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Vegetable oil-based lubricants have several disadvantages as compared to mineral and synthetic ones, including low viscosity that not encourage the generation of a continuous film when the tribosystem runs, consequently, implying a mixt or boundary. This is why the additivation of such oils is of great interests for researchers, producers and users. This paper presents results of testing the soybean oil additivated with nano graphite (0.25%wt, 0.50%wt and 1%wt) on a four ball machine. The friction coefficient is slightly increased for the additivated lubricants, but no evident dependency on concentration and test conditions was noticed. Supplementary tests will give the opportunity of a statistical approach of this parameter. Any concentration of nano graphite makes the wear parameter (wear scar diameter) to slightly increase as compared to the values obtained for the non-additivated soybean oil. The increase of the nano graphite concentration in this vegetable oil does not influence significantly the wear parameter, meaning that, at least for the tested regime, this is not an efficient anti-wear additive.

Copyright of Strategic Universe Journal / Univers Strategic is the property of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Institute for Security Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Strategic Universe Journal / Univers Strategic is the property of Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, Institute for Security Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper presents and analysis of several 3D amplitude parameters of the texture, measured or calculated for the entire wear scar of the stationary balls used in four-ball tester: Sa, St, Sv, Sp, Ssk and Sku. The authors investigated balls tested in rapeseed oil, rapeseed oil + 1% TiO2 and rapeseed oil +1 % ZnO in order to establish the influence of the testing regime (sliding velocity and force on the main shaft of the tester) on the surface quality at the end of the test, by the help of several amplitude 3D parameters. Qualitatively, the wear process is uniform on the balls in one test, because spread ranges of the discussed parameters are small enough. At low force (F=100 N), corroborating the values of the studied amplitude parameters, it could be concluded that wear processes take place on the peaks of the texture. The Sa parameter is not affected by additivation for v=0.38 m/s and forces from F=100 N to F=300 N. At high sliding velocity, a slope change of both parameters is observed between F=200 N and F=300 N. If the wear is approximately the same at the test end for F=300 N, the roughness of the wear trace increases greatly when the rapessed oil is additivated with, meaning that nano particle of TiO2 agglomerate and participate in the formation of a rougher texture. Lubricant with ZnO keeps the average roughness Sa close to that obtained with nonadditivated rapeseed oil. In order to assess the quality of a surface as close as possible to reality, using 3D parameters, the profilometer pitch should be as fine as possible and the area of investigation as large as possible. However, a trade-off has to be done between the step size, the investigation area and, of course, time to fulfill the study. The Sku parameter shows if there are large isolated peaks and Ssk indicates if the peak frequency is high. For the case of worn surfaces, it is the values of the parameters Ssk, Sku, St, Sp and Sv that are of interest, because high peaks affect the tribological parameters. The surface quality when additivated with 1% TiO2 is much better up to F=300 N. Additivation with 1% TiO2 is recommended for low loads, F=100 N and F=200 N, for point contacts. Study should be completed with the same investigation in severe regime where nano-additives should improve seizure limit of load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Glutathione S-transferase omega-1 and 2 genes (GSTO1, GSTO2), residing within an Alzheimer and Parkinson disease (AD and PD) linkage region, have diverse functions including mitigation of oxidative stress and may underlie the pathophysiology of both diseases. GSTO polymorphisms were previously reported to associate with risk and age-at-onset of these diseases, although inconsistent follow-up study designs make interpretation of results difficult. We assessed two previously reported SNPs, GSTO1 rs4925 and GSTO2 rs156697, in AD (3,493 ADs vs. 4,617 controls) and PD (678 PDs vs. 712 controls) for association with disease risk (case-controls), age-at-diagnosis (cases) and brain gene expression levels (autopsied subjects). Results We found that rs156697 minor allele associates with significantly increased risk (odds ratio = 1.14, p = 0.038) in the older ADs with age-at-diagnosis > 80 years. The minor allele of GSTO1 rs4925 associates with decreased risk in familial PD (odds ratio = 0.78, p = 0.034). There was no other association with disease risk or age-at-diagnosis. The minor alleles of both GSTO SNPs associate with lower brain levels of GSTO2 (p = 4.7 × 10-11-1.9 × 10-27), but not GSTO1. Pathway analysis of significant genes in our brain expression GWAS, identified significant enrichment for glutathione metabolism genes (p = 0.003). Conclusion These results suggest that GSTO locus variants may lower brain GSTO2 levels and consequently confer AD risk in older age. Other glutathione metabolism genes should be assessed for their effects on AD and other chronic, neurologic diseases.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (Stat1) is a ubiquitously expressed latent transcription factor that is activated by many cytokines and growth factors. Global Stat1 knockout mice are prone to chemical‐induced lung and liver fibrosis, suggesting roles for Stat1 in tissue repair. However, the importance of Stat1 in fibroblast‐mediated and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC)‐mediated injury response has not been directly evaluated in vivo. Here, we focused on two models of tissue repair in conditional Stat1 knockout mice: excisional skin wounding in mice with Stat1 deletion in dermal fibroblasts, and carotid artery ligation in mice with global Stat1 deletion or deletion specific to VSMCs. In the skin model, dermal wounds closed at a similar rate in mice with fibroblast Stat1 deletion and controls, but collagen and α‐smooth muscle actin (αSMA) expression were increased in the mutant granulation tissue. Cultured Stat1−/− and Stat1+/− dermal fibroblasts exhibited similar αSMA+ stress fiber assembly, collagen gel contraction, proliferation, migration, and growth factor‐induced gene expression. In the artery ligation model, there was a significant increase in fibroblast‐driven perivascular fibrosis when Stat1 was deleted globally. However, VSMC‐driven remodeling and neointima formation were unchanged when Stat1 was deleted specifically in VSMCs. These results suggest an in vivo role for Stat1 as a suppressor of fibroblast mediated, but not VSMC mediated, injury responses, and a suppressor of the myofibroblast phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]