Superhydrophobic foam prepared from high internal phase emulsion templates stabilised by oyster shell powder for oil-water separation.

In this paper, poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) foams were synthesized using a high internal phase emulsion (HIPE) technique with Span 80 and with 900 °C calcined oyster shell powder as a co-emulsifier, 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as an initiator and deionized water as the dispersing phase. SEM images revealed that the materials possess a hierarchical porous structure of nano/micro size, which resulted in saturated oil adsorption in only half a minute. The dispersing phase amount was investigated for its effect on adsorption. The optimized foams have 24.8-58.3 g g-1 adsorbencies for several organic solvents, and they demonstrated superhydrophobicity and excellent oleophilicity with the water contact angle (WCA) even close to 149° and oil contact angle approaching 0°. Moreover, the foams displayed high oil retention under pressure. The adsorption-centrifugation cycling results indicated high repeatability of the recovered foams. All of these features predicted the potential applications of superhydrophobic foams in oil-water separation.

Effect of Body Mass Index on Overall Survival of Pancreatic Cancer: A Meta-Analysis.

Although obesity has been identified as a risk factor for pancreatic cancer, the important question of whether obesity influences the prognosis of pancreatic cancer has not been explicated thoroughly. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) and survival outcomes of patients with pancreatic cancer.Studies that described the relationship between BMI and overall survival (OS) of pancreatic cancer were searched in PubMed, Embase, Ovid, and Cochrane Library Databases from the earliest available date to May 12, 2015. Hazard ratios (HRs) for OS in each BMI category from individual studies were extracted and pooled by a random-effect model. Dose-response meta-analysis was also performed to estimate summary HR and 95% confidence interval (CI) for every 5-unit increment. Publication bias was evaluated by Begg funnel plot and Egger linear regression test.Ten relevant studies involving 6801 patients were finally included in the meta-analysis. Results showed that obesity in adulthood significantly shortened OS of pancreatic cancer patients (HR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.17-1.41), whereas obesity at diagnosis was not associated with any increased risk of death (HR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.78-1.42). For every 5-kg/m increment in adult BMI, the summary HR was 1.11 (95% CI: 1.05-1.18) for death risk of pancreatic cancer. However, no dose-response relationship was found in the BMI at diagnosis. Egger regression test and Begg funnel plot both revealed no obvious risk of publication bias.In conclusion, increased adult BMI is associated with increased risk of death for pancreatic cancer patients, which suggested that obesity in adulthood may be an important prognostic factor that indicates an abbreviated survival from pancreatic cancer. More studies are needed to validate this finding, and the mechanism behind the observation should be evaluated in further studies.

Analysis of renal impairment in children with Wilson's disease.

BACKGROUND: Since the diverse manifestations of renal impairment appear in different periods of Wilson's disease, misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis is not rare. This study was undertaken to find the clinical features of renal impairment in children with Wilson's disease or hepatolenticular degeneration (HLD). METHODS: Eighty-five children with HLD who had been treated at our department between January 1991 and June 2006 were retrospectively studied. The clinical data of 25 patients with renal impairment were analyzed. RESULTS: In the 85 HLD patients, 34 had renal impairment. Nine of the 34 patients with D-penicillamine treatment were excluded. In the remaining 25 patients, 7 had initiated symptoms of renal impairment, 5 of them with edema, 1 with gross hematuria, and 1 with acute hemolysis and acute renal failure. Twelve of the 25 patients had proteinuria, 14 had hematuria, and 5 had both proteinuria and hematuria. Urine glucose was positive in 4 patients, urine N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG) increased in 5, and urine beta2-microglobulin increased in 6. Urine red blood cell (RBC) phase was detected in 7 patients, including glomerular hematuria in 5 patients and non-glomerular hematuria in 2. Blood urea nitrogen and creatinine increased in 1 patient. B-ultrasound revealed bilaterally enlarged kidneys in 3 patients. Kidney biopsy showed diffuse mesangial proliferation and IgA deposit in mesangial region in 1 patient. All of the 25 patients had cornea K-F ring and the level of ceruloplasmin decreased. Six patients had a family history of HLD. CONCLUSIONS: The manifestations of renal impairment with HLD are varied. HLD should be excluded from patients with unexplained renal impairment, while those with HLD should take examinations of the kidney to identify renal impairment. We propose that renal function and urinalysis should be checked regularly in patients receiving treatment of D-penicillamine.