[en] The synthesis and degradation of metallothionein (MT) was studied in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and monolayer cultures of adult rat hepatocytes. Critical analysis of in vivo studies with diabetic rats and other literature revealed that cytoplasmic turnover of MT may not reflect actual degradation of this protein. Therefore, the characteristics of MT degradation in primary cultures of hepatocytes were investigated in subsequent studies. Hepatocytes were incubated in medium containing ³⁵S-cysteine and 100 μM Zn overnight to induce MT synthesis. The level of ³⁵S-MT was quantified in heat stable extracts of cell homogenates by Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC). When Zn was removed from medium, the rate of ³⁵S-MT turnover was found times faster than general ³H-protein. This decrease in cellular MT level reflected degradation since less than 1% of cellular MT was secreted. The rate of MT degradation was inversely proportional to cellular Zn status

[en] Earlier reports from their laboratory showed the induction of the insulin-deficient diabetic state in adult rats was associated with an accumulation of zinc, copper, and a metallothionein-like zinc and copper binding protein in the soluble fraction of liver and kidney. Based upon chromatographic and electrophoretic properties, -SH to metal ratio and amino acid composition, they now report that elevated concentrations of metallothioneins (MT)-I and -II are indeed present in diabetic rat liver and kidney cytosol. The relative rates of MT synthesis in tissues from diabetic and control rats were measured by comparing incorporation of ³⁵S-cysteine into MT vs. total cytoplasmic proteins at 5 h after injection of the precursor. The relative rates of MT synthesis in livers from rats diabetic for 10 d and fed either chow or purified diet containing 13 or 35 ppm copper were 1.4, 2.3 and 2.8 times greater, respectively, than control rats fed the same diets. Higher relative rates of MT synthesis were also observed in kidneys from diabetic rats fed purified diets compared to controls. Maximal relative rates of MT synthesis in diabetic liver and kidney were observed at 4 and 10 d, respectively, after onset of diabetes. The half-lives of cytoplasmic MT in liver and kidney from diabetic (10 d) rats were 1.3 and 2.6 days, respectively; half-lives of MT in control liver and kidney were 5.0 and 2.1 days, respectively

[en] Barium hexaferrite films were grown by pulsed laser ablation deposition onto c-plane sapphire at oxygen pressures from 1 to 200 mTorr to evaluate their structural and magnetic properties. Films deposited at pressures above 1 mTorr showed excellent c-axis orientation normal to the film plane, and good surface morphologies. The c-axis lattice constant of films deposited at and above 50 mTorr was reduced compared to bulk values. Film saturation magnetization values were slightly lower than bulk values, while anisotropy field values were comparable. Ferrimagnetic resonance measurements showed distinct absorption peaks, with the narrowest linewidth of 0.20 kOe being measured for a 10 mTorr film. The 1 mTorr film had a significantly different texture wherein the c-axis laid down into the film plane, and also showed in-plane six-fold magnetic anisotropy. These results may indicate that highly c-axis oriented barium hexaferrite films can be grown to greater thicknesses using reduced oxygen pressures

[en] Male rats were fed diets containing 0.5% cholesterol with or without vegetable (water convolvulus) or neutral detergent fiber supplementation. After 2 weeks, rats were given [4-14C]cholesterol i.p. Feces were collected for 1 week. Three hours prior to necropsy, [3H]acetate was administered i.p. Samples of serum, liver, adipose tissue, muscle and brain were obtained for analysis. Concentrations of total lipids and cholesterol and synthesis and recovery of labeled steroids are reported. Results showed that the growth of animals and food utilization were not significantly affected by different dietary treatments. The notable effect of vegetable was that the elevated liver and serum cholesterol levels due to increased intake can be nearly offset by increasing the fecal excretion. The high rate of excretion of 14C-labeled steroids shown in vegetable-fed rats indicated that both decreased absorption and increased endogenous excretion occurred in these animals. The synthesis of total lipids as demonstrated by [3H]acetate incorporation was not affected appreciably by diet. In liver, however, cholesterol synthesis appeared to be lower in rats receiving cholesterol-supplemented diet, but higher in rats fed vegetable diets. The ratio of 3H:14C of liver cholesterol was significantly higher in rats fed the vegetable diet. In brain cholesterol we also found consistently high 3H:14C ratios, which were not affected by dietary intake. It appears that brain cholesterol level is maintained mainly by synthesis in situ and not by uptake from dietary or other sources

[en] Titanium silicate thin films have been grown on Si substrates by photo-induced chemical vapor deposition using 222-nm ultraviolet excimer lamps. Titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) were used as precursors. TTIP and TEOS were dissolved together in cyclohexane and introduced into the photochemical reaction chamber through a droplet injector vaporizer. The composition of the film was controlled by changing the ratio of TTIP to TEOS in the precursor solution. High quality titanium silicate films with various Ti/Si ratios and low carbon content have been achieved as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The atomic percentage of Ti content in the grown silicate films is significantly larger than that in the precursor solution. The films were measured to be 30-80 nm in thickness and 1.91-2.31 in refractive index by ellipsometry. Both the growth rate and refractive index increase with increasing Ti percentage in the silicate films. The evolution of Fourier transform infrared spectra of the silicate films with solution composition shows that the Ti-O-Si absorption at approximately 920 cm^-1 becomes stronger, while the Ti-O absorption at approximately 430 cm^-1 becomes weaker with decreasing Ti percentage in the solution. A small feature at ∼1035 cm^-1 related to Si-O-Si bonds is also observed in the SiO₂-rich Ti silicate film

[en] Chemical etching of high-temperature superconducting films was studied. A new method of rapid etching which combines ion implantation and chemical etching is presented. Using phosphoric acid with concentration higher than 5x10^-2 M, it is found that the etching rate in an ion implanted film is much faster than that in a pure film. Below the threshold concentration of 1.5x10^-3 M, the acid has no etching affect on a pure film while it still etches an implanted film. This result is utilized in a selective etching process for patterning of superconducting oxide films. (author)

[en] We use multi-walled carbon nano tube (MWCNT) and graphene as carbon nano materials to obtain carbon nano materials-CdSe composites using a facile hydrothermal method. The intrinsic characteristics of resulting composites were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer. The as-prepared carbon nano materials-CdSe composites possessed great adsorptivity of dyes, extended light absorption range, and efficient charge separation properties simultaneously. Hence, in the photodegradation of methylene blue, a significant enhancement in the reaction rate was observed with carbon nano materials-CdSe composites, compared to the CdSe compound.

[en] The Dual-Functional Lithium Lead - Test Blanket Module (DFLL-TBM) system, which is designated to demonstrate the integrated technologies of both He single coolant (SLL) blanket and He-LiPb dual coolant (DLL) blanket, is proposed for test in ITER to check and validate the feasibility of the Chinese LiPb blankets. Considering the confliction between the limited ITER resources for TBM testing and the requirement of various blanket concepts proposed by Parties, EAST, the superconducting tokamak being operated in China can server as a valuable pre-testing platform with some comparable design parameters with ITER for DFLL-TBM. In the contribution, neutronics calculations and activation effects of the TBMs in EAST are carried out and compared with those in D-D and D-T phase of ITER, the results from EAST can be made an analogy to ITER to some extent. (author)

[en] A girder control system is proposed to quickly and precisely adjust the displacement and rotating angle of all girders in the storage ring with little manpower at the Taiwan Photon Source (TPS) project at National Synchrotron Research Center (NSRRC). In this control girder system, six motorized cam movers supporting a girder are driven on three pedestals to perform six-axis adjustments of a girder. A tilt-meter monitors the pitch and roll of each girder; several touch sensors measure the relative displacement between consecutive girders. Moreover, a laser position sensitive detector (PSD) system measuring the relative displacement between straight-section girders is included in this girder control system. Operator can use subroutines developed by MATLAB to control every local girder control system via the web. The test results show that the girder control system adjusts girders quickly, precisely and stably

[en] Two subclones (D7 and F8) derived from an NIH 3T3 mouse fibroblast cell line after transfection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes, secreted significantly different amounts of HBsAg and HBeAg. DNA extracted from the subclones revealed only integrated and no extrachromosomal HBV DNA sequences as determined by the Southern blot technique with a /sup 32/P-labeled full length HBV DNA probe. The amount and integration sites of HBV sequences were significantly different in the two subclones. HBV DNA sequences coding for HBsAg and HBcAg were detected by alkaline phosphatase-conjugated, single-stranded synthetic gene-specific oligonucleotide probes revealing a larger number of copies in D7 DNA than in F8 DNA. Using a biotinylated probe for in situ hybridization, HBV DNA was found in the nuclei of all D7 cells with predominant localization to a single chromsome, but only in 10-20% of F8 cells. These observations demonstrate different integration patterns of HBV and DNA in two subclones derived from a transfected cell line and suggest that the amount of integrated HBV DNA is proportional to the amount of HBV antigens produced