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The set-up of desulphurization units in domestic coal-fired power plants has brought increasing output of FGD gypsum, which results in a wide application of FGD gypsum products. During the application of such products, people found that they are prone to alkalization, i.e., a phenomenon significantly affecting the appearance and performance of the products. In this study, fly ash, another kind of waste from coal-fired power plants, was introduced to inhibit the alkalization of FGD gypsum products under the action of the alkali-activator for better utilization of waste resources.

Environmental pollution, such as air, water, and soil pollution, has become the most serious issue. Soil pollution is a major concern as it generally affects the lands and makes them non-fertile. The main cause of soil pollution is agro-waste. It may be possible to mitigate the agro-waste pollution by re-utilizing this agro-waste, namely natural fibres (NFs), by blending into polymer-based material to reinforce the polymer composite. However, there are pros and cons to this approach. Consequently, the polymer composite materials fabricated using NFs are inferior to those polymer composites that are reinforced by, e.g., carbon or glass fibres from the mechanical properties’ perspectives. The limitations of utilizing natural fibres in polymer matrix are their high moisture absorption, resulting in high swelling rate and degradation, inferior resistance to fire and chemical, and inferior mechanical properties. In particular, the NF polymer composites exhibit inferior interfacial adhesion between the fibre and the matrix, which, if improved, ultimately overcome all the listed limitations and improve the mechanical properties of the developed composites. To improve the interfacial adhesion leading to the enhancement of the mechanical properties, optimum chemical treatment such as Alkalization/Mercerization of the fibres have been explored. This article discusses the Mercerization/Alkali surface treatment method for NFs and its effects on the fibres regarding the Mercerization/Alkali surface treatment method for NFs and its effect on the fibres regarding their utilization in the polymer composites, the morphological features, and mechanical properties of composites.

Alkalization is one of the important parameters in the treatment process of composite specimens. In this study, alkalization was carried out using a basic solution (NaOH) with the aim of improving the mechanical strength of the composite material. The addition of a basic solution to the composite matrix can enhance the bond between the Dibers and the matrix, thus expected to increase the strength of the material. The alkalization process was conducted by immersing natural Dibers (corn husk Diber) in NaOH solution at room temperature with variations in NaOH concentration values of 0%, 10%, 15%, and 20% for 2 hours. After the alkalization process, the corn husk Diber was placed in a mold for standard ASTM D638-01 tensile test specimens with direction of unidirectional Diber orientation and mixed with epoxy resin, which acted as the matrix. The resulting Diber and epoxy resin mixture was then formed into composite specimens using Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion (VARI) method. Subsequently, the specimens underwent a mechanical test, namely a tensile test, and the fracture shapes resulting from the tensile test were analyzed using macroscopic photographs. The results indicate that the NaOH solution concentration affects the specimens’ tensile strength. Tensile strength increases with an increase in the concentration of NaOH solution and then decreases at a NaOH concentration of 20%.

Despite the possible benefit from avoiding stone surgery with all its possible complications, oral chemolysis is rarely performed in patients with urinary stones suspected of uric acid content. Among the reasons for its limited use is the sparse and low-quality data on its efficacy and the lack of reliable factors predicting its outcome. We thus performed a retrospective single-center cohort study of 216 patients (median patient age 63 years) with 272 renal (48%) and/or ureteral (52%) stones treated with oral chemolysis from 01/2010 to 12/2019. Patients with low urine pH (< 6), low stone density upon non-contrast enhanced computed tomography (NCCT), radiolucent urinary stones on plain radiography, and/or a history of uric acid urolithiasis were included. Potassium citrate and/or sodium/magnesium bicarbonate were used for alkalization (target urine pH 6.5–7.2). Median stone size was 9 mm, median stone density 430 Hounsfield Units. Patients with ureteral stones < 6 mm were excluded since stones this small are very likely to pass spontaneously. The stone-free status of each patient was evaluated after 3 months using NCCT. Oral chemolysis was effective with a complete and partial response rate of stones at 3 months of 61% and 14%, respectively; 25% of stones could not be dissolved. Lower stone density (OR = 0.997 [CI 0.994–0.999]; p = 0.008) and smaller stone size (OR = 0.959 [CI 0.924–0.995]; p = 0.025) significantly increased the success rate of oral chemolysis in multivariate logistic regression analysis. More precise stone diagnostics to exclude non-uric-acid stones could further improve outcome.

Background People with gout and combined-type hyperuricemia, defined as renal urate overload and renal urate under-excretion, have diminished responsiveness to urate-lowering therapy. Emerging observational data suggest that urine alkalization might improve responsiveness to febuxostat. Hence, this prospective study evaluated the urate-lowering efficacy of citrate mixture added to febuxostat in people with gout and combined-type hyperuricemia. Methods Patients with combined-type hyperuricemia and low urine pH (< 6.2) were prospectively enrolled from a gout clinic. All were treated with febuxostat (initially 20 mg daily, escalated to 40 mg daily if serum urate (SU) ≥360µmol/L). Citrate mixture (3.5 g twice daily, open label) was added according to shared decision of both physician and patient (alkalization vs. non-alkalization). Participants were followed for 12 weeks, with primary endpoint being achievement of SU < 360 µmol/L at final assessment. Results We enrolled 234 eligible patients, with 194 completing 12 weeks follow-up (98 non-alkalization and 96 with alkalization). At week 12, more patients in the alkalization group achieved SU < 360µmol/L (57.3% vs. 39.8%, P  < 0.05), with significantly increased renal urate excretion, and lower febuxostat doses (mean ± S.D, 31.9 ± 9.9 vs. 34.7 ± 8.9 mg, P  < 0.05). Additionally, metabolic measures including the triglyceride concentration and triglyceride-glucose index were lower, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration as well as insulin sensitivity were higher in the alkalization group. The incidence of adverse events was similar between groups. Conclusions Adjunctive urine alkalization with febuxostat demonstrated a superior urate-lowering response and improved metabolic abnormalities in male with gout and combined-type hyperuricemia. Trial registration ChiCTR, http://www.chictr.org.cn , ChiCTR2100043573.

Astrocytes are a major cell type in the central nervous system (CNS) that play a key role in regulating homeostatic functions, responding to injuries, and maintaining the blood-brain barrier. Astrocytes also regulate neuronal functions and survival by modulating myelination and degradation of pathological toxic protein aggregates. Astrocytes have recently been proposed to possess both autophagic activity and active phagocytic capability which largely depend on sufficiently acidified lysosomes for complete degradation of cellular cargos. Defective lysosomal acidification in astrocytes impairs their autophagic and phagocytic functions, resulting in the accumulation of cellular debris, excessive myelin and lipids, and toxic protein aggregates, which ultimately contributes to the propagation of neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative pathology. Restoration of lysosomal acidification in impaired astrocytes represent new neuroprotective strategy and therapeutic direction. In this review, we summarize pathogenic factors, including neuroinflammatory signaling, metabolic stressors, myelin and lipid mediated toxicity, and toxic protein aggregates, that contribute to lysosomal acidification impairment and associated autophagic and phagocytic dysfunction in astrocytes. We discuss the role of lysosomal acidification dysfunction in astrocyte-mediated neuroinflammation primarily in the context of neurodegenerative diseases along with other brain injuries. We then highlight re-acidification of impaired lysosomes as a therapeutic strategy to restore autophagic and phagocytic functions as well as lysosomal degradative capacity in astrocytes. We conclude by providing future perspectives on the role of astrocytes as phagocytes and their crosstalk with other CNS cells to impart neurodegenerative or neuroprotective effects.

The cationic cellulose nanofibrils demonstrate outstanding properties and have garnered extensive attention as sustainable materials. However, the large-scale preparation of cationic cellulose nanofibrils was limited since the high crystallinity of plant fibers made them harder to disintegrate and nanofibrillate. In this study, cationic cellulose nanofibrils, HKCF, were produced from softwood bleached kraft pulp (SWBK) with 2,3-epoxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride (EPTAC) by disk milling, followed by high-pressure homogenization. Morphologies and structures of cationic fibers (KCF and CCF) and homogenized products were characterized. The influence of cationization combined with high mechanical shear on the degree of substitution (DS) of cationic fibers was studied. At the same molar ratios of EPTAC to anhydroglucose units and holding time, the DS of KCF was higher than that of CCF. Compared with simple mixing induced by conventional stirring, the high mechanical shear induced by disk milling could increase the cationic efficiency of EPTAC by at least 50%. After high-pressure homogenization, KCF was completely fibrillated to HKCF with nano-scaled dimensions. HKCF dispersion showed a Bingham flow behavior and viscosity-dominating fluid-like behavior. Our study provides a facile and effective industrialized approach for producing highly substituted cationic cellulose nanofibrils.

Background Low urine pH, which may be mediated by metabolic syndrome (MetS), is common in gout. Tart cherries are shown to improve MetS symptoms and possess anti-inflammatory properties. However, the efficacy of tart cherry supplements on urine pH has yet to be studied. Objectives This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of tart cherry supplementary citrate (TaCCi) mixture on urine pH, serum urate (sUA), C-reactive protein (CRP), and gout flares in gout patients initiating urate-lowering therapy (ULT), in comparison to citrate mixture and sodium bicarbonate. Methods A prospective, randomized (1:1:1), open-label, parallel-controlled trial was conducted among 282 men with gout and fasting urine pH ≤ 6, who were initiating ULT with febuxostat (initially 20 mg daily, escalating to 40 mg daily if serum urate ≥ 360 μmol/L). Participants were randomized to groups taking either sodium bicarbonate, citrate mixture, or TaCCi mixture. All participants were followed every 4 weeks until week 12. Urine pH and sUA were co-primary outcomes, with various biochemical and clinical secondary endpoints. Results Urine pH increased to a similar extent in all three groups. SUA levels declined in all three groups as well, with no significant differences observed between the groups. At week 12, the TaCCi mixture group exhibited a greater reduction in the urine albumin/creatinine ratio (UACR) compared to the other two groups ( p  < 0.05). Participants taking TaCCi mixture or citrate mixture experienced fewer gout flares than those in the sodium bicarbonate group over the study period ( p  < 0.05). Additionally, the TaCCi mixture group had a lower CRP level at week 12 relative to the other two groups ( p  < 0.01). Adverse events were similar across all three groups. Conclusion The TaCCi mixture had similar efficacy and safety on urine alkalization and sUA-lowering as the citrate mixture and sodium bicarbonate in patients with gout. However, the TaCCi mixture resulted in greater improvements in UACR and CRP, which suggests that tart cherry supplements may provide additional benefits for renal protection and reduce inflammation in gout, particularly when starting ULT. Trial registration This project was registered in ChiCTR ( www.chictr.org.cn ), with the registration number: ChiCTR2100050749.

In the present study, corncob (an agricultural waste) has been explored as a source of cellulose. Cellulose was extracted from corncob through removal of hemicellulose and lignin. The carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was then synthesized from extracted cellulose by alkalization and etherification with 30% NaOH and 120% monochloro acetic acid (MCA) in ethanol medium respectively. Characterization of prepared CMC was carried out by various techniques like Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscpoe (SEM). Back titration method was used to determine the Degree of Substitution (DS). The synthesized CMC obtained has a large DS value of 2.27. The purity of CMC was high at 91.65% and showed a yield of 1.20g/g, intrinsic viscosity of 1.02, water holding capacity 3.81g/g and oil holding capacity 1.66g/g. Higher degree of substitution is achieved in this work. The synthesized product is effective suitable additive for food and various pharmaceuticals industries.

Blood contains powerful pH-buffering molecules such as hemoglobin (Hb) and albumin, while interstitial fluids have little pH-buffering molecules. Thus, even under metabolic disorder conditions except severe cases, arterial blood pH is kept constant within the normal range (7.35~7.45), but the interstitial fluid pH under metabolic disorder conditions becomes lower than the normal level. Insulin resistance is one of the most important key factors in pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus, nevertheless the molecular mechanism of insulin resistance occurrence is still unclear. Our studies indicate that lowered interstitial fluid pH occurs in diabetes mellitus, causing insulin resistance via reduction of the binding affinity of insulin to its receptor. Therefore, the key point for improvement of insulin resistance occurring in diabetes mellitus is development of methods or techniques elevating the lowered interstitial fluid pH. Intake of weak organic acids is found to improve the insulin resistance by elevating the lowered interstitial fluid pH in diabetes mellitus. One of the molecular mechanisms of the pH elevation is that: (1) the carboxyl group (R-COO−) but not H+ composing weak organic acids in foods is absorbed into the body, and (2) the absorbed the carboxyl group (R-COO−) behaves as a pH buffer material, elevating the interstitial fluid pH. On the other hand, high salt intake has been suggested to cause diabetes mellitus; however, the molecular mechanism is unclear. A possible mechanism of high salt intake-caused diabetes mellitus is proposed from a viewpoint of regulation of the interstitial fluid pH: high salt intake lowers the interstitial fluid pH via high production of H+ associated with ATP synthesis required for the Na+,K+-ATPase to extrude the high leveled intracellular Na+ caused by high salt intake. This review article introduces the molecular mechanism causing the lowered interstitial fluid pH and insulin resistance in diabetes mellitus, the improvement of insulin resistance via intake of weak organic acid-containing foods, and a proposal mechanism of high salt intake-caused diabetes mellitus.