Nanotechnology advances towards development of targeted-treatment for obesity

Obesity through its association with type 2 diabetes (T2D), cancer and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), poses a serious health threat, as these diseases contribute to high mortality rates. Pharmacotherapy alone or in combination with either lifestyle modifcation or surgery, is reliable in maintaining a healthy body weight, and preventing progression to obesity-induced diseases. However, the anti-obesity drugs are limited by non-specifcity and unsustainable weight loss efects. As such, novel and improved approaches for treatment of obesity are urgently needed. Nanotechnology-based therapies are investigated as an alternative strategy that can treat obesity and be able to overcome the drawbacks associated with conventional therapies. The review presents three nanotechnology-based anti-obesity strategies that target the white adipose tissues (WATs) and its vasculature for the reversal of obesity. These include inhibition of angiogenesis in the WATs, transformation of WATs to brown adipose tissues (BATs), and photothermal lipolysis of WATs. Compared to conventional therapy, the targeted-nanosystems have high tolerability, reduced side efects, and enhanced efcacy. These efects are reproducible using various nanocarriers (liposomes, polymeric and gold nanoparticles), thus providing a proof of concept that targeted nanotherapy can be a feasible strategy that can combat obesity and prevent its comorbiditie

Low salinity surfactant nanofluids for enhanced CO2 storage application at high pressure and temperature

CO2 storage and its containment security are key concern of a large-scale CCS project. One of the most important parameters affecting the CO2 storage potential is CO2/brine interfacial tension. In this work, we use low salinity surfactant nanofluids to demonstrate its potential application for CO2 storage at high pressure and temperature conditions by significantly lowering CO2/brine interfacial tension. The present work gives novel insight on the use of nanoparticles in CO2 storage application. We use Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) surfactant and ZrO2 nanoparticles for our formulation. Determination of interfacial tension were carried out using pendent drop method at 20 MPa and 70 °C and drop shape analysis were carried out using pendant drop plugin of Image J software

Passive mixer cum reactor using threaded inserts: investigations of flow, mixing and heat transfer characteristics

Significant efforts have been and are being spent on developing intensified tubular reactors for continuous manufacturing of fine and specialty chemicals. In this work, we have proposed a new design of passive mixer-cum-reactor for process intensification and development of continuous processes. The mixer/reactor consists of threaded inserts with cone-shaped ends, placed concentrically in the tube such that fluid flows through the annular region between the inserts and the tube. The proposed design is easy to fabricate, maintain, and overcomes the limitations of scale up/scale down compared to most of the commercial passive mixers. The split and recombine of flow around inserts, the swirling effect generated by threads, change in the swirl direction due to change in the direction of screw threads, and pinching effect/expansion at the cone-cone shaped ends realize desired enhancements in mixing and heat transfer. A detailed computational study has been carried out on the mixer-cum-reactor to characterize flow, mixing and heat transfer at different operating conditions using a verified and validated CFD model. Various designs and configurations of threaded inserts were considered: 5-channel, 7-channel and 9-channel, smooth surface (no threading) and smooth surface-extended rear end inserts. The flow, mixing and heat transfer were characterized over the Reynolds number range of 100 to 1600. Structure of the generated swirling flow, effect of pinching/expansion, direction reversal of flow, tracer fraction, temperature and path lines were investigated systematically to gain new insights. Threaded inserts could achieve excellent mixing (>99 % of mixing intensity) and heat transfer (7 times smooth inserts and 20 times without inserts). The presented results will provide a sound basis for selecting appropriate threaded inserts for intensifying mixing and heat transfer in tubular reactors. The work also provides a useful starting point for further work on multiphase flows in a tubular reactor with threaded inserts