Unfolding the long-term pathophysiological processes following an acute inflammatory demyelinating lesion of multiple sclerosis

Background

Acute symptomatic inflammation is a main feature of multiple sclerosis but pathophysiological processes underlying total or partial recovery are poorly understood.

Objective

To characterize in vivo these processes at molecular, structural and functional levels using multimodal MR methods.

Methods

A neuroimaging 3-year follow-up (Weeks 0, 3, 11, 29, 59 and 169) was conducted on a 41-year-old woman presenting at baseline with a large acute demyelinating lesion of multiple sclerosis. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetization transfer imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging, functional MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy were conducted at 1.5 T.

Results

Patient presenting with subacute left hemiplegia recovered progressively (expended disability status scale 7 to 5.5). The MR exploration demonstrated structural functional and metabolic impairments at baseline. Despite restoration of the blood brain barrier integrity, high lactate levels persisted for several weeks concomitant with glial activation. Slow and progressive structural and metabolic restorations occurred from baseline to W169 (lesion volume −64%; apparent diffusion coefficient −14.7%, magnetization transfer ratio +14%, choline −51%, lipids −78%, N-acetylaspartate +77%) while functionality of the motor system recovered.

Conclusions

Multimodal MRI/MRS evidenced long-term dynamics recovery processes involving tissue repair, glial activation, recovery of neuronal function and functional systems. This may impact on customized rehabilitation strategies generally focused on the first months following the onset of symptoms.     

Considerations for analytical supercritical fluid extraction of sulfonyl ureas employing a modified fluid

Important considerations are discussed for analytical SFE method development employing methanol–modified carbon dioxide and solid-phase trapping. The focus of this study was to break the method development procedure into distinct steps so that the origins of low recoveries could be determined conclusively. Sulfonyl urea herbicides were used as probe analytes. Analyte solubility, analyte trapping, analyte trap removal (solid-phase), and extract analysis were all shown to be equally important in achieving quantitative SFE recoveries.     

Synthesis of Quinoline/Phenanthroline Impregnated Sugarcane Bagasse for Recovering Uranium(VI) and Thorium(IV) from their Solutions

This present research aims to synthesize and investigate the adsorption potential of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) impregnated with 8 hydroxy quinolone 8-(HQ) and 1,10 phenethroline (phen) to prepare impregnated sugarcane bagasse (ISCB) for removal U^VI and Th^IV. The effects of the operating parameters, including pH of the solution, contact time, initial concentration, temperature, dose and interfering ions on the adsorption efficiency were investigated to identify an optimal condition. The characterization of SEM-EDX and FTIR analyses shows that ISCB has a porous structure and carbon-containing functional groups. The adsorption result revealed that ISCB removed 98 % for both U^VI and Th^IV. The result obtained fitted well for Langmuir isotherms model with 185.19 mg · g^–1 and 250 mg · g^–1 as theoretical capacity for U^VI and Th^IV respectively. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In conclusion, this study proved that ISCB has the potential to be used as an effective and low-cost adsorbent to remove U^VI and Th^IV. Finally we obtain products from thorium as ThO₂ and uranium as Na₂U₂O₇ from Abu Rushied leach liquor.     

离子液体溶解纤维素的研究

纤维素是一种可生物降解的天然高分子材料,由于纤维素含有大量的分子间和分子内氢键,导致纤维素难溶于水和一般的有机溶剂。现有的溶剂存在稳定性差,具有毒性,难以回收等缺点,对纤维素的加工、利用造成困难,因此,寻找新型绿色溶剂成为纤维素开发的热点和难点。离子液体是一种新型高效绿色溶剂,在一定条件下可以溶解纤维素、角蛋白等生物大分子,离子液体的出现为纤维素的溶解提供了一种环境友好、可生物降解的溶剂体系,具有广阔的应用前景。本文就不同种类离子液体溶解纤维素的溶解度以及影响溶解度几种因素进行了综述,总结了离子液体与纤维素作用机理以及离子液体的回收方法,为纤维素的加工利用提供了理论依据和工业指导。     

废弃纸尿裤的处理和回收利用研究进展

随着生活水平提高和老龄化的加剧,一次性纸尿裤使用量大幅上升,目前已成为继厨房垃圾和塑料之外的第三大生活固体垃圾,因此,废弃纸尿裤的处理和回收是一个重要课题.虽然国外已有一些关于废弃纸尿裤的回收处理案例,但我国在废弃纸尿裤回收处理方面的研究报道不多.因此,本文在介绍了废弃纸尿裤处理的现状、纸尿裤的结构组成的基础上,综述了...     

Removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution using Fe3O4-SiO2-poly(1,2-diaminobenzene) core-shell sub-micron particles

In this work, Fe₃O₄-SiO₂-poly(1,2-diaminobenzene) sub-micron particles (FSPs) with high saturated magnetization of ∼60-70 emu/g were developed and utilized for the removal of As(III), Cu(II), and Cr(III) ions from aqueous solution. The isothermal results fitted well with the Freundlich model and the kinetic results fitted well with the two-site pseudo-second-order model, which indicated that multilayer adsorption of As(III), Cu(II), and Cr(III) ions on FSPs occurred at two sites with different energy of adsorption. The maximum adsorption capacities followed the order of As(III) (84 ± 5 mg/g, pH = 6.0) > Cr(III) (77 ± 3 mg/g, pH = 5.3) > Cu(II) (65 ± 3 mg/g, pH = 6.0). And the chelating interaction was considered as the main adsorption mechanism. The as-prepared materials were chemically stable with low leaching of Fe (?1.7 wt.%) and poly(1,2-diaminobenzene) (?4.9 wt.%) in tap water, sea water, and acidic/basic solutions. These metal-loaded FSPs could be easily recovered from aqueous solutions using a permanent magnet within 20 s. They could also be easily regenerated with acid. The present work indicates that the FSPs are promising for removal of heavy metal ions in field application.     

A NEW APPROACH TO RECOVERY OF DISCONTINUOUS GALERKIN

A new recovery operator P ：Qn^disc（T）→Qn＋1^disc（M） for discontinuous Galerkin is derived. It is based on the idea of projecting a discontinuous, piecewise polynomial solution on a given mesh T into a higher order polynomial space on a macro mesh M. In order to do so, we define local degrees of freedom using polynomial moments and provide global degrees of freedom on the macro mesh. We prove consistency with respect to the local L2-projection, stability results in several norms and optimal anisotropic error estimates. As an example, we apply this new recovery technique to a stabilized solution of a singularly perturbed convection-diffusion problem using bilinear elements.     

Recovering platinum from wastewater by charring biofilm of microbial fuel cells (MFCs)

Reduction in and recovery of precious metals are research hotspots in the environmental engineering field. In this study, we investigated the transformation and distribution of platinum in microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and demonstrated a feasible approach to recover platinum (Pt) from wastewater with less than 16.88?mg/L platinum through charring biofilms in MFCs and generate Pt/C catalyst. The optimal reaction condition was identified, and charred biofilms were analyzed via SEM-EDS, XRD and XPS. Results showed that less than 10% of Pt was in MFC effluents, and less than 0.5% was in the cathode chamber when the influent concentration was below 16.88?mg/L. Close to 40% of Pt could be recovered. The recovery efficiency could be higher should the reactions run longer. SEM-EDS and XRD results indicated that the metallic form Pt⁰ is one of the reduction products in MFCs. XPS results induced that Pt (IV) was reduced to Pt (II) and Pt⁰.     

三维荧光光谱结合组合算法在环境污染监测中的应用:油种鉴别与定量分析

针对油类污染物成分复杂,光谱重叠难以识别的问题,提出采用三维荧光光谱结合组合算法对油类污染物进行了定性和定量分析。荧光光谱中存在的瑞利散射对三维荧光光谱检测有较大影响,提出了缺损数据修复-主成分分析（MDR-PCA）方法对矿物油三维荧光光谱的瑞利散射进行处理,原理是单个荧光光谱激发发射矩阵符合双线性,可用主成分分析（PCA）法来解析。MDR-PCA法首先将荧光数据中的散射干扰数据全部扣除,之后利用主成分分析（PCA）迭代过程对扣除数据进行重构修复后补全数据。该方法在消除散射干扰的同时充分利用了荧光物质光谱矩阵中的有效信息。利用不同浓度的矿物油的激发-发射荧光光谱构建了三维数据。样品数据来源于柴油、汽油和煤油三种溶质的四氯化碳溶液。常用于三维荧光光谱数据分析的三线性分解算法有平行因子分析（PARAFAC）、交替三线性分解（ATLD）和自加权交替三线性分解算法（SWATLD）等。PARAFAC基于严格意义上的最小二乘原则,具有抗噪声强、模型稳定、微小预期误差等优点,可以实现三维数据阵列的最佳拟合,但该算法收敛速度较慢,对组分数敏感。ATLD算法通过提取对角主元和切尾奇异值求解广义逆,极大提高了收敛速度并降低了对组分数的敏感度,从而实现三线性分解。然而,取对角元时易使ATLD方法对噪声敏感。SWATLD算法既继承了对组分数不敏感、收敛速度快等优点,又降低了噪声水平的影响。但是在抗共线程度方面,SWATLD算法在抵抗共线性程度方面的能力较ATLD略有降低。基于此,论文根据三线性分解算法迭代过程中损失函数的变化,对迭代过程进行划分,提出了三线性迭代方法的组合算法（algorithm combination methodology, ACM）—将ATLD, SWATLD与PARAFAC组合在一起,充分发挥各算法的优点,实现二阶校正算法的优势互补。采用ACM算法对两组分及三组分矿物油样品的三维荧光光谱数据进行解析,并对三种矿物油的回收率进行了计算。柴油的回收率为97.08%,汽油的回收率为97.34%,煤油的回收率为97.25%。解析光谱和回收率表明,ACM算法能够实现油类污染物的种类识别及浓度测量。