Chemical Means (chemical + mean)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


A review of physical and chemical protein-gel induction

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
Alfonso Totosaus
Summary Protein gelation is important to obtain desirable sensory and textural structures in foods. Gelation phenomenon requires a driving force to unfold the native protein structure, followed by an aggregation retaining a certain degree of order in the matrix formed by association between protein strands. Protein gelation has been traditionally achieved by heating, but some physical and chemical processes form protein gels in an analogous way to heat-induction. A physical means, besides heat, is high pressure. Chemical means are acidification, enzymatic cross-linking, and use of salts and urea, causing modifications in protein,protein and protein,medium interactions. The characteristics of each gel are different and dependent upon factors like protein concentration, degree of denaturation caused by pH, temperature, ionic strength and/or pressure. [source]


Positively Charged Material Surfaces Generated by Plasma Polymerized Allylamine Enhance Vinculin Mobility in Vital Human Osteoblastss,

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 8 2010
Henrike Rebl
Abstract Several studies suggest that the modification of an implant surface by chemical means plays an important role in bone tissue engineering. Previously we have shown that osteoblast cell adhesion and spreading can strongly be increased by a positively charged surface. Cell adhesion and migration are two vital processes that are completely dependent on coordinated formation of focal adhesions. Changes in the organization of the actin cytoskeleton and the focal adhesions are essential for numerous cellular processes including cell motility and tissue morphogenesis. We examined the mobility of the cytoskeletally associated protein vinculin on functionalized surfaces using plasma polymerized allylamine (PPAAm), a homogenous plasma polymer layer with randomly distributed amino groups. In living, GFP,vinculin transfected osteoblastic cells we determined a significant increase in vinculin mobility and vinculin contact length on PPAAm compared to collagen I coated surfaces during the initial adhesion phase. We suggest that positive charges control the cell physiology which seems to be dominant over the integrin receptor binding to collagen I. The results emphasize the role of the surface charge for the design of artificial scaffolds in bone repair. [source]


Fermentation characteristics and microbial growth promoted by diets including two-phase olive cake in continuous fermenters

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY AND NUTRITION, Issue 1 2008
A. Moumen
Summary Two-phase olive cake (2POC) is the by-product obtained from the so called ,two-phase' procedure to extract olive oil by mechanical methods. After the mechanical extraction the 2POC is dried and most of the remaining oil extracted by chemical means. The production of the crude by-product may reach more than 4 millions t/year in Spain (MAPA, 2003), most of it in areas (Southeast) with shortage of pastures and conventional feeds for ruminants. Six continuous fermenters, inoculated with ruminal liquor from wethers or goats, were fed lucerne hay (LH); LH plus a concentrate including dried two-phase olive cake (LHCO) and; diet LHCO added with polyethylene glycol (LHCOP). The highest pH values and ammonia N (NH3 -N) output were found in fermenters fed diet LH (6.19 and 6.35 for pH, and 53.7 and 68.9 mg NH3N/day, respectively, in fermentes inoculated with rumen liquor from sheep and goats) without differences due to the inoculum origin. The digestibility of carbohydrates (CHO) was affected (p < 0.001) by inoculum (67.0 and 58.8%, respectively, for goats and wethers) the lowest values being for diet LHCO (53.2 and 57.0% with inoculum from wethers and goats, respectively). The main volatile fatty acid (VFA) was acetic acid with higher (p < 0.01) values in fermenters with inoculum from goats than from wethers (80.2 and 63.0 mmol/day respectively). The efficiency of bacterial protein synthesis (EBS) was not different (p > 0.05) with inoculum from wethers and goats [26.4 and 28.1 and 35.2 and 33.5 g bacterial N/kg digested CHO, respectively, obtained by using diamino pimelic acid (DAPA) and purine bases (PB) as microbial markers]. The lowest (p < 0.05) values were found in fermenters fed diets LHCOP and LH, estimated, respectively, from DAPA and PB (21.9 and 29.0 g bacterial N/kg digested CHO). The substitution of a part of lucerne hay by a concentrate including dried 2POC does not seem to cause important differences in efficiency of VFA production. Results concerning bacterial protein synthesis are not so clear since values estimated from DAPA and PB did not show similar trends. Neither inoculum origin nor PEG had important effects on fermentation characteristics. The DAPA could be an adequate marker in continuous fermenters, with comparative purposes, as protozoa are not present and, estimated protein synthesis values are similar to those obtained in vivo with similar diets using urinary excretion of PD (Yáñez Ruiz et al., 2004b). Further research is needed to state the optimal proportion of 2POC in practical diets for ruminants at both maintenance and production stages. [source]


Preparation and properties of heat-shrinkable cross-linked low-density polyethylene

ADVANCES IN POLYMER TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2003
J. Morshedian
Abstract In this work, heat-shrinkable characteristics of a polyethylene compound were obtained by blending mixtures of low-density polyethylene with varying amount of peroxide. These were then extruded and molded to the required shape and then cross-linked by chemical means, followed by heating and stretching and then cooled to "freeze-in" the oriented polymer structure (elastic memory). A decrease in the melting point and heat of fusion (,Hf), as determined from the DSC melting enthalpies, was observed with an increase in the dicumyl peroxide (DCP) concentration. Tests on the heat shrinkablity of the samples showed that the stretching temperature has a large effect on the shrinkage temperature. The results showed that by increasing the peroxide content, the shrinkage temperature was decreased. The elongation at break decreased with an increase in the DCP concentration. Increasing the temperature in lightly cross-linked samples (low percent DCP) resulted in a reduction in the elongation at break. Increasing the cross-linking density (DCP content) gave an opposite effect. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 22: 112,119, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/adv.10041 [source]


Evaluation of analogues of DRDE-07 as prophylactic agents against the lethality and toxicity of sulfur mustard administered through percutaneous route

JOURNAL OF APPLIED TOXICOLOGY, Issue 2 2006
A. S. Kulkarni
Abstract Sulfur mustard (SM), chemically bis (2-chloroethyl) sulfide is a bifunctional alkylating agent that causes serious blisters on contact with human skin. Although several antidotes have been reported for the systemic toxicity of SM in experimental animals none of them are approved so far and decontamination of SM immediately by physical or chemical means is recommended as the best protection. Two compounds amifostine [S-2(3-aminopropylamino) ethyl phosphorothioate] and DRDE-07 [S-2(2-aminoethylamino) ethyl phenyl sulfide] gave very good protection as an oral prophylactic agent against SM the in mouse model, but in the rat model the protection was only moderate. In the search for more effective and less toxic compounds, a number of analogues of DRDE-07 were synthesised and their protective efficacy was evaluated in mouse and rat models. The LD50 of S-aryl substitution was between 1 and 2 g kg,1 and S-alkyl substitution was more than 2 g kg,1. In the mouse model, DRDE-07, DRDE-10, DRDE-21, DRDE-30 and DRDE-35 gave about 20 fold protection, and DRDE-23 and DRDE-38 gave less protection of 4.8 and 9.0 fold respectively, against percutaneously administered SM. In the rat model, DRDE-07, DRDE-09, DRDE-10 and DRDE-21 gave about two fold protection. Percutaneously administered SM (19.33 mg kg,1) significantly depleted the hepatic GSH content in mice. Pretreatment with DRDE-21 significantly elevated the levels. A 4.4 fold increase in % DNA fragmentation was observed 7 days after SM administration (19.33 mg kg,1) in mice. Pretreatment with DRDE-07, DRDE-09, DRDE-10, DRDE-21, DRDE-30 and DRDE-35 significantly protected the mice from SM induced DNA damage. The histopathological lesions in liver and spleen induced by percutaneously administered SM was reduced by pretreatment with DRDE-07, DRDE-09, DRDE-10 and DRDE-21. These analogues may prove as prototypes for the designing of more effective prophylactic drug for SM. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]