Analysis of the intestinal microbiota and profiles of blood amino acids and acylcarnitines in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to discuss the distinctive features of the intestinal microbiota in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia and to comprehensively analyse the composition of the intestinal microbiota as well as the levels of free amino acids and acylcarnitines in the peripheral blood of neonates experiencing hyperbilirubinemia. RESULTS: At the phylum level, Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Chloroflexi were the five predominant microbial groups identified in both the hyperbilirubinemia and control groups. Alpha diversity analysis, encompassing seven indices, showed no statistically significant differences between the two groups. However, Beta diversity analysis revealed a significant difference in intestinal microbiota structure between the groups. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) indicated a significant reduction in the abundance of Gammaproteobacteria and Enterobacteriaceae within the hyperbilirubinemia group compared to that in the control group. The heatmap revealed that the control group exhibited increased abundances of Escherichia and Bifidobacterium, while the hyperbilirubinemia group exhibited increased levels of Enterococcus and Streptococcus. Regarding blood amino acids and acylcarnitines, there were greater concentrations of citrulline (Cit), arginine (Arg), ornithine (Orn), and valine (Val) in the hyperbilirubinemia group than in the control group. The hyperbilirubinemia group also exhibited significant increases in medium-chain fatty acids (C6, C8), long-chain fatty acids (C18), and free carnitine (C0). CONCLUSION: By comparing neonates with hyperbilirubinemia to those without, a significant disparity in the community structure of the intestinal microbiota was observed. The intestinal microbiota plays a crucial role in the bilirubin metabolism process. The intestinal microbiota of neonates with hyperbilirubinemia exhibited a certain degree of dysbiosis. The abundances of Bacteroides and Bifidobacterium were negatively correlated with the bilirubin concentration. Therefore, the fact that neonates with hyperbilirubinemia exhibit some variations in blood amino acid and acylcarnitine levels may provide, to a certain degree, a theoretical basis for clinical treatment and diagnosis.

Proinflammatory follicular helper T cells promote immunoglobulin G secretion, suppress regulatory B cell development, and correlate with worse clinical outcomes in gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer is one of the most common and aggressive malignancies. Both bacterial virulence factors and host chronic inflammation are thought to promote gastric cancer development. In this study, we investigated the potential involvement of follicular helper T cells in gastric cancer. Functions of follicular helper T subsets were examined in Helicobacter pylori-infected gastric cancer patients and H. pylori-infected but asymptomatic individuals. We found that the follicular helper T cells in gastric cancer individuals were skewed toward the Th1 and Th17 subsets compared to those in H. pylori-infected but asymptomatic individuals. In a naive B cell-follicular helper T cell coculture, the Th1-follicular helper T cells by themselves were ineffective at stimulating a robust antibody response, unlike the Th2-follicular helper T and Th17-follicular helper T cells. However, Th1-follicular helper T cells significantly promoted the immunoglobulin G response in collaboration with other follicular helper T subsets, through the secretion of interferon gamma. We also found that Th1-follicular helper T cells suppressed the development of interleukin-10+ regulatory B cells, a cell type previously thought to protect H. pylori-infected individuals from tissue damage. In addition, the frequency of Th1-follicular helper T cells in gastric cancer patients was negatively correlated with the disease-free survival of gastric cancer patients after tumor resection. These results suggested that dysregulation of follicular helper T subsets in gastric cancer patients, characterized by increased Th1-follicular helper T cells, contributed to inflammation and tumor development.

Maximum availability and mineralogical control of chromium released from AOD slag.

AOD (argon oxygen decarburization) slag is the by-product in the stainless steel refining process. Chromium existing in AOD slag can leach out and probably poses a serious threat to the environment. To assess the leaching toxicity of chromium released from AOD slag, the temperature-dependent maximum availability leaching test was performed. To determine the controlling mineralogical phases of chromium released from AOD slag, a Visual MINTEQ simulation was established based on Vminteq30 and the FactSage 7.0 database. The leaching tests indicated that the leaching availability of chromium was slight and mainly consisted of trivalent chromium. Aging of AOD slag under the atmosphere can oxidize trivalent chromium to hexavalent chromium, which could be leached out by rainwater. According to the simulation, the chromium concentration in leachates was controlled by the freely soluble pseudo-binary phases in the pH = 7.0 leaching process and controlled by the Cr2O3 phase in the pH = 4.0 leaching process. Chromium concentrations were underestimated when the controlling phases were determined to be FeCr2O4 and MgCr2O4. Facilitating the generation of the insoluble spinel-like phases during the cooling and disposal process of the molten slag could be an effective approach to decreasing the leaching concentration of chromium and its environmental risk.

[Design of training system for foot ulcer patients based on three axis accelerometer].

The paper introduces a training system for foot ulcer patients based on three axis accelerometer, which uses three axis accelerometer and Apple mobile phone platform to guide foot ulcer patients to carry out a variety of lower limb muscle tissues training. The acceleration values of three directions for the foot training is obtained by analog-to-digital conversion and transmitted to the Apple mobile phone via its Bluetooth low energy. The Apple mobile phone accomplishes acceleration data preprocessing, numerical filtering and adaptive dual-threshold processing by our developed application program, so as to achieve the purpose of foot gesture recognition. The experimental result shows that the design can effectively present the training situation and effect of patients, encourage patients to adhere to the training, and provide some reference data for doctors and patients.

CD19(+) CD20(-) CD27(hi) IL-s10-producing B cells are overrepresented in R-CHOP-treated DLBCL patients in complete remission.

Treatment of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with rituximab, an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, has resulted in significantly improved patient responses with longer event-free intervals and higher overall survival rates. However, since rituximab depletes all CD20-expressing cells, including noncancerous B cells, the effects of rituximab on the normal immunity of DLBCL patients under remission need to be examined. Here, we observed that DLBCL patients under remission contained significantly lower frequencies of total B cells, with a significantly overrepresented interleukin (IL)-10-producing B cell (B10) population in the peripheral blood. Further examination confirmed that a large fraction of B10 cells was CD20(-) CD27(hi) plasmablasts, possibly explaining the persistence of B10 cells after R-CHOP treatment. We also observed that the percentage of B10 cells in DLBCL patients in remission gradually reduced during the first year of achieving complete remission, primarily due to the replenishment of non-B10 B cells. Despite this, the percentage of B10 cells in DLBCL patients after 1 year of achieving complete remission was still higher than that in controls. CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells cocultured with B10-enriched B cells secreted significantly lower levels of proinflammatory cytokines IFN-g and TNF-a, compared to those incubated with B10-depleted B cells. Together, our data observed a long-lasting overrepresentation of B10 cells in DLBCL patients under remission. Whether this change could impact on the overall anti-tumor immunity during remission requires further studies.

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.

A clean and efficient route for extraction of vanadium from vanadium slag by electro-oxidation combined with ultrasound cavitation.

Extracting vanadium (V) from vanadium slag (VS) by the traditional roasting-leaching process has disadvantages of high energy consumption and high poisonous gases emission. In this work, a green and efficient route was developed to extract V from VS without roasting by electro-oxidation combined with ultrasound cavitation (EOUC) intensification in sulfuric acid solution. The leaching parameters (e.g., leaching temperature, sulfuric acid concentration, anodic current density, ultrasound power, liquid to solid ratio, leaching time and particle size) were optimized. The leaching mechanism was explored by comparing the leaching behavior and mineralogical evolution of the direct sulfuric acidic leaching (DSL), electro-oxidation-assisted sulfuric acidic leaching (EOSL), ultrasound cavitation-assisted sulfuric acidic leaching (UCSL) and EOUC methods. The results show that introducing electric field strengthens the ultrasound cavitation effect on slag particles in sulfuric acid solution. Under the optimum parameter of EOUC method, the leaching rate of V from VS is as high as 94.64 %. Using EOUC method can open the silicate-wrapped structure of the spinel, increase pore volume of VS from 0.00127 cm3 g-1 to 0.01124 cm3 g-1, decrease slag particle size from 26.8 µm to 16.4 µm and improve specific surface area from 0.508 m2 g-1 to 10.855 m2 g-1, which significantly accelerate V leaching process. The exposed spinel was oxidized by both electrochemical route and chemical route, forming a mixture of V3+ ion and VO2+ ion after leaching.

Zirconia Toughened Alumina Ceramics via Forming Intragranular Structure.

The distribution of second phase particles in the microstructure of composite ceramics affects the mechanical properties, and the intragranular structures often result in better properties compared to the intergranular structures. However, it is difficult to obtain composite ceramics with intragranular structure by conventional route. To produce composite ceramics with an intragranular structure in a simpler route. In this work, starting powders with different phase compositions were obtained by the co-precipitation method, and zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) composite ceramics were prepared with these starting powders by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The results show that it is easier to fabricate ZTA composite ceramics with an intragranular structure by using composite powders containing amorphous or transition phase Al2O3 as starting materials. The phase composition of the powder prepared by the co-precipitation method after calcination at 1100 °C is θ-Al2O3 and t-ZrO2, and the average grain size after sintering at 1500 °C is 1.04 ± 0.28 µm, and the maximum Vickers hardness and fracture toughness of the specimens reach 19.37 ± 0.43 GPa and 6.18 ± 0.06 MPa·m1/2, respectively. The ZrO2 particles were the core of crystallization and grow together with the Al2O3 matrix, forming the intragranular structure of ZTA ceramics. This work may provide a new idea for preparing composite ceramics with intragranular structure.

Effects of Lactobacillus Lactis Supplementation on Growth Performance, Hematological Parameters, Meat Quality and Intestinal Flora in Growing-Finishing Pigs.

OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted to assess the effect of supplementation with Lactobacillus lactis (LL) on growth performance, hematological parameters, meat quality and intestinal flora in pigs from growing until slaughter. METHODS: A total of 72 growing pigs (30.46 ± 3.08 kg) were randomly assigned to 3 groups (including 3 pens for each group, with 8 pigs in each pen). The three treatments comprised a basal diet (O-0) and two experimental diets supplemented for 14 weeks with 0.01% (O-100) and 0.03% (O-300) LL, respectively. RESULTS: The final body weights of the pigs in the O-100 and O-300 groups were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those of the O-0 group. In the grower phase, the average daily weight gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) of pigs fed the O-300 diet were higher (p < 0.05) than those of pigs fed the O-0 diet during the grower phase. BUN and MDA were significantly higher (p < 0.05 for all) in the O-0 group than in the O-100 and O-300 groups during the grower phase. No difference (p > 0.05) was observed in the hematological parameters among the three groups during the finisher phase. Counts of LL in the stomach were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the O-300 group than in the O-0 group. Counts of Escherichia coli in the jejunum were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in the O-0 group than in the O-300 group. Furthermore, the hardness, cohesiveness, gumminess and resilience of longissimus dorsi muscle collected from pigs fed the O-300 diet were higher (p < 0.01; p = 0.024; p = 0.003; p = 0.014, respectively) than those of tissue collected from pigs fed the O-0 diet. CONCLUSION: Dietary LL supplementation increased final body weight, increased ADG in the grower phase and enhanced meat quality.

In-situ integrated electrodes of FeM-MIL-88/CP for simultaneous ultra-sensitive detection of dopamine and acetaminophen based on crystal engineering strategy.

Designing and exploiting integrated electrodes is the current inevitable trend to realize the sustainable development of electrochemical sensors. In this work, a series of integrated electrodes prepared by in situ growing the second metal ion-modulated FeM-MIL-88 (M = Mn, Co and Ni) on carbon paper (CP) (FeM-MIL-88/CP) were constructed as the electrochemical sensing platforms for the simultaneous detection of dopamine (DA) and acetaminophen (AC). Among them, FeMn-MIL-88/CP exhibited the best sensing behaviors and achieved the trace detection for DA and AC owing to synergistic catalysis between Fe3+, Mn2+ and CP. The electrochemical sensor based on FeMn-MIL-88/CP showed ultra-high sensitivities of 2.85 and 7.46 µA µM-1 cm-2 and extremely low detection limits of 0.082 and 0.015 µM for DA and AC, respectively. The FeMn-MIL-88/CP also exhibited outstanding anti-interference ability, repeatability and stability, and satisfactory results were also obtained in the detection of actual samples. The mechanism of Mn2+ modulation on the electrocatalytic activity of FeMn-MIL-88/CP towards DA and AC was revealed for the first time through the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Good adsorption energy and rapid electron transfer worked synergistically to improve the sensing performances of DA and AC. This work not only provided a high-performance integrated electrode for the sensing field, but also demonstrated the influencing factors of electrochemical sensing at the molecular levels, laying a theoretical foundation for the sustainable development of subsequent electrochemical sensing.

Highly expressed miR-144-3p promotes the proliferation, migration and invasion of colon carcinoma cells by activating the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway through targeting SFRP1.

Background: To investigate the influence of miR-144-3p on the proliferation, migration and invasion of colon carcinoma by targeting secreted frizzled-related protein 1 (SFRP1) as well as of the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Methods: Based on the TCGA database, the association between the expression of miR-144-3p and the clinical information and prognosis of patients with colon carcinoma was examined, and SFRP1 was selected as the target gene for further studies based on bioinformatics prediction tools. CCK8 assay, wound healing assay and transwell invasion assay were employed to examine the impact of miR-144-3p on colon carcinoma cells. The regulation of SFRP1 by miR-144-3p was investigated using a dual-luciferase reporter system, and a rescue experiment was conducted to further elucidate whether miR-144-3p promotes the migration of colon carcinoma cells through targeting SFRP1 or not. The Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway-mediated effect of miR-144-3p in colon carcinoma was finally validated through the targeting of SFRP1. Results: The bioinformatics analysis showed that the miR-144 expression levels were substantially greater in colon carcinoma tissue than in para-carcinoma tissue and were closely with clinical stage and prognosis. The findings obtained from the trial indicated that miR-144-3p substantially expressed in colon carcinoma tissue sample and the colon carcinoma cells, and the overexpressed miR-144-3p boosted the colon carcinoma cells' proliferation, migration and invasion. The results of dual-luciferase reporter gene assay revealed that miR-144-3p targeted SFRP1, and rescue experiment was carried out and its results indicated that miR-144-3p increased colon carcinoma cells' migration through targeting SFRP1. In addition, the molecular axis of miR-144-3p/SFRP1 may over-activate the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Conclusions: The present study has identified a novel malignant biological behavior, namely the ability of miR-144-3p to enhance the proliferation, migration and invasion of colon carcinoma cells by targeting SFRP1 and activating the Wnt/ß-catenin signaling pathway. Consequently, miR-144-3p emerges as a promising diagnostic and therapeutic target for colon carcinoma.

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.

Mechanism Analysis of Metabolic Fatty Liver on Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) Based on Integrated Lipidomics and Proteomics.

Metabolic fatty liver disease caused by high-starch diet restricted the intensive and sustainable development of carnivorous fish such as largemouth bass. In this study, the combination liver proteomic and lipidomic approach was employed to investigate the key signaling pathways and identify the critical biomarkers of fatty liver in largemouth bass. Joint analysis of the correlated differential proteins and lipids revealed nine common metabolic pathways; it was determined that FABP1 were significantly up-regulated in terms of transporting more triglycerides into the liver, while ABCA1 and VDAC1 proteins were significantly down-regulated in terms of preventing the transport of lipids and cholesterol out of the liver, leading to triglyceride accumulation in hepatocyte, eventually resulting in metabolic fatty liver disease. The results indicate that FABP1, ABCA1 and VDAC1 could be potential biomarkers for treating metabolic fatty liver disease of largemouth bass.

Enantioselective Behavior of Flumequine Enantiomers and Metabolites' Identification in Sediment.

The enantioselective adsorption, degradation, and transformation of flumequine (FLU) enantiomers in sediment were investigated to elucidate the enantioselective environmental behaviors. The results of adsorption test showed that stereoselective differences of FLU enantiomers in sediment samples and the adsorbing capacity of S-(-)-FLU and R-(+)-FLU are higher than the racemate, and the pH values of the sediment determined the adsorption capacity. Enantioselective degradation behaviors were found under nonsterilized conditions and followed pseudo-first-order kinetic. The R-(+)-FLU was preferentially degraded, and there was significant enantioselectivity of the degradation of FLU. It can be concluded that the microorganism was the main reason for the stereoselective degradation in sediments. The physicochemical property of sediments, such as pH value and organic matter content, can affect the degradation rate of FLU. In addition, the process of transformation of FLU enantiomers in water-sediment system had enantioselective behavior, and R-(+)-FLU was preferential transformed. Meanwhile, the main metabolites of FLU in the sediment were decarboxylate and dihydroxylation products. This study contributes the evidence of comprehensively assessing the fate and risk of chiral FLU antibiotic and enantioselective behavior in the environment.

Role of Liquid-Phase Amount in Ceramization of Silicone Rubber Composites and Its Controlling.

The reliable mechanical properties of ceramizable silicone rubber composites during pyrolysis are necessary for their application in the fire-resistant fields. The effects of liquid-phase amount on the mechanical properties of silicone rubber composites are investigated. The results show a positive correlation between the liquid-phase amount and the flexural strength of the residual products pyrolysis below 800 °C. The nano-γ-Al2O3 in the fillers reacts with liquid B2O3 to form aluminum borate above 800 °C, which consumes the liquid phase and strengthens the residual products to a certain extent. Increasing the B2O3 addition and introducing nano-γ-Al2O3 can control the liquid-phase amount in the range of 15% to 30%, which makes the composites have better residual strength and support performance. The residual strength of composites pyrolysis at 500 °C to 1000 °C is higher than 2.50 MPa, and the maximum is up to 18.7 MPa at 1000 °C.

High-pressure carbon dioxide-hydrothermal enhance yield and methylene blue adsorption performance of banana pseudo-stem activated carbon.

In order to reduce environmental risks and fungus disease spread of banana waste, the high-pressure CO2-hydrothermal treatment was developed to produce hydrochar as a precursor of activated carbon from banana pseudo-stem(BP). SEM, BET, XRD, Raman and FTIR was used to investigate the influence mechanism of the high-pressure CO2-hydrothermal pretreatment on the yield and methylene blue(MB) adsorption capacities of the activated carbon. The results show that although the adsorption capacities of BP after high-pressure CO2-hydrothermal pretreatment(BPx) is decrease due to decrease of oxygen-containing functional group and flatter spatial structure, that of BPx after KOH activation(BPx-A) significantly increase and is higher than that of BP by direct KOH activation(BP-A). Because BP-A presents honeycomb porous microstructures and has a higher mesoporous structure(138-472 m2/g), plentiful active sites and rich the abundant influential adsorption group of MB adsorption. In addition, compared to BP-A(0.68%), the total yield of BPx-A(2.42-9.11%) is 356-1340%.

Clostridium autoethanogenum protein inclusion in the diet for broiler: Enhancement of growth performance, lipid metabolism, and gut microbiota.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of the new single-cell protein Clostridium autoethanogenum protein (CAP) on growth performance, plasma biochemical indexes, liver histology, lipid metabolism, and gut microbiota in Cobb broilers. According to the randomized block experimental design, 960 Cobb broilers (1d old) were divided into six treatments with eight replicates of 20 birds each. Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated with different contents of CAP (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5%) to replace soybean meal (SBM). The results showed that the addition of CAP did not influence liver health when it exceeded 2%. The protein metabolism markers and feed conversion rate increased (P < 0.05), significantly improving the growth performance. When the content of CAP was greater than 4%, it could promote lipolysis without affecting lipogenesis, decreasing the abdominal fat rate. There was no significant difference in MDA between these groups (P = 0.948). The increase of SOD and GSH-Px indicated the enhancement of antioxidant response. Alpha diversity did not significantly differ between groups (P > 0.05). Inclusion of 4% or less CAP led to the increase in beneficial microbiota, the concentration of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetic acid, propionic acid, and butyric acid (P < 0.05), and the concentration of primary bile acids such as cholic acid and goose deoxycholic acid (P < 0.05). While the concentration of secondary bile acids such as taurocholic acid and taurine goose deoxycholic acid was decreased (P < 0.05). These results illustrated that the CAP had a high potential for application in poultry nutrition. In terms of improving growth performance and antioxidant capacity and reducing fat deposition rate, 4% CAP content is recommended.

Cadmium removal from wastewater by sponge iron sphere prepared by hydrogen reduction.

A new type of sponge iron sphere (NSIS) with 1-5 mm diameter, made of concentrated iron powder and possessed high activity and intension, was prepared by mini-pellet sintering integrated with H2 direct reduction. Static state experiment has been carried on to investigate the Cd(2+) removal efficiency from wastewater by the NSIS and to explore the Cd(2+) removal reaction kinetics. It was suggested that initial pH value and Cd(2+) original concentration had significant influence on Cd(2+) removal percentage. Cd(2+) removal percentage decreased significantly with the increasing of Cd(2+)original concentration whether the original pH value be adjusted to 3.0 or without adjustment. The results showed that the Cd(2+) removal process followed the first order reaction because the reaction order was from 0.803 to 0.996. The apparent reaction rate constant between Cd(2+) and NSIS was from 0.0025 to 0.1000 (mg·L(-1))(1-n)·min(-1). Compared with SIS reduced by charcoal reduction, NSIS deoxided by hydrogen possessed higher activity, and could remove the same quantity of Cd(2+) within a shorter period of time.

Synthesis of a novel amphoteric copolymer and its application as a dispersant for coal water slurry preparation.

In this work, a novel amphoteric copolymer named Poly(sodium p-styrenesulfonate-co-acrylic acid-co-diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC)) was synthesized via free radical polymerization. Afterwards, P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC) was explored for use as a dispersant in coal water slurry (CWS) preparation. The structure of P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC) was verified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. The synthetic conditions were optimized as the feed ratio of AA to SS was 1 : 1 (for Yulin coal) or 1.5 : 1 (for Yili coal), and DMDAAC dosage was 4.0 wt% (for Yulin coal) and 6.0 wt% (for Yili coal) toward total monomers. The performances of P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC) as a dispersant for CWS were evaluated by various technologies, such as apparent viscosity, zeta potential, static stability and contact angle measurements. The results revealed that the optimized dosage of P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC) in CWS preparation was 0.3 and 0.4 wt% for Yulin coal and Yili coal respectively. In this optimum condition, CWS prepared using P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC) as dispersant showed a typical shear thinning behaviour and excellent stability, which are desired in industries. The rheological models also confirmed the pseudo-plastic characteristics of CWS. Finally, compared with the widely used anionic dispersant naphthalene sulphonate formaldehyde condensate (NSF) and poly(sodium p-styrenesulfonate) (PSS), P(SS-co-AA-co-DMDAAC) developed in this work exhibited better slurry making performance. The introduction of cationic functional groups promoted the adsorption of the dispersant, which further enhanced the electrostatic repulsion and steric hindrance among coal particles. Accordingly, the viscosity of CWS decreased and static stability enhanced.