Unusual Expansion Research Articles

Unusual expansion of CD3+CD56+ natural killer T-like cells in peripheral blood after anticytokine treatment for graft-versus-host disease

Rationale:Basiliximab and etanercept have achieved promising responses in steroid-refractory graft versus host disease (SR-GVHD). However, the in vivo immune changes following the treatment have not been elucidated.Patient concerns:A 14-year-old boy presented with skin rash and diarrhea 20 days after haploidentical hemotopoietic stem cell transplantation.Diagnoses:We made the diagnose of grade 3 acute GVHD with skin and gastrointestinal involvement.Interventions:After the failure of the first-line treatment with methylprednisolone, combined anti-cytokine therapies with basiliximab and etanercept were prescibed.Outcomes:He achieved complete remission by basiliximab and etanercept. Furthermore, we detected that donor CD3+CD56+ Natural killer T(NKT)-like cells expanded gradually after the period of lymphocytopenia caused by GVHD and anti-cytokine therapy. The expansion of NKT-like cells was in association with high serum IFN-γ. NKT-like cells showed preferred proliferation in response to IFN-γ and potent cytotoxicity against leukemia cells. The expansion persisted > 2 years and the patient had a leukemia-free survival of 66 months.Lessons:Our case indicated that combined anti-cytokine treatment may reset the immune system and cause NKT-like cells to exhibit a predilection for expansion.

Manipulating Metal-to-Metal Charge Transfer for Materials with Switchable Functionality.

Metal-to-metal charge transfer (MMCT) describes electron transfer between metal ions, to generate valence isomers with markedly different electronic configurations. In particular, MMCT changes the spin states of single-metal sites and the coupling interactions between them, while also changing the symmetry in charge distribution. The result is a drastic change in both magnetic and electric properties of the affected material. Moreover, MMCT causes significant variation in bond length and absorption spectra, and induces unusual thermal expansion and photochromic behavior. Thus, materials demonstrating MMCT in response to external stimuli are excellent candidates for switchable multifunctional devices with synergistic responses. In this Minireview, recent progress in utilizing MMCT units as actuators to tune magnetic, electric, thermal expansion, and photochromic properties in cyanide-bridged systems is highlighted, and emphasis is given to the remaining challenges and future perspectives in the field.

Glassy dynamics in mutant huntingtin proteins

Causative to the neurodegenerative Huntington's disease (HD), a mutational huntingtin (HTT) protein consists of an unusual expansion on the poly-glutamine (polyQ) region in the first exon (exon-1) domain. Despite its significance on HD progression, the structural role of the exon-1 with the polyQ region is still elusive. As HTT is an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP), a large ensemble of various conformations (instead of a mostly single native conformation) is required to characterize its structural properties and to infer biological functions, which is challenging even for the most state-of-the-art experimental techniques. For this reason, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with enhanced sampling techniques are ideal to compliment experiment on collecting such a large ensemble of thermodynamically accessible structures. Here, we performed large-scale temperature replica-exchange MD (T-REMD) simulations on the exon-1 with an illustration on the necessity of using T-REMD instead of unbiased regular MD. By comparing T-REMD data and unbiased MD data, we discovered that (1) the dynamics of polyQ regions are extremely sluggish and glassy at the room temperature and the relaxation of the system cannot be achieved within a reasonable amount of time without utilizing an enhanced sampling method and (2) an ensemble of protein structures containing the surprising cis-peptide bonds in the proline-rich domain can be obtained at much elevated temperatures. Our results may provide valuable insights for future studies on the HTT as well as other IDPs using the T-REMD method.

Silicon sheds its harmonicity

Materials Science The widespread technological uses for silicon make understanding this element's physical properties very important. Kim et al. performed inelastic neutron scattering experiments on single crystals of silicon to measure the vibrational properties up to 1500 K. Silicon has some odd thermal properties at certain temperatures, and these experiments show the need to account for a number of factors to explain the unusual thermal expansion behavior. This in-depth look at silicon helps refine theoretical models and provides a better understanding of this technologically important material. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 10.1073/pnas.1707745115 (2018).

Policy Conflicts and Inflation Targeting: The Role of Credit Markets

This paper shows that stabilizing volatility in credit growth often conflicts with price stability: unusual credit expansions often occur when inflation is low relative to goals, and credit slumps often appear when inflation is overshooting. We find that central banks with inflation targeting (IT) are responsive to credit conditions in both advanced economies and emerging-market economies (EMEs). However, EMEs are more sensitive to inflation conditions, responding to credit growth only when consistent with IT. Macroprudential measures are also deployed to address credit growth volatility when orthodox policy moves would be inconsistent with IT, complementing monetary policy.

Assessing the Regionality Degree of Regional Products o The Ustí Region (Czechia)

Abstract In Czechia, especially in the last decade, there has been an unusual expansion of regional labelling of products, experience, and services. This trend confirms the paradigmatic change in the approach to rural development, as well as the growing popularity of alternative food networks and forms of consumption. The boom of regional labelling, however, can threaten the future perspectives of regional products. Too many regional or supra-regional labels (and subsequently too many regional products) can reduce the presented uniqueness of these products and increase the danger of them becoming mainstream. The aim of this paper is to assess regional products' relational intensity to a particular region. For this purpose, a specific method for the assessment of regional products of the Ústí Region (Czechia) has been developed and applied. The resulting “regionality degree” should express the rate of traditionality of each regional product. Based on the application of this methodological approach, the paper confirms the concern of the expansion of regional labelling, even on those products whose embeddedness in the region is relatively weak. The reason for this might also be the specific economic history of the region influencing the degree of regionality of given products or, more precisely, their existence, to some extent.

Development of rat female genital cortex and control of female puberty by sexual touch.

Rat somatosensory cortex contains a large sexually monomorphic genital representation. Genital cortex undergoes an unusual 2-fold expansion during puberty. Here, we investigate genital cortex development and female rat sexual maturation. Ovariectomies and estradiol injections suggested sex hormones cause the pubertal genital cortex expansion but not its maintenance at adult size. Genital cortex expanded by thalamic afferents invading surrounding dysgranular cortex. Genital touch was a dominant factor driving female sexual maturation. Raising female rats in contact with adult males promoted genital cortex expansion, whereas contact to adult females or nontactile (audio-visual-olfactory) male cues did not. Genital touch imposed by human experimenters powerfully advanced female genital cortex development and sexual maturation. Long-term blocking of genital cortex by tetrodotoxin in pubescent females housed with males prevented genital cortex expansion and decelerated vaginal opening. Sex hormones, sexual experience, and neural activity shape genital cortex, which contributes to the puberty promoting effects of sexual touch.

Investigation of Structural Changes in Carbon-Coated Li2MoO3-LiCrO2 Cathode Material By Synchrotron-Based X-Ray Techniques

In recent years, layered Li2MoO3 has attracted considerable attention as a cathode material for Li-ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity (339 mAh g-1), the multiple electron transfer capability of Mo4+/6+ without oxygen release and the unique structure evolution behavior during electrochemical cycling [1,2]. In 2014, Zhou et al. studied the unusual expansion of a(b) lattice parameters during delithiation of Li2MoO3 and found its origin from the expansion of Mo-Mo bond that is not the case of conventional LiMO2 (M=Ni, Co, Mn) layered cathode materials in which the a(b) parameters shrink due to contraction of redox active ionic radii [2]. Li2MoO3 exhibited much smaller c lattice expansion than typical layered cathode materials during charge and did not collapse at all even at high voltage of 4.8V. These were explained on the basis of stabilizing effect of Mo ions in the Li layers. It is known that some amount of cation mixing occurs in Li2MoO3 during delithiation. Meanwhile, one important point is that such structural change behavior can be varied in some materials where Li2MoO3 is incorporated with other components, for example, in the case of Li2MoO3-LiM’O2 (M’=transition metal, etc.) system or Li2MoO3/C composite [3,4,5]. It has been reported that some of these Li2MoO3 related materials more easily disordered than pure Li2MoO3 to form similar to cation disordered rock salt structure [4,5]. Carbon coated Li2MoO3-LiCrO2 (0.7Li4/3Mo2/3O2-0.3LiCrO2; LMCO/C) was first reported by J. Lee et al. in 2014 [4]. It was found that this material has unique structure evolution behavior in which the original layered structure transforms to a disordered rock salt-like structure in the first cycle. Despite of severe cation mixing, LMCO/C showed high and stable capacity over 260mAh/g during the initial 10 cycles in voltage range of 1.5 - 4.3V. Interestingly, very small variation of lattice parameter was observed during delithiation in disordered LMCO/C (Volume change less than 1%). Small volume change can be beneficial in terms of structural stability by introducing less stress along the cathode particles during repeated cycling. Such small volume change implies that the unit cell dimensional change of LMCO/C is not simply affected by the oxidation of transition metal ions but strongly correlated with the local structure including Mo-Mo bonding. In this study, we revisited LMCO/C cathode material and performed systematic analysis using synchrotron radiation based characterization techniques in order to better understand the detailed redox mechanism and structure evolution. By utilizing combination of XRD and XAS (XANES and EXAFS analysis), we demonstrate that how each transition metal and their local environments affect the overall structural evolution during charge/discharge process. Figure 1 shows the variation of XRD patterns with corresponding voltage profiles during first cycle and second charge process (C/20, 1.4 - 4.3V). It can be seen that disappearing of (003) peak and merging of (018), (110) peaks during first charge are almost irreversible. This indicates that most of the transition metal cations migrating into the Li sites during charge do not return to their original sites during discharge. However, as shown in Figure 2, reversible changes in the Mo K-edge EXAFS spectra indicate that reversible reaction processes exist in local level during electrochemical cycling. The changes in Mo-O peaks during charge indicate that Mo-O6 octahedra are significantly distorted during first charge. These are accompanied by severe cation mixing. During successive discharge/charge, Mo-O6 octahedra restored similar to the original state and distorted again whereas bulk structure remains disordered. From these results, we will discuss structure evolution behavior of cation disordered LMCO/C cathode material. More detailed results and discussion including reaction process of both Cr and Mo in LMCO/C will be presented in the meeting. [1] J. Ma, Y. N. Zhou, Y. R. Gao, X. Q. Yu, Q. Y. Kong, L. Gu, Z. X.Wang, X. Q. Yang, and L. Q. Chen, Chem. Mater., 26, 3256 (2014). [2] Y. N. Zhou, J. Ma, E. Y. Hu, X. Q. Yu, L. Gu, K. W. Nam, L. Q. Chen, Z. X. Wang, and X. Q. Yang, Nat. Commun., 5 (2014). [3] K. S. Park, D. Im, A. Benayad, A. Dylla, K. J. Stevenson and J. B. Goodenough, Chem. Mater., 24, 2673 (2012). [4] J. Lee, A. Urban, X. Li, D. Su, G. Hautier, and G. Ceder, Science, 343, 519 (2014). [5] S. Kumakura, Y. Shirao, K. Kubota, and S. Komaba, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 18, 28556 (2016). Figure 1

Effect of Ti addition on the thermal expansion anisotropy of Mo5Si3

(Mo,Ti)5Si3 (T1) is a key component of novel Mo-Si-Ti composites which show superior creep resistance and a lower density than state-of-the-art Ni-based superalloys. However, pure Mo5Si3 exhibits two shortcomings: (i) no oxidation resistance below 1650 °C and (ii) unusual high thermal expansion anisotropy (CTE(c)/CTE(a) = 2.2). The lack of oxidation resistance could be alleviated by Ti macroalloying. The aim of this study is to develop an in-depth understanding of varying Ti concentrations on the CTE in order to deduce appropriate Ti amounts in the T1 phase with low CTE mismatch and decent oxidation resistance. Therefore, experimental results, primarily obtained from high temperature X-ray diffraction refined by full pattern Rietveld analysis, were confirmed and elucidated by density-functional theory calculations. A clear 16k site preference is noted for Ti>12.5 at.%. The CTE anisotropy for Mo37.5Si30Ti(at.%) can be reduced to 1.34.

Coordination polymers and metal-organic frameworks: materials by design.

The field of coordination polymers and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) has evolved over a period of approximately 25 years to a stage where it is one of the most widely investigated areas of materials chemistry. The field has impacted many areas of science including commercial applications from

Inter-Regional Competition in Retirement Benefit Growth—The Role of the Sub-National Government in Authoritarian China

After the Chinese central government announced a policy of raising retirement benefits in 2005, there ensued a race to the top in pension benefit growth among its 31 provincial units. This study seeks to explain how this seemingly unusual nationwide social welfare expansion came about in authoritarian China. It helps to open up the black box of mysterious Chinese politics. The study highlights the roles of sub-national governments in decentralized Chinese social welfare policymaking. Instead of treating authoritarian rulers as unitary actors, this study looks into the interplay of center and provinces in a decentralized authoritarian political system. Compared with the center, provinces have traditionally been more reluctant to devote economic resources to social welfare. To motivate provincial governments to implement a policy of increased benefits, the center granted fiscal subsidies to certain provinces. This special subsidy program had three effects: (1) it reduced the provincial costs of the benefit increase; (2) it elevated the center’s annual fiscal transfer base for subsidized provincial governments beyond the current year, into the future; and (3) it increased disposable personal income, a key indicator of local government officials’ political merits in the cadre evaluation system. Inter-provincial competition in raising retirement benefits is explained, first, by provinces’ desires to earn greater fiscal subsidies from the center; and, second, by the efforts of those provinces which did not receive the subsidies to keep their benefit levels up with the levels of those which did. The result of the center’s subsidy program was not only a rise in pension levels, but also an increase in inter-regional social welfare disparities. The central government, perhaps alarmed by the consequences of its policy, acted to bring the rapid expansion of pension levels to an apparent end in 2016.

Impact of Lanthanoid Substitution on the Structural and Physical Properties of an Infinite-Layer Iron Oxide.

The effect of lanthanoid (Ln = Nd, Sm, Ho) substitution on the structural and physical properties of the infinite-layer iron oxide SrFeO2 was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) at ambient and high pressure, neutron diffraction, and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. Ln for Sr substituted samples up to ∼30% were synthesized by topochemical reduction using CaH2. While the introduction of the smaller Ln3+ ion reduces the a axis as expected, we found an unusual expansion of the c axis as well as the volume. Rietveld refinements along with pair distribution function analysis revealed the incorporation of oxygen atoms between FeO2 layers with a charge-compensated composition of (Sr1-xLnx)FeO2+x/2, which accounts for the failed electron doping to the FeO2 layer. The incorporated partial apical oxygen or the pyramidal coordination induces incoherent buckling of the FeO2 sheet, leading to a significant reduction of the Néel temperature. High-pressure XRD experiments for (Sr0.75Ho0.25)FeO2.125 suggest a possible stabilization of an intermediate spin state in comparison with SrFeO2, revealing a certain contribution of the in-plane Fe-O distance to the pressure-induced transition.

Gamma'-V2O5 : A New Sodium-Insertion Material Operating at 3.3 V Vs. Na+/Na

A new sodium insertion compound, γ'-V2O5, was prepared by the chemical oxidation of γ-LiV2O5 phase using NO2BF4 as oxidizing agent. One sodium ion per mole of γ'-V2O5 can be inserted in γ'-V2O5 involving a high V5 +/V4 + redox potential of 3.5 V vs. Na+/Na. A fully reversible capacity of 145 mAh g− 1 was obtained at C/60, at 50°C (figure 1). The γ'-V2O5 electrode can deliver a high discharge capacity of 125 mAh g− 1 at C/20 rate at 50°C, stable over 50 cycles. An excellent retention capacity is also demonstrated over 90 cycles at RT: capacities in the range 60-80 mAh. g-1 in the C/5-C/20 range against 100-125 mAh g-1 at 50°C were recovered. A discharge capacity of 80 mAh g− 1 was still available after 90 cycles at C/20 rate. A two phases mechanism involving the γ'-V2O5 / γ-NaV2O5 system was evidenced from X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy measurements. The structural features of the fully sodiated γ-NaV2O5 phase, with an unusual expansion along the c axis (+2 Å/ γ'-V2O5) were solved (inset in figure 1). These results revealed that the γ'-V2O5 forms a new competitive cathode for the reversible intercalation of sodium ions. Figure 1

Hydration and Thermal Expansion in Anatase Nanoparticles.

A tunable thermal expansion is reported in nanosized anatase by taking advantage of surface hydration. The coefficient of thermal expansion of 4 nm TiO2 along a-axis is negative with a hydrated surface and is positive without a hydrated surface. High-energy synchrotron X-ray pair distribution function analysis combined with ab initio calculations on the specific hydrated surface are carried out to reveal the local structure distortion that is responsible for the unusual negative thermal expansion.

Local Structural Distortion Induced Uniaxial Negative Thermal Expansion in Nanosized Semimetal Bismuth.

The corrugated layer structure bismuth has been successfully tailored into negative thermal expansion along c axis by size effect. Pair distribution function and extended X-ray absorption fine structure are combined to reveal the local structural distortion for nanosized bismuth. The comprehensive method to identify the local structure of nanomaterials can benefit the regulating and controlling of thermal expansion in nanodivices.

Role of Plasmodium vivax Duffy-binding protein 1 in invasion of Duffy-null Africans

The ability of the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax to invade erythrocytes is dependent on the expression of the Duffy blood group antigen on erythrocytes. Consequently, Africans who are null for the Duffy antigen are not susceptible to P. vivax infections. Recently, P. vivax infections in Duffy-null Africans have been documented, raising the possibility that P. vivax, a virulent pathogen in other parts of the world, may expand malarial disease in Africa. P. vivax binds the Duffy blood group antigen through its Duffy-binding protein 1 (DBP1). To determine if mutations in DBP1 resulted in the ability of P. vivax to bind Duffy-null erythrocytes, we analyzed P. vivax parasites obtained from two Duffy-null individuals living in Ethiopia where Duffy-null and -positive Africans live side-by-side. We determined that, although the DBP1s from these parasites contained unique sequences, they failed to bind Duffy-null erythrocytes, indicating that mutations in DBP1 did not account for the ability of P. vivax to infect Duffy-null Africans. However, an unusual DNA expansion of DBP1 (three and eight copies) in the two Duffy-null P. vivax infections suggests that an expansion of DBP1 may have been selected to allow low-affinity binding to another receptor on Duffy-null erythrocytes. Indeed, we show that Salvador (Sal) I P. vivax infects Squirrel monkeys independently of DBP1 binding to Squirrel monkey erythrocytes. We conclude that P. vivax Sal I and perhaps P. vivax in Duffy-null patients may have adapted to use new ligand-receptor pairs for invasion.

Costs and benefits of awns.

Awns, which are derived from floral structures in grasses, are known to be critically important for photosynthesis and transpiration. However, arguments about the costs and benefits of their growth and development for crop grain yield are still ongoing. In this issue of Journal of Experimental Botany (pages 2573–2586), Rebetzke et al. take the debate forward, showing that wheat awns are associated with specific grain traits in different environments. Globally, the most common colours for bird-dispersed fleshy fruits are red or black (Janson, 1983). Different colours appear at lower frequencies, and in these cases the fruit are mainly spread by other frugivores, suggesting that fruit colours are adaptive in attracting birds (Duan et al., 2014). Similarly, plant breeding has triggered the dispersal and performance of awns in many areas of cultivation. Adaptation has also resulted in the seeds of many wild grass species having large, barbed awns, which deter seed-eating animals and assist in seed dispersal; and in wild wheat species, such as wild emmer [Triticum dicoccoides (Korn. ex Asch. & Graebner) Schweinf.], the awns flex as humidity levels change, which can help bury the seeds (Elbaum et al., 2007; Evangelista et al., 2011; Mach, 2015). However, after thousands of years of human selection, our domesticated wheats (T. durum and T. aestivum) have shorter or non-existent awns to facilitate grain harvesting, handling and storage (Mach, 2015) (see also Box 1). Box 1. A spiky affair Awns represent an unusual floral expansion not seen in other major cereal crops, such as rice, maize or sorghum, but are a characteristic feature of barley (left) and wheat (right) spikes. Developmentally, awns are lemma-derived and photosynthetically ... Today, wheat is one of the most widely grown crops and an essential component of global food security – a substantial increase in yield is required to feed the increasing human population, which is predicted to rise to 9.74 billion by 2050 (World Population Prospects, 2015 Revision). Therefore, raising grain yield is still the main goal for wheat breeding, particularly as recent decades have seen a reduced rate of increase in wheat yields globally. Increasing assimilate partitioning into wheat’s grain-bearing structures, the spikes, is an important strategy for improving yield. The introduction of dwarfing Reduced height (Rht) genes greatly enhanced the partitioning of assimilates towards spikes (Rebetzke and Richards, 2000). However, current cultivars have already reached an optimum height, and alternative strategies need to be identified in order to achieve further yield increases. Awns can be considered an alternative target for the improvement of wheat grain yield through their known functions, including photosynthesis, carbohydrate storage and increased water-use efficiency (Weyhrich et al., 1995). Arguments about their putative role (costs or benefits) for grain yield are ongoing, although some functions have been validated. Considerable work in previous studies suggests that both positive and negative effects on wheat grain yield are possible with different growth conditions (Motzo and Giunta, 2002; Maydup et al., 2010). Use of assimilates allowing awn development seems to be the main negative factor. The research by Rebetzke et al. (2016) is particularly important in explaining the way in which awns affect grain yield. They found that awns are coupled with larger grain size and yield in less favourable environments but reduce grain number in more favourable environments. They also show that awns do not significantly affect the total number of spikelets and anthesis time, but instead markedly increase the number of sterile spikelets and grain size in some environments. The most significant differences from previous work include the study of variable genetic backgrounds, a large number of environments, and a considerable number of traits: (1) four spring wheat populations with a range of diverse genetic backgrounds were developed containing multiple Near-Isogenic Line (NIL) pairs with variation for the presence and absence of full awns; (2) four separate sets of experiments representing a total of 25 environments (23 in Australia and two in Mexico) were conducted depending on the germplasm and environments sampled; and (3) for comparisons a number of important agronomic traits were measured in multiple years and environments while some traits were related to spike morphology. Separate glasshouse studies were also undertaken.

A MATLAB toolbox and Excel workbook for calculating the densities, seismic wave speeds, and major element composition of minerals and rocks at pressure and temperature

AbstractTo interpret seismic images, rock seismic velocities need to be calculated at elevated pressure and temperature for arbitrary compositions. This technical report describes an algorithm, software, and data to make such calculations from the physical properties of minerals. It updates a previous compilation and Excel® spreadsheet and includes new MATLAB® tools for the calculations. The database of 60 mineral end‐members includes all parameters needed to estimate density and elastic moduli for many crustal and mantle rocks at conditions relevant to the upper few hundreds of kilometers of Earth. The behavior of α and β quartz is treated as a special case, owing to its unusual Poisson's ratio and thermal expansion that vary rapidly near the α‐β transition. The MATLAB tools allow integration of these calculations into a variety of modeling and data analysis projects.

Novel variant of EATL evolving from mucosal γδ-T-cells in a patient with type I RCD

ObjectivesEnteropathy associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL) is a rare non-Hodgkin lymphoma that may complicate coeliac disease and typically occurs in patients with refractoriness to the gluten-free diet. The majority of these...

Young׳s modulus, hardness and thermal expansion of sintered Al2W3O12 with different porosity fractions

Owing to their unusual thermal expansion properties ceramic phases from A2M3O12 family have potential for applications as thermal expansion controlling fillers inside soft matrices or as materials with high thermal shock resistance when prepared in monolithic forms. In spite of this, the consolidation routes for achieving bulk forms with adequate microstructure and their mechanical and thermal properties are scarcely known and rarely studied. A prelaminar study on sinterability of Al2W3O12, a low thermal expansion phase, was accomplished for the temperature range between 850°C and 1000°C. Sintered samples with the porosity fraction between 0.1 and 0.25 were produced and their Young׳s moduli, hardness and thermal expansion studied through nanoidentation and dilatometry. Acoustic emission was employed for studying of microcrack formation during heating and cooling of sintered samples. Sintering study showed that the temperatures higher than 1150°C may lead to the decomposition of tungstate due to WO3 evaporation, while the sintering at the temperature of 850°C provokes only small changes over grain size distribution. Hardness and Young׳s modulus decrease linearly in porosity range between 0.1 and 0.25. Young׳s modulus for fully dense Al2W3O12 was calculated to be 70GPa, illustrating that the phases from A2M3O12 family are considerable softer than traditional ceramics. Microcrack formation was observed on cooling and heating, as well, causing the discrepancy between the intrinsic coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), measured in powder form, and the CTE measured in bulk form. The key feature for future development of A2M3O12 phases for thermal shock resistance applications is the better understanding of sintering processes in order to improve microstructure and reduce influence of microcracks over mechanical and thermal properties.