Applications and Study on Organophosphate Acids (Salts) for Oil Well Cement Retarder

AbstractA synthetic cement retarder SDH-2 which provides excellent retardation and compressive strength development has been synthesized to be used in deep oil well cementation. The response properties, temperature-resistant and anti-salt properties, additive distribution and compressive strength have been evaluated. It is showed SDH-2 has good retarding ability to oil well cement slurries at 40 to 204 ℃。It is compatible with dispersant, fluid loss additive and other additives to grade G oilwell cement of various manufactures and can be used in cementing process in the temperature of various depths in oil well

Review on distribution network optimization under uncertainty

With the increase of renewable energy in electricity generation and increased engagement from demand sides, distribution network planning and operation face great challenges in the provision of stable, secure and dedicated service under a high level of uncertainty in network behaviors. Distribution network planning and operation, at the same time, also benefit from the changes of current and future distribution networks in terms of the availability of increased resources, diversity, smartness, controllability and flexibility of the distribution networks. This paper reviews the critical optimization problems faced by distribution planning and operation, including how to cope with these changes, how to integrate an optimization process in a problem-solving framework to efficiently search for optimal strategy and how to optimize sources and flexibilities properly in order to achieve cost-effective operation and provide quality of services as required, among other factors. This paper also discusses the approaches to reduce the heavy computation load when solving large-scale network optimization problems, for instance by integrating the prior knowledge of network configuration in optimization search space. A number of optimization techniques have been reviewed and discussed in the paper. This paper also discusses the changes, challenges and opportunities in future distribution networks, analyzes the possible problems that will be faced by future network planning and operations and discusses the potential strategies to solve these optimization problems

Gut microbiota-derived metabolite Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) and multiple health outcomes:an umbrella review and updated meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is a gut microbiota-derived metabolite produced from dietary nutrients. Many studies have discovered that circulating TMAO levels are linked to a wide range of health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to summarize health outcomes related to circulating TMAO levels. METHODS: We searched Embase, Medline, Web of Science and Scopus databases from inception to 15 February 2022 to identify and update meta-analyses examining the associations between TMAO and multiple health outcomes. For each health outcome, we estimated the summary effect size, 95% prediction confidence interval (CI), between-study heterogeneity, evidence of small-study effects, and evidence of excess-significance bias. These metrics were used to evaluate the evidence credibility of the identified associations. RESULTS: This umbrella review identified 24 meta-analyses that investigated the association between circulating TMAO levels and health outcomes including all-cause mortality, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer, and renal function. We updated these meta-analyses by including a total of 82 individual studies in 18 unique health outcomes. Among them, 14 associations were nominally significant. After evidence credibility assessment, we found six (33%) associations (i.e., all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and glomerular filtration rate) to present highly suggestive evidence. CONCLUSIONS: TMAO might be a novel biomarker related to human health conditions including all-cause mortality, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and kidney function. Further studies are needed to investigate whether circulating TMAO levels could be an intervention target for chronic disease

Antioxidant Properties of the Mung Bean Flavonoids on Alleviating Heat Stress

Background: It is a widespread belief in Asian countries that mung bean soup (MBS) may afford a protective effect against heat stress. Lack of evidence supports MBS conferring a benefit in addition to water. Results: Here we show that vitexin and isovitexin are the major antioxidant components in mungbean (more than 96 % of them existing in the bean seed coat), and both of them could be absorbed via gavage into rat plasma. In the plasma of rats fed with mungbean coat extract before or after exposure to heat stress, the levels of malonaldehyde and activities of lactate dehydrogenase and nitric oxide synthase were remarkably reduced; the levels of total antioxidant capacity and glutathione (a quantitative assessment of oxidative stress) were significantly enhanced. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that MBS can play additional roles to prevent heat stress injury. Characterization of the mechanisms underlying mungbean beneficial effects should help in the design of diet therapy strategies to alleviate heat stress, as well as provide reference for searching natural medicines against oxidative stress induced diseases

The Environmental Effect of Soil Erosion and Element Runoff in the Songhua Lake Valley

Abstract: Under the condition of the different precipitation intensity, different gradient, different land use and different vegetation coverage, the soil erosion and transference of element (or pollutant) are researched by simulating and sample analyzing for the experimental-district of the surface runoff in the catchment area which is about 43,370.8km 2 . And the influencing factor that produces the spatial difference is analyzed and assessed. It's put forward that the irrational utilization of land is the reason of soil erosion and pollutant runoff. The gradient of agro-land, the growth period of vegetation and the vegetation coverage are the chiefly restricted factors which lead to the soil erosion and pollutant runoff. Our study provides the fundamental data for comprehensively planning and mainly harnessing of the non-point source pollution in the valley

Fatty Acid-Binding Protein 4 in Endometrial Epithelium Is Involved in Embryonic Implantation

Aims: To clarify the role of fatty acid-binding protein 4 (FABP4) of endometrial epithelial cell in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy and the involvement in the pathogenesis of pregnancy loss. Methods: The expression of FABP4 and uterine receptive factor (LIF, Integrin-β3 and Claudin 4) was determined by Western blotting or quantitative PCR. FABP4 siRNA was used to silence FABP4 while FABP4 inhibitor was used to inhibit the function of FABP4 in endometrial epithelial cell. ICR mice were raised to evaluate the effect of FABP4 silence or inhibition on embryo implantation in vivo after FABP4 siRNA mixture or inhibitor was injected into uterus, and an embryonic adhesion system using trophoblast spheroids mimicking embryos was set up to assess the effect of FABP4 silence or inhibition on embryonic adhesion onto endometrial cell in vitro. Results: The expression of FABP4 mRNA was significantly decreased in the deciduas of women with pregnancy loss compared with that of women with normal pregnancy. FABP4 siRNA significantly reduced the number of embryos implanted and FABP4 expression in ICR mice. FABP4 inhibition also significantly decreased the number of embryos implanted. Either silence or inhibition of FABP4 in endometrial epithelial cell abolished the expression of uterine receptive factors induced by the combination of estrogen and progesterone-induced, and reduced the number of trophoblast spheroids adhered onto endometrial cell. Conclusions: FABP4 regulates embryo implantation via altering uterine receptivity and decreased expression of FABP4 in endometrium may be linked with pregnancy loss, indicating FABP4 has biological role in the establishment and maintenance of pregnancy and subsequently is involved in pathogenesis of pregnancy loss

Betaine supplement alleviates hepatic triglyceride accumulation of apolipoprotein E deficient mice via reducing methylation of peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor alpha promoter

Abstract Background Betaine is a methyl donor and has been considered as a lipotropic effect substance. But its mechanism remains unclear. Hepatic steatosis is associated with abnormal expression of genes involved in hepatic lipid metabolism. DNA methylation contributes to the disregulation of gene expression. Here we hypothesized that betaine supplement and subsequent DNA methylation modifications alter the expression of genes that are involved in hepatic lipid metabolism and hence alleviate hepatic triglyceride accumulation. Methods Male wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice (n = 6) were fed with the AIN-93 G diet. ApoE −/− mice (n = 12), weight-matched with the WT mice, were divided into two groups (n = 6 per group), and fed with the AIN-93 G diet and AIN-93 G supplemented with 2% betaine/100 g diet. Seven weeks after the intervention, mice were sacrificed. Liver betaine, choline, homocysteine concentration were measured by HPLC. Liver oxidants activity and triglyceride level were assessed by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. Finally, hepatic PPAR alpha gene and its target genes expression levels and the methylation status of the PPAR alpha gene were determined. Results ApoE −/− mice had higher hepatic triglyceride and lower GSH-Px activity when compared with the WT mice. Betaine intervention reversed triglyceride deposit, enhanced SOD and GSH-Px activity in the liver. Interestingly, mice fed on betaine-supplemented diet showed a dramatic increase of hepatic choline concentration and a decrease of betaine and homocysteine concentration relative to the WT mice and the ApoE −/− mice absent with betaine intervention. Expression of PPAR alpha and CPT1 were decreased and expression of FAS was markedly increased in ApoE −/− mice. In parallel, PPAR alpha promoter methylation level were slightly increased in ApoE −/− mice though without significance. Betaine supplement upregulated expression of PPAR alpha and its target genes (CPT1, CYP2E1) and reversed hypermethylation of PPAR alpha promoter of ApoE −/− mice. Furthermore, PPAR alpha methylation was positively correlated with hepatic betaine concentration. Conclusions Our findings indicate that betaine supplement could alleviate hepatic triglyceride accumulation and improve antioxidant capacity by decreasing PPAR alpha promoter methylation and upregulating PPAR alpha and its target genes mRNA expression

Associations between Serum Betaine, Methyl-Metabolizing Genetic Polymorphisms and Risk of Incident Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Cohort Study in Community-Dwelling Chinese Adults

Previous studies have explored associations between betaine and diabetes, but few have considered the effects of genes on them. We aimed to examine associations between serum betaine, methyl-metabolizing genetic polymorphisms and the risk of type 2 diabetes in Chinese adults. This prospective study comprised 1565 subjects aged 40–75 without type 2 diabetes at baseline. Serum betaine was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Genotyping of methyl-metabolizing genes was detected by Illumina ASA-750K arrays. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During a median of 8.9 years of follow-up, 213 participants developed type 2 diabetes. Compared with participants in the lowest quartile of serum betaine, those in the highest quartile had lower risk of type 2 diabetes, adjusted HRs (95%CIs) was 0.46 (0.31, 0.69). For methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) G1793A (rs2274976) and MTHFR A1298C (rs1801131), participants carrying 1793GA + AA and 1298AC + CC had lower risk of type 2 diabetes. Interactions of serum betaine and genotype of MTHFR G1793A and MTHFR A1298C could be found influencing type 2 diabetes risk. Our findings indicate that higher serum betaine, mutations of MTHFR G1793A and A1298C, as well as the joint effects of them, are associated with lower risk of type 2 diabetes