No abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a recurrent chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine without any efficient therapeutic regimens. Gut microbiota, which plays an instrumental role in the development and maturation of the immune system, has been implicated in the pathogenesis of IBD. Emerging evidence has established that early-life events particularly maternal influences and antibiotic treatment are strongly correlated with the health or susceptibility to disease of an individual in later life. Thus, it is proposed that there is a critical period in infancy, during which the environmental exposures bestow a long-term pathophysiological imprint. This notion sheds new light on the development of novel approaches for the treatment, i.e., early interventions, more precisely, the prevention of many uncurable chronic inflammatory diseases like IBD. In this review, we have integrated current evidence to describe the feasibility of the “able-to-be-regulated microbiota,” summarized the underlying mechanisms of the “microbiota-driven immune system education,” explored the optimal intervention time window, and discussed the potential of designing early-probiotic treatment as a new prevention strategy for IBD.

EBD was a safe procedure, but not a potent therapy for Crohn's upper GI strictures. Meanwhile, 1-month response could serve as an early predictor of the long-term response.

Domestic heat exchangers, even though widely used in industry, are not adequate for studies on low-temperature flue-gas use technologies. Despite spite their limitations, very few theoretical models have been investigated based on practical applications. Moreover, most of the existing studies on heat exchangers have focused particularly on one-dimensional and two-dimensional heat transfer models, while limited studies focus on three-dimensional ones. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the thermal performance of a low-temperature flue-gas heat recovery unit in the cold regions. Specifically, this study was conducted in the context of Changchun of Jilin Province, China, a city with the mean ambient temperature of −14 °C and mean diurnal temperature of −10 °C during winter. Experimental results showed that the thermal efficiency of the heat exchanger was higher than 60%. Through assessing the heat exchange coefficient and heat exchange efficiency of the heat exchanger, it is found that the thermal efficiency had been improved up to 0.77–0.83. Furthermore, the ICEPAK software and the standard k-ε RNG turbulence model were used to carry out simulations. The velocity and outlet temperature of fresh airflow and polluted airflow were simulated through setting different inlet temperatures of fresh air and polluted air inlet. Numerical results further indicated that the flow state was laminar flow. The micro heat pipe array side had small eddies and the heat transfer was significantly improved due to the flow of air along the surface of the micro heat pipe.