An Experimental Study of Mineral and Microstructure for Undisturbed Loess Polluted by Landfill Leachate

Haijun Lu,Shicheng Xu,Dinggang Li,Jixiang Li 대한토목학회 2018 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.22 No.12

To investigate the shear strength and microstructure of undisturbed loess polluted by landfill leachate, a series of laboratory tests were carried out to determine the shear strength, mineral composition, surface morphology, particle size distribution and pore characteristics of the loess. The stress-strain curve of undisturbed soil polluted by landfill leachate showed typical strain-softening behavior. The deviatoric stress, cohesion and angle of shearing resistance of undisturbed soil decreased at increased landfill leachate concentrations, decreased by 31.03%, 30.01%, respectively. But pore water pressure was positively related to leachate concentrations. The content of primary minerals remained stable, and the content of montmorillonite and illite decreased with increased leachate concentration, reduced by 26.02%, 23.93%, respectively. Soil structure changed into an unstable honeycomb structure when the leachate concentration increased. Moreover, the average particle size decreased by 62.1%, and the specific surface area increased and then stabilized at 500 ~ 650 m2/kg. The soil particles became nonuniform and porous and their sizes gradually decreased. The pore radius of soil mainly ranged from 0.02 μm to 1 μm. The maximum radius and optimal radius of the pore increased when the leachate concentrations increased.

Porphyra Species: A Mini-Review of Its Pharmacological and Nutritional Properties

Jin Cao,Jianping Wang,Shicheng Wang,Ximing Xu 한국식품영양과학회 2016 Journal of medicinal food Vol.19 No.2

Porphyra sensu lato belongs to Bangiales, the most genetically diverse order of red algae. Porphyra or Pyropia is widely cultivated in East Asian countries, such as China, Japan, and Korea. Dried Porphyra contains numerous nutritional and biofunctional compounds, including proteins, minerals, dietary fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, saccharides, and mycosporine-like amino acids. In addition, the compound is most abundant in Porphyra, such as polysaccharides and phycobiliproteins, and demonstrates various immunomodulating, anticancer, antihyperlipidemic, and antioxidative activities. This review summarizes our current knowledge concerning the pharmacologically active substances found in Porphyra species. The biological activities and potential applications of certain carbohydrates, proteins, peptides, and other small molecules purified from Porphyra are also described, and possible areas for future studies are discussed.

Role of silibinin in the management of diabetes mellitus and its complications

Chun Chu,Da-Hong Li,Shicheng Zhang,Takashi Ikejima,Ying Jia,Dongkai Wang,Fanxing Xu 대한약학회 2018 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.41 No.8

Diabetes mellitus is globally approaching epidemicproportions and acts as a major cause of a number ofserious health problems diagnosed as diabetic complications. The current oral drugs in the treatment of diabetesand its complications could meet some but not all of thepatients’ needs, and the development of novel drugs with ahypoglycemic effect is urgently required. Silibinin, aflavonolignan traditionally used for the treatment of gallbladderand hepatic diseases, was reported to improveglycemic homeostasis by improving the activity of pancreaticb-cells, increasing insulin sensitivity of liver andmuscle cells, and decreasing lipid deposition in adipocytes. Researches also indicated the effectiveness of silibinin incontrolling several diabetic complications including neuropathy,retinopathy, impaired healing, hepatopathy, cardiomyopathy,nephropathy, and osteoporosis. In thisreview, we summarize the recent anti-diabetes findings ofsilibinin and clarify the underlying pharmacologicalmechanisms, and update the knowledge in understandingthe role of silibinin in control of diabetic complications.

Determining Osteogenic Differentiation Efficacy of Pluripotent Stem Cells by Telomerase Activity

Siqi Zhang,Yuhua Sun,Yi Sui,Yan Li,Zuyuan Luo,Xiao Xu,Ping Zhou,Shicheng Wei 한국조직공학과 재생의학회 2018 조직공학과 재생의학 Vol.15 No.6

BACKGROUND: Bone tissue engineering based on pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) is a new approach to deal with bone defects. Protocols have been developed to generate osteoblasts from PSCs. However, the low efficiency of this process is still an important issue that needs to be resolved. Many studies have aimed to improve efficiency, but developing accurate methods to determine efficacy is also critical. Studies using pluripotency to estimate efficacy are rare. Telomerase is highly associated with pluripotency. METHODS: We have described a quantitative method to measure telomerase activity, telomeric repeat elongation assay based on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). To investigate whether this method could be used to determine the efficiency of in vitro osteogenic differentiation based on pluripotency, we measured the pluripotency pattern of cultures through stemness gene expression, proliferation ability and telomerase activity, measured by QCM. RESULTS: We showed that the pluripotency pattern determined by QCM was similar to the patterns of proliferation ability and gene expression, which showed a slight upregulation at the late stages, within the context of the general downregulation tendency during differentiation. Additionally, a comprehensive gene expression pattern covering nearly every stage of differentiation was identified. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this assay may be powerful tools for determining the efficiency of differentiation systems based on pluripotency. In this study, we not only introduce a new method for determining efficiency based on pluripotency, but also provide more information about the characteristics of osteogenic differentiation which help facilitate future development of more efficient protocols.

Atomic Layer Deposition for Surface Engineering of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Electrodes

Joon Hyung Shim,한권덕,Hyung Jong Choi,Yongmin Kim,Shicheng Xu,Jihwan An,Young Beom Kim,Tanja Graf,Thomas D. Schladt,Turgut M. Gür,Fritz B. Prinz 한국정밀공학회 2019 International Journal of Precision Engineering and Vol.6 No.3

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has recently attracted attention as a technique to synthesize and engineer high-performance catalysts and electrodes for fuel cells. Unique advantages of the ALD process include surface conformality and film uniformity along nano-scale features and the ability to deposit one atom layer or less per deposition cycle, enabling atomic-scale modification of the composition and morphology of the material surface. Many recent reports have demonstrated the effectiveness of the ALD surface modification strategy for the development of novel fuel cell materials. For enhancement of fuel cell performance, development of superior electrocatalytic electrodes is essential as a significant portion of energy loss occurs due to the charge transfer reaction either on the surface of electrodes or at the interfaces between electrodes and electrolytes. Therefore, ALD is considered a key fabrication process to design and engineer high-performance fuel cell systems. This review covers the important recent developments advanced electrode materials for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) provided by the unique abilities of ALD for surface engineering and interface modification. Performance enhancement and related mechanisms are also discussed in depth.

Improved oral bioavailability of capsaicin via liposomal nanoformulation: preparation, in vitro drug release and pharmacokinetics in rats

Yuan Zhu,Miaomiao Wang,Jiajia Zhang,Wei Peng,Caleb Kesse Firempong,Wenwen Deng,Qilong Wang,Shicheng Wang,Feng Shi,Jiangnan Yu,Ximing Xu,Weiming Zhang 대한약학회 2015 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.38 No.4

This study innovatively prepared an effectivecapsaicin-loaded liposome, a nanoformulation with fewerirritants, for oral administration. The in vitro and in vivoproperties of the liposomal encapsulation were investigatedand the potential possibility of oral administration evaluated. The liposomal agent composed of phospholipid, cholesterol,sodium cholate and isopropyl myristate was prepared usingfilm-dispersion method. A level A in vitro–in vivo correlation(IVIVC) was established for the first time, which demonstratedan excellent IVIVC of both formulated and freecapsaicin in oral administration. Physicochemical characterizationsincluding mean particle size, zeta (f) potentialand average encapsulation efficiency of capsaicin-loadedliposome were found to be 52.2 ± 1.3 nm, -41.5 ±2.71 mv and 81.9 ± 2.43 %, respectively. In vivo, liposomalencapsulation allowed a 3.34-fold increase in relativebioavailability compared to free capsaicin. The gastricmucosa irritation studies indicated that the liposomal systemwas a safe carrier for oral administration. These resultssupport the fact that capsaicin, an effective drug for thetreatment of neuropathic pain, could be encapsulated inliposome for improved oral bioavailability. The excellentIVIVC of capsaicin-loaded liposome could also be a promisingtool in liposomal formulation development with anadded advantage of reduced animal testing.