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To reduce dependency on fossil fuel, alternative fuel may be considered either to replace fossil fuel or to improve the characteristics of fossil fuel. Ethanol is one of the alternative fuels that has been used as an additive to gasoline fossil fuel in many countries, particularly for spark ignition engine system. This research aims to investigate the effect of ethanol and gasoline blending on the performance of a non-road small single cylinder engine. Ethanol–gasoline blends of different concentrations are considered in this paper, to experimentally compare their performances, under varying engine speed but constant engine load. The experimental results showed that the addition of ethanol to gasoline has improved the overall engine performance. High ethanol–gasoline fuel blend (E40) is suitable for low engine speed, while low ethanol–gasoline fuel blend (E10) can replace the neat gasoline without modification as their performance is very identical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic Liver Disease (CLD) is associated with hepatocyte damage, massive inflammation and liver fibrosis, capable of promoting cancer. Although, majority of hepatocytes diminished in CLD, stem cell derived from circulating endogenous Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) plays several roles in the rapid regeneration process, through regulating serum Platelet Derived Growth Factor-β (PDGF-β) levels. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of MSCs administration in the liver fibrosis of rats by measuring their serum PDGF-β level and histopatology appearance. MSCs was isolated from Sprague Dawley (SD) rats and the liver fibrosis induced with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). In addition, MSCs (1 x 106 cells) were intravenously injected 24 h after CCl4 with the Serum PDGF-β level determined by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) on day 3 and 14 after intravenous administration. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was used to evaluate histopatology, while statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 12.0. The obtained data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA with a LSD comparison post hoc test. MSCs treatment significantly increased serum PDGF-β level compared with the control group on day 3 ( p < 0.05), which was significantly reduced liver fibrosis on histopatology appearance on day 14 ( p < 0.01). Our study indicates that MSCs alleviate liver fibrosis through the PDGF-β regulation in rats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]