Activation of farnesoid X receptor (FXR) markedly attenuates development of atherosclerosis in animal models. However, the underlying mechanism is not well elucidated. Here, we show that the FXR agonist, obeticholic acid (OCA), increases fecal cholesterol excretion and macrophage reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) dependent on activation of hepatic FXR. OCA does not increase biliary cholesterol secretion, but inhibits intestinal cholesterol absorption. OCA markedly inhibits hepatic cholesterol 7α‐hydroxylase (Cyp7a1) and sterol 12α‐hydroxylase (Cyp8b1) partly through inducing small heterodimer partner, leading to reduced bile acid pool size and al

A theoretical study on corrosion inhibitors was done by quantum calculations includes semi-empirical PM3 and Density Functional Theory (DFT) methods based on B3LYP/6311++G (2d,2P). Benzimidazole derivative (oxo(4- ((phenylcarbamothioyl) carbamoyl)phenyl) ammonio) oxonium (4NBP) and thiourea derivative 2-((4- bromobenzyl)thio) -1H-benzo[d] imidazole (2SB) were used as corrosion inhibitors and an essential quantum chemical parameters correlated with inhibition efficiency, EHOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital energy) and ELUMO (lowest molecular orbital energy). Other parameters are also studied like energy gap [ΔE (HOMO-LUMO)], electron affinity (EA), hardness (Δ), dipole moment (μ), softness (S), ionization potential (IE), absolut

     Staphylococcus haemolyticus is one of the most frequently isolated coagulase-negative staphylococci. The ability to form biofilm is considered as one of the most important virulence factors of coagulase negative staphylococci. There is only limited knowledge of the nature of S. haemolyticus biofilms. This study was aimed at evaluating the ability of S. haemolyticus strains to produce biofilm in the presence of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuONPs). The biological synthesis of nanoparticles is an environmentally friendly approach for large-scale production of nanoparticles. Copper oxide nanoparticles were produced in the current study from the S. haemolyticus viable cell filtrate. UV-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffra

This study includes adding chemicals to gypseous soil to improve its collapse characteristics. The collapse behavior of gypseous soil brought from the north of Iraq (Salah El-Deen governorate) with a gypsum content of 59% was investigated using five types of additions (cement dust, powder sodium meta-silicate, powder activated carbon, sodium silicate solution, and granular activated carbon). The soil was mixed by weight with cement dust (10, 20, and 30%), powder sodium meta-silicate (6%), powder activated carbon (10%), sodium silicate solution (3, 6, and 9%), and granular activated carbon (5, 10, and 15%). The collapse potential is reduced by 86, 71, 43, 37, and 35% when 30% cement dust, 6% powder sodium meta-silicate, 10% powder activated

The present work involves studying the effect of electrolyte composition [@1= 0.5 wt.%  NH4F / 5% H2O / 5% Glycerol (GLY)/ 90%  Ethylene Glycol (EG)] and [ @2= 0.5 wt. % NH4F / 5% H2O / 95%  Ethylene Glycol (EG)]  on the structural and photoelectrochemical properties of titania nanotubes arrays (TNTAs). TNTAs substrates were successfully carried out via anodization technique and were carried out in 40 V for one hour in different electrolytes (@1, and @2). The properties of physicochemical of TNTAs were distinguished via an X-ray Diffractometer (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), an Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), and UV–visible diffuse reflectance. The photoelectrochemical response of TNTAs was evaluated

This paper describes the problem of online autonomous mobile robot path planning, which is consisted of finding optimal paths or trajectories for an autonomous mobile robot from a starting point to a destination across a flat map of a terrain, represented by a 2-D workspace. An enhanced algorithm for solving the problem of path planning using Bacterial Foraging Optimization algorithm is presented. This nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithm, which imitates the foraging behavior of E-coli bacteria, was used to find the optimal path from a starting point to a target point. The proposed algorithm was demonstrated by simulations in both static and dynamic different environments. A comparative study was evaluated between the developed algori