Micronization of dihydroartemisinin by rapid expansion of supercritical solutions

The purpose of this study was to prepare fine particles of antimalarial drug dihydroartemisinin (DHA) by rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS) using carbon dioxide as supercritical fluid. The mechanical grinding by jet mill and additional vibration rod mill also was performed as a comparative method. In the RESS process, drug particles were prepared by varying processing conditions, including extraction condition, pre-expansion condition, nozzle diameter, nozzle temperature, and collecting distance. Particle size and morphology and physicochemical characteristics of the drug particles were investigated. The RESS process could produce the smaller drug particles (about 1-2 microm) when compared to mechanical grinding method (about 7 microm). All RESS processing parameters had an effect on size and morphology of drug particles. The particle size of drug was related to the solubility of drug in supercritical CO(2) at each processing condition. The fine particles of DHA (about 1 microm) with narrow size distribution could be obtained at extraction pressure of 18 MPa and extraction temperature of 32 degrees C, which was closed to the critical temperature of supercritical CO(2) whereas broad size distribution was obtained at extraction temperature of 60 degrees C. Powder X-ray diffraction study indicated that the RESS-processed particles were in crystalline form. The results revealed that RESS process is applicable for micronization of DHA.     

CLCA1 Regulates Airway Mucus Production and Ion Secretion Through TMEM16A

TMEM16A, a Ca²⁺-activated chloride channel (CaCC), and its regulator, CLCA1, are associated with inflammatory airway disease and goblet cell metaplasia. CLCA1 is a secreted protein with protease activity that was demonstrated to enhance membrane expression of TMEM16A. Expression of CLCA1 is particularly enhanced in goblet cell metaplasia and is associated with various lung diseases. However, mice lacking expression of CLCA1 showed the same degree of mucous cell metaplasia and airway hyperreactivity as asthmatic wild-type mice. To gain more insight into the role of CLCA1, we applied secreted N-CLCA1, produced in vitro, to mice in vivo using intratracheal instillation. We observed no obvious upregulation of TMEM16A membrane expression by CLCA1 and no differences in ATP-induced short circuit currents (Iscs). However, intraluminal mucus accumulation was observed by treatment with N-CLCA1 that was not seen in control animals. The effects of N-CLCA1 were augmented in ovalbumin-sensitized mice. Mucus production induced by N-CLCA1 in polarized BCi-NS1 human airway epithelial cells was dependent on TMEM16A expression. IL-13 upregulated expression of CLCA1 and enhanced mucus production, however, without enhancing purinergic activation of Isc. In contrast to polarized airway epithelial cells and mouse airways, which express very low levels of TMEM16A, nonpolarized airway cells express large amounts of TMEM16A protein and show strong CaCC. The present data show an only limited contribution of TMEM16A to airway ion secretion but suggest a significant role of both CLCA1 and TMEM16A for airway mucus secretion.     

Effect of invert sugar on the drying kinetics and water mobility of osmosed‐air dried cantaloupe

Effect of partially replacing sucrose with invert sugar on drying kinetics of osmosed cantaloupe was evaluated using four levels of invert sugar (0, 5, 10 and 15% (v/v)) to partially replace sucrose syrup at 50 °Brix. The osmosed samples were then dried at 60 °C. The osmosed cantaloupe without invert sugar exhibited the fastest drying rate. The drying rate decreased with increasing amounts of invert sugar. An increase in the degree of water binding to invert sugar is the most likely explanation for this effect and is supported by the observed decrease in the NMR relaxation time. The use of invert sugar could reduce water activity of final product but not significantly improve overall appearance. Six different mathematical models were tested for their goodness of fit with experimental data. Modified Henderson and Pabis model was found to give the best fit and was able to predict the drying time accurately.     

Effects of Crude Rice Bran Oil Components on Alkali-Refining Loss

The effects of minor components in crude rice bran oil (RBO) including free fatty acids (FFA), rice bran wax (RBW), γ-oryzanol, and long-chain fatty alcohols (LCFA), on alkali refining losses were determined. Refined palm oil (PO), soybean oil (SBO) and sunflower oil (SFO) were used as oil models to which minor component present in RBO were added. Refining losses of all model oils were linearly related to the amount of FFA incorporated. At 6.8% FFA, the refining losses of all the model oils were between 13.16 and 13.42%. When <1.0% of LCFA, RBW and γ-oryzanol were added to the model oils (with 6.8% FFA), the refining losses were approximately the same, however, with higher amounts of LCFA greatly increased refining losses. At 3% LCFA, the refining losses of all the model oils were as high as 69.43–78.75%, whereas the losses of oils containing 3% RBW and γ-oryzanol were 33.46–45.01% and 17.82–20.45%, respectively.     

A new algorithm for flexible job-shop scheduling problem based on particle swarm optimization

This paper proposes a new algorithm, named EPSO, for solving flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) based on particle swarm optimization (PSO). EPSO includes two sets of features for expanding the solution space of FJSP and avoiding premature convergence to local optimum. These two sets are as follows: (I) particle life cycle that consists of four features: (1) courting call—increasing the number of more effective offspring (new solutions), (2) egg-laying stimulation—increasing the number of offspring from the better parents (current solutions), (3) biparental reproduction—increasing the diversity of the next generation (iteration) of solutions, and (4) population turnover—succeeding the population (the current set of all solutions) in the previous generation by a population in a new generation that is as able but more diverse than the previous one; and (II) discrete position update mechanism—moving particles (solutions) towards the flight leader (the best solution), namely, interchanging some integers in every solution with those in both the best solution and itself, using similar swarming strategy as the update procedure of the continuous PSO. The basic objective function used was to minimize makespan which is the most important objective, hence, providing the simplest way to measure the effectiveness of the generated solutions. Benchmarking EPSO with 20 well-known benchmark instances against two widely-reported optimization methods demonstrated that it performed either equally well or better than the other two.     

Environmental stress cracking (ESC) resistance of polycarbonate/SiO2 nanocomposites in different media

Polycarbonate (PC) nanocomposites containing different nano‐SiO₂ contents were prepared using a twin‐screw extruder followed by injection molding. The mechanical behavior and environmental stress cracking (ESC) resistance of the nanocomposites were investigated. Compared to neat PC, the incorporation of nanofiller leads to a slight improvement in Young's modulus, tensile strength, and notched impact strength properties. Interestingly, the nanofiller enhanced the environmental stress cracking resistance of PC in different fluids (isopropanol, methanol, aqueous urea solution, and deionized water) vastly. The correlation of the mode I critical stress intensity factor with the Hansen solubility parameter shows a very good agreement for different fluids and thus allows the prediction of the stress cracking behavior as a function of the filler content for different stress‐cracking agents. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45451.     

Morphology,structure, and properties of poly(lactic acid) microporous films containing poly(butylene terephthalate) fine fibers fabricated by biaxial stretching

The effects of size and shape, i.e., sphere and fiber, of dispersed poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) in poly(lactic acid) (PLA) matrix on the morphology and porous structure of the biaxially stretched films are comparatively investigated. Scanning electron microscope results confirm that the PBT fine fibers can be produced by melt‐stretching following by fast quenching. Rheological characterization reveals the random network structure of PBT fibers. Further, the stretched films composed of spherical PBT particles show the ellipsoidal microvoids due to the interfacial debonding, and the void size relates to the particle size of PBT. However, size of PBT droplets does not influence the void content of the stretched films. The void content considerably increases for equibiaxial deformation as compared with planar deformation, particularly at high draw ratio. Additionally, the stretched films containing fibrous dispersion exhibit the nonaffine behavior and the highest void content of 8%, which is probably due to the localized deformation between fibers. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41415.