Temperature Swing Adsorption Process for CO2 Capture Using Polyaniline Solid Sorbent

AbstractTo capture carbon dioxide from power plant flue gas which consists of 15% CO2 and 85% N2, with a temperature swing adsorption (TSA) by using polyaniline solid sorbent as the adsorbent, is explored experimentally and theoretically. First, single component adsorption equilibrium data of carbon dioxide on polyaniline solid sorbent is obtained by using Micro-Balance Thermo D-200. Then isotherm curves and the parameters are obtained by numerical method. The adsorption is expressed by the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm. After accomplishment of isotherm curves, the breakthrough curve experiment is investigated with single adsorption column. The experiments test the change in adsorbed gas concentration at the outlet by adsorbed gas, CO2, and non-adsorbed gas, helium. Finally, this study accentuates the TSA experiments on CO2 purity and recovery by operation variable discussion which includes feed pressure, adsorption temperature and desorption temperature to find optimal operation condition. The results of optimal operation condition are CO2 purity of 47.65% with a 92.46% recovery

HBV replication is significantly reduced by IL-6

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine with pivotal functions in the regulation of the biological responses of several target cells including hepatocytes. The level of serum IL-6 has been reported to be elevated in patients with chronic hepatitis B, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and represents the best marker of HBV-related clinical progression as compared with several other cytokines. In this study, we found that IL-6 was able to effectively suppress hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and prevent the accumulation of HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) in a human hepatoma cell line. We also demonstrated that the suppression of HBV replication by IL-6 requires concurrently a moderate reduction of viral transcripts/core proteins and a marked decrease in viral genome-containing nucleocapsids. Studies on the stability of existing viral capsids suggest that the IL-6 effect on the reduction of genome-containing nucleocapsids is mediated through the prevention of the formation of genome-containing nucleocapsids, which is similar to the effect of interferons. However, IFN-α/β and IFN-γ did not participate in the IL-6-induced suppression of HBV replication. Taken together, our results will provide important information to better understand the role of IL-6 in the course of HBV infection

Shape Effects of Iron Nanowires on Hyperthermia Treatment

This research discusses the influence of morphology of nanomagnetic materials (one-dimensional iron nanowires and zero-dimensional iron nanoparticles) on heating efficiency of the hyperthermia treatment. One-dimensional iron nanowires, synthesized by reducing method in external magnetic field, are explored in terms of their material properties, magnetic anisotropy, and cytotoxicity of EMT-6 cells. The magnetic anisotropy of an array of nanowires is examined in parallel and perpendicular magnetic fields by VSM. For the magnetic hyperthermia treatment tests, iron nanowires and nanoparticles with different concentrations are heated in alternating magnetic field to measure their actual heating efficiency and SLP heating properties. The shape effects of iron nanomaterials can be revealed from their heating properties. The cytotoxicity of nanowires with different concentrations is measured by its survival rate in EMT-6 with the cells cultivated for 6 and 24 hours

Thrombocytosis is associated with worse survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Background & AimsThrombocytosis is associated with more aggressive tumour biology in many malignancies. There are limited data in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which often occurs in patients with cirrhosis and portal hypertension. We aimed to explore the prognostic value of thrombocytosis in two cohorts of patients with HCC.MethodsWe included 3561 patients from Taiwan and 1145 patients from the USA. Thrombocytopenia was defined as platelet count < 150à 109/L and thrombocytosis as - ¥Â 300 à  109/L at HCC diagnosis. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to identify independent predictors of survival.ResultsThrombocytosis was present in 9.0% and 6.9% of Taiwan and USA patients respectively. Compared to patients with normal platelet counts and those with thrombocytopenia, patients with thrombocytosis had larger tumours, increased vascular invasion and a higher proportion had extrahepatic metastases in both cohorts. In multivariable analysis, thrombocytosis (aHR 1.40, 95% CI 1.23- 1.60) and thrombocytopenia (aHR 1.13, 95% CI 1.04- 1.23) were both associated with worse survival after adjusting for age, gender, liver disease aetiology, Child- Pugh score, maximal tumour size, tumour nodularity, vascular invasion, lymph node or distant metastasis, performance status and alpha- fetoprotein level. Patients with thrombocytosis had a median survival of 6 and 4 months in the Taiwan and USA cohorts, compared to 32 and 14 months for those with normal platelet counts and 38 and 16 months for thrombocytopenic patients.ConclusionThrombocytosis is independently associated with increased tumour burden and worse overall survival among HCC patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162769/2/liv14560.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162769/1/liv14560_am.pd

Urinary Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Serves as a Potential Biomarker for Acute Kidney Injury in Patients with Acute Pyelonephritis

Conventional markers of kidney function that are familiar to clinicians, including the serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels, are unable to reveal genuine injury to the kidney, and their use may delay treatment. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine, and the predictive role and pathogenic mechanism of MIF deregulation during kidney infections involving acute kidney injury (AKI) are not currently known. In this study, we showed that elevated urinary MIF levels accompanied the development of AKI during kidney infection in patients with acute pyelonephritis (APN). In addition to the MIF level, the urinary levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and kidney injury molecule (KIM)-1 were also upregulated and were positively correlated with the levels of urinary MIF. An elevated urinary MIF level, along with elevated IL-1β and KIM-1 levels, is speculated to be a potential biomarker for the presence of AKI in APN patients