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This paper presents a new fractal seepage model to study the decrease in seepage capacity caused by fluid erosion and pressure changes in porous media. The normalized permeability obtained by our model is in good agreement with the experiments and models in literature and has high accuracy and usability. The results demonstrate that: (1) the larger the instability coefficient, the higher the particle stability, the better the permeability of the porous medium, the later the normalized permeability decreases, and the slower it goes down, and (2) the fractal dimension of the solid skeleton set mainly affects the porosity and permeability of porous media, independent of the stability of solid particles. (3) The fractal dimension of movable particles is one of the main factors affecting the normalized permeability, it does not affect the instability conditions solid-phase particles in the porous media. The proposed model makes full use of the microstructure parameters of porous media, further reveals the mechanism of fluid flow in porous media with particle shedding, and provides a sound theoretical basis for various practical applications in petroleum engineering and other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new fractal seepage model to study the decrease in seepage capacity caused by fluid erosion and pressure changes in porous media. The normalized permeability obtained by our model is in good agreement with the experiments and models in literature and has high accuracy and usability. The results demonstrate that: (1) the larger the instability coefficient, the higher the particle stability, the better the permeability of the porous medium, the later the normalized permeability decreases, and the slower it goes down, and (2) the fractal dimension of the solid skeleton set mainly affects the porosity and permeability of porous media, independent of the stability of solid particles. (3) The fractal dimension of movable particles is one of the main factors affecting the normalized permeability, it does not affect the instability conditions solid-phase particles in the porous media. The proposed model makes full use of the microstructure parameters of porous media, further reveals the mechanism of fluid flow in porous media with particle shedding, and provides a sound theoretical basis for various practical applications in petroleum engineering and other industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We previously found that the disorder of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH)/cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)-mediated arachidonic acid (ARA) metabolism contributes to the pathogenesis of the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in mice. However, the exact mechanism has not been elucidated. Accumulating evidence points to the essential role of cellular senescence in NAFLD. Herein, we investigated whether restoring the balance of sEH/COX-2-mediated ARA metabolism attenuated NAFLD via hepatocyte senescence. A promised dual inhibitor of sEH and COX-2, PTUPB, was used in our study to restore the balance of sEH/COX-2-mediated ARA metabolism. In vivo, NAFLD was induced by a high-fat diet (HFD) using C57BL/6J mice. In vitro, mouse hepatocytes (AML12) and mouse hepatic astrocytes (JS1) were used to investigate the effects of PTUPB on palmitic acid (PA)-induced hepatocyte senescence and its mechanism. PTUPB alleviated liver injury, decreased collagen and lipid accumulation, restored glucose tolerance, and reduced hepatic triglyceride levels in HFD-induced NAFLD mice. Importantly, PTUPB significantly reduced the expression of liver senescence-related molecules p16, p53, and p21 in HFD mice. In vitro, the protein levels of γH2AX, p53, p21, COX-2, and sEH were increased in AML12 hepatocytes treated with PA, while Ki67 and PCNA were significantly decreased. PTUPB decreased the lipid content, the number of β-gal positive cells, and the expression of p53, p21, and γH2AX proteins in AML12 cells. Meanwhile, PTUPB reduced the activation of hepatic astrocytes JS1 by slowing the senescence of AML12 cells in a co-culture system. It was further observed that PTUPB enhanced the ratio of autophagy-related protein LC3II/I in AML12 cells, up-regulated the expression of Fundc1 protein, reduced p62 protein, and suppressed hepatocyte senescence. In addition, PTUPB enhanced hepatocyte autophagy by inhibiting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway through Sirt1, contributing to the suppression of senescence. PTUPB inhibits the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway through Sirt1, improves autophagy, slows down the senescence of hepatocytes, and alleviates NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Necroptosis, a recently described form of programmed cell death, is the main way of alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) death in acute lung injury (ALI). While the mechanism of how to trigger necroptosis in AECs during ALI has been rarely evaluated. Long optic atrophy protein 1 (L‐OPA1) is a crucial mitochondrial inner membrane fusion protein, and its deficiency impairs mitochondrial function. This study aimed to investigate the role of L‐OPA1 deficiency‐mediated mitochondrial dysfunction in AECs necroptosis. We comprehensively investigated the detailed contribution and molecular mechanism of L‐OPA1 deficiency in AECs necroptosis by inhibiting or activating L‐OPA1. First, our data showed that L‐OPA1 expression was downregulated in the lungs and AECs under the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. Furthermore, inhibition of L‐OPA1 aggravated the pathological injury, inflammatory response, and necroptosis in the lungs of LPS‐induced ALI mice. In vitro, inhibition of L‐OPA1 induced necroptosis of AECs, while activation of L‐OPA1 alleviated necroptosis of AECs under the LPS challenge. Mechanistically, inhibition of L‐OPA1 aggravated necroptosis of AECs by inducing mitochondrial fragmentation and reducing mitochondrial membrane potential. While activation of L‐OPA1 had the opposite effects. In summary, these findings indicate for the first time that L‐OPA1 deficiency mediates mitochondrial fragmentation, induces necroptosis of AECs, and exacerbates ALI in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a spherical droplet moves parallel to the direction of motion of its surrounding gas medium, it will deform into an ellipsoidal droplet. In this paper, an exposition of a novel model for predicting the minimum flow rate for the continuous removal of liquids from gas wells based on two theories is presented. First, droplet breakup principle is utilized to microscopically obtain the maximum size parameters of ellipsoidal droplets, and second, droplet force equilibrium is adopted to macroscopically calculate the critical droplet entrainment rate. Moreover, effect of variations in the windward area (attributed to droplet deformation) on the drag coefficient is determined. Impacts of variations in pressure, temperature, and pipe diameter on the gas‐liquid two‐phase friction resistance and gas‐liquid surface tension are also considered. For model verification and comparison with other droplet entrainment models, field data from 3436 gas wells are utilized. The field data well validates the results with a 92% accuracy, indicating that the new model has a better comprehensive performance in determining whether or not a gas well is loaded. Besides, parameter sensitivity analyses including the effects of drag coefficient, surface tension, and friction coefficient on the minimum flow rate of gas are performed. Finally, the relationship curve of critical droplet entrainment rates corresponding to different pressures and pipe diameters is established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performing stress‐sensitivity evaluation on a high‐temperature and high‐pressure gas reservoir is essential for correctly understanding the characteristics of physical property changes and reasonably designing the development scheme of a reservoir under stratum conditions. By focusing on six core samples with different physical properties in a gas field in the Yingqiong Basin, stress‐sensitivity experiments have been conducted along with mercury intrusion porosimetry and X‐ray diffraction measurements to study the relationship among porosity, permeability, and effective stress at a temperature of 140°C and effective stress ranging from 2 MPa to 70 MPa. Our results showed that the stress‐sensitivity curve characterized by three‐stage segmentation is primarily affected by average pore radius and mineral composition but has no direct relation with porosity and permeability. Meanwhile, the stress sensitivity of permeability is mainly related to the average pore throat radius and mineral composition of core specimen. The smaller the pore throat radius and the higher the clay content, the stronger the stress sensitivity of permeability. Under high‐temperature and high‐pressure conditions, the stress sensitivities of permeability and porosity can be characterized by power functions although the stress sensitivity of permeability is about 2–11 times higher than that of porosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare and disabling heritable connective tissue disease that is difficult to treat. This study seeks to explore the clinical characteristics, clinical manifestations, treatment and prognosis of FOP to provide a clinical basis for its early diagnosis and treatment. Methods: Twenty-six children with FOP were retrospectively analyzed in terms of their onset, clinical manifestations, auxiliary examinations and treatment. Results: Among the 26 cases, the youngest age of manifestation of mass was 8 days after birth, and the average age was 3 years and 2 months. The peak age was 2–5 years old. Inflammatory mass and toe-finger deformity are the main early clinical manifestations of the disease. These inflammatory masses often lead to hard osteogenic deposits that initially mainly involve the central axis, such as the neck (22/26, 84.6%), back (20/26, 76.9%), and head (13/26, 50%). Toe-finger deformity mainly manifests as symmetrical great toe deformity, or short and deformed thumb and little finger. The diagnosis of FOP requires typical clinical manifestations or ACVR1 gene detection. The main therapeutic drugs for FOP include glucocorticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Although not compliant with the recommended medical management of FOP, in our clinical practice children with uncontrollable illness could be treated using a variety of immunosuppressive agents in combination. Conclusions: FOP is a rare autosomal dominant heritable disease. The main clinical manifestations observed in this study were recurrent inflammatory mass and toe-finger deformity. If the diagnosis and treatment are not performed in a timely manner, serious complications are likely to affect the prognosis. Therefore, early diagnosis and active treatment should be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine how fracture-vuggy structure, pressure, and injection-production mode influence displacement efficiency in the water flooding process in fracture-vuggy reservoirs, two types of models were built based on the characteristic of such reservoir: two fracture models with different fracture apertures and two fracture-vuggy models with different sizes of vugs. A series of two-phase fluid flow experiments was conducted to study oil and water distribution as well as flow pattern in the water flooding process. Results show that displacement efficiency is significantly influenced by injection-production mode and injection pressure. By contrast, its relationship with the size of vugs is insignificant. Under the same injection-production mode, high-to-low recovery that corresponds to model type includes the small fracture, large fracture, small vug, and large vug models. Under the same pore volume multiple, high-to-low recovery that corresponds to model includes the small fracture, small vug, large fracture, and large vug models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In previous studies, it is found that the frame and pore in porous media both possess the fractal geometric character. So the permeability and porosity models of bi-fractal porous media are derived based on the assumption that a porous media consists of fractal solid clusters and capillary bundles. The expressions of presented models are constituted by the fractal parameters of solid cluster and those of capillary bundle. Good agreement between model predictions and experimental data is obtained. This verifies the validity of the permeability and porosity models for bi-fractal porous media. The sensitive parameters that influence the permeability and porosity are specified, and their effects on the relationship between permeability and porosity are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ischaemia-reperfusion injury (I/RI) is a common cause of acute kidney injury (AKI). The molecular basis underlying I/RI-induced renal pathogenesis and measures to prevent or reverse this pathologic process remains to be resolved. Basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) is reported to have protective roles of myocardial infarction as well as in several other I/R related disorders. Herein we present evidence that FGF2 exhibits robust protective effect against renal histological and functional damages in a rat I/RI model. FGF2 treatment greatly alleviated I/R-induced acute renal dysfunction and largely blunted I/R-induced elevation in serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen, and also the number of TUNEL-positive tubular cells in the kidney. Mechanistically, FGF2 substantially ameliorated renal I/RI by mitigating several mitochondria damaging parameters including pro-apoptotic alteration of Bcl2/Bax expression, caspase-3 activation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and KATP channel integrity. Of note, the protective effect of FGF2 was significantly compromised by the KATP channel blocker 5-HD. Interestingly, I/RI alone resulted in mild activation of FGFR, whereas FGF2 treatment led to more robust receptor activation. More significantly, post-I/RI administration of FGF2 also exhibited robust protection against I/RI by reducing cell apoptosis, inhibiting the release of damage-associated molecular pattern molecule HMBG1 and activation of its downstream inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1α, IL-6 and TNF α. Taken together, our data suggest that FGF2 offers effective protection against I/RI and improves animal survival by attenuating mitochondrial damage and HMGB1-mediated inflammatory response. Therefore, FGF2 has the potential to be used for the prevention and treatment of I/RI-induced AKI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horizontal well (HW) was divided into several elements after acidizing. In each element, there would exist a composite zone that was made up of damage zone (DZ) and acidizing zone (AZ). Local skin factor after acidizing was used to describe the resistance in each composite zone. The models for local skin factor and productivity of HW were created using the method of equivalent filtration resistance and displacement between two similar flow modes. According to the solution of the models, type curves of skin factor and production-increasing ratio after acidizing were illustrated, and the effect of different parameters in DZ and AZ on distribution of skin factor and production-increasing ratio after acidizing were discussed. The present model has a significant guide on the practice of acidizing technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After multistage fracturing, the flowback of fracturing fluid will cause two-phase flow through hydraulic fractures in shale gas reservoirs. With the consideration of two-phase flow and desorbed gas transient diffusion in shale gas reservoirs, a two-phase transient flow model of multistage fractured horizontal well in shale gas reservoirs was created. Accurate solution to this flow model is obtained by the use of source function theory, Laplace transform, three-dimensional eigenvalue method, and orthogonal transformation. According to the model’s solution, the bilogarithmic type curves of the two-phase model are illustrated, and the production decline performance under the effects of hydraulic fractures and shale gas reservoir properties are discussed. The result obtained in this paper has important significance to understand pressure response characteristics and production decline law of two-phase flow in shale gas reservoirs. Moreover, it provides the theoretical basis for exploiting this reservoir efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model for transient flow in porous media embedded with randomly distributed tree-shaped fractal networks was presented based on the fractal properties of tree-shaped capillaries and generalized Darcy's law. The dimensionless expression of flowing pressure was developed using the Laplace transform and Stehfest numerical inversion method. The bilogarithmic type curves were illustrated and the influences of different fractal factors on dimensionless flowing pressure were also discussed. The presented study indicated that the fractal characteristics for the tree-shaped fractal networks should be considered in analysis of transient flow in the heterogeneous porous media. The proposed model may be conducible to a better understanding of the mechanism for transient flow in the multi-porosity porous media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A permeability model for porous media considering the stress sensitivity is derived based on mechanics of materials and the fractal characteristics of solid cluster size distribution. The permeability of porous media considering the stress sensitivity is related to solid cluster fractal dimension, solid cluster fractal tortuosity dimension, solid cluster minimum diameter and solid cluster maximum diameter, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, as well as power index. Every parameter has clear physical meaning without the use of empirical constants. The model predictions of permeability show good agreement with those obtained by the available experimental expression. The proposed model may be conducible to a better understanding of the mechanism for flow in elastic porous media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transient flow model for power-law fluid in fractal porous media is derived by combining transient flow theory with the fractal properties of tortuous capillaries. Pressure changes of transient flow for power-law fluid in fractal porous media are related to pore fractal dimension, tortuosity fractal dimension and the power-law index. Additionally, the starting pressure gradient model of power-law fluid in fractal porous media is established. Good agreement between the predictions of the present model and that of the traditional empirical model is obtained, the sensitive parameters that influence the starting pressure gradient are specified and their effects on the starting pressure gradient are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the base of some kinetics model analysis and kinetic observation of hydrate formation process, a new prediction model of gas hydrate formation is proposed. The analysis of the present model shows that the formation of gas hydrate not only relevant with gas composition and free water content but also relevant with temperature and pressure. Through contrast experiment, the predicted result of the new prediction method of gas hydrate crystallization kinetics is close to measured result, it means that the prediction method can reflect the hydrate crystallization accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A three-nested-deformation model is proposed to describe crack-tip fields in rubber-like materials with large deformation. The model is inspired by the distribution of the measured in-plane and out-of-plane deformation. The inplane displacement of crack-tip fields under both Mode I and mixed-mode (Mode I-II) fracture conditions is measured by using the digital Moiré method. The deformation characteristics and experimental sector division mode are investigated by comparing the measured displacement fields under different fracture modes. The out-of-plane displacement field near the crack tip is measured using the three-dimensional digital speckle correlation method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen diffusion behavior of single crystal stoichiometric NiAl was investigated. The results show that the hydrogen diffusivity and permeabilty of single crystal stoichiometric NiAl obey Arrhenius relationship in the experimental temperature range. The activation energy of hydrogen diffusion in single crystal stoichiometric NiAl is about 45 kJ/mol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]