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The limitation of traditional measurement technology in gas-liquid two-phase flow measurement is broken through.The liquid velocity field and vortex rope morphology from two vertical directions were measured synchronically by using particle image velocimetry and pulsed shadowgraphy technique. Experimental measurements show that the vortex rope in the draft tube presents three kinds of unstable circulation flow evolution, single spiral, double spiral, and overstocked rupture. When a single spiral vortex rope is partially split into two, it becomes a double spiral vortex rope. When the local spiral rise angle of a single spiral vortex rope decreases, it becomes an overstocked rupture. When there is a single spiral vortex rope in the draft tube, the vortex rope rotates precession around the central axis along with the liquid main flow, and the flow is divided into two parts, the outer main flow zone and the central stagnation zone, according to the axial velocity. The shear layer between the main flow zone and the stagnation zone rolls up to form several vortices. The position of liquid vortices determines the spatial morphology of the spiral vortex rope.

The intensity of air leakage not only increases the risk of spontaneous combustion of coal, but also is the cause of coal fire disasters caused by spontaneous combustion of coal left in the goaf. Aim to find the influence of the air leakage intensity on the spontaneous combustion characteristics of the remaining coal when the fire zone is opened, the coal spontaneous combustion characteristics measuring device is used to conduct a temperature-programming experiment on the coal samples, and then Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FTIR) is used for analysis to obtain different gas environments. The relative content of functional groups changes at each characteristic temperature point. The results show that in the oxygen-containing groups, the content of -COOH increases as the temperature rises. Although the change range of -C-O- is not obvious with the rise of the temperature point, its content is relatively high; in the functional groups of -OH, it is present at all temperature stages. It exists and the peak intensity is obvious; among the aliphatic hydrocarbons, the peak areas of -CH3 and -CH2 are both large, and both dry air and nitrogen atmosphere participate in the reaction at various temperature points, and the activity is high. Through structural parameter value analysis, T120 is the key active point temperature. In the coal sample that is naturally cooled under dry air or nitrogen atmosphere, the functional groups of the raw coal react more violently in T120, and the functional groups change more. As a whole, the increasing and decreasing trend of functional group changes in nitrogen atmosphere is smaller than that in dry air atmosphere, and the risk of coal re-ignition is also reduced.

Hepatic fibrosis is an important pathological manifestation of chronic schistosome infection. Patients with advanced schistosomiasis show varying degrees of abnormalities in liver fibrosis indicators and bilirubin metabolism. However, the relationship between hepatic fibrosis in schistosomiasis and dysregulated bilirubin metabolism remains unclear. In this study, we observed a positive correlation between total bilirubin levels and the levels of ALT, AST, LN, and CIV in patients with advanced schistosomiasis. Additionally, we established mouse models at different time points following S. japonicum infection. As the infection time increased, liver fibrosis escalated, while liver UGT1A1 consistently exhibited a low expression, indicating impaired glucuronidation of bilirubin metabolism in mice. In vitro experiments suggested that SEA may be a key inhibitor of hepatic UGT1A1 expression after schistosome infection. Furthermore, a high concentration of bilirubin activated the NF-κB signaling pathway in L-O2 cells in vitro. These findings suggested that the dysregulated glucuronidation of bilirubin caused by S. japonicum infection may play a significant role in schistosomiasis liver fibrosis through the NF-κB signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schistosomiasis is an immunopathogenic disease characterized by egg granuloma and fibrosis. The hepatic fibrosis of schistosomiasis is caused by the coordinated action of local immune cells, liver-resident cells and related cytokines around the eggs of the liver. B-cell-activating factor (BAFF), expressed in many cells, is an essential factor for promoting the survival, differentiation, and maturation of cells. The overexpression of BAFF is closely related to many autoimmune diseases and fibrosis, but has not been reported to play a role in liver fibrosis caused by schistosomiasis. In the study, we found that, during Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) infection in mice, the level of BAFF and its receptor BAFF-R progressively increased, then decreased with the extension of infection time, which was consistent with the progression of hepatic granuloma and fibrosis. Anti-BAFF treatment attenuated the histopathological damage in the liver of infected mice. The average areas of individual granulomas and liver fibrosis in anti-BAFF treatment mice were significantly lower than those in control mice, respectively. Anti-BAFF treatment increased the IL-10, decreased IL-4, IL-6, IL-17A, TGF-β, and downregulated the antibody level against S. japonicum antigens. These results suggested that BAFF acts a strong player in the immunopathology of schistosomiasis. Anti-BAFF treatment may influence Th2 and Th17 responses, and reduce the inflammatory reaction and fibrosis of schistosomiasis liver egg granuloma. It is suggested that BAFF might be a prospective target for the development of new methods to treat schistosomiasis liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cases of newly developed advanced schistosomiasis (NDAS) have occurred in areas where schistosomiasis transmission has been blocked for more than 25 years. The causes and pathogenesis of NDAS are still unknown. Diagnosis of NDAS relies on historical investigation and clinical symptoms, such as liver fibrosis, hepatic ascites and abnormal biochemical indexes in serum. It is important but difficult at this stage to develop a new tool for early screening and rapid diagnosis. In this study, serum peptides from thirty patients with NDAS and thirty healthy controls were captured with weak cation exchange magnetic beads, and subjected to MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and ClinProTools analysis. Eleven peaks with m/z 924, 2661, 2953, 2991, 3241, 3884, 5337, 5905, 5943, 7766 and 9289 were decreased and three peaks with m/z 1945, 2082 and 4282 were increased in the NDAS group. The proteomic detection pattern (PDP) was established with 14 different peptide peaks, and its sensitivity and specificity were investigated with a blind test. The peptide mass fingerprints of sera from 50 NDAS patients and 100 healthy controls were double-blind subjected to the PDP method, and 50 patients and 92 healthy controls were classified as NDAS and healthy separately, which showed 100% sensitivity and 92% specificity. Our results showed that the PDP could be a new and useful method to detect NDAS.

Accurate estimation of the buoyancy forces exerted on underground structures is a problem in geotechnical engineering that directly impacts the construction safety and cost of these structures. Therefore, studying the buoyancy resistance of underground structures has great scientific and practical value. In this study, an initial difference in the hydraulic head, Δh0, was discovered to be present in aquitards through analysis of water-level data collected from the observation of real-world structures and in laboratory control tests. That is, seepage occurs beyond a threshold Δh0. Analysis of test data reveals that a deviation from Darcy's law is the theoretical basis for Δh0 and that Δh0 equals the initial hydraulic gradient multiplied by the length of the seepage path. The general consistency between the experimentally measured and theoretically calculated values of Δh0 validates the theoretical explanation for Δh0. The results of this study provide a basis for scientifically calculating the buoyancy resistance required for the construction of underground structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolomics, as an emerging technology, has been demonstrated to be a very powerful tool in the study of the host metabolic responses to infections by parasites. Schistosomiasis is a parasitic infection caused by schistosoma worm via the direct contact with the water containing cercaria, among which Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) is endemic in Asia. In order to characterize the schistosome-induced changes in the host metabolism and further to develop the strategy for early diagnosis of schistosomiasis, we performed comprehensive LC-MS-based metabolomics analysis of serum from mice infected by S. japonicum for 5 weeks. With the developed diagnosis strategy based on our metabolomics data, we were able to successfully detect schistosomiasis at the first week post-infection, which was 3 weeks earlier than "gold standard" methods and 2 weeks earlier than the methods based on 1H NMR spectroscopy. Our metabolomics study revealed that S. japonicum infection induced the metabolic changes involved in a variety of metabolic pathways including amino acid metabolism, DNA and RNA biosynthesis, phospholipid metabolism, depression of energy metabolism, glucose uptake and metabolism, and disruption of gut microbiota metabolism. In addition, we identified seventeen specific metabolites whose down-regulated profiles were closely correlated with the time-course of schistosomiasis progression and can also be used as an indicator for the worm-burdens. Interestingly, the decrease of these seventeen metabolites was particularly remarkable at the first week post-infection. Thus, our findings on mechanisms of host-parasite interaction during the disease process pave the way for the development of an early diagnosis tool and provide more insightful understandings of the potential metabolic process associated with schistosomiasis in mice. Furthermore, the diagnosis strategy developed in this work is cost-effective and is superior to other currently used diagnosis methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has been documented that Helicobacter hepaticus (H hepaticus) infection is linked to chronic hepatitis and liver cancer. However, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying progression of the H hepaticus‐induced hepatic inflammation to cellular hepatocarcinoma is still limited. Materials and methods: In our study, male BALB/c mice were infected by H hepaticus for 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 weeks. Histopathology, H hepaticus colonization dynamics, select signaling pathways, and expression of key inflammatory cytokines in the liver were examined. Results: We found that H hepaticus was detectible in feces of mice at 7 days postinfection (DPI) by PCR, but it was not detected in the livers by PCR until 8 weeks postinfection (WPI). In addition, abundance of colonic and hepatic H hepaticus was progressively increased over the infection duration. H hepaticus‐induced hepatic inflammation and fibrosis were aggravated over the infection duration, and necrosis or cirrhosis developed in the infected liver at 24 WPI H hepaticus infection increased levels of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase. Moreover, mRNA levels of Il‐6 and Tnf‐α were significantly elevated in the livers of H hepaticus‐infected mice compared to uninfected control from 8 WPI to 24 WPI. Furthermore, Stat3, nuclear factor‐κB (p65), and MAPK (Erk1/2 and p38) were activated by H hepaticus infection. Conclusions: These data demonstrated that male BALB/c mice can be used as a new mouse model of H hepaticus‐induced liver diseases and that the H hepaticus‐induced liver injury is triggered by NF‐κB, Jak‐Stat, and MAPK signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]