In view of the severe coke formation and catalyst deactivation during crude bio-oil cracking, an innovative cracking technology based on bio-oil molecular distillation is proposed. The distilled fraction (DF) from bio-oil molecular distillation is enriched with small molecular acids and ketones and has enhanced cracking behavior compared to crude bio-oil. The influence of the reaction temperature, pressure, and the DF/ethanol ratio in the feed was studied. It was found that co-cracking of the DF and ethanol produced a well-defined gasoline phase, and both increasing the reaction temperature and adopting pressurized cracking benefited the yield and quality of this gasoline phase. Using optimum reaction temperature and pressure, co-cracking of the DF and ethanol, with different weight ratios, all generated high-quality gasoline phases. Under 400°C and 2 MPa, co-cracking of DF and ethanol with a weight ratio of 2:3 produced a high gasoline phase yield of 25.9 wt %; the hydrocarbon content in this gasoline phase was 98.3%.

In Earth’s low atmosphere, hurricanes are destructive due to their great size, strong spiral winds with shears, and intense rain/precipitation. However, disturbances resembling hurricanes have not been detected in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Here, we report a long-lasting space hurricane in the polar ionosphere and magnetosphere during low solar and otherwise low geomagnetic activity. This hurricane shows strong circular horizontal plasma flow with shears, a nearly zero-flow center, and a coincident cyclone-shaped aurora caused by strong electron precipitation associated with intense upward magnetic field-aligned currents. Near the center, precipitating electrons were substantially accelerated to ~10 keV. The hurricane imparted large energy and momentum deposition into the ionosphere despite otherwise extremely quiet conditions. The observations and simulations reveal that the space hurricane is generated by steady high-latitude lobe magnetic reconnection and current continuity during a several hour period of northward interplanetary magnetic field and very low solar wind density and speed.

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Abstract. The β-catenin gene is frequently mutated in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and has long been thought to be one of the major oncogenes involved in the hepatocarcinogenesis. The prognostic role of β-catenin mutation in HCC remains unclear. To address this issue, a search for relevant studies was performed in the PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases. The pooled effect was calculated from the available data to evaluate the correlation of β-catenin mutation with overall survival rate and tumor clinicopathological features in patients with HCC. The pooled odds ratio (OR) was calculated using the Mantel-Haenszel model for fixed effects. Three studies met the inclusion criteria. A total of 618 cases were included, and β-catenin mutation was identified in 104 of them. The meta-analysis revealed that the presence of β-catenin mutation (n=104), compared with the control group (n=514), was correlated with a longer overall survival rate [OR, 0.33; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.21-0.53; P<0.00001] in patients with HCC. No significant heterogeneity was found among the eligible studies (I 2 =0%; P=0.72). β-catenin mutation was correlated with a relatively lower rate of hepatitis B virus infection (OR, 0.36; 95% CI, P=0.0002), improved tumor differentiation (OR, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.19-0.56; P<0.0001) and a lower tumor-node-metastasis stage (I+II) (OR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.14-0.38; P<0.00001). These findings suggest that β-catenin mutation may predict a favorable prognosis in patients with HCC.