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The filamentous fungus strain Fusarium sp. ZW-21 was used for ethanol production with corncob hydrolysate. The fermentation conditions of ethanol production from corncob hydrolysate by the strain were investigated, and the effect of temperature, pH, nitrogen source, and surfactants on the ethanol production was investigated. The two factors yeast extract and polysorbate 80 were selected for further optimization by response surface methodology. The optimal conditions for ethanol production by the strain Fusarium sp. ZW-21 were 50 g/L sugar of corncob hydrolysate, 10.35 g/L yeast extract, 10 g/L KH2PO4, 0.5 g/L MgSO4·7H2O, 0.38 g/L polysorbate 80, pH 6.0, inoculum size of 1 mL/50 mL medium, and incubation temperature of 30 °C. The fermentation period was 5 d under oxygen-limited conditions, and the ethanol yield was 24.2 g/L.

Rose dregs were used for laccase production by the strain Pycnoporus sp. W-9 under liquid fermentation, and the obtained laccase was used for phenol degradation. The conditions for laccase production were optimized by Box-Behnken design, and the phenol degradation conditions using the crude laccase were optimized by central composite design. The optimal conditions for laccase production by the strain W-9 were as follows: rose dregs (40 g/L), KCl (0.144 g/L), KH2PO4 (1 g/L), K2HPO4 (0.699 g/L), NaCl (0.2 g/L), MgSO4·7H2O (0.3 g/L), CuSO4·5H2O (0.306 g/L), Tween 80 (0.2 g/L), and CaCO3 (1 g/L), at a pH of 6.0, incubated at 30 °C and 200 rpm for 7 d. The corresponding laccase yield reached 17.4 U/mL, which was approximately 1.8 times the original production. The optimal conditions for phenol removal by the crude laccase were as follows: laccase (12.2 U/mL), 0.1 mol/L citric acid-disodium hydrogen phosphate buffer (pH 3.5), phenol (100 μg/mL), and Triton X-100 (284 μg/mL), incubated at 45 °C for 2 h. The corresponding phenol degradation rate reached 86.6%. These results should be useful for utilization of rose dregs and bioremediation of soil and wastewater.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) of wood vinegar wastewater (WVWW) has considerable potential in energy recovery and sustainable development. WVWW contains abundant acetic acid and some refractory organics. Therefore, the batch and continuous AD of WVWW were investigated. The threshold value of the inhibitory concentration was obtained at a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 4 g/L in batch AD. Three-dimensional electrolysis was adopted to improve the biodegradability of WVWW, and a reduction in the inhibitory rate from 38.2% to 4.9% and an increase in methane production by 53.8% were observed. The up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor achieved an efficient conversion of methane at an organic loading rate (OLR) of8.58 g COD/L·d. However, the OLR of 10.01 g COD/L·d decreased the methane production from 350.6 to 42.5 mL CH

SPINK1 has been regarded as a reversible trypsinogen inhibitor for the inappropriate activation of trypsin, a key step in the initiation of acute pancreatitis (AP). However, the mechanisms of its action remains largely unclear and controversial. Here, we reported an unexpected effects of SPINK1 on inhibiting trypsinogen activation through the regulation of impaired autophagy in cerulein-stimulated AR42J cells, a well-established in vitro model of acute pancreatitis. Firstly, we found that the impaired autophagic flux was induced and trypsinogen activity enhanced in the above setting. Then, we showed that SPINK1 overexpression could inhibit the level of increased autophagic activity, improving the hindered autophagy flux, and significantly decreased the trypsinogen activity, whereas shRNA-caused downregulation of SPINK1 exacerbated the impairment of autophagic flux and trypsin activity, in the same cerulein-processed cells. More importantly, the trypsinogen activation in this model could be ameliorated by 3-Methyladenine(3-MA), an autophagy inhibitor. Thus, this study revealed, possibly for the first time, that SPINK1 greatly blocked the trypsinogen activation possibly through the modulation of impaired autophagy in cerulein-induced in vitro model of acute pancreatitis.

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder affecting approximately 0.5-2% of the population worldwide. Gentamicin (GM) is an aminoglycoside antibiotic used to treat several types of bacterial infections. We investigate whether the administration of GM can reduce seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE).The animal model of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) was established by kainic acid (KA) intrahippocampal injection. Behavioral test and Electroencephalography (EEG) recordings were performed to detect the effects of GM on the seizures triggered by KA injection in rats. Furthermore, immunofluorescence was used to investigate the influence of GM on the c-fos expression in the hippocampus. Here we found that the intracerebroventricular administration of GM is able to prevent the seizures induced by intrahippocampal kainic acid (KA) injection. Behaviorally, the latent period to the first seizure was significantly prolonged by GM. GM can totally abolish the occurrence of stage IV or V seizures and prominently reduce the total seizure duration. Electrographic recording showed that the latent period to the first seizure, the number and duration of high-amplitude, high-frequency discharges were remarkably reduced by GM. Additionally, the expression of c-fos was significantly decreased in the ipsilateral hippocampus of KA-injected rats treated with GM compared with KA-injected rats treated with saline. These findings could promote the understanding of the pharmacological effects of GM, enriching the application of gentamicin in clinical practice.

Methanogenic performance and microbial communities including both bacteria and archaea in UASB reactor treating acidogenic metabolites from acidification of ensiled corn stover (ECS) were investigated. Gradient organic loading rates (OLRs) were adopted to study the conversion of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) characterized by high concentration of acetic acid and propionic acid. The removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) reached above 80.0 % at OLR of 8 g/L·d and volumetric methane production rate improved significantly as the OLR increased. When OLR was 10 g COD/L·d, acetic and propionic acids in effluent were accumulated and failure of methane production occurred. Compared with the control, the methanogenic inhibition was caused by the presence of high concentration of propionic acid. The profile of conversion of individual VFAs in UASB reactors was investigated at different OLRs. Furthermore, microbial communities in anaerobic sludge at OLR of 8 g COD/L·d were compared with those in inoculum and the shift of bacteria and archaea were analyzed. The abundances of some representative acetogenic bacteria such as Proteobacteria (14.18 %) and Bacteroidetes (11.16 %) increased obviously, which contributed to the oxidation and decomposition of organic acids. Acetotrophic methanogen (Methanosaeta) and hydrogenotrophic methanogen (Methanobacterium) played synergistic roles with acetogens to efficiently complete the VFAs conversion. This study will be of great importance to guide the application of two-phase AD of agricultural waste in full-scale plant.

As one of novel organic wastewater with high chemical oxygen demand (COD), WV-WW treatment has gained more and more attention. Acetic acid is the most abundant organic substance in wood vinegar wastewater (WV-WW) and thus it can be reused by anaerobic digestion (AD), which is significant for energy recovery and environmental sustainability. However, some refractory components are contained, some of which show toxic or inhibitory effects on AD. Therefore, the performance of batch AD from WV-WW with gradient organic loadings (1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 g COD/L) was studied. And it was found that the microbial activity was initially inhibited by 38.2% at 4 g COD/L. The inhibitory effect was gradually aggravated with increasing the organic loading. Subsequently, the WV-WW with 4 g COD/L was pretreated by three-dimensional iron-carbon electrolysis (3D-ICE) before AD. The cumulative methane production could be increased to 244.3, 291.9 and 344.2 mLCH4/g COD under different electrolysis conditions. The COD removal rates reached 62.4%, 66.8% and 70.8% which were 31.3%, 35.7% and 39.7% higher than that of the contorl, respectively. The microbial community was analyzed by high-throughput sequencing. The increased abundance of dominant bacteria, such as Kosmotoga, which was associated with fermentation and hydrolysis, indicated the positive effect of 3D-ICE. For archaeal communities, the enrichment of acetotrophic methanogens implied that the main methanogenic pathway was shifted from hydrogen-consuming methanogenesis to acetic acid-consuming methanogenesis. Therefore, 3D-ICE coupled with AD could be an effective method to recover energy from WV-WW.

In this work, black liquor as a waste from paper industry was used to pretreat corn stover before anaerobic digestion. The batch mode anaerobic digestion achieved a methane production up to 260.5 mL/g VS when the corn stover was pretreated the black liquor of 12 g NaOH/L alkalinity for 24 h, which was 59.1% higher than the control. In the semi-continuous mode anaerobic digestion, black liquor pretreatment increased the buffering capacity of the digestate to maintain suitable pH and total VFA/alkalinity ratio with no adverse effect resulted from the presence of ions. The structural and chemical changes of corn stover after the pretreatment were investigated to rationalize the enhanced performance of anaerobic digestion.

Objectives To reveal potential association between glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) concentration in serum and mild cognitive function impairment (MCI) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Patients and Methods A total of 106 T2DM patients and 47 normal controls were recruited in this study. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was performed in all subjects. Among the 106 patients, 52 presented with MCI. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density cholesterol (HDL-C), triglyceride (TG), uric acid (UA) and GLP-1 levels were also assessed in all subjects. Results Patients with MCI had higher serum concentrations of FBG and TC and lower concentrations of GLP-1 and HDL-C than controls. Bivariate correlation analysis showed that MCI in T2DM patients closely correlated with FBG, HDL-C, and GLP-1 levels. Moreover, ordinal regression analysis showed that GLP-1 concentration in serum was protective for MCI in T2DM patients (OR = 0.025; 95%CI: 0.005–3.934). Conclusions Our results indicated that low concentration of GLP-1 may play a role in the pathogenesis of MCI in T2DM patients.

This work evaluated the methane potential and methane production rate of the stem bark (SB), stem pith (SP), and leaves (LV) of corn stover from batch anaerobic digestion. The obtained cumulative methane potential and the hydrolysis kinetics constant were 0.201, 0.214, and 0.199 L g−1 VS (volatile solids) and 0.090, 0.149, and 0.227 d−1 for SB, SP, and LV, respectively. The chemical composition and the crystalline structure of the substrates as well as their changes during the anaerobic digestion were inspected, and their impacts on the characteristics of methane production were assessed. The methane production rate correlated positively with the hemicellulose and soluble compounds content and negatively with the cellulose and lignin content, but the degradation rates of hemicellulose and cellulose in the specific substrate were complex and comparable. The methane production has limit correlation with the crystalline structure of the substrates. Microbial community structure was analyzed to elucidate functional microorganism contributing to methane production of different substrate. The abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes was most affected by the substrate, and positively related to methane yields.

Voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) play a vital role in controlling neuronal excitability. Nav1.6 is the most abundantly expressed VGSCs subtype in the adult central nervous system and has been found to contribute to facilitate the hyperexcitability of neurons after electrical induction of status epilepticus (SE). To clarify the exact expression patterns of Nav1.6 during epileptogenesis, we examined the expression of Nav1.6 at protein and mRNA levels in two distinct animal models of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) including a post-SE model induced by kainic acid (KA) intrahippocampal injection and a kindling model evoked by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ). A prominent, seizure intensity-dependent increase of Nav1.6 expression in reactive astrocytes was observed in ipsilateral hippocampus of post-SE rats, reaching the peak at 21 days after SE, a time point during the latent stage of epileptogenesis. However, Nav1.6 with low expression level was selectively expressed in the hippocampal neurons rather than astrocytes in PTZ-kindled animals. This seizure-related increase of a VGSCs subtype in reactive astrocytes after SE may represent a new mechanism for signal communication between neuron and glia in the course of epileptogenesis, facilitating the neuronal hyperexcitability.

In the literature the production of methane from waste activated sludge (WAS) was usually conducted in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) after sludge was pretreated. It was reported in our previous publication that compared with other pretreatment methods the methane production in CSTR could be significantly enhanced when sludge was pretreated by NaOH at pH 10 for 8 days. In order to further improve methane production, this study reported a new process for efficiently producing methane from sludge, that is, sludge was fermented at pH 10 for 8 days, which was adjusted by Ca(OH)(2), and then the fermentation liquid was treated in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) for methane generation. First, for comparing the methane production observed in this study with that reported in the literature, the conventional operational model was applied to produce methane from the pH 10 pretreated sludge, that is, directly using the pH 10 pretreated sludge to produce methane in a CSTR. It was observed that the maximal methane production was only 0.61 m(3)CH(4)/m(3)-reactor/day. Then, the use of fermentation liquid of pH 10 pretreated sludge to produce methane in the reactors of up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB), anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) and EGSB was compared. The maximal methane production in UASB, ASBR, and EGSB reached 1.41, 3.01, and 12.43 m(3)CH(4)/m(3)-reactor/day, respectively. Finally, the mechanisms for EGSB exhibiting remarkably higher methane production were investigated by enzyme, adenosine-triphosphate (ATP), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses. It was found that the granular sludge in EGSB had the highest conversion efficiency of acetic acid to methane, and the greatest activity of hydrolysis and acidification enzymes and general physiology with much more Methanosarcinaceae.