Recent Development of Photothermal Agents (PTAs) Based on Small Organic Molecular Dyes

Photothermal therapy (PTT) has attracted great attention due to its noninvasive and effective use against cancer. Various photothermal agents (PTAs) including organic and inorganic PTAs have been developed in the last decades. Organic PTAs based on small-molecule dyes exhibit great potential for future clinical applications considering their good biocompatibility and easy chemical modification or functionalization. In this review, we discuss the recent progress of organic PTAs based on small-molecule dyes for enhanced PTT. We summarize the strategies to improve the light penetration of PTAs, methods to enhance their photothermal conversion efficiency, how to optimize PTAs’ delivery into deep tumors, and how to resist photobleaching under repeated laser irradiation. We hope that this review can rouse the interest of researchers in the field of PTAs based on small-molecule dyes and help them to fabricate next-generation PTAs for noninvasive cancer therapy.     

Wetting,infiltration and interaction behavior of CMAS towards columnar YSZ coatings deposited by plasma spray physical vapor

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) produced by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) or plasma spray (PS) usually suffer from molten calcium-magnesium-alumino-silicate (CMAS) attack. In this study, columnar structured YSZ coatings were fabricated by plasma spray physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD). The coatings were CMAS-infiltrated at 1250?°C for short terms (1, 5, 30?min). The wetting and spreading dynamics of CMAS melt on the coating surface was in-situ investigated using a heating microscope. The results indicate that the spreading evolution of CMAS melt can be described in terms of two stages with varied time intervals and spreading velocities. Besides, the PS-PVD columnar coating (～100?μm thick) was fully penetrated by CMAS melt within 1?min. After the CMAS attack for 30?min, the original feathered-YSZ grains (tetragonal phase) in both PS-PVD and EB-PVD coatings were replaced by globular shaped monoclinic ZrO₂ grains in the interaction regions.     

Decoder side information generation techniques in Wyner-Ziv video coding: a review

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In Wyner-Ziv (WZ) video coding, decoder side information (SI) takes a key role in a WZ video codec among other building blocks. In this paper, we review the...     

Microwave drying performance of lignite with the assistance of biomass-derived char

Microwave lignite drying with assistance of biomass-derived char was addressed and effect of bio-char on drying rate and energy consumption was investigated in this work. Effective diffusion coefficient and activation energy for the drying process were also analyzed. The results indicated the drying process was largely dependent on the variation of sample temperature. Bio-char originated from pine wood was most favorable for lignite drying, considering its better promoting effect and advanced security. There existed an optimal bio-char addition ratio for drying process at different power. The corresponding optimal ratio was 10% at 231?W and 15% at 385?W, at which the biggest drying rate and the least energy consumption were reached. It was compared lignite drying initiated at 385?W was better for energy conservation. Effective diffusivity was improved and activation energy was simultaneously reduced, with the addition of bio-char. The minimum activation energy was 15.54?W?·?g^?1, which was gained at bio-char addition ratio of 10%. The results revealed the effect of bio-char on depressing activation energy could rival that of metal-based additives. The drying process with assistance of microwave and bio-char could present technical and economical benefits on lignite upgrading.     

Study of MW-scale biogas-fed SOFC-WGS-TSA-PEMFC hybrid power technology as distributed energy system: Thermodynamic,exergetic and thermo-economic evaluation

Advanced biogas power generation technology has been attracting attentions, which contributes to the waste disposal and the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. This work proposes and models a novel biogas-fed hybrid power generation system consisting of solid oxide fuel cell, water gas shift reaction, thermal swing adsorption and proton exchange membrane fuel cell (SOFC-WGS-TSA-PEMFC). The thermodynamic, exergetic, and thermo-economic analyses of this hybrid system for power generation were conducted to comprehensively evaluate its performance. It was found that the novel biogas-fed hybrid system has a gross energy conversion efficiency of 68.63% and exergy efficiency of 65.36%, indicating high efficiency for this kind of hybrid power technology. The market sensitivity analysis showed that the hybrid system also has a low sensitivity to market price fluctuation. Under the current subsidy level for the distributed biogas power plant, the levelized cost of energy can be lowered to 0.02942 $/kWh for a 1 MW scale system. Accordingly, the payback period and annual return on investment can reach 1.4 year and about 20%, respectively. These results reveal that the proposed hybrid system is promising and economically feasible as a distributed power plant, especially for the small power scale (no more than 2 MW).     

D-limonene Inhibits Pentylenetetrazole-Induced Seizure via Adenosine A2A Receptor Modulation on GABAergic Neuronal Activity

Background: Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by the recurrence of seizures. One-third of patients with epilepsy may not respond to antiseizure drugs. Purpose: We aimed to examine whether D-limonene, a cyclic monoterpene, exhibited any antiseizure activity in the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced kindling mouse model and in vitro. Methods: PTZ kindling mouse model was established by administering PTZ (30 mg/kg) intraperitoneally to mice once every 48 h. We performed immunoblot blots, immunohistochemistry (IHC), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis after the behavioral study. Results: An acute injection of PTZ (60 mg/kg) induced seizure in mice, while pretreatment with D-limonene inhibited PTZ-induced seizure. Repeated administration of PTZ (30 mg/kg) increased the seizure score gradually in mice, which was reduced in D-limonene (10 mg/kg)-pretreated group. In addition, D-limonene treatment increased glutamate decarboxylase-67 (GAD-67) expression in the hippocampus. Axonal sprouting of hippocampal neurons after kindling was inhibited by D-limonene pretreatment. Moreover, D-limonene reduced the expression levels of Neuronal PAS Domain Protein 4 (Npas4)-induced by PTZ. Furthermore, the adenosine A2A antagonist {"type":"entrez-protein","attrs":{"text":"SCH58261","term_id":"1052882304","term_text":"SCH58261"}}SCH58261 and ZM241385 inhibited anticonvulsant activity and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurotransmission-induced by D-limonene. Conclusion: These results suggest that D-limonene exhibits anticonvulsant activity through modulation of adenosine A2A receptors on GABAergic neuronal function.