Box Behnken design-based optimized extraction of non-dioxin-like PCBs for GC-ECD and GC-MS analyses in milk samples

A multivariate optimization process of the sample extraction procedure by Box-Behnken design through a global desirability function is described for the determination of six non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls(NDL-PCBs#28,52,101,153,138 and 180)in milk by GC-ECD and mass spectrometry.Three factors were involved in refining the extraction conditions:the acetone percentage in the extraction mixture,the sample/solvent ratio,and the extraction time.The three-factor design required 26 experiments that were carried out in duplicate and in a randomized order to minimize the bias effects of uncontrolled variables.The optimized factors(acetone percentage:30%;sample-to-solvent ratio:0.11 g mL^-1;extraction time:45 min)ensured a low solvent consumption and a reduced extraction time,allowing a rapid and simultaneous preparation of multiple sample extracts.The method was validated according to the European directives(Decision 657/2002/EC,SANTE 2017/11813/EC)through the evaluation of linearity,selectivity,LOD,LOQ,recovery,precision,and ruggedness.

Optimization of Extraction Conditions for Total Flavonoids from Fructus Aurantii Immaturus and Its Anti-UVB Radiation Activity

[Objectives]Optimum extraction conditions of total flavonoids from Fructus Aurantii Immaturus(TFFAI)and its resistance activity to ultraviolet radiation were investigated in present research.[Methods]The optimal extraction conditions of TFFAI were determined by single factor and orthogonal experiments,and the survival rate of TFFAI on HaCaT cells irradiated with UVB rays was investigated.It s antioxidant capacity was determined by ABTS.[Results]The results showed that the highest yield of TFFAI was obtained with 70%ethanol at a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:50(w/v)and 40℃for 1.5 h by single-factor and orthogonal experiments.Total flavonoids(0.25-1.00 mg/ml)could significantly improve the survival rate of HaCaT cell line.Meanwhile,the maximum absorption peak of TFFAI was found at 283 nm,and in-vitro antioxidant experiment identified that TFFAI had a good clearance rate to ABTS.It suggestes that TFFAI could protect the cells from UVB damage by absorption of UVB rays and anti-oxidation.[Conclusions]TFFAI played a protective role on UVB irradiated cells through UVB ultraviolet absorption and antioxidant pathways.

Optimization of Extraction Conditions of Pomegranate Peel Polyphenols and Its Protective Effect on Acute Alcoholic Liver Injury in Mice

[Objectives]This study was conducted to explore the optimization of ultrasonic-assisted organic solvent extraction of pomegranate peel polyphenols(PPPs),and to study the protective effect of PPPs on acute alcoholic liver injury in mice.[Methods]The optimal extraction conditions of PPPs were determined by single factor and orthogonal experiments,and an acute alcoholic liver injury model in mice was established.Bifendate was used as the positive control group to investigate the protective effect of low,medium and high doses of PPPs on acute alcoholic liver injury.[Results]The optimum extraction process parameters were followed as 60%ethanol concentration,solid-liquid ratio of 1:40(w/v),extraction temperature of 50℃,and extraction time of 1.5 h,and the yield was 1.42%.The results of animal experiments showed that PPPs could effectively reduce the degree of alcoholic liver injury in mice,reduce the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase(ALT)and aspartate aminotransferase(AST),and reduce the inflammation and necrosis of liver tissue in mice.Meanwhile,the total polyphenols from pomegranate peel also significantly reduced the expression levels of malondialdehyde(MDA),tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α)and interleukin-6(IL-6)in mice,and increased the levels of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and reduced glutathione(GSH)in liver tissue of mice,indicating its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects,further illustrating its protective effect on alcoholic liver injury.[Conclusions]PPPs could reduce the expression levels of TNF-α,IL-6 and MDA in mice,and increase the expression levels of SOD and GSH to achieve the protective effect on acute alcoholic liver injury in mice.This study will provide new ideas for the development of new anti-alcoholic liver injury drug resources.

Extraction and RP-HPLC determination of taxol in rat plasma, cell culture and quality control samples

A rapid, sensitive, selective and validated reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography （RP-HPLC） method for the estimation of paclitaxel in micro-sample of rat plasma and in culture of cancer cells was per- formed in this study. The mobile phase consisted of an （80： 20： 0.1, v/v/v）. Column elution at a flow rate of 1 optimized mixture of methanol：water： trifluroacetic acid mL/minute with UV detection at 225 nm at room tern- perature was used. The RP-HPLC method was successfully applied for the determination of paclitaxel in plasma samples and in culture of cancer cells with nano-quantity of estimation. The validation studies were performed in accordance with the International Conference on Harmonization （ICH） guidelines. The intra- and inter-day pre- cision showed that the coefficients of variation ranged from 1.07% to 4.27% at different levels of concentrations. To the best of our knowledge, this study also reported for the first time the optimization of different solvents for effective extraction of paclitaxel wherein tert.-butyl methyl ether （TBME）： diethyl ether （DEE） in 50：50 v/ v composition was found most efficient with extraction efficiency ranging between 77.99% and 91.74% and be- tween 76.14 and 93.66% in the plasma and cell culture, respectively. This proposed method was successfully ap- plied to study the pharmacokinetics of paclitaxel and the influence of verapamil and all-trans retinoic acid （atRA） on paclitaxel pharmacokinetics in rat models. This proposed method might emerge as a valuable aid in the labo- ratory monitoring of paclitaxel in a variety of in vitro as well as in vivo scenarios.

Application of a new feature extraction and optimization method to surface defect recognition of cold rolled strips

Considering that the surface defects of cold rolled strips are hard to be recognized by human eyes under high-speed circumstances, an automatic recognition technique was discussed. Spectrum images of defects can be got by fast Fourier transform （FFF） and sum of valid pixels （SVP）, and its optimized center region, which concentrates nearly all energies, are extracted as an original feature set. Using genetic algorithm to optimize the feature set, an optimized feature set with 51 features can be achieved. Using the optimized feature set as an input vector of neural networks, the recognition effects of LVQ neural networks have been studied. Experiment results show that the new method can get a higher classification rate and can settle the automatic recognition problem of surface defects on cold rolled strips ideally.

Optimization of the Extraction Process of Astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis with Oil Dissolution Method

[ Objective ] This study aimed to optimize the extraction process of astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis with oil dissolution method. [ Method ] Small amounts of acetone or ethanol were separately added into soybean oil for astaxanthin extraction. The extraction efficiency of astaxanthin from H. pluvialis with different methods was compared. [ Result] The extraction efficiency of astaxanthin from H. pluvialis with acetone, acetone ＋ soybean oil, ethanol ＋ soybean oil, soybean oil was 20.46, 21.65, 20.85 mg/g and 13.05 mg/g, respectively. According to the results, acetone ＋ soybean oil led to the highest extraction rate, which was approximately twice that of soybean oil and higher than that of acetone. [ Conclusion ] This study laid the foundation for large-scale production of astaxanthin.

Optimization of Extraction Technology for Rice Bran Oil

[ Objective ] This study aimed to optimize the extraction technology for rice bran oil. [ Method ] Using rice bran as raw material, effects of ultrasonicassisted extraction technology and different organic solvents, extraction durations, solid-liquid ratios and extraction temperatures on extraction results of rice bran oil were investigated. Based on the results of single-factor experiment, L9 （34 ） orthngonal experiment with three factors at three levels was conducted to optimize the extraction technological parameters, thus obtaining the optimal technological conditions for extracting rice bran oil. [ Result] Anhydrous ethanol led to the best extraction result; after ultrasonic treatment, the extraction rate of rice bran oil from raw material was not enhanced. The optimized technological parameters were ： extraction temperature of 80 ℃, extraction duration of 20 rain and solid-liquid ratio of 1：24 （ g： ml）. Under the optimized technological conditions, the extraction rate of rice bran oil reached 19.33%. [ Conclusion] This study laid solid foundation for further investigation and development of rice bran oil.

Essential Oil from Inula britannica Extraction with SF-CO_2 and Its Antifungal Activity

The aim of this study was to determine the extraction technique of supercritical fluid carbon dioxide（SF-CO 2） for the essential oil from Inula britannica flowers and its antifungal activities against plant pathogenic fungi for its potential application as botanical fungicide.The effects of factors,including extraction temperature,extraction pressure,SF-CO 2 flow rate,flower powder size,and time on the essential oil yield were studied using the single factor experiment.An orthogonal experiment was conducted to determine the best operating conditions for the maximum extraction oil yield.Adopting the optimum conditions,the maximum yield reached 10.01% at 40°C temperature,30 MPa pressure,60 mesh flower powder size,20 L h-1SF-CO 2 flow rate,and 90 min extraction time.The antifungal activities of I.britannica essential oil using the SF-CO 2 against the most important plant pathogenic fungi were also examined through in vitro and in vivo tests.Sixteen plant pathogenic fungi were inhibited to varying degrees at 1 mg mL-1concentration of the essential oil.The mycelial growth of Gaeumannomyces graminis var.tritici was completely inhibited.The radial growths of Phytophthora capsici and Fusarium monilifome were also inhibited by 83.76 and 64.69%,respectively.In addition,the essential oil can inhibit the spore germination of Fusarium oxysporum f.sp.vasinfectum,Phytophthora capsici,Colletotrichum orbiculare,and Pyricularia grisea,and the corresponding inhibition rates were 98.26,96.54,87.89,and 87.35% respectively.The present study has demonstrated that the essential oil of I.britannica flowers extracted through the SF-CO 2 technique is one potential and promising antifungal agent that can be used as botanical fungicide to protect crops.

A Widely Applicable Method for Plant Genomic DNA Extraction

[Objective] This study aimed to explore a method for plant genomic DNA extraction, to provide guidance for rapid extraction of genomic DNA from plant tissues. [ Method] Based on the published genomic DNA extraction methods, operation steps, reagent amount and processing time of SDS extraction method were optimized. [Result] A widely applicable method was established initially for genomic DNA extraction from various varieties of plants and various kinds of plant tissues. Quality of the extracted genomic DNA was relatively good, which meets the requirements for further operation. [ Conclusion] This study provided guidance for rapid plant genomic DNA extraction.

Optimization of Extraction Process and Anti-ultraviolet Activity of Polysaccharide from Cordyceps militaris

Extraction process of Cordyceps militaris polysaccharide(PS)was optimized with single factor experiment and orthogonal test.Then,the anti-UVB ability of the polysaccharide was investigated to develop anti-UV sun-screening agent through determining the cell viability after UVB irradiation.The results showed that the optimum were solid-liquid ratio at 1∶40(g/ml)at 80℃ for 4 h,and the extract ratio was 27.4%according to the verification test.The PS showed no cytotoxicity to HaCaT cells and pretreatment with the PS significantly decreased UVB-induced cytotoxicity in a dose-dependent relationship.It suggests that the PS has strong anti-UVB irradiation ability and has a good application prospect in developing sunscreen agent.

A Review on Intelligent Detection and Classification of Power Quality Disturbances:Trends,Methodologies,and Prospects

With increasing global concerns about clean energy in smart grids,the detection of power quality disturbances(PQDs)caused by energy instability is becoming more and more prominent.It is well acknowledged that the PQD effects on power grid equipment are destructive and hazardous,which causes irreversible damage to underlying electrical/electronic equipment of the concerned intelligent grids.In order to ensure safe and reliable equipment implementation,appropriate PQDdetection technologiesmust be adopted to avoid such adverse effects.This paper summarizes the newly proposed and traditional PQD detection techniques in order to give a quick start to new researchers in the related field,where specific scenarios and events for which each technique is applicable are also clearly presented.Finally,comments on the future evolution of PQD detection techniques are given.Unlike the published review articles,this paper focuses on the new techniques from the last five years while providing a brief recap on traditional PQD detection techniques so as to supply researchers with a systematic and state-of-the-art review for PQD detection.

“Extreme utilization”development theory of unconventional natural gas

In the process of unconventional natural gas development practice,the"extreme utilization"concept that focuses on"continuously breaking through the limit of development technology"is gradually formed,and supports the scale benefit exploration of unconventional gas in China.On this basis,the development theory of"extreme utilization"is proposed,its theoretical connotation together with development technologies of unconventional natural gas are clarified.The theoretical connotation is that,aiming at"extreme gas reservoirs","extreme techniques"are utilized to build subsurface connected bodies,expand the discharge area,and enlarge the production range,to obtain the maximum single-well production,extreme recovery,and eventually achieve the"extreme effect"of production.The series of development technologies include micro/nano-scale reservoir evaluation,"sweet spot"prediction,unconventional percolation theory and production capacity evaluation,optimization of grid well pattern,optimal-fast drilling and volume fracturing,and working regulation optimization and"integrated"organizing system.The"extreme utilization"development theory has been successfully applied in the development of unconventional gas reservoirs such as Sulige tight gas,South Sichuan shale gas,and Qinshui coalbed methane.Such practices demonstrate that,the"extreme utilization"development theory has effectively promoted the development of unconventional gas industry in China,and can provide theoretical guidance for effective development of other potential unconventional and difficult-to-recovery resources.

Optimization and Control of Extractive Distillation with Heat Integration for Separating Benzene/Cyclohexane Mixtures

In this work, the extractive distillation with heat integration process is extended to separate the pressure-insensitive benzene-cyclohexane azeotrope by using furfural as the entrainer. The optimal design of extractive distillation process is established to achieve minimum energy requirement using the multi-objective genetic algorithm, and the results show that energy saving for this heat integration process is 15.7%. Finally, the control design is performed to investigate the system's dynamic performance, and three control structures are studied. The pressure-compensated temperature control scheme is proposed based on the first two control structures, and the dynamic responses reveal that the feed disturbances in both flow rate and benzene composition can be mitigated well.

Extraction,Purification,and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Steroid Fraction from Physalis Alkekengi L.Var.Franchetii(Mast.)Makino

Objective: As a traditional medicinal plant listed in the Chinese Pharmacopeia, Physalis alkekengi L. var. franchetii(Mast.) Makino(PAF) has a long medicinal history and high economic value. PAF has immunomodulatory properties and can be used to treat acute lung injury and eczema.The aim of this study is to solve the problems of extraction and purification of active components from PAF. Materials and Methods: The solvent to be used for extraction and its concentration, the solid-to-liquid ratio, and extraction duration were investigated using a single-factor experiment.An orthogonal design(L_(9)[3^(4)]) was used to determine the optimum extraction conditions. After optimization, the sample’s concentrations and flow velocity, the eluents and their velocity, adsorption time, and the removed water volume were measured. The content of the five steroids in the sample was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC). We also investigated the anti-inflammatory property of PAF calyxes before and after purification. Results: The optimum extraction and purification processes were determined by single-factor analysis.AB-8 was identified as the best macroporous adsorption resin for enrichment. After optimization, the average total steroid content was 71.83%,and the average recovery was 90% after purification. Among the five steroid components detected by HPLC, physalin F showed the highest content. Furthermore, the sample obtained after purification could significantly inhibit paw edema by egg whites induced. Conclusions: An environmentally-sustainable, efficient, and stable process was first optimized for enriching and purifying total steroids from PAF. The process has the potential for further development and utilization in the pharmaceutical industry.

Identification of differential brain regions in MCI progression via clustering-evolutionary weighted SVM ensemble algorithm

Mild cognitive impairment(MCI)as the potential sign of serious cognitive decline could be divided into two stages,i.e.,late MCI(LMCI)and early MCI(EMCI).Although the different cognitive states in the MCI progression have been clinically defined,effective and accurate identification of differences in neuroimaging data between these stages still needs to be further studied.In this paper,a new method of clustering-evolutionary weighted support vector machine ensemble(CEWSVME)is presented to investigate the alterations from cognitively normal(CN)to EMCI to LMCI.The CEWSVME mainly includes two steps.The first step is to build multiple SVM classifiers by randomly selecting samples and features.The second step is to introduce the idea of clustering evolution to eliminate inefficient and highly similar SVMs,thereby improving the final classification performances.Additionally,we extracted the optimal features to detect the differential brain regions in MCI progression,and confirmed that these differential brain regions changed dynamically with the development of MCI.More exactly,this study found that some brain regions only have durative effects on MCI progression,such as parahippocampal gyrus,posterior cingulate gyrus and amygdala,while the superior temporal gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus have periodic effects on the progression.Our work contributes to understanding the pathogenesis of MCI and provide the guidance for its timely diagnosis.

Measurement of particle size based on digital imaging technique

To improve the analysis methods for the measurement of the sediment particle sizes with a wide distribution and of irregular shapes, a sediment particle image measurement, an analysis system, and an extraction algorithm of the optimal threshold based on the gray histogram peak values are proposed. Recording the pixels of the sediment particles by labeling them, the algorithm can effectively separate the sediment particle images from the background images using the equivalent pixel circles with the same diameters to represent the sediment particles. Compared with the laser analyzer for the case of blue plastic sands, the measurement results of the system are shown to be reasonably similar. The errors are mainly due to the small size of the particles and the limitation of the apparatus. The measurement accuracy can be improved by increasing the Charge-Coupled Devices （CCD） camera resolution. The analysis method of the sediment particle images can provide a technical support for the rapid measurement of the sediment particle size and its distribution.