Simultaneous synthesis of heat-integrated water networks by a nonlinear program: Considering the wastewater regeneration reuse

Heat-integrated water network synthesis (HIWNS) has received considerable attention for the advantages of reducing water and energy consumptions. HIWNS is effective in water and energy sustainability. Mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) is usually applied in HIWNS. In this work, a novel nonlinear programming (NLP) was proposed for HIWNS by considering wastewater reuse and wastewater regeneration reuse. Integer variables are changed to non-linear equation by the methods for identifying stream roles and denoting the existence of process matches. The model is tested by examples with single and multiple regeneration unit problems. The testing results showed that the NLP is an alternative method for HIWNS with wastewater reuse and regeneration reuse.     

Life cycle assessment of HFC-134a production by calcium carbide acetylene route in China

HFC-134a is a widely used environment-friendly refrigerant. At present, China is the largest producer of HFC-134a in the world. The production of HFC-134a in China mainly adopts the calcium carbide acetylene route. However, the production route has high resource and energy consumption and large waste emission, and few of the studies addressed on the environmental performance of its production process. This study quantified the environmental performance of HFC-134a production by calcium carbide route via carrying out a life cycle assessment (LCA) using the CML 2001 method. And uncertainty analysis by Monte-Carlo simulation was also carried out. The results showed that electricity had the most impact on the environment, followed by steam, hydrogen fluoride and chlorine, and the impact of direct CO₂ emissions in calcium carbide production stage on the global warming effect also could not be ignored. Therefore, the clean energy (e.g., wind, solar, biomass, and natural gas) was used to replace coal-based electricity and coal-fired steam in this study, showing considerable environmental benefits. At the same time, the use of advanced production technologies could also improve environmental benefits, and the environmental impact of the global warming category could be reduced by 4.1% via using CO₂ capture and purification technology. The Chinese database of HFC-134a production established in this study provides convenience for the relevant study of scholars. For the production of HFC-134a, this study helps to better identify the specific environmental hotspots and proposes useful ways to improve the environmental benefits.     

Insights into the cross-amyloid aggregation of Aβ40 and its N-terminal truncated peptide Aβ11-40 affected by epigallocatechin gallate

Inhibition of protein misfolding and aggregation is a great challenge in the field of biochemical and biopharmaceutical engineering. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a protein-misfolding disease, and the interactions between 40-amino-acid-residue β-amyloid peptide (Aβ₄₀) and its N-terminal truncated peptide Aβ_11-40 demonstrate that Aβ_11-40 may play an important role in the pathological process of AD. However, the effect of inhibitors on Aβ_11-40 aggregation and on the cross-amyloid aggregation (co-assembly) between Aβ₄₀ and Aβ_11-40 has never been studied. Herein, coaggregation and seeding interactions between Aβ₄₀ and Aβ_11-40 as well as the effect of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a small molecule inhibitor, on the cross-amyloid aggregation have been investigated by extensive analyses. It is found that Aβ_11-40 participates in the aggregation of Aβ₄₀ and leads to the formation of coaggregates that contain less β-sheet structures than pure Aβ₄₀ aggregates. The aggregation kinetics along with morphologies and secondary structures of the coaggregates are also significantly affected by the Aβ₄₀/Aβ_11-40 ratio. EGCG accelerates the nucleation of Aβ₄₀ but retards that of Aβ_11-40 by affecting their elongation and secondary nucleation processes in solution and on solid surfaces. Meanwhile, EGCG makes the conformations of the seeding-induced Aβ aggregates more compact, especially for the homologous seedings. Isothermal titration calorimetry measurement indicates that hydrophobic interactions mainly contribute to the inhibition of the two Aβ isoforms by EGCG. The findings of this research have provided new insights into Aβ aggregation and the effect of an important inhibitor and the results would benefit in the development of potent inhibitors against co-assembly of different amyloid proteins.     

Facile synthesis of metal-organic frameworks embedded in interconnected macroporous polymer as a dual acid-base bifunctional catalyst for efficient conversion of cellulose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), as a key platform compound for the conversion of biomass to various biomass-derived chemicals and biofuels, has been attracted extensive attention. In this research, using Pickering high internal phase emulsions (Pickering HIPEs) as template and functional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs, UiO-66-SO₃H and UiO-66-NH₂)/Tween 85 as co-stabilizers to synthesis the dual acid-base bifunctional macroporous polymer catalyst by one-pot process, which has excellent catalytic activity in the cascade reaction of converting cellulose to 5-HMF. The effects of the emulsion parameters including the amount of surfactant (ranging from 0.5% to 2.0% (mass)), the internal phase volume fraction (ranging from 75% to 90%) and the acid/base Pickering particles mass ratio (ranging from 0:6 to 6:0) on the morphology and catalytic performance of solid catalyst were systematically researched. The results of catalytic experiments suggested that the connected large pore size of catalyst can effectively improve the cellulose conversion, and the synergistic effect of acid and base active sites can effectively improve the 5-HMF yield. The highest 5-HMF yield, about 40.5%, can be obtained by using polymer/MOFs composite as catalyst (Poly-P12, the pore size of (53.3 ±11.3) μm, the acid density of 1.99 mmol·g^-1 and the base density of 1.13 mol·g^-1) under the optimal reaction conditions (130 ℃, 3 h). Herein, the polymer/MOFs composite with open-cell structure was prepared by the Pickering HIPEs templating method, which provided a favorable experimental basis and theoretical reference for achieving efficient production of high added-value product from abundant biomass.     

A highly sensitive ultraviolet sensor based on a facile in situ solution-grown ZnO nanorod/graphene heterostructure

The weak photon absorption and fast carrier kinetics of graphene limit its application in photodetection. This limitation can be overcome by introducing photosensitive nanostructures to graphene. Herein we report the synthesis of a ZnO nanorod/graphene heterostructure by a facile in situ solution growth method. By combining the attributes of photosensitive ZnO nanorods and highly conductive graphene, we for the first time demonstrate a highly sensitive visible-blind ultraviolet (UV) sensor based on graphene related heterostructure. The photoresponsibility of the UV sensor can reach 22.7 A W(-1), which is over 45,000 fold higher than that of single graphene sheet based photodetectors.     

RNA Interference Targeting Slug Increases Cholangiocarcinoma Cell Sensitivity to Cisplatin via Upregulating PUMA

Slug is an E-cadherin repressor and a suppressor of PUMA (p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis) and it has recently been demonstrated that Slug plays an important role in controlling apoptosis. In this study, we examined whether Slug's ability to silence expression suppresses the growth of cholangiocarcinoma cells and/or sensitizes cholangiocarcinoma cells to chemotherapeutic agents through induction of apoptosis. We targeted the Slug gene using siRNA (Slug siRNA) via full Slug cDNA plasmid (Slug cDNA) transfection of cholangiocarcinoma cells. Slug siRNA, cisplatin, or Slug siRNA in combination with cisplatin, were used to treat cholangiocarcinoma cells in vitro. Western blot was used to detect the expression of Slug, PUMA, and E-cadherin protein. TUNEL, Annexin V Staining, and cell cycle analysis were used to detect apoptosis. A nude mice subcutaneous xenograft model of QBC939 cells was used to assess the effect of Slug silencing and/or cisplatin on tumor growth. Immunohistochemical staining was used to analyze the expression of Slug and PUMA. TUNEL was used to detect apoptosis in vivo. The results showed that PUMA and E-cadherin expression in cholangiocarcinoma cells is Slug dependent. We demonstrated that Slug silencing and cisplatin both promote apoptosis by upregulation of PUMA, not by upregulation of E-cadherin. Slug silencing significantly sensitized cholangiocarcinoma cells to cisplatin through upregulation of PUMA. Finally, we showed that Slug silencing suppressed the growth of QBC939 xenograft tumors and sensitized the tumor cells to cisplatin through PUMA upregulation and induction of apoptosis. Our findings indicate that Slug is an important modulator of the therapeutic response of cholangiocarcinoma cells and is potentially useful as a sensitizer in cholangiocarcinoma therapy. One of the mechanisms is the regulation of PUMA by Slug.     

Elucidating the effect of oxides on the zeolite catalyzed alkylation of benzene with 1-dodecene

In the present work, the effect of oxides on the alkylation of benzene with 1-dodecene was comprehensively investigated over MCM-49 n-heptanol, n-heptaldehyde and n-heptanoic acid were selected as the model oxides herein, and obvious decrease of lifetime could be caused by only trace amount of oxides added in the feedstocks. However, the deactivated catalysts were difficult to be regenerated by extraction with hot benzene. Additionally, coke-burning was also proved to be incapable to regenerate ...     

Interaction of magnetic spheres in magnetic fields from the view of magnetic energy density: A 3D finite element analysis(FEA)OA

Magnetic interaction between magnetic particles is of great significance in the fields of magnetic separation and functional materials. A good understanding of interaction mechanism of magnetic particles would further boost its promising industrial applications. We hereby present our work which visualizes the movement behavior of magnetic spheres in magnetic fields employing high-speed imaging and simulates the dynamic behavior of spheres using an Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian(ALE) based on fini...     

纳米纤维素增强CMC/SiO2复合膜的性能研究

近年来膜技术不断在各个领域渗透,并且应用越来越广,成分单一的膜已经不能满足各领域的需求,尤其在航空航天、军事和国防等特殊领域,对所应用的膜的性能标准更高,通过将两种以上成分复合,使膜功能互补和优化,制备出性能优异的复合膜是当今时代发展的必然趋势。本工作研究将羧甲基纤维素（CMC）与SiO2纳米颗粒和纳米纤维素(CNF)混合,制备出具有较好的耐热性和机械强度的纳米复合薄膜。该复合膜可以在物质分离、生物传感器等方面被深入研究并加以应用。     

中西医结合治疗无排卵性不孕症体会

目的探讨中药结合来曲唑促排卵治疗效果。方法口服中药结合来曲唑治疗102例为实验组;单纯口服中药20例;单纯口服克来曲唑60例为对照组。结果促排卵率实验组为89.2%,对照组分别为50%、61.6%。受孕率:实验组为68.7%,对照组分别为30%和38.3%。结论中药结合来曲唑促排卵治疗疗效显著。