Inhaled heparin: Past, present, and future.

While heparin has traditionally served as a key anticoagulant in clinical practice for nearly a century, recent years have witnessed a growing interest in its role as a potent antiinflammatory and antiviral agent, as well as an anticancer agent. To address challenges with injection-based delivery, exploring patient-friendly routes such as oral and pulmonary delivery is crucial. This review specifically highlights the multiple therapeutic benefits of inhaled heparin.

Gut microbiota-derived gamma-aminobutyric acid from metformin treatment reduces hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury through inhibiting ferroptosis.

Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury (HIRI) is a common and inevitable factor leading to poor prognosis in various liver diseases, making the outcomes of current treatments in clinic unsatisfactory. Metformin has been demonstrated to be beneficial to alleviate HIRI in recent studies, however, the underpinning mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we found metformin mitigates HIRI-induced ferroptosis through reshaped gut microbiota in mice, which was confirmed by the results of fecal microbiota transplantation treatment but showed the elimination of the beneficial effects when gut bacteria were depleted using antibiotics.

Effects of Lipids and Type of Amino Acid in Protein in Microalgae on Nitrogen Reaction Pathways during Hydrothermal Liquefaction.

It is meaningful to understand the conversion pathways of nitrogen during the hydrothermal liquefaction process of microalgae to reveal the related reaction mechanisms and develop effective methods to prevent N from ending in biocrude, which eventually increases the quality of biocrude. Extending from our previous works that mainly focused on two high-protein (>50 wt%) microalgae ( sp. and sp.

Investigation on the influence of design features on the performance of dry powder inhalers: Spiral channel, mouthpiece dimension, and gas inlet.

As inhaler design is rarely studied but critically important in pulmonary drug delivery, this study investigated the influence of inhaler designs, including a novel spiral channel, mouthpiece dimensions (diameter and length) as well as gas inlet. Experimental dispersion of a carrier-based formulation in conjugation with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, was performed to determine how the designs affect inhaler performance. Results reveal that inhalers with a narrow spiral channel could effectively increase drug-carrier detachment by introducing high velocity and strong turbulent flow in the mouthpiece, although the drug retention in the device is significantly high.

The effects of grid design on the performance of 3D-printed dry powder inhalers.

The grid structure is an indispensable part of most dry powder inhalers, but the effects of grid geometry on inhaler performance are rarely reported. This study aims to systemically investigate the influence of grid design on the aerosolization performance of capsule-based inhalers through experiments and computational analysis. In-vitro aerosolization and deposition performance of commercial and 3D-printed customized inhalers with different grid mesh designs were experimentally studied using a Next Generation Impactor (NGI).

The future of dry powder inhaled therapy: Promising or discouraging for systemic disorders?

Dry powder inhalation therapy has been shown to be an effective method for treating respiratory diseases like asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases and Cystic Fibrosis. It has also been widely accepted and used in clinical practices. Such success has led to great interest in inhaled therapy on treating systemic diseases in the past two decades.

The circulating fluidized bed bioreactor as a biological nutrient removal process for municipal wastewater treatment: Process modelling and costing analysis.

Emerging technologies for wastewater treatment face an uphill battle to be adopted in practice because no large-scale costing data exists to prove their cost competitiveness. Similar technologies and their costing data offer some insight to the approximate cost, but more detailed estimates are required for a final decision on process selection. The circulating fluidized bed bioreactor (CFBBR) is one such technology, proven at the lab and pilot and scale, but is yet to be used on a large scale.

Comparison of carrier particles in the gas-liquid-solid inverse fluidised bed bioreactor.

The performance and energy consumption of a gas-liquid-solid inverse fluidised bed bioreactor (GLS-IFBBR) using polyethylene (PE) particles with different surface coatings (zeolite, lava rock, activated carbon and multi-plastic) as media for synthetic wastewater treatment were investigated at loading rates of 1.64-3.38 kg COD/(m·d) and 0.

Solvent-Free Fabrication of Robust Superhydrophobic Powder Coatings.

Superhydrophobicity originating from the "lotus effect" enables novel applications such as self-cleaning, anti-fouling, anti-icing, anti-corrosion, and oil-water separation. However, their real-world applications are hindered by some main shortcomings, especially the organic solvent problem, complex chemical modification of nanoparticles, and poor mechanical stability of obtained surfaces. Here, we report for the first time the solvent-free, chemical modification-free, and mechanically, chemically, and UV robust superhydrophobic powder coatings.

A value-added step towards promoting the serviceability of fluidized bed bioreactor in treating wastewater with low carbon to nitrogen ratio.

Reusing microplastics and zeolite waste as free ammonia (FA)-mitigating carrier particle was proven a value-added step towards promoting the serviceability of fluidized bed bioreactor (FBBR) in treating wastewater with a low carbon to nitrogen ratio (i.e. C/N <3.

Development of a novel silver ions-nanosilver complementary composite as antimicrobial additive for powder coating.

Applying silver into coatings has become a prevalent method in fabricating antimicrobial surfaces. However, the concerns about durability always exist and limit its applications. Here, a highly inhibitory, active, durable, and easy-to-use silver ions-nanosilver antimicrobial additive for powder coatings was fabricated in this study.

Protective effects of aerosolized pulmonary surfactant powder in a model of ventilator-induced lung injury.

Mechanical ventilation may contribute to the impairment of the pulmonary surfactant system, which is one of the mechanisms leading to the progression of acute lung injury. To investigate the potential protective effects of pulmonary surfactant in a rat model of ventilator-induced lung injury, the surfactant powder was aerosolized using an in-house made device designed to deliver the aerosolized powder to the inspiratory line of a rodent ventilator circuit. Rats were randomized to (i) administration of aerosolized recombinant surfactant protein C based pulmonary surfactant, (ii) intratracheally instillation of the same surfactant re-constituted in saline, and (iii) no treatment.

Performance and bacterial community structure of a novel inverse fluidized bed bioreactor (IFBBR) treating synthetic municipal wastewater.

The performance of a lab-scale integrated anoxic and aerobic inverse fluidized bed bioreactors (IFBBR) for biological nutrient removal from synthetic municipal wastewater was studied at chemical oxygen demand (COD) loading rates of 0.34-2.10 kg COD/(m-d) and nitrogen loading rates of 0.

Decentralized wastewater treatment in an urban setting: a pilot study of the circulating fluidized bed bioreactor treating septic tank effluent.

To meet the increasing wastewater treatment demand while minimizing the land footprint of the treatment systems and plants, more efficient and compact processes are needed. The circulating fluidized bed bioreactor (CFBBR) has been proven to achieve high levels of biological nutrient removal. Past studies at the lab and pilot scale achieved 94% COD removal and 80% nitrogen removal at HRT's of 2-4 h.

Cold Bonding Method for Metallic Powder Coatings.

An efficient and simple method for preparing bonded metallic powder coating is in high demand in the paint manufacturing and application industries. The bonding purpose is to keep the mass percentage of metallic pigment consistent between the original and recycled coating powder, which aims at solving the problem of recyclability. One possible method capable of realizing this goal is using the binder to cohere metallic pigment with base particles through a cold bonding method.

Dry powder coated osmotic drug delivery system.

Dry powder coated osmotic drug delivery system (ODDS) were prepared and characterized using an innovative powder coating technology. Coating powder adhesion to the surface of the ODDS core was firstly performed through an electrostatic spray gun, followed by a curing step to allow those electrically deposited particles coalesce and form a continuous, uniform and strong coating film, which is the semipermeable membrane of the ODDS. Triethyl citrate (TEC) was found to be a better liquid plasticizer than PEG 400 both in reducing the glass transition temperature of the coating polymer (cellulose acetate) and in increasing the electrical conductivity of the ODDS cores, both of which led to an enhanced coating powder adhesion and film formation.

Effective partial nitrification of ammonia in a fluidized bed bioreactor.

A lab-scale fluidized bed bioreactor with high-density polyethylene as biofilm carrier media was operated to study partial nitrification (PN) performance with high ammonia concentrations. The system was run at nitrogen loading rates (NLRs) from 1.2 to 4.

Bioaugmentation: An Emerging Strategy of Industrial Wastewater Treatment for Reuse and Discharge.

A promising long-term and sustainable solution to the growing scarcity of water worldwide is to recycle and reuse wastewater. In wastewater treatment plants, the biodegradation of contaminants or pollutants by harnessing microorganisms present in activated sludge is one of the most important strategies to remove organic contaminants from wastewater. However, this approach has limitations because many pollutants are not efficiently eliminated.

Emulsification Characteristics Using a Dynamic Woven Metal Microscreen Membrane.

An oscillatory emulsification system for the production of oil in water emulsions using a commercially available low-cost woven metal microscreen (WMMS) is investigated. The system allows for independent control of both the oscillation frequencies and amplitudes such that it provides two degrees of freedom for controlling the emulsion properties. The investigations included the production of both surfactant and particle-stabilized emulsions.

Applying a novel electrostatic dry powder coating technology to pellets.

The present study aimed to apply a novel dry powder technology to coat pellets with different coating materials grounded into fine powders. Piroxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, was used as the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Eudragit® EPO, Eudragit® RS/RL and Acryl EZE were used as the coating materials to achieve immediate release, sustained release and delayed release, respectively.

Influence of biofilm thickness on nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from denitrifying fluidized bed bioreactors (DFBBRs).

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a significant anthropogenic greenhouse gas emitted from biological nutrient removal (BNR) processes. This study tries to get a deeper insight into N2O emissions from denitrifying fluidized bed bioreactors (DFBBRs) and its relationship to the biofilm thickness, diffusivity, and reaction rates. The DFBBR was operated at two different organic and nitrogen loading rates of 5.

Mitigation of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from denitrifying fluidized bed bioreactors (DFBBRs) using calcium.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a significant anthropogenic greenhouse gases (AnGHGs) emitted from biological nutrient removal (BNR) processes. In this study, N2O production from denitrifying fluidized bed bioreactors (DFBBR) was reduced using calcium (Ca2+) dosage. The DFBBRs were operated on a synthetic municipal wastewater at four different calcium concentrations ranging from the typical municipal wastewater Ca2+ concentration (60 mg Ca2+/L) to 240 mg Ca2+/L at two different COD/N ratios.

Anaerobic digestion of municipal wastewater sludges using anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor.

The anaerobic digestion of primary sludge (PS) and thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) using an anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor (AnFBR) employing zeolite particles as the carrier media was investigated at different organic loading rates (OLRs). PS was tested at OLRs from 4.2 to 39kgCOD/m(3)-d corresponding to hydraulic retention times (HRTs) from 1.

Impact of worm predation on pseudo-steady-state of the circulating fluidized bed biofilm reactor.

This paper studies integrated simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal as well as worm predation, in a circulating fluidized bed biofilm reactor (CFBBR) operated with an anoxic-aerobic bioparticle recirculation. A lab-scale CFBBR with a 8.5-liter reaction zone comprising 2L anoxic and 6.