The life-cycle environmental performance of producing formate via electrochemical reduction of CO_{2} in ionic liquid

Carbon capture and utilisation provide a means to mitigate climate change caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions by delaying carbon emissions via temporary storage in goods. This article presents a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of a novel process that generates formate via electrochemical reduction of CO_{2} in ionic liquid. We performed a scenario analysis, covering uncertain parameters like the recycling rate of unreacted reagents and the market price of CO_{2}, and compared the environmental performance of the carbon utilisation system with that of the conventional process, which relies on fossil sources. Inventory data is obtained from a mix of literature sources and commercial LCA databases. Our analysis indicates that (i) the system needs to attain a 99.9% recycling rate to be competitive with the conventional process; (ii) a future negative market price of CO_{2} would substantially reduce the environmental impacts associated with formate; (iii) there are significant environmental trade-offs between the carbon utilisation system and the conventional process, with the former outperforming the latter in 6/8 out of the 14 impact categories investigated. It should be noted that our results are conservative because inventory data for the electrochemical reduction process is obtained from laboratory experiments

Can the use of captured CO2 lower the environmental impacts of formate production?

The majority of bulk chemicals (e.g. olefins and alcohols) are organic compounds that are almost exclusively produced from fossil feedstocks such as natural gas. Utilisation of carbon dioxide captured from anthropogenic sources, which are both inexpensive and abundantly available, represents an alternative pathway that is drawing increasing attention, mainly for its potential to decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases and resource depletion of chemicals production. Notably, carbon utilisation does not represent an approach to CO2 mitigation because it only delays its emissions rather than removing it over a long timescale; hence, the relevant question that we aim to address is: "Can captured CO2 be used as feedstock to reduce the environmental impacts of chemicals' production?". As a case study, this work focuses on the production of formate and presents a prospective comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) between the conventional fossil-based pathway and an innovative, CO2-based process, that involves the electro-catalytic reduction of CO2 using an ionic liquid as solvent. CO2 is assumed to originate from a natural gas-fired power plant and captured after combustion, through a conventional monoethanolamine absorption system. Ionic liquids are used to enanche the reduction of CO2 and its conversion to formate. The study adopts a cradle-to-gate perspective and analyses multiple impact categories including, but not limited to, global warming and resources depletion

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Modulators of the Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition: Driving the Fate of Tumor Microenvironment

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an evolutionarily conserved process. In cancer, EMT can activate biochemical changes in tumor cells that enable the destruction of the cellular polarity, leading to the acquisition of invasive capabilities. EMT regulation can be triggered by intrinsic and extrinsic signaling, allowing the tumor to adapt to the microenvironment demand in the different stages of tumor progression. In concomitance, tumor cells undergoing EMT actively interact with the surrounding tumor microenvironment (TME) constituted by cell components and extracellular matrix as well as cell secretome elements. As a result, the TME is in turn modulated by the EMT process toward an aggressive behavior. The current review presents the intrinsic and extrinsic modulators of EMT and their relationship with the TME, focusing on the non-cell-derived components, such as secreted metabolites, extracellular matrix, as well as extracellular vesicles. Moreover, we explore how these modulators can be suitable targets for anticancer therapy and personalized medicine

EFFECT OF POLOXAMER 407 ON THE STABILITY AND ENZYMATIC ACTIVITY OF YEAST ALCOHOL DEHYDROGENASE.

Non disponibil

Coupled system thermal Hydraulics/CFD models: General guidelines and applications to heavy liquid metals

This work aims to review the general guidelines to be adopted to perform coupled System Thermal Hydraulics (STH)/CFD calculations. The coupled analysis is often required when complex phenomena characterized by different characteristic time and length scales are investigated. Indeed, by STH/CFD coupling the main drawbacks of both stand-alone codes are overcome, reducing the computational cost and providing more realistic solutions. A review of several works available in literature and involving different coupling approaches, codes, time-advancing schemes and application fields is given. Besides STH/CFD coupling techniques, spatial domains and numerical schemes are analysed in detail. A brief description of applications to heavy liquid metal systems is also reported; lessons drawn in the frame of these and other works are then considered in order to develop a set of good practice guidelines for coupled STH/CFD applications

Simulation of operational conditions of HX-HERO in the CIRCE facility with CFD/STH coupled codes

Abstract The paper describes the application of a coupled methodology between Fluent CFD code and RELAP5 System Thermal-Hydraulic code developed at the DICI (Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Industriale) of the University of Pisa. The methodology was applied specifically to the LBE-water heat exchanger HERO located inside the S100 vessel of the CIRCE facility, built at ENEA Brasimone Research Centre, to investigate the capabilities of this component. In the proposed methodology, the primary side of the HX-HERO, containing LBE, is simulated by the CFD code, while the secondary side, containing a two phase mixture of water and vapour, is reproduced by the System Thermal-Hydraulic code. During the calculation the two codes exchange, at the coupled boundaries: the bulk temperature and heat transfer coefficient of the ascending water (RELAP5 to Fluent) and the wall temperature at the water side surface of the pipes (Fluent to RELAP5). The coupling technique was tested by comparing the numerical results with the experimental data recently obtained by ENEA; the numerical results predicted well the qualitative trend of the temperature and provided an overall good prediction of the temperature also from a quantitative point of view. It is worth noticing that this good performance remained reliable for all the cases simulated, proving the general applicability of the methodology

Cu,Zn Superoxide Dismutases from Tetrahymena thermophila: Molecular Evolution and Gene Expression of the First Line of Antioxidant Defenses

In the present study, we describe the molecular and functional characterization of two Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) genes, named tt-sod1a and tt-sod1b from Tetrahymena thermophila, a free-living ciliated protozoan widely used as model organism in biological research. The cDNAs and the putative amino acid sequences were compared with Cu,Zn SODs from other Alveolata. The primary sequences of T. thermophila Cu,Zn SODs are unusually long if compared to orthologous proteins, but the catalytically important residues are almost fully conserved. Both phylogenetic and preliminary homology modeling analyses provide some indications about the evolutionary relationships between the Cu,Zn SODs of Tetrahymena and the Alveolata orthologous enzymes. Copper-dependent regulation of Cu,Zn SODs expression was investigated by measuring mRNA accumulation and enzyme activity in response to chronic exposure to non-toxic doses of the metal. Our in silico analyses of the tt-sod1a and tt-sod1b promoter regions revealed putative consensus sequences similar to half Antioxidant Responsive Elements (hARE), suggesting that the transcription of these genes directly depends on ROS formation. These data emphasize the importance of complex metal regulation of tt-sod1a and tt-sod1b activation, as components of an efficient detoxification pathway allowing the survival of T. thermophila in continued, elevated presence of metals in the environment

Three-dimensional superimposition for patients with facial palsy: an innovative method for assessing the success of facial reanimation procedures

Facial palsy is a severe condition that may be ameliorated by facial reanimation, but there is no consensus about how to judge its success. In this study we aimed to test a new method for assessing facial movements based on 3-dimensional analysis of the facial surfaces. Eleven patients aged between 42 and 77 years who had recently been affected by facial palsy (onset between 6 and 18 months) were treated by an operation based on triple innervation: the masseteric to temporofacial nerve branch, 30% of the hypoglossal fibres to the cervicofacial nerve branch, and the contralateral facial nerve through two cross-face sural nerve grafts. Each patient had five stereophotogrammetric scans: at rest, smiling on the healthy side (facial stimulus), biting (masseteric stimulus), moving the tongue (hypoglossal stimulus), and corner-of-the-mouth smile (Mona Lisa). Each scan was superimposed onto the facial model of the "rest" position, and the point-to-point root mean square (RMS) value was automatically calculated on both the paralysed and the healthy side, together with an index of asymmetry. One-way and two-way ANOVA tests, respectively, were applied to verify the significance of possible differences in the RMS and asymmetry index according to the type of stimulus (p = 0.0329) and side (p < 0.0001). RMS differed significantly according to side between the facial stimulus and the masseteric one on the paralysed side (p = 0.0316). Facial stimulus evoked the most asymmetrical movement, whereas the masseteric produced the most symmetrical expression. The method can be used for assessing facial movements after facial reanimation

Antiviral Property of the Fungal Metabolite 3-O-Methylfunicone in Bovine Herpesvirus 1 Infection

Bovine herpesvirus type-1 (BoHV-1) is a widespread pathogen that provokes infectious rhinotracheitis and polymicrobial infections in cattle, resulting in serious economic losses to the farm animal industry and trade restrictions. To date, non-toxic active drugs against BoHV-1 are not available. The exploitation of bioactive properties of microbial products is of great pharmaceutical interest. In fact, fungi are a promising source of novel drugs with a broad spectrum of activities and functions, including antiviral properties. Hence, the potential antiviral properties of 3-O-methylfunicone (OMF), a secondary metabolite produced by Talaromyces pinophilus, were evaluated on BoHV-1. In this study, during BoHV-1 infection in bovine cells (MDBK), the non-toxic concentration of 5 µM OMF considerably reduced signs of cell death and increased cell proliferation. Furthermore, OMF significantly decreased the virus titer as well as the cytopathic effect and strongly inhibited the expression of bICP0, the major regulatory protein in the BoHV-1 lytic cycle. These findings were accompanied by a considerable up-regulation in the expression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a multifunctional transcription factor also linked to the host’s response to a herpesvirus infection. Overall, our results suggest that by involving AhR, OMF shows potential against a BoHV-1 infection