Microstructural Heterogeneity and Property Variations in Cast and Vacuum Hot-Pressed CoCrPtB Alloy.

Limited research has been undertaken regarding the homogeneity of CoCrPtB alloy billets. A CoCrPtB alloy was processed through casting and vacuum hot pressing. This investigation delved into the interconnection between the secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) in the as-hot-pressed samples and their corresponding attributes, specifically Vickers hardness and magnetic properties. Systematic sampling was conducted on the cross-sectional layer and longitudinal surface. Upon examination of the cross-sectional layer proximate to the uppermost region of the hot casting, a discernible parabolic trend was observed for the SDAS that exhibited a gradual increment from the peripheral regions toward the central area along the width. Simultaneously, the fraction of the dendrite phase displayed a consistent linear decline, attaining its peak value at the central portion of the billet. Conversely, on the longitudinal surface, SDAS and the fraction of the dendrite phase remained fairly uniform within the same column sampling regions. However, a notable divergence was identified in the central section, characterized by an augmented SDAS and diminished dendrite phase content. This inherent microstructural inhomogeneity within the CoCrPtB alloy engendered discernible disparities in material properties.

Mechanistic Study of a Microwave Field-Controlled Static Crushing Agent for Efficient Rock Breaking.

The long reaction time and uncontrollable reaction process of the swelling agent in the process of rock breaking by static crushing agent lead to unsatisfactory efficiency and effect of rock breaking. This paper uses physical experiments to compare and analyze the changes in temperature and pressure of the hydration reaction under different microwave conditions; utilizes microscopic analysis of the hydration reaction products under each condition, combined with numerical calculations to elucidate the mechanism of the effect of microwave field on the hydration reaction of the expansion agent; and proposes a microwave field-controlled static crushing agent rock-breaking method. The study reached the following main conclusions: (1) microwave heating is better than conventional heating in terms of heating rate, peak temperature, and peak pressure; (2) using static crushing agent rock breaking is preferable to use a low-power microwave field to control the reaction process, and to ensure that the initial temperature is not higher than the local water boiling point; (3) microwave heating to promote the reaction mechanism lies in its deep heating of the system, faster heating rate, and higher energy utilization, and is more conducive to hydration expansion reaction; (4) selective heating of microwaves can enhance the hydration reaction of calcium oxide and inhibit the production of hydrated tricalcium silicate, making the reaction more complete, while microwave heating will also improve the microstructure of hydration products.

Chiral hexamers of organically modified polyoxometalates via ionic complexation.

Anderson-Evans type polyoxometalates (POMs) that are modified on double sides with anthracene groups through the covalent linking of ß-amino acid enantiomers are synthesized. The modified Anderson-Evans POMs are successfully used for the construction of chiral hexamers where a chiral spacer is added through the ion complexation of a sodium ion. The novel chiral hexamer enantiomers maintain their structure stability in organic solvents and their structures and properties are characterized by a series of physicochemical measurements. The crystals are obtained by adding excess acetonitrile as the solvent. The crystal data analysis reveals that the chirality of the two hexamers with mirror symmetry is from three chiral axes perpendicular to each other, which are fixed by one Na-O subcluster at the central position and four Na-O subclusters distributed in a tetrahedral fashion. When an achiral linker is used to replace the chiral spacers, no hexamers are detected but a one-dimensional supramolecular polymer chain emerges instead.

Effects of Microwave Heating Paths on Pores and Cracks in Bituminous Coal.

To follow the effect of the microwave heating path on the structure of coal, eight 50 mm diameter, 30 mm long dry coal cores from the same coal seam with similar pore structure characteristics were microwave-treated using 4 pathways. The T 2 spectrum, pore-volume, temperature, mass, and visual changes of coal samples were analyzed before and after microwave heating. The microwave heating path affected the macropores and microcracks and the crack development mode. When the same microwave energy was applied, microwave heating on the coal was mainly manifested by the opening of closed pores, before the pyrolysis temperature of the coal was reached. Increasing the energy density caused the water vapor to move from constant pressure expansion to constant volume expansion. This resulted in an exponential growth of the mesopore and macropore volumes. Meanwhile, the micropore volume increased due to the collapse of pore structures. As a result, high-power microwave heating could accelerate the vaporization rate of water. The rapid expansion of water vapor volume brought about a microwave heating effect similar to the "steam explosion". The resulting local tensile stress enabled the cracks to develop, expand, and connect to others continuously. Thus, it formed a complex crack network leading to the outside of the coal sample.

Effect of Sand Particle Size on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Gypsum-Cemented Similar Materials.

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properties of gypsum cement, 11 grades of sand particles with a size of 0.1-3 mm were used to produce 99 specimens for uniaxial compression and permeability coefficient testing. Based on this, the distribution characteristics of internal stress and horizontal displacement are discussed using the numerical analysis. The results obtained show that the sand particle size effect on the uniaxial compressive strength of similar materials is negatively correlated within the range from -16.51% to 49.79%. SEM observations imply that, in the case of small particle sizes, gypsum crystals develop into denser needle-like structures, while for larger particle sizes, they are mostly loose lamellar structures. Permeability tests indicated that the larger the sand particle size, the greater the permeability, indicating that the internal pore connectivity is better, and the crevices are easier to penetrate when the specimen is compressed. Numerical simulations indicated that the larger the particle size, the larger the extreme deformation value of the specimen in the horizontal direction, and the more uneven the deformation distribution. In addition, specimens with larger particle sizes had a larger total area, where the tensile stress exceeded the ultimate tensile strength, and were more prone to tensile failure.

A supramolecular approach of modified polyoxometalate polymerization and visualization of a single polymer chain.

An anthracene modified Anderson-Evans polyoxometalate was polymerized via supramolecular inclusion and then covalent coupling with the support of γ-cyclodextrin (γ-CD) under UV light irradiation. The formed main chain polymers of the inorganic polyanions self-assembled into fibrous bundles and single-strand chains were visualized and characterized via TEM and other techniques.

Concurrent Kidney Glomerular and Interstitial Lesions Associated with Kimura's Disease.

BACKGROUND: Kimura disease (KD) is a chronic benign inflammatory disorder that is usually manifested as a deep, subcutaneous mass with or without regional lymphadenopathy in the head and neck region. Various types of glomerulonephritis are associated with KD, including minimal change disease (MCD), membranous glomerulopathy (MN), and immunoglobulin (Ig)A-nephropathy. Kidney interstitial lesion associated with KD is rarely reported. The aim of this study was to expand the spectrum of kidney lesions associated with KD. METHODS: From 2007 to 2016, 12 cases of KD with kidney lesions were retrospectively reviewed. Pathological examinations included hematoxylin and eosin staining, periodic acid-schiff staining, periodic acid-methenamine silver staining, and Masson staining, immunofluorescence, and electron microscope analyses. RESULTS: Anatomic sites of subcutaneous involvement included head and neck area, arm, and groin. Most cases had elevated IgE level and peripheral eosinophilia. Nephrotic syndrome was the most common kidney manifestation. Pathological results showed 3 types of glomerulonephritis, including 9 cases of MCD, 2 cases of IgA nephropathy, and 1 case of MN. Of note, 4 MCD cases showed concurrent glomerular and interstitial lesions associated with KD, including 2 distinct patterns: (1) a diffusely eosinophilic and lymphatic infiltration similar to KD lesion developed elsewhere and (2) exclusively eosinophilic infiltration in the interstitium. Eight out of 10 patients were responsive to steroid treatment and had complete remission of proteinuria and recovery of kidney function. CONCLUSION: Our report suggested that, in addition to glomerulonephritis, interstitial lesions may also be associated with KD. Pathologist should pay special attention to differentiated diagnosis when such pathological changes are identified in patients with subcutaneous mass or cervical lymphadenopathy with concurrent kidney manifestation.

Induced chirality and reversal of phosphomolybdate cluster via modulating its interaction with cyclodextrins.

The distinctive chirality change of a polyoxometalate cluster PMo12O403-, induced by cyclodextrins (CDs), was investigated in concentrated aqueous solutions. The host-guest interactions between the used inorganic cluster and the organic CD molecules were then identified to maintain the induced chirality. The supramolecular inclusion at the primary hydroxyl side of CDs was demonstrated to be critical in modulating the formed chirality, while the induced chirality reversal was realized by simply substituting a CD with a supramolecule with larger opening or adding a competitive guest.

Controlled chiral electrochromism of polyoxometalates incorporated in supramolecular complexes.

A three-component supramolecular system was constructed by combining host-guest recognition and electrostatic interaction for realization of induced circular dichroism of achiral polyanionic clusters in aqueous solution, while the induced chiral heteropoly blue was built and switched off by controlling the redox of the inorganic component via electrochemistry.

Clinical and pathological characteristics of 5 children with HBV surface antigen (HBsAg)-negative hepatitis B virus-associated glomerulonephritis.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus-associated glomerulonephritis (HBV-GN) mainly occurs in children. Patients with HBV-GN are frequently positive for serum HBV surface antigen (HBsAg), but they are rarely negative. OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical and pathological characteristics of patients with HBV-GN who are serum HBsAg negative. STUDY DESIGN: Five children with HBV-GN who are negative for HBsAg were included in this study. Their clinical and pathological characteristics were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: All 5 children presented with different levels of proteinuria and microscopic hematuria. Renal biopsies showed membranous nephropathy accompanied by HBsAg and/or HBcAg deposits in glomeruli in all of the children. Steroids and/or other immunosuppressants were administered in all cases without antiviral therapy during the early stages of treatment. Two children achieved complete remission but relapsed after the drugs were tapered down. The other 3 children were initially non-responsive but achieved remission after lamivudine was added. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of HBsAg-negative HBV-GN patients with immunosuppressants alone could not achieve satisfactory effects. Antiviral treatment is effective and may be necessary in this type of patient.

MiR-135a promotes renal fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy by regulating TRPC1.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: The contribution of aberrantly expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) to diabetic nephropathy in vivo is poorly understood. METHODS: Integrated comparative miRNA array profiling was used to examine the expression of serum miRNAs in patients with diabetic nephropathy. The abundance of miRNA-135a (miR-135a) was measured by real-time quantitative PCR in the serum and kidney tissues of patients with diabetic nephropathy. The luciferase assay combined with mutation and immunoblotting was used to screen and verify the bioinformatically predicted miRNAs. Ca(2+) entry or intracellular Ca(2+) ([Ca(2+)]i) was performed by imaging Fura-2/AM-loaded cells using a fluorescence microscopy system. The role of miR-135a in vivo was explored with locked nucleic acid antisense oligonucleotides. RESULTS: MiR-135a was markedly upregulated in serum and renal tissue from patients with diabetic nephropathy, as well from db/db mice, and this was associated with the development of microalbuminuria and renal fibrosis. Furthermore, we identified transient receptor potential cation channel, subfamily C, member 1 (TRPC1) as a target of miR-135a during renal injury. We demonstrated that overexpression of TRPC1 was able to reverse the pathological effects of miR-135a on promoting proliferation of mesangial cells and increasing synthesis of extracellular matrix proteins. Moreover, miR-135a attenuated store depletion-induced Ca(2+) entry into cells by regulating TRPC1. Importantly, knockdown of miR-135a in diabetic kidneys restored levels of TRPC1 and reduced synthesis of fibronectin and collagen I in vivo. Suppressing TRPC1 levels to prevent Ca(2+) entry into cells may be a mechanism whereby miR-135a promotes renal fibrosis in diabetic kidney injury. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: These findings suggest an important role for miR-135a in renal fibrosis and inhibition of miR-135a might be an effective therapy for diabetic nephropathy.

Kinetic effects in the photomediated synthesis of silver nanodecahedra and nanoprisms: combined effect of wavelength and temperature.

Photomediated synthesis is a reliable, high yield method for the production of a variety of morphologies of silver nanoparticles. Here, we report synthesis of silver nanoprisms and nanodecahedra with tunable sizes via control of the reaction temperature and the irradiation wavelength. The results show that shorter excitation wavelengths and lower reaction temperatures result in high yields of nanodecahedra, while longer excitation wavelengths and higher reaction temperatures result in the formation of nanoprisms. The mechanism for the growth condition dependent evolution in the morphology of the silver particles is discussed as a kinetically controlled process. This is based on analysis of the reaction kinetics at various excitation wavelengths and temperatures. The energy barrier for the transformation from seeds to nanodecahedra is relatively high and requires a shorter wavelength. Thus longer wavelength illumination leads to the formation of nanoprisms. Thermodynamically stable five-fold twinning structures are shown to evolve from twin plane structures. The fast reaction rate at higher temperature favors the growth of nanoprisms by preferential Ag deposition on planar structures in a kinetics-controlled mode, while slower rates yield thermodynamically favored nanodecahedra.

Surface plasmon resonance technique for directly probing the interaction of DNA and graphene oxide and ultra-sensitive biosensing.

The binding of DNA with graphene oxide (GO) is important for applications in disease diagnosis, genetic screening, and drug discovery. The standard assay methods are mainly limited to indirect observation via fluorescence labeling. Here we report the use of surface plasmon resonance for direct sensing of DNA/GO binding. We show that this can be used for ultra-sensitive detection of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). Furthermore, the results provide a more direct probe of DNA/GO binding abilities and confirm that hydrogen bonding plays a key role in the interaction between GO and ssDNA. This enables to a novel biosensor for highly sensitive and selective detection of ssDNA based on indirect competitive inhibition assay (ICIA). We report development of such a sensor with a linear dynamic range of 10(-14)-10(-6)M, a detection limit of 10fM and a high level of stability during repeated regeneration.

Structural, mechanical properties and fracture mechanism of RuB(1.1).

Polycrystalline RuB(1.1) has been prepared by using an arc-melting method and its structure and mechanical properties including elastic modulus, hardness and fracture behavior have been characterized. Also, the electronic structure and bond characteristics for this compound have been investigated by first-principles calculations. The lattice parameters of RuB(1.1) have been precisely determined by a Rietveld refinement. First-principles calculations show that this compound has a high bulk modulus and a big Poisson's ratio compared to RuB2. The measured hardness of ~10.6 GPa for RuB(1.1) is three times lower than the theoretical value. This low hardness can be attributed to bond characteristics such as the bonding state and orientation, and fracture mechanism, in which the features of the Ru-B bonds plays an important role in the hardness. We found that there is an isosceles triangle bonding state including the B-B and Ru-B bonds, and the two-dimensionally inclined Ru-B bonds along the a-b plane weaken the hardness and C33. The scanning electron microscopy images show that this RuB(1.1) compound exhibits a twinning fracture, and this fracture model is also confirmed by first-principle calculations.

Clinical and immunopathological features of patients with lupus hepatitis.

BACKGROUND: Lupus hepatitis is yet to be characterized based on its clinical features and is often difficult to differentially diagnose from other liver diseases. We aimed to elucidate clinical, histopathological and immunopathological features of lupus hepatitis and to evaluate primarily the effectiveness of liver immunopathological manifestations on differential diagnosis of lupus hepatitis from other liver diseases. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed to analyze clinical features of lupus hepatitis in 47 patients out of 504 inpatients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, China from May 2006 to July 2009, and to evaluate the association between lupus hepatitis and SLE activity. Additionally, liver histopathological changes by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining and immunopathological changes by direct immunofluorescence test in 10 lupus hepatitis cases were analyzed and compared to those in 16 patients with other liver diseases in a prospective study. RESULTS: Of 504 SLE patients, 47 patients (9.3%) were diagnosed to have lupus hepatitis. The prevalence of lupus hepatitis in patients with active SLE was higher than that in those with inactive SLE (11.8% vs. 3.2%, P < 0.05). The incidence of hematological abnormalities in patients with lupus hepatitis was higher than that in those without lupus hepatitis (40.4% vs. 21.7%, P < 0.05), such as leucocytes count (2.92×10(9)/L vs. 5.48×10(9)/L), platelets count (151×10(9)/L vs. 190×10(9)/L), serum C3 and C4 (0.34 g/L vs. 0.53 g/L; 0.06 g/L vs. 0.09 g/L) (P < 0.05); 45 of 47 (95.7%) lupus hepatitis patients showed 1 upper limit of normal (ULN) < serum ALT level < 5 ULN. The liver histopathological features in patients with lupus hepatitis were miscellaneous and non-specific, similar to those in other liver diseases, but liver immunopathological features showed positive intense deposits of complement 1q in 7/10 patients with lupus hepatitis and negative complement 1q deposits in all patients with other liver diseases (Fisher's exact test, P = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: Lupus hepatitis was not infrequent in active SLE patients which would be one of the indices indicating SLE activity. Positive intense deposit of complement 1q in liver may be a characteristic immunopathological feature of lupus hepatitis, which provides a new way to differentially diagnose lupus hepatitis from other liver diseases.

Histological studies of renal biopsy in a boy with nephrosialidosis.

Nephrosialidosis is a rare subgroup of sialidosis characterized by a progressive and fatal course of nephropathy. The authors report a 2-year-old boy who had suffered from steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome. Renal biopsy showed diffuse and severe vacuolization of glomerular and tubular epithelial cells. The vacuoles were ultrastructurally membrane bound, most of which were not empty but contained electron-dense material lining the inner surface of the membrane. The pathologic changes were consistent with neuraminidase-deficient disorders, which was later confirmed by biochemical analysis. Although rare, nephrosialidosis should be considered in children with steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome if renal biopsies exhibit severe vacuolar degeneration of renal epithelial cells.