In the course of developing hydrogen-enriched blast furnace ironmaking operation, the carburization and melting behavior of the fully reduced low-reduced iron (LRI) and the iron ore sinter (IOS) on ...the coke substrate were investigated at 1773 and 1823 K under 40%CO–40%N
2
–20%H
2
gas atmosphere. The LRI sample was not carburized at 1773 K due to the inhibition ash layer on the coke surface; consequently, it was not melted. Although the reduced iron of the LRI sample was melted at 1823 K, it was not carburized due to the prevention of the ash layer. On the other hand, the IOS sample was carburized to be melted at 1773 and 1823 K. The self-fluxing slag cleaned the ash layer on the coke surface, enabling the carburization and melting of the reduced iron. It is concluded that the liquid slag formation accelerated the carburization of the reduced iron, whereas the liquid metal formation did not increase the carburization rate. Due to the difficulty in carburization and melting of LRI, the use of LRI in the hydrogen-enriched blast furnace operation can be limited.
Graphical Abstract
Silico-ferrite of calcium and aluminum (SFCA) is the primary bonding phase of iron ore sinter, the world’s most popular artificial feed material for ironmaking. However, fundamental questions about ...its crystal structure and the atomic occupancy at each site remain unanswered. To date, the quantitative phase analysis (QPA) of SFCA has mostly been conducted using two-dimensional information and only provided information regarding phase fractions. In contrast, Rietveld analysis uses bulk data and provides lattice information in addition to phase fraction information. This study investigates the effects of basicity and Al2O3 concentration on the crystal structure and atomic site occupancy of SFCA through Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction patterns. Raman spectroscopy and micro-Vickers hardness tests are used to verify the analytical results. Changes in the chemical composition affect the atomic occupancies at sites Si1 (Si–Al), Ca2 (Ca–Fe), Ca3 (Ca–Fe), Fe4 (Fe–Al), Fe5 (Fe–Al), and Fe7 (Fe–Al). With increasing basicity or Al2O3 content, the microhardness increases linearly, which can be attributed to the modification of atomic site occupancies. The crystalline structure obtained in this study is essential for developing a thermodynamic model of SFCA that can be used to predict its phase stability. This information can then be used to design a novel high-performance iron ore sinter.
The improvement of delivery room care, according to the 2015 International Consensus, may affect neonatal outcome, especially in very-low-birth-weight infants. We aimed to investigate the current ...practice of neonatal resuscitation by year and analyze the association with neonatal outcomes. A total of 8142 very-low-birth-weight infants, registered in the Korean Neonatal Network between 2014 and 2017 were included. A significant decreasing trend of intubation (64.5% vs 55.1%, P < 0.0001) and markedly increasing trend of positive pressure ventilation (PPV) (11.5% vs 22.9%, P < 0.0001) were noted. The annual PPV rate differed significantly by gestation (P < 0.0001). The highest level of resuscitation was also shown as an independent risk factor for mortality within 7 days and for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH), and periventricular leukomalacia. PPV and intubation were associated with significantly decreased risk of mortality and morbidities compared to epinephrine use. When considering association, the incidence of mortality within 7 days, IVH, PVL, and BPD or mortality showed significant differences by combination of year, gestational age, and level of resuscitation. According to updated guidelines, changes in the highest level of resuscitation significantly associated with reducing mortality and morbidities. More meticulous delivery room resuscitation focusing on extreme prematurity is needed.
Abstract Surface modification of tissue engineering scaffolds and substrates is required for improving the efficacy of stem cell therapy by generating physicochemical stimulation promoting ...proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. However, typical surface modification methods including chemical conjugation or physical absorption have several limitations such as multistep, complicated procedures, surface denaturation, batch-to-batch inconsistencies, and low surface conjugation efficiency. In this study, we report a mussel-inspired, biomimetic approach to surface modification for efficient and reliable manipulation of human neural stem cell (NSC) differentiation and proliferation. Our study demonstrates that polydopamine coating facilitates highly efficient, simple immobilization of neurotrophic growth factors and adhesion peptides onto polymer substrates. The growth factor or peptide-immobilized substrates greatly enhance differentiation and proliferation of human NSCs (human fetal brain-derived NSCs and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived NSCs) at a level comparable or greater than currently available animal-derived coating materials (Matrigel) with safety issues. Therefore, polydopamine-mediated surface modification can provide a versatile platform technology for developing chemically defined, safe, functional substrates and scaffolds for therapeutic applications of human NSCs.
Nature has developed materials that are integrated and effective at controlling their properties of adhesiveness and cohesiveness; the chemistry of these materials has been optimized during ...evolution. For example, a catechol moiety found in the adhesive proteins of marine mussels regulates its properties between adhesion and cohesion, rapidly adapting to environmental conditions. However, in synthetic materials chemistry, introduced chemical moieties are usually monofunctional, either being adhesive or cohesive; typically, this is not effective compared to natural materials. Herein, it is demonstrated that hyaluronic acid‐catechol (HA‐catechol) conjugates can exhibit either adhesiveness, functionalizing the surface of materials, or cohesiveness, building 3D hydrogels. Up to now, catechol‐conjugated polymers have shown to be useful in one of these two functions. The usefulness of the polymer in stem cell engineering is demonstrated. A platform for neural stem cell culture may be prepared, utilizing the adhesive property of HA‐catechol, and hydrogels are fabricated to encapsulate the neural stem cells, utilizing the cohesive property of the HA conjugate. Moreover, the HA‐catechol hydrogels are highly neural stem cell compatible, showing better viability compared to existing methods based on HA hydrogels.
Hyaluronic acid catechol conjugate is able to change between adhesiveness and cohesiveness in a smart way. This is demonstrated to be useful for human neural stem cell culture, which cannot be stably cultured on typical polystyrene culture plates.
Manipulating neural stem cell (NSC) fate is of great importance for improving the therapeutic efficacy of NSCs to treat neurodegenerative disorders. Biophysical cues, in addition to biochemical ...factors, regulate NSC phenotype and function. In this study, we assessed the extent to which surface nanotopography of culture substrates modulates human NSC (hNSC) differentiation. Fibronectin-coated polymer substrates with diverse nanoscale shapes (groove and pillar) and dimensions (ranging from 300 to 1500 nm groove width and pillar gap) were used to investigate the effects of topographical cues on hNSC morphology, alignment, focal adhesion, and differentiation. The majority of nanopatterned substrates induced substantial changes in cellular morphology and alignment along the patterned shapes, leading to alterations in focal adhesion and F-actin reorganization. Certain types of nanopatterned substrates, in particular the ones with small nanostructures (e.g., 300–300 nm groove ridges and 300–300 nm pillar diameter gaps), were found to effectively enhance focal adhesion complex development. Consequently, these substrates enhanced hNSC differentiation toward neurons and astrocytes. Nanotopographical-induced formation of focal adhesions in hNSCs activates integrin-mediated mechanotransduction and intracellular signaling pathways such as MEK-ERK, which may ultimately promote gene expression related to NSC differentiation. This strategy of manipulating matrix surface topography could be applied to develop culture substrates and tissue engineered scaffolds that improve the efficacy of NSC therapeutics.
Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have been generated from mouse and human somatic cells by ectopic expression of four transcription factors (OCT4 (also called POU5F1), SOX2, c-Myc and KLF4). We ...previously reported that Oct4 alone is sufficient to reprogram directly adult mouse neural stem cells to iPS cells. Here we report the generation of one-factor human iPS cells from human fetal neural stem cells (one-factor (1F) human NiPS cells) by ectopic expression of OCT4 alone. One-factor human NiPS cells resemble human embryonic stem cells in global gene expression profiles, epigenetic status, as well as pluripotency in vitro and in vivo. These findings demonstrate that the transcription factor OCT4 is sufficient to reprogram human neural stem cells to pluripotency. One-factor iPS cell generation will advance the field further towards understanding reprogramming and generating patient-specific pluripotent stem cells.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The sintering process is a thermal agglomeration process, and it is accompanied by chemical reactions. In this process, a mixture of iron ore fines, flux, and coal particles is heated to about 1300 ...°C–1480 °C in a sinter bed. The strength and reducibility properties of iron ore sinter are obtained by liquid phase sintering. The silico-ferrite of calcium and aluminum (SFCA) is the main bonding phase found in modern iron ore sinters. Since the physicochemical and crystallographic properties of the SFCA are affected by the chemical composition and mineral phases of iron ores, a crystallographic understanding of iron ores and sintered ore is important to enhance the quality of iron ore sinter. Scrap and by-products from steel mills are expected to be used in the iron ore sintering process as recyclable resources, and in such a case, the crystallographic properties of iron ore sinter will be affected using these materials. The objective of this paper is to present a short review on research related to mineral phases and structural properties of iron ore and sintered ore.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an inexorable neurodegenerative disease that commonly occurs in the elderly. The cognitive impairment caused by AD is associated with abnormal accumulation of amyloid-β ...(Aβ) and hyperphosphorylated tau, which are accompanied by inflammation. Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing, multipotential cells that differentiate into distinct neural cells. When transplanted into a diseased brain, NSCs repair and replace injured tissues after migration toward and engraftment within lesions. We investigated the therapeutic effects in an AD mouse model of human NSCs (hNSCs) that derived from an aborted human fetal telencephalon at 13 weeks of gestation. Cells were transplanted into the cerebral lateral ventricles of neuron-specific enolase promoter-controlled APPsw-expressing (NSE/APPsw) transgenic mice at 13 months of age.
Implanted cells extensively migrated and engrafted, and some differentiated into neuronal and glial cells, although most hNSCs remained immature. The hNSC transplantation improved spatial memory in these mice, which also showed decreased tau phosphorylation and Aβ42 levels and attenuated microgliosis and astrogliosis. The hNSC transplantation reduced tau phosphorylation via Trk-dependent Akt/GSK3β signaling, down-regulated Aβ production through an Akt/GSK3β signaling-mediated decrease in BACE1, and decreased expression of inflammatory mediators through deactivation of microglia that was mediated by cell-to-cell contact, secretion of anti-inflammatory factors generated from hNSCs, or both. The hNSC transplantation also facilitated synaptic plasticity and anti-apoptotic function via trophic supplies. Furthermore, the safety and feasibility of hNSC transplantation are supported.
These findings demonstrate the hNSC transplantation modulates diverse AD pathologies and rescue impaired memory via multiple mechanisms in an AD model. Thus, our data provide tangible preclinical evidence that human NSC transplantation could be a safe and versatile approach for treating AD patients.
The effects of basicity and Al
2
O
3
content on the chemistry of phases in iron ore sinter containing ZnO were investigated by Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Bulk ...composition analysis was carried out using inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and wet-chemical analysis. The composition of each phase was investigated using a scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (SEM-EDX). It was found that ZnO exists in the franklinite and the silicoferrite of calcium and aluminum (SFCA) phases. With increasing ZnO content, the phase fraction of the franklinite increased, while the fraction of SFCA slightly increased. When ZnO content was fixed at 1 wt pct and basicity increased, the fraction of franklinite decreased and that of SFCA increased. Here, the solubility of ZnO in the SFCA increased. As the Al
2
O
3
content increased, the fraction of franklinite decreased and that of SFCA increased, while ZnO content in the SFCA did not change significantly.
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