• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.258-263
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• 2003

Colon-specific delivery of glucocorticoids is highly desirable for the efficient treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. We synthesized prednisolone 21-sulfate sodium (PDS) as a colon-specific prodrug of prednisolone (PD) and investigated its properties using rats as test animals. We expected that introduction of sulfate ester as a sodium salt might increase the hydrophilicity and restrict the absorption in the GI tract. If PDS is stable and nonabsorbable in the upper intestine, it will be delivered to the colon as an intact form, where it hydrolyze by the sulfatase to release PD. Compared with PD, the solubility of PDS increased and the apparent partition coefficient decreased greatly. PDS was stable on incubation with pH 1.2 and 6.8 buffer solutions and with the contents of the stomach and small intestine. On incubation with the cecal contents, PDS decreased to 9.6％ of the dose in 10 h producing PD. The amount of PD increased to give a maximum 54％ of the dose and decreased. As a control, when PD was incubated with the cecal contents, it decreased to 29％ of the dose in 8 h, which implied that reduction of PD proceeded under such conditions. These results suggested that hydrolysis of PDS took place to produce and accumulate PD, which decreased by reduction as the incubation period extended. Our results suggested that PDS can be a promising colon-specific prodrug of PD, and sulfate ester group might serve as a potential colon-specific promoiety, especially for the drugs which are resistant to reduction in the colon.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.244-249
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• 2011

Spherical nanosized cobalt powder with an average size of 150-400 nm was successfully prepared at room temperature from cobalt sulfate heptahydrate ($CoSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$). Wet chemical reduction method was adopted to synthesize nano cobalt powder and hypophosphorous acid ($H_3PO_2$) was used as reduction agent. Both the HCP and the FCC Co phase were developed while $CoSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ concentration ranged from 0.7 M to 1.1 M. Secondary phase such as $Co(OH)_2$ and $CO_3O_4$ were also observed. Peaks for the crystalline Co phase having HCP and FCC structure crystallized as increasing the concentration of $H_3PO_2$, indicating that the amount of reduction agent was enough to reduce $Co(OH)_2$. Consequently, a homogeneous Co phase could be developed without second phase when the $H_3PO_2/CoSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ ratio exceeded 7.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.413-426
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• 2009

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of indigenous bacteria on geochemical behavior of toxic heavy metals in contaminated paddy soil near an abandoned mine. The effects of sulfate amendment to stimulate microbial sulfate reduction on heavy metal behaviors were also investigated. Batch-type experiments were performed with lactate or glucose as a carbon source to activate indigenous bacteria in the soil under anaerobic condition for 100 days. Sulfate (250 mg/L) was artificially injected at 60 days after the onset of the experiments. In the case of glucose supply, solution pH increased from 4.8 to 7.6 while pH was maintained at 7~8 in the lactate solution. The initial low pH in the case of glucose supply likely resulted in the enhanced extraction of Fe and most heavy metals at the initial experimental period. Lactate supply exerted no significant difference on the amounts of dissolved Zn, Pb, Ni and Cu between microbial and abiotic control slurries; however, lower Zn, Pb and Ni and higher Cu concentrations were observed in the microbial slurries than in the controls when glucose supplied. Sulfate amendment led to dramatic decrease in dissolved Cr and maintenance of dissolved As, both of which had gradually increased over time till the sulfate injection. Black precipitates formed in solution after sulfate amendment, and violarite($Fe^{+2}{Ni^{+3}}_2S_4$) was found with XRD analysis in the microbial precipitates. Conceivably the mineral might be formed after Fe(III) reduction and microbial sulfate reduction with coprecipitation of heavy metal. The results suggested that heavy metals which can be readily extracted from contaminated paddy soils may be stabilized in soil formation by microbial sulfate reduction.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.573-597
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• 2008

Among artificial intelligence-based computational techniques, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS) are particularly suitable for modelling complex systems with known input-output data sets. Such systems can be efficient in modelling non-linear, complex and ambiguous behaviour of cement-based materials undergoing single, dual or multiple damage factors of different forms (chemical, physical and structural). Due to the well-known complexity of sulfate attack on cement-based materials, the current work investigates the use of ANFIS to model the behaviour of a wide range of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) mixture designs under various high-concentration sodium sulfate exposure regimes including full immersion, wetting-drying, partial immersion, freezing-thawing, and cyclic cold-hot conditions with or without sustained flexural loading. Three ANFIS models have been developed to predict the expansion, reduction in elastic dynamic modulus, and starting time of failure of the tested SCC specimens under the various high-concentration sodium sulfate exposure regimes. A fuzzy inference system was also developed to predict the level of aggression of environmental conditions associated with very severe sodium sulfate attack based on temperature, relative humidity and degree of wetting-drying. The results show that predictions of the ANFIS and fuzzy inference systems were rational and accurate, with errors not exceeding 5%. Sensitivity analyses showed that the trends of results given by the models had good agreement with actual experimental results and with thermal, mineralogical and micro-analytical studies.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.110-121
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• 2022

The effluents from industries processing vegetable oils are extremely rich in sulfates, often exceeding the maximum concentration allowed to release them to the environment. Biological sulfate reduction is a promising alternative for the removal of sulfates in this type of wastewater, which has other particularities such as an acidic pH. The ability to reduce sulfates has been widely described for a particular bacterial group (SRB: sulfate-reducing bacteria), although the reports describing its application for the treatment of sulfate-rich industrial wastewaters are scarce. In this work, we describe the use of a natural SRB-based consortium able to remove above 30% of sulfates in the wastewater from one of the largest edible oil industries in Peru. Metataxonomic analysis was used to analyse the interdependencies established between SRB and the native microbiota present in the wastewater samples, and the performance of the consortium was quantified for different sulfate concentrations in laboratory-scale reactors. Our results pave the way towards the use of this consortium as a low-cost, sustainable alternative for the treatment of larger volumes of wastewater coming from this type of industries.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2015

Magnesium sulfate is widely used as a food additive and as an orally administered medication. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible cytotoxicity of magnesium sulfate on AGS human gastric adenocarcinoma cells and gastric mucosa in mice. A trypan blue exclusion assay was used to determine the reduction in viability of AGS cells exposed to magnesium sulfate, and then effects on cell proliferation were quantified. The role of magnesium sulfate-mediated pro-inflammatory cytokine production in AGS cells was also investigated. mRNA expression for IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-${\alpha}$ was determined by RT-PCR, and secretion of these cytokines was measured by ELISA. Immunohistochemical evaluation of IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, and TNF-${\alpha}$ expression was conducted in mouse gastric mucosa. Addition of 3 to 50 mM magnesium sulfate to AGS cells inhibited both cell proliferation and cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. Magnesium sulfate had little effect on production of IL-$1{\beta}$ or IL-6 but significantly inhibited production of IL-8. The animal model demonstrated that magnesium sulfate induced production of IL-$1{\beta}$, IL-6, and TNF-${\alpha}$. These preliminary data suggest that magnesium sulfate had a direct effect on the stomach and initiates cytotoxicity in moderate concentrations and time periods by inhibiting viability a nd proliferation of AGS cells and by regulating expression and/or release of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2008

Sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) is universally distributed in the sediment, especially in marine environment. SRB reduce sulfate as electron acceptor to hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic condition. Hydrogen sulfide is reducing agent enhancing the reduction of the organic and inorganic compounds. With SRB, therefore, the degradability of organic contaminants is expected to be enhanced. Ferrous iron reduced from the ferric iron which is mainly present in sediment also renders chlorinated organic compounds to be reduced state. The objectives of this study are: 1) to investigate the reduction of TCE by hydrogen sulfide generated by tht growth of SRB, 2) to estimate the reduction of TCE by ferrous iron generated due to oxidation of hydrogen sulfide, and 3) to illuminate the interaction between SRB and ferrous iron. Mixed bacteria was cultivated from the sludge of the sewage treatment plant. Increasing hydrogen sulfide and decreasing sulfate confirmed the existence of SRB in mixed culture. Although hydrogen sulfide lonely could reduce TCE, the concentration of hydrogen sulfide produced by SRB was not sufficient to reduce TCE directly. With hematite as ferric iron, hydrogen sulfide produced by SRB was consumed to reduce ferric ion to ferrous ion and ferrous iron produced by hydrogen sulfide oxidation decreased the concentration of TCE. Tests with seawater confirmed that the activity of SRB was dependent on the carbon source concentration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.61-69
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• 2014

As we are trying to in-situ treat (purify or immobilize) heavy metals or radionuclides in groundwater, one of the geochemical factors to be necessarily considered is the value of oxidation/reduction potential (ORP) of the groundwater. A biogeochemical impact on the characteristic ORP change of groundwater taken from the KAERI underground was observed as a function of time by adding electron-donor (lactate), electron-acceptor (sulfate), and indigenous bacteria in a laboratory condition. There was a slight increase of Eh (slow oxidation) of the pure groundwater with time under a $N_2$-filled glove-box. However, most of groundwaters that contained lactate, sulfate or bacteria showed Eh decrease (reduction) characteristics. In particular, when 'Baculatum', a local indigenous sulfate-reducing bacterium, was injected into the KAERI groundwater, it turned to become a highly-reduced one having a decreased Eh to around -500 mV. Although the sulfate-reducing bacterium thus has much greater ability to reduce groundwater than other metal-reducing bacteria, it surely necessitated some dissolved ferrous-sulfate and finally generated sulfide minerals (e.g., mackinawite), which made a prediction for subsequent reactions difficult. As a result, the ORP of groundwater was largely affected even by a slight injection of nutrient without bacteria, indicating that oxidation state, solubility and sorption characteristics of dissolved contaminants, which are affected by the ORP, could be changed and controlled through in-situ biostimulation method.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.149-152
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• 1982

A new convenient method for the reduction of carboxylic acids to the corresponding alcohols via acyloxyborohydrides was explored. Acyloxyborohydrides, prepared from the reaction of various carboxylic acids and sodium borohydride, underwent reduction to the corresponding alcohols readily by the addition of dimethyl sulfate or Lewis acids, such as boron trifluoride etherate and triphenyl borate, presumably through acyloxyboranes. By utilizing this procedure, aliphatic and aromatic acids are rapidly and quantitatively reduced to the corresponding alcohols in terahydrofuran either at room temperature (or at $65^{\circ}$). This procedure provides selective reduction of carboxylic acids in the presence of halogen, nitro, and heterocyclic rings such as furan and thiophene.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.443-454
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• 1998

Pt-V catalytic converter was installed on a heavy duty diesel engine and the characteristics of the emission reduction were tested using a engine dynamometer at various operating conditions. The emission reduction performance of Pt-V catalyst was also compared with that of a commercialized Pt catalyst currently being used in some of the heavy duty diesel engines in advanced countries. The effects of Pt-V and Pt catalysts on regulated and unregulated emissions were investigated using a 0.05 weight percent sulfur content fuel with an engine dynamometer Experiments for gaseous emissions (CO, HC and aldehyde) as well as particulate emissions (TPM, SOF and sulfate) have been conducted at several operating conditions such as T-7 mode, D-13 mode and S-13 mode before and after installing the Pt-V and Pt catalysts in the exhaust system. The emission reduction performance of Pt catalyst with respect to CO, HC, SOF, PAHs and aldehyde was found to be a little higher than that of Pt-V catalyst, but the Pt catalyst showed innate disadvantage of causing an increase of PM due to the sulfate formation via high SO2 conversion at high exhaust temperature, especially above 45$0^{\circ}C$.