Counter-current membrane reactor for WGS process: Membrane design

Water gas shift (WGS) is a thermodynamically limited reaction which has to operate at low temperatures, reducing kinetics rate and increasing the amount of catalyst required to reach valuable CO conversions.     

Capacitance of a finite cylinder

The aim of this paper is to present a new method of solving particular electrostatic problems. It is based on the superposition of the results obtained in the analysis of the single parts of the problem, to get the solution of a complex geometry. In particular, by means of the generalized solutions, dealing with the hollow cylinder and the end caps separately, the charge distribution, and therefore the capacitance, of a finite cylinder are evaluated.     

Enriched methane production using solar energy: an assessment of plant performance

A novel hybrid plant for the production of a mixture of methane and hydrogen (17 vol%) from a steam-reforming reactor whose heat duty is supplied by a concentrating solar power (CSP) plant by means of a molten salt stream is here presented.     

Phage Therapy in the Era of Multidrug Resistance in Bacteria: A Systematic Review

Bacteriophages offer an alternative for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacterial diseases as their mechanism of action differs from that of antibiotics. However, their application in the clinical field is limited to specific cases of patients with few or no other alternative therapies. This systematic review assesses the effectiveness and safety of phage therapy against multidrug-resistant bacteria through the evaluation of studies published over the past decade. To that end, a bibliographic search was carried out in the PubMed, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases. Of the 1500 studies found, 27 met the inclusion criteria, with a total of 165 treated patients. Treatment effectiveness, defined as the reduction in or elimination of the bacterial load, was 85%. Except for two patients who died from causes unrelated to phage therapy, no serious adverse events were reported. This shows that phage therapy could be an alternative treatment for patients with infections associated with multidrug-resistant bacteria. However, owing to the phage specificity required for the treatment of various bacterial strains, this therapy must be personalized in terms of bacteriophage type, route of administration, and dosage.     

Assessment of a New Nanostructured Microemulsion System for Ocular Delivery of Sorafenib to Posterior Segment of the Eye

Eye drop formulations allowing topical treatment of retinal pathologies have long been sought as alternatives to intravitreal administration. This study aimed to assess whether a novel nanostructured microemulsions system (NaMESys) could be usefully employed to deliver sorafenib to the retina following topical instillation. NaMESys carrying 0.3% sorafenib (NaMESys-SOR) proved to be cytocompatible in vitro on rabbit corneal cells, and well-tolerated following b.i.d. ocular administration to rabbits during a 3-month study. In rats subject to retinal ischemia-reperfusion, NaMESys-SOR significantly inhibited retinal expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα, 20.7%) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNos, 87.3%) mRNAs in comparison to controls. Similarly, in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, NaMESys-SOR inhibited retinal expression of nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB), TNFα, insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF1), IGF1 receptor (IGF1R), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 (VEGFR1) and 2 (VEGFR2) mRNAs by three-fold on average compared to controls. Furthermore, a reduction in TNFα, VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 protein expression was observed by western blot. Moreover, in mice subject to laser-induced choroidal neovascularization, NaMESys-SOR significantly inhibited neovascular lesions by 54%. In conclusion, NaMESys-SOR was shown to be a well-tolerated ophthalmic formulation able to deliver effective amounts of sorafenib to the retina, reducing proinflammatory and pro-angiogenic mediators in reliable models of proliferative retinopathies. These findings warrant further investigations on the full therapeutic potential of NaMESys-SOR eye drops, aiming to address unmet needs in the pharmacotherapy of retinal neovascular diseases.     

The Nucleolar Protein Nucleophosmin Is Physiologically Secreted by Endothelial Cells in Response to Stress Exerting Proangiogenic Activity Both In Vitro and In Vivo

Nucleophosmin (NPM), a nucleolar multifunctional phosphoprotein, acts as a stress sensor in different cell types. NPM can be actively secreted by inflammatory cells, however its biology on endothelium remains unexplored. In this study, we show for the first time that NPM is secreted by human vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) in the early response to serum deprivation and that NPM acts as a pro-inflammatory and angiogenic molecule both in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, 24 h of serum starvation condition induced NPM relocalization from the nucleus to cytoplasm. Interestingly, NPM was increasingly excreted in HUVEC-derived conditioned media in a time dependent fashion upon stress conditions up to 24 h. The secretion of NPM was unrelated to cell necrosis within 24 h. The treatment with exogenous and recombinant NPM (rNPM) enhanced migration as well as the Intercellular Adhesion Molecule 1 (ICAM-1) but not Vascular cell adhesion protein 1 (VCAM-1) expression and it did not affect cell proliferation. Notably, in vitro tube formation by Matrigel assay was significantly increased in HUVEC treated with rNPM compared to controls. This result was confirmed by the in vivo injection of Matrigel plug assay upon stimulation with rNPM, displaying significant enhanced number of functional capillaries in the plugs. The stimulation with rNPM in HUVEC was also associated to the increased expression of master genes regulating angiogenesis and migration, including Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-A (VEGF-A), Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF), Stromal derived factor-1 (SDF-1), Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), Platelet Derived Growth Factor-B (PDGF-B), and Matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9). Our study demonstrates for the first time that NPM is physiologically secreted by somatic cells under stress condition and in the absence of cell necrosis. The analysis of the biological effects induced by NPM mainly related to a pro-angiogenic and inflammatory activity might suggest an important autocrine/paracrine role for NPM in the regulation of both phenomena.     

Optimization of honey-must preparation and alcoholic fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae for mead production

Mead fermentation is a time-consuming process, often taking several months to complete. Despite of the use of starter cultures several problems still persist such as lack of uniformity of the final products, slow or premature fermentation arrest and the production of off-flavors by yeast. Thus the aim of this study was to optimize mead production through the use of an appropriate honey-must formulation to improve yeast performance alcoholic fermentation and thereby obtain a high quality product. Honey-must was centrifuged to reduce insoluble solids, pasteurized at 65 °C for 10 min, and then subjected to different conditions: nitrogen supplementation and addition of organic acids. Although the addition of diammonium phosphate (DAP) reduced fermentation length, it did not guarantee the completeness of the fermentation process, suggesting that other factors could account for the reduced yeast activity in honey-must fermentations. Sixteen yeast-derived aroma compounds which contribute to the sensorial quality of mead were identified and quantified. Global analysis of aromatic profiles revealed that the total concentration of aroma compounds in meads was higher in those fermentations where DAP was added. A positive correlation between nitrogen availability and the levels of ethyl and acetate esters, associated to the fruity character of fermented beverages, was observed whereas the presence of potassium tartrate and malic acid decreased, in general, their concentration.This study provides very useful information that can be used for improving mead quality.     

Biophenol extracts from olive oil mill wastewaters by membrane separation and adsorption resin

The disposal of olive oil mill wastewater, the main effluent resulting from the production of olive oil, presents technical difficulties which are still unsolved. Several techniques have been proposed for the treatment of this effluent, but only a few processes have been applied at pilot or industrial scale and, nowadays, the management of olive oil mill wastewaters represents an environmental problem in the olive oil‐producing countries. Tests were carried out at pilot scale, by means of a plant with 1 m³ h^?1 capacity; a process for the treatment and valorisation of olive mill wastewaters was reported. By this process, it was possible to produce starting from olive mill wastewaters resulting from a three‐phase milling system, 62% of purified water, which could be reused in the industrial processes, and a concentrated phenolic extract (9.5% total phenols), which could be used in food, cosmetic or animal feed industry.     

Comparative stability analyses of traditional and selective room-and-pillar mining techniques for sub-horizontal tungsten veins

The stability and productivity concerning a modification on the traditional room and pillar for a new selective technique at the Portuguese Panasqueira Mine have been described.The traditional room-and-pillar stoping uses 5.0-m wide rooms with 3.0 m×3.0 m pillars,while the selective room-and-pillar mining technique consists in stoping with rooms of 4.0 m wide and pillars of 4 m×4 m with a subsequent selective cutting of the quartz veins at the mid pillar of approximately 0.5 m high,to obtain a pillar section with an area of 3.0 m×3.0 m The stability and productivity analyses indicate that the selective technique obtains smaller average pillar safety factor,more rock mass displace-ment,more extraction and selectivity ratios,and ore grade improvement,compared with the waditional technique.These results show that the selective technique is also more convenient.This proposed selective room-and-pillar mining technique is applicable to any sub-horizontal narrow quartz veins with wolfram,gold,etc.such as the famous La Rinconada gold mine in the Peruvian Andes.     

Spatial optical solitons in nonlinearly coupled lithium niobate waveguides

We numerically investigate a novel type of quadratic spatial solitons in the system of surface and buried planar waveguides obtained via direct- and reverse-proton exchange in z-cut lithium niobate, respectively, and coupled by the second-order susceptibility. Through frequency doubling, transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic modes lock into a 1+1D solitary wave encompassing orthogonal field components at the two harmonic wavelengths. The phase matching scheme leads to a wavelength-comb filter with adjustable linewidths.