USP50 regulates NLRP3 inflammasome activation in duodenogastric reflux-induced gastric tumorigenesis.

Duodenogastric reflux (DGR) has been linked to the onset of gastric cancer (GC), although the precise mechanism is yet obscure. Herein, we aimed to investigate how refluxed bile acids (BAs) and macrophages are involved in gastric carcinogenesis. In both active human bile reflux gastritis and the murine DGR model, ubiquitin specific protease 50 (USP50) was dramatically raised, and macrophages were the principal leukocyte subset that upregulated USP50 expression. Enhancing USP50 expression amplified bile acid-induced NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation and subsequent high-mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1) release, while USP50 deficiency resulted in the reversed alteration. Mechanistically, USP50 interacted with and deubiquitinated apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD (ASC) to activate NLRP3 inflammasome. The release of HMGB1 contributes to gastric tumorigenesis by PI3K/AKT and MAPK/ERK pathways. These results may provide new insights into bile reflux-related gastric carcinogenesis and options for the prevention of DGR-associated GC.

Measurement Method of Physical Parameters of Two-Phase Flow Based on Dual-Frequency Demodulation.

Oil-water two-phase flow commonly occurs in the process of crude oil electric dehydration. Here, through dynamic changes in the water content and conductivity of oil-water two-phase flow in the process of electric dehydration, the influence of water content and conductivity on the efficiency and stability of electric dehydration is analyzed. Using real-time in-line measurements of water content and conductivity, the electric dehydration system is kept in an optimal state, which provides a basis for realizing efficient oil-water separation. Measurements of the physical parameters of oil-water two-phase flow is affected by many factors, such as the temperature of the two-phase flow, composition of the two-phase flow medium, structure of the measurement sensor, coupling of the conventional resistance-capacitance excitation signal, and processing of the measurement data. This complexity causes, some shortcomings to the control system, such as a large measurement error, limited measurement range, inability to measure the medium water phase as a conductive water phase, etc., and not meeting the requirements of the electric dehydration process. To solve that the conductivity and water content of high-conductivity crude oil emulsions cannot be measured synchronously, the RC relationship of oil-water emulsions is measured synchronously using dual-frequency digital demodulation technology, which verifies the feasibility of our test method for the synchronous measurement of physical parameters of homogeneous oil-water two-phase flow. Experimental results show that the novel measuring method (which is within the target measuring range) can be used to measure water content 0~40% and conductivity 1 ms/m~100 ms/m. The measuring error of the water content is less than 2%, and the measuring error of the conductivity is less than 5%.

A novel janus membrane modified by MXene for enhanced anti-fouling and anti-wetting in direct contact membrane distillation.

Membrane fouling and wetting limit the applications of membrane distillation (MD) for wastewater treatment, especially when treating the wastewater with a high concentration of low surface tension substances such as oil and surfactants. In this paper, virgin polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane was modified by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to enhance anti-wetting ability. Then a thin polydopamine (PDA) layer was coated as a reaction platform for further modification. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) was cross-linked with PDA to form a uniform and stable layer, through hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interaction to immobilize hydrophilic MXene, which formed a Janus MXene-PVDF membrane. The MXene layer was the key for superoleophobicity and high liquid entry pressure (LEP) of membrane, capable of mitigating membrane fouling and wetting when dealing with low surface tension wastewater (LSTW). From the experiments results, pristine PVDF membrane showed severe fouling and wetting with flux decline and salt leakage during treatment of LSTW (surfactants containing water, oil-in-water emulsion and sodium dodecyl sulfate stabilized oil-in-water emulsion). However, under the same conditions, the Janus MXene-PVDF membrane exhibited remarkably stable flux (9.3 kg m-2h-1, 9.1 kg m-2h-1, 10.2 kg m-2h-1) and salt rejection (almost 99.9%) after 15 h operation. Excellent fouling and wetting resistance of MXene-PVDF membrane was mainly attributed to its superhydrophilic and superoleophobic top surface (in-air water contact angle: 30.2°, under-water oil contact angle: 169.9°) and hydrophobic substrate (in-air water contact angle: 130.8°), together with high LEP value (91.1 Kpa). This study provides a viable route to fabricated a Janus membrane with outstanding fouling and wetting resistance for LSTW, oily wastewater and it has great potential for sewage treatment in the future.