This paper is NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION; but the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript. The published version may be accessed by following the link in th citation below.

This paper is NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION; but the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript. The published version may be accessed by following the link in th citation below.

No abstract

In modern EAF steelmaking process, control of the nitrogen content of molten steel has become more and more important and bottom-blowing technique has been widely applied to promote the molten bath fluid flow, accelerate the metallurgical reaction and improve the quality of molten steel. In this study, the influence of bottom-blowing gas species on the nitrogen content in molten steel during EAF steelmaking was systematically investigated and analysed. Combining the induction furnace experiments and theoretical analysis, the kinetic models of nitrogen change in molten steel with bottom blowing N 2 , Ar and CO 2 were established theoretically and validated experimentally. Meanwhile, the thermodynamic laws and agitation capacity of different bottom-blowing gases were also clarified. Then, based on the industrial application research, the metallurgical effects, especially nitrogen removal, with different bottom-blowing gases were also studied and finally, a new concept was proposed for cyclic utilisation of CO 2 in the EAF steelmaking process.

Background Reports show that ultrasound-targeted microbubble destruction (UTMD) is a promising method of gene therapy, and metadherin (MTDH) is related to the development of breast cancer. Thus, we investigated the role of MTDH in breast cancer and compared the effect of suppressing MTDH by shRNA using liposome, UTMD, or the combination of these 2 methods. Material/Methods Graphing of survival curves of MTDH was analyzed by bioinformatics. UTMD was conducted using an ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to measure cell viability. Migration and invasion rates were measured by wound healing test and Transwell invasion assay, respectively. The expression of MTDH, E-cadherin, metastasis-associated protein-1 (MTA-1), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, and MMP-9 were measured by Western blot and qPCR. Results The prognosis of breast cancer can be decreased by the high expression of MTDH, and elevated expression of MTDH was discovered in MCF-7, MCF-10A, and T47D cell lines. UTMD combined with liposome is most efficient in transfecting shRNA, clearly suppressing the expression of MTDH and thereby decreasing cell viability, migration, invasion rate, and epithelial- mesenchymal transition (EMT) processes in the MCF-7 cell line. Conclusions UTMD combined with liposome could be used as a more efficient way to transfect shRNA into cells to suppress the expression of MTDH and thus lead to the downregulation of proliferation, migration, and EMT processes of the MCF-7 cell line, showing the potential for use in gene therapy.