Cytocompatibility property evaluation of gas pressure sintered SiAlON-SiC composites with L929 fibroblast cells and Saos-2 osteoblast-like cells

Although the oxide ceramics have widely been investigated for their biocompatibility, non-oxide ceramics, such as SiAlON and SiC are yet to be explored in detail. Lack of understanding of the biocompatibility restricts the use of these ceramics in clinical trials. It is hence, essential to carry out proper and thorough study to assess cell adhesion, cytocompatibility and cell viability on the non-oxide ceramics for the potential applications. In this perspective, the present research work reports the cytocompatibility of gas pressure sintered SiAlON monolith and SiAlON-SiC composites with varying amount of SIC, using connective tissue cells (L929) and bone cells (Saos-2). The quantification of cell viability using MTT assay reveals the non-cytotoxic response. The cell viability has been found to be cell type dependent. An attempt has been made to discuss the cytocompatibility of the developed composites in the light of SiC content and type of sinter additives. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anticancer property of Bryophyllum pinnata (Lam.) Oken. leaf on human cervical cancer cells

Background: Bryophyllum pinnata (B. pinnata) is a common medicinal plant used in traditional medicine of India and of other countries for curing various infections, bowel diseases, healing wounds and other ailments. However, its anticancer properties are poorly defined. In view of broad spectrum therapeutic potential of B. pinnata we designed a study to examine anti-cancer and anti-Human Papillomavirus (HPV) activities in its leaf extracts and tried to isolate its active principle. Methods: A chloroform extract derived from a bulk of botanically well-characterized pulverized B. pinnata leaves was separated using column chromatography with step-gradient of petroleum ether and ethyl acetate. Fractions were characterized for phyto-chemical compounds by TLC, HPTLC and NMR and Biological activity of the fractions were examined by MTT-based cell viability assay, Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay, Northern blotting and assay of apoptosis related proteins by immunoblotting in human cervical cancer cells. Results: Results showed presence of growth inhibitory activity in the crude leaf extracts with IC50 at 552 mu g/ml which resolved to fraction F4 (Petroleum Ether: Ethyl Acetate:: 50: 50) and showed IC50 at 91 mu g/ml. Investigations of anti-viral activity of the extract and its fraction revealed a specific anti-HPV activity on cervical cancer cells as evidenced by downregulation of constitutively active AP1 specific DNA binding activity and suppression of oncogenic c-Fos and c-Jun expression which was accompanied by inhibition of HPV18 transcription. In addition to inhibiting growth, fraction F4 strongly induced apoptosis as evidenced by an increased expression of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax, suppression of the anti-apoptotic molecules Bcl-2, and activation of caspase-3 and cleavage of PARP-1. Phytochemical analysis of fraction F4 by HPTLC and NMR indicated presence of activity that resembled Bryophyllin A. Conclusions: Our study therefore demonstrates presence of anticancer and anti-HPV an activity in B. pinnata leaves that can be further exploited as a potential anticancer, anti-HPV therapeutic for treatment of HPV infection and cervical cancer.

A Novel Property of DNA - As a Bioflotation Reagent in Mineral Processing

Environmental concerns regarding the use of certain chemicals in the froth flotation of minerals have led investigators to explore biological entities as potential substitutes for the reagents in vogue. Despite the fact that several microorganisms have been used for the separation of a variety of mineral systems, a detailed characterization of the biochemical molecules involved therein has not been reported so far. In this investigation, the selective flotation of sphalerite from a sphalerite-galena mineral mixture has been achieved using the cellular components of Bacillus species. The key constituent primarily responsible for the flotation of sphalerite has been identified as DNA, which functions as a bio-collector. Furthermore, using reconstitution studies, the obligatory need for the presence of non-DNA components as bio-depressants for galena has been demonstrated. A probable model involving these entities in the selective flotation of sphalerite from the mineral mixture has been discussed.

On the microstructure-tensile property correlations in bulk metallic glass matrix composites with crystalline dendrites

Bulk metallic glass (BMG) matrix composites with crystalline dendrites as reinforcements exhibit a wide variance in their microstructures (and thus mechanical properties), which in turn can be attributed to the processing route employed, which affects the size and distribution of the dendrites. A critical investigation on the microstructure and tensile properties of Zr/Ti-based BMG composites of the same composition, but produced by different routes, was conducted so as to identify ``structure-property'' connections in these materials. This was accomplished by employing four different processing methods-arc melting, suction casting, semi-solid forging and induction melting on a water-cooled copper boat-on composites with two different dendrite volume fractions, V-d. The change in processing parameters only affects microstructural length scales such as the interdendritic spacing, lambda, and dendrite size, delta, whereas compositions of the matrix and dendrite are unaffected. Broadly, the composite's properties are insensitive to the microstructural length scales when V-d is high (similar to 75%), whereas they become process dependent for relatively lower V-d (similar to 55%). Larger delta in arc-melted and forged specimens result in higher ductility (7-9%) and lower hardening rates, whereas smaller dendrites increase the hardening rate. A bimodal distribution of dendrites offers excellent ductility at a marginal cost of yield strength. Finer lambda result in marked improvements in both ductility and yield strength, due to the confinement of shear band nucleation sites in smaller volumes of the glassy phase. Forging in the semi-solid state imparts such a microstructure. (c) 2012 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimal Linear Codes with a Local-Error-Correction Property

Motivated by applications to distributed storage, Gopalan et al recently introduced the interesting notion of information-symbol locality in a linear code. By this it is meant that each message symbol appears in a parity-check equation associated with small Hamming weight, thereby enabling recovery of the message symbol by examining a small number of other code symbols. This notion is expanded to the case when all code symbols, not just the message symbols, are covered by such ``local'' parity. In this paper, we extend the results of Gopalan et. al. so as to permit recovery of an erased code symbol even in the presence of errors in local parity symbols. We present tight bounds on the minimum distance of such codes and exhibit codes that are optimal with respect to the local error-correction property. As a corollary, we obtain an upper bound on the minimum distance of a concatenated code.

Magnetic and transport relaxation property of La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 single crystals

Here, we present a comprehensive investigation of the dc magnetization and magnetotransport studies on La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 single crystals grown by the optical float zone method. The spin freezing temperature in the ac susceptibility study shifts to lower value at higher dc field and this is well described by the de Almeida-Thouless line which is the characteristic of SG behavior. The Magnetotransport study shows that the sample exhibits a huge negative MR of similar to 70% at 10 K which monotonically decreases with the increase in temperature. Besides, the magnetization and the resistivity relaxation give strong indication that the MR scales with sample's magnetization. In essence, all the present experimental findings evidence the SG behavior of La0.85Sr0.15CoO3 single crystals.

Structure-property correlation in BaO-TiO2-B2O3 glasses: glass stability, optical, hydrophobic, and dielectric properties

Glasses in the x(BaO-TiO2)-B2O3 (x = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 mol.) system were fabricated via the conventional melt-quenching technique. Thermal stability and glass-forming ability as determined by differential thermal analysis (DTA) were found to increase with increasing BaO-TiO2 (BT) content. However, there was no noticeable change in the glass transition temperature (T-g). This was attributed to the active participation of TiO2 in the network formation especially at higher BT contents via the conversion of the TiO6 structural units into TiO4 units, which increased the connectivity and resulted in an increase in crystallization temperature. Dielectric and optical properties at room temperature were studied for all the glasses under investigation. Interestingly, these glasses were found to be hydrophobic. The results obtained were correlated with different structural units and their connectivity in the glasses.

Size Control and Magnetic Property Trends in Cobalt Ferrite Nanoparticles Synthesized Using an Aqueous Chemical Route

Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) is an engineering material which is used for applications such as magnetic cores, magnetic switches, hyperthermia based tumor treatment, and as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging. Utility of ferrites nanoparticles hinges on its size, dispersibility in solutions, and synthetic control over its coercivity. In this work, we establish correlations between room temperature co-precipitation conditions, and these crucial materials parameters. Furthermore, post-synthesis annealing conditions are correlated with morphology, changes in crystal structure and magnetic properties. We disclose the synthesis and process conditions helpful in obtaining easily sinterable CoFe2O4 nanoparticles with coercive magnetic flux density (H-c) in the range 5.5-31.9 kA/m and M-s in the range 47.9-84.9 A.m(2)Kg(-1). At a grain size of similar to 54 +/- 2 nm (corresponding to 1073 K sintering temperature), multi-domain behavior sets in, which is indicated by a decrease in H-c. In addition, we observe an increase in lattice constant with respect to grain size, which is the inverse of what is expected of in ferrites. Our results suggest that oxygen deficiency plays a crucial role in explaining this inverse trend. We expect the method disclosed here to be a viable and scalable alternative to thermal decomposition based CoFe2O4 synthesis. The magnetic trends reported will aid in the optimization of functional CoFe2O4 nanoparticles

Faster computation of the Karhunen-Loeve expansion using its domain independence property

The goal of this work is to reduce the cost of computing the coefficients in the Karhunen-Loeve (KL) expansion. The KL expansion serves as a useful and efficient tool for discretizing second-order stochastic processes with known covariance function. Its applications in engineering mechanics include discretizing random field models for elastic moduli, fluid properties, and structural response. The main computational cost of finding the coefficients of this expansion arises from numerically solving an integral eigenvalue problem with the covariance function as the integration kernel. Mathematically this is a homogeneous Fredholm equation of second type. One widely used method for solving this integral eigenvalue problem is to use finite element (FE) bases for discretizing the eigenfunctions, followed by a Galerkin projection. This method is computationally expensive. In the current work it is first shown that the shape of the physical domain in a random field does not affect the realizations of the field estimated using KL expansion, although the individual KL terms are affected. Based on this domain independence property, a numerical integration based scheme accompanied by a modification of the domain, is proposed. In addition to presenting mathematical arguments to establish the domain independence, numerical studies are also conducted to demonstrate and test the proposed method. Numerically it is demonstrated that compared to the Galerkin method the computational speed gain in the proposed method is of three to four orders of magnitude for a two dimensional example, and of one to two orders of magnitude for a three dimensional example, while retaining the same level of accuracy. It is also shown that for separable covariance kernels a further cost reduction of three to four orders of magnitude can be achieved. Both normal and lognormal fields are considered in the numerical studies. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Correlation between band propagation property and the nature of serrations in the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect

We investigate the correlation between the band propagation property and the nature and amplitude of serrations in the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect within the framework of the Ananthakrishna model. Several significant results emerge. First, we find that spatial and temporal correlations continuously increase with strain rate from type C to type A bands. Consequently, the nature of the bands also changes continuously from type C to A bands, and so do the changes in the associated serrations. Second, even the smallest extent of propagation induces small amplitude serrations. The spatial extent of band propagation is directly correlated with the duration of small amplitude serrations, a result that is consistent with recent experiments. This correspondence allows one to estimate the spatial extent of band propagation by just measuring the temporal stretch of small amplitude serrations. Therefore, this should be of practical value when only stress versus strain is recorded. Third, the average stress drop magnitude of the small amplitude serrations induced by the propagating bands remains small and nearly constant with strain rate. As a consequence, the fully propagating type A bands are in a state of criticality. We rationalize the increasing levels of spatial and temporal correlations found with increasing strain rates. Lastly, the model also predicts several band morphologies seen in experiments including the Luders-like propagating band. (C) 2015 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biocompatibility property of 100% strontium-substituted SiO2-Al2O3-P2O5-CaO-CaF2 glass ceramics over 26 weeks implantation in rabbit model: Histology and micro-Computed Tomography analysis

One of the desired properties for any new biomaterial composition is its long-term stability in a suitable animal model and such property cannot be appropriately assessed by performing short-term implantation studies. While hydroxyapatite (HA) or bioglass coated metallic biomaterials are being investigated for in vivo biocompatibility properties, such study is not extensively being pursued for bulk glass ceramics. In view of their inherent brittle nature, the implant stability as well as impact of long-term release of metallic ions on bone regeneration have been a major concern. In this perspective, the present article reports the results of the in vivo implantation experiments carried out using 100% strontium (Sr)-substituted glass ceramics with the nominal composition of 4.5 SiO2-3Al(2)O(3)-1.5P(2)O(5)-3SrO-2SrF(2) for 26 weeks in cylindrical bone defects in rabbit model. The combination of histological and micro-computed tomography analysis provided a qualitative and quantitative understanding of the bone regeneration around the glass ceramic implants in comparison to the highly bioactive HA bioglass implants (control). The sequential polychrome labeling of bone during in vivo osseointegration using three fluorochromes followed by fluorescence microscopy observation confirmed homogeneous bone formation around the test implants. The results of the present study unequivocally confirm the long-term implant stability as well as osteoconductive property of 100% Sr-substituted glass ceramics, which is comparable to that of a known bioactive implant, that is, HA-based bioglass. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 103B: 1168-1179, 2015.

Influence of fuel hydrogen fraction on syngas fueled SI engine: Fuel thermo-physical property analysis and in-cylinder experimental investigations

Hydrogen, either in pure form or as a gaseous fuel mixture specie enhances the fuel conversion efficiency and reduce emissions in an internal combustion engine. This is due to the reduction in combustion duration attributed to higher laminar flame speeds. Hydrogen is also expected to increase the engine convective heat flux, attributed (directly or indirectly) to parameters like higher adiabatic flame temperature, laminar flame speed, thermal conductivity and diffusivity and lower flame quenching distance. These factors (adversely) affect the thermo-kinematic response and offset some of the benefits. The current work addresses the influence of mixture hydrogen fraction in syngas on the engine energy balance and the thermo-kinematic response for close to stoichiometric operating conditions. Four different bio-derived syngas compositions with fuel calorific value varying from 3.14 MJ/kg to 7.55 MJ/kg and air fuel mixture hydrogen fraction varying from 7.1% to 14.2% by volume are used. The analysis comprises of (a) use of chemical kinetics simulation package CHEMKIN for quantifying the thermo-physical properties (b) 0-D model for engine in-cylinder analysis and (c) in-cylinder investigations on a two-cylinder engine in open loop cooling mode for quantifying the thermo-kinematic response and engine energy balance. With lower adiabatic flame temperature for Syngas, the in-cylinder heat transfer analysis suggests that temperature has little effect in terms of increasing the heat flux. For typical engine like conditions (700 K and 25 bar at CR of 10), the laminar flame speed for syngas exceeds that of methane (55.5 cm/s) beyond mixture hydrogen fraction of 11% and is attributed to the increase in H based radicals. This leads to a reduction in the effective Lewis number and laminar flame thickness, potentially inducing flame instability and cellularity. Use of a thermodynamic model to assess the isolated influence of thermal conductivity and diffusivity on heat flux suggests an increase in the peak heat flux between 2% and 15% for the lowest (0.420 MW/m(2)) and highest (0.480 MW/m(2)) hydrogen containing syngas over methane (0.415 MW/m(2)) fueled operation. Experimental investigations indicate the engine cooling load for syngas fueled engine is higher by about 7% and 12% as compared to methane fueled operation; the losses are seen to increase with increasing mixture hydrogen fraction. Increase in the gas to electricity efficiency is observed from 18% to 24% as the mixture hydrogen fraction increases from 7.1% to 9.5%. Further increase in mixture hydrogen fraction to 14.2% results in the reduction of efficiency to 23%; argued due to the changes in the initial and terminal stages of combustion. On doubling of mixture hydrogen fraction, the flame kernel development and fast burn phase duration decrease by about 7% and 10% respectively and the terminal combustion duration, corresponding to 90%-98% mass burn, increases by about 23%. This increase in combustion duration arises from the cooling of the near wall mixture in the boundary layer attributed to the presence of hydrogen. The enhancement in engine cooling load and subsequent reduction in the brake thermal efficiency with increasing hydrogen fraction is evident from the engine energy balance along with the cumulative heat release profiles. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is the cellular initiation of translation an exclusive property of the initiator tRNAs?

Translation of mRNAs is the primary function of the ribosomal machinery. Although cells allow for a certain level of translational errors/mistranslation (which may well be a strategic need), maintenance of the fidelity of translation is vital for the cellular function and fitness. The P-site bound initiator tRNA selects the start codon in an mRNA and specifies the reading frame. A direct P-site binding of the initiator tRNA is a function of its special structural features, ribosomal elements, and the initiation factors. A highly conserved feature of the 3 consecutive G:C base pairs (3GC pairs) in the anticodon stem of the initiator tRNAs is vital in directing it to the P-site. Mutations in the 3GC pairs diminish/abolish initiation under normal physiological conditions. Using molecular genetics approaches, we have identified conditions that allow initiation with the mutant tRNAs in Escherichia coli. During our studies, we have uncovered a novel phenomenon of in vivo initiation by elongator tRNAs. Here, we recapitulate how the cellular abundance of the initiator tRNA, and nucleoside modifications in rRNA are connected with the tRNA selection in the P-site. We then discuss our recent finding of how a conserved feature in the mRNA, the Shine-Dalgarno sequence, influences tRNA selection in the P-site.

Enantio sensing property of helicin, the derivative of a natural product: Discrimination of amines and amino alcohols

The chiral sensing property of helicin (the derivative of natural product obtained by partial oxidation of salicin, extracted from willow tree (Salix helix)) is reported. The use of helicin as a chiral derivatizing agent for the discrimination of amines and amino alcohols is convincingly established using H-1 NMR spectroscopy. The large chemical shift separation achieved between the discriminated peaks facilitated the accurate quantification of enantiomeric composition. The consistent trend observed in the shifting of imine proton peak (Delta delta) of helicin in all the derivatized molecules might aid the determination of spatial configuration. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Zero-Crossing Rate Property of Power Complementary Analysis Filterbank Outputs

We establish zero-crossing rate (ZCR) relations between the input and the subbands of a maximally decimated M-channel power complementary analysis filterbank when the input is a stationary Gaussian process. The ZCR at lag is defined as the number of sign changes between the samples of a sequence and its 1-sample shifted version, normalized by the sequence length. We derive the relationship between the ZCR of the Gaussian process at lags that are integer multiples of Al and the subband ZCRs. Based on this result, we propose a robust iterative autocorrelation estimator for a signal consisting of a sum of sinusoids of fixed amplitudes and uniformly distributed random phases. Simulation results show that the performance of the proposed estimator is better than the sample autocorrelation over the SNR range of -6 to 15 dB. Validation on a segment of a trumpet signal showed similar performance gains.