1.New antiviral targets for innovative treatment concepts for hepatitis B virus and hepatitis delta virus.
Durantel D1, Zoulim F2. J Hepatol. 2016 Apr;64(1S):S117-S131. doi: 10.1016/j.jhep.2016.02.016.
Current therapies of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) remain limited to pegylated-interferon-alpha (PegIFN-α) or any of the five approved nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUC) treatments. While viral suppression can be achieved in the majority of patients with the high-barrier-to-resistance new-generation of NUC, i.e. entecavir and tenofovir, HBsAg loss is achieved by PegIFN-α and/or NUC in only 10% of patients, after a 5-year follow-up. Attempts to improve the response by administering two different NUC or a combination of NUC and PegIFN-α have not provided a dramatic increase in the rate of functional cure. Because of this and the need of long-term NUC administration, there is a renewed interest regarding the understanding of various steps of the HBV replication cycle, as well as specific virus-host cell interactions, in order to define new targets and develop new antiviral drugs. This includes a direct inhibition of viral replication with entry inhibitors, drugs targeting cccDNA, siRNA targeting viral transcripts, capsid assembly modulators, and approaches targeting the secretion of viral envelope proteins.
2.DFT and experimental study on the mechanism of elemental mercury capture in the presence of HCl on α-Fe2O3 (001).
Liu T, Xue L, Guo X, Huang Y, Zheng C. Environ Sci Technol. 2016 Apr 15. [Epub ahead of print]
To investigate the mechanism of Hg0 adsorption on α-Fe2O3 (001) surface in the presence of HCl, which was considered to be beneficial for Hg0 removal, theoretical calculations based on density functional theory as well as corresponding experiments were carried out. HCl adsorption was firstly performed on α-Fe2O3(001) surface, and the Hg0 adsorption on HCl-adsorbed α-Fe2O3(001) surface was subsequently researched, demonstrating that HCl dissociates on the surface of α-Fe2O3, improving the Hg0 adsorption reactivity. With further chlorination of α-Fe2O3(001) surface, the FeCl3 could be achieved and the adsorption energy of Hg0 on FeCl3 surface reaches -104.2 kJ/mol, belonging to strong chemisorption. Meanwhile, a group of designed experiments, including the Hg0 adsorption on HCl pre-adsorbed α-Fe2O3 as well as the co-adsorption of both gaseous components, were respectively performed to explore the pathways of Hg0 transformation. Combining computational and experimental results together, the Eley-Rideal mechanism with HCl pre-adsorption can be determined.
3.Comparison of Morphology and Physicochemical Properties of Starch Among 3 Arrowhead Varieties.
Li A1, Zhang Y1, Zhang Y1, Yu X2, Xiong F2, Zhou R1, Zhang Y1. J Food Sci. 2016 Apr 15. doi: 10.1111/1750-3841.13303. [Epub ahead of print]
Arrowhead (Sagittaria trifolia var. sinensis) is a source of starch worldwide, but arrowhead starch has been rarely studied. In this work, starch was separated from arrowhead corm. The morphology and physicochemical properties of starch were then investigated and compared among 3 different arrowhead varieties (Purple-corm, Hongta, and Japanese). Results showed that starches from the 3 varieties similarly featured an oval shape containing a visible polarization cross, a CA -type crystalline structure, and an ordered structure in the external granule region. However, starch content, granule size, crystal characteristics, and pasting properties differed among the 3 varieties. Japanese arrowhead exhibited the highest starch content and degree of ordered structure in the external granule region, as well as onset, peak, and final gelatinization temperature. Purple-corm arrowhead starch demonstrated the highest amylose content and relative degree of crystallinity, smallest granule size, and lowest swelling power and solubility.
4.A hydrometallurgical process for recovering total metal values from waste monolithic ceramic capacitors.
Prabaharan G1, Barik SP2, Kumar B1. Waste Manag. 2016 Apr 12. pii: S0956-053X(16)30173-8. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2016.04.010. [Epub ahead of print]
A hydrometallurgical process for recovering the total metal values from waste monolithic ceramic capacitors was investigated. The process parameters such as time, temperature, acid concentration, hydrogen peroxide concentration and other reagents (amount of zinc dust and sodium formate) were optimized. Base metals such as Ba, Ti, Sn, Cu and Ni are leached out in two stages using HCl in stage 1 and HCl with H2O2 in stage 2. More than 99% of leaching efficiency for base metals (Cu, Ni, Ba, Ti and Sn) was achieved. Precious metals such as Au and Pd are leached out using aquaregia and nitric acid was used for the leaching of Ag. Base metals (Ba, Ti, Sn, Cu and Ni) are recovered by selective precipitation using H2SO4 and NaOH solution. In case of precious metals, Au and Pd from the leach solution were precipitated out using sodium metabisulphite and sodium formate, respectively. Sodium chloride was used for the precipitation of Ag from leach solution.
