High Side Research Articles

Analysis of the Effect of Capacitor Placements at High and Low Voltage Transformer Sides as Voltage Profile and Total Cost in Distribution Systems

This study mentions the problem of determining optimal placements and sizes for capacitor banks by comparing different schemes that allow implemented buses at both high and low voltage side, only high voltage side or low voltage side of transformers in distribution systems. Criterions evaluated for each scheme are active and reactive power losses in whole system, voltage value at all buses, installation and operation cost and accumulative profit saving. Standard with and without transformer branches in distribution systems and Newton-Raphson method are introduced to make clear about the way to analyze power flows in whole system. Optimal placements and sizes for capacitor banks are determined by using a proposed algorithm and optimal capacitor placement tool in ETAP software. Simulation results can help to show the comparisons, evaluations and make decision about optimal capacitor placements and sizes. The contribution shows the best scheme that install capacitors at low voltage side of transformers because it has the lowest implemented capacity, highest economic factors while voltage quality is always in allowable range. Achieved results can be applied in any distribution system, help managers have overall review and decide optimal placements and sizes for capacitor banks. Keywords: Capacitor bank, OCP Tool, ETAP software, Optimal placement, Optimal size, Voltage quality, Optimal cost.

ROLE OF SAINDHAVADI BIDALAKA IN THE MANAGEMENT OF VATAJA ABHISHYANDA (ALLERGIC CONJUNCTIVITIS)

In the present age, Allergic Conjunctivitis is the most common eye disease caused due to allergens like dust, pollen from trees and grass, animal dander, chemical scents, etc. The prevalence of allergic Conjunctivitis in India is on the higher side, affecting 15% to 40% of the Indian population and it is observed to be a seasonal disease, i.e., during summer. According to Acharya Sushruta, Abhishyanda (Conjunctivitis) is the root cause of almost all ocular diseases and, if it is not treated priorly, may land in a chronic course, further resulting in developing severe complications such as Adhimantha (Glaucoma) etc. Vataja Abhishyanda can be correlated to Allergic Conjunctivitis. Allergic Conjunctivitis is characterized by itching, burning sensation, watery, mucous, or stringy discharge, mild photophobia, and eye hyperemia. In the present study, according to Acharya Charaka, Saindhavadi Bidalaka was done on the patient having symptoms of Vataja Abhishyanda (Allergic Conjunctivitis) for 7 days. Vata is said to be the predominant dosha of Vataja Abhishyanda (Allergic Conjunctivitis). Saindhavadi Bidalaka has Vataghna properties (pacify Vata dosha); thus, it will reduce the symptoms of Vataja Abhishyanda (Allergic Conjunctivitis). A total of 3 patients of Vataja Abhishyanda (Allergic Conjunctivitis) were treated by Saindhavadi Bidalaka for seven days. The assessment of the condition was done before and after treatment. The result of the study was analyzed by comparing the before and after the completion of the study. The result proves to be significantly effective based on its clinical assessment.

Pengaruh Hambatan Samping Terhadap Kinerja Jalan Pada Sipang Bersinyal (Studi Kasus Jl. Abdullah Daeng Sirua dan Jl. Adyaksa Baru Kota Makassar)

On the section at the signalized intersection of Jl. Abdullah Dg. Sirua – Jl. Adyaksa Baru Makassar City's traffic flow uses a two-way system, on this section of road the volume of vehicle traffic is quite dense plus there is high side obstacle activity because it is a trade business area such as offices, banking, shops, restaurants and shopping centers where transactions take place. sellers and buyers and there is a place of worship. Side barriers in the signalized intersection area on Jalan Abdullah Dg.Sirua – Jl. Adyaksa Baru in its existing condition obtained the highest value at point 1 on Monday at 16:30-17:30 WITA with an occurrence frequency of 456 Kej/hour per 200 m and a weight frequency of 298 Kej/hour. In this side resistance condition, it can be categorized as a low condition (Low)

Using Charge Determination Design of Experiments to Develop A Refrigerant Charge Health Status Model for Heat Pump Systems

Refrigerant based heat pump systems are becoming an integral system in electric vehicle architectures due to their high efficiencies in providing heating and cooling to people and components within the car. An important component in heat pump systems that determines optimal efficiency is the amount of refrigerant. As such, the capability to model refrigerant charge helps quantify the health status of the heat pump system, whereby the lack or over abundance of refrigerant in a heat pump refrigerant system leads to various other component failures, e.g., liquid slugging, compressor overheating, material fatigue in heat exchanger, and degraded/stuck expansion valves. In designing a heat pump system, engineers need to perform a set of design of experiments to determine an optimal refrigerant charge based on a set of performance metrics in the presence of certain noise factors. This optimal refrigerant charge provides conditions where the heat pump system operates efficiently in both heating and cooling, in addition to facilitating operational conditions that will not lead to secondary component degradation or damage. The search for optimal refrigerant charge is classified as refrigerant charge determination, whereby engineers incrementally increase the refrigerant in the heat pump system in operation of heating/cooling and collect data about performance metrics. Some of the key performance metrics used to determine efficiency of a heat pump system include i) compressor inlet superheat temperature, ii) condenser outlet subcool temperature, iii) compressor high side pressure, iv) compressor low side pressure, v) condenser outlet pressure, and vi) condenser quality estimate. Furthermore, this process follows design of experiments concepts and is performed for both heating and cooling modes of operation. In this paper, we leverage refrigerant charge determination as a training data source to develop refrigerant charge models, where several performance metrics are health indicators used as model inputs and the amount of refrigerant added to the heat pump system are ground truth refrigerant charges used as model outputs. In this paper we develop regression models to estimate the total refrigerant charge, which is used to classify different health states of refrigerant based on levels of performance degradation corresponding to specific refrigerant charge thresholds. We trained a robust linear regression model using this charge determination data and found that the worst case estimation error was less than 10% with respect to the refrigerant charge grouth truth.

Development of Teaching – Aid Materials for Teaching and Learning Biology: A Waste to Wealth Approach (Paper Mache)

The campus today is littered with varieties of waste materials, which were generated from students' activities. The bulk of these wastes were solid wastes, and it is obvious that papers form a larger percentage of the waste on our campuses. These papers could include leftovers from students marked test scripts, detached textbook materials, personal notebooks, and jotters. Environmentalists have listed improper dumping of refuse and sewage disposal contamination as one of the major factors that hinder an eco-friendly society, most importantly in schools. One of the greatest problems confronting the education sector today is the lack of adequate instructional materials to teach the students. The cost of purchasing foreign-made instructional materials is on the high side. Hence, there has been serious agitation by educational technologists to venture into improvisation as alternatives to real objects. Using campus waste paper to mould improvised teaching aids for the teaching and learning of basic biological concepts will not only be of benefit to educators but also to environmentalists who are concerned about proper waste management. Up-cycling methodology was adopted for this study, which is the process of reusing waste materials without breaking them down into their base state to create another product.

Fault Diagnosis and Maintenance of the Front Lighting System of Volkswagen Magotan

Study the front lighting system of the Volkswagen Magotan B8L model, analyze the composition and control principle of high beam, low beam, and side marker lights in the front lighting system. Introduce typical fault cases of high beam, low beam, and side marker lights, analyze fault phenomena, conduct fault diagnosis, and achieve fault elimination.

On paradoxical phenomena during evaporation and condensation between two parallel plates.

Kinetic theory has long predicted that temperature inversion may happen in the vapor-phase for evaporation and condensation between two parallel plates, i.e., the vapor temperature at the condensation interface is higher than that at the evaporation interface. However, past studies have neglected transport in the liquid phases, which usually determine the evaporation and condensation rates. This disconnect has limited the acceptance of the kinetic theory in practical heat transfer models. In this paper, we combine interfacial conditions for mass and heat fluxes with continuum descriptions in the bulk regions of the vapor and the liquid phases to obtain a complete picture for the classical problem of evaporation and condensation between two parallel plates. The criterion for temperature inversion is rederived analytically. We also prove that the temperature jump at each interface is in the same direction as externally applied temperature difference, i.e., liquid surface is at a higher temperature than its adjacent vapor on the evaporating interface and at a lower temperature than its adjacent vapor on the condensing interface. We explain the interfacial temperature jump and temperature inversion using the interfacial cooling and heating processes, and we predict that this process can lead to a vapor phase temperature much lower than the lowest wall temperatures and much higher than the highest wall temperature imposed. When the latent heat of evaporation is small, we found that evaporation can happen at the low temperature side while condensation occurs at the high temperature side, opposing the temperature gradient.

Ultrasonic reflection/transmission characteristics for state of charge of li-ion battery

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in various fields, such as electronic products, energy storage and transportation, etc. Accurate estimation of the state of charge (SOC) of lithium-ion batteries is essential for maintaining the safe operation of batteries. In this work, considering the multilayer porous properties of lithium-ion batteries, a theoretical model of ultrasonic reflection and transmission characteristics is established, by combining the state vector and Legendre polynomials. Spectrums of reflection and transmission coefficients of the lithium-ion battery under charged and/or discharged conditions are obtained, which are calculated theoretically and simulated by finite element analysis. Meanwhile, in order to extract the shift properties of the ultrasonic reflection/transmission spectrums versus SOC, the sensitive points representing the local extreme values in the frequency and angular spectrums during charging or discharging were curve fitted. It is found that with the increase of SOC, the local extreme value points in frequency spectrums intend to shift to the high frequency side, and angular spectrums will shift to the small angle side. Moreover, an ultrasonic reflection experimental system was built to measure the reflection coefficient spectrum of two kinds of batteries with different specifications. By comparing with the theoretical calculation results, it is found that the experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement. And the results also show that the SOC is closely related to the ultrasonic reflection characteristics. Therefore, this research provides a new way to evaluation the SOC of the lithium-ion battery.

Caffeic acid-grafted chitosan/sodium alginate/nanoclay-based multifunctional 3D-printed hybrid scaffolds for local drug release therapy after breast cancer surgery

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women all over the world. Mastectomy is the most effective treatment, but there are serious problems such as high tumor recurrence rate and side effects of chemotherapy. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a therapeutic strategy that can effectively promote postoperative wound healing and inhibit local tumor recurrence. In this study, a 3D printing scaffold based on carbon dots-curcumin nano-drug release (CCNPs) was developed as a local drug delivery platform (named CCNACA using CCNPs, Sodium alginate, Nanoclay and Caffeic Acid grafted Chitosan as raw materials), which has the ability to visualize drug release. The 14-day drug release test in vitro showed that the tumor inhibition rate of CCNACA scaffolds on breast cancer cells (MCF-7) was 73.77 ± 1.68 %. And the CCNACA scaffolds had good long-term antibacterial (Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus) activity. Animal experiments have shown that implanting CCNACA scaffolds into surgical defects can inhibit postoperative residual cancer cells, reduce inflammation, promote angiogenesis, and repair tissue defects caused by surgery. In summary, the local drug delivery system of this manuscript has great potential in wound healing and prevention of tumor recurrence after breast cancer surgery.

Mechanisms and Application of Gas-Based Anticancer Therapies.

Cancer is still one of the major factors threatening public health, with morbidity and mortality rates at the forefront of the world. Clinical drawbacks, such as high toxicity and side effects of drug therapy, and easy recurrence after surgery affect its therapeutic effect. Gas signaling molecules are essential in maintaining biological homeostasis and physiological functions as specific chemical substances for biological information transfer. In recent years, the physiological regulatory functions of gas molecules in the cancer process have been gradually revealed and have shown broad application prospects in tumor therapy. In this paper, standard gas therapies are classified and introduced. Taking H2, CO2, NO, CO, H2S, and SO2 gases as examples, the research progress and application of gas therapies in malignant tumors are mainly introduced in terms of biological characteristics, anticancer mechanisms, and treatment strategies. Finally, the problems and prospects for developing gases as anticancer drugs are outlined.

A Study on QT Dispersion before and after Thrombolysis in Acute Myocardial Infarction and its Prognostic Implications: A before and after Comparison Study.

Introduction: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) stands as one of the most catastrophic occurrences in the progression of coronary artery disease. Measuring QT dispersion (QTd) is a fairly straightforward and noninvasive technique for predicting mortality in patients at high risk following a myocardial infarction (MI). Objective: To measure the QT, corrected QT interval (QTc), QTd, and corrected QT dispersion (QTcd) intervals before and after thrombolysis in patients with AMI and to determine prognostic implications of QTd in AMI. Materials and methods: This was a before and after comparison study conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary care center in Central India. It was carried out in patients with AMI [ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)] who underwent thrombolysis in ICU. A total of 160 participants were enrolled over the time period of 24 months using the convenience sampling technique. Results: The most prevalent (68 patients) risk factor among MI patients was hypertension (HTN). QT parameters such as QT, QTd, and QTcd showed significant statistical variation of p-value < 0.0001 when compared at admission and after thrombolysis. No significant difference (p > 0.05) in QT parameters at admission (QTd, QTc, and QTcd) between anterior and inferior wall MI, except for QT interval (p = 0.0010). Among the 33 patients who experienced arrhythmia, ventricular tachycardia was the most prevalent arrhythmia in 22 patients (13.75%). There was a significant statistical correlation between the arrhythmic event and the outcome of the patient (p < 0.0001). Patients who died had higher QT parameter values at admission, and these remained on the higher side even after thrombolysis, whereas those who got discharged had lower QT parameter values at admission, and their values decreased after thrombolysis. Conclusion: Successful thrombolysis significantly decreases the QTd and thereby the arrhythmogenic potential, and thus can also be used as a reliable predictor of arrhythmia in patients of MI. How to cite this article: M A, Khandait H, Guralwar C, et al. A Study on QT Dispersion before and after Thrombolysis in Acute Myocardial Infarction and its Prognostic Implications: A before and after Comparison Study. J Assoc Physicians India 2023;71(10):14-18.

Analysis and Parametric Assessment of Reinforced Soil Wall

Due to rapid urbanization and growth of countries, the rate of building infrastructures is also on the higher side. Owing to a lack of adequate high bearing capacity soil, one is forced to select regions with lower bearing capacity, which can cause long-term instability problems. Various improvement techniques available in the field of Civil Engineering or Geotechnical Engineering are to be adopted in such cases to avoid instability issues. One such well known method is Reinforced Soil wall that has been investigated and focused here. In this paper, an effort is made to compare numerical and analytical analysis, as well as to investigate their consistency and understand the effect of various parameters on its performance. The numerical analysis, which is based on Lee et al.’s lateral earth pressure theory, has been paired with an analytical one using the Finite element method (FEM) to evaluate its performance and efficiency in the field. Furthermore, various parameters such as reinforcing element length, soil friction angle, spacing, height of the wall, and maximum tensile forces produced have been considered, with their variations affecting the overall efficiency of the system being investigated. Further, an attempt has been made to understand the behavioural pattern by comparing the results using Regression Analysis. The findings from both analyses are very consistent and complement one another.

Site-specific PEGylation of recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator

Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is the gold standard for emergency treatment of ischemic stroke, which is the third leading cause of death worldwide. Major challenges of tPA therapy are its rapid elimination by plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and hepatic clearance, leading to the use of high doses and consequent serious side effects, including internal bleeding, swelling and low blood pressure. In this regard, we developed three polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated tPA bioconjugates based on the recombinant human tPA drug Alteplase using site-specific conjugation strategies. The first bioconjugate with PEGylation at the N-terminus of tPA performed by reductive alkylation showed a reduced proteolytic activity of 68 % compared to wild type tPA. PEGylation at the single-free cysteine of tPA with linear and branched PEG revealed similar proteolytic activities as the wild-type protein. Moreover, both bioconjugates with PEG-cysteine-modification showed 2-fold slower inhibition kinetics by PAI-1. All bioconjugates increased in hydrodynamic size as a critical requirement for half-life extension.

The cardioprotective potential of melatonin on cardiac hypertrophy: A mechanistic overview

Cardiac hypertrophy (CH) is an increment of muscle mass to maintain the heart regular operations. A physiological cardiac hypertrophy due to exercise or other normal physiological process is characterized by normal contractile function and structural framework of heart tissue. In contrast, pathological hypertrophy occurs in response to increased pressure or volume overload from several cardiovascular diseases including hypertension, valvular diseases, cardiac infarction and heart failure. It is of major concern as it is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Despite much progress in this field there is a scope for understanding of the molecular mechanisms of this condition. In this review, various types of cardiac hypertrophy and their intricate physio-pathological mechanisms have been discussed. In addition, the genetic mutations in sarcomere genes and oxidative stress are also closely linked to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Although several drugs against cardiac hypertrophy have been used, it appears that melatonin, due to its high bioavailability and low side effects, is a better candidate than the conventional medicine for treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Melatonin, a hormone and a potent antioxidant, is secreted mainly from the pineal gland, but it is also synthesized from different peripheral tissues including the heart. This molecule can regulate a myriad of cellular functions. It can protect against cardiac hypertrophy via reducing oxidative stress, elevating Cu-Mn SOD via controlling several cell signalling pathways of Akt/mTOR, ROR-α and NLRP3 cascades. Melatonin also mitigates cardiac hypertrophy by suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α and TGF-β and cardiac hypertrophy markers like β-MHC, ANP, BNP, LDH. This review focuses on the molecular mechanisms of cardiac hypertrophy and the defensive role of melatonin on it. We propose melatoninas a propitious adjunct for the treatment of cardiac hypertrophy.

Fabrication of Chitosan/PEGDA Bionanocomposites for Enhanced Drug Encapsulation and Release Efficiency.

Drug delivery systems (DDS) have evolved in the last decades with the development of hydrogels and particles. However, challenges such as high systemic uptake, side effects, low bioavailability, and encapsulation efficiency continue to be significant hurdles faced by such DDSs. Particles and hydrogels can be specifically designed for targeted DDSs to mitigate some of these problems. This study developed chitosan (Cs) particles (Ps) and composite films using poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) as a copolymer to encapsulate gentamicin (GtS) for drug delivery. We demonstrated that lysozyme degrades the chitosan β-1,4 glycosidic bonds to release GtS. PEGDA increased drug encapsulation efficiency by shielding the repelling forces of like charges between Cs and GtS. The data show that PEGDA does not hinder enzymatic degradation while increasing drug encapsulation efficiency and producing more homogeneous particles. Additionally, we utilized Michael's reaction to cross-link Cs, CsPs, and PEGDA to produce a film designed for drug delivery. The film is an anchor for CsPs to prevent premature drug release. The cross-linking of Cs and PEGDA does not affect lysozyme activity, and CsPs could successfully release GtS without affecting GtS activity.

A-336 Comparison Between the Immune Profile of Pregnant and Postpartum Women with and without COVID-19 by Flow Cytometry

Abstract Background The impacts caused by COVID-19 on pregnant and postpartum women are not well characterized yet. It is well known that, due to pregnancy, the maternal organism undergoes immunological adaptations, which may increase the risk of complications of viral diseases. These adaptations, in addition to the inflammatory disorder caused by the SARS-Cov-2, may contribute to severe outcomes as a result of COVID-19 infection. In this study the peripheral levels of total T lymphocytes, CD4+ T lymphocytes, CD8+ T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and natural killer cells in pregnant and postpartum women with positive and negative PCR for SARS-CoV-2 were determined. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed using peripheral blood samples from pregnant and postpartum women who underwent PCR for the diagnosis of COVID-19 between May 2021 and March 2022. Samples were collected in a public maternity hospital in Northeast of Brazil right on admission for delivery as well as in the immediate puerperium. Blood was collected in tubes containing EDTA for flow cytometry, using the activated cell fluorescence analyzer (FACScan) and the Cell Quest software. The total of T lymphocyte subsets (CD3+), CD3+/CD4+ (ThL) and CD3+/CD8+ (TcL) was determined according to published protocols. B lymphocytes were identified by expression of CD19 (CD19+) and NK and NKT cells were identified by the CD16+/56+ and CD3+/CD16-56+ phenotype, respectively. Lymphocytes were identified by high CD45 expression and low side scatter using the following 3-color monoclonal antibody combinations: fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), phycoerythrin (PE) and chlorophyll pyridine protein (PerCP). Results A total of 99 women with a mean age 29 (± 7) years old were used in this study, of which 31 (31.3%) were pregnant and 68 (69.4%) were postpartum women. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was confirmed by PCR in 78 (78.8%) of the participants and in 21 (21.2%) it was discarded after negative PCR. Pregnant and postpartum women infected with SARS-CoV-2 had higher levels of cytotoxic T cells, median (ME) = 574.2; interquartile range (IIQ) = 382.4, when compared with uninfected patients, ME = 404.7; IIQ = 363.5); P = 0.032. Pregnant women with COVID-19 had a lower mean CD3+ count (1351.1 ± 337.7) compared to postpartum women with the disease (1605.6 ± 538.6); t (53.6) = −2.45, P = 0.009. Likewise, lower CD16+/56+ (113.3; IIQ = 172.0) and CD3+/CD16-56+ (52.1; IQ = 53.4) medians were found in pregnant women with COVID-19, when compared with the group of postpartum women without infection (191.2; IIQ = 192.5); U = 396.0, P = 0.043 and (70.8; IIQ = 91.6); U = 376.5, P = 0.025, respectively. Conclusion Pregnant and postpartum women with COVID-19 had significantly higher levels of cytotoxic T cells in peripheral blood. These results may be useful to understand what the SARS-CoV-2 infection causes in the immune system of pregnant and postpartum women. On the other hand, observational studies with larger samples and bias control are required.

A split-ring resonator full/sparse planar array based on Chebyshev polynomial

A planar split-ring resonator (SRR) antenna full/sparse array, fed by a Chebyshev distribution, is proposed in this paper. Following the Yagi principle, the antenna element consists of SRRs and an I-shaped resonator. The inclusion of the I-shaped resonator enhances coupling, resulting in high gain. Additionally, a 14 × 13 Chebyshev planar antenna array, based on corporate feed, allows for a non-uniform amplitude distribution to suppress side lobes. The proposed Chebyshev planar array exhibits high gain characteristics and low side lobe levels (SLL) in both the E- and H-planes. For sidelobes suppression further, by utilizing a genetic algorithm, a planar sparse array is constructed based on the proposed Chebyshev array. The measured gain of the array at 10.1 GHz is 22.4 dBi, with SLL values of −20.4 dB and −17.5 dB in the E- and H-planes, respectively. These results meet the requirements for wireless communication.

Performance evaluation of absorption cooling assisted transcritical CO2 refrigeration systems

Studies have shown appreciable improvements in system performance by subcooling the working fluid in transcritical CO2 refrigeration systems. The use of a dedicated vapour absorption refrigeration system (VARS) for subcooling the high side working fluid downstream of the heat rejection device is proved to be a viable option. The heat available in the discharged gas downstream of the compressor in the transcritical CO2 system is used to drive a LiBr-H2O VARS. This study examines the performance of an absorption cooling-assisted transcritical CO2 system. Three different configurations of the absorption system are considered, namely, single effect (SE), series double effect (DE), and series double effect with dual heat input (DEDH). The performance analysis is carried out for gas cooler exit temperatures (Tgc) ranging from 30 to 50 °C and evaporation temperatures ranging from -10 to 5 °C. The average COP improvement of the CO2 system is found to be 29 and 27% using SE and DEDH systems respectively.

Mangostin enhances efficacy of aminolevulinic acid-photodynamic therapy against cancer through inhibition of ABCG2 activity

BackgroundAminolevulinic acid-photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) is gaining attention as a potential method for treating select cancers due to its high specificity and low side effect feature. ALA enters cancer cells and accumulate as protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), which will then trigger phototoxicity following light irradiation. However, it is reported that some cancer cells have reduced efficacy of ALA-PDT due to high expression of ABCG2, a transporter involved in the PpIX efflux. In this study, we evaluated the effect of mangostin, a natural compound containing anti-tumor property, on the efficacy of ALA-PDT against cancer and the mechanism involved. MethodsWe utilized TMK1 gastric cancer cell line, which has high ABCG2 expression, to evaluate the PpIX accumulation and phototoxicity exerted by ALA and mangostin co-addition. ResultsWe found that co-addition of ALA and mangostin significantly increase the phototoxicity and PpIX accumulation in TMK1 cells. We also investigated the effect of mangostin on porphyrin-heme pathway enzymes and ABCG2 and found that the addition of mangostin reduce the activity of ABCG2, reducing PpIX efflux. ConclusionThese findings suggest that mangostin enhances the efficacy of ALA-PDT in cancer through inhibition of ABCG2 activity.

Optimal contract design for a supply chain with information asymmetry under dual environmental responsibility constraints

Under dual constraints of green production responsibility and recycling responsibility, the optimal contract between upstream and downstream firms is crucial to achieve low-carbon development, but information asymmetry poses a great challenge to the above contract design. Based on Stackelberg game theory, this paper develops a contract model in a supply chain with information asymmetry under dual environmental responsibility constraints, in which the producer invests in green technology while the retailer exerts green marketing efforts. The paper aims to explore how the producer designs optimal contracts under the different information structures to improve environmental performance while ensuring profitability. Results indicate that: (i) in the full information scenario, the two-part optimal contract makes the decentralized supply chain to achieve the same channel profit and carbon emissions as the centralized scenario. (ii) In the information asymmetry scenario, the producer should design differentiated contract configurations for different types of retailers to eliminate double marginalization. That is, the producer designs low wholesale price and high side payment for the high-type retailer, which enables the producer to earn high profit with low carbon emissions and makes the retailer to obtain additional information profit. While under some conditions, the producer considers the possibility of terminating cooperation with the retailer of low-type, as such a cutoff policy not only guarantees the profitability of the channel members but also improves environmental performance. Furthermore, the impact of some key factors on firms’ decisions, profits, and equilibrium carbon emissions is summarized to guide management decisions.