Synthesis of porous hierarchical MgO and its superb adsorption properties.

The porous hierarchical MgO with superb adsorption properties has been synthesized by a facile and scaled-up method. The X-ray powder diffraction, electron microscopy, Fourier transformed infrared, and N2 adsorption-desorption were carried out to study the microstructure of the as-synthesized precursor and product. It has been demonstrated that the as-prepared MgO has a porous hierarchical structure and a high specific surface area (148 m(2) g(-1)).

Altered glucose metabolism and preserved energy charge and neuronal structures in the brain of mouse intermittently exposed to hypoxia.

The key for an animal to survive prolonged hypoxia is to avoid rapid decline in ATP levels in vital organs such as the brain. This can be well achieved by a very few of hypoxia-tolerant animals such as freshwater turtles and newborn animals, since these animals can substantially suppress their metabolic levels by coordinated regulation of ATP-producing and ATP-demanding pathways. However, most animals, especially adult mammals, can only tolerate a short period of hypoxia since they are unable to maintain constant ATP levels and energy charge in vital organs during prolonged hypoxic exposure.

Dilute acid pretreatment of black spruce using continuous steam explosion system.

The pretreatment of lignocellulosic materials prior to the enzymatic hydrolysis is essential to the sugar yield and bioethanol production. Dilute acid hydrolysis of black spruce softwood chip was performed in a continuous high temperature reactor followed with steam explosion and mechanical refining. The acid-soaked wood chips were pretreated under different feeding rates (60 and 92 kg/h), cooking screw rotation speeds (7.

Hypoxic preconditioning up-regulates glucose transport activity and glucose transporter (GLUT1 and GLUT3) gene expression after acute anoxic exposure in the cultured rat hippocampal neurons and astrocytes.

Hypoxic preconditioning has been shown to increase the hypoxic tolerance of brain neurons. However, the mechanism underlying the increased hypoxic tolerance has not been well elucidated. Since anaerobic glycolysis is the only pathway for a vertebrate cell to produce energy under anoxic conditions, which needs a large amount of glucose, we hypothesize that glucose transport, the rate-limiting step for glucose metabolism, plays a critical role in the hypoxic tolerance induced by hypoxic preconditioning.