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Zearalenone (ZEA) has been proved to be toxic, particularly to the reproductive system of gilts. The effect of ZEA on gilts during embryo implantation window period is of particular interests. Here, we observed window stage dysontogenesis of gilts treated with ZEA. In endometrial tissues and cells, autophagosomes increased significantly and mitochondria were damaged with increasing ZEA concentration. Addition of autophagy inhibitor confirmed that ZEA blocks the autophagic flow in the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes. In conclusion, ZEA exposure during embryo implantation results in endometrium inflammation by activating autophagy while blocking autophagy flow at the same time, leading to the significant accumulation of autophagosomes. The aforementioned effects of ZEA induce the apoptosis of primary endometrial cells through the caspase3 pathway, which would break the uterus environment balance and finally lead to embryo implantation failure and dysontogenesis in gilts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrodynamic cavitation multiphase reactor (HCMR) is emerging as a promising alternative for the intensification of liquid–liquid heterogeneous reactions, but research on HCMR modeling is lacking. In this article, an HCMR model was developed using Prileschajew epoxidation as the model system. First, based on experimental measurements of oil/water two‐phase flow downstream of hydrodynamic cavitation devices, semiempirical correlations were proposed to describe the droplet size and droplet size distribution (DSD) as functions of flow conditions and geometry parameters. Then, with boundary conditions calculated by the DSD correlation, a droplet dynamics simulation in a reaction tank was performed by computational fluid dynamics coupled with population balance model to obtain the two‐phase interfacial area. Finally, the acquired reactor model was substituted into an overall kinetic model, to simulate the epoxidation reaction in HCMR. Model predictions were verified by experimental results measured on an industrial scale HCMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epoxidized oils are eco‐friendly plasticizers, which are industrially produced through the epoxidation reaction in a formic acid‐hydrogen peroxide autocatalyzed system. The fundamental knowledge to describe the phase equilibrium of systems after epoxidation reaction is lacking, which is crucial for the design of the purification facilities. This work reported experimental data for the liquid–liquid equilibrium of three systems, i.e., epoxidized fatty acid methyl esters + formic acid + water, epoxidized fatty acid 2‐ethylhexyl esters + formic acid + water, and epoxidized soybean oil + formic acid + water, in the temperature range (303.15–348.15) K under atmospheric pressure. The results indicated that the liquid–liquid equilibrium constant of formic acid in the systems followed the order of epoxidized fatty acid 2‐ethylhexyl esters > epoxidized fatty acid methyl esters > epoxidized soybean oil. Moreover, the obtained experimental data were correlated using nonrandom two liquid (NRTL) and universal quasi chemical (UNIQUAC) models. The maximum root mean square deviation (RMSD) values as low as 0.0052 and 0.0263 were estimated using the NRTL and UNIQUAC model, respectively. The NRTL model is more suitable than the UNIQUAC model to describe the liquid–liquid equilibrium behavior of these ternary systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the mass transfer and reaction kinetics of soybean oil epoxidation using concentrated hydrogen peroxide in a formic acid-autocatalyzed reaction system were studied in detail. Studying the mass transfer of formic acid showed that the influence of reactant diffusion near the interface is eliminated when the stirring rate is > 120 rpm in a double-stirred cell, and the mass transfer rate decreases greatly with the conversion of double bonds and a decrease of reaction temperature. A temperature increase has little impact on the equilibrium of formic acid in the oil/water system, while an increase of epoxidized soybean oil significantly increases the value of the partition coefficient of formic acid. Another important aspect in the kinetic study is the decomposition of performic acid, which can cause the reduction of H2O2 and formic acid during the reaction. Finally, a biphasic model, which considers all reactions in oil and aqueous phases, the equilibrium and mass transfer of reagents and products between the phases, and the evolution of proton concentrations with time, was developed to describe the epoxidation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degradation of methylene blue (MB) using an upgraded dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor was investigated in this paper. Air plasma was generated in the glass bead packed bed in the reactor, which was propagated into MB solution through a microporous diffuser plate. Microdischarge phenomenon can be observed on the interface of MB solution and the diffuser plate, where plasma active species were generated. The effects of air flow rate, initial solution concentration, initial solution pH, and initial solution conductivity on MB degradation were examined. Experimental results indicated that the proposed plasma reactor was effective for MB degradation. No obvious change in MB degradation efficiency was obtained for solution with various initial pH and conductivities, which suggested the potential of the reactor in actual wastewater treatment. The possible mechanism of the generation of plasma active species for MB degradation was proposed. In addition, the total organic carbon removal and chemical oxidation demand removal after 30 min treatment were 38.5% and 48.3%, which was higher than that obtained by ozone. The energy yield for MB degradation reached up to 9.3 g/kWh. Finally, a possible degradation pathway of MB solution was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most critical periods of embryonic loss in pig is day 12 of pregnancy, when implantation begins. Here, we analyzed the gene expression on day 12 of pregnancy and non-pregnancy in the porcine endometrium using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). 237 mRNAs, 34 lncRNAs and 1 miRNA were significantly differentially expressed between the two groups. Further functional analyses were conducted to identify these differentially expressed transcripts. The results demonstrated that they participate in various biological processes, such as cell adhesion, binding, nucleic and metabolic processes. In addition, our results showed that the differentially expressed genes ( IL1R , FGF9 , DUPS10 , DUPS4 , CD14 and MAP4K4 ) in MAPK pathway, and lncRNAs of XLOC _ 2604764 and XLOC _ 2604756 may play a vital role in regulating embryo implantation. Besides, we investigated the lncRNA- ssc - miR - 132 -mRNA interactions, aiming to explain the regulatory networks of coding and non-coding genes that contributes to the establishment of the maternal pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In industry, mass transfer limitation is a major and widespread problem in most of vegetable oil epoxidation reactors. To improve the quality of products and the efficiency of production, it is essential to understand the law of mass transfer in the epoxidation reaction system. In present work, epoxidation of fatty acid methyl esters with performic acid generated in situ was studied in a stirred vessel at 50–80 °C. At first, the Sauter mean diameter (D 32 ) was determined and correlated, the correlation can predict the D 32 evolution of the reaction. Then, individual experiments were performed to separately determine the intrinsic kinetic parameters and the mass transfer parameters. Finally, a macroscopic kinetic model was developed, which can well describe the effect of droplet size on the reaction. Noteworthy, the mass transfer limitation was significantly increased when reaction temperature rises to 80 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embryonic implantation in sows is a coordinated interaction between the implantation-competent blastocyst and receptive uterus. In addition, microRNAs are small endogenous non-coding RNAs which are involved in post-transcriptional gene regulation of several biological processes including embryonic implantation. However, the mechanisms of miRNAs involved in embryonic implantation of sows remain largely unknown. Here, we analyzed miRNAome of endometrium on day 9, 12 and 15 of pregnancy and on day 12 of non-pregnancy in Meishan and Yorkshire pigs by Illumina sequencing. From 24 libraries, we identified 312 known microRNAs and 211 potential novel miRNAs. Bioinformatics analysis showed that differentially expressed microRNAs on day 12 of pregnancy between the two breeds may play critical roles by involving “p53 signaling pathway” and “Wnt signaling pathway”. Furthermore, our results demonstrated that ssc-miR-21, ssc-miR-451, ssc-miR-204, ssc-miR-199a-5p and ssc-miR-199b-5p would play crucial roles for implantation. The data generated in this study were expected to elucidate the influence of microRNAs during pre-implantation in pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]