Fair‐Weather Friends: Evidence of Lipoxin Dysregulation in Neurodegeneration

Lipoxins (LXs) are autacoids, specialized proresolving lipid mediators (SPMs) acting locally in a paracrine or autocrine fashion. They belong to a complex superfamily of dietary small polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)–metabolites, which direct potent cellular responses to resolve inflammation and restore tissue homeostasis. Together, these SPM activities have been intensely studied in systemic inflammation and acute injury or infection, but less is known about LX signaling and activities in the central nervous system. LXs are derived from arachidonic acid, an omega‐6 PUFA. In addition to well‐established roles in systemic inflammation resolution, they have increasingly become implicated in regulating neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative processes. In particular, chronic inflammation plays a central role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) etiology, and dysregulated LX production and activities have been reported in a variety of AD rodent models and clinical tissue samples, yet with complex and sometimes conflicting results. In addition, reduced LX production following retinal injury has been reported recently by the authors, and an intriguing direct neuronal activity promoting survival and homeostasis in retinal and cortical neurons is demonstrated. Here, the authors review and clarify this growing literature and suggest new research directions to further elaborate the role of lipoxins in neurodegeneration.     

Plasma Unesterified Fatty‐Acid Profile Is Dramatically and Acutely Changed under Ischemic Stroke in the Mouse Model

Although plasma biomarkers would facilitate rapid and accurate diagnosis of ischemic stroke for immediate treatment, no such biomarkers have been developed to date. In the present study, we tested our hypothesis that plasma unesterified fatty acids (FFA) are altered at early stages of acute ischemic stroke. Plasma was collected from mice 2 h after the permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAo) onset, as well as from sham operated and control animals. After 2 h, pMCAo significantly changed the plasma FFA profile with the most dramatic 2‐ to 3‐fold relative increase in very long n‐3 and n‐6 FFA including 20:4n‐6, 22:4n‐6, 22:5n‐6, and 22:6n‐3. Changes in the plasma FFA profile are consistent with FFA liberation from brain phospholipid hydrolyzed under ischemic insult. These results identify, for the first time, the plasma FFA profile as a potential biomarker for an early ischemic stroke within the therapeutic window for thrombolytic treatment. Further studies are required to confirm its specificity and sensitivity in clinical settings.     

Compressive and flexural properties of novel polylactic acid/hydroxyapatite/yttria-stabilized zirconia hybrid nanocomposite scaffold

The mechanical property is a crucial factor in the design of bone tissue engineering scaffolds. In the current study, novel PLLA (Poly-L-lactic acid)–Hydroxyapatite (HA)–yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) nanocomposite scaffold with various compositions was prepared and characterized. The effect of HA and YSZ contents on the mechanical behavior of the resultant composites was investigated. TEM micrograph revealed that HA particles are needle-like in shape and nano in size. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrograph also showed that YSZ powder is in granule form and submicron size. SEM disclosed that all scaffolds had a highly interconnected porous structure and X-ray diffractometry revealed that there were some molecular interactions between PLA (Polylactic acid), HA, and YSZ in the composites. The results depicted that introducing YSZ to the nanocomposite leads to a significant increase in compressive strength, modulus, and densification strain. In addition, flexural strength and modulus showed an upward trend by adding YSZ particles to scaffolds. It should be noted that PLA–20%HA–20%YSZ indicates the highest strength and modulus in both compression and bending tests, though, it did not demonstrate the proper strain compared to other scaffolds. Thus, PLA–15%HA–15%YSZ has been reported as the best candidate due to appropriate strength and strain. Also, energy absorption in nanocomposites showed an upward trend by increasing the amount of YSZ particles. It was found that the strength of samples was declined after being soaked in simulated body fluid. However, scaffolds with HA underwent more decrease in strength compared to samples containing YSZ.     

Lewis acid-oxygen vacancy interfacial synergistic catalysis over SO42−/Ce0.84Zr0.16O2–WO3–ZrO2 for N,N-diethylation of aniline with ethanol

Herein, a new mechanism involving Lewis acid-oxygen vacancy interfacial synergistic catalysis for aniline N,N-diethylation with ethanol was proposed, and the SO₄²⁻/Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂–WO₃–ZrO₂ catalyst (SCWZ) with both Lewis acid sites and oxygen vacancies was synthesized by the hydrothermal method, which shows better catalytic activity than the reported solid acidic catalysts. Besides, the SO₄²⁻/ZrO₂ (SZ) and SO₄²⁻/WO₃–ZrO₂ (SWZ) catalysts were also prepared and compared with SCWZ to investigate the synergistic effect of each component. The SO₄²⁻ and WO₃ mainly generate Lewis acid by bonding with ZrO₂, which is beneficial for the fracture of the N–H bond in aniline. The Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ solid solution mainly plays a vital role in generating the oxygen vacancies as the interface active species, which can participate in stripping –OH from ethanol, then the carbocation will also be released, which only needs 1.3805 kcal/mol energy, calculated by density functional theory (DFT), to be input. In comparison, the traditional reaction mechanism needs the Brønsted acidic sites to promote the protonation of ethanol, then dehydration and subsequent formation of carbocation followed, and 108.6846 kcal/mol energy needs to be input, which is far higher than that of the new mechanism. The apparent activation energy (E_a) over SCWZ was measured by experiment to be 34.09 kJ/mol, which is much lower than that of SWZ (47.10 kJ/mol) and SZ (54.37 kJ/mol), illustrating comparatively preferable kinetics for SCWZ than that of SWZ and SZ. Besides, the conversion of aniline and selectivity to N,N-diethylaniline over SCWZ reach almost 100% and 73%, respectively. The SCWZ can be renewed for 4 times without rapid deactivation, and the longevity of SCWZ is longer than that of SWZ and SZ, as the loaded SO₄²⁻ and tetragonal ZrO₂ are stabilized by Ce_0.84Zr_0.16O₂ and WO₃, respectively.     

Fully renewable limonene‐derived polycarbonate as a high‐performance alkyd resin

Limonene‐derived polycarbonate‐based alkyd resins (ARs) have been prepared by copolymerization of limonene dioxide with CO₂, catalysed by a β‐diiminate zinc–bis(trimethylsilyl)amido complex, and subsequent chemical modification with soybean oil fatty acids using triphenylethylphosphonium bromide as the catalyst. This quantitative partial modification was realized via epoxy–carboxylic acid chemistry, affording ARs with higher oil lengths, lower polydispersities and higher glass transition temperatures (T_g) in comparison to a conventional polyester AR based on phthalic acid, multifunctional polyol pentaerythritol and soybean fatty acid. The novel limonene polycarbonate AR and the conventional polyester AR were evaluated as coatings and both the physical drying (without the presence of the oxidative drying accelerator Borchi® Oxy Coat) and chemical curing (with Borchi® Oxy Coat) processes of these coatings were monitored by measuring the König hardness and complex modulus development with time. A better performance was obtained for the alkyd paint containing polycarbonates modified with fatty acids (FA‐PCs), which showed a faster chemical drying, a higher König hardness and a higher T_g in coating evaluation, demonstrating that the fully renewable FA‐PCs are promising resins for alkyd paint applications. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

湿法炼锌酸浸渣常规干燥实验研究

本文以湿法炼锌酸性浸出渣为研究对象,实验研究干燥温度、物料量、干燥时间对酸浸渣相对脱水率的影响,综合考虑干燥工艺的时效性、经济效益以及工艺效率,控制物料量为50g、干燥温度为90℃、干燥时间为80min时,酸浸渣相对脱水率可达到98.32%。实验研究对促进酸浸渣中有价金属的资源综合利用、改善环境等具有重要的指导意义。     

湿法磷酸净化脱砷的研究现状

随着食品、医药及电子行业的不断发展，磷酸及磷酸盐的市场需求量不断增大，并且对磷酸的品质要求也越来越高，尤其是对湿法磷酸中砷杂质的要求，湿法磷酸中砷的含量将直接影响其在磷精细化工领域的应用，因此湿法磷酸中砷的高效、安全去除是亟待解决的一大难题。本文主要对湿法净化磷酸脱砷技术的研究情况进行综述，比较了几种湿法净化磷酸脱砷工艺的优缺点，介绍了较常见的化学沉淀法、结晶法，以及新兴的电沉积法、垂直区域熔融法和微反应器脱砷工艺的应用前景，并指出这些新兴的脱砷工艺将成为今后湿法磷酸的净化脱砷的发展方向，如能解决将这些脱砷工艺在实际中的问题，将会对磷酸工业的发展提供一个更有力的支持。