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The Log-Structured Merge Tree (LSM-Tree) is widely used in key-value (KV) stores because of its excwrite performance. But LSM-Tree-based KV stores still have the overhead of write-ahead log and write stall caused by slow L 0 flush and L 0 - L 1 compaction. New byte-addressable, persistent memory (PM) devices bring an opportunity to improve the write performance of LSM-Tree. Previous studies on PM-based LSM-Tree have not fully exploited PM’s “dual role” of main memory and external storage. In this article, we analyze two strategies of memtables based on PM and the reasons write stall problems occur in the first place. Inspired by the analysis result, we propose FlatLSM, a specially designed flat LSM-Tree for non-volatile memory based KV stores. First, we propose PMTable with separated index and data. The PM Log utilizes the Buffer Log to store KVs of size less than 256B. Second, to solve the write stall problem, FlatLSM merges the volatile memtables and the persistent L 0 into large PMTables, which can reduce the depth of LSM-Tree and concentrate I/O bandwidth on L 0 - L 1 compaction. To mitigate write stall caused by flushing large PMTables to SSD, we propose a parallel flush/compaction algorithm based on KV separation. We implemented FlatLSM based on RocksDB and evaluated its performance on Intel’s latest PM device, the Intel Optane DC PMM with the state-of-the-art PM-based LSM-Tree KV stores, FlatLSM improves the throughput 5.2× on random write workload and 2.55× on YCSB-A.

Background: High expression of inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (ID1) correlates with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). Aberrant enhancer activation in regulating ID1 transcription is limited. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC), quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting (WB) were used to determine the expression of ID1. CRISPR-Cas9 was used to generate ID1 or enhancer E1 knockout cell lines. Dual-luciferase reporter assay, chromosome conformation capture assay and ChIP-qPCR were used to determine the active enhancers of ID1. Cell Counting Kit 8, colony-forming, transwell assays and tumorigenicity in nude mice were used to investigate the biological functions of ID1 and enhancer E1. Results: Human CRC tissues and cell lines expressed a higher level of ID1 than normal controls. ID1 promoted CRC cell proliferation and colony formation. Enhancer E1 actively regulated ID1 promoter activity. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) bound to ID1 promoter and enhancer E1 to regulate their activity. The inhibitor of STAT3 Stattic attenuated ID1 promoter and enhancer E1 activity and the expression of ID1. Enhancer E1 knockout down-regulated ID1 expression level and cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: Enhancer E1 is positively regulated by STAT3 and contributes to the regulation of ID1 to promote CRC cell progression and might be a potential target for anti-CRC drug studies.

Photoactivated pesticides have many advantages, such as high activity, low toxicity, and no drug resistance. However, poor photostability and low utilization rate limit their practical application. Herein, the photosensitizer hematoporphyrin...

The purpose of this study was to design novel inhalable nanocrystals embedded microparticles for pulmonary delivery of breviscapine (BVC). The TPGS modified BVC nanocrystals (BVC-NC@TPGS) were fabricated by high pressure homogenization. And the BVC-NC@TPGS was further converted into nanocrystals-embedded microparticles (BVC-NEP) via spray-drying. The influence of matrix formers and concentration on the properties of BVC-NEP for inhalation was investigated. The particle size, morphology, drug crystal state, in vitro aerodynamic performance, in vitro release behavior and pharmacokinetic behaviors were characterized. It was demonstrated that the morphology, lung deposition as well as in vitro drug release from the microparticles were significantly influenced by matrix formers type and concentration. BVC-NEP with 10% TPGS as stabilizer and 200% MN as matrix formers presented the highest FPF value and most excellent flowability as well as redispersibility. Further the in vivo pharmacokinetic studies demonstrated that the AUC(0−∞) of the inhalable BVC-NEP/MN (1411.099 ± 334.62 μg/L h) was 6.29 times (p

Low-permeability reservoirs are characterized by small pore size and a complex strata structure that present challenges and opportunities in recovering petroleum. In this study, a new nanofluid com...

The hydrophobically modified polymer with N-hexadecylacrylamide (C16AM) as hydrophobic group (HMP-C16AM) is the most widely used polymeric emulsifier in oil fields. Given its amphiphilic property, ...

Thoracic radiotherapy increases the risk of radiation-induced heart damage (RIHD); however, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes are not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of radiation on the mouse heart using high-throughput proteomics. Male C57BL/6J mice were used to establish a model of RIHD by exposing the entire heart to 16 Gy high-energy X-rays, and cardiac injuries were verified using a cardiac echocardiogram, as well as by measuring serum brain natriuretic peptide levels and conducting H&E and Masson staining 5 months after irradiation. Proteomics experiments were performed using the heart apex of 5-month irradiated mice and control mice that underwent sham-irradiation. The most significantly differentially expressed proteins were enriched in ‘cardiac fibrosis’ and ‘energy metabolism’. Next, the cardiac fibrosis and changes to energy metabolism were confirmed using immunohistochemistry staining and western blotting. Extracellular matrix proteins, such as collagen type 1 α 1 chain, collagen type III α 1 chain, vimentin and CCCTC-binding factor, along with metabolism-related proteins, such as fatty acid synthase and solute carrier family 25 member 1, exhibited upregulated expression following exposure to ionizing radiation. Additionally, the myocardial mitochondria inner membranes were injured, along with a decrease in ATP levels and the accumulation of lactic acid in the irradiated heart tissues. These results suggest that the high doses of ionizing radiation used lead to structural remodeling, functional injury and fibrotic alterations in the mouse heart. Radiation-induced mitochondrial damage and metabolic alterations of the cardiac tissue may thus be a pathogenic mechanism of RIHD.

A pilot-scale airlift bioreactor (ALBR) system was built and operated continuously for refinery excess sludge (RES) reduction. Combined ALBR and function-enhanced microbes (composed of photosynthetic bacteria and yeast) were integrated into the system. The pilot-scale ALBR was operated for 62 days, and the start-up time was 7 d. Continuous operation showed that the sludge reduction efficiency was more than 56.22%, and the water quality of the effluent was satisfactory. This study focused on investigating the effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the stability of the system and the effect of sludge reduction. Under different HRT conditions of 40, 26.7, 20, and 16 h, the sludge reduction rates reached 56.22%, 73.24%, 74.09%, and 69.64%, respectively. The removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased with decreasing HRT, whereas the removal rate of NH4+-N increased. The removal rate of total phosphorus (TP) was approximately 30%. Results indicate that the ALBR and function-enhanced microbe system can reduce sludge and treat sewage simultaneously, and the effluent is up to the national emission standard. Addition of function-enhanced microbes can promote the degradation of petroleum hydrocarbon substances in the sludge, especially alkanes with low carbon numbers. This study suggests that the optimal HRT for the system is 16 h. The total operation cost of the ALBR combined with the function-enhanced microbe system can be reduced by 50% compared with the cost of direct treatment of the RES system.

Breviscapine (BVP) is a flavonoid compound with strong neuroprotective and anti-platelet aggregation effect. The objective of this study is to design novel BVP nanocrystals modified by natural panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) for enhancing dissolution and anti-platelet aggregation effect of BVP. BVP nanocrystals modified by PNS (BVP-NC/PNS) were firstly prepared by coupling homogenization technology and freeze-drying technology, and BVP nanocrystals modified by RH40 (BVP-NC/RH40) as reference for comparison. The morphology, crystals characterization, dissolution behavior and anti-platelet aggregation effect of BVP-NC/PNS was systemically evaluated. The results demonstrated that the PNS could effectively maintain stability of BVP-NC at suspensions state dependent of its surface activity and the electrostatic repulsion effect. Combination of PNS and trehalose could prevent the aggregation of BVP-NC/PNS during freeze-drying. The PXRD and DSC results demonstrated that the BVP crystal state in BVP-NC/PNS was not changed owing to PNS modification and homogenization treatment. And the freeze-dried BVP-NC could easily recover back to BVP-NS and significantly improve the dissolution of BVP. The AUC(0-∞) of the BVP-NC/PNS was 4.54 times as high as that of the coarse BVP, but not significantly different compared to that of BVP-NC/RH40 (p

Despite the increased interest and great progress obtained on arsenic test, it is still a challenge to accomplish the on-site determination of arsenic in rice due to the expensive instrumentation and harsh digestion process. In this work, MnFe

Thoracic radiotherapy increases the risk of radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD), but its molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. We aimed to explore the effects of radiation on the mouse heart using high-throughput proteomics. An RIHD mouse model was established by exposing the whole heart to 16 Gy high-energy X-rays, and cardiac injuries were verified by cardiac echocardiogram, serum BNP, HE and Masson staining 5 months after irradiation. Proteomics experiments were performed using the whole heart tissue of the irradiated mice and the control mice not exposed to irradiation. The proteomics data were subjected to bioinformatics analysis, and they indicated that irradiated mouse hearts showed alterations in cardiac fibrosis and energy metabolism proteins. Then, we confirmed the cardiac fibrosis and energy metabolism changes by IHC staining and WB analysis. Extracellular matrix proteins such as Col1a1, Col3a1, Vimentin and CTGF, along with metabolism-related proteins such as Fans and Slc25a1, were overexpressed after exposure to ionizing radiation. Additionally, myocardial mitochondria inner membranes presented with injury, ATP declined and lactic acid accumulated in the irradiated heart tissues. This study suggests that high doses of ionizing radiation lead to structural remodeling, functional injury and fibrosis alterations in the mouse heart. Radiation-induced mitochondrial damage and metabolic alterations of the cardiac tissue may be one of the pathogenic mechanisms of RIHD.

Agropyron pectinatum is a perennial forage widely cultivated in China, and it belongs to the Gramineous family. In this study, we assembled the complete chloroplast genome of A. pectinatum. The whole chloroplast genome of A. pectinatum is 135,041 bp in length, comprising a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions (20,821 bp) that are separated by a large single copy (LSC) region (80,632 bp) and a small single copy (SSC) region (12,767 bp). The chloroplast genome of A. pectinatum contains 133 genes, and 87 of them are protein-coding genes, 38 are tRNA, and eight are rRNA genes. The chloroplast genome of A. pectinatum could provide valuable information for varieties identification and evolution of the Agropyron Gaertn.

Practically, we often face the dilemma that some of the examples for training a classifier are incorrectly labeled due to various subjective and objective factors. Although intensive efforts have been put to design classifiers that are robust to label noise, most of the previous methods have not fully utilized data distribution information. To address this issue, this paper introduces a bi-level learning paradigm termed “Spectral Cluster Discovery'' (SCD) for combating with noisy labels. Namely, we simultaneously learn a robust classifier (Learning stage) by discovering the low-rank approximation to the ground-truth label matrix and learn an ideal affinity graph (Clustering stage). Specifically, we use the learned classifier to assign the examples with similar label to a mutual cluster. Based on the cluster membership, we utilize the learned affinity graph to explore the noisy examples based on the cluster membership. Both stages will reinforce each other iteratively. Experimental results on typical benchmark and real-world datasets verify the superiority of SCD to other label noise learning methods.

Oil sludge has become a major impediment to the development of the petroleum and petrochemical industries with the growth of oil production worldwide. In this research, rhamnolipid biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa was used to recover oil from oil tank bottom sludge. The optimum value of the fermentation broth (with rhamnolipid biosurfactant concentration of 5.4 g/L) addition was a volume fraction of 2% (v/v). Optimal temperature (65 °C), liquid/solid ratio (3:1), washing time (3 h), and agitation intensity (300 rpm) for oil recovery were determined. Wastewater from oil recovery was flocculated with 400 mg/L polyaluminum chloride for reuse. The moisture of the recovered oil was (0.42 ± 0.12) %, which could directly enter into the refinery process. The solid particles in the oil sludge exhibited a porous structure that adsorbed a significant amount of oil and increased the difficulty of oil recovery. Results showed that the fermentation broth of P. aeruginosa can be used to recover oil from oil sludge and has potential industrial applications.

Efforts to improve the understanding of oxidant stability are of great practical significance to the design of an in-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) system for soil and groundwater remediation. In this study, the stability of an emerging ISCO oxidant sodium percarbonate (SPC) was investigated. Although the dry solid form of SPC is relatively stable, dissolved SPC decomposes much faster than H2O2. SPC had higher oxidation efficiency for the dye Orange G than inactivated or alkaline-activated H2O2. Both OH- and HCO3-/CO3a2-, generated from SPC dissolution, activated the peroxide content of SPC and thus promoted its decomposition and pollutant oxidation. Higher incubation temperature and longer incubation period lead to faster SPC decomposition. Decomposed SPC had lower pollutant oxidation capability.

High fluorescence quantum yield (FQY) and large Stokes shift (SS) cannot be easily achieved simultaneously by traditional PICT or TICT fluorescent probe. However, an 1-3-dioxolane derivative named 5-methyl-8,9-dihydro-5H-[1,3]dioxolo[4,5-b]carbazol-6(7H)-one (MDDCO) features both high FQY and large SS. The purpose of this study is to search the mechanism behind this phenomenon by theoretical method. Simulated structure changes and charge transfer suggest ICT process in MDDCO is similar to PLICT (Planarized Intramolecular Charge Transfer) process. Calculated UV–Vis spectra and fluorescence spectra show that PLICT-like state (S1 state) of MDDCO leads to large SS. Computed transient-absorption spectra and radiative decay rates indicate that PLICT-like state is key factor for high FQY of MDDCO. These findings suggest that PLICT-like state in 1,3-dioxolane derivatives can achieve both large SS and high FQY, which presents a new method for high-performance fluorescent probe design.

The objective of this study was to understand the influence of the water adsorption and glass transition of matrix formers on redispersibility in water of drug nanocrystals-aggregated particles(NAP) during storage, and the critical storage strategy for NAP powders were determined based on the Guggenheim-Anderson-de Boer (GAB) and the Gordon-Taylor models. Apigenin was used as model drug. Six kinds of matrix formers sucrose(SU), lactose(LA), trehalose(TR), inulin(IN), maltodextrin(MA) and PVPK30(PV) were used to prepare apigenin nanocrystals-aggregated particles (AN-NAPs). The results demonstrated that the adsorption isotherms curves of six kinds of matrix formers based AN-NAPs all showed typical II (S) type adsorption. The water activity significantly influenced the redispersibility of AN-NAP, which could be attributed to the microstructure collapse of amorphous matrix induced by moisture adsorption at high water activity or high moisture. MD based AN-NAP(AN-NAP/MD) exhibited much better redispersibility at high water activity(0.689) compared with the other amorphous matrix formers. MD was able to significantly enlarge the Tg of AN-NAP system and prevent from aggregation of AN-NAP compared to other matrix formers. And the critical water activity and moisture content of AN-NAPs were in the ranges of 0.015–0.545 and 0.0412–0.1508 g water/g dry matter, respectively. Of all amorphous matrix based NAPs, the critical water activity of AN-NAP/MD was the highest (0.545), and the critical moisture content was 0.1003 g water/g dry matter, and followed by TR based on AN-NAP. MD could be used as an excellent matrix former for nanocrystals-aggregated particles during storage. Therefore, the roles of water adsorption and glass transition of matrix formers on redispersibility of drug nanocrystals-aggregated particles during storage was successful elucidated, and the critical storage strategy was proposed based on the GAB model and the Gordon-Taylor model.

Jin Xie,1,* Yijing Luo,1,* Yang Liu,1 Yueqin Ma,1,2 Pengfei Yue,1,* Ming Yang1 1Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, China; 2Department of Pharmaceutics, 94th Hospital of People’s Liberation Army, Nanchang, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: To improve the dissolution and bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs, novel nanosuspensions using co-processed nanocrystalline cellulose–sodium carboxymethyl starch (NCCS) as a synergetic stabilizer were first designed.Methods: Co-processed NCCS was prepared by means of homogenization. Poorly soluble baicalin (BCA) was used as a model drug. BCA nanosuspension (BCA-NS/NCCS) using co-processed NCCS as a dispersant was prepared via homogenization and further converted into the dried BCA nanosuspension particle (BCA-NP/NCCS) via spray drying. The influence of NCCS on the dispersion efficiency of BCA-NS/NCCS was investigated. Morphology and crystal characteristic of NCCS and BCA-NP were analyzed. The dissolution and bioavailability evaluation were performed to investigate the feasibility of NCCS as a stabilizer for BCA-NS/NCCS and BCA-NP.Results: The optimum 50% concentration of NCCS (nanocrystalline cellulose [NCC]:sodium carboxymethyl starch [SCS]=60:40) could be mostly beneficial for formation and stability of BCA-NS/NCCS. NCCS could completely prevent aggregation of BCA-NP during spray drying and enhance the redispersibility as well as dissolution of spray-dried BCA-NP, which might be attributed to “brick–concrete”-based barrier effect of NCCS and the swelling capacity of superdisintegrant SCS. The crystal state of NCC and BCA presented in BCA-NP/NCCS remained unchanged during the homogenization. The BCA-NP/NCCS exhibited a fast dissolution rate and significantly enhanced bioavailability of BCA. The AUC(0–∞) of the BCA-NP/NCCS (8,773.38±718.18 µg/L·h) was 2.01 times (P

Despite the increased interest and great progress obtained on arsenic test, it is still a challenge to accomplish the on-site determination of arsenic in rice due to the expensive instrumentation and harsh digestion process. In this work, MnFe2O4 micromotors were found to retain high catalytic activity to simultaneously produce large amounts of hydroxyl radicals and O2 bubbles in the presence of H2O2. Interestingly, the generated bubbles autonomously propel the micromotors and prevent them from depositing, thus keeping their high catalytic activity. As a result, a MnFe2O4 micromotors enhanced digestion method was developed for the field digestion of rice samples within 100 min only using H2O2, which was further utilized to realize the on-site detection of arsenic in rice by coupling with the Gutzeit method followed headspace solid phase extraction. A quantification limit of 40 μg kg−1 was obtained for the determination of arsenic in rice. Owing to their capabilities of the efficient and rapid adsorption of arsenic and continuous movement, a MnFe2O4 micromotors enhanced solid phase extraction was also established for the sensitive determination of arsenic in water with a 1 μg L−1 of quantification limit. The accuracy of the developed method was validated via analysis of a Certified Reference Material of rice (GBW10043) and a series of rice and water samples with satisfactory results, showing promising potential in the sensitive on-site detection of arsenic in rice and water samples.

In this work, successful treatment of refinery spent-sulfidic caustic was achieved in activated sludge system bioaugmented with three specific bacterial strains (including Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus cereus, and Acidovorax ebreus) at both laboratory and pilot scale. After 18-fold dilution by volume, the diluted wastewater was treated aerobically. The volumetric loading rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was studied by treating variously diluted samples of high-strength wastewater (COD 3,100–3,600 mg/L). The results obtained with the raw wastewater were remarkably good, with an average COD removal of around 80%. The addition of peptone and trace elements improved the performance of the process. The mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration in the reactors could be increased from the 2,500–3,000 mg/L MLSS level of general activated sludge processes to 6,000–8,000 mg/L after installation of draft tubes. These results showed that activated sludge process may be a powerful tool for trea...

The bio-competitive exclusion (BCX) method is a practical, environment-friendly, and low-cost method of controlling sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and focuses on research and preliminary applications. In this study, a nitrate-reducing bacteria (NRB) were screened and selected from oil-producing water and identified as heterotrophic Pseudomonas sp. through 16S rDNA. The NRB activation and the SRB inhibition systems were studied via the addition of the bio-activators NO3− and NO2−. In addition, the synergistic inhibitory effect of NRB and molybdate on SRB was studied. Results showed that the inhibitory effect of NO2− was better than that of NO3−. At NO3− to NO2− ratio of 1:4, the inhibitory effect was optimum. The addition of 5% activated NRB and a small amount of molybdic acid salt played a synergistic effect. The optimal inhibition system contained the following: 5% NRB, NO3−/NO2− of 1:4, and the amount of molybdate was 1/5 that of NO3−. In this inhibition system, S2− can maintain an extremely low content, and SRB activity was well inhibited. Static corrosion simulation experiments showed that SRB was the main cause of corrosion. The effects of biological inhibitors, fungicides, and corrosion inhibitors on the corrosion inhibition were investigated. Results showed that the corrosion rate of biological inhibitors was the lowest, and the best effect of corrosion inhibition was achieved. The surface morphology of the corroded steel sheet was analyzed via scanning electron microscope. In addition, the surface corrosion of the steel sheet was low, and no pitting was observed.

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of inulin (IL) and maltodextrin (MD) as matrix formers on the physical properties of drug nanocrystal-embedded microparticles (NEM) during spray-drying and storage. The redispersibility, aerodynamic performance and phase behaviour of NEM/MD and NEM/IL stored at different water activity (aw) values were evaluated. NEM with 2 g/g (relative to the weight of drug) of IL and MD exhibited the excellent performance after spray-drying. The water activity significantly influenced the redispersibility and aerodynamic performance of NEM/MD and NEM/IL. The NEM/MD presented a higher Tg at all aw values than did NEM/IL. The moisture-induced collapse of the amorphous glassy matrix of IL and MD could be responsible for the poor redispersibility and aerodynamic performance of NEM/IL and NEM/MD, respectively. The NEM/MD exhibited better aerodynamic performance at high aw (0.528) than did NEM/IL. Therefore, MD could be an excellent matrix former for inhalable NEM.

The objective of this study is to use cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) combining with carboxymethyl cellulose sodium (CMC-Na) and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) as stabilizer to prepare novel redispersible camellia oil Pickering emulsions powder (CO-PEP). Cellulose nanocrystals modified with carboxymethyl cellulose sodium (CNCC) was prepared by homogenization technology. CNCC seemed to be rod-like particles with mean particle size of 124.2 ± 2.5 nm. And the cellulose structure, crystal state and thermal property of CNCC remained unchanged during the homogenization. The combination of CNC and CMC-Na in CNCC might be dependent of physical interaction. The mean particle size of optimum CO-PE/0.25%CNCC was 0.569 ± 0.023 μm. The CNCC based particle stabilizer might form the distinctive barrier layer around oil droplet. The redispersibility results demonstrated that 50% HPMC based CO-PEP formed large composite particle with high drug loading ability and exhibited superior redispersibility. Novel redispersible powdered Pickering emulsions could be prepared by cellulose nanocrystals combining with water-soluble cellulosic derivatives.

Phenylenevinylene terpyridine (mepvpt) shows chelation enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) with Cd(II) and chelation quenched fluorescence (CHQF) with Zn(II), respectively. To understand the behaviors, we studied their intrinsic optical properties using DFT/TDDFT methods. The results show that fluorescence quantum yields (FQY) of mepvpt, mepvpt-Cd and mepvpt-Zn are low due to high ISC rates from higher excited states rather than the S1 excited state. When mepvpt chelates Cd(II), the molecular structure becomes more planar and S3,4 → S0 radiation rates become higher than that of mepvpt, which results in CHEF. When mepvpt chelates Zn(II), a new S4 → S0 emission with low oscillator strength occurs and high S4 → Tn ISC rates appear, which leads to CHQF. This proposed mechanism of metal fluorescence enhancing/quenching suggests a design strategy for single-molecular multi-analyte sensors.

The objective of this study is to use a carbohydrate polymer hyaluronic acid (HLA) as matrix to design novel transdermal nanogel loading poorly soluble drug nanocrystals. Baicalin nanocrystals (BCA-NC) were prepared by coupling homogenization technology and spray-drying technology. The morphology, the rheological behavior and transdermal permeation studies of HLA based BCA-NC-gel were evaluated. The results demonstrated that the BCA-NC could be successfully prepared in terms of trehalose after spray-drying. The trehalose could prevent the aggregation of BCA-NC during spray-drying. It was discovered that, the BCA-NC-gel with 1% HLA possessed the favorable gelatin capacity and thinning shear rheological property. In vitro transdermal permeation studies of BCA-NC-gel/HLA studies indicated a marked increase in the skin permeation of BCA. And the transdermal flux of BCA-NC-gel with 1% HLA were 20.65-fold higher (p 0.01) than that of coarse BCA-gel, which could be attributed to particles size reduction of BCA-NC and bioadhesive property of HLA. And the morphology characterization of BCA-NC-gel/HLA demonstrated that BCA-NC could be imprisoned into the gel network of HLA, which might prevent it from aggregation in gel. In conclusion, HLA based nanogel system is a promising carrier for effectively transdermal delivery of poorly soluble drug.

Indigenous microbial enhanced oil recovery (IMEOR) has been successfully applied in conventional oil reservoirs, however the mechanism in low-permeability oil reservoirs is still misunderstood. In order to profile the role of indigenous microcosms in oil recovery, the phylogenetic diversity of the microbial community inhibited in the reservoir by stimulation with optimized nutrients in vitro were investigated by MiSeq platforms sequencing 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Results showed that the microbial community after stimulation was dramatically changed and an increasing abundance of functional microorganisms with the ability to producing biogas, biosolvent and biosurfactant was clearly detected under anaerobic conditions: such as the genus of Clostridium, Bacillaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Oleomonas, Marinobacter, Pseudomonas, Marinobacterium and Dietzia. Core flooding tests within sandstone were implemented and indicate that these enriched microorganisms were closely related to incremental oil recovery. In particular, biogas-producing bacteria made the most significant contribution with obvious evidence of a pressure increase during the core flooding test with no observation of decreasing surface tension and emulsification. These results suggest that the stimulation of indigenous biogas producers is a promising strategy for improving oil recovery in low-permeability oil reservoirs.

Verticillium wilt causes dramatic cotton yield loss in China. Although some genes or biological processes involved in the interaction between cotton and Verticillium dahliae have been identified, the molecular mechanism of cotton resistance to this disease is still poorly understood. The basic innate immune response for defence is somewhat conserved among plant species to defend themselves in complex environments, which makes it possible to characterize genes involved in cotton immunity based on information from model plants. With the availability of Arabidopsis databases, a data-mining strategy accompanied by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and heterologous expression were adopted in cotton and tobacco, respectively, for global screening and gene function characterization. A total of 232 Arabidopsis genes putatively involved in basic innate immunity were screened as candidate genes, and bioinformatic analysis suggested a role of these genes in the immune response. In total, 38 homologous genes from cotton were singled out to characterize their response to V. dahliae and methyl jasmonate treatment through quantitative real-time PCR. The results revealed that 24 genes were differentially regulated by pathogen inoculation, and most of these genes responded to both Verticillium infection and jasmonic acid stimuli. Furthermore, the efficiency of the strategy was illustrated by the functional identification of six candidate genes via heterologous expression in tobacco or a knock-down approach using VIGS in cotton. Functional categorization of these 24 differentially expressed genes as well as functional analysis suggest that reactive oxygen species, salicylic acid- and jasmonic acid-signalling pathways are involved in the cotton disease resistance response to V. dahliae. Our data demonstrate how information from model plants can allow the rapid translation of information into non-model species without complete genome sequencing, via high-throughput screening and functional identification of target genes based on data-mining and VIGS.

The diversity of indigenous bacterial community and the functional species in the water samples from three production wells of a low permeability oil reservoir was investigated by high-throughput sequencing technology. The potential of application of indigenous bacteria for enhancing oil recovery was evaluated by examination of the effect of bacterial stimulation on the formation water–oil–rock surface interactions and micromodel test. The results showed that production well 88–122 had the most diverse bacterial community and functional species. The broth of indigenous bacteria stimulated by an organic nutrient activator at aerobic condition changed the wettability of the rock surface from oil-wet to water-wet. Micromodel test results showed that flooding using stimulated indigenous bacteria following water flooding improved oil recovery by 6.9% and 7.7% in fractured and unfractured micromodels, respectively. Therefore, the zone of low permeability reservoir has a great potential for indigenous microbial enhanced oil recovery.

Anaerobic digestion of Taihu blue algae was tested in laboratory scale, continuous feed digesters (hydraulic retention time 10 days) at 35 °C and various organic loading rates (OLR). The methane production and biomass digestion performed well at OLR below 4.00 gVS L −1 d −1 but deteriorated as OLR increased due to the increased ammonia concentration, causing inhibition mainly to acetate and propionate degradation. Supplementing corn straw as co-feedstock significantly improved the digestion performance. The optimal C/N ratio for the co-digestion was 20:1 at OLR of 6.00 gVS L −1 d −1 . Methane yield of 234 mL CH 4 gVS −1 and methane productivity of 1404 mL CH 4 L −1 d −1 were achieved with solid removal of 63%. Compared with the algae alone, the methane productivity was increased by 46% with less accumulation of ammonia and fatty acids. The reactor rate-limiting step was acetate and propionate degradation.

Because of the ubiquity of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in kaolinitic clays, the ceramic industry is considered to be a potential source of PCDD/Fs. However, studies on the emission of PCDD/Fs from ceramic production are still very scarce. In this study, PCDD/Fs emissions during ceramic production were investigated in an electric laboratory batch kiln. The results showed that the PCDD/Fs were completely removed from the ceramic pieces after 30 min of firing at the peak temperature of 1200 °C. Nevertheless, on the mass and international toxic equivalent basis, 27.5% and 46.2% of the total PCDD/Fs amount in the raw clay were released into the atmosphere during firing, respectively. These PCDD/Fs were emitted into the air before the temperature was elevated to a level high enough for their destruction. Dechlorination reactions generated a broad distribution within the PCDD/Fs congeners including a variety of non-2,3,7,8-substituted ones. The emission of PCDD/Fs was decreased to 16.3 wt.% of the total PCDD/Fs amount in the raw clay, when the initial kiln temperature was enhanced to 600 °C. The emission of PCDD/Fs could be reduced significantly in the presence of a glaze coating on the ceramic test piece. These results indicated that ceramic production is an un-neglectable source of PCDD/Fs in the environment.

In order to investigate the microbes in formation water samples from Well Du 6-3 and Ao-7 in the Alaxin and Aonan gas fields, Songliao Basin, China, 16S rDNA was amplified by using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique with templates of the extracted DNA and primers of bacteria and archaea. The PCR products were also inserted into vectors and then ligated with competent cells for gene sequencing. Based on the obtained gene sequences, bacterial and archaeal libraries were constructed and microbiological phylogeny graphs were obtained for the samples to understand the structure of microbial community and deduce the possible pathways of methanogenesis. The result indicates that there are only a few types of microbes in the samples of the two wells. Pseudomonas and Methanobacterium are the dominant species in the microbial and archaeal libraries, respectively. It is concluded that the indigenous microbial community in Well Du 6-3 probably mainly generated methane by CO2 reduction, but methanogenesis of acetic acid could not be completely excluded. The methane from Well Ao-7 is shown to have been definitely converted from CO2. Therefore, methane generation via indigenous microbial metabolism may be ultimately realized by using the right method under favourable conditions in the two fields. Key words: biogas reservoir, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), methane bio-pathway, 16S rRNA clone library

A batch anaerobic test was conducted to evaluate the effects of adding high carbon content of corn straw to the digestion of Taihu blue algae to attain an optimal C/N ratio for higher methane yield. The addition of corn straw in algae at a C/N ratio of 20/1 increased methane yield by 61.69% at 325 mL g −1 VS −1 (compared with 201 mL g −1 VS −1 of algae digestion alone), followed by C/N ratios of 16/1 and 25/1, all operated at 20 g VS L −1 and 35 °C. The results suggest the optimal C/N ratio for co-digestion of algae with corn straw is 20/1. The findings could offer options for efficient methane production and waste treatment.

A biological pretreatment with new complex microbial agents was used to pretreat corn straw at ambient temperature (about 20°C) to improve its biodegradability and anaerobic biogas production. A complex microbial agent dose of 0.01% (w/w) and pretreatment time of 15 days were appropriate for biological pretreatment. These treatment conditions resulted in 33.07% more total biogas yield, 75.57% more methane yield, and 34.6% shorter technical digestion time compared with the untreated sample. Analyses of chemical compositions showed 5.81-25.10% reductions in total lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose contents, and 27.19-80.71% increases in hot-water extractives; these changes contributed to the enhancement of biogas production. Biological pretreatment could be an effective method for improving biodegradability and enhancing the highly efficient biological conversion of corn straw into bioenergy.

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is a petroleum biotechnology for manipulating function and/or structure of microbial environments existing in oil reservoirs for prolonged exploitation of the largest source of energy. In this study, an Enterobacter cloacae which is capable of producing water-insoluble biopolymers at 37 °C and a thermophilic Geobacillus strain were used to construct an engineered strain for exopolysaccharide production at higher temperature. The resultant transformants, GW3-3.0, could produce exopolysaccharide up to 8.83 g l−1 in molasses medium at 54 °C. This elevated temperature was within the same temperature range as that for many oil reservoirs. The transformants had stable genetic phenotype which was genetically fingerprinted by RAPD analysis. Core flooding experiments were carried out to ensure effective controlled profile for the simulation of oil recovery. The results have demonstrated that this approach has a promising application potential in MEOR.

The catalytic hydroconversion of Gudao residue in supercritical water-syngas system is a heavy oil upgrading technology. The hydrogen derived from water-gas shift reaction can be used for residue hydrocracking, so, it is important for studying the water-gas shift reaction that takes place in the hydrocracking system. Here, the water-gas shift reaction in the supercritical water-syngas system was investigated. The results showed that the water-gas shift reaction could be effectively increased with dispersed catalysts, and more than 80% CO was conversed in the initial processes.

Enterobacter cloacae strain JD, which produces water-insoluble biopolymers at optimal temperature of 30°C, and a thermophilic Geobacillus strain were used to construct an engineered strain for exopolysaccharide production at high temperatures by protoplast fusion. The obtained fusant strain ZR3 produced exopolysaccharides at up to 45°C with optimal growth temperature at 35°C. The fusant produced exopolysaccharides of approximately 7.5 g/L or more at pH between 7.0 and 9.0. The feasibility of the enhancement of crude oil recovery with the fusant was tested in a sand-packed column at 40°C. The results demonstrated that bioaugmentation of the fusant was promising approach for MEOR. Mass growth of the fusant was confirmed in fermentor tests.

Steroid contamination of sea water is an ever growing problem and impacts population dynamics of all kinds of sea animals. We have long experience with the soil bacterium Comamonas testosteroni which is able to catabolize a variety of steroids and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and which might be used in the bioremediation of contaminated soil. For our studies, we use 3alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/carbonyl reductase (3 alpha-HSD/CR) as an indicator system, since it is a key enzyme in adaptive steroid degradation in C. testosteroni. In this work, we have isolated a new bacterium (strain H5) from the Baltic Sea at Kiel, Germany, which is able to degrade steroids like testosterone, estradiol, and cholesterol. Strain H5 was characterized as being a gram-negative bacterium that could be best grown in SIN medium supplemented with 1.6-4.1% NaCl. More than 80% of cholesterol was digested when strain H5 was grown in SIN medium containing 0.05 mM cholesterol. ELISA revealed that this salt water strain expresses a 3 alpha-HSD/CR orthologous enzyme. Interestingly, 3 alpha-HSD/CR expression increased after induction with testosterone and estradiol. According to our results, H5 is a new bacterial strain which might be used for the bioremediation of steroid contamination in sea water. Isolation of the 3 alpha-HSD/CR orthologous gene, as well as studies on its regulation are currently in progress. In addition, the exact characterization and systematic classification of this marine steroid degrading bacterial strain is envisaged.