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This study aimed to compare gasification of torrefied wood with conventional gasification of wood to evaluate the effectiveness of this pretreatment for improving the performances of fixed bed gasification. The main issues are whether wood may be gasified more efficiently, e.g. lowering the tar content in syngas and increasing the energy conversion efficiency. For this purpose, a set of experiments were performed in a pilot plant for biomass updraft gasification. The feedstocks were eucalyptus wood chips and the torrefied correspondent material obtained at 270° for 50 C min.; both were analyzed for their chemical an physical properties. The comparative gasification tests were carried out by feeding the gasifier with raw and torrefied eucalyptus wood by using a steam/air mix and a O2/steam mix as a gasification medium. During the tests, all the main operating parameters, such as process flow rates, temperature profile through the reactor, temperature and pressure control throughout the downstream piping, were continuously acquired and processed by a DCS network integrated into a PC unit., Proceedings of the 24th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-9 June 2016, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pp. 520-523

Salt baths in the production system of salmonids in fresh water, are important for the prevention and control of different diseases such as saprolegnia fungus. This standard procedure generates a rapid depletion of O2 in the water, leading to a significant increase of CO2, affecting blood parameters associated with animal welfare, such as Na+, Cl-, glucose and protracted hypercarbia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response field of blood parameters related to fish welfare and the physical-chemical parameters of water to which they are subject during this period, comparing two sets of bath salt. One group of farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the pre-smolt stage was exposed in a salt bath system with the usual conditions and a second to a recirculation system with a waterfall for degasification, with two different exposure periods of one and two hours. The results of the concentration of CO2 in the water show significant variations between the two systems without recirculation compared to the control condition and salt. Significant differences were observed between the recirculating system and the control in blood levels of pCO2 and HCO3, but not pH. Our field data also show that salt baths that are performed regularly at the fish farms generate significant effects on blood parameters associated with animal welfare specifically fish pCO2 and HCO3 causing minor hypercarbia without generating blood acidosis. The addition of water recirculation with a waterfall does not affect blood parameters. Los baños de sal, dentro del sistema productivo de salmónidos en agua dulce, son un paso clave en la prevención y el control de diferentes enfermedades como la saprolegnia. Este procedimiento habitual genera un agotamiento rápido del O2 en el agua, lo que genera un aumento significativo del CO2 en el agua, afectando parámetros sanguíneos asociados a bienestar animal, como Na+, Cl-, glucosa y en situaciones prolongadas hipercapnia. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo evaluar en terreno la respuesta de parámetros sanguíneos asociados a bienestar de los peces y parámetros físico-químicos del agua a la que están sometidos en este periodo, comparando dos sistemas de baño de sal. Para ello se sometió a un grupo de Salmo salar en etapa pre-smolt a un baño de sal habitual, otro grupo a un sistema de recirculación con cascada de agua para su desgasificación y un grupo control sin sal, exponiéndolos a diferentes periodos de una y dos horas. Los resultados de la concentración de CO2 en el agua muestran variaciones significativas entre ambos sistemas con y sin recirculación para la condición control y con sal. Los niveles sanguíneos evaluados en terreno de PCO2 y HCO3 presentaron diferencias significativas respecto del sistema con recirculación y al control, no así los niveles sanguíneos de pH. Nuestros datos de terreno demuestran que los baños de sal que se realizan con regularidad en los centros de cultivo generan efectos significativos sobre parámetros sanguíneos asociados a bienestar animal de los peces, específicamente PCO2 y HCO3, provocando hipercapnia leve sin generar acidosis sanguínea, al añadir recirculación del agua con una cascada a los baños de sal, no se ven afectados los parámetros sanguíneos.

Previous clinical reports found different clinical outcomes of localized alveolar ridge augmentation with soft tissue harvested either from the palate or from the tuberosity over time, showing that the palatal grafts had a better tissue stability than those from the tuberosity, which tended to a hyperplastic reaction. The mechanisms responsible for a different maturation of the grafted tissue using the two donor sites are still unclear, very likely depending on differences of the structure and extracellular matrix of connective tissue (CT). The current study aimed at comparing the morphology and collagen turnover-related molecular pathways of sites grafted with CT from either the palate (group A = 7 patients) or the tuberosity (group B = 7 patients) one year after surgical procedures for ridge augmentation. Cultured fibroblasts were obtained to analyze by real-time PCR the mRNA levels for collagen type I and III (COL-I, COL-III), matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1 and 2), long lysyl hydroxylase 2b (LH2b). Collagen protein levels were assessed by slot blot, collagen degradation by SDS-zymography. No significant differences in collagen content were found. COLI and III, MMP-1 and 2 expression was similar in cell culture supernatants from palate and tuberosity fibroblasts, although COL-I and COL-III protein levels resulted up-regulated, respectively, in 57% and 66% of the samples. LH2b/COL-I mRNA ratio 69% was higher in the tuberosity fibroblasts, suggesting that the tuberosity collagen could be cross-linked at a higher extent, and therefore less susceptible to degradation by MMPs, leading to its excessive accumulation. Our data show that in group B the higher LH2b/COL-I mRNA ratio may be responsible for differences in collagen maturation as the major determinants in the hyperplastic response, and that grafting using the maxillary tuberosity could avoid unwanted tissue contraction over time., Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, Vol 118, No 2 (Supplement) 2013

Hydrolytic Lignin rich residue (HL) produced in house activities of wheat straw biorefining and commercial Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) can be considered as potential feedstock for energy production via combustion or gasification because their relatively high heating values. The residues were analyzed to determine their proximate and ultimate composition together with the heating values. The raw residues and the chars obtained from them at 900°C were investigated by TGA under oxidizing atmospheres (mixtures of N2 and O2) to determine the pyrolysis and combustion behaviors, included the activation energy of combustion at low temperature. The kinetic data obtained at this microscale are useful to design and model the thermal conversion in fixed bed gasifiers, downdraft or updraft. Significant differences were pointed out both between the thermal behavior of the raw residues and between their chars. However, the activation energy of combustion resulted 120 kJ/mol for both chars, in agreement with literature on biomass derived chars. The biochemical composition, in particular the higher content of protein in DDGS, was considered to explain the different kinetics., Proceedings of the 22nd European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 23-26 June 2014, Hamburg, Germany, pp. 667-670

In this work the combustion behavior of lignin-rich solid residue from reed (Arundo donax) was investigated in atmospheres of oxygen, i.e. 21 kPa and 101 kPa. The residue derived from processing reed that was pretreated by continuous steam explosion, then hydrolyzed by enzymes, recovered by filtration and dried. The lignin residue was analyzed to determine volatile and fix carbon, ash, C, O, H, N, S, Cl, LHV and HHV. The kinetic parameters for combustion of the char obtained from it by pyrolysis at 900°C were determined by TGA in the range 360 °C-380 °C and pO2 21 kPa-101 kPa. The activation energy resulted 120 kJ/mol in agreement with literature data on chars derived from biomass. The reaction order resulted 0.5 and is consistent with a chemical controlled regime, with dissociative adsorption of the O2 molecule., Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1129-1131

Absolute ammonium acetate was tested in the liquid state as soaking agent to pretreat wheat straw, at 120 °C, for 5 hours at atmospheric pressure. The purpose of this work was to verify the effect of this ionic phase on the lignocellulosic structure, in terms of biomass solubility and enzymatic digestibility of the solid residue. Both shredded and milled straw was tested. After the soaking, soluble biomass was separated from the insoluble by water washing, the last was used for enzymatic hydrolysis trials. Compared to the raw feedstock, it has been achieved the solubilization of about the 20% of the biomass and a 3 times increase of the enzymatic digestibility., Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1523-1525

Autothermal gasification was carried out to evaluate the performance and the flexibility of a pilot plant based on an updraft gasifier and a gas cleaning section coupled with a section for hydrogen enrichment. The tests were performed by feeding the gasifier with almond shells and using a steam/air mix as gasification medium. The main operating parameters, such as process flow rates, temperature profile along the reactor, temperature and pressure control throughout the downstream piping, were continuously monitored. Producer gases were sampled along the piping for on­line and off­line analysis. The producer gas contained 21.1% H2; 22.8% CO; 13.4% CO2, 1% CH4, corresponding to a heating value (LHV) of 5.7 MJ/Nm3. The gasification proceeded without major problems: it was stable and produced a syngas that was efficiently cleaned by scrubbing it with biodiesel and by filtering it with coalesce filters., Proceedings of the 21st European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 3-7 June 2013, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 820-822

To evaluate the efficiency of the transesterification of fried oils by using heterogeneous catalysis, three different systems have been compared: 1) flask in hot bath with magnetic stirrer; 2) flask in microwave oven with a stirring arm; 3) flask in ultrasound bath with a stirring arm. The CaO and SrO were used as heterogeneous catalysts. The transesterification has been carried out at 65 °C, using methanol/oil ratio 12:1 and catalyst load of 0.7%. The efficiency of the processes has been evaluated in terms of FAME yields. Results have shown that, using microwaves, the reaction is more efficient (88% yield with CaO, 85% with SrO) than using the classical hot bath system (78% with CaO, 76% with SrO). Good results have been obtained with the ultrasound system, in particular with CaO: the transesterification rate has been the fastest and the reaction was completed in about 30 minutes., Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 1783-1785

This work deals with a new method to detoxify steam¬ exploded biomass by stripping the furfural, acetic acid and other volatile molecules before the step of enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation, so optimizing the full process of bioethanol from lignocellulosics. The method consists into submitting the substrate to a steam/hot air stream that takes away the volatile inhibitors, while maintaining the fiber wet, so preventing the hornification phenomenon. The trials were carried out on steam exploded Arundo donax (treated at 210 °C, 6 min) and two different systems were assembled to perform the detoxification: fixed bed and vibro¬fluidized bed reactor. By means of the former, the inhibitors were removed using only steam for 6 hours, while, by means of the latter, a flux of air/steam was used and 1 hour is sufficient for the detoxification. The so detoxified product was tested for ethanol production by SSF procedure and the yields were compared with the SSF on the same substrate detoxified by different methods: by drying and by water washing. The results of the ethanol yields have been: 58% with air/steam detoxification, 54% with water washing, and 49% with drying., Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 1678-1680

CaO, SrO and K3PO4 were employed as solid catalysts (5% w/woil) for biodiesel production via transesterification with methanol. The starting substrate was fried vegetable oil, in order to valorize this residue as biofuel. The effectiveness of the solid catalysts were compared with NaOH (homogeneous catalyst) in terms of FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) yield. Trials by re­using the recovered catalyst were performed in order to assess their catalytic deactivation. In the case of SrO and CaO, the solid catalyst was employed both as powder and granules, in order to verify the possibility of its utilization in packed bed reactors and reducing overpressure. Results show that, at the transesterification conditions of 3 h at 65 °C, the FAME yields were 97% for NaOH (homogeneous catalyst), 91% for CaO, 84% for SrO and 78% for K3PO4. In the case of CaO and SrO no significant differences were observed between the use of powder and granules., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 2059-2061

A continuous steam explosion plant (300 kg/h) was utilized to pretreat wheat straw, the experimental design has been used to identify the best SE conditions (time and temperature) to maximize carbohydrates recovery and enzymatic hydrolysis, meanwhile keeping at low level the biomass degradation and inhibitors formation. The tested SE parameters have been: 200 < T (°C) < 220; 3 < t (min) < 6. The exploded wheat has been washed with hot water (65 °C) to separate the soluble fraction, containing hemicellulose, from the insoluble residue, containing cellulose and lignin. Both the fractions were analyzed to determine the carbohydrates content. Data of chemical analysis have been worked out to obtain numerical functions which have showed good correlation degree with the treatment parameters (R2 = 0.93÷0.99). The results of the SE optimization pointed out that the highest yield of glucose available by enzymatic hydrolysis can be achieved on wheat treated at 220 °C and 3 min. The highest recovery of hemicellulosic carbohydrate has been obtained at 200 °C and 3 min., Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 315-319

In this work we investigated the pretreatment of wheat straw in a biphasic system constituted by an organic solvent (butanol) and oxalic acid solution. The pretreatments were carried out in a 300 mL Parr reactor at total solid load of 5 wt%; temperature 140-180 °C, time 30-90 min and load of oxalic acid 0-10%. The pretreated straw was fractionated in the main constituents: cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The cellulose fraction has undergone enzymatic hydrolysis tests with commercial mix of enzymes in shaken flasks at 50°C up to 72h. The Organosolv treatment was optimized to maximize the purity of the cellulose and hemicellulose fractions and the glucose yields after enzymatic hydrolysis, by using an experimental design and response surface methodology. The results showed that the treatment is highly efficient to fractionate and deconstruct the straw, since its conversion into glucose, by enzymatic hydrolysis, reached the yield of 98%., Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 1276-1278

Among the molecules expressed at plasma membrane level in human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs), integrins, heterodimeric transmembrane proteins able to bind a variey of extracellular ligands as well as intracellular proteins which play an important role in cell signaling, are represented. It was recently demonstrated (di Giacomo et al, 2013) that integrin β1 regulates, through pPKCα HGFs and Streptococcus mitis adhesion in response to hydroxyethil metachrylate, a resin monomer common in bonding materials and resin-enforced glassionomer cements. In the present study we treated HGFs co-cultured with S. mitis, an oral commensal, and saliva with TEGDMA (tetraethyleneglycol dimethacrylate), a common monomer in composite and bonding. The aim of this work is to evaluate interaction occurring between biomaterial, host tissue and microbial environment. The presence of S. mitis and saliva increases integrin β 1 membrane expression, PKCα activation and PGE2 production with a major extent in TEGDMA treated sample. On the other hand, erk activation seems to be downregulated in the same experimental conditions. Since it was recently demonstrated a protective role exerted by S. mitis and saliva on HGFs against biomaterial cytotoxicity, and being demonstrated a physiological role for fibroblasts released PGE2 in other experimental systems (Skibinski et al, 2007), we suggest a non-inflammatoryl role for PGE2 production induced by HGFs/S.mitis and saliva interaction. These results, shedding more light on the biological and molecular events that occur upon TEGDMA treatment in vitro in a co-culture model that mimics the environment of the oral cavity, confirm the key role played by oral environment in HGFs’ response to exogen stimuli., Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, Vol 118, No 2 (Supplement) 2013

The olive woody waste (OWWis a promising feedstock for biorefineries in the Mediterranean region. In order to valorize this lignocellulosic residue, a pretreatment is necessary to fractionate its components and to improve the cellulose enzymatic hydrolyzability. The work target was to compare the efficiency of two physico-chemical pretreatments, viz.: Steam Explosion (SE) and Hot Water/OrganoSolv (OS) towards acid fractionation of OWW and enzymatic digestibility of the cellulosic residue. The SE pretreatment was performed with a batch reactor of 10 L, coupled with a 125 kW boiler. The biphasic Hot Water/OrganoSolv (OS) pretreatment was carried out with a high pressure and temperature batch reactor of a 0.5 l vessel with adjustable internal stirrer and heat control. After SE and Hot Water/OrganoSolv (OS) pretreatments the materials were extracted by water to remove and quantify the soluble hemicellulose as monomers and oligomers as well as the inhibitors; the solid residue was saccharified. The digestibility of cellulose was very good in both cases, OS was slightly more effective in terms of sugars recovery., Proceedings of the 26th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 14-17 May 2018, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp. 1115-1117

Adult and neonatal immunocompetent cells exhibit important functional distinctions, including differences in cytokine production and susceptibility to tolerance induction. We have investigated the molecular features that characterize the immune response of cord blood-derived T lymphocytes compared with that of adult T lymphocytes. Our findings demonstrate that phospholipase C (PLC) isozymes, which play a pivotal role in the control of protein kinase C activation and Ca2+ mobilization, are differently expressed in cord and adult T lymphocytes. PLCβ1 and δ1 are expressed at higher levels in cord T cells, while PLCβ2 and γ1 expression is higher in adult T lymphocytes. PLCδ2 and γ2 appear to be equally expressed in both cell types. In addition, a functional defect in PLC activation via CD3 ligation or pervanadate treatment, stimuli that activate tyrosine kinases, was observed in cord blood T cells, whereas treatment with aluminum tetrafluoride (AlF4−), a G protein activator, demonstrated a similar degree of PLC activation in cord and adult T cells. The impaired PLC activation of cord blood-derived T cells was associated with a a very low expression of the Src kinase, Lck, along with a reduced level of ZAP70. No mitogenic response to CD3 ligation was observed in cord T cells. However, no signaling defect was apparent downstream of PLC activation, as demonstrated by the mitogenic response of cord T cells to the pharmacologic activation of protein kinase C and Ca2+ by treatment with PMA and ionomycin. Thus, neonatal cord blood-derived T cells show a signaling immaturity associated with inadequate PLCγ activation and decreased Lck expression.

Autophagy is a cellular defense mechanism which occurs through degradation and recycling of cytoplasmic constituents and represents a caspasemdash;independent alternative to cell death by apoptosis. It is generally accepted that the suppression of autophagy in many cancer cells is directly correlated to malignancy; hence, the control of autophagy genes could represent a target for cancer therapy. The inhibition of cell proliferation through autophagy activation could be an important mechanism for many antimdash;tumor drugs. Here we report the effects of a novel histone deacetylase inhibitor MRJF4 (racemic mixture) and of its two enantiomers [(+)mdash;MRJF4 and (mdash;)mdash;MRJF4] on the morphological and molecular mechanisms causing death and migration of PC3 prostatic cancer cells. In particular, we investigated the occurrence of the autophagic process, both at morphological and molecular levels (LC3 expression), and its relationship with p21, a key molecule which regulates cell cycle and autophagy cell death. Moreover, pERK/Nfmdash;kB driven intracellular signaling, the expression of MMP9 proteinmdash; a key component of cell migrationmdash; invasion, and metastasis were assayed. Our results showed that the antimdash;proliferative effects of MRJF4 due to autophagy occurrence, documented by LC3 increase and ultrastructural modifications, and the reduction of invasiveness seem to be mediated by the downmdash;regulation of pERK/NFmdash;kB signaling pathway, along with p21 upmdash;regulation.