Recycling and high-value utilization of polyethylene terephthalate wastes: A review.

Polyethelene terephthalate (PET) is a well-known thermoplastic, and recycling PET waste is important for the natural environment and human health. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the recycling and reuse of PET waste through energy recovery and physical, chemical, and biological recycling. This article summarizes the recycling methods and the high-value products derived from PET waste, specifically detailing the research progress on regenerated PET prepared by the mechanical recycling of fiber/yarn, fabric, and composite materials, and introduces the application of PET nanofibers recycled by physical dissolution and electrospinning in fields such as filtration, adsorption, electronics, and antibacterial materials. This article explains the energy recovery of PET through thermal decomposition and comprehensively discusses various chemical recycling methods, including the reaction mechanisms, catalysts, conversion efficiencies, and reaction products, with a brief introduction to PET biodegradation using hydrolytic enzymes provided. The analysis and comparison of various recycling methods indicated that the mechanical recycling method yielded PET products with a wide range of applications in composite materials. Electrospinning is a highly promising recycling strategy for fabricating recycled PET nanofibers. Compared to other methods, physical recycling has advantages such as low cost, low energy consumption, high value, simple processing, and environmental friendliness, making it the preferred choice for the recycling and high-value utilization of waste PET.

Trends in antidiabetic drug use and expenditure in public hospitals in Northwest China, 2012-21: a case study of Gansu Province.

BACKGROUND: Since the twenty-first century, the prevalence of diabetes has risen globally year by year. In Gansu Province, an economically underdeveloped province in northwest China, the cost of drugs for diabetes patients accounted for one-third of their total drug costs. To fundamentally reduce national drug expenditures and the burden of medication on the population, the relevant departments of government have continued to reform and improve drug policies. This study aimed to analyse long-term trends in antidiabetic drug use and expenditure in Gansu Province from 2012 to 2021 and to explore the role of pharmaceutical policy. METHODS: Data were obtained from the provincial centralised bidding and purchasing (CBP) platform. Drug use was quantified using the anatomical therapeutic chemistry/defined daily dose (ATC/DDD) method and standardised by DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID), and drug expenditure was expressed in terms of the total amount and defined daily cost (DDC). Linear regression was used to analyse the trends and magnitude of drug use and expenditure. RESULTS: The overall trend in the use and expenditure of antidiabetic drugs was on the rise, with the use increasing from 1.04 in 2012 to 16.02 DID in 2021 and the expenditure increasing from 48.36 in 2012 to 496.42 million yuan in 2021 (from 7.66 to 76.95 million USD). Some new and expensive drugs changed in the use pattern, and their use and expenditure shares (as the percentage of all antidiabetic drugs) increased from 0 to 11.17% and 11.37%, but insulins and analogues and biguanides remained the most used drug class. The DDC of oral drugs all showed a decreasing trend, but essential medicines (EMs) and medical insurance drugs DDC gradually decreased with increasing use. The price reduction of the bid-winning drugs was over 40%, and the top three drugs were glimepiride 2mg/30, acarbose 50mg/30 and acarbose 100mg/30. CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of pharmaceutical policies has significantly increased drug use and expenditure while reducing drug prices, and the introduction of novel drugs and updated treatment guidelines has led to changes in use patterns.

Research on Pedestrian and Cyclist Classification Method Based on Micro-Doppler Effect.

In the field of autonomous driving, it is important to protect vulnerable road users (VRUs) and ensure the safety of autonomous driving effectively by improving the detection accuracy of VRUs in the driver's field of vision. However, due to the strong temporal similarity between pedestrians and cyclists, the insensitivity of the traditional least squares method to their differences results in its suboptimal classification performance. In response to this issue, this paper proposes an algorithm for classifying pedestrian and cyclist targets based on the micro-Doppler effect. Firstly, distinct from conventional time-frequency fusion methods, a preprocessing module was developed to solely perform frequency-domain fitting on radar echo data of pedestrians and cyclists in forward motion, with the purpose of generating fitting coefficients for the classification task. Herein, wavelet threshold processing, short-time Fourier transform, and periodogram methods are employed to process radar echo data. Then, for the heightened sensitivity to inter-class differences, a fractional polynomial is introduced into the extraction of micro-Doppler characteristics of VRU targets to enhance extraction precision. Subsequently, the support vector machine technique is embedded for precise feature classification. Finally, subjective comparisons, objective explanations, and ablation experiments demonstrate the superior performance of our algorithm in the field of VRU target classification.

Long-term trend of antibiotic use at public health care institutions in northwest China, 2012-20 -- a case study of Gansu Province.

BACKGROUND: Over the past 20 years, excessive antibiotic use has led to serious antimicrobial resistance (AMR) worldwide, and the phenomenon is particularly serious in China. To this end, the Chinese health sector took a series of measures to promote rational antibiotic use. In this study, to reveal the impact of policies on antibiotic use, we explored the long-term trend and patterns of antibiotic use at public health care institutions from 2012 to 2020 in northwest China, taking Gansu Province as an example. METHODS: Antibiotic procurement data were obtained from the provincial centralized bidding procurement (CBP) platform between 2012 and 2020. Antibiotic use was quantified using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC)/defined daily doses (DDD) methodology and standardized using the DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day (DID). Twelve relevant quality indicators were calculated for comparison with the European Surveillance of Antimicrobial Consumption (ESAC) project monitoring results. RESULTS: Total antibiotic use increased from 18.75 DID to 57.07 DID and then decreased to 19.11 DID, a turning point in 2014. The top three antibiotics used were J01C (beta-lactam antibacterials, penicillins), J01F (macrolides, lincosamides and streptogramins), and J01D (other beta-lactam antibacterials, cephalosporins), accounting for 45.15%, 31.40%, and 11.99% respectively. The oral antibiotics used were approximately 2.5 times the parenteral antibiotics, accounting for 71.81% and 28.19%, respectively. Different use preferences were shown in public hospitals and primary health care centres (PHCs), and the latter accounted for more than half of total use. The absolute use of all classes of antibiotics in Gansu is almost higher than any of the 31 European countries included in the ESAC, but the relative use of some focused antibiotics is lower than theirs. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention policies of the health department reduced antibiotic use in Gansu Province, but the proportion of broad-spectrum and parenteral antibiotics was still high. It is necessary to further improve the quality of antibiotic prescriptions and pay more attention to the rationality of antibiotic use in PHCs.

Research on Assessment Methods of Spectral Reflectance Data Quality for Computer Color Matching.

Spectral reflectance data quality is important for computer color matching. There are two existing methods for evaluating the quality­spectral reflectance method and K/S method, which are too complex to apply. In this paper, 45°/0° and d/8° geometric conditions are used in the measurement of spectral reflectance of the offset ink samples printed on coated paper and silver-foiled paper while improvement on the geometric condition is made on the basis of the spectral reflectance method. Moreover, a new evaluation method­lightness and chromaticity comparative method is put forward, and comparison is made among the three methods. The results show that both 45°/0° and d/8° are feasible in the measurement of spectral reflectance of coated paper; however the former one cannot meet the requirement of spectral reflectance measurement of silver-foiled paper. In addition, as to d/8° Specular Component Included (SCI), when the silver-foiled paper is taken as the substrate, the reflectance of transparent white ink samples are smaller than that of other primary inks; and abnormal intersections appear in the curves of cyan and magenta ink respectively at the concentration of 60%, resulting in a poor spectra quality at high ink concentration; In the figure of lightness and chromaticity curves, there is significant divergence of the cyan and magenta ink curves from the referenced coated paper. In conclusion, the spectral reflectance of the transparent ink should be greater than or at least equal to other primary inks, and the maximum concentration of cyan and magenta should be limited; when the coated paper with good diffusion performance is taken as the reference, the comparative analysis is more intuitive than the two existing methods.

The Optimization Study of Rheological Characteristics of Wind Power Grease Based on Gel-State.

The gel-state grease plays a vital and indispensable role in the long-term operation of wind turbines. To reduce carbon emissions and increase the reliability of wind turbines, this paper takes the gel-state Mobil SHC 461WT grease as the study object. Firstly, the rheological properties of the gel-state Mobil SHC 461WT grease were investigated using the Anton Paar MCR302 rotational rheometer. Secondly, the rheological characteristics of three different gel states of the Mobil SHC 461WT grease (additive content of 0.1% of RFM3000, SK3115, and PV611, respectively, in the gel-state Mobil SHC 461WT grease) were optimized under the same conditions. Finally, according to the experimental results and the Herschel-Bulkley (H-B) model, the RFM3000 additive has the best effect on improving the rheological characteristics of the gel-state Mobil SHC 461WT grease. This research provides a new idea and direction for the technological advancement of the gel-state grease industry.

Unraveling fluorescent mechanism of biomass-sourced carbon dots based on three major components: Cellulose, lignin, and protein.

The complexity of biomass components leads to significant variations in the performance of biomass-based carbon dots (CDs). To shed light on this matter, this study presents a comparative analysis of the fluorescence properties of CDs using pure cellulose, lignin, and protein as models. Three CDs showed different fluorescent properties, resulting from the structure difference and carbonization behavior in the hydrothermal. The relatively gentle thermal degradation of proteins allows the macromolecular structure of amino acids to be preserved. This preservation results in a more regular lattice structure, a larger sp2 domain size, and N-doping, which contribute to the highest quantum yield (QY) of 8.7% of the CDs. In contrast, cellulose undergoes more severe thermal degradation with large amounts of small molecules generated, resulting in the CDs with fewer surface defects, more irregular lattice structures, and lower QY. These results provide a guideline for the design of carbon dots from different biomass.

Effect of electronic structure of energy transfer in bimetallic Ru(II)/Os(II) complexes.

Novel monometallic (µ-LL')Ru, Ru(µ-LL'), homobimetallic Ru(µ-LL')Ru, and heterodimetallic Ru(µ-LL')Os and Os(µ-LL')Ru complexes based on two asymmetrical ligands LL' (where LL' = L1L1', L2L2') have been synthesized and characterized. Spectroscopic analysis indicates that all complexes exhibit intense spin-allowed ligand-centered (LC) transitions at 288 nm and Ru-based moderate spin-allowed MLCT absorption between 440-450 nm. The Ru(µ-LL')Os and Os(µ-LL')Ru dinuclear complexes show Os-based unit absorption in the range of 565-583 nm. The Ru-based units of the complexes present different emission intensities due to differing steric hindrance at the coordination sites of the two bridging ligands. The Os(µ-LL')Ru dinuclear complexes present weaker emission intensity than their parent monometallic complexes (µ-LL')Ru. These results indicate that the emission of Os(µ-LL')Ru dinuclear complexes is quenched by the Os(II)-based units.

M1­like tumor­associated macrophages enhance proliferation and anti­apoptotic ability of liver cancer cells via activating the NF­κB signaling pathway.

Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer­associated death worldwide. The present study aimed to evaluate the infiltration of M1­like tumor­associated macrophages (TAMs) and explore the role of infiltration of M1­like TAMs in the proliferation and apoptosis evasion of liver cancer cells. Furthermore, the association between M1­like TAM and the efficacy of postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for patients with liver cancer was investigated. The levels of CD68, human leukocyte antigen­DR and phosphorylated NF­κB (p­)p65 were detected by western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. Cell cycle analysis, MTT and clonogenic assays were utilized to investigate the proliferation of liver cancer cells. It was indicated that M1­like TAM increased the p­p65/p65 ratio in liver cancer cells and promoted cell proliferation. Furthermore, JSH­23, an inhibitor that prevents p65 from entering the nucleus, decreased the proliferation of liver cancer cells in M1­like TAM­conditioned medium. In addition, M1­like TAM increased the number of liver cancer cells in the S and G2/M phases of the cell cycle and also upregulated the expression levels of cyclin­dependent kinase (CDK)1, CDK2 and cyclin D1. By contrast, M1­like TAM decreased the expression level of p21. Through these effects, the anti­apoptotic ability of liver cancer cells was enhanced. Of note, JSH­23 reversed these changes related to the cell cycle, anti­apoptotic ability and the expression levels of proteins induced by M1­like TAM in liver cancer cells. In conclusion, the infiltration of M1­like TAM in liver tissue negatively influenced the efficacy of postoperative TACE for patients with liver cancer.

CKS1B promotes the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma by activating JAK/STAT3 signal pathway.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignancy of considerable concern due to its continuous increase in morbidity and mortality. This study attempts to identify the molecules that play a key role in the progression of HCC, explore its potential mechanism, and provide more target choices for targeted therapy. Using overexpression plasmid and shRNA, CKS1B was respectively overexpressed and knocked down to explore its biological function roles in HCC progression and development. MTT and colony formation assays showed that knockdown of CKS1B inhibited the survival and proliferation of HCC cell lines (Hep3B and Huh7). The flow cytometry and western blot analysis showed that knockdown of CKS1B significantly induced the apoptosis of Hep3B and Huh7 cells. The wound healing and transwell invasion assays showed that knockdown of CKS1B had a significant inhibitory effect on the migration and invasion of Hep3B and Huh7 cells. These functional tests confirmed that CKS1B acts as an oncogene that regulates the malignant progression of HCC. Moreover, this study also demonstrated that knockdown of CKS1B inhibited the activation of JAK/STAT3 pathway, evidenced by the significantly downregulated p-STAT3 protein expression. Furthermore, knockdown of CKS1B also downregulated STAT3 target genes TIMP-1, Bcl-2 and VEGF, which were involved in controlling cell apoptosis and migration. On the contrary, overexpression of CKS1B caused the completely opposite results. Taken together, CKS1B acts as an oncogene to promote the proliferation and metastasis of HCC cells by activating JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway.

Water Absorption and Hygrothermal Aging Behavior of Wood-Polypropylene Composites.

Environmentally sound composites reinforced with natural fibers or particles interest many researchers and engineers due to their great potential to substitute the traditional composites reinforced with glass fibers. However, the sensitivity of natural fiber-reinforced composites to water has limited their applications. In this paper, wood powder-reinforced polypropylene composites (WPCs) with various wood content were prepared and subjected to water absorption tests to study the water absorption procedure and the effect of water absorbed in the specimens on the mechanical properties. Water soaking tests were carried out by immersion of composite specimens in a container of distilled water maintained at three different temperatures, 23, 60 and 80 °C. The results showed that the moisture absorption content was related to wood powder percentage and they had a positive relationship. The transfer process of water molecules in the sample was found to follow the Fickian model and the diffusion constant increased with elevated water temperature. In addition, tensile and bending tests of both dry and wet composite samples were conducted and the results indicated that water absorbed in composite specimens degraded their mechanical properties. The tensile strength and modulus of the composites reinforced with 15, 30, 45 wt % wood powder decreased by 5.79%, 17.2%, 32.06% and 25.31%, 33.6%, 47.3% respectively, compared with their corresponding dry specimens. The flexural strength and modulus of the composite samples exhibited a similar result. Furthermore, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) also confirmed that the detrimental effect of water molecules on the composite specimens.

Indocyanine green clearance test and model for end-stage liver disease score of patients with liver cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND: The indocyanine green (ICG) clearance test (clearance rate (K) and retention rate at 15 minutes (R15)) is a sensitive indicator to evaluate liver function. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score has emerged as a useful tool for estimating the mortality of patients awaiting liver transplantation and has recently been validated on patients with liver diseases of various etiologies and severity. In this study, we investigated the correlation between the ICG clearance test and MELD score of patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS: From June 2007 to March 2008, 52 patients with liver cirrhosis admitted to our center were classified into Child-Pugh class A (8 patients), B (14) and C (30). The ICG clearance test (K value and R15) was performed by ICG pulse spectrophotometry (DDG-3300K), and the MELD scores of patients were calculated. RESULTS: As the Child-Pugh classification of liver function gradually deteriorated, the K value decreased, while R15 and MELD score increased. There were significant statistical differences in K value, R15 and MELD score in patients with different Child-Pugh classifications. Significant correlations were found between the parameters of the ICG clearance test (K value and R15) and MELD score. A negative correlation was observed between K value and MELD score (r=-0.892, P<0.05), while a positive correlation was observed between R15 and MELD score (r=0.804, P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The ICG clearance test and MELD score are good parameters for evaluating liver function. Moreover, K value and R15 have significant correlations with MELD score, especially the K value, which may be a convenient and appropriate indicator to evaluate liver function of patients with liver cirrhosis.

Targeted IL-24 gene therapy inhibits cancer recurrence after liver tumor resection by inducing tumor cell apoptosis in nude mice.

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-24 (IL-24) is a novel candidate tumor suppressor that induces tumor cell apoptosis experimentally in a variety of human malignant cells including liver cancer cells. The present study was conducted to investigate the potential effect of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV)-mediated IL-24 gene therapy on tumor recurrence and metastasis by inducing tumor cell apoptosis in a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) model in nude mice. METHODS: We established a recurrent and metastatic HCC model in nude mice and constructed an rAAV vector carrying alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) promoter for expressing the IL-24 gene (rAVV/AFP/IL-24). The vector was administered by regional injection (liver incisal margin). AFP was detected by radiation immunoassay. Histological evaluation of tumor recurrence and metastasis was performed for the liver and lung. The effect of tumor cell apoptosis was confirmed by TUNEL analysis. RESULTS: IL-24 gene therapy prevented tumor recurrence and metastasis, as evidenced by marked decreases in the number of metastatic tumor nodules and tumor volume in the liver and lung. At the same time, serum AFP concentration decreased markedly in the IL-24 group compared with the control or rAAV groups (P<0.05). IL-24 gene therapy inhibited tumor recurrence and metastasis as evidenced by the induction of tumor cell apoptosis. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that targeted IL-24 gene therapy was effective in the prevention of postoperative recurrence and metastasis in an HCC nude mice model by induction of tumor cells apoptosis with potential minimum tumor burden.

Mechanical properties and long-term durability of recycled polysulfone plastic.

In view of the recycling of PSU plastics has a good energy saving and environmental protection significance. This paper is concerned with the mechanical properties, and long-term durability of virgin and recycled polysulfone plastics (PSU) collected from wasted PSU nonwovens, the mechanical experiment of tensile test and Izod impact test are carried out to investigate the effect of cycle processing on the performance of PSU. The long-term durability of virgin and recycled PSU is studied base on time-temperature superposition by using a dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The thermal stability is evaluated by pyrolytic activation energy calculated by Iso-conversional kinetics method using a Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results show that the recycled PSU exhibits the similar tensile property while lower impact strength than virgin PSU. The long-term durability and thermal stability of virgin PSU are better than recycled PSU and decreased with increasing the times of cycle processing, which is attributed to the mixing of impurities and degradation of the molecular structure in the recycling process.

Effects of Static Cold Storage and Hypothermic Machine Perfusion on Oxidative Stress Factors, Adhesion Molecules, and Zinc Finger Transcription Factor Proteins Before and After Liver Transplantation.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the effects of static cold storage (SCS) and hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) on the oxidative stress factors (OSF), adhesion molecules (AM), and zinc finger transcription factor (Snail) before and after liver transplantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS Experimental dogs were randomly divided into donor (group A), SCS (group B), and HMP (group C) (n=30) groups. Livers retrieved from group A were transplanted into group B after SCS, and the livers sampled from group B were transplanted into group C after HMP. The dogs in group A were euthanized and discarded, and the livers sampled from group C were used for other experiments. Twenty dogs with successful liver transplants were randomly selected from groups B and C for analysis. RESULTS During the liver sampling process, the levels of OSF, AM, and Snail between the 2 groups showed no significant differences (P>0.05); before the transplantation, the levels of chemokine CXCL14 and Snail between the 2 groups showed no significant differences (P>0.05), and compared with group B, HIF-1α and P-selectin in group C were lower (P<0.01); 60 min after the transplantation, HIF-1α, chemokine CXCL14, P-selectin, and Snail in group C were lower than that in group B (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS HMP can significantly reduce the levels of OSF and inflammatory factors, which is conducive for liver transplantation.

Right hepatic arterial pseudoaneurysm with hemobilia following minilaparotomy cholecystectomy: a rare complication.

Hepatic arterial pseudoaneurysm with hemobilia occurs less frequently as a complication of minilaparotomy cholecystectomy than laparoscopic cholecystectomy; however, given its severe nature, it needs to be managed promptly. This report presents a case of right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm with hemobilia in a 36-year-old woman who underwent minilaparotomy cholecystectomy 5 weeks earlier. Angiography with embolization was carried out as definitive treatment.

Establishment of an animal model of ischemic type intrahepatic biliary lesion in rabbits.

AIM: To explore a method to establish an animal model of ischemic type intrahepatic biliary lesion in rabbits. METHODS: Forty Japanese white rabbits of clean grade were divided randomly into four groups (10 rabbits per group) including sham operation (SO) group, and artery-bile obstruction (ABO)-1 h group, ABO-2 h group and ABO-3 h group. All the rabbits in this study underwent the same initial surgical procedure in which the liver was prepared as for graft removal during liver transplantation. Subsequently in the SO group, no additional vascular intervention was performed, while in groups ABO-1 h, ABO-2 h and ABO-3 h, the animals underwent combined clamping of the hepatic artery and common bile duct with microvascular clips for 1, 2 and 3 h, respectively. After the scheduled occlusion time, the clip was removed to recover blood supply. The animals were killed 4 wk after operation. The survival rate, liver function, cholangiography and histopathological manifestation of the rabbits in each group were observed. RESULTS: The survival rate was 100% in groups SO, ABO-1 h and ABO-2 h, while it was 60% in group ABO-3 h. At each observation time, the change degree of the indexes of liver function was proportional to the clamping time (ABO-3 h > ABO-2 h > ABO-1 h > SO, P < 0.05). Cholangiographical and histopathologic manifestations both showed that intrahepatic biliary lesion aggravated proportionally with the increase of the clamping time. CONCLUSION: An animal model of ischemic type intrahepatic biliary lesion in rabbits is successfully established, which may provide a reliable technique for basic and clinical research into the etiology, development and prophylaxis of ischemic type intrahepatic biliary lesion after liver transplantation.