Simple steatosis sensitizes cholestatic rats to liver injury and dysregulates bile salt synthesis and transport.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disorder. It is uncertain if simple steatosis, the initial and prevailing form of NAFLD, sensitizes the liver to cholestasis. Here, we compared the effects of obstructive cholestasis in rats with a normal liver versus rats with simple steatosis induced by a methionine/choline-deficient diet.

Hemodynamic and ventilatory responses during exercise in chronic thromboembolic disease.

Background: Patients with chronic thromboembolic disease (CTED) may suffer from exercise intolerance without pulmonary hypertension at rest. Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) for symptomatic CTED results in improvement of symptoms and quality of life. Neither the pathophysiology of the exercise limitation nor the underlying mechanisms of the PEA-induced improvement have been studied previously.

Reduced force of diaphragm muscle fibers in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.

Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) suffer from inspiratory muscle weakness. However, the pathophysiology of inspiratory muscle dysfunction in PH is unknown. We hypothesized that weakness of the diaphragm, the main inspiratory muscle, is an important contributor to inspiratory muscle dysfunction in PH patients.

Biomethanation from enzymatically hydrolyzed brewer's spent grain: Impact of rapid increase in loadings.

Enzymatically hydrolyzed brewer's spent grain (BSG) was digested in two expanded granular sludge beds (EGSBs, named BSG1 and BSG2, respectively). Both reactors were operated with the same organic loading rate (OLR) from 1 to 10kgCODm(-3)d(-1) during the first 45days. Hereafter a rapid OLR increase was applied to BSG2 from 10 to 16kgCODm(-3)d(-1) within three weeks, while the OLR of BSG1 was increased by less than 2kgCODm(-3)d(-1) in the same period.

An integrated approach for efficient biomethane production from solid bio-wastes in a compact system.

Background: Solid bio-wastes (or organic residues) are worldwide produced in high amount and increasingly considered bioenergy containers rather than waste products. A complete bioprocess from recalcitrant solid wastes to methane (SW2M) via anaerobic digestion (AD) is believed to be a sustainable way to utilize solid bio-wastes. However, the complex and recalcitrance of these organic solids make the hydrolysis process inefficient and thus a rate-limiting step to many AD technologies.