LCZ696 Protects against Diabetic Cardiomyopathy-Induced Myocardial Inflammation,ER Stress,and Apoptosis through Inhibiting AGEs/NF-κB and PERK/CHOP Signaling Pathways

The present study is designed to determine the effect of LCZ696 on DCM in rats and investigate the underlying mechanism involved. Diabetes was induced by feeding rats with a high-fat diet for six weeks following a single injection of STZ (30 mg/kg). Diabetic rats were divided into three groups (n = 10). LCZ696 and valsartan treatment was started two weeks after diabetic induction and continued for eight weeks. At the end of the treatment, serum and cardiac tissues were analyzed by RT-PCR, Western blot, and ELISA kits. LCZ696 and valsartan ameliorated DCM progression by inhibiting AGEs formation at activity levels; pro-apoptotic markers (BAX/Bcl2 ratio and caspase-3) in mRNA and protein expressions, the NF-κB at mRNA; and protein levels associated with the restoration of elevated proinflammatory cytokines such as the TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β at the activity level. Furthermore, LCZ696 and valsartan contribute to restoring the induction of ER stress parameters (GRP78, PERK, eIF2a, ATF4, and CHOP) at mRNA and protein levels. LCZ696 and valsartan attenuated DCM by inhibiting the myocardial inflammation, ER stress, and apoptosis through AGEs/NF-κB and PERK/CHOP signaling cascades. Collectively, the present results reveal that LCZ696 had a more protective solid effect against DCM than valsartan.     

Economical Evaluation of CO2-EOR Projects in the Middle East

Abstract

Recently, there is a growing interest the in oil industry to utilize carbon dioxide (CO₂) to enhance oil production from mature reservoirs. Conversely, there is a rising global attention to reduce CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels due to environmental concerns. Synchronization between these two objectives is promising through CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) projects where CO₂ is captured from large emission sources and then storedin safe geological structures. Economical evaluation of CO₂-EOR projects is a crucial measure in order to ensure a project's viability.

In this study, an efficient model was developed to predict the economics of CO₂-EOR projects. The developed model consists of five modules that are linked together to allow for fast prediction of CO₂-EOR economics.

The model was used to predict the economics of a case study where CO₂-EOR application is considered for a Middle Eastern reservoir. Moreover, the case study was subjected to sensitivity analyses to evaluate the effects of several parameters on the various economical components of CO₂-EOR projects.     

Effects of gating design on structural and mechanical properties of high manganese steel by optimizing casting process parameters

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The impacts of gating design and riser system on structure-property relationship of high manganese steel specimens produced by CO2 sand molding...     

Structural,optical and electrical properties of Bi2−xMnxTe3 thin films

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Undoped and Mn doped Bi2Te3 (x = 0, 0.05 and 0.10 at%) thin films were prepared via thermal evaporation method from their bulk alloys. X-ray...     

The Performance of Water Floods with Horizontal and Multilateral Wells

Abstract

The use of horizontal and multilateral wells in the oil industry has increased rapidly during the last two decades. The main reason for this upsurge is that horizontal and multilateral wells provide a large contact area with the reservoir, and therefore enhance the well productivity or injectivity better than conventional vertical wells. The high productivity coupled with the recent advances in drilling technology for horizontal and multilateral wells has made their application an economically viable option. In this study, the performance of nonconventional wells in water flooding projects was investigated using numerical simulation techniques. Extensive three-dimensional, fine-mesh simulation runs are performed to determine the oil recovery by nonconventional wells under different operating/reservoir conditions. Results show that the pattern used has a significant effect on the displacement performance of nonconventional wells. The study shows the various conditions under which nonconventional wells will perform better than the use of conventional vertical wells.     

Bayesian inference approach for establishing efficient routes in wireless ad-hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are dynamic wireless networks that have no fixed infrastructures and do not require predefined configurations. In this infrastructure-less paradigm, nodes in addition of being hosts, they also act as relays and forward data packets for other nodes in the network. Due to limited resources in MANETs such as bandwidth and power, the performance of the routing protocol plays a significant role. A routing protocol in MATET should not introduce excessive control messages to the network in order to save network bandwidth and nodes power. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic approach based on Bayesian inference to enable efficient routing in MANETs. Nodes in the proposed approach utilize the broadcast nature of the wireless channel to observe the network topology by overhearing wireless transmissions at neighboring nodes in a distributed manner, and learn from these observations when taking packet forwarding decision on the IP network layer. Our simulation results show that our routing approach reduces the number of control message (routing overhead) by a ratio up to 20 % when the network size is 60 nodes, while maintaining similar average route establishment delay as compared to the ad-hoc on demand routing protocol.     

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using bovine skin gelatin and its antibacterial effect on clinical bacterial isolates

Nanoparticles are being increasingly used in day‐to‐day life. Therefore, concerns have been raised regarding their interactions with the surrounding environment. This study focused on a simple green method for synthesizing silver nanoparticles (Ag‐NPs) in an autoclave at 15 psi (103 kPa) and 121°C. An aqueous solution of AgNO₃ as a precursor of Ag‐NPs and gelatin (type B) reducing and/or stabilizing (capping) agent were used. The effect of various AgNO₃ concentrations of certain gelatin concentration and various gelatin concentrations at constant AgNO₃ concentration, and autoclaving time, was studied. UV‐Vis spectra ascribed that the presence of localized surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of the synthesized Ag‐NPs. TEM images and the selected area of electron diffraction confirmed, the formation of Ag‐NPs with a diameter of approximately 5 ±0.35 nm. Furthermore, FT‐IR revealed that a gelatin polymer matrix stabilized the synthesized Ag‐NPs. The Well diffusion assay was used to test the effect of Ag‐NPs on six clinical bacterial isolates, where Gram positive bacteria were more susceptible to Ag‐NPs than Gram negative bacteria. Therefore, Ag‐NPs capped by gelatin have remarkable potential effect as an antibacterial agent, and they not only have various medical applications but can also be used in biological, pharmaceutical and industrial fields.Inspec keywords: silver, nanoparticles, nanomedicine, antibacterial activity, microorganisms, nanofabrication, skin, gelatin, ultraviolet spectra, visible spectra, surface plasmon resonance, transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectra, polymers, biomedical materialsOther keywords: green synthesis, silver nanoparticles, bovine skin gelatin, antibacterial effect, clinical bacterial isolates, autoclave, reducing agent, stabilising agent, ultraviolet‐visible spectra, localised surface plasmon resonance, transmissions electron microscope images, electron diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gelatin polymer matrix, well diffusion assay, gram negative bacteria, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, gram positive bacteria, Bacillus megaterium, Streptococcus pyogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, temperature 121 degC, Ag     

Acute Phase Response as a Biological Mechanism‐of‐Action of (Nano)particle‐Induced Cardiovascular Disease

Inhaled nanoparticles constitute a potential health hazard due to their size‐dependent lung deposition and large surface to mass ratio. Exposure to high levels contributes to the risk of developing respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as of lung cancer. Particle‐induced acute phase response may be an important mechanism of action of particle‐induced cardiovascular disease. Here, the authors review new important scientific evidence showing causal relationships between inhalation of particle and nanomaterials, induction of acute phase response, and risk of cardiovascular disease. Particle‐induced acute phase response provides a means for risk assessment of particle‐induced cardiovascular disease and underscores cardiovascular disease as an occupational disease.     

Pre-Crystallization Criteria and Triple Crystallization Kinetic Parameters of Amorphous–Crystalline Phase Transition of As40S45Se15 Alloy

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - This framework focuses mainly on a detailed study of the pre-crystallization criteria that characterize the As40S45Se15 glassy alloy...