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Low back pain, mainly caused by intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD), is a common health problem; however, current surgical treatments are less than satisfactory. Thus, it is essential to develop novel non-invasive surgical methods for IVDD treatment. Here, we describe a therapeutic strategy to inhibit IVDD by injecting hydrogels modified with the extracellular matrix of costal cartilage (ECM-Gels) that are loaded with cartilage endplate stem cells (CESCs). After loaded with CESCs overexpressing Sphk2 (Lenti-Sphk2-CESCs) and injected near the cartilage endplate (CEP) of rats in vivo, ECM-Gels produced Sphk2-engineered exosomes (Lenti-Sphk2-Exos). These exosomes penetrated the annulus fibrosus (AF) and transported Sphk2 into the nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs). Sphk2 activated the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/p-AKT pathway as well as the intracellular autophagy of NPCs, ultimately ameliorating IVDD. This study provides a novel and efficient non-invasive combinational strategy for IVDD treatment using injectable ECM-Gels loaded with CESCs that express Sphk2 with sustained release of functional exosomes.

Transforming biomass waste into cost-effective catalysts for chemical reactions provides new opportunity for biomass waste valorization. In this work, we examined the possibility of using food waste solid digestate as raw materials for the production of a heterogeneous catalyst for glucose isomerization to fructose, which is one of the important intermediates for the production of platform chemicals, hydrocarbon fuels and synthetic materials from biomass. Hydroxyapatite-based catalysts were obtained from food waste digestate by a coupled hydrothermal-calcination approach. In the hydrothermal treatment process, the addition of exogenous calcium can adjust the alkalinity of the catalyst, which is beneficial to improve the activity of the catalyst. The reaction parameters such as reaction temperature, reaction time and catalyst dosage have also been optimized. The catalyst showed excellent catalytic performance in the glucose isomerization reaction resulting in a high fructose yield of 32.3% with a reaction time of only 20 ​min at 80 ​°C in water. The catalyst can be reused after a simple regeneration without significant activity. This work provides a win-win strategy, which not only solves the problem of the disposal and utilization of digestate, but also expands the synthesis method of the glucose isomerization reaction catalyst.

There is no effective serologic parameter to distinguish different types of pancreatitis now. To distinguish between acute pancreatitis (AP) and acute exacerbations of chronic pancreatitis (CP) and to determine whether fibrosis occurs in CP, we evaluated the ability to produce white blood cells (WBCs), the neutrophil-to-retinol-binding protein (RBP) ratio (called the WNR), the product of the gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) level, and the 5′-nucleotide-to-RBP ratio (called the GNR). We evaluated the newly proposed difference index RBP and analyzed the effectiveness of the WNR and GNR in 691 patients with pancreatic diseases. We performed univariate and multivariate analyses of serological indices and their correlations with RBP and performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses of the WNR and GNR. The serum RBP level decreased markedly in AP compared with that in the acute stage of CP (p < 0.05). The GGT, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PA), 5′-nucleotide, and uric acid (UC) serum levels were significantly higher for fibrotic CP than for the acute stage of CP without fibrosis (p < 0.05). With progressing to pancreatic fibrosis, the liver injury-related indicators, prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), D-Dimer, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and GGT, gradually increased (p < 0.05). ROC curve analysis suggests that both the WNR (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.821) and GNR (AUC = 0.778) can be used to differentiate pancreatitis types., Graphical Abstract, To distinguish different types of pancreatitis by serological index, Luo and colleagues evaluated the ability to produce white blood cells (WBCs), the neutrophil-to-retinol-binding protein (RBP) ratio (called the WNR), the product of the gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) level, and the 5′-nucleotide-to-RBP ratio (called the GNR). Both can be used to differentiate pancreatitis types.

The advantages of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology in organic solid waste treatment for bioenergy recovery are evidenced in worldwide. Recently, more attention has been paid to on-site biogas research, as well as biogenic CO2 sequestration from AD plant, to promote "carbon neutral". Single-phase and two-phase AD system can be incorporated with various CO2 bioconversion technologies through H2 mediated CO2 bioconversion (in-situ and ex-situ biogas upgrading), or other emerging strategies for CO2 fixation without exogenous H2 injection; these include in-situ direct interspecies electron transfer reinforcement, electromethanogenesis, and off-gas reutilization. The existing and potential scenarios for on-site CO2 bio-sequestration within the AD framework are reviewed from the perspectives of metabolic pathways, functional microorganisms, the limitations on reaction kinetics. This review concluded that on-site CO2 bio-sequestration is a promising solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase renewable energy recovery.

Despite growing interest in conductive materials amended anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and sewage sludge and demonstrated process improvement, little information is available on how conductive materials affect the digestate dewaterability. This study traced the dewaterability and physicochemical properties of digestate in anaerobic co-digestion process by supplying three representative conductive materials (i.e., zero-valent iron (ZVI), magnetite, and biochar) and evaluated the practicability of indigenous peroxides activation to improve digestate dewaterability. Results showed that supplying conductive materials, especially ZVI and biochar performed the higher methane yield (enhanced by > 23.1%) and better digestate dewaterability (specific resistance of filtration reduction > 57.1%). The mechanism exploration demonstrated that the ZVI and biochar supplement in anaerobic co-digestion system effectively changed the microbial community probably related to organics-degrading bacteria, causing the reduction of hydrophilic tyrosine-like/tryptophan-like components (> 13.2%) and protein secondary structure (the reduction value of α–helix/(β–sheet + random coil) > 46.9%) in extracellular polymeric substances. Accordingly, the water-bound energy and hydrophilicity of digestate were significantly weakened, thus promoting digestate dewaterability. The downstream dewatering experiments indicated that the residual ZVI in digestate could more efficiently active peroxides for further enhancing dewaterability with economic advantage. These findings pioneer the potential application of the conductive materials assisted anaerobic co-digestion combined with coagulants/peroxides conditioning technology for advantages of environmental sustainability.

Effects of biochar on co-digestion of pig manure and dewatered sewage sludge under different total solids (TS) were investigated. Biochar could accelerate the start-up of methanogenesis and shorten the adaptation phase. At TS5%, the methane daily production in biochar group was 60.6% higher than the control; nevertheless, when TS increased, the gap between two groups gradually narrowed. Additionally, the change on antibiotics resistance genes (ARGs) was also affected by TS and the biochar addition. Moreover, biochar was beneficial to reduce ARGs in liquid phase. At TS14%, the total ARGs abundance in the liquid phase of biochar group was 41.4% lower than the control, among which the reduction rates of etB(P), sul1, rpoB2, macA, mupA and mupB were more prominent. These findings could provide useful guidance for developing ARGs elimination strategy before their release into the environment.

The high-nitrogen content and dense structure of poultry manure compost cause volatilization of N to ammonia (NH3). This study evaluated the combined application of biochar and biotrickling filtration (BTF) to remove of odor in chicken manure mixed straw compost (w/w, 2.5:1). Adding of 10% biochar reduced NH3, hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) contents by 20.04%, 16.18%, and 17.55% respectively, and decreased the N loss rate by 8.27%, compared with those observed in control. The organic matter content decreased by 28.11% and germination index reached 97.36% in the experimental group. Meanwhile, the N-cycling microorganisms such as Pusillimonas and Pseudomonas became more active, and the relative abundance of sulfur-cycling microorganisms Hydrogenispora decreased in the experimental group. Following BTF application, the NH3, H2S, and TVOCs removal rates reached 95%, 97%, and 53%, respectively.

In this research, we investigated and compared the effects of three widely used conductive materials, e.g., zero-valent iron (Fe0), magnetite (Fe3O4), and biochar on the performance, stability, and in-depth mechanism during the anaerobic co-digestion process of sewage sludge and food waste. Among the three conductive materials, Fe0 could achieve the highest cumulative methane production of 394.0 mL/g volatile solids (VS) added, which was 1.24-fold and 1.17-fold higher than that receiving Fe3O4 and biochar. The mechanistic studies indicated that compared to the Fe3O4 and biochar groups, Fe0 could significantly enhance the release of soluble protein, polysaccharide, and dissolved organic matters, the degradation of volatile fatty acids and VS, and the activities of key enzymes and direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET). Consequently, the methane yield and digestate dewaterability were notably improved. Collectively, these findings will offer suggestions of the preferable conductive materials in the anaerobic co-digestion process for decision makers.

Two sizes of conductive particles, i.e. 10-20 mesh granulated activated carbon (GAC) and 80-100 mesh powdered activated carbon (PAC) were added into lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors, respectively, to testify their enhancement on the syntrophic metabolism of alcohols and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in 95days operation. When OLR increased to more than 5.8gCOD/L/d, the differences between GAC/PAC supplemented reactors and the control reactor became more significant. The introduction of activated carbon could facilitate the enrichment of methanogens and accelerate the startup of methanogenesis, as indicated by enhanced methane yield and substrate degradation. High-throughput pyrosequencing analysis showed that syntrophic bacteria and Methanosarcina sp. with versatile metabolic capability increased in the tightly absorbed fraction on the PAC surface, leading to the promoted syntrophic associations. Thus PAC prevails over than GAC for methanogenic reactor with heavy load.

In this study, ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) with large surface area (1019m(2)g(-1)), uniform mesoporous structure (pore size distribution centering at 4.2nm) and large pore volume (1.46cm(3)g(-1)) was synthesized using 2D hexagonally mesoporous silica MSU-H as the hard template and sucrose as the carbon precursor. The as-synthesized OMC was immobilized onto a stainless steel wire using Nafion as a binder to prepare an OMC/Nafion solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coating. The extraction characteristics of the OMC/Nafion coating were extensively investigated using a wide range of analytes including non-polar (light petroleum and benzene homologues) and polar compounds (amines and phenols). The OMC/Nafion coating exhibited much better extraction efficiency towards all selected analytes than that of a multi-walled carbon nanotubes/Nafion coating with similar length and thickness, which is ascribed to its high surface area, well-ordered mesoporous structure and large pore volume. When the OMC/Nafion coating was used to extract a mixture containing various kinds of analytes, it possessed excellent extraction selectivity towards aromatic non-polar compounds. In addition, the feasibility of the OMC/Nafion coating for application in electrochemically enhanced SPME was demonstrated using protonated amines as model analytes.

Poplar is one of the most important multipurpose afforestation trees in river floodplains and arable farmland which are subject to frequent flooding. To determine the relative roles that the roots and shoots have in responses to waterlogging, six root-shoot grafting combinations of full-sib poplar clones LS1 (flood-tolerant) and LS2 (flood-susceptible) were compared for waterlogging effects on them, using reciprocal and self-grafts. Plants of the six combinations comprised non-grafted (LS1) and (LS2), self-grafted (LS1/LS1) and (LS2/LS2), LS1 grafted onto LS2 (LS1/LS2), and LS2 grafted onto LS1 (LS2/LS1) experimental plants. The two clones LS1 and LS2 originated from Populus deltoides cv. Lux ex. I-69/55 (flood-tolerant) × P. simonii (flood-susceptible). Growth, morphological and ecophysiological parameters of plants belonging to the six grafting combinations were subjected for 21 days to flooding, followed by a six-day drainage and recovery stage. Results showed that flooding stress affected adversely growth, biomass accumulation, morphological and ecophysiological characteristics in all flooded plants. The more severe influences were found in the plants with LS2 roots (LS1/LS2, LS2/LS2, LS2), whereas plants having roots of LS1 (LS2/LS1, LS1/LS1, LS1) were less negatively affected. At the end of the study, 100%, 100%, 93.3%, 26.7%, 6.7% and 20% survival rates, respectively, were observed in flooded plants of LS1, LS1/LS1, LS2/LS1, LS1/LS2, LS2/LS2 and LS2. In conformity with the results for growth, biomass accumulation and morphology, responses to flooding of gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, relative membrane permeability of leaves, the overall root metabolism parameter dehydrogenase activity (TTC assay), as well as malonaldehyde contents of leaves and roots also indicated that flood injury was significantly more pronounced in plants having LS2 roots than in those with LS1 roots. Plants with roots of LS1 displayed clearly faster recovery after flooding than the plants with LS2 roots. The results indicate that flooding-tolerance of poplar is based more on influences from the rootstock than on those of the scion. It is thus the root genotype that plays the decisive role in flood-tolerance of poplar.