Effects of air purification of indoor PM2.5 on the cardiorespiratory biomarkers in young healthy adults

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), as one of the predominant air pollutants, has achieved effective control in recent years in China. Whether the use of indoor air purifiers is still necessary needs further exploration. A randomized crossover trial was conducted in 54 healthy students in Beijing, China. Participants were randomized assigned to the use of real or sham high-efficiency particulate air filter (HEPA) for a week and changed the status after a washout period. Health measurements of cardiorespiratory biomarkers were performed at the end of each period. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the association between PM_2.5 exposure and cardiorespiratory biomarkers. Compared with sham air purification, average diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), and 8-isoprostane (8-isoPGF2α) levels decreased significantly in the real purification. The effects of indoor air purification on lung function indicators including forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁), peak expiratory flow (PEF), and forced expiratory flow between the 25th and 75th percentile of forced vital capacity (FEF_25%–75%) were also significant. Our findings showed a protective effect of indoor HEPA air purifiers on cardiorespiratory health of young healthy adults reflected by the decreased blood pressure, respiratory inflammation, and systematic oxidative stress and improved lung function.     

Particulate matter emitted from ultrasonic humidifiers—Chemical composition and implication to indoor air

Household humidification is widely practiced to combat dry indoor air. While the benefits of household humidification are widely perceived, its implications to the indoor air have not been critically appraised. In particular, ultrasonic humidifiers are known to generate fine particulate matter (PM). In this study, we first conducted laboratory experiments to investigate the size, quantity, and chemical composition of PM generated by an ultrasonic humidifier. The mass of PM generated showed a correlation with the total alkalinity of charge water, suggesting that CaCO₃ is likely making a major contribution to PM. Ion chromatography analysis revealed a large amount of SO₄²⁻ in PM, representing a previously unrecognized indoor source. Preliminary results of organic compounds being present in humidifier PM are also presented. A whole-house experiment was further conducted at an actual residential house, with five low-cost sensors (AirBeam) monitoring PM in real time. Operation of a single ultrasonic humidifier resulted in PM_2.5 concentrations up to hundreds of μg m⁻³, and its influence extended across the entire household. The transport and loss of PM_2.5 depended on the rate of air circulation and ventilation. This study emphasizes the need to further investigate the impact of humidifier operation, both on human health and on the indoor atmospheric chemistry, for example, partitioning of acidic and basic compounds.     

Process simulation and modeling: Anaerobic digestion of complex organic matter

This work is focused on evaluating kinetic models of complex organic matters hydrolysis and volatile fatty acids degradation in anaerobic digestion process, simulated using SuperPro design software. Kinetic model evaluation was also carried for simulated integrated system of liquid anaerobic digestion (LAD) of dairy manure and solid state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) of corn stover. Already developed hydrolysis and volatile fatty acid (VFA) degradation kinetic constants were used to simulate anaerobic digestion processes of dairy manure and corn stover separately and in the integrated process as well. Hydrolysis of complex soluble organic matters such as protein, carbohydrate and fat was modelled using first-order kinetics. Monod model was tested for the VFAs such as acetic, propionic and butyric acid degradation and biogas production. Comparative study has been done between the experimental data published already and results obtained from SuperPro simulated processes. The simulated results were well comparable with the experimental results.     

Characterization of the Chemical Composition of Chinese Moringa oleifera Seed Oil

This work focused on physicochemical property assaying, fatty acid composition, triacylglycerol (TAG) profiles, and unsaponifiable matter composition of the Chinese Moringa oleifera seed oil. The results indicated that there was no significant difference in approximate nutritional components between M. oleifera seeds from China and India, while variations in the mineral element contents are significant. Both the Soxhlet extraction method and the aqueous enzymatic extraction method were adopted to extract oil from Chinese M. oleifera seeds. Oil yield obtained using the Soxhlet extraction method was higher than that obtained using the aqueous enzymatic extraction method. While both the iodine value and unsaponifiable matter content of the aqueous enzymatic extracted oil were a little higher than that of the Soxhlet extracted oil. Both oils possess a very low acid value and peroxide value, suggesting their good quality as edible oil. Fatty acid composition results indicated that this oil was especially high in oleic acid. Characterization of the TAG composition was achieved by a two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupling of nonaqueous reverse-phase and silver ion HPLC with the atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry method. A total of 22 TAG including 16 regioisomers were determined. Composition results of unsaponifiable matters revealed that this oil possesses a number of phytosterols, in which β-sitosterol and stigmasterol are most predominant.     

青海糖茶藨籽油脂肪酸及不皂化物成分分析研究

研究糖茶藨籽油的脂肪酸和不皂化物成分。采用气相色谱-质谱联用法对糖茶藨籽油脂肪酸和不皂化物成分进行分析和鉴定。结果表明:糖茶藨籽油中共鉴定出13种脂肪酸,不饱和脂肪酸占(86.88±0.53)%,其中主要的不饱和脂肪酸为亚油酸、亚麻酸和油酸,相对含量分别为(29.06±1.08)%、(25.85±0.79)%和(19.08±0.76)%;糖茶藨籽油的不皂化物以植物甾醇和萜类化合物为主,其中植醇含量最高,达(40.42±2.54)%,其次为β-谷甾醇。     

Magnetized strange quark matter in the equivparticle model with both confinement and perturbative interactions

We investigated the properties of strange quark matter in an external strong magnetic field with both confinement and leading-order perturbative interactions considered. It was found that the leading-order perturbative interaction can stiffen the equation of state of magnetized quark matter, while the magnetic field lowers the minimum energy per baryon. By solving the Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff equations, we obtain the internal structure of strange stars. The maximum mass of strange stars can be as large as 2 times the solar mass.     

市区交通干道路面沉积物理化特性分析

通过对某市区主要交通干道路面沉积物理化特性的监测分析,得出研究区域路面沉积物的基本物理化学性质,包括街道灰尘的pH、有机质和其粒径分布特征.同时,还分析了不同季节路面沉积物理化特性.     

Collective cell migration: leadership,invasion and segregation

A number of biological processes, such as embryo development, cancer metastasis or wound healing, rely on cells moving in concert. The mechanisms leading to the emergence of coordinated motion remain however largely unexplored. Although biomolecular signalling is known to be involved in most occurrences of collective migration, the role of physical and mechanical interactions has only been recently investigated. In this study, a versatile framework for cell motility is implemented in silico in order to study the minimal requirements for the coordination of a group of epithelial cells. We find that cell motility and cell–cell mechanical interactions are sufficient to generate a broad array of behaviours commonly observed in vitro and in vivo. Cell streaming, sheet migration and susceptibility to leader cells are examples of behaviours spontaneously emerging from these simple assumptions, which might explain why collective effects are so ubiquitous in nature. The size of the population and its confinement appear, in particular, to play an important role in the coordination process. In all cases, the complex response of the population can be predicted from the knowledge of the correlation length of the velocity field measured in the bulk of the epithelial layer. This analysis provides also new insights into cancer metastasis and cell sorting, suggesting, in particular, that collective invasion might result from an emerging coordination in a system where single cells are mechanically unable to invade.     

Characterization of EfOM Fraction Responsible for Short-Term Fouling in Ultrafiltration

Based on our earlier diagnosis that hydrophobic and hydrophilic (HPO/HPI) acids are the primary cause of short-term fouling in the ultrafiltration of secondary effluent, the HPO/HPI acids were extracted and subsequently characterized in comparison with commercial organic materials. HPO/HPI acids isolated from secondary effluent contained significantly fewer complex mixtures than humic substances that have been implicated as the dominant foulants in the filtration of surface water using porous membranes. The physicochemical and spectroscopic characterization demonstrated that the aromaticity and apparent molecular weight of HPO/HPI acids were lower than that observed for other humic materials, while the oxygenated functional groups were relatively higher.     

Inhalation risk of indoor aerosol spray products commercially available in Bangladesh

Today, urbanised people spend most of their time in indoor environments, and the risk of exposure to toxic materials in an indoor environment is of great concern. This paper considers sources for the inhalation risk of aerosol sprays by measuring the particle size distributions of some of the most popular products that are commercially available in Bangladesh, and examines the degree of toxicity and the health risk via the respirability of the products. Results show that thoracic and respirable fractions of the suspended particulate matter are present in the tested samples and hence the spray products may pose a significant health risk.