Attachment of Listeria monocytogenes to an austenitic stainless steel after welding and accelerated corrosion treatments.

Austenitic stainless steels, widely used in food processing, undergo microstructural changes during welding, resulting in three distinctive zones: weld metal, heat-affected zone, and base metal. This research was conducted to determine the attachment of Listeria monocytogenes in these three zones before and after exposure to a corrosive environment. All experiments were done with tungsten inert gas welding of type 304 stainless steel. The four welding treatments were large or small beads with high or low heat. After welding, all surfaces were polished to an equivalent surface finish. A 10-microl droplet of an L. monocytogenes suspension was placed on the test surfaces. After 3 h at 23 degrees C, the surfaces were washed and prepared for scanning electron microscopy, which was used to determine attachment of L. monocytogenes by counting cells remaining on each test surface. In general, bacteria were randomly distributed on each surface type. However, differences in surface area of inoculum due to differences in interfacial energy (as manifested by the contact angle) were apparent and required normalization of bacterial count data. There were no differences (P > 0.05) in numbers of bacteria on the three surface zones. However, after exposure to the corrosive medium, numbers of bacteria on the three zones were higher (P < 0.05) than those on the corresponding zones of noncorroded surfaces. For the corroded surfaces, bacterial counts on the base metal were lower (P < 0.05) than those on heat-affected and weld zones.

Novel metal clusters isolated from blood are lethal to cancer cells.

Unfolding and subsequent aggregation of proteins is a common phenomenon that is linked to many human disorders. Misfolded hemoglobin is generally manifested in various autoimmune, infectious and inherited diseases. We isolated micrometer and submicrometer particles, termed proteons, from human and animal blood. Proteons lack nucleic acids but contain two major polypeptide populations with homology to the hemoglobin alpha-chain. Proteons form by reversible seeded aggregation of proteins around proteon nucleating centers (PNCs). PNCs are comprised of 1- to 2-nm metallic nanoclusters containing 40-300 atoms. Each milliliter of human blood contained approximately 7 x 10(13) PNCs and approximately 3 x 10(8) proteons. Exposure of isolated blood plasma to elevated temperatures increased the number of proteons. When an aliquot of this heated plasma was introduced into untreated plasma that was subsequently heated, the number of proteons further increased, reaching a maximum after a total of three such iterations. Small concentrations of PNCs were lethal to cultured cancer cells, whereas noncancerous cells were much less affected.

Metallic nanoparticle production utilizing a supercritical carbon dioxide flow process.

Metallic nanoparticles of palladium and silver ranging in size from 1 to 15 nm were produced entirely within carbon dioxide by spraying a carbon dioxide carrier solution containing CO2-soluble metal precursors into a CO2 receiving solution containing a reducing agent (NaBH(OAc)3 or H2) and fluorocarbon thiol stabilizing ligands. The process uses the benign solvent CO2 while also allowing for the production of nanoparticles with a limited number of chemical components. Particles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS).