Investigation of the acicular aragonite growth behavior in AOD stainless steel slag during slurry-phase carbonation.

This study presents a novel method for producing acicular aragonite using argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) slag while controlling the reaction temperature, reaction time, stirring speed, and the magnesium-to­calcium stoichiometric ratio. This approach provides steel plants with an opportunity to decrease their CO2 emissions and promote efficient resource utilization and CO2 storage through the production of high-quality value-added products. The experimental results showed that reaction temperature was the most significant factor affecting the carbonation efficiency of AOD slag, followed by reaction time, stirring speed, CO2 partial pressure, and the liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S). The study also found that elevated temperature and prolonged reaction duration favored the preferential precipitation of aragonite. Additionally, raising the temperature and the magnesium-to­calcium stoichiometric ratio was shown to enhance the formation of aragonite, affecting its crystal growth orientation and dimensions. The optimal combination of reaction parameters for the preparation of acicular aragonite was found to be the reaction time of 8 h, the magnesium-to­calcium stoichiometric ratio of 0.8, the reaction temperature of 120 °C, and the stirring speed of 200 r·min-1. Under these conditions, the resulting acicular aragonite exhibited excellent overall uniformity, a large aspect ratio, and a smooth crystal surface, with a content of 91.49 %, a single crystal length ranging from 9.86 to 32.6 µm, and a diameter ranging from 0.63 to 2.15 µm. This study provides valuable insights into the efficient production of acicular aragonite from steel slag while reducing CO2 emissions and promoting the sustainable use of resources.

Highly efficient removal of hexavalent chromium by magnetic Fe-C composite from reed straw and electric furnace dust waste.

Reed straw and electric furnace dust (EFD) waste were used to prepare magnetic Fe-C composite (EFD&C) by co-precipitation and high-temperature activation method to remove Cr(VI) from water. The magnetic EFD&C owned a large specific surface (536.61 m2/g) and a porous structure (micropores and mesopores), and had an efficient removal capacity for Cr(VI). Under conditions of pH (2), the addition amount of EFD&C (1 g/L), the adsorption time (760 min), and the temperature (45 °C), the maximum adsorption capacity reached 111.94 mg/g. The adsorption mechanism mainly attributed to chemical adsorption (redox), Cr(VI) reduced to Cr(III) by Fe(II) and Fe(0) (from Fe3O4 and Fe components in EFD) and surface functional groups of -OH, C = C, C-C and O-C = O (from biochar), and secondary attributed to physical adsorption, Cr(VI) and Cr(III) (from reduced Cr(VI)) adsorbed into the porous structure of EFD&C. This study provided a feasible solution for the preparation of adsorbents for adsorbing heavy metals from iron-containing metallurgical solid waste and biomass waste, which contributed to reducing the environmental pollution and lowering the cost of adsorbent preparation.

Study on miRNAs in Pan-Cancer of the Digestive Tract Based on the Illumina HiSeq System Data Sequencing.

OBJECTIVE: miRNA has gained attention as a therapeutic target in various malignancies. The proposal of this study was to investigate the biological functions of key miRNAs and target genes in cancers of the digestive tract which include esophageal carcinoma (ESCA), gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC), colon adenocarcinoma (COAD), and rectal adenocarcinoma (READ). MATERIALS AND METHODS: After screening differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMIs) and differentially expressed mRNAs (DEMs) in four digestive cancers from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, the diagnostic value of above DEMIs was evaluated by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Then, corresponding DEMIs' target genes were predicted by miRWalk 2.0. Intersection of predicted target genes and DEMs was taken as the target genes of DEMIs, and miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks between DEMIs and target genes were constructed. Meanwhile, the univariate Cox risk regression model was used to screen miRNAs with distinct prognostic value, and Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to determine their significance of prognosis. Furthermore, we performed bioinformatics methods including protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks, gene ontology (GO) annotation, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis, and gene group RIDA analysis by Gene-Cloud of Biotechnology Information (GCBI) to explore the function and molecular mechanisms of DEMIs and predicted target genes in tumor development. RESULTS: Eventually, 3 DEMIs (miR-7-3, miR-328, and miR-323a) with significant prognostic value were obtained. In addition, 3 DEMIs (miR-490-3p, miR-133a-3p, and miR-552-3p) and 281 target genes were identified, and the 3 DEMIs showed high diagnostic value in READ and moderate diagnostic value in ESCA, GAC, and COAD. Also, the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network with 3 DEMIs and 281 overlapping genes was successfully established. Functional enrichment analysis showed that 281 overlapping genes were mainly related to regulation of cell proliferation, cell migration, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: The diagnostic value and prognostic value of significant DEMIs in cancers of the digestive tract were identified, which may provide a novel direction for treatment and prognosis improvement of cancers of the digestive tract.

Thermodynamic simulation on mineralogical composition of CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO quaternary slag system.

It is necessary to elucidate the crystallization thermodynamic of mineralogical phases during the cooling process of the molten BFS with different chemical composition, because the high-melting point mineral phase maybe crystallized during the fiber forming and thereafter cooling process. Thermodynamic calculation software FactSage6.4 and the hot remelting experiments were performed to explore the influence of basicity, Al2O3 content and MgO content on the crystallization of mineralogical components and their transformation. The results showed that the main mineralography of the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO quaternary slag system was melilite, and a certain amount of anorthite and calcium metasilicate. The crystallographic temperature of melilite is increased with the increasing of basicity, MgO and Al2O3 content, which has a significant impact on the utilization performance of the mineral wool prepared with the hot blast furnace slag directly. With the increasing of basicity, there was a tendency that crystallographic amount of melilite increased to the summit and then declined, while the amount of anorthite and calcium metasilicate decreased consistently. Finally, these two mineralogical components could be replaced by magnesium rhodonite and spinel with the increasing of basicity. When the basicity and MgO content were 1.0 and 9 %, the crystallographic mass ratio of melilite and anorthite increased, while that of calcium silicate declined, and replaced by spinel finally with the increasing of Al2O3 content. When the basicity and Al2O3 content were 1.0 and 13 %, the crystallographic mass ratio of melilite increased, while that of anorthite and calcium silicate declined, and replaced by pyroxene and spinel with the increasing of MgO content. To decline fiberization temperature of the melt BFS, the basicity, MgO and Al2O3 content should be decreased during the modification process of chemical composition, because the crystallization temperature of the primary crystalline phase in the slag system without modification.

Quality evaluation of five commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay kits for detecting aflatoxin b1 in feedstuffs.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of five commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits (A, B, C, D, and E) from different suppliers for detecting aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). AFB1-free corn samples supplemented with different levels of AFB1 (5, 10, and 20 µg/kg) were used as positive controls and 6 replicates of each control sample were tested to evaluate the accuracy and precision of these kits. In addition, we also evaluated the performance of these ELISA kits for AFB1 in 30 feed samples, including corn, distillers dried grains with soluble, wheat samples, soybean meal, and poultry feed, which were verified by high performance liquid chromatography. Results showed that the coefficients of variation ranged from 1.18% to 16.22% in intra-plate and 2.85% to 18.04% in inter-plate for the determination of AFB1. The half maximal inhibitory concentration for five kits ranged from 3.72 to 7.22 µg/kg. The quantitation limits of AFB1 were all under the legal limit in China but somewhat inconsistent with kit instructions. Although the recovery rate of four of the five kits were either less than 90% or more than 110%, all these values were acceptable in practice. Two kits had high false positive rates (C and E). In conclusion, our results revealed that the qualities of five tested ELISA kits were significantly different.

HPV16E7-specific siRNA inhibits cell proliferation in CaSki cells.

High-risk human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is the main cause for the genesis of cervical carcinomas. After infection, E6 and E7 genes of HPV were integrated to the genome of the cervical epithelium. Continued expression of the transforming oncoproteins E6 and E7 not only drives the neoplastic progression in cervical epithelium, but also plays an important role in maintaining the malignant phenotype of cervical cancer cells. The aim of this study is to explore the effects of liposomal transfection of HPV16E7 siRNA on the proliferation of cervical carcinoma cell line CaSki. The siRNA interfering HPV16E7 gene was synthesized and transfected into CaSki cells by liposome to observe the cell morphology changes under microscope. The cell proliferation index was detected by flow cytometry; HPV16E7 mRNA expression was determined by RT-PCR and its protein level was determined by Western blot. After transfection of the CaSki cell by siRNA, cell proliferation was inhibited significantly, and the expression of HPV16E7 mRNA and protein level of HPV16E7 decreased. HPV16E7 siRNA is able to inhibit growth of CaSki cells. HPV16E7 might become a new target for genetic therapy of cervical carcinoma.

[Long-term sorption /desorption behavior of pyrene in soils].

Long-term sorption/desorption behavior of pyrene in six types of soils are investigated. The results show that long-term sorption and desorption entail two phases, including initially rapid process followed by a slow sorption/desorption. When soil organic matter (SOM) content was below 1%, the constant of sorption Kd of dissimilar soils increased with SOM content under different equilibrium time. While clay content played an important role in sorption capacity of the soils as SOM content was below 1%. In long-term sorption experiment, the Kd values of the six soils increased from 35.1% to 557.9%, respectively, with the sorption equilibrium time increased from 2 d to 180 d. Clay influenced significantly on Kd, while the effect of SOM was different, which suggested that the effect of sorption time on Kd of some soils could not be ignored. In long-term desorption experiment, the slow desorption percentages of pyrene from the six soils were in the range of 12.05% - 41.00%, with the tendency that the attribution of slow desorption fraction to desorption process increased with SOM. Ignoring the influence of aging on the sorption/desorption, it indicates that the attribution of SOM to the capacity of irreversible sorption compartment is distinctly higher than that of clay, which is consistent to the attribution of SOM to slow desorption process.

Mitochondrial genome single nucleotide polymorphisms and their phenotypes in the Japanese.

Polymorphisms in the human mitochondrial genome have been used for the elucidation of phylogenetic relationships among various ethnic groups. Because analysis by mitochondrial genetics has detected pathogenic mutations causing mitochondrial encephalomyopathy or cardiomyopathy, most of the mitochondrial single nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) found in control subjects have been regarded as merely normal variants. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that the mitochondrial functional differences among individuals are ascribable at least in part to the mtSNPs of each individual. Human lifespan in ancient history was much shorter than that at the present time. Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that certain mtSNPs that predispose one toward susceptibility to adult- or elderly-onset diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, have never been a target for natural selection in the past. Similarly, thrifty mtSNPs that had been advantageous for survival under severe famine or cold climate conditions might turn out to be related to satiation-related diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and obesity. To examine these hypotheses, we have constructed a mtSNP database by sequencing the entire mitochondrial genomes of 672 subjects: 96 in each of seven groups (i.e., centenarians, young obese or non-obese subjects, diabetic patients with or without major vascular involvement, patients with Parkinson's disease, and those with Alzheimer's disease).