Ninety-nine samples of common Chinese medicines were purchased from Chinese medical shops in Singapore and Malaysia and analyzed for mercury, lead, copper, cadmium, cobalt, iron, and nickel. The majority of these medicines were manufactured in China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. A few of them were of Singapore and Taiwan origin. Atomic absorption method (both flame and flameless) was used for the analyses. Mercury was found to be present in high concentrations in several of the medicines that were for oral consumption.
The utility of a phantom material, based on SMR(L) [Standard Malaysian Rubber] grade natural rubber and a formulation used for the proprietary rubber phantom-material, Temex, has been examined for the 1-MeV photon-Measurement has also been performed with 60-keV photons using the radionuclide 241Am. At photon-therapy energy levels the measured response, when compared with tabulated central-axis percentage depth doses for the defined measuring conditions, produces everywhere (in the range 1-19 cm depth) better than 2% deviation. The favourable measured response characteristics combined with the ease of processing and casting the phantom material provide the basis for useful radiotherapy machine calibration and anthropomorphic dosimetry measurements. The measured mass-attenuation coefficient, at 60keV, of 0.204 cm2 g-1 (+/- 3%) is in close agreement with tabulated values for water (0.2055 cm2 g-1).
A new lead(II) electrode has been constructed with poly(hydroxamic acid) (PHXA) as the active material and silicone rubber as the supporting material. The electrode gave near Nerstian response over the concentration range 4 x 10(-5)-1 x 10(-2)M lead(II). The detection limit of the electrode is approximately 4 x 10(-6)M and the electrode works well in the pH range 4.5-6.0. The response time was 50-120 sec over the whole concentration range and the electrode has a working life of at least 4 weeks. Iron(III) severely poisoned the electrode membrane. Nickel(II) and mercury(II) gave very strong interference compared to copper(II), silver(I), cobalt(II), sodium(I), potassium(I), zinc(II) and cadmium(II) which gave some or little interference. Values determined with atomic absorption (AAS) and a commercial lead(II) electrode were in good agreement with those measured with the lead(II) electrode reported here.
A cylindrical gamma-ray 60Co source of activity alpha is predicted to produce an exposure rate X at a distance d in vacuum, given by X = gamma(T)(alpha/d2), where gamma(T) is the specific gamma-ray constant. It has been documented that this formula may be used to approximate X with an accuracy of 1% from a source of length l, provided that d/l > or = 5. It is shown that the formula is accurate to 0.1% under these conditions, provided that the distance is measured from the centre of the source. When absorption in the source and scattering in the collimator are considered, the position of the origin d = 0 can shift by a distance of the order of centimetres. Absorption in air between the source and the ionization chamber adds an exponential factor to the formula. It is shown that even when these modifications are included the discrepancy in the results, although generally less than 1%, is still large compared with the measurement errors. Some suggestions are made for the origin of this discrepancy.
This is a preliminary survey on cast partial denture designs in the commercial dental laboratories. This survey was carried out for a month in three commercial dental laboratories in Klang Valley and Shah Alam which produce metal dentures in cobalt-chromium. One hundred and ten questionnaires with the designs were collected and analysed. The framework design on the cast was transferred into the design sheet section of the questionnaire. The aim was to investigate communication regarding denture design between clinicians and dental technician and the dentists' dependency on the technician. The design of cobalt-chromium partial dentures in relation to oral health was also assessed. The results indicated that 43.6% of the dentist who used the three laboratories delegated their removable partial design work to the dental technician. More than half of the dentists had some communication with the technicians, and only 18.2 % of the dentists prescribed clear instructions with details of components regarding denture design. Continuing dental education on partial denture design for both clinicians and dental technicians would be of value to provide reinforcement in the knowledge of the basic concept on denture designing. Communication and understanding between both parties would probably improve the quality of cobalt-chromium dentures constructed.
For the specific absorbed dose constant for 60Co photons, three values quoted directly in the literature and two derived indirectly from published information are reported. The three publications giving the direct values mentioned no medium of absorption, whereas the other two specify tissue. A database of the specific absorbed dose constant is generated for each of 14 media namely air, water, bone and 11 types of soft tissue. These values are consistent with the three directly quoted values plus one of the indirectly obtained values. Air is found to be unlikely as the medium for the first three; and appropriate media for these are suggested. For the other two values, the generated database suggests that one is too small to be accurate; while the other is correct for tissue (as stated in the publication). An apparent error of 10(3) is identified in one of the values directly quoted.
The radiation-response characteristics of polymetharylic acid gel dosimeter prepared with different concentrations of monomer and cross-linker is described in these studies. The dosimeters were prepared under the hypoxic condition in a glove box and were then irradiated with gamma-rays produced by Co-60 radionuclide that was generated at 1.25MeV energy. The irradiation took place at different doses ranged from 0Gy to 19Gy. Due to the radiation activities, chain-reaction polymerisation processes had taken place in the formation of polymethacrylic acid (PMAA) gel, which cause the dose response mechanism increased in the NMR relaxation rates of protons. It has been observed that for higher concentration of monomer and cross-linker, the polymerization rate was increased.
A flow-through optical fibre chemical sensor for the determination of Co(II) at trace level using immobilised 2-(4-pyridylazo)resorcinol (PAR) as the reagent phase is proposed. PAR is physically adsorbed onto XAD-7. This method provided a great sensitivity and simplicity with wide linear response range from 1x10(-2) to 1x10(3)ppm and detection limit of 20ppb. This method also showed a reproducible result with relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 1.78% and response time of approximately 5min. The response towards Co(II) was also reversible using acidified KCl as the regenerating solution. Interference studies showed that Cr(III) significantly interfered during the determination. Excellent agreement with reference to inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICPOES) method was achieved when the developed sensor was applied for determination of Co(II) in aqueous samples.
Water from 15 sampling stations in Tasik Chini (Chini Lake), Peninsular Malaysia were sampled for 12 months from September 2004 until August 2005 and analyzed for 11 metals including iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), manganese (Mn), barium (Ba), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), chromium (Cr) and cobalt (Co). Results showed that the mean (min-max) metal concentrations (in micrograms per liter) in Tasik Chini waters for the 12 months sampling based on 15 sampling stations (in descending order) for Fe, Al, Mn, Ba, Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd were 794.84 (309.33-1609.07), 194.53 (62.37-665.93), 29.16 (16.68-79.85), 22.07 (15.64-29.71), 5.12 (2.224-6.553), 2.36 (1.165-4.240), 0.832 (0.362-1.443) and 0.421 (0.254-0.696) respectively. Concentration for three metals i.e. Ni, Cr and Co were too low and not detected by the graphite furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Comparison with various water quality standards showed that the mean metals concentration in surface water of Tasik Chini were low and within the range of natural background except for Fe and Al. In general, metal concentrations in Tasik Chini water varied temporally and spatially. The main factors influencing these metal concentrations in the water were the raining season and mining activities. Stations located at Tanjung Jerangking and Melai areas were the most effected due to those factors.
The binding selectivity of the M(phen)(edda) (M=Cu, Co, Ni, Zn; phen=1,10-phenanthroline, edda=ethylenediaminediacetic acid) complexes towards ds(CG)(6), ds(AT)(6) and ds(CGCGAATTCGCG) B-form oligonucleotide duplexes were studied by CD spectroscopy and molecular modeling. The binding mode is intercalation and there is selectivity towards AT-sequence and stacking preference for A/A parallel or diagonal adjacent base steps in their intercalation. The nucleolytic properties of these complexes were investigated and the factors affecting the extent of cleavage were determined to be: concentration of complex, the nature of metal(II) ion, type of buffer, pH of buffer, incubation time, incubation temperature, and the presence of hydrogen peroxide or ascorbic acid as exogenous reagents. The fluorescence property of these complexes and its origin were also investigated. The crystal structure of the Zn(phen)(edda) complex is reported in which the zinc atom displays a distorted trans-N(4)O(2) octahedral geometry; the crystal packing features double layers of complex molecules held together by extensive hydrogen bonding that inter-digitate with adjacent double layers via pi...pi interactions between 1,10-phenanthroline residues. The structure is compared with that of the recently described copper(II) analogue and, with the latter, included in molecular modeling.
Monodispersed and size-tunable nanocrystalline cobalt (Co) particles in the range of 100 to 400 nm are prepared by the reduction of Co(II) species in propylene glycol. Control of the particle size is achieved by varying the initial Co(II) species concentration and by the addition of nucleating agents. Smaller Co particles are produced with increasing amounts of Co(II) species and in the presence of nucleating agents. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) shows that the Co particles are predominantly face-centered cubic crystals of about 8-14 nm. The Co particles are also ferromagnetic at room temperature.
This research was conducted to study the effect of reinforcement particles on iron-cobalt (FeCo) composites. The composition of silicon carbide (SiC) was varied from 0 to 20 wt%. The composite was fabricated via powder metallurgy (PM) method, which consists of mixing, compaction and sintering processes. The powder was mixed for 2 hours to obtain uniformity between SiC and Fe-Co matrix and compacted to a cylindrical shape at 250 MPa. Samples were sintered for 2 hours at 900 o C with 10 o C/minute heating rate in argon atmosphere. The influences of reinforcement particle on the sintered samples were characterized in terms of microstructure and hardness testing. The Fe-Co/20wt%SiC composites show highest hardness value.
The synthesis and characterization of two cobalt(II) complexes, Co(phen)(ma)Cl 1 and Co(ma)(2)(phen) 2, (phen=1,10-phenanthroline, ma(-)=maltolate or 2-methyl-4-oxo-4H-pyran-3-olate) are reported herein. The complexes have been characterized by FTIR, CHN analysis, fluorescence spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, conductivity measurement and X-ray crystallography. The number of chelated maltolate ligands seems to influence their DNA recognition, topoisomerase I inhibition and antiproliferative properties.
The high typhoid incidence rate in developing and under-developed countries emphasizes the need for a rapid, affordable and accessible diagnostic test for effective therapy and disease management. TYPHIDOT®, a rapid dot enzyme immunoassay test for typhoid, was developed from the discovery of a ∼50 kDa protein specific for Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. However, the structure of this antigen remains unknown till today. Studies on the structure of this antigen are important to elucidate its function, which will in turn increase the efficiency of the development and improvement of the typhoid detection test. This paper described the predictive structure and function of the antigenically specific protein. The homology modeling approach was employed to construct the three-dimensional structure of the antigen. The built structure possesses the features of TolC-like outer membrane protein. Molecular docking simulation was also performed to further probe the functionality of the antigen. Docking results showed that hexamminecobalt, Co(NH(3))(6)(3+), as an inhibitor of TolC protein, formed favorable hydrogen bonds with D368 and D371 of the antigen. The single point (D368A, D371A) and double point (D368A and D371A) mutations of the antigen showed a decrease (single point mutation) and loss (double point mutations) of binding affinity towards hexamminecobalt. The architecture features of the built model and the docking simulation reinforced and supported that this antigen is indeed the variant of outer membrane protein, TolC. As channel proteins are important for the virulence and survival of bacteria, therefore this ∼50 kDa channel protein is a good specific target for typhoid detection test.
The potential of Mg(x)Co(2-)(x)O(2) as heterogeneous reusable catalyst in transesterification of palm oil to methyl ester was investigated. The catalyst was prepared via co-precipitation of the metal hydroxides at different Mg-Co ratios. Mg(1.7)Co(0.3)O(2) catalyst was more active than Mg(0.3)Co(1.7)O(2) in the transesterification of palm oil with methanol. The catalysts calcined at temperature 300 °C for 4 h resulted in highly active oxides and the highest transesterification of 90% was achieved at methanol/oil molar ratio of 9:1, catalyst loading of 5.00 wt.%, reaction temperature of 150 °C and reaction time of 2 h. The catalyst could easily be removed from reaction mixture, but showed 50% decrease in activity when reused due to leaching of active sites.
A series of bimetallic catalysts containing nickel supported over MgO-ZrO2 were tested for activity in the dry reforming of carbon dioxide. A nickel-cobalt bimetallic catalyst gave the best performance in terms of conversion and coke resistance from a range of Ni-X bimetallic catalysts, X=Ca, K, Ba, La, and Ce. The nitrogen-adsorption and hydrogen-chemisorption studies showed the Ni-Co bimetallic supported catalyst to have good surface area with high metal dispersion. This contributed to the high catalytic activity, in terms of conversion activity and stability of the catalyst, at an equimolar methane/carbon dioxide feed ratio. The kinetics of methane dry reforming are studied in a fixed-bed reactor over an Ni-Co bimetallic catalyst in the temperature range 700-800 °C by varying the partial pressures of CH4 and CO2. The experimental data were analyzed based on the proposed reaction mechanism using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood kinetic model. The activation energies for methane and carbon dioxide consumption were estimated at 52.9 and 48.1 kJ mol(-1), respectively. The lower value of CO2 activation energy compared to the activation energy of CH4 indicated a higher reaction rate of CO2, which owes to the strong basicity of nanocrystalline support, MgO-ZrO2.
A new cobalt(II) ion selective electrode based on palladium(II) dichloro acetylthiophene fenchone azine(I) has been developed. The best membrane composition is found to be 10:60:10:21.1 (I)/PVC/NaTPB/DOP (w/w). The electrode exhibits a Nerstian response in the range of 1.0 × 10(-1)-1.0 × 10(-6)M with a detection limit and slope of 8.0 × 10(-7)M and 29.6 ± 0.2 mV per decade respectively. The response time is within the range of 20-25s and can be used for a period of up to 4 months. The electrode developed reveals good selectivity for cobalt(II) and could be used in pH range of 3-7. The electrode has been successfully used in the determination of cobalt(II) in water samples.