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In recent years, the non-petroleum production of light olefins has been the research focus of Fischer–Tropsch olefin synthesis (FTO). Iron-based catalysts have attracted much attention because of their low price, high catalytic activity, and wide temperature range. In this paper, traditional modification, hydrophobic modification, and amphiphobic modification of the catalyst are summarized and analyzed. It was found that traditional modification (changing the pore size and surface pH of the catalyst) will reduce the dispersion of Fe, change the active center of the catalyst, and improve the selectivity of light olefins (for example, SiO2: 32%). However, compared with functional methods, these traditional methods lead to poor stability and high carbon dioxide selectivity (for example, SiO2: 34%). Hydrophobic modification can inhibit the adsorption and retention of water molecules on the catalyst and reduce the local water pressure near the iron species in the nuclear layer, thus inhibiting the further formation of CO2 (for example, SiO2: 5%) of the WGSR. Amphiphobic modification can not only inhibit the WGSR, but also reduce the steric hindrance of the catalyst, increase the diffusion rate of olefins, and inhibit the reabsorption of olefins. Follow-up research should focus on these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a potentially fatal autoimmune bullous disease. The role of microRNA (miRNA, miR) in the diagnosis and pathogenesis of PV remains unknown. This study aims to provide potential miRNA biomarkers for PV diagnosis and therapy options. Methods: Serum samples were obtained from 22 PV patients, 15 mucous membrane pemphigoid (MMP) patients, and 10 normal controls (NC). Total RNA was extracted from the serum samples, and 12 selected miRNAs were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Bioinformatic analyses including target gene prediction and enrichment analysis were performed. Results: Twelve miRNAs were increased in the serum of the PV group compared with the NC group, in which six miRNAs had good efficacy to diagnose PV from MMP with the area under the receiver operator characteristic curves of 0.970 to 0.988. A series test for the combination of miR-584-5p and miR-155-5p reached the sensitivity and specificity of 95.5% and 100%. Bioinformatic analysis revealed target gene enrichment in the cell adhesion pathways, immune-relating pathways, and P38 mitogen-activated protein kinases signaling pathway. Conclusion: The study provides new insights and targets of miRNAs for the precise diagnosis and the exploration of pathogenesis for PV, which may serve as a reference for further research into autoimmune bullous diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: It is common practice in the treatment of respiratory diseases to mix different inhalation solutions for simultaneous inhalation. At present, a small number of studies have been published that evaluate the physicochemical compatibility and aerosol characteristics of different inhalation medications. However, none of them studied Atrovent®. Our work aims to address the lack of studies on Atrovent®. (2) Methods: Portions of admixtures were withdrawn at certain time intervals after mixing and were tested by pH determination, osmolarity measurement, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay of each active ingredient as measures of physicochemical compatibility. The geometrical and aerosol particle size distribution, active drug delivery rate, and total active drug delivered were measured to characterize aerosol behaviors. (3) Results: During the testing time, no significant variation was found in the pH value, the osmotic pressure, or the active components of admixtures. With the increase in nebulization volume after mixing, fine particle dose (FPD) and total active drug delivered showed statistically significant improvements, while the active drug delivery rate decreased compared to the single-drug preparations. (4) Conclusions: These results endorse the physicochemical compatibility of Atrovent® over 1 h when mixed with other inhalation medications. Considering aerosol characteristics, simultaneous inhalation is more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a Blockchain-driven platform for supply chain finance, BCautoSCF (Zhi-lian-che-rong in Chinese), is introduced. It is successfully established as a reliable and efficient financing platform for the auto retail industry. Due to the Blockchain built-in trust mechanism, participants in the supply chain (SC) networks work extensively and transparently to run a reliable, convenient, and traceable business. Likewise, the traditional supply chain finance (SCF), partial automation of SCF workflows with fewer human errors and disruptions was achieved through smart contract in BCautoSCF. Such open and secure features suggest the feasibility of BCautoSCF in SCF. As the first Blockchain-driven SCF application for the auto retail industry in China, our contribution lies in studying these pain points existing in traditional SCF and proposing a novel Blockchain-driven design to reshape the business logic of SCF to develop an efficient and reliable financing platform for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the auto retail industry to decrease the cost of financing and speed up the cash flows. Currently, there are over 600 active enterprise users that adopt BCautoSCF to run their financing business. Up to October 2019, the BCautoSCF provides services to 449 online/offline auto retailors, three B2B asset exchange platforms, nine fund providers, and 78 logistic services across 21 provinces in China. There are 3296 financing transactions successfully completed in BCautoSCF, and the amount of financing is ¥566,784,802.18. In the future, we will work towards supporting a full automation of SCF workflow by smart contracts, so that the efficiency of transaction will be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: It is common practice in the treatment of respiratory diseases to mix different inhalation solutions for simultaneous inhalation. At present, a small number of studies have been published that evaluate the physicochemical compatibility and aerosol characteristics of different inhalation medications. However, none of them studied Atrovent ® . Our work aims to address the lack of studies on Atrovent ® . (2) Methods: Portions of admixtures were withdrawn at certain time intervals after mixing and were tested by pH determination, osmolarity measurement, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay of each active ingredient as measures of physicochemical compatibility. The geometrical and aerosol particle size distribution, active drug delivery rate, and total active drug delivered were measured to characterize aerosol behaviors. (3) Results: During the testing time, no significant variation was found in the pH value, the osmotic pressure, or the active components of admixtures. With the increase in nebulization volume after mixing, fine particle dose (FPD) and total active drug delivered showed statistically significant improvements, while the active drug delivery rate decreased compared to the single-drug preparations. (4) Conclusions: These results endorse the physicochemical compatibility of Atrovent ® over 1 h when mixed with other inhalation medications. Considering aerosol characteristics, simultaneous inhalation is more efficient.