Monascus-fermented grain vinegar enhances glucose homeostasis through the IRS-1/PI3K/Akt and AMPK signaling pathways in HepG2 cell and db/db mice

Food Science and Biotechnology - MV was reported to have beneficial effects in ameliorating insulin resistance in db/db mice, but the intrinsic mechanisms for glucose homeostasis are unclear. This...     

Effect of the Plasma Gas Type on the Surface Characteristics of 3Y-TZP Ceramic

Plasma surface treatment can be an attractive strategy for modifying the chemically inert nature of zirconia to improve its clinical performance. This study aimed to clarify the effect of plasma gas compositions on the physicochemical surface modifications of 3 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3Y-TZP). The cold, atmospheric plasma discharges were carried out by using four different plasma gases, which are He/O₂, N₂/Ar, N₂, and Ar from an application distance of 10 mm for 60 s. Static contact angles were measured to define the surface free energy. Changes in elemental composition, surface crystallinity, and surface topography were assessed with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. A significant decrease in water contact angle was observed in all plasma groups with the lowest value of 69° in the N₂/Ar group. CLSM and SEM investigations exhibited no morphological changes in all plasma groups. XPS revealed that a reduction in the surface C content along with an increase in O content was pronounced in the case of N₂/Ar compared to others, which was responsible for high hydrophilicity of the surface. XRD showed that the changes in crystallite size and microstrain due to oxygen atom displacements were observed in the N₂/Ar group. The N₂/Ar plasma treatment may contribute to enhancing the bioactivity as well as the bonding performance of 3Y-TZP by controlling the plasma-generated nitrogen functionalities.     

Adsorptive separation of carbon dioxide by polyethyleneimine modified adsorbents

Utilization of carbon dioxide (CO₂) has become an important global issue due to significant and continuous rise in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. To find a potential solution, two types of mesoporous materials, MCM-41 and MCM-48, were synthesized and impregnated with 30, 50 and 70 wt% of polyethyleneimine (PEI) in methanol to evaluate the performance of the materials in terms of CO₂ adsorption. The materials were characterized by XRD, TGA, FTIR, TEM, SEM, N₂-physisorption and BET techniques. All the PEI-loaded materials exhibited substantially higher reversible CO₂ adsorption-desorption behaviors with >99% recovery. The above study proved that MCM-48 is a better material as compared to MCM-41 for loading of PEI. The material with 50 wt% loading of PEI on MCM-48, showed maximum adsorption of 248 mg/g-PEI at 80 °C which is about 30 times higher than that of MCM-48 and about 2.3 times that of pure PEI.