High efficiency disperse dryer - an innovative process for drying of solutions, suspensions and pastes in a fluidized bed of inert particles

In this paper, an innovative fluidized bed dryer with inert particles is presented. The system can be used for drying of solutions, suspensions and pastes in order to obtain a powdered product. The experiments were performed in a pilot-scale dryer with a cylindrical column 0.215 m in diameter and 1.2 mm height, with glass spheres as inert particles. The material used for drying was CuSO4 solution. The effects of operating conditions on the dryer throughput and product quality were investigated. Main performance criteria, i.e. specific water evaporation rate, specific heat consumption and specific air consumption, were quantified. Nearly isothermal conditions were found due to thorough mixing of the particles. The energy efficiency of the dryer was also assessed. Simple heat and mass balances predicted the dryer performance quite well

Effects of ghrelin on protein expression of antioxidative enzymes and iNOS in the rat liver

Introduction: We investigated the effects of ghrelin on protein expression of the liver antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutases (SODs), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione reductase (GR), nuclear factor kappa B (NF kappa B) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Furthermore, we aimed to investigate whether extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK1/2) and protein kinase B (Akt) are involved in ghrelin-regulated liver antioxidant enzymes and iNOS protein expression. Material and methods: Male Wistar rats were treated with ghrelin (0.3 nmol/5 mu l) injected into the lateral cerebral ventricle every 24 h for 5 days, and 2 h after the last treatment the animals were sacrificed and the liver excised. The Western blot method was used to determine expression of antioxidant enzymes, iNOS, phosphorylation of Akt, ERK1/2 and nuclear factor kappa B (NF kappa B) subunits 50 and 65. Results: There was significantly higher protein expression of CuZnSOD (p LT 0.001), MnSOD (p LT 0.001), CAT (p LT 0.001), GPx, (p LT 0.001), and GR (p LT 0.01) in the liver isolated from ghrelin-treated animals compared with control animals. In contrast, ghrelin significantly (p LT 0.01) reduced protein expression of iNOS. In addition, phosphorylation of NF kappa B subunits p65 and p50 was significantly (p LT 0.001 for p65; p LT 0.05 for p50) reduced by ghrelin when compared with controls. Phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and of Akt was significantly higher in ghrelin-treated than in control animals (p LT 0.05 for ERK1/2; p LT 0.01 for Akt). Conclusions: The results show that activation of Akt and ERK1/2 is involved in ghrelin-mediated regulation of protein expression of antioxidant enzymes and iNOS in the rat liver

Calcareous nannofossils in Middle Triassic (Anisian). A preliminary note.

In this note nannofossils of Anisian age are reported in a Middle Triassic flysch sequence in southern Montenegro (Dinarides). The rich and various nannofossils are largely different from those described either in Paleozoic-Upper Triassic or in younger rocks

Sub-Ramsey Numbers for Arithmetic Progressions and Schur Triples

see the abstract in the attached pd