The Evolving Role of Fetuin-A in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: An Overview from Liver to the Heart

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is strongly associated to the features of metabolic syndrome which can progress to cirrhosis, liver failure and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the most common cause of mortality in people with NAFLD is not liver-related but stems from atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). The prevalence of NAFLD is on the rise, mainly as a consequence of its close association with two major worldwide epidemics, obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). The exact pathogenesis of NAFLD and especially the mechanisms leading to disease progression and CVD have not been completely elucidated. Human fetuin-A (alpha-2-Heremans Schmid glycoprotein), a glycoprotein produced by the liver and abundantly secreted into the circulation appears to play a role in insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and inflammation. This review discusses the links between NAFLD and CVD by specifically focusing on fetuin-A’s function in the pathogenesis of NAFLD and atherosclerotic CVD.     

Facile Deposition of Silver Nanoparticles on Photonic Cellulose Nanocrystals Films: A Study on Solvent Stability and Post Antibacterial Activity

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) incorporated with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) photonic films have drawn considerable attention due to their plasmonic chiroptical activity. However, the exploitation of some fundamental properties for practical use such as the affinity analysis of metal nanoparticles attached to the surface of photonic films according to the solvent compatibility and antibacterial activity under physical conditions has yet not been studied. Hence, a facile process of in situ deposition of AgNPs into the chiral structure of CNC films is proposed. CNC photonic films, cross-linked by glutaraldehyde are prepared. This interaction generated the solvents-stable photonic film with a considerable amount of unreacted aldehyde functional groups that facilitates the reduction of Ag salt to AgNPs. The formed AgNPs in the photonic films show excellent stability over immersion in various polar and non-polar solvents. The post-solvent treated photonic films display excellent contact-based antibacterial behavior against gram-negative Escherichia coli.     

A fatigue-life prediction methodology for notched aluminum-magnesium alloy in gulf seawater environment

Local-strain and linear-elastic fracture-mechanics (LEFM) methodologies have been investigated for prediction of the corrosion-fatigue life of notched components of specially developed Al-2.5Mg alloys exposed to Arabian Gulf seawater environment. Corrosion-fatigue crack initiation life estimates were obtained using strain-life relationships; corrosion-fatigue crack propagation life estimates were obtained using LEFM relationships. The total corrosion-fatigue life was considered to be the sum of the crack initiation and crack propagation lives. Estimated corrosion-fatigue lives were compared with experimentally obtained corrosion-fatigue life data using center-notched specimens of three types of Al-2.5Mg alloys (containing different amounts of chromium) exposed to Arabian Gulf seawater environment. Two notch geometries, a circular notch (K _t= 2.42) and an elliptical notch (K _t= 4.2), were investigated. Good corrosion-fatigue life predictions can be obtained using local-strain and LEFM methodologies by determining the relevant material constants via a few simple fatigue tests on smooth specimens and a few crack-growth-rate tests in the environment at the frequency of interest.     

Lead recovery from aqueous environment by using porous carbon of citrus fruits waste: equilibrium,kinetics and thermodynamic studies

ABSTRACT

The mixture of citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, mandarin, and lemon) wastes was utilized to obtain high surface area activated carbon (AC) by H₃PO₄ activation. The production conditions were optimized and the optimum conditions were determined. The optimal-activated carbon (CFWAC) was characterized by various physicochemical techniques. CFWAC was also used as a sorbent for Pb (II) ions from water. Batch experiments were performed to explore the adsorption capacity and mechanism. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model showed good fitness to the experimental data. The maximum Pb (II) adsorption capacity of CFWAC was found to be 163.93 mg/g.     

Radiation-induced wood plastic composites under combinations of monomers

Radiation-induced wood plastic composites (WPC) were prepared from five varieties of Bangladeshi timbers, using seven different types of monomers. The mixtures of double and triple monomers were investigated along with the single-monomer system for the preparation of composites. Among the three systems, single-monomer process showed the highest polymer loading with butylmethacrylate (BMA). Tensile strength (TS) property, represented as T_f = TS_wpc/TS_wood was determined. Highest T_f values were achieved with the soft wood. The effects of dose and dose rate, monomer concentration, and swelling agent were also studied. Suitable total dose was found to be 3 Mrad at 0.8 Mrad/h, and methanol exhibited the best swelling ability for the woods at a ratio of 1 : 9 v/v in all the monomer investigated.     

Thermoelectric properties of SbNCa3 and BiNCa3 for thermoelectric devices and alternative energy applications

Thermoelectric properties of two antiperovskites SbNCa₃ and BiNCa₃ are calculated using first principles calculations. High values of Seebeck coefficients are observed for these materials. Electrical and thermal conductivities are also calculated. Increase in thermal conductivity and decrease in electrical conductivity are found with increasing temperature. The maximum values of thermal conductivity are 92×10¹⁴  W/m K s and 88×10¹⁴  W/m K s for SbNCa₃ and BiNCa₃ respectively at a temperature of 900 K. The peak values of 5×10²⁰/Ω m s and 5.2×10²⁰/Ω m s are achieved for n-type SbNCa₃ and BiNCa₃ respectively at a temperature of 300 K. Figure of merit is achieved for these materials at room temperature which shows that these materials can be useful for thermoelectric devices and alternative energy sources.     

CMOS integrated elliptic diaphragm capacitive pressure sensor in SiGe MEMS

A novel CMOS integrated Micro-Electro-Mechanical capacitive pressure sensor in SiGe MEMS (Silicon Germanium Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) process is designed and analyzed. Excellent mechanical stress–strain behavior of Polycrystalline Silicon Germanium (Poly-SiGe) is utilized effectively in this MEMS design to characterize the structure of the pressure sensor diaphragm element. The edge clamped elliptic structured diaphragm uses semi-major axis clamp springs to yield high sensitivity, wide dynamic range and good linearity. Integrated on-chip signal conditioning circuit in 0.18 μm TSMC CMOS process (forming the host substrate base for the SiGe MEMS) is also implemented to achieve a high overall gain of 102 dB for the MEMS sensor. A high sensitivity of 0.17 mV/hPa (@1.4 V supply), with a non linearity of around 1 % is achieved for the full scale range of applied pressure load. The diaphragm with a wide dynamic range of 100–1,000 hPa stacked on top of the CMOS circuitry, effectively reduces the combined sensor and conditioning implementation area of the intelligent sensor chip.     

Micellar association in simultaneous presence of organic salts/additives

Viscosity measurements under Newtonian flow conditions had been performed on cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) aqueous solutions in the combined presence of sodium salts of aromatic acids (sodium salicylate, NaSal; sodium benzoate, NaBen; sodium anthranilate, NaAn) and organic additives (1-hexanol, C₆OH; n-hexylamine, C₆NH₂) at 30°C. On addition of C₆OH or C₆NH₂, the viscosity of 25 mM CTAB solution remained nearly constant without salt as well as with a lower salt concentration. This is due to low CTAB concentration which is not sufficient to produce structural changes in this concentration range of salts. However, as the salt concentration was increased further, the effect of C₆OH/C₆NH₂ addition was different with different salts: The viscosity first increased; then a decrease was observed with the former while with C₆NH₂ a decrease followed by constancy appeared in plots of relative viscosities (η _r ) vs. organic additive concentrations. At further higher salt concentration, the magnitude of η _r was much higher. The viscosity increase is explained in terms of micellar growth and the decrease in terms of swollen micelle formation (due to interior solubilization of organic additive) or micellar disintegration (due to formation of water + additive pseudophase).     

Photochemical oxidation of fatty acid esters with and without chlorophyll

1. It has been confirmed that the principal products formed in the oxidation of methyl oleate by oxygen under a variety of conditions are predominantlytrans hydroperoxides. However no inversion of the double bond occurs in unoxidized oleate. Hence the conversion ofcis totrans double bonds and peroxide formation occur together in the same molecules.
2. The autoxidation of methyl linoleate at low temperature yields predominantlycis,trans conjugated hydroperoxides. Autoxidation at 25°C., oxidation catalyzed by visible light, or ultraviolet light and copper soap catalyzed oxidation at temperatures appreciably above 0°C., lead to the formation primarily oftrans,trans conjugated hydroperoxides. The inversion of the second double bond in this case appears to be independent of the peroxide-forming reactions.
3. The photochlorophyll oxidation of methyl linoleate leads to the formation of some unconjugated hydroperoxides, some of which containtrans double bonds.
4. Under all of the conditions employed in the present investigation, the oxidation of methyl oleate and linoleate led primarily to the formation of monomeric peroxides which retained most of the unsaturation of the parent compound.

     

Monitoring web services’ quality of service: a literature review

Monitoring Quality of Service (QoS) compliance is an important procedure in web service environment. It determines whether users’ expectations are met, and becomes the vital factor for them to decide whether to continue paying for the service or not. The monitoring is performed by checking the actual services performance against the QoS stated in Service Level Agreement (SLA). In relation to that, the need for monitoring vague QoS specifications in SLA has become more apparent nowadays. This paper reviews the published literature on web services QoS monitoring. A total of 60 selected articles were systematically analyzed. There were 23 of the articles selected through restrictive search criteria while the other 37 were selected based on unrestrictive search criteria. The review shows that little evidence exists on monitoring vague QoS specifications of web services. Providing ability for monitoring QoS that is specified vaguely in SLA could give new insights and implications to web services field. This paper concludes with some recommended future works to construct the theory and perform the empirical research.