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Ageing Mechanisms (ageing + mechanism)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

An Investigation of Composite Propellant Accelerated Ageing Mechanisms and Kinetics

PROPELLANTS, EXPLOSIVES, PYROTECHNICS, Issue 3 2003
Michael
Abstract The ageing kinetics and mechanisms of a composite solid rocket propellant were investigated by monitoring unstressed propellant samples during prolonged storage at elevated temperatures. For samples confined under air during ageing, it was determined that oxidative cross-linking of the propellant binder was the main degradation mechanism over time. Plasticizer loss was a significant ageing mechanism only for those samples aged unconfined. In addition, there was an indication that ambient humidity had a significant but reversible effect on propellant mechanical properties. Arrhenius mathematical relationships were derived in order to ascertain the extent to which ageing was accelerated by increased propellant temperature. An activation energy for binder oxidation of between 71 and 74,kJ/mol was determined. [source]

Ageing mechanisms: the role of telomere loss

CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 7 2001
P. Boukamp
The ends of the chromosomes are capped by specialized structures, the telomeres. These are comprised of tracts of hexanucleotid sequences and, in combination with specific proteins, protect the chromosome against degradation, fusion events and as being recognized as 'damaged' DNA; thus, they guarantee chromosomal integrity. Due to deficiencies during DNA replication, the telomeres continuously loose part of their sequences and it has been proposed that this loss is the liming factor for the replicative capacity of a cell, i.e. telomeric loss is the counting mechanism - the internal clock of ageing. In order to proliferate indefinitely, the cells must prevent telomere erosion and this is mostly achieved by upregulation or de novo expression of the ribonucleoprotein complex telomerase. This enzyme, which has a reverse-transcriptase activity, is able to add telomeric sequences to the outer most ends off the telomeres and thereby stabilize or even elongate the telomeres. As telomerase is expressed in about 90% of all tumours while expression is absent in many somatic tissues, it is not surprising that the causal role of telomere erosion is presently the most favoured hypothesis of cellular ageing. [source]

Formation and ageing of L-glutamic acid spherulites

CRYSTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 7 2010
R. Beck
Abstract Polycrystalline spherulites of L-glutamic acid have been crystallized by pH-shift precipitation from stirred aqueous solutions. The time dependent behaviour of the spherulites has been studied during the crystallization process and batch filtration tests have been performed. It has been shown that the FBRM mean chord length of the investigated spherulites decreases in the course of time. The fact that the size reduction progresses faster at higher temperature and the solubility of resuspended polycrystalline particles decreasing with time, implies an ageing mechanism to be responsible for the observed changes in the particle size. It has been shown that the surface area decreases with time, ruling out particle breakage as a possible explanation for the decrease in particle size. XRD and Raman studies of L-glutamic acid, however, show only marginal differences in the crystalline structure of particles obtained from different time stages. The ageing may occur due to several different mechanisms like phase transformation and Ostwald ripening. L-glutamic acid spherulites after 3 h exhibit a 3-fold higher value for the cake resistance as compared to particles after 0.5 h. However, particles obtained after 22 h exhibit an 8-fold lower cake resistance as compared to the initially obtained spherulites, The increase in the cake resistance is attributed to the appearance of small plate-like crystals and a change in the interaction between the crystal surface and the solution. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]

The skin as a mirror of the ageing process in the human organism , results of the ageing research in the German National Genome Research Network 2

EXPERIMENTAL DERMATOLOGY, Issue 8 2006
CH. C. Zouboulis
Intrinsic human skin ageing is influenced by the individual genetic predisposition and reflects degradation processes of the body. Hormones are decisively involved in intrinsic ageing with reduced secretion of pituitary, adrenal glands, and gonads, which leads to characteristic body and skin phenotypes. A number of advances were recently made in understanding skin ageing mechanisms and major molecular changes, especiallly of the extracellular matrix, were identified. Gene expression patterns compatible with mitotic misregulation and alterations in intracellular transport and metabolism were identified in fibroblasts of ageing humans and humans with progeria. Age-associated changes of extracellular matrix of the skin correlate well with changes been detected in the extracellular matrix of other organs of the human body. Within the National Genome Research Network 2 (NGFN-2) in Germany, the explorative project ,Genetic etiology of human longevity' targets the identification of age-related molecular pathways. For this purpose, skin models of ageing are used. Expression profiling employing cDNA microarrays from known and novel genes and RT-PCR are employed for gene detection and confirmation. Among the potential candidate genes several interesting target genes have been identified. The evaluation of ageing-associated genes in skin models will facilitate the understanding of global molecular ageing mechanisms in the future. [source]