Degradation of o-dichlorobenzene by DBD-NTP co-modified titanium gel catalyst.

In order to study the degradation process of dioxins in industrial flue gas, the decomposition of o-dichlorobenzene (o-DCB) in a DBD plasma catalytic reactor was investigated. The results showed that an NTP-catalyzed system, especially using the CuMnTiOx catalyst, had better o-DCB degradation performance compared to plasma alone. The combination of the CuMnTiOx catalyst with NTP can achieve a degradation efficiency of up to 97.2% for o-DCB; the selectivity of CO and CO2 and the carbon balance were 40%, 45%, and 85%, respectively. The dielectric constant and electrical property results indicated that the surface discharge capacity of the catalysts played a major role in the degradation of o-DCB, and a higher dielectric constant could suppress the plasma expansion and enhance the duration of the plasma discharge per discharge cycle. According to the O1s XPS and O2-TPD results, the conversion of CO to CO2 follows the M-v-K mechanism; thus, the active species on the catalyst surface play an important role. Moreover, the CuMnTiOx and NTP mixed system exhibited excellent stability, which is probably because Cu doping improved the lifetime of the catalyst. This work can provide an experimental and theoretical basis for research in the degradation of o-DCB by plasma catalyst systems.

Corrosion Behavior of Carbon Steel in Diethylenetriamine Solution for Post-combustion CO2 Capture.

In the realm of postcombustion carbon capture, diethylenetriamine (DETA), recognized for its substantial CO2 absorption capacity, presents a formidable challenge due to its corrosive impact on equipment. This study delves into the corrosion behavior of 20# carbon steel immersed in DETA solutions under varying conditions, employing weight loss and electrochemical methods. The investigation incorporates scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses for characterization. Corrosion experiments were also conducted in monoethanolamine (MEA) solutions for a comparative analysis. Results from the corrosion tests in DETA solutions mirror the temperature-dependent corrosion rate (CR) observed in MEA. However, a distinctive trend emerges as the CO2 loading of DETA increases from 0.2 mol CO2/mol amine to 1.2 mol CO2/mol amine, leading to a continuous decrease in the CR of carbon steel-contrary to MEA solutions. This anomaly is attributed to DETA's robust complexing ability with metal ions and its elevated solubility of Fe2+ in solution. Additionally, an examination of the corrosion mechanism in the presence of oxygen was conducted through characterizing the specimen surface and solution precipitates postexperiment. The absence of a protective FeCO3 layer can be attributed to insufficient concentrations of free Fe2+ and CO32- in the solution, failing to achieve the minimum saturation required for protective film formation. The insights gained from studying the corrosion behavior of carbon steel in DETA solutions lay the groundwork for subsequent developments in corrosion inhibitors.

Effect of gas components on the degradation mechanism of o-dichlorobenzene by non-thermal plasma technology with single dielectric barrier discharge.

In this paper, the degradation of o-DCB under different gas-phase parameter conditions was investigated using the SDBD-NTP system. The results showed that the increase in initial and oxygen concentrations had opposite effects on the degradation of o-DCB. Among them, the increase of oxygen concentration promoted the degradation of o-DCB. Relative humidity promoted and then inhibited the degradation of o-DCB. The highest degradation efficiency of o-DCB was achieved at RH = 15%, reaching 91% at 29W. In the study of by-products, it was found that O3 and NOx were the main inorganic by-products, and that different oxygen levels and relative humidity conditions had a large effect on the production of O3 and NOx. In all of them, the concentration of O3 decreased with the increase of input power. NOx increased with increasing oxygen concentration, but the increase in relative humidity inhibited the production of NO and N2O and promoted the conversion of NO2. A study of organic by-products revealed this. In the absence of oxygen, a higher number of benzene products appeared. Whereas, with the addition of oxygen, only in the by-products under conditions where no relative humidity was introduced, benzene ring products were predominantly present in the by-products. However, when RH was added, n-hexane was found to be present in the by-products. This may be because the introduction of OH• favors the destruction of the benzene ring. Finally, the possible reaction pathways and reaction mechanisms of o-DCB under different gas-phase parameters are given. It provides a reference for future related scientific research as well as scientific problems in practical applications.

The pattern of expression and prognostic value of key regulators for m7G RNA methylation in hepatocellular carcinoma.

N7-methylguanosine (m7G) modification on internal RNA positions plays a vital role in several biological processes. Recent research shows m7G modification is associated with multiple cancers. However, in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), its implications remain to be determined. In this place, we need to interrogate the mRNA patterns for 29 key regulators of m7G RNA modification and assess their prognostic value in HCC. Initial, the details from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database concerning transcribed gene data and clinical information of HCC patients were inspected systematically. Second, according to the mRNA profiles of 29 m7G RNA methylation regulators, two clusters (named 1 and 2, respectively) were identified by consensus clustering. Furthermore, robust risk signature for seven m7G RNA modification regulators was constructed. Last, we used the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset to validate the prognostic associations of the seven-gene risk signature. We figured out that 24/29 key regulators of m7G RNA modification varied remarkably in their grades of expression between the HCC and the adjacent tumor control tissues. Cluster one compared with cluster two had a substandard prognosis and was also positively correlated with T classification (T), pathological stage, and vital status (fustat) significantly. Consensus clustering results suggested the expression pattern of m7G RNA modification regulators was correlated with the malignancy of HCC strongly. In addition, cluster one was extensively enriched in metabolic-related pathways. Seven optimal genes (METTL1, WDR4, NSUN2, EIF4E, EIF4E2, NCBP1, and NCBP2) were selected to establish the risk model for HCC. Indicating by further analyses and validation, the prognostic model has fine anticipating command and this probability signature might be a self supporting presage factor for HCC. Finally, a new prognostic nomogram based on age, gender, pathological stage, histological grade, and prospects were established to forecast the prognosis of HCC patients accurately. In essence, we detected association of HCC severity and expression levels of m7G RNA modification regulators, and developed a risk score model for predicting prognosis of HCC patients' progression.

Nutritional Risk Index as a Prognostic Factor Predicts the Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Stage III Gastric Cancer.

Objective: This study is aimed to determine the potential prognostic significance of nutritional risk index (NRI) in patients with stage III gastric cancer. Methods: A total of 202 patients with stage III gastric cancer were enrolled in this study. NRI was an index based on ideal body weight, present body weight, and serum albumin levels. All patients were divided into two groups by receiver operating characteristic curve: low NRI group (NRI<99) and high NRI group (NRI≥99). The relationship between NRI and clinicopathologic characteristics was evaluated by Chi-square test. The clinical survival outcome was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and compared using log-rank test. The univariate and multivariate analyses were used to detect the potential prognostic factors. A nomogram for individualized assessment of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). The calibration curve was used to evaluate the performance of the nomogram for predicted and the actual probability of survival time. The decision curve analysis was performed to assess the clinical utility of the nomogram by quantifying the net benefits at different threshold probabilities. Results: The results indicated that NRI had prognostic significance by optimal cutoff value of 99. With regard to clinicopathologic characteristics, NRI showed significant relationship with age, weight, body mass index, total protein, albumin, albumin/globulin, prealbumin, glucose, white blood cell, neutrophils, lymphocyte, hemoglobin, red blood cell, hematocrit, total lymph nodes, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (P<0.05). Through the univariate and multivariate analyses, NRI, total lymph nodes, and tumor size were identified as the independent factor to predict the DFS and OS. The nomogram was used to predict the 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival probabilities, and the calibration curve showed that the prediction line matched the reference line well for 1-, 3-, and 5-year DFS and OS. Furthermore, the decision curve analysis also showed that the nomogram model yielded the best net benefit across the range of threshold probability for 1-, 3-, 5-year DFS and OS. Conclusions: NRI is described as the potential prognostic factor for patients with stage III gastric cancer and is used to predict the survival and prognosis.

Getting insight into the influence of coexisting airborne nanoparticles on gas adsorption performance over porous materials.

Adsorption as one of the most important air cleaning methods has been extensively applied during which the coexisting airborne nanoparticles (NPs) with sizes close to adsorbent pore sizes could inevitably influence gas adsorption processes. In this work, the influence of sub-20 nm NPs on toluene adsorption on ZSM-5 zeolites exchanged with different cations (Li+, Na+ and K+) were studied based on gas-and-particle coexisting adsorption/filtration tests. Affinities for both toluene and NPs on adsorbents follow Li-ZSM-5 > Na-ZSM-5 > K-ZSM-5 regarding the orders of charge density, pore size, and internal and external specific surface areas. The toluene adsorption was shown to be impaired by coexisting NPs from perspectives of thermodynamics and kinetics. For Li-ZSM-5, Na-ZSM-5 and K-ZSM-5, significant relative reductions of 10.4 %, 10.5 % and 16.0 % in toluene adsorption capacity at the lower feed concentration, and of 20.3 %, 15.2 % and 2.3 % in mass transfer coefficient at the higher feed concentration were observed, respectively. The influential mechanisms regarding competitiveness between toluene and NPs in interaction with cationic and porous surfaces were accordingly proposed, which are of practical significance for selecting robust adsorbents under realistic harsh air conditions.

Study on the denitrification performance of FexLayOz/activated coke for NH3-SCR and the effect of CO escaped from activated coke at mid-high temperature on catalytic activity.

Currently, activated coke is widely used in the removal of multiple pollutants from industrial flue gas. In this paper, a series of novel FexLayOz/AC catalysts was prepared by the incipient wetness impregnation for NH3-SCR denitrification reaction. The introduction of Fe-La bimetal oxides significantly improved the denitrification performance of activated coke at mid-high temperature, and 4% Fe0.3La0.7O1.5/AC exhibited a superior NOx conversion efficiency of 90.1% at 400 °C. The catalysts were further characterized by BET, SEM, XRD, Raman, EPR, XPS, FTIR, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, et al., whose results showed that the perovskite-type oxide of LaFeO3 and oxygen vacancies were produced on the catalysts' surfaces during roasting. Fe-La doping enhanced the amount of acid sites (mainly Lewis and other stronger acid sites) and the content of multifarious oxygen species, which were beneficial for NOx removal at mid-high temperature. Moreover, it was investigated that the effect of released CO from activated coke at mid-high temperature on the NOx removal through the lifetime test, in which it was found that a large amount of CO produced by pyrolysis of activated coke could promote the NOx removal, and long-term escaping of CO on the activated coke carrier did not have a significant negative impact on catalytic performance. The results of the TG-IR test showed that volatile matter is released from the activated coke while TG results showed that the weight loss rate of 4% Fe0.3La0.7O1.5/AC only was 0.0015~0.007%/min at 300-400 °C. Hence, 4% Fe0.3La0.7O1.5/AC had excellent thermal stability and denitrification performance to be continuously used at mid-high temperature. Finally, the mechanisms were proposed on the basis of experiments and characterization results.

Dioscin inhibits colon cancer cells' growth by reactive oxygen species-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and p38 and JNK pathways.

Dioscin is a natural steroid saponin derived from several plants that shows potent anticancer effects against a variety of cancer cells. Here, we investigated the antitumor effect of dioscin against human colon cancer cells and evaluated the molecular mechanism involved in this process. The cell cytotoxicity was studied by the MTT assay and BrdU incorporation. The proapoptotic mechanism of dioscin was characterized by flow cytometry analysis. A western blot and an immunofluorescence staining were used to investigate how dioscin induces apoptosis in vitro. In our study, dioscin could significantly inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner. Dioscin induces apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, promoting the disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, Bax translocation to the mitochondria, cytochrome C release to cytosol, activations of caspase-9/3, PARP cleavage, and subsequent apoptosis. Dioscin-induced apoptosis was accompanied by sustained phosphorylation of JNK, p38-MAPK. N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a scavenger of ROS, significantly reversed dioscin-induced cell death and activation of JNK and p38. Collectively, the data indicate that the induction of apoptosis by dioscin is mediated through ROS proteins, which are critical upstream signals for JNK/p38-MAPK activation.