Evaluation of the mechanical properties of high-strength cement paste at elevated temperatures using metakaolin

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - This paper presents a wide experimental study, in which it evaluates the performance of high-strength paste exposed to elevated temperatures up to...     

Mycomedicine: A Unique Class of Natural Products with Potent Anti-tumour Bioactivities

Mycomedicine is a unique class of natural medicine that has been widely used in Asian countries for thousands of years. Modern mycomedicine consists of fruiting bodies, spores, or other tissues of medicinal fungi, as well as bioactive components extracted from them, including polysaccharides and, triterpenoids, etc. Since the discovery of the famous fungal extract, penicillin, by Alexander Fleming in the late 19th century, researchers have realised the significant antibiotic and other medicinal values of fungal extracts. As medicinal fungi and fungal metabolites can induce apoptosis or autophagy, enhance the immune response, and reduce metastatic potential, several types of mushrooms, such as Ganoderma lucidum and Grifola frondosa, have been extensively investigated, and anti-cancer drugs have been developed from their extracts. Although some studies have highlighted the anti-cancer properties of a single, specific mushroom, only limited reviews have summarised diverse medicinal fungi as mycomedicine. In this review, we not only list the structures and functions of pharmaceutically active components isolated from mycomedicine, but also summarise the mechanisms underlying the potent bioactivities of several representative mushrooms in the Kingdom Fungi against various types of tumour.     

Formulation of Piperine–Chitosan-Coated Liposomes: Characterization and In Vitro Cytotoxic Evaluation

The present research work is designed to prepare and evaluate piperine liposomes and piperine–chitosan-coated liposomes for oral delivery. Piperine (PPN) is a water-insoluble bioactive compound used for different diseases. The prepared formulations were evaluated for physicochemical study, mucoadhesive study, permeation study and in vitro cytotoxic study using the MCF7 breast cancer cell line. Piperine-loaded liposomes (PLF) were prepared by the thin-film evaporation method. The selected liposomes were coated with chitosan (PLFC) by electrostatic deposition to enhance the mucoadhesive property and in vitro therapeutic efficacy. Based on the findings of the study, the prepared PPN liposomes (PLF3) and chitosan coated PPN liposomes (PLF3C1) showed a nanometric size range of 165.7 ± 7.4 to 243.4 ± 7.5, a narrow polydispersity index (>0.3) and zeta potential (−7.1 to 29.8 mV). The average encapsulation efficiency was found to be between 60 and 80% for all prepared formulations. The drug release and permeation study profile showed biphasic release behavior and enhanced PPN permeation. The in vitro antioxidant study results showed a comparable antioxidant activity with pure PPN. The anticancer study depicted that the cell viability assay of tested PLF3C2 has significantly (p < 0.001)) reduced the IC₅₀ when compared with pure PPN. The study revealed that oral chitosan-coated liposomes are a promising delivery system for the PPN and can increase the therapeutic efficacy against the breast cancer cell line.     

Blending of Natural Rubber/Recycled Ethylene-Propylene-diene Rubber: Promoting the Interfacial Adhesion Between Phases by Natural Rubber Latex

This article deals with blends based on natural rubber (NR) and recycled ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (R-EPDM). Natural rubber latex (NRL) was introduced into the blends to enhance interfacial adhesion between NR and R-EPDM. A new route of compounding was also suggested. The blends were prepared by mixing R-EPDM and other additives in NRL before blending with natural rubber on a two-roll mill. By applying this method, the homogeneity of the blends and cross-linking distribution are significantly improved. The blends exhibited superior state of cure, swelling resistance, mechanical properties and dynamic mechanical properties. The degree of entanglement between NR and R-EPDM also increased after NRL modification.     

An efficient and facile multicomponent synthesis of 4,6-diarylpyridine derivatives under solvent-free conditions

We present an efficient and facile synthesis of 4,6-diaryl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydropyridine-3-carbonitriles (5a–j) via a four-component system of aromatic aldehydes (1), acetophenones (2), ethyl cyanoacetate (3), and ammonium acetate (4). The short reaction time coupled with the simplicity of the reaction procedure and clean reaction make this method one of the most efficient methods for synthesis of this class of compounds.     

Litter on the beaches of the Red Sea of Yemen

Distribution of litter: ropes, netting, lamb bulbs, foot wear, plastic bags, bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard, wood loges, rubber, polystyrene blocks and plastic sheets accumulating on Red Sea beaches of Yemen were examined. The results of the study reflected these wastes to be varied from a region to region but they were similar in almost all-coastal areas. Most of the litter were plastics including food bags, oil and water bottles, bait bags, and also vehicles tires. Most of pollution occurred from the sea, due to the heavy traffic and to the fishing vessels, which fish in the area.     

Diffusive-Dispersive Traveling Waves and Kinetic Relations: Part I: Nonconvex Hyperbolic Conservation Laws

Motivated by the theory of phase transition dynamics, we consider one-dimensional, nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws with nonconvex flux-function containing vanishing nonlinear diffusive-dispersive terms. Searching for traveling wave solutions, we establish general results of existence, uniqueness, monotonicity, and asymptotic behavior. In particular, we investigate the properties of the traveling waves in the limits of dominant diffusion, dominant dispersion, and asymptotically small or large shock strength. As the diffusion and dispersion parameters tend to 0, the traveling waves converge to shock wave solutions of the conservation law, which either satisfy the classical Oleinik entropy criterion or are nonclassical undercompressive shocks violating it.     

Existence of Perfect 4-Deletion-Correcting Codes with Length Six

By a T ^*(2, k, v)-code we mean a perfect4-deletion-correcting code of length 6 over an alphabet of size v, which is capable of correcting anycombination of up to 4 deletions and/or insertions of letters that occur in transmission of codewords. Thethird author (DCC Vol. 23, No. 1) presented a combinatorial construction for such codes and prove thata T ^*(2, 6, v)-code exists for all positive integers v 3 (mod 5), with 12 possible exceptions of v. In this paper, the notion of a directedgroup divisible quasidesign is introduced and used to show that a T ^*(2, 6,v)-code exists for all positive integers v 3 (mod 5), except possiblyfor v {173, 178, 203, 208}. The 12 missing cases for T ^*(2,6, v)-codes with v 3 (mod 5) are also provided, thereby the existenceproblem for T ^*(2, 6, v)-codes is almost complete.     

Acousto-optic diffraction at liquid-solid interface with light incident at critical angle

A new acousto-optic diffraction configuration is described. At a liquid-solid interface, a light beam is incident from the solid side of higher refractive index. The maximum acousto-optic diffraction of the Raman-Nath type occurs in the liquid with light incident at the critical angle. The angular dependence of the diffraction efficiency indicates accurate optical alignment requirement. Application to acoustic imaging is briefly discussed.