128 results about "Membrane integrity" patented technology

Stress of a silicon nitride layer may be enhanced by deposition at higher temperatures. Employing an apparatus that allows heating of a substrate to substantially greater than 400° C. (for example a heater made from ceramic rather than aluminum), the silicon nitride film as-deposited may exhibit enhanced stress allowing for improved performance of the underlying MOS transistor device. In accordance with alternative embodiments, a deposited silicon nitride film is exposed to curing with ultraviolet (UV) radiation at an elevated temperature, thereby helping remove hydrogen from the film and increasing film stress. In accordance with still other embodiments, a silicon nitride film is formed utilizing an integrated process employing a number of deposition/curing cycles to preserve integrity of the film at the sharp corner of the underlying raised feature. Adhesion between successive layers may be promoted by inclusion of a post-UV cure plasma treatment in each cycle.

The compositions and dosage forms of the invention are clinically useful as methods for increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and safety of biguanides (metformin) and/or sulfonylureas in the prevention and treatment of insulin resistance and diabetes mellitus, alone or in combination, as a nutrient for humans. The carefully chosen active ingredients of the invention are designed in a modular fashion to prevent and rectify adverse events associated with insulin resistance syndrome and diabetes mellitus, and with the clinical use of biguanides (metformin) and/or the sulfonylureas. These modules are: (1) Mitochondrial Metabolic Group, (2) Plasma and Mitochondrial Membrane Integrity Group, (3) Nocturnal Group and, (4) Insulin Alternative Group. When used in concert with a biguanide, a sulfonylurea or with a combination of both, the invention will broaden the clinical usefulness of these drugs. The invention will retard the progression of insulin resistance to type 2 diabetes, and reduce the serious microvascular and macrovascular complications commonly associated with insulin resistance syndrome and diabetes mellitus.

The invention relates to a gas sensor and its method of manufacture.

Electrochemical gas sensors usually comprise an external housing, which acts as a reservoir for electrolyte; a wick to keep electrodes wetted with the electrolyte and external electrical terminals, for making electrical contact with the electrodes. Typically a gas permeable/microporous membrane has been used to seal a gas sensor in order to prevent leakage of electrolyte. A problem with existing sensors has been that there was a risk of electrolyte leaking through the membrane around the region where electrical connectors passed therethrough.

The present invention overcomes this by providing a method of urging conductive polymer through the membrane under controlled conditions of heat and pressure, thereby ensuring the integrity of the membrane remains in tact while defining an electrically/conductive pathway therethrough.

The invention provides a sulfur-nitrogen dual-doped graphene nano material. A preparation method of the sulfur-nitrogen dual-doped graphene nano material comprises the following steps: mixing a sulfur nitrogen precursor and graphene oxide to obtain a mixture I, adding the mixture I into ethanol, ultrasonically and uniformly dispersing, and drying at 40 to 90 DEG C, thus obtaining a composite of the graphene oxide and the sulfur nitrogen precursor; and standing the composite of the graphene oxide and the sulfur nitrogen precursor at a high temperature of 800 to 1000 DEG C for 1 to 5 hours under the protection of inert gas, then naturally cooling to the room temperature, and obtaining a final product. The preparation method is low in cost; by combining a two-dimensional structure of the graphene and doping-induced polarity active site, the conductivity of a positive electrode of a lithium sulfur battery is remarkably improved, the loss and reutilization of polysulfide are improved, and when the prepared sulfur nitrogen dual-doped graphene nano material is used as a multifunctional interlayer material to be applied to the lithium sulfur battery, the conductivity of the sulfur positive electrode and the completeness of a protection diaphragm under large current can be remarkably improved, and the applicability is high.

The present invention relates to a novel nasal formulation for the treatment and prophylaxis of nasal congestion. When an infant is born, its nasal passages are relatively sterile, in time the nasal passages are colonized by fungi, molds and other organisms which compromise the integrity of the nasal and paranasal mucosa. The presence of these organisms elicits a mild chronic inflammatory reaction of the nasal and paranasal mucosa, in some cases leading to congestion and excess production of mucus. This chronic inflammatory process compromises the integrity of the nasal and paranasal mucosa, making it more vulnerable to binding with allergens and other invading organisms such as the rhinovirus. The purpose of this invention is to establish a treatment and prophylaxis of nasal congestion, which will control the presence of the invading organisms in the nasal and paranasal mucosa, reducing congestion as well as mucus production. By reducing the mild chronic inflammation in the nasal passages, prophylaxis with this nasal formulation passively reestablishes the integrity of the nasal and paranasal mucosa, thereby reinforcing the body's defenses against the implantation of allergens and of organisms such as the rhinovirus.

Assessing fetal health and maturity, and the integrity and health of the amnion, is effected via protein profiling of vaginal fluid, thereby to identify various abnormal conditions during pregnancy. This approach also provides a means for gauging the duration and/or magnitude of intraamniotic/fetal inflammation that occurs during pregnancy.

Methane is formed into synthesis gas through a combination of a partial oxidation reaction and a steam reforming reaction. Oxygen for the partial oxidation reaction is obtained by contacting air with an oxygen transport membrane and recovering the oxygen transported through the membrane. To increase the oxygen flux through the membrane, steam is utilized as a sweep gas on the anode side of the membrane. The steam reduces the oxygen partial pressure on the anode side increasing the flux. The efficiency and cost benefit of the process is enhanced by utilizing in-line combustors to heat gases being delivered to the oxygen transport membrane. Membrane integrity is enhanced by conducting the reactions in a reactor that is remote from the oxygen transport membrane.

The invention discloses a tobacco half-film-covering cultivation method. According to the method, a mulching film is covered on the top of a ridge, and then planting holes for cultivation of tobacco seedlings are punched on the edges of the mulching film on the shoulder part of the ridge. The tobacco half-film-covering cultivation method has the advantages that tobacco is planted in a one ridge and double-line mode, and therefore transplanting between a wide line and a narrow line is achieved, ventilation and photopermeability of the tobacco at later stage are benefited, and tobacco leaf quality is improved; in the later stage growing process of the tobacco, the root system is located in the film and outside the film at the same time, and therefore characteristics of moisture preservation in the droughty situation and drainage in the rain-waterlogging situation are combined, and normal growing of the tobacco is benefited; the edges of the mulching film are connected with base fertilizer, the root system of the tobacco is close to and in contact with the mulching film and the base fertilizer, and therefore rain water can flow to the periphery of the root system easily along the film to dissolve the fertilizer and moisten the root system of the tobacco, the utilizing rate of the fertilizer is improved, and root system development and tobacco growing are promoted; and as the edges of the mulching film is adjacent to the basal part of the stem of the tobacco, when people stand on the ridge to uncover the film, the completeness of the mulching film is guaranteed, recycling efficiency of the mulching film is improved, and white pollution is effectively reduced.

The integrity test method applied to hollow-fibre filtration membranes are of the type with an internal skin, the concentrate compartment (J) being formed by the lower part of the hollow fibres and the permeate compartment (K) being formed by the part on the outside of the hollow fibres; a pressurized gas is made to flow through the concentrate compartment (J) for draining the hollow fibres, which are open at their ends; the method starts by leaving the permeate compartment (K) to the atmosphere, so as to allow the liquid on the surface of the membrane to migrate through the membrane; the permeate compartment (K) is then isolated; the pressure rise in the permeate compartment (K), caused by the circulation of gas in the concentrate compartment (J) and the flow of gas towards the permeate compartment, is measured; and, after a defined time, the pressure rise is compared with that observed when an integral membrane is used.

The invention relates to accelerated mixed gas integrity testing methods, devices, and systems for integrity testing wetted single and multi-layered porous materials, whereby the testing method is non-destructive to the porous materials being tested. The accelerated mixed gas integrity test method includes one or more of the following components: i) a permeate side gas purge component; ii) a permeate side volume reduction component; and iii) a permeate side circulation component. The invention is directed towards reducing the length of time necessary to complete the integrity testing of single and multi layered porous materials, elements and membranes.

A multi-purpose contact lens care solution having high antimicrobial activity comprising, in an aqueous liquid medium, cetylpyridinium chloride and a non-ionic surfactant. In one embodiment of the invention, the non-ionic surfactant is a poly(oxypropylene)-poly(oxyethylene) block copolymer. The solution may optionally also include additional antimicrobial components, a buffer component, a viscosity inducing component, a surfactant, taurine, propylene glycol and/or a tonicity component. This solution additionally prevents losses in ocular tissue membrane integrity during contact lens wear.

The invention relates to a bacterial capsule staining method, comprising the steps: 1) dropping a droplet of sterile water on a glass slide; 2) bacteria culturing for 24 to 48 hours, selecting the bacteria with a transfering loop, and slowly coating the glass slide in water moisture state spirally from the center to the outside to keep the capsule complete; 3) natural drying or blow drying with electric wind; 4) dropping 2-3 droplets of pure methanol, fixing for 1-2 minutes, and inclining to remove the methanol; 5) dropping carbolic acid fuchsin to stain for 1-3 minutes, and covering a cover glass; and 6) absorbing the liquid surrounding the cover glass with a piece of absorbent paper, inclining the slide glass to absorb partial staining liquid under the cover glass. By improvement on the slide making method, the staining method and the operation steps, the completeness of bacterial capsule is effectively kept, the growing state of all the bacterial capsule in the specimen can be clearly displayed, the operation difficulty of capsule staining is obviously reduced, and the reliability of bacterial capsule recognition is improved.

An underground water guiding and draining system under an impermeable membrane of an industrial waste residue storage yard is arranged in a mountain body (20) below a impermeable membrane (10) in a storage yard, and comprises a main guiding-leaking blind ditch (30), a branch guiding-leaking blind ditch (40) and a water guiding blind ditch (50), wherein the main guiding-leaking blind ditch is arranged at the lowest position of a valley, and the length of the main guiding-leaking blind ditch extends to the downstream of the storage yard along the tail end of the storage yard; the branch guiding-leaking blind ditch is arranged by surrounding the storage yard along the hillside surrounding the storage yard, a plurality of leaking water grooves for containing water leaking from the hillside are arranged on a guiding-leaking pipe in the branch guiding-leaking blind ditch, and a water outlet is arranged at one end of the branch guiding-leaking blind ditch positioned at the downstream of the storage yard; and the branch guiding-leaking blind ditch and the main guiding-leaking blind ditch are communicated with each other by a plurality of water guiding blind ditches or solid-wall HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) water guiding pipes, which are arranged at intervals. The underground water guiding and draining system forms spider net shape under the impermeable membrane of the waste residue storage yard, so that underground water can be drained effectively, the support force on the impermeable membrane caused by underground water can be reduced, the upheaval and cracking of the impermeable membrane can be prevented, so that the completeness of the impermeable membrane can be kept, and the impermeable function of the impermeable membrane can be guaranteed.

The invention relates to a difunctional coated diaphragm for lithium ion batteries and a preparation method thereof. With a porous polyolefin diaphragm as a substrate, inorganic matter particles witha cation exchange function and high-temperature stability are used for being coated on one side or both sides of the porous polyolefin diaphragm. The coated lithium ion battery diaphragm has the following advantages: on one hand, because of the high thermal stability of the inorganic matter, a polymer is melted under high temperature, while the existence of the inorganic matter keeps the integrityof the lithium ion battery diaphragm, and therefore the high-temperature resistance of the diaphragm can be improved; in addition, the inorganic matter coated on the surface can adsorb divalent ironions released in the cyclic process of the lithium iron phosphate of the anode of a lithium ion battery, preventing the divalent iron ions from being diffused into the cathode and reduced into iron element to cause battery micro-short-circuiting, consequently, the capacity of the lithium ion battery can be kept for a long time, and safety problems, such as spontaneous combustion, which can be possibly caused by micro-short-circuiting are prevented.

Modified fusion enhanced erythrocytes (or other cell types and synthetic cells) including human viral receptor proteins, human viral coreceptor proteins and viral derived proteins capable of mediating entry of respective viruses into the modified erythrocytes, cells or pseudo-cells and the method of using the fusion enhanced modified erythrocytes, cells or pseudo-cells for the treatment or prevention of viral infections. The fusion enhanced modified erythrocytes comprises CD4 and at least one HIV coreceptor, such as CXCR4 or CCR5 and as well, at least one of cholesterol rafts, fusin, actin, a viral derived protein such as fusion peptide derived from HIV GP120 or HIV GP41 or a shorter protein derived from a long viral protein, such as a portion of HIV derived GP120, or HIV GP41 such as the 23 N-terminal peptide of the HIV-1 gp 41 protein (AVGIGALFLGFLGAAGSTMGARS) called FP23 (Fusion Peptide). These viral-fusion enhanced cells may also be electrostatic charge enhanced through further additions named in this invention. The modified erythrocytes, when administered to an HIV patient, bind to the plasma virus and induce the injection of the HIV ribonucleoprotein complex into the cells. The entrapped viral content is sequestered within said cell for at least the period of time that the cell maintains its outer membrane integrity. The virus is thereafter either degraded or deactivated within the erythrocytes, cells or pseudo-cells, or destroyed by erythrophagocytosis.

The invention discloses nutritive feed for supplying vitamins, amino acids and oligosaccharides for pigs. The nutritive feed is prepared from raw materials of 200 to 280 parts by weight of one or more vitamins, 80 to 160 parts by weight of one or more amino acids and 15 to 30 parts by weight of oligosaccharides, and 550 to 750 parts by weight of auxiliary materials, wherein the one or more vitamins are selected from vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin D3, vitamin E and biotin; and the one or more amino acids are selected from lysine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine, glycine, alanine and threonine. The nutritive feed can protect integrity of skin and mucosa, improve a color and brightness of fur, improve immunity of a sow, reduce embryonic mortality, avoid diseases such as mastitis and lactescence deficiency in a lactation stage, reduce a weak piglet rate and obviously improve weight in a week.

A package for a medical device having an elongated shaft and a proximal luer fitting, the package includes a one-piece body formed as a single structure. The one-piece body includes at least a spiral casing formed therein, the spiral casing defining a spiral lumen configured to receive the elongated shaft of the medical device. The package includes a luer retaining portion at one end of the spiral casing with barrier film sealed to the luer retaining portion to maintain the sterility of the medical device. The package further including a cap placed over the luer retaining portion and barrier film to protect the integrity of the barrier film and prevent perforation of the barrier film which would compromise the sterility of the medical device.

An automatic on-line tester for detecting the integrity of the separating hollow fibre membrane is disclosed. A pressure sensor is fixed on the separating membrane module and connected to PLC control system. The perssure air is pumped in the separating membrane module untile all water in it is discharged. The pressures at different time are measured. Their pressure difference can be used to judge the membrane integrity. When said pressure difference is greater than 5Kpa, the membrane must be exchanged. Its advantages are high correctness and efficiency and low cost.

The invention relates to fresh jujube dry crisp slices and a processing technology. The technology comprises the following steps: (1) preparing fresh jujube slices, (2) conducting stoning and removingfruit stalks, (3) subjecting the fresh jujube slices to quick-freezing and fresh keeping, (4) unfreezing the frozen fresh jujube slices, (5) performing color protection treatment, (6) subjecting thejujube slices to differential-pressure puffing, (7) preparing mixed ultra-fine seasoning powder, and (8) spreading the ultra-fine seasoning powder to the slices. According to the method, the fresh jujube dry crisp slices of Lingwu long jujubes is subjected to multi-time freezing-unfreezing pretreatment, and freezing can quickly destroy the cell structure, so that the water in the unfreezing process dissipates more easily, and the better effect is obtained after the multi-time freezing-unfreezing, and the brittleness and color of the product can be maintained. In addition, the dehydration speedis fast, the texture is crisp, the integrity of membranes is protected, and the puffing effect can be ensured during puffing as cell walls rupture.

A method of assessing toxicity of a candidate agent to a sample of cells comprises the steps of providing a sample of cells, exposing the cells to the candidate agent for a suitable period of time, assaying the cells to measure data for at least one parameter of cellular function; and correlating the measured data of the at least one parameter of cellular function with toxicity, wherein the step of exposing the cells to the candidate agent is carried out in the presence of a reagent capable of facilitating transport of the candidate agent into the cell. The transport reagent may be an endocytosis, pinocytosis inducing agent, a peptide, or a liposome. The at least one parameter of cellular function may be selected from the group consisting of: cell viability; proliferation rate; membrane integrity; and a metabolic parameter. Also described is a method of generating a toxicity signature for a candidate agent comprising the step of carrying out the method of the invention for a plurality of cellular function parameters, and compiling the measured data for each of the cellular function parameters to provide a toxicity signature.