Bubble and elutriation control in fluidized beds with electric fields

The mechanisms for controlling elutriation and bubbling effect in a fluidized bed are largely unexplored. Increased understanding of these hydrodynamic effects will help to improve both fluidized bed design and operation;In the present study, an electric field was used as an independent parameter to control the formation of bubbles and the elutriation of fines in a fluidized bed. Various forces which acted on the particles were compared. It was concluded that both the current constriction force and hydrodynamic force dominated the behavior of the bed;The bed expansion increased as much as 15% of the bed height at the incipient fluidization with the application of an electric field, as compared to an increase of only 2 to 3% without an electric field. The field significantly improved bubble control. Various parameters that influenced bubble control, included relative humidity, electric field strength, and frequency of the electric field. The effect of bed resistivity and bed temperature were also studied and correlations have been proposed relating to the above variables;Criteria for bubble control for both DC and AC electrical field models were proposed and the ratio of hydrodynamic to electric forces were calculated. The predicted effective electric field strength was in agreement with experimental data;A stability analysis for bed expansion using an elasticity modulus of the bed was also studied. The elasticity modulus at minimum bubbling condition under different situations which were determined both theoretically and experimentally. Good agreements were found between the theoretical and experimental results. Various parameters affecting the bed stability were also studied. Bubbles could easily form with a lower bed elasticity modulus. Scale-up parameters were also derived based on non-dimensional analysis

Preparation of Monodisperse Iron Oxide Nanoparticles via the Synthesis and Decomposition of Iron Fatty Acid Complexes

Iron fatty acid complexes (IFACs) are prepared via the dissolution of porous hematite powder in hot unsaturated fatty acid. The IFACs are then decomposed in five different organic solvents under reflux conditions in the presence of the respective fatty acid. The XRD analysis results indicate that the resulting NPs comprise a mixture of wustite, magnetite, and maghemite phases. The solvents with a higher boiling point prompt the formation of larger NPs containing wustite as the major component, while those with a lower boiling point produce smaller NPs with maghemite as the major component. In addition, it is shown that unstable NPs with a mixed wustite–magnetite composition can be oxidized to pure maghemite by extending the reaction time or using an oxidizing agent

Patients Infected with CRF07_BC Have Significantly Lower Viral Loads than Patients with HIV-1 Subtype B: Mechanism and Impact on Disease Progression

The circulating recombinant form (CRF) 07_BC is the most prevalent HIV-1 strain among injection drug users (IDUs) in Taiwan. It contains a 7 amino-acid deletion in its p6gag. We conducted a cohort study to compare viral loads and CD4 cell count changes between patients infected with subtype B and CRF07_BC and to elucidate its mechanism. Twenty-one patients infected with CRF07_BC and 59 patients with subtype B were selected from a cohort of 667 HIV-1/AIDS patients whom have been followed up for 3 years. Generalized estimated equation was used to analyze their clinical data and the results showed that patients infected with CRF07_BC had significantly lower viral loads (about 58,000 copies per ml less) than patients with subtype B infection (p = 0.002). The replicative capacity of nine CRF07_BC and four subtype B isolates were compared and the results showed that the former had significantly lower replicative capacity than the latter although all of them were CCR5- tropic and non-syncytium inducing viruses. An HIV-1-NL4-3 mutant virus which contains a 7 amino-acid deletion in p6gag (designated as 7d virus) was generated and its live cycle was investigated. The results showed that 7d virus had significantly lower replication capacity, poorer protease-mediated processing and viral proteins production. Electron microscopic examination of cells infected with wild-type or 7d virus demonstrated that the 7d virus had poorer and slower viral maturation processes: more viruses attached to the cell membrane and higher proportion of immature virions outside the cells. The interaction between p6gag and Alix protein was less efficient in cells infected with 7d virus. In conclusion, patients infected with CRF07_BC had significantly lower viral loads than patients infected with subtype B and it may due to the deletion of 7 amino acids which overlaps with Alix protein-binding domain of the p6gag

Efficacy and safety of nanohybrids comprising silver nanoparticles and silicate clay for controlling Salmonella infection

Developing effective and safe drugs is imperative for replacing antibiotics and controlling multidrug-resistant microbes. Nanoscale silicate platelet (NSP) and its nanohybrid, silver nanoparticle/NSP (AgNP/NSP), have been developed, and the nanohybrids show a strong and general antibacterial activity in vitro. Here, their efficacy for protecting Salmonella-infected chicks from fatality and septicemia was evaluated. Both orally administrated NSP and AgNP/NSP, but not AgNPs alone, effectively reduced the systemic Salmonella infection and mortality. In addition, quantitative Ag analyses demonstrated that Ag deposition from AgNP/NSP in the intestines was less than that from conventional AgNPs, indicating that the presence of NSP for immobilizing AgNPs reduced Ag accumulation in tissue and improved the safety of AgNPs. These in vivo results illustrated that both NSP and AgNP/NSP nanohybrid represent potential agents for controlling enteric bacterial infections

Comparison of Acute Lobar Nephronia and Acute Pyelonephritis in Children: A Single-Center Clinical Analysis in Southern Taiwan

BackgroundPatients with acute lobar nephronia (ALN) require a longer duration of antimicrobial treatment than those with acute pyelonephritis (APN), and ALN is associated with renal scarring. The aim of this study was to provide an understanding of ALN by comparing the clinical features of pediatric patients with ALN and APN.MethodsWe enrolled all of the patients with ALN (confirmed by computed tomography) admitted to our hospital from 1999 to 2012 in the ALN group. In addition, each patient diagnosed with APN who was matched for sex, age, and admission date to each ALN patient was enrolled in the APN group. The medical charts of patients in these two groups were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed for comparison.ResultsThe fever duration after hospitalization in the ALN group and the APN group were 4.85 ± 2.33 days and 2.30 ± 1.47 days respectively. The microbiological distributions and the majority of susceptibilities were similar in the ALN and APN groups. The majority of clinical manifestations are nonspecific and unreliable for the differentiation of ALN and APN. The patients with ALN were febrile for longer after antimicrobial treatment, had more nausea/vomiting symptoms, higher neutrophil count, bandemia, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, and lower platelet count (all p < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, initial CRP levels, nausea/vomiting symptoms, and fever duration after admission were independent variables with statistical significance to predict ALN. Severe nephromegaly occurred significantly more in the ALN group than in the APN group (p = 0.022).ConclusionThe majority of clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and microbiological features are similar between patients with ALN and APN. Clinicians should keep a high index of suspicion regarding ALN, particularly for those with ultrasonographic nephromegaly, initial higher CRP, nausea/vomiting, and fever for > 5 days after antimicrobial treatment

Blockchain-Based Medical Record Management with Biofeedback Information

Blockchain is a new emerging technology of distributed databases, which guarantees the integrity, security and incorruptibility of data by means of the cryptography. Such features are suitable for secure and reliable data storage. This chapter investigates the blockchain-based architecture with applications to medical health record or biofeedback information management. This framework employs the smart contract to establish a medical record management system to ensure the privacy of patients. Moreover, the blockchain technique accelerates the medical record or information exchange such that the cost of human resource is significant reduced. All patients can manage their individual medical records and information easily in the different hospitals and clinics. They also have the privilege to deal with and authorize personal medical records in the proposed management framework

Multiplatform Analysis of 12 Cancer Types Reveals Molecular Classification within and across Tissues of Origin

Recent genomic analyses of pathologically-defined tumor types identify “within-a-tissue” disease subtypes. However, the extent to which genomic signatures are shared across tissues is still unclear. We performed an integrative analysis using five genome-wide platforms and one proteomic platform on 3,527 specimens from 12 cancer types, revealing a unified classification into 11 major subtypes. Five subtypes were nearly identical to their tissue-of-origin counterparts, but several distinct cancer types were found to converge into common subtypes. Lung squamous, head & neck, and a subset of bladder cancers coalesced into one subtype typified by TP53 alterations, TP63 amplifications, and high expression of immune and proliferation pathway genes. Of note, bladder cancers split into three pan-cancer subtypes. The multi-platform classification, while correlated with tissue-of-origin, provides independent information for predicting clinical outcomes. All datasets are available for data-mining from a unified resource to support further biological discoveries and insights into novel therapeutic strategies

The Somatic Genomic Landscape of Glioblastoma

We describe the landscape of somatic genomic alterations based on multi-dimensional and comprehensive characterization of more than 500 glioblastoma tumors (GBMs). We identify several novel mutated genes as well as complex rearrangements of signature receptors including EGFR and PDGFRA. TERT promoter mutations are shown to correlate with elevated mRNA expression, supporting a role in telomerase reactivation. Correlative analyses confirm that the survival advantage of the proneural subtype is conferred by the G-CIMP phenotype, and MGMT DNA methylation may be a predictive biomarker for treatment response only in classical subtype GBM. Integrative analysis of genomic and proteomic profiles challenges the notion of therapeutic inhibition of a pathway as an alternative to inhibition of the target itself. These data will facilitate the discovery of therapeutic and diagnostic target candidates, the validation of research and clinical observations and the generation of unanticipated hypotheses that can advance our molecular understanding of this lethal cancer

Bubble and elutriation control in fluidized beds with electric fields

The mechanisms for controlling elutriation and bubbling effect in a fluidized bed are largely unexplored. Increased understanding of these hydrodynamic effects will help to improve both fluidized bed design and operation;In the present study, an electric field was used as an independent parameter to control the formation of bubbles and the elutriation of fines in a fluidized bed. Various forces which acted on the particles were compared. It was concluded that both the current constriction force and hydrodynamic force dominated the behavior of the bed;The bed expansion increased as much as 15% of the bed height at the incipient fluidization with the application of an electric field, as compared to an increase of only 2 to 3% without an electric field. The field significantly improved bubble control. Various parameters that influenced bubble control, included relative humidity, electric field strength, and frequency of the electric field. The effect of bed resistivity and bed temperature were also studied and correlations have been proposed relating to the above variables;Criteria for bubble control for both DC and AC electrical field models were proposed and the ratio of hydrodynamic to electric forces were calculated. The predicted effective electric field strength was in agreement with experimental data;A stability analysis for bed expansion using an elasticity modulus of the bed was also studied. The elasticity modulus at minimum bubbling condition under different situations which were determined both theoretically and experimentally. Good agreements were found between the theoretical and experimental results. Various parameters affecting the bed stability were also studied. Bubbles could easily form with a lower bed elasticity modulus. Scale-up parameters were also derived based on non-dimensional analysis.</p