Publications by authors named "Chang Dou"

Converting polyethylene (PE) into valuable materials, particularly ones that are better for the environment than the incumbent plastics, not only helps mitigate environmental issues caused by plastic waste but also alleviates the long-standing problem of microbial fermentation competing with food supplies. However, the inherent robustness of PE due to its strong carbon-carbon bonds and high molecular weight necessitates harsh decomposition conditions, resulting in diverse decomposition outcomes that present significant challenges for downstream applications, especially for bioconversion. In this study, we demonstrate a hybrid biological-chemical conversion process for PE, converting its decomposition products, namely short-chain diacids, into a monomer, β-keto-δ-lactone (BKDL), for highly recyclable polydiketoenimine plastics using engineered Corynebacterium glutamicum.

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Unlabelled: Microbial conversion of lignocellulosic biomass represents an alternative route for production of biofuels and bioproducts. While researchers have mostly focused on engineering strains such as Rhodotorula toruloides for better bisabolene production as a sustainable aviation fuel, less is known about the impact of the feedstock heterogeneity on bisabolene production. Critical material attributes like feedstock composition, nutritional content, and inhibitory compounds can all influence bioconversion.

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Article Synopsis
  • There is a growing need for innovative storage methods due to increasing digital data, and DNA offers a promising option due to its stability and high storage capacity.
  • The paper discusses Explorer, a DNA coding algorithm that efficiently addresses biochemical challenges like homopolymers and GC content, and introduces Codeformer, a fast decoding algorithm that enhances decoding efficiency.
  • Results show that Explorer improves encoding efficiency by over 10% compared to other methods, while Codeformer can decode DNA sequences more than twice as fast as traditional algorithms, achieving over 99% accuracy when combined with Reed-Solomon coding.
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Despite the current rapid growth of organic agriculture, the problem of low demand for organic agricultural products persists in China, and the consumption space warrants improvement. Exploring consumers' preferences for organic agricultural products and increasing their purchase intentions are of utmost significance to promote organic agricultural production. Thus, this study takes organic milk, which accounts for 58% of China's organic processed agricultural products in sales, as the research object, and uses a choice experiment to investigate the influence of consumers on the purchase intention of organic milk under the intervention of environmental protection information and quality and safety information.

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  • Biological lignin valorization is crucial for sustainable biorefineries, but current methods struggle with proper lignin fractionation, affecting carbohydrate processing efficiency.
  • Researchers propose 'plug-in processes of lignin' that integrate advanced pretreatment technologies, improving lignin bioconversion and enhancing carbohydrate processing simultaneously.
  • These innovations could significantly lower production costs for polyhydroxyalkanoates, demonstrating a pathway to more sustainable biorefinery designs that optimize both carbon efficiency and capital costs.
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Background: Different thermoplastic starch (TPS) films were prepared with or without the addition of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) obtained via the melt-extrusion method, and then the hot-press method was used to produce environmentally friendly TPS-based film/paper composites to replace petroleum-based materials.

Results: The paper-plastic composites exhibited good interfacial adhesion from the scannign elctron microscopy images. It was seen that 5 wt.

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Most of the current commercial production of glacial acetic acid (GAA) is by petrochemical routes, primarily methanol carbonylation. GAA is an intermediate in the production of plastics, textiles, dyes, and paints. GAA production from biomass might be an economically viable and sustainable alternative to petroleum-derived routes.

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Background: Post-transcriptional modifications of RNA constitute fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation. N-methyladenosine (mA) is critical for health and disease and is modulated by cellular stressors. However, associations between environmental exposures and mA have not been studied in humans.

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The rationale for the antibiotic treatment of viral community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in adults was analyzed to develop a clinical reference standard for this condition. Clinical data from 166 patients diagnosed with viral pneumonia across 14 hospitals in Beijing from November 2010 to December 2017 were collected. The indications for medications were evaluated, and the rationale for the use of antibiotics was analyzed.

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Background: Whole-tree chips will be a likely feedstock for future biorefineries because of their low cost. Non-structural components (NSC), however, represent a significant part of whole-tree chips. The NSC can account for more than 10% of whole-tree poplar mass when the trees are grown in short rotation cycles.

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Background: In the biofuel industry, land productivity is important to feedstock growers and conversion process product yield is important to the biorefinery. The crop productivity, however, may not positively correlate with bioconversion yield. Therefore, it is important to evaluate sugar yield and biomass productivity.

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Context: Histone modifications regulate gene expression; dysregulation has been linked with cardiovascular diseases. Associations between histone modification levels and blood pressure in humans are unclear.

Objective: We examine the relationship between global histone concentrations and various markers of blood pressure.

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Background: Feedstock cost is a substantial barrier to the commercialization of lignocellulosic biorefineries. Poplar grown using a short rotation coppice (SRC) system has the potential to provide a low-cost feedstock and economically viable sugar yields for fuels and chemicals production. In the coppice management regime, poplars are harvested after 2 years' growth to develop the root system and establish the trees.

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Article Synopsis
  • High blood pressure (BP) is influenced by genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors, and its increase is a public health concern worldwide.
  • In a study involving truck drivers and office workers, researchers analyzed the relationship between miRNA profiles in blood cells and BP measurements before and after work.
  • The results found that various miRNAs were linked to pre-work BP in specific groups, and these insights could help develop a miRNA panel for earlier detection of hypertension.
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Background: Airborne particulate matter (PM) may induce epigenetic changes that potentially lead to chronic diseases. Histone modifications regulate gene expression by influencing chromatin structure that can change gene expression status. We evaluated whether traffic-derived PM exposure is associated with four types of environmentally inducible global histone H3 modifications.

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This study investigates the effect of mechanical refining to improve the sugar yield from biomass processed under a wide range of steam pretreatment conditions. Hybrid poplar chips were steam pretreated using six different conditions with or without SO2. The resulting water insoluble fractions were subjected to mechanical refining.

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  • MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small RNA molecules that can suppress genes and may respond to environmental factors, including viral influences that can be detected in human cells.
  • In a study involving truck drivers and office workers in Beijing, researchers analyzed how exposure to different levels of air pollution (like PM2.5 and PM10) affected blood miRNA profiles over a few weeks.
  • Results indicated that while PM2.5 exposure showed no significant impact on miRNAs, certain levels of ambient PM10 and elemental carbon (EC) were linked to changes in miRNA expressions, particularly among office workers and truck drivers, highlighting potential health implications related to air pollution exposure.
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Previous studies have reported epigenetic changes induced by environmental exposures. However, previous investigations did not distinguish 5-methylcytosine (5mC) from a similar oxidative form with opposite functions, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). Here, we measured blood DNA global 5mC and 5hmC by ELISA and used adjusted mixed-effects regression models to evaluate the effects of ambient PM10 and personal PM2.

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Background: Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been associated with reduced lung function. Elemental components of PM have been suggested to have critical roles in PM toxicity, but their contribution to respiratory effects remains under-investigated. We evaluated the effects of traffic-related PM(2.

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  • Research suggests particulate matter (PM) increases lung cancer risk by causing systemic inflammation and altering DNA methylation, particularly impacting tandem repeats that have not been previously studied.
  • A study compared blood samples from truck drivers and office workers in Beijing, finding that higher PM2.5 and PM10 exposure correlated with significant decreases in SATα methylation, especially in truck drivers.
  • The findings indicate that monitoring tandem-repeat hypomethylation in blood samples could help identify individuals at risk of cancer due to PM exposure.
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Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been associated with lung cancer risk in epidemiology investigations. Elemental components of PM have been suggested to have critical roles in PM toxicity, but the molecular mechanisms underlying their association with cancer risks remain poorly understood. DNA methylation has emerged as a promising biomarker for environmental-related diseases, including lung cancer.

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Background: Mitochondria are both a sensitive target and a primary source of oxidative stress, a key pathway of air particulate matter (PM)-associated diseases. Mitochondrial DNA copy number (MtDNAcn) is a marker of mitochondrial damage and malfunctioning. We evaluated whether ambient PM exposure affects MtDNAcn in a highly-exposed population in Beijing, China.

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Background: Ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure has been associated with short- and long-term effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD). Telomere length (TL) is a biomarker of CVD risk that is modified by inflammation and oxidative stress, two key pathways for PM effects. Whether PM exposure modifies TL is largely unexplored.

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Background: Particulate Matter (PM) exposure is critical in Beijing due to high population density and rapid increase in vehicular traffic. PM effects on blood pressure (BP) have been investigated as a mechanism mediating cardiovascular risks, but results are still inconsistent. The purpose of our study is to determine the effects of ambient and personal PM exposure on BP.

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Objective: As one of the most abandon and cheapest recyclable bio-resources, cellulosic biomass appear to be the promising new energy if the two major components, glucose and xylose, are efficiently used.

Methods: We compared the metabolism of Rhizopus oryzae growing on glucose or xylose. We measured biomass accumulation, intercellular metabolite contents, and organic acids production.

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