe crack front bowing is observed in the powder formed materials as a result of the reduction of the R ratio (minimum load/maximum load) by the compressive residual stresses at the sides of the specimen, causing premature crack closure and hence reducing the local driving force for fatigue crack growth ΔKeff. This distortion of the crack fronts introduces large errors into measurements of crack growth rate and threshold values of ΔK.

MRI pressure and stress measurement in novel homogeneous soft solids

This paper presents MRI measurements of a novel semi solid MR contrast agent to pressure. The agent is comprised of potassium chloride cross linked carageenan gum at a concentration of 2% w/v, with micron size lipid coated bubbles of air at a concentration of 3% v/v. The choice for an optimum suspending medium, the methods of production and the preliminary MRI results are presented herein. The carageenan gum is shown to be ideally elastic for compressions relating to volume changes less than 15%, in contrast to the inelastic gellan gum also tested. Although slightly lower than that of gellan gum, carageenan has a water diffusion coefficient of 1.72×10-9 m2.s-1 indicating its suitability to this purpose. RARE imaging is performed whilst simultaneously compressing test and control samples and a maximum sensitivity of 1.6% MR signal change per % volume change is found which is shown to be independent of proton density variations due to the presence of microbubbles and compression. This contrast agent could prove useful for numerous applications, and particularly in chemical engineering. More generally the method allows the user to non-invasively image with MRI any process that causes, within the solid, local changes either in bubble size or bubble shape. © 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Protection of human erythrocytes against oxidative stress by berries

Berries contain several bioactive compounds that can protect against oxidative stress. In this study we evaluated the protective effect of different sequential extracts (ethyl acetate, ethanol and water) of seven berry species: bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus), blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum), elderberry (Sambucus nigra), lingonberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea), rose hips (Rosa sp.), sea buckthorn (Hippohae rhamnoides) and strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). The protective effect was tested on human erythrocytes and the antioxidant capacity was also evaluated in vitro by the FRAP assay. In the erythrocyte assay all sea buckthorn extracts were superior in antioxidant effect to other berry extracts. The ethyl acetate extract of bilberries, and the ethanol and water extracts of blackcurrants, also protected the erythrocytes from oxidation. In contrast, water extracts of rose hips, bilberries and strawberries had a pro-oxidant effect on erythrocytes. The water extract of rose hips was superior to the other berry extracts in the FRAP assay. Thus, the results of the erythrocyte assay did not correlate with the results of the FRAP assay, but provided additional insights into the potential protective effects of berry extracts against oxidative stress. © 2012 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.

Annealing effects on strain and stress sensitivity of polymer optical fibre based sensors

The annealing effects on strain and stress sensitivity of polymer optical fibre Bragg grating sensors after their photo-inscription are investigated. PMMA optical fibre based Bragg grating sensors are first photo-inscribed and then they were placed into hot water for annealing. Strain, stress and force sensitivity measurements are taken before and after annealing. Parameters such as annealing time and annealing temperature are investigated. The change of the fibre diameter due to water absorption and the annealing process is also considered. The results show that annealing the polymer optical fibre tends to increase the strain, stress and force sensitivity of the photo-inscribed sensor.