Plasma-catalytic Selective Reduction of NO with C_(2)H_(4)in the Presence of Excess Oxygen

This paper reports observations of significant synergistic effects between dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas and Cu-ZSM-5 catalysts for C2H4 selective reduction of NOx at 250 °C in the presence of excess oxygen by using a one-stage plasma-over-catalyst (POC) reactor. With the reactant gas mixture of 530 ppm NO, 650 ppm C2H4, 5.8% O2 in N2 and GHSV = 12000 h-1, the pure catalytic, pure plasma-induced (discharges over fused silica pellets) and plasma- catalytic (in the POC reactor) NOx conversion are 39%, 1.5% and 79%, respectively. The in-situ optical emission spectra of the reactive systems imply some short-lived active species formed from plasma-induced and plasma-catalytic processes may be responsible to the observed synergistic effects in this one-stage POC system.

Effect of operation-synchronizing transfusion of apoptotic spleen cells from donor rats on acute rejection of recipient rats after liver transplantation

AIM: To study effect of operation-synchronizing transfusion of apoptotic spleen cells from donor rats on acute rejection of recipient rats after liver transplantation. METHODS: Two of Wistar rats were chosen randomly for normal liver pathology control and ten of SD rats chosen randomly for liver function control as blank group (no operation). The rest of Wistar and SD rats were divided into four groups: control group (only liver transplantation), Dex group (donors receiving intraperitoneal injection of dexamethasone), SpC group (recipients receiving infusion of spleen cells of donors), Dex-SpC group (recipients receiving infusion of apoptotic spleen cells of donors), with each group except blank group, containing 10 SD rats and 10 Wistar rats, respectively. Wistar rats received liver transplantation from SD rats, in the meantime they received infusion of spleen cells of donors, which were induced by an intraperitoneal injection of dexamethasone (3 mg/(d.kg)·b.w) for three days before liver transplantation. The serum alanine transaminase (ALT), total bilirubin (T bili), liver pathological changes and survival time were analysed. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 10.0 for Windows. Differences of the parametric data of ALT in means were examined by one-way ANOVA. Differences of ALT between two groups were examined by LSD. Differences of the nonparametric data of T bili in means and scores of pathology classification for acute rejection were examined by Kruskal-Willis H test. The correlations between ALT and T bili were analysed by Bivariate. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to demonstrate survival distribution. The log-rank test was used to compare the survival data. RESULTS: There were significant differences in ALT of the five groups (F= 23.164 P= 0.000), and ALT in Dex-SpC group was significantly higher than that in blank control, control, Dex, and SpC groups (P = 0.000), and ALT in SpC group was significantly higher than that in blank control (P= 0.000), control (P= 0.004), and Dex groups (P= 0.02). Results of nonparametric analysis of T bill showed that there were differences in T bill of the five groups (X2= 33.265 P= 0.000). T bili in Dex-SpC group was significantly higher than that in blank control, control, Dex, and SpC groups. T bili in SpC group was higher than that in blank control, control, and Dex groups. There were significant differences in scores of pathology classification for acute rejection in each of the groups (X2= 25.933, P= 0.000). The pathologically more serious acute rejection was found in Dex-SPC group than in other groups. No sign of acute rejection was observed in the blank control group. Slight acute rejection was observed in the control group. Slight-moderate acute rejection was observed in the Dex group. Moderate-acute rejection was observed in the SpC group. Severe-acute rejection was observed in the Dex-SpC group. The survival time in Dex-SpC group was shorter than in other groups (statistic = 11.13, P= 0.011). ALT and T bili were positively correlated (r= 0.747, P= 0.000, two-tailed). CONCLUSION: In order to reduce quantity of blood loss from rats after liver transplantation, only one of ALT or T bili is needed for liver function measurement of rats. Simultaneous injection of apoptotic spleen cells from donors induced by dexamethasone to liver transplantation rats aggravates acute rejection. One important mechanism of aggravation of acute rejection may be that apoptotic cells are not removed in time and that dead cells including apoptotic cells release inflammatory factors.

Expression of hepatitis C virus hypervariable region 1 and its clinical significance

AIM: To explore the properties of hypervariable region 1(HVR1) in the envelope 2 gene of hepatitis C virus by analyzing the reactivity of HVR1 fusion proteins from different Chinese HCV strains with sera of patients with chronic hepatitis C and by comparing their reactivity between interferon therapy responders and non-responders.METHODS: Gene fragments of HVR1 of four HCV strains (three genotype 1b and one genotype 2a) were amplified from pGEMT-E2 plasmids and sub-cloned into pQE40vectors respectively to construct recombinant expression plasmids which expressed HVR1 fused downstream to DHFR in Escherichia coli strain TG1. The purified DHFRHVR1 proteins were then used to detect the anti-HVR1antibodies in 70 serum samples of patients with chronic hepatitis C.RESULTS: Four DHFR- HVR1 fusion proteins were successfully expressed in E.coli (320-800 ug fusion proteins per 100 ml culture). Each fusion protein (SH1b, BJ1b,SD1b and SD2a) reacted with 72.8 % (51/70), 60 % (42/70), 48.6 % (34/70), and 58.6 % (41/70) of the anti-HCV positive patients' sera respectively by ELISA. 57.1% (4/7) of non responders reacted with all four HVR1 fusion proteins, while only 15.3 % (2/13) of responders reacted with all of them. The O.D. values of sera from IFN therapy responders were significantly higher than those of non responders (P＜0.05).CONCLUSION: The selected HVR1 fusion proteins expressed in E. coli can broadly react with HCV-infected patients' sera. The intensity and/or quality of the immune response against HCV may be a critical factor determining the response to interferon treatment. With the evolution of virus strains, anti-HVR1 antibodies can not neutralize all the quasispecies. A polyvalent and high immunogenic vaccine comprising a mixture of several HVR1 sequences that cover the reactivity of most HCV isolates may be useful.

Determination of Neutron Irradiation-Induced Phosphorus Segregation on Grain Boundaries in a P-doped 2.25Cr1Mo Steel

Irradiation-induced impurity segregation to grain boundaries is one of the important radiation effects on materials. For this reason, phosphorus segregation to prior austenite grain boundaries in a P-doped 2.25Cr1Mo steel subjected to neutron irradiation is examined using field emission gun scanning transmission electron microscopy (FEGSTEM) with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX). The steel samples are irradiated around 270 and 400℃, respectively. The irradiation dose rate and dose are -1.05×10-8 dpa/s and -0.042 dpa respectively for 270℃ irradiation, and 1.7×10-8 dpa/s and 0.13 dpa respectively for 400℃ irradiation. The FEGSTEM results indicate that there is no apparent phosphorus segregation during 270℃ irradiation but there is some during 400℃ irradiation.

High pressure effects on the luminescent properties and crystal structure of magnesium 8—hydroxyquinoline complex

The fluorescence emission and X-ray diffraction of magenesium 8-hydroxyquinoline complex(Mgq2) have been measured at high pressure up to 14 GPa.It has been found that pressure can influence the emission dramatically.At relative lower pressure(less than 2.5GPa) the fluorescence of Mgq2 changes slightly,but the emission drops quickly with increase of the pressure when the pressure gets higher than 2.5GPa.The results of in situ energy dispersive X-ray diffraction at high pressure with synchrotron radiation indicate that there is a phase transition at about 2.5-3GPa for Mgq2 crystal.2001 Elsevier Science B.V.All rights reserved.

Location and Quantification of iNOS in Testis of Dahl HypertensiveRats

Objective To study the effect of hypertension on inducible isoform of nitrogen oxide syn- theses (iNOS) expression and reproductive function in testes of Dahl hypertensive rats Method The iNOS expression in Dahl rat testes was localized and assayed semi-quan- titatively by immunohistochemistry. Results iNOS was expressed and localized predominantly in the cytoplasm of Sertoli and Leydig cells in both normal and hypertensive rats. However, in the early stage of hypertension, the expression of iNOS was stronger in testes than that of the normal rats (P<0.05). With the development, the staining intensity of iNOS decreased gradu- ally in the late stage. Moreover, the level of testosterone decreased with the increase of blood pressure. But in vitro, there was no difference in the expression of iNOS between cultured Sertoli cells from normal rats and hypertensive rats. Conclusion High-salt food induced hypertension in Dahl rats, which was character- ized by the high expression of iNOS in rat Sertoli and Leydig cells; excessive NO produced by iNOS reduced the level of testosterone in testicle artery, and may thus affect the reproductive function of rats testis.

An experimental apparatur for EDXD of high pressure specimens using synchrotron radiation at BSRF

A high pressure energy dispersive X-ray diffraction apparatus on 3W1A bearmline,at BSRF,is described.A ten-Poles permanent magnetic wiggler provided white X-ray beam.The extreme high pressure up to 115GPa has been obtained by a modified Mao-Bell diamond anvil cell.A motorized loading system with strain sensor can finely control the pressure change.The in situ experimental procedures are described.Some applications are also presented.2001 Elsevier Science B.V.All rights reserved.

Gene Identification and Expression Analysis of 86,136 Expressed Sequence Tags(EST)from the Rice Genome

Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) analysis has pioneered genome-wide gene discovery and expression profiling. In order to establish a gene expression index in the rice cultivar indica, we sequenced and analyzed 86,136 ESTs from nine rice cDNA libraries from the super hybrid cultivar LYP9 and its parental cultivars. We assembled these ESTs into 13,232 contigs and leave 8,976 singletons. Overall, 7,497 sequences were found similar to the existing sequences in GenBank and 14,711 are novel. These sequences are classified by molecular function, biological process and pathways according to the Gene Ontology. We compared our sequenced ESTs with the publicly available 95,000 ESTs from japonica, and found little sequence variation, despite the large difference between genome sequences. We then assembled the combined 173,000 rice ESTs for further analysis. Using the pooled ESTs, we compared gene expression in metabolism pathway between rice and Arabidopsis according to KEGG. We further profiled gene expression patterns in different tissues, developmental stages, and in a conditional sterile mutant, after checking the libraries are comparable by means of sequence coverage. We also identified some possible library specific genes and a number of enzymes and transcription factors that contribute to rice development.

Kinetics of the Phenotype and Function of Murine Peritoneal Macrophages Following Acute Inflammation

This study was undertaken to have a better understand for the process and the underlying mechanisms to limit macrophage activation and population of activated macrophages.A comprehensive kinetics of cytokine production was performed in murine peritoneal macrophages recovered from Balb/c mice at various time during the course of an intraperitoneal injection with thioglycollate (TG).The expression of cell surface molecules such as MHC-Ⅰ,MHC-Ⅱ,B7-1 and B7-2 of these macrophages were also determined by flow cytometry.The present findings of our research suggested that the population of activated macrophages and the activation of macrophages (including cytokines production and expression of cell surface functional molecules) were strictly controlled during inflammation process.This is one of the important mechanisms to retain the host homeostasis.Cellular & Molecular Immunology.2004;1(1):57-62.

Qualitative Experimental Evidences for the Thermal Wave Mechanisms of Temperature Oscillations in Living Tissues

To make it possible for the thermal wave theory on temperature oscillation (TO) effects in living tissues to be founded on the substantial experimental basis, a series of typical decisive experiments in vivo as well as in artificially simulating constructions were carried out. Conclusions obtained including some other scholars' animal experimental results all greatly support the thermal wave viewpoint qualitatively.A few experimental facts used hot to be easily understood from the classical viewpoint are also well reinterpreted. The revealing on the thermal wave mechanisms of TO in living tissues is a brand new discovery and deep insight into this important thermophysiological phenomenon. It may possibly promote new investigations on the corresponding topics in the field of bioheat transfer science.