Effect of hot calendering on physical properties and water vapor transfer resistance of bacterial cellulose films

This work investigates the effect of hot calendering on bacterial cellulose (BC) films properties, aiming the achievement of good transparency and barrier property. A comparison was made using vegetal cellulose (VC) films on a similar basis weight of around 40 g.m-2. The optical-structural, mechanical and barrier property of BC films were studied and compared with those of highly beaten VC films. The Youngs moduli and tensile index of the BC films are much higher than those obtained for VC (14.5 16.2 GPa vs 10.8 8.7 GPa and 146.7 64.8 N.m.g-1 vs 82.8 40.5 N.m.g-1), respectively. Calendering increased significantly the transparency of BC films from 53.0 % to 73.0 %. The effect of BC ozonation was also studied. Oxidation with ozone somewhat enhanced the brightness and transparency of the BC films, but at the expenses of slightly lower mechanical properties. BC films exhibited a low water vapor transfer rate, when compared to VC films and this property decreased by around 70 % following calendering, for all films tested. These results show that calendering could be used as a process to obtain films suitable for food packaging applications, where transparency, good mechanical performance and barrier properties are important. The BC films obtained herein are valuable products that could be a good alternative to the highly used plastics in this industry.The authors thank FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) and FEDER (Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional) for the financial support of the project FCT PTDC/AGR-FOR/3090/2012— FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027948 and the awarding of a research grant for Vera Costa

Synthesis and evaluation of AlgNa-g-poly(QCL-co-HEMA) hydrogels as platform for chondrocyte proliferation and controlled release of betamethasone

Hydrogels obtained from combining different polymers are an interesting strategy for developing controlled release system platforms and tissue engineering scaffolds. In this study, the applicability of sodium alginate-g-(QCL-co-HEMA) hydrogels for these biomedical applications was evaluated. Hydrogels were synthesized by free-radical polymerization using a different concentration of the components. The hydrogels were characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and a swelling degree. Betamethasone release as well as the in vitro cytocompatibility with chondrocytes and fibroblast cells were also evaluated. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the porous surface morphology of the hydrogels in all cases. The swelling percent was determined at a different pH and was observed to be pH-sensitive. The controlled release behavior of betamethasone from the matrices was investigated in PBS media (pH = 7.4) and the drug was released in a controlled manner for up to 8 h. Human chondrocytes and fibroblasts were cultured on the hydrogels. The MTS assay showed that almost all hydrogels are cytocompatibles and an increase of proliferation in both cell types after one week of incubation was observed by the Live/Dead(R) assay. These results demonstrate that these hydrogels are attractive materials for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications due to their characteristics, their release kinetics, and biocompatibility.Oncologic Imagin

T cells, more than antibodies, may prevent symptoms developing from respiratory syncytial virus infections in older adults.

INTRODUCTION: The immune mechanisms supporting partial protection from reinfection and disease by the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) have not been fully characterized. In older adults, symptoms are typically mild but can be serious in patients with comorbidities when the infection extends to the lower respiratory tract. METHODS: This study formed part of the RESCEU older-adults prospective-cohort study in Northern Europe (2017-2019; NCT03621930) in which a thousand participants were followed over an RSV season. Peripheral-blood samples (taken pre-season, post-season, during illness and convalescence) were analyzed from participants who (i) had a symptomatic acute respiratory tract infection by RSV (RSV-ARTI; N=35) or (ii) asymptomatic RSV infection (RSV-Asymptomatic; N=16). These analyses included evaluations of antibody (Fc-mediated-) functional features and cell-mediated immunity, in which univariate and machine-learning (ML) models were used to explore differences between groups. RESULTS: Pre-RSV-season peripheral-blood biomarkers were predictive of symptomatic RSV infection. T-cell data were more predictive than functional antibody data (area under receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] for the models were 99% and 76%, respectively). The pre-RSV season T-cell phenotypes which were selected by the ML modelling and which were more frequent in RSV-Asymptomatic group than in the RSV-ARTI group, coincided with prominent phenotypes identified during convalescence from RSV-ARTI (e.g., IFN-γ+, TNF-α+ and CD40L+ for CD4+, and IFN-γ+ and 4-1BB+ for CD8+). CONCLUSION: The evaluation and statistical modelling of numerous immunological parameters over the RSV season suggests a primary role of cellular immunity in preventing symptomatic RSV infections in older adults

Electroporation-Induced Electrosensitization

BACKGROUND: Electroporation is a method of disrupting the integrity of cell membrane by electric pulses (EPs). Electrical modeling is widely employed to explain and study electroporation, but even most advanced models show limited predictive power. No studies have accounted for the biological consequences of electroporation as a factor that alters the cell's susceptibility to forthcoming EPs. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We focused first on the role of EP rate for membrane permeabilization and lethal effects in mammalian cells. The rate was varied from 0.001 to 2,000 Hz while keeping other parameters constant (2 to 3,750 pulses of 60-ns to 9-µs duration, 1.8 to 13.3 kV/cm). The efficiency of all EP treatments was minimal at high rates and started to increase gradually when the rate decreased below a certain value. Although this value ranged widely (0.1-500 Hz), it always corresponded to the overall treatment duration near 10 s. We further found that longer exposures were more efficient irrespective of the EP rate, and that splitting a high-rate EP train in two fractions with 1-5 min delay enhanced the effects severalfold. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: For varied experimental conditions, EPs triggered a delayed and gradual sensitization to EPs. When a portion of a multi-pulse exposure was delivered to already sensitized cells, the overall effect markedly increased. Because of the sensitization, the lethality in EP-treated cells could be increased from 0 to 90% simply by increasing the exposure duration, or the exposure dose could be reduced twofold without reducing the effect. Many applications of electroporation can benefit from accounting for sensitization, by organizing the exposure either to maximize sensitization (e.g., for sterilization) or, for other applications, to completely or partially avoid it. In particular, harmful side effects of electroporation-based therapies (electrochemotherapy, gene therapies, tumor ablation) include convulsions, pain, heart fibrillation, and thermal damage. Sensitization can potentially be employed to reduce these side effects while preserving or increasing therapeutic efficiency

Aspiration à l’aiguille fine et diagnostic cytologique de tumeurs malignes primitives multiples

info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublishe

Alternatives for hard chromium plating: Nanostructured coatings for severe-service valves

In this paper, a variety of chromium-free protective coatings were evaluated as alternatives for hard chromium (HC) electroplating for valve applications, such as nanostructured cobalt-phosphor (NCP) deposited by electroplating and tungsten/tungsten carbide (W/WC) prepared by chemical vapor deposition. A series of laboratory tests including hardness, micro scratch, pin-on-disk and electrochemical polarization measurements were performed in order to compare the performance of the different coatings. In addition, mechanical resistance and fatigue resistance were evaluated using prototype valves with coated ball under severe tribo-corrosion conditions. It was shown that W/WC coating exhibits superior resistance to wear and corrosion due to high hardness and high resistance to pitting, respectively while NCP exhibits better wear resistance than HC with alumina ball and low corrosion potential which allow to use it as protective (sacrificial) coating. Both nanostructured coatings exhibited attractive tribo-mechanical and functional characteristics compared to hard chromium

Alternatives for hard chromium plating: Nanostructured coatings for severe-service valves

In this paper, a variety of chromium-free protective coatings were evaluated as alternatives for hard chromium (HC) electroplating for valve applications, such as nanostructured cobalt-phosphor (NCP) deposited by electroplating and tungsten/tungsten carbide (W/WC) prepared by chemical vapor deposition. A series of laboratory tests including hardness, micro scratch, pin-on-disk and electrochemical polarization measurements were performed in order to compare the performance of the different coatings. In addition, mechanical resistance and fatigue resistance were evaluated using prototype valves with coated ball under severe tribo-corrosion conditions. It was shown that W/WC coating exhibits superior resistance to wear and corrosion due to high hardness and high resistance to pitting, respectively while NCP exhibits better wear resistance than HC with alumina ball and low corrosion potential which allow to use it as protective (sacrificial) coating. Both nanostructured coatings exhibited attractive tribo-mechanical and functional characteristics compared to hard chromium

HVOF Coating case study for power plant process control ball valve application

This case study is the result of an investigation on HVOF 80/20 Cr 3C2-NiCr coating failure of on-off metal-seated ball valve (MSBV) used in supercritical steam lines in a power plant and solution. HVOF 80/20 Cr3C2-NiCr coating is used to protect thousands of MSBVs without incident. However, in this case, the valves are challenged with exposure to rapid high-pressure and -temperature variations resulting in a unique situation where the coating experiences cracking and cohesive failure. It was found that carbide precipitation is a major factor causing embrittlement of the coating. Once the coating toughness and ductility is reduced, thermal, mechanical, and residual stresses can initiate and propagate cracks more easily, causing coating failure when exposed to thermal shock. To alleviate the above mentioned issues, possible coating alternatives were then evaluated. \ua9 2013 ASM International.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Tribo Mechanical Properties of CoCr and NiWCrB Hardfacing Superalloy Coating Systems

Wear of materials is a serious problem facing industry especially in mechanical applications where moving parts are continuously subjected to friction. Hard coatings prepared by a variety of processes are nowadays considered as effective solutions to protect components against wear. Examples of such processes are: thermal spray coating, vacuum-based coating and hardfacing. In this paper, we study the mechanical, tribological and corrosion properties of two hard coating systems: CoCr Stellite 6 (ST6) hardfacing on 316 stainless steel and NiWCrB Colmonoy 88 (C88) thermal spray coating on Inconel 718. The effect of gas nitriding on the microstructure and wear performance of these coating systems is investigated. X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy were used for microstructural analysis. Micro-indentation technique was utilized to measure the surface and cross-sectional hardness of the coatings. Rockwell indentation technique was used to evaluate coating adhesion in accordance with CEN/TS 1071-8. Pin-on-disk tests were conducted to assess the tribological performance of the coatings. Microstructural analysis showed that ST6 has a cobalt matrix in the form of dendrites reinforced with metal carbide particles whereas C88 has a Nickel matrix reinforced mainly with metal boride particles. ST6 and C88 improved significantly the wear resistance of their corresponding substrates. This is mainly due to good adhesion and high hardness of the coatings; HR15N values of ST6 and C88 were almost 85 as compared to 61 and 80 for 316 and INC substrates, respectively. ST6 was found to improve significantly the corrosion resistance of 316 whereas C88 decreased the corrosion performance of INC. Moreover, nitriding treatment was found to improve significantly the wear resistance of 316 and INC, however, in the case of ST6, nitriding was beneficial in terms of wear resistance only at relatively low load.</jats:p