INTRODUCTION Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a highly crystalline polymer with melting temperature around 330°C, possesses unique properties. Chemically inert, it has high chemical and heat resistance with upper service temperature around 260°C. Since its invention it has found limited applications especially as an additive because of its high molecular weight and inert surface. However, by mid...

BACKGROUND Trachoma has been endemic in The Gambia for decades. National trachoma control activities have been in place since the mid-1980's, but with no mass antibiotic treatment campaign. We aimed to assess the prevalence of active trachoma and of actual ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection as measured by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the two Gambian regions that had had the highest pr...

nanocomposite vulcunizates based on styrene-butadiene rubber (sbr), organoclay and a conventional sulfur curing system were prepared by melt blending process in an internal mixer. in order to study the effects of the type of interfacial compatibilizer on the properties of sbr and clay nanoparticles,three types of compatibilizers, maleic anhydride grafted ethylene-propylene diene rubber (epdm-g-...

The N-terminal 25 residue segment of human surfactant protein B (SP-B(1-25)) was synthesised in 26% yield by manual Fmoc solid-phase peptide synthesis (Fmoc SPPS) using low-loading Fmoc-Gly-Wang resin. Substantial oxidation of Met(21) occurred during the synthesis, and the addition of Bu(4)NBr to a TFA/water/EDT/TIS cleavage cocktail enabled facile reduction of Met(O)(21)-SP-B(1-25) to SP-B(1-2...