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Small changes in temperature or pressure can lead to crude oil phase separation and multiple orders of magnitude change in viscosity. The one-parameter friction theory framework using the SARA-based method with the perturbed-chain statistical association fluid theory (PC-SAFT) EoS has proven to have high accuracy in viscosity predictions of light oil. However, it failed for heavy crude oil. In this work, the above model is modified in two aspects to enhance the accuracy of heavy crude oil viscosity prediction: to include the effect of asphaltene polydispersity and to include the temperature effect to the friction theory parameter. The average absolute relative deviation of the four studied heavy oils is reduced by 16.81, 24.26, 97.31, and 87.75% compared to the one-parameter f-theory SARA-based PC-SAFT model. The f-theory parameter Kcis modified as a function of temperature fitted to the viscosity at normal temperature and pressure. Following the simplicity of the expansion of the method, it is recommended to use this methodology when dealing with heavy crude oils such as those with viscosity more than 20,000 cP at 25 °C.

To investigate the impact of total flavonoids of Epimedium(TFE) on the development of follicles of laying hens, 3 types of follicles including primary, prehierarchical, and preovulatory follicles were selected to obtain the follicular granulosa cells cultured in vitro. First, extraction of TFE was conducted by alcohol-soluble and ultrasonic methods. The effects of TFE on activity and proliferation of follicular granulosa cells were detected by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and measuring the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen mRNA through real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and the expression of the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor, luteinizing hormone receptor, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, and cytochrome P450 family 11 subfamily A member 1 mRNA was detected to study the functions of TFE affecting the differentiation and hormone secretion by granulosa cells. The results showed that TFE significantly improved the proliferation of 3 types of granulosa cells and promoted the differentiation of granulosa cells and accelerated the conversion of primary follicles to prehierarchical follicles. Total flavonoids of Epimediumplayed an important role in promoting progesterone secretion by prehierarchical and preovulatory granulosa cells. The results indicated that TFE could promote proliferation and differentiation of follicular granulosa cells and improve hormone secretion and follicle development, which provided reference data for TFE used as a feed additive or safe Chinese veterinary medicine to promote the laying rate.

Recently, a new technology, the so-called multithermal fluids huff and puff, to exploit extra heavy oil reservoirs has been applied successfully in several shallow heavy oil reservoirs in China. However, the use of this technology in deep extra heavy oil reservoirs is rare. Successful application of this technique in deep extra heavy oil reservoirs requires a good knowledge of the phase behavior and physical properties of multithermal fluids and extra heavy oil mixture. The major components of multithermal fluids mixtures are steam, N2, and CO2. In this work, targeting the application of multithermal fluids injection in heavy oil reservoirs, we conduct PVT experiments on the N2/CO2/heavy oil mixtures under deep reservoir conditions and develop equation of state models for representing these PVT data. Experimentally, it is found that CO2solubility in extra heavy oil decreases with an increasing temperature at given pressure. Contrary to CO2, N2solubility in extra heavy oil increases with an increasing temperature at a given pressure. Theoretically, the extra heavy oil is split and lumped into eight pseudocomponents to characterize the critical temperatures, critical pressures, acentric factors, and other properties by using the Kesler–Lee formulas. To match the solubility obtained in the experiments, two binary interaction parameter (BIP) correlations in the Peng and Robinson equation of state (PR EOS) are selected to calculate the solubility of both N2and CO2in extra heavy oil (Peng and Robinson, 1976). At a given temperature, the exponent in each BIP correlation is optimized to match the measured solubility of N2or CO2in extra heavy oil. We validate the optimized BIP exponents in the PR EOS model by using them to reproduce the measured saturation pressures and swelling factors of the ternary N2/CO2/heavy oil mixtures. The validation results show that the BIP correlations with the optimized exponents can reproduce the measured swelling factors and saturation pressures of N2/CO2/heavy oil mixtures with good accuracy. In addition, by carrying out example calculations using the tuned PR-EOS model, we discuss the possible multiphase equilibria that can be encountered under reservoir conditions when the multithermal fluids (N2/CO2/H2O) are injected into an extra heavy oil reservoir.

Aspergillus flavusand Aspergillus fumigatuswere derived and identified from the ducks infected with fungi. In order to investigate the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicines against Aspergillus flavusand Aspergillus fumigatus, in vitro antibacterial test and animal infection control test were conducted to study the antibacterial activity of the Chinese medicine mixture which was compatible with Acorus gramineus, Phellodendron chinensis, and Cassia obtusifolia. According to the results, the liver of chickens infected with Aspergillus flavusand Aspergillus fumigatusdisplayed granulomatous lesions, indicating that the isolation of pathogen from the lungs of sick ducks is also pathogenic to chickens. As suggested by the results of in vitro drug sensitivity test, the mixture 1 MIC80was the minimum, the MIC80of Aspergillus flavuswas 16 μg/μL, and the MIC80of Aspergillus fumigatuswas 4 μg/μL. In a petri dish of the same concentration, the colony diameter of Aspergillus flavusand Aspergillus fumigatusin Mixture 1 was the minimum. Besides, Aspergillus flavuscolonies grew when the concentration was 64 μg/μL, and Aspergillus fumigatuscolonies grew when the concentration was 4 μg/μL, which suggests the more significant inhibitory effect of Mixture 1 on Aspergillus flavusand Aspergillus fumigatus. According to the results of animal experiments, there was a significantly lower activity level of Glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and Glutamate pyruvic transaminase (GPT) in the protection group and the treatment group than in the bacterial infection group. As indicated by the blood smear results, there were more neutrophils in the infected group than in the prevention group and the treatment group. Thus, it can be seen from that the Mixture 1 produced preventive and therapeutic effects on the chickens infected with Aspergillus flavusand Aspergillus fumigatus.

The objective of this experimental study was to examine the effects of the Chinese herbal medicines Patchouliand Elsholtziaon the follicular granulosa cells of hens undergoing heat stress conditions. In the current investigation, hen follicular granulosa cells were isolated from the pre-hierarchical follicles of layer hens and then cultured in-vitro. The cells were randomly divided into the six groups. Following the completion of this study's experiments using different heat stress and medicinal treatments, the cell activities of each group were measured using an MTT method. The levels of the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) were detected using ELISA. The expressions of the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) mRNA; cytochrome P450 family 11, subfamily A, member 1 (CYP11A1) mRNA; proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) mRNA; and the follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) were detected using the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reactions. The concentration levels of estrogen and progesterone in the cell supernatant of each group were measured using ELISA. The results showed that cell activity had significantly decreased following the heat stress treatments at 43℃, 44℃, and 45℃ (P ˂ 0.01), respectively. Meanwhile, cell activities observed in Patchouliand Elsholtziawere found to be much better than those of heat stress group (P ˂ 0.05). In addition, the expression levels of HSP70 in the follicular granulosa cells of Patchouliand Elsholtziagroups were lower than those of heat stress group. Patchouliand Elsholtziacan maintained expressions of the receptor at 43℃. This study determined that the estrogen and progesterone in the supernatant fluid of Patchouliand Elsholtziawere higher than those observed in heat stress. Therefore, the results obtained in this study indicated that the Patchouliand Elsholtziatreatments administered prior the heat stress experiments had successfully protected the follicular granulosa cells from heat damages while maintaining the normal secretory functions of the granulosa cells.