Cardiac death from atherosclerosis is common in hemodialysis patients. Human serum paraoxonase (PON1), an esterase, is associated with high-density lipoprotein and inhibits the susceptibility to oxidization of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The PON1 genetic polymorphisms of 192 Gln/Arg and 55 Leu/Met in the amino acid sequence are partly involved in the PON1 enzyme activity. We investigated the...

The gut microbiota is important in the pathogenesis of energy-metabolism related diseases. We focused on the interaction between intestinal bacteria and orally administered chemical drugs. Oral administration of berberine (BBR) effectively treats patients with metabolic disorders. However, because BBR exhibits poor solubility, its absorption mechanism remains unknown. Here, we show that the gut...

Rarely-observed polycrystalline twinned Pt nanoparticles (NPs) and length-controlled Pt nanorods (NRs) with exposed high index facets were prepared through an unexpectedly catalytic growth approach from low-cost Mn(3)O(4) NPs. The as-prepared Pt NRs exhibit higher catalytic activity and better stability for the oxidization of methanol than commercial Pt/C catalysts, indicating the promise of th...

This paper investigates the material removal mechanisms of PCD using the dynamic friction polishing technique. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy were used to identify the mechanisms by analyzing the specimen surfaces and debris produced by polishing. It was found that the material removal occurred in a rather complex way, which can b...

Atmospheric mercury can be considered a ‘hot topic’. The problem of global mercury pollution is a focus of several international conventions such as the UNEP mercury program and the UN-ECE Long-Range Transport of Atmospheric Pollution Convention Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air pollution (HTAP). Major scientific questions are the oxidization processes of elemental mercury, global and ...

In the field of industrial control, there has been a significant increase in the use of AI based techniques. For various control problems there has been successful implementation of different Intelligent techniques like Fuzzy Logic, Artificial Neural Network and other Hybrids. One of the major byproducts recovered from crude oil is sulfur. Sulfur is recovered from crude oil using the Modified C...

The catalytic oxidization of CS2 over atmospheric particles and some oxide catalysts was explored through FT-IR, MS and a fixed-bed stainless steel reactor. The results show that atmospheric particles and some oxide catalysts exhibited considerable oxidizing activities for CS2 at ambient temperature. The reaction products are mainly COS and elemental sulfur, even CO2 on some catalysts. Among th...

Sn doped CuO nanotubes were synthesized by thermal oxidization of Cu/SnO(2) core-shell nanowires in air through the Kirkendall effect. The Cu/SnO(2) core-shell nanowires were sequentially electrodeposited by forming a SnO(2) shell followed by electrodeposition of the Cu core. After thermal treatment in air, the core-shell Cu/SnO(2) (13 +/- 2 nm thick shell on 128 +/- 15 nm in diameter core) nan...