The phase diagram of poly(acrylamide) (PAAm)-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG)-water two-phase system was measured by the gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The aqueous two-phase of PAAm-PEG-water system can be easily formed. The critical concentration of phase separation was affected by the molecular weight of PEG. The aqueous two-phase polymerization of acrylamide (AAm) has been Successfully carried Out in the presence

of PEG by using ammonium persulfate (APS) as the initiator. The polymerization behaviors with varying concentration of AAm, initiator and PEG, the polymerization temperature, the molecular weight of PEG, and emulsifier types were investigated. The activation energy of aqueous two-phase polymerization of AAm was 132.3 kJ/mol. The relationship of initial polymerization selleckchem rate (R(p0)) with APS and AAm concentrations was R(p0) proportional to [APS](0.72) [AAm](1.28). (c) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 111: 1409-1416, 2009″
“Recently, it has been reported that the Notch pathway is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy. In this study, we investigated the activation of the Notch pathway in Ins2 Akita diabetic mouse (Akita mouse) and the effects of telmisartan, an angiotensin II type1 receptor blocker, on the Notch pathway. The intracellular domain of Notch1 (ICN1) is proteolytically cleaved from the cell plasma membrane in the course

of Notch activation. The expression MCC950 mouse of ICN1 and its ligand, Jagged1, were increased PFTα mw in the glomeruli of Akita mice,

especially in the podocytes. Administration of telmisartan significantly ameliorated the expression of ICN1 and Jagged1. Telmisartan inhibited the angiotensin II-induced increased expression of transforming growth factor beta and vascular endothelial growth factor A which could directly activate the Notch signaling pathway in cultured podocytes. Our results indicate that the telmisartan prevents diabetic nephropathy through the inhibition of the Notch pathway.”
“Wide-bandgap semiconductors such as GaN/AlGaN and ZnO/MgZnO quantum wells are promising for improving the spectral reach and high-temperature performance of terahertz quantum cascade lasers, due to their characteristically large optical phonon energies. Here, a particle-based Monte Carlo model is developed and used to quantify the potential of terahertz sources based on these materials relative to existing devices based on GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells. Specifically, three otherwise identical quantum cascade structures based on GaN/AlGaN, ZnO/MgZnO, and GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells are designed, and their steady-state carrier distributions are then computed as a function of temperature. The simulation results show that the larger the optical phonon energies (as in going from the AlGaAs to the MgZnO to the AlGaN materials system), the weaker the temperature dependence of the population inversion.