Capture of CO2 from Coal-fired Power Plant with NaOH Solution in a Continuous Pilot-scale Bubble-column Scrubber

AbstractA continuous pilot-scale bubble-column scrubber with NaOH as the absorbent was used to explore the capture of CO2 gas from a coal-fired power plant. The experimental design was based on the results of previous study. The diameter of the column was 20cm and the height of the column was 2.4 m. According to the S/N ratio, parameters, including absorption rate (RA), absorption efficiency (E), overall mass-transfer coefficient (KGa) and ratio of the gas-liquid flow rate (R), were selected for Taguchi analysis to obtain optimum conditions. A total of eleven experiments were carried out to verify the optimum conditions here. The range of the gas-flow rate (Qg) and liquid-flow rate (QLT) conducted in this work were 48-192 L/min and 1.6-10 L/min, respectively. The input gas concentrations were 9-12.2%. Using a steady-state material balance with a two-film model, RA and KGa could be determined. The results showed that E, RA and KGa were in the range of 30-98%, 1.03x10-4-11.48x10-4mol/s-L and 0.018-0.058 1/s, respectively. The obtained scrubbing factors (φ) were 0.00285-0.146mol/mol-L, while R was in the range of 0.23-24.14. The dynamic behavior of the scrubber was also discussed in this study. The results could be used as a basis for commercial scale operation for the carbon capture at a power plant as well as microalgae cultivation

ATACgraph: Profiling genome-wide chromatin accessibility from ATAC-seq

Assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing data (ATAC-seq) is an efficient and precise method for revealing chromatin accessibility across the genome. Most of the current ATAC-seq tools follow chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) strategies that do not consider ATAC-seq-specific properties. To incorporate specific ATAC-seq quality control and the underlying biology of chromatin accessibility, we developed a bioinformatics software named ATACgraph for analyzing and visualizing ATAC-seq data. ATACgraph profiles accessible chromatin regions and provides ATAC-seq-specific information including definitions of nucleosome-free regions (NFRs) and nucleosome-occupied regions. ATACgraph also allows identification of differentially accessible regions between two ATAC-seq datasets. ATACgraph incorporates the docker image with the Galaxy platform to provide an intuitive user experience via the graphical interface. Without tedious installation processes on a local machine or cloud, users can analyze data through activated websites using pre-designed workflows or customized pipelines composed of ATACgraph modules. Overall, ATACgraph is an effective tool designed for ATAC-seq for biologists with minimal bioinformatics knowledge to analyze chromatin accessibility. ATACgraph can be run on any ATAC-seq data with no limit to specific genomes. As validation, we demonstrated ATACgraph on human genome to showcase its functions for ATAC-seq interpretation. This software is publicly accessible and can be downloaded at https://github.com/RitataLU/ATACgraph

RhoGDIβ-induced hypertrophic growth in H9c2 cells is negatively regulated by ZAK

We found that overexpression of RhoGDIβ, a Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor, induced hypertrophic growth and suppressed cell cycle progression in a cultured cardiomyoblast cell line. Knockdown of RhoGDIβ expression by RNA interference blocked hypertrophic growth. We further demonstrated that RhoGDIβ physically interacts with ZAK and is phosphorylated by ZAK in vitro, and this phosphorylation negatively regulates RhoGDIβ functions. Moreover, the ZAK-RhoGDIβ interaction may maintain ZAK in an inactive hypophosphorylated form. These two proteins could negatively regulate one another such that ZAK suppresses RhoGDIβ functions through phosphorylation and RhoGDIβ counteracts the effects of ZAK by physical interaction. Knockdown of ZAK expression in ZAK- and RhoGDIβ-expressing cells by ZAK-specific RNA interference restored the full functions of RhoGDIβ

Persistent surgical wound bleeding: A rare condition related to acquired hemophilia A

SummaryAcquired hemophilia A (AHA) is a rare condition that predisposes affected patients to a bleeding tendency, even after a trivial physical insult. We present our experience with a 45-year-old male patient who was referred to our institute because of persistent bleeding from a left forearm surgical wound after fasciotomy. He was diagnosed as having AHA. Surgical treatment in combination with recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) led to a satisfactory result. Clinical awareness and multidisciplinary professional connections are necessary in the treatment of AHA. Acquired hemophilia should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with uncontrolled bleeding episodes

ZAK negatively regulates RhoGDIβ-induced Rac1-mediated hypertrophic growth and cell migration

RhoGDIβ, a Rho GDP dissociation inhibitor, induced hypertrophic growth and cell migration in a cultured cardiomyoblast cell line, H9c2. We demonstrated that RhoGDIβ plays a previously undefined role in regulating Rac1 expression through transcription to induce hypertrophic growth and cell migration and that these functions are blocked by the expression of a dominant-negative form of Rac1. We also demonstrated that knockdown of RhoGDIβ expression by RNA interference blocked RhoGDIβ-induced Rac1 expression and cell migration. We demonstrated that the co-expression of ZAK and RhoGDIβ in cells resulted in an inhibition in the activity of ZAK to induce ANF expression. Knockdown of ZAK expression in ZAK-RhoGDIβ-expressing cells by ZAK-specific RNA interference restored the activities of RhoGDIβ

Effects of Growth Hormone Treatment on Height, Weight, and Obesity in Taiwanese Patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome

BackgroundInformation regarding the efficacy of growth hormone (GH) therapy in Asian Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) patients is lacking. We report our experience with GH treatment in children with PWS in Taiwan.MethodsForty-six PWS patients (27 males, 19 females; age range, 1 year 4 months to 13 years 7 months) who received and/or who are currently receiving GH treatment (0.1 IU/kg/day subcutaneously) for a period from 1 year to 3 years were retro-spectively analyzed. We evaluated height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and Rohrer index, before and after GH treatment.ResultsAfter patients had received GH for 1, 2 and 3 years, a significant improvement in mean height standard deviation score (SDS) was noted from −1.24 to −0.31 (p <0.01), 0.00 (p <0.001) and −0.26 (p <0.001), respectively. Mean BMI SDS decreased significantly from 1.93 to 1.13 (p <0.05) after 1 year of treatment; however, no significant changes were observed afterward. Mean Rohrer index decreased significantly, from 224.2 to 186.6 (p <0.001), 178.9 (p <0.001) and 169.3 (p <0.001). No significant gender or genotype pattern differences were noted among the 4 parameters examined.ConclusionThis 3-year, retrospective study indicates that PWS patients benefit from GH therapy in height increase and improved body composition

Intramuscular electroporation with the pro-opiomelanocortin gene in rat adjuvant arthritis

Endogenous opioid peptides have an essential role in the intrinsic modulation and control of inflammatory pain, which could be therapeutically useful. In this study, we established a muscular electroporation method for the gene transfer of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in vivo and investigated its effect on inflammatory pain in a rat model of rheumatoid arthritis. The gene encoding human POMC was inserted into a modified pCMV plasmid, and 0–200 μg of the plasmid-POMC DNA construct was transferred into the tibialis anterior muscle of rats treated with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) with or without POMC gene transfer by the electroporation method. The safety and efficiency of the gene transfer was assessed with the following parameters: thermal hyperalgesia, serum adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and endorphin levels, paw swelling and muscle endorphin levels at 1, 2 and 3 weeks after electroporation. Serum ACTH and endorphin levels of the group into which the gene encoding POMC had been transferred were increased to about 13–14-fold those of the normal control. These levels peaked 1 week after electroporation and significantly decreased 2 weeks after electroporation. Rats that had received the gene encoding POMC had less thermal hypersensitivity and paw swelling than the non-gene-transferred group at days 3, 5 and 7 after injection with CFA. Our promising results showed that transfer of the gene encoding POMC by electroporation is a new and effective method for its expression in vivo, and the analgesic effects of POMC cDNA with electroporation in a rat model of rheumatoid arthritis are reversed by naloxone

Transcriptome analysis of Dnmt3l knock-out mice derived multipotent mesenchymal stem/stromal cells during osteogenic differentiation

Multipotent mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) exhibit great potential for cell-based therapy. Proper epigenomic signatures in MSCs are important for the maintenance and the subsequent differentiation potential. The DNA methyltransferase 3-like (DNMT3L) that was mainly expressed in the embryonic stem (ES) cells and the developing germ cells plays an important role in shaping the epigenetic landscape. Here, we report the reduced colony forming ability and impaire