The purpose of the present study is to explore the effects of a lipid-lowering drug atorvastatin, a three-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitor, in the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) in a rat model of atherosclerosis (AS) and the possible mechanisms underneath. A high-cholesterol diet was administrated to Sprague-Dawley rats in an attempt to induce an ASED model, which was later confirmed by abdominal aorta histopathology and erectile function evaluation. ASED rats were further assigned to non-treatment group, atorvastatin low-dose treatment group (5 mg kg(-1) day(-1)), high-dose group (10 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) and sildenafil (1.5 mg kg(-1) day(-1)) treatment group. Lipid profile, erectile function, oxidative stress biochemical markers, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and extracellular superoxide dismutase (SODEX) mRNA expression were evaluated after 8-week treatment duration. Erectile function was impaired in AS rat model, which was preserved in atorvastatin and sildenafil intervention groups. The oxidative stress biochemical markers were attenuated, while eNOS and SODEX mRNA expression were restored in atorvastatin and sildenafil groups, which were found to be involved in ED pathogenesis. However, the lipid profile remained unaltered in the treatment group, and it was elevated in ASED rats. This kind of lipid-lowering agent, or atorvastatin, has the utilisation potential in ASED treatment, even before lipid profiles altered. This effect on erectile function preservation of atorvastatin was attributed to its preservation of endothelial function, possibly through amelioration of oxidative stress and improvement in eNOS expression.

The combined trapezoid spray tray (CTST) is a novel spray tray with unique trapezoid spatial structure. With gas-liquid co-current contact, the CTST has a lot of advantages, such as high capacity, efficiency and operation flexibility, low pressure drop, excellent anti-blockage performance, and foaming resistance. In the present work, the hydrodynamic and mass transfer performance of the CTST were investigated in a plexiglass column with air-water-carbon dioxide as an experimental system and were compared to a type of Glitsch V1 valve tray. Based on the result, the correlation equations of dry-plate and wet-plate pressure drop for the CTST were established. In terms of hydrodynamic and mass transfer performance, the CTST was superior than the Glistch V1 valve tray when the gas velocity is high. The industrial application case further validated the experiment result. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered as an attractive tool for the therapy of diseases. Accumulating evidence indicates that the healing effects of MSCs are mainly related to paracrine action rather than transdifferentiation. Exosomes excreted from MSCs have emerged as physiologically relevant and powerful components of the MSC secretome. However, whether MSC-derived exosomes can improve erectile function of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats and its mechanism remains unknown. Our previous work showed that adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) transplantation could increase endothelial and smooth muscle contents and improve erectile function of diabetic rats. In this study, ADSC-derived exosomes (ADSC-Exo) exhibited in vitro proangiogenic properties, induced the proliferation of endothelial cells and restored erectile function in vivo, as well as decreased fibrosis of corpus cavernosum. In further experiments, we found that ADSC-Exo contained some proangiogenic (miR-126, miR-130a and miR-132) microRNAs and an antifibrotic microRNA family (miR-let7b and miR-let7c). Thus, it is reasonable to postulate that ADSC-Exo transports key functional miRNAs to target cells in a specific manner to improve functional recovery or to activate endogenous repair mechanisms. This proof-of-concept study provides a novel approach for the treatment of diabetic erectile dysfunction.

It has been demonstrated that intracavernous injection of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) had beneficial effects on improving erectile function in type-1 diabetic rats. This study was designed to investigate the neurotrophic effect of BM-MSCs for type-1 diabetic rats. Streptozocin-induced type-1 diabetic rats were randomly divided into three groups: diabetic group, BM-MSCs-treated group and BM-MSCs-conditioned medium-treated group. At the 3d, 1 and 2w time points after BM-MSCs injection, three randomly selected rats in MSCs group were sacrificed and penile samples were harvested to detect BM-MSCs in penile tissue. Four weeks after intracavernous injection of BM-MSCs or BM-MSCs-conditioned medium, intracavernous pressure (ICP) was assessed to evaluate the erectile function. Immunohistochemistry was used to track labelled BM-MSCs in penile tissue and to detect neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and neurofilament (NF) positive fibres in penile dorsal nerve. Enzyme lined immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in BM-MSCs-conditioned medium. BM- MSCs secreted detectable levels of VEGF, BDNF and NGF. Intracavernous injection of BM-MSCs improved erectile function in diabetic rats. The functional improvement was accompanied by promoted nNOS and NF positive nerve fibres within penile dorsal nerve in type-1 diabetic rats. Histological data revealed a time-dependent decrease in the number of BM-MSCs in the corpus cavernosum following injection. Furthermore, the beneficial effect of BM-MSCs was partially repeated by BM-MSCs-conditioned medium. Intracavernous injection of BM-MSCs is effective in improving nerve regeneration in diabetic rats. Paracrine effects of BM-MSCs are probably involved in the improvement.

A new type high efficiency column tray, the combined trapezoid spray tray, is introduced. In comparison with the floating valve tray, the throughput and separation efficiency can be increased by 80%-100% and 5% respectively, the operating elasticity can be double, and the pressure drop can be decreased by 20%-30%. The said trays have been successfully used in the sour water stripper in three refineries. A stripper revamping showed that after the replacement of the floating valve trays by the said trays in the existing column, the capacity was double and the steam consumption was reduced by more than 11%.

介绍一种新型高效专利塔板─梯形立体喷射塔板(CTST),该塔板与浮阀塔板相比:生产能力大80% ～100%,分离效率高20% ～30%,操作弹性高一倍,压降低20% ～30%.该塔板在聚乙烯醇生产中的醋酸精馏塔技术改造中成功应用,改造后分离质量明显提高,每年多回收醋酸103 t,新设计塔全部采用工业钛材质加工,解决了醋酸精馏时塔板腐蚀严重的难题.