The operational window of carbon nanotube electrical wires treated with strong acids and oxidants.

Conventional metal wires suffer from a significant degradation or complete failure in their electrical performance, when subjected to harsh oxidizing environments, however wires constructed from Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) have been found to actually improve in their electrical performance when subjected to these environments. These opposing reactions may provide new and interesting applications for CNT wires. Yet, before attempting to move to any real-world harsh environment applications, for the CNT wires, it is essential that this area of their operation be thoroughly examined. To investigate this, CNT wires were treated with multiple combinations of the strongest acids and halogens. The wires were then subjected to conductivity measurements, current carrying capacity tests, as well as Raman, microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis to enable the identification of both the limits of oxidative conductivity boosting and the onset of physical damage to the wires. These experiments have led to two main conclusions. Firstly, that CNT wires may operate effectively in harsh oxidizing environments where metal wires would easily fail and secondly, that the highest conductivity increase of the CNT wires can be achieved through a process of annealing, acetone and HCl purification followed by either H2O2 and HClO4 or Br2 treatment.

Darier disease--novel mutations in ATP2A2 and genotype-phenotype correlation.

Darier disease (DD) is with a frequency of up to 1 in 36,000 a relatively common genodermatosis with autosomal dominant inheritance and late age of onset. The progressive skin manifestations are variable, but often debilitating and disfiguring, and may be associated with a wide range of neuropsychiatric problems, such as epilepsy and depression. On histology, acantholysis and dyskeratosis are prominent findings, implicating impaired functionality of desmosomes. Recently, mutations in the ATP2A2 gene encoding SERCA2, a calcium pump of the endo/sacrcoplasmic reticulum, have been identified as the molecular basis of DD. This slow-twitched calcium ATPase has two splice variants, one of which is highly expressed in epidermis, and maintains low intracellular calcium levels by facilitating transport of cytosolic calcium into the endoplasmic reticulum. Thus, it may confer a direct effect on the established calcium-dependent assembly of desmosomes. We screened ATP2A2 in a cohort of 24 DD families using conformation sensitive gel electrophoresis and direct sequencing, and detected 14 distinct mutations, 9 of which were novel. The mutational spectrum included 9 missense mutations, 1 nonsense mutation, 3 small in-frame deletions, and a 19-basepair insertion. Mutations were scattered over the entire gene with a slight preponderance in the first 8 exons, and affected exclusively residues conserved among all SERCAs. In addition, we found 2 silent polymorphisms, 1 of which occurred in 4 unrelated families. Comparison of molecular data and phenotypic features, such as severity and type of disease, occurrence of mucosal involvement, or association with neuropsychiatric disorders, did not reveal an obvious genotype-phenotype correlation in our cohort.