Section 8.4 Cell Disintegration

Cone or shorthead crusher c/s with drive but excluding motor. FOB cost = 

Lump breaker breaker only excluding drive and motor. FOB cost = 8000 for a drive power = 7.5 kW with n = 1.1 for the range 4.5-15 kW. L+M = 1.7-2.8. 

fluid energy mill including all auxihary equipment (compressor, bag filter). 

ball c/s excluding liner, drive, motor, guard and ball load. FOB cost = 

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Solid polymer and gel polymer electrolytes could be viewed as the special variation of the solution-type electrolyte. In the former, the solvents are polar macromolecules that dissolve salts, while, in the latter, only a small portion of high polymer is employed as the mechanical matrix, which is either soaked with or swollen by essentially the same liquid electrolytes. One exception exists molten salt (ionic liquid) electrolytes where no solvent is present and the dissociation of opposite ions is solely achieved by the thermal disintegration of the salt lattice (melting). Polymer electrolyte will be reviewed in section 8 ( Novel Electrolyte Systems ), although lithium ion technology based on gel polymer electrolytes has in fact entered the market and accounted for 4% of lithium ion cells manufactured in 2000. On the other hand, ionic liquid electrolytes will be omitted, due to both the limited literature concerning this topic and the fact that the application of ionic liquid electrolytes in lithium ion devices remains dubious. Since most of the ionic liquid systems are still in a supercooled state at ambient temperature, it is unlikely that the metastable liquid state could be maintained in an actual electrochemical device, wherein electrode materials would serve as effective nucleation sites for crystallization. 

Autoradiography. The technique of exposing film in the presence of disintegrating radioactive particles. Used to obtain information on the distribution of radioactivity in a gel or a thin cell section. 

Let us consider some of the special problems encountered in the operation of a radioisotope detector and the compromises that must be considered. Like any chromatographic detector, a carbon-14 detector should have a small volume and a short hold-up time in order to minimize band spreading and loss of resolution. Unfortunately radioisotopes are measured with an inherent time factor - disintegrations per minute. Therefore, the smaller the cell and the shorter the hold-up, the lower will be the sensitivity, a circumstance which is totally at odds with the first requirement. In practice, we have found that a U-tube with a cross-section diameter of 2mm is generally satisfactory. This gives a cell with a void volume of 200-300 yl, which is high compared to the 2-10 yl volumes of many UV flow cells, and may introduce some band spreading when used with the best new HPLC columns. 

Examples of proteins that are specifically phosphorylated during the M phase of the cell cycle are the lamins. Hyperphosphorylation of the lamins leads to disintegration of the nuclear lamina. A myosin-associated protein named MAP4 is also specifically phosphorylated during mitosis. Other M-phase-specific phosphorylations occur at transcription factor TFIIIB, leading to inhibition of transcription by RNA polymerase III. Phosphorylation of TAF proteins (see Section 1.4.3.3) is also involved in general inhibition of transcription. 

Figure 8. Longitudinal section of sweetgum sapwood (Xiquidambar styraciflua L.) decayed by Polyporus versicolor L. Note evidence for enzymatic disintegration of the cell walls between contiguous fiber tracheids in the immediate vicinity of the bore holes formed by hyphae in passing from one cell to another. Note similar loosening of the cell wall material also along lumen surfaces at some distance from the bore holes. The hypha in the largest bore hole apparently is in the process of autolysis...

Fig. 12. Transverse section through testa and endosperm of seed of Peganum harmala a epidermis 6 small-celled layer c alkaloid-bearing layer d disintegrated perisperm e endosperm. After Barth (44).

Heavy disintegration. This level of decay can be identified when whole areas of the structure have been assimilated, and only dissociated portions are left. The physical matrix has been seriously violated so that it no longer works as a unit. Degradation is apparent through the loss of mechanical properties, as well as through evidence from byproducts (frass, macerated cells, surface hyphae) and often audible sounds as dissociated sections rattle or rub together. 

The FE-DBD plasma treatment (see section 12.6.1) is shown to initiate apoptosis in Melanoma cancer cell lines, that is a threshold at which plasma treatment does not cause immediate necrosis but initiates a cascade of biochemical processes leading to cell death many hours after the treatment (Fridman et al., 2007). Melanoma cells, treated by plasma at doses below those required for cell destruction, survive the plasma treatment but develop apoptosis many hours post treatment and die (disintegrate) by themselves gracefully. This could potentially be an intriguing approach for cancer treatment, especially if by manipulation of plasma parameters the treatment could be made selective to cancerous cells over healthy cells, as was demonstrated before for bacteria vs. healthy cells (Fridman et al., 2006). 

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