The maximum efficiency inlet velocity (MEIV) of the oil shale ash cyclone separator was explored in this paper. The results show that the inlet area of the separator has a significant effect on MEIV. ...Further analysis revealed that the cross-sectional mean axial velocity for the gas in the cylinder affording the highest efficiency was hardly affected by inlet dimensions, which circumstance could be made use of in designing the cyclone diameter. Based on the results obtained, an equation was constructed and the maximum efficiency inlet velocity for oil shale ash was predicted. Moreover, the effect of particle geometry on MEIV was ascertained.
The kinetic parameters of Huadian oil shale and its solid residues after preheating treatment at different temperatures were evaluated by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. As per distinct properties ...of oil shale, TG curves were divided into five separate stages during pyrolysis. The kinetic parameters were calculated based on TG results related to three stages ranging from 250 to 550 degree C, using the Arrhenius theory and Coats-Redfern and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods. The results showed that the burning of oil shale and its solid residues was a complicated multi-step kinetic process. The activation energies of residues were reduced after preheating treatment below 300 degree C. Moreover, the activation energies calculated from the Coats-Redfern method increased with increasing heating rate.
► The N2pc component could be affected by the physical disparities between target and distractors. ► A higher amplitude of N2pc was elicited in the high disparity condition than the low disparity ...condition. ► The discriminative difficulty of the target makes a low correlation to the N2pc component. ► The N2pc may reflect the attention mechanisms for stimulus-driven shifts.
The N2pc component of the event-related potentials is assumed to indicate attentional filtering processes during visual search tasks. In this study, we investigated the effects of physical disparity between a target stimulus and distracter stimuli and discrimination difficulty of the target item, on N2pc component by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) while subjects completed a visual search task. In the visual search task, we presented a round array of stimuli and manipulated the color disparity between the target and distracters and the discriminative difficulty of the target's form. The results showed that higher amplitude of N2pc was elicited in the high color disparity condition compared to the low disparity condition. However, no significant effect was found for the discriminative difficulty. The results suggested that the N2pc component could be modulated by the physical disparity between the target item and the distracters in the searching processes, which most likely reflects allocation of attention to select an object based on the perceptual saliency of that object.
Evolution and change of He bubbles in magnetron sputtering prepared He-containing Ti films under thermal treatment are studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy ...(TEM) and X-ray diffraction. Incorporation of He introduces a large number of He-vacancy clusters and some voids in the films, and significantly increases SAXS intensity and causes anisotropic scattering. The change of He induced defects during annealing is affected by thermal diffusion and migration of trapped He to the surface and between interfaces of He induced defects within the films. Annealing at 200 and 400°C reduces intensity and anisotropy of SAXS, in accord with observed shrinking and disappearance of the voids. The simultaneous growth of non-uniformly distributed He bubbles to the sizes of 1–2nm and a population level of 105/μm3 are detected in the temperature range. The changes are explained by migration and coalescence mechanisms, which requires low apparent activation energy. Inconsistence between TEM and SAXS observations is noted and attributed to thinning induced internal stress relaxation of TEM specimen. Remarkable enlargement of He bubbles, associated with increased SAXS intensity and fractal dimension, is observed after 600°C annealing, indicating involvement of Ostwald Ripening (OR) mechanism. The OR process dominates at 800°C, where the high temperature provides activation energy for accelerated He dissociation from small bubbles into larger ones, and generating textured microstructure and agglomerated bubble clusters. The inhomogeneous bubble size distribution observed at this temperature covers a broad range of about 10–50nm and possessing a population density level of 103/μm3.
•Change of He bubbles in thermally treated Ti–He films is studied by SAXS and TEM.•SAXS reveals size distribution and fractional population of He bubbles in films.•He-vacancy clusters in Ti–He film transfer to bubbles and release upon annealing.•Migration and coalescence are responsible for growth of bubbles at low temperature.•Formation of large bubbles under OR mechanism dominates at high temperature.
Objective: The aim of the present subgroup analysis of the FRESCO trial is to determine the efficacy and hepatotoxicity of fruquintinib in Chinese patients with metastatic CRC with liver metastasis ...(CRLM) who were receiving third-line or posterior-line therapy. Methods: Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were evaluated by Kaplan-Meier method. Hazard ratio (HR) was estimated through Cox proportional hazards model. Hepatotoxicity was coded using the standardized MedDRA queries of hepatic failure, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and other liver injury-related conditions and graded using the Common Terminology Criteria Adverse Events grades. The efficacy of fruquintinib in patients with CRLM was evaluated in various subgroups. Results: A total of 287 (69.0%) patients with metastatic CRC had liver metastasis (LM, fruquintinib: 185 and placebo: 102). Median OS in patients with CRLM was significantly prolonged with fruquintinib compared with placebo (8.61 months vs 5.98 months; HR=0.59, 95% CI, 0.45-0.77, P<0.001). In patients with CRLM, the incremental median PFS for patients in the fruquintinib-treated group was significantly higher than in the placebo group (median PFS: 3.71 vs.1.84 months; HR=0.22, 95% CI: 0.17-0.30; P<0.001). Compared with placebo, significant improvements in OS were observed with fruquintinib in LM patients regardless of lung metastasis, prior target therapy, and K-RAS status. In patients with CRLM, treatment-emergent hepatotoxicities of any grade occurred in 7 (3.8%) patients in the fruquintinib group vs 2 (2.0%) in the placebo group. Conclusion: Fruquintinib demonstrated a statistically significant increase in OS and PFS as compared with placebo in Chinese patients with CRLM. The hepatotoxicity of fruquintinib was less reported, and comparable with placebo in patients with CRLM. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02314819. Keywords: colorectal cancer, FRESCO trial, fruquintinib, liver metastasis
Purpose
To identify the DNA methylation biomarkers for the detection of the stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Materials and methods
The methylated state of p16INK4A, ESR1, HOX9, RASSF1A, ...DAPK1, PTEN, ABCB1, MGMT, APC and MT1G genes that have been reported frequently methylated in lung cancer was determined using methylation-specific PCR in four lung cancer cell lines, 124 cancer tissues of the stage I NSCLC and 26 non-cancerous disease tissues.
Result
The RASSF1A (53/124, 42.74%), APC (49/123, 39.52%), ESR1 (37/124, 29.84%), ABCB1 (31/124, 24.19%, MT1G (25/124, 20.16%) and HOXC9 (17/124, 13.71%) genes were more frequently methylated in the lung tissue from the stage I NSCLC than the non-cancerous lesion patients (2/26, 7.69%,
P
< 0.01; 2/26, 7.69%,
P
< 0.01; 2/26, 7.69%,
P
< 0.05; 1/26, 3.85%
P
< 0.01; 0/26 0%,
P
value: <0.01; 0/26, 0%,
P
< 0.05, respectively). p16INK4A was methylated in 28/124 (22.56%) of cancer tissues and 2/26 (7.69%) of non-cancerous tissues (
P
value >0.05). No significant association between the methylated state of the genes and the smoking, age or the pathologic types (squamous carcinoma, adenoma and the mixed types) was found. However, p16INK4A methylation was more frequently detected in the male (23/80, 28.75%) than the female (5/44, 11.36%,
P
> 0.05) patients. MGMT was barely methylated: 1/67, 1.49%), while DAPK1 and PTEN were not at all methylated in the cancer groups.
Conclusions
Methylation analysis in tissue of RASSF1A, APC, ESR1, ABCB1 and HOXC9 genes confirmed 79.8% of the existing diagnosis for the stage I NSCLC at specificity: 73.1%. The insufficiency of predicting disease onset in China, using the previously recommended targets (MGMT, DAPK1 and PTEN) in the United States reflects a potential disease disparity between these two populations. Alternatively, methylated state of this set of genes may be more specific to the late rather than the early stage of NSCLC.
Is Pulmonary Vein Firing an Epiphenomenon?
Introduction
Rapid firing in pulmonary veins (PVs) is a leading cause of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. We hypothesized that PV firing (PV‐F) should ...continue after circumferential PV isolation (CPVI) because the PV tissue responsible for PV‐F remains intact.
Methods and Results
In Group‐1 (n = 92), isoproterenol (ISP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) were co‐administered to provoke PV‐F before and after CPVI. The site of rapid focal discharge that initiated atrial fibrillation (AF) defined PV‐F versus non‐PV‐F. Additional 17 patients with PV‐F induced by ISP+ATP before CPVI were enrolled into Group‐2 and various pacing maneuvers were used in conjunction to ISP+ATP to provoke PV‐F after CPVI. In Group‐1, AF was induced in 47/81 (58.0%) and 16/88 (18.2%) patients before and after CPVI, respectively (P < 0.01). Before CPVI, 43/47 (91.5%) of the rapid firing originated from PV. After successful CPVI, 88/92 patients were in sinus rhythm and non‐PV‐F was induced in 14/88 patients. PV‐F was induced in 2/88 patients, which was eliminated by ganglionated plexus ablation outside the CPVI line. In Group‐2, various pacing maneuvers with ISP+ATP only induced PV‐F in 1/17 patients after CPVI.
Conclusion
Marked suppression of PV‐F after CPVI strongly suggests that the real source of PV‐F is located in the atrium. PV‐F may be an epiphenomenon.
A large number of studies have shown that bufalin can have a significant antitumor effect in a variety of tumors. However, because of toxicity, insolubility in water, fast metabolism, short ...half-life, and other shortcomings, its application is limited in cancer therapy. In this study, we explored the anti-metastatic role of bufalin-loaded pluronic polyetherimide nanoparticles on HCT116 colon cancer-bearing mice. Nanoparticle size, shape, drug loading, encapsulation efficiency, and in vitro drug release were studied. Also, cellular uptake of nanoparticles, in vivo tumor targeting, and tumor metastasis were studied. The nanoparticles had a particle size of about 60 nm and an encapsulation efficiency of 75.71%, by weight. The in vitro release data showed that free bufalin was released faster than bufalin-loaded pluronic polyetherimide nanoparticles, and almost 80% of free bufalin was released after 32 hours. Nanoparticles had an even size distribution, were stable, and had a slow release and a tumor-targeting effect. Bufalin-loaded pluronic polyetherimide nanoparticles can significantly inhibit the growth and metastasis of colorectal cancer.
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