Continuous chain elongation process for carbon resource recovery from excess sludge: Enhanced n-caprylate production and specific microbial functionalities.

Thermal hydrolyzed sludge (THS) exhibits considerable promise in generating medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) through chain elongation (CE) technology. This study developed a novel continuous CE process using THS as the substrate, achieving an optimal ethanol loading rate (5.8 g COD/L/d) and stable MCFA production at 10.

Enhancement of medium-chain fatty acids production from sludge anaerobic fermentation liquid under moderate sulfate reduction.

In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the production of excess sludge. Chain-elongation (CE) fermentation presents a promising approach for carbon resource recovery from sludge, enabling the transformation of carbon into medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs). However, the impact of sulfate, commonly presents in sludge, on the CE process remains largely unexplored.

Chemodiversity transformation of organic matters in a full scale MBR-NF wastewater reclamation plant.

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) and nanofiltration (NF) process has been attractive in wastewater reclamation, and was set as the target process in this study. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) and trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), closely associated with water safety, are noteworthy pollutants. Though the general DOM characteristics and TrOCs removal in MBR-NF reclamation process have been reported in lab-/pilot-scale experiment, the molecular characteristics of DOM revealed by high resolution mass spectrometry, and the correlation between DOM and TrOCs have been rarely studied in full-scale MBR-NF wastewater reclamation plant.

Spectroscopic fingerprints profiling the polysaccharide/protein/humic architecture of stratified extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in activated sludge.

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), with a stratified structure including tightly-bound EPS (TB-EPS), loosely-bound EPS (LB-EPS), and soluble EPS (S-EPS) surrounding the microbial cells, are known to vitally affect the physicochemical and biological functions of activated sludge in wastewater treatment. Polysaccharides (PS), proteins (PN), and humic acids (HA) are key components of EPS but their roles in constructing the multi-layer architecture are still unclear. This study explored the EPS characteristics in relation to the components using spectroscopic fingerprinting techniques.

Balancing the antibacterial and osteogenic effects of double-layer TiO nanotubes loaded with silver nanoparticles for the osseointegration of implants.

The improvement of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), in particular, loaded titania nanotubes, includes not only the antibacterial effect but also balancing the side effects from the antibacterial effect and osteogenesis properties, which can lead to an increased success rate of implants. Herein, based on the various needs of the graft to inhibit bacteria at different stages , we used a special osteogenic honeycomb-like "large tube over small tube" double-layered nanotube structure and created ultra-small-sized silver nanoparticles uniformly loaded on the surface and the interior of double-layer nanotubes by an optimized sputter coating method to ensure the time-dependent controllable release of antibacterial Ag ions from grafts and achieve the balance of the antibacterial effect and osteogenesis properties. The release of Ag from DNT-Ag8 was determined by inductively coupled plasma spectrometry.

Revisiting the Surface Energy Parameters of Standard Test Liquids with a Corrected Contact Angle Method over Rough Surfaces.

Interfacial free energy is a quantitative basis for explaining and predicting interfacial behavior that is ubiquitous in nature. The contact angle (CA) method can determine the surface free energy (γ) as well as Lifshitz-van der Waals (γ) and Lewis acid/base (γ/γ) components of a solid material from its CAs with a set of known test liquids according to the extended Young-Dupré equation. However, the reliability of the "known" parameters of the test liquids is questioned due to the long-neglected surface roughness effect during calibration of the liquids.

Evidence for the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Pelvic Inflammatory Disease: A Literature Review.

Pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), a common infectious disease of the female reproductive tract, is mainly characterized by abdominal/pelvic pain and tenderness of the uterus, cervix, or adnexa on physical exam. In recent years, its incidence has gradually increased yearly due to numerous factors, including sexually transmitted diseases and intrauterine operations. Based on self-report of PID in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-2014 survey, PID impacts approximately 2.

Streptomyces hygroscopicus OsiSh-2-induced mitigation of Fe deficiency in rice plants.

The limited availability of nutrient Fe severely impairs the health of almost all organisms. Endophytic actinobacteria can benefit the host plant in different ways. We previously inferred that the rice (Oryza) endophytic Streptomyces hygroscopicus OsiSh-2 possesses a highly efficient Fe-acquisition system.

A Simple Method to Identify the Dominant Fouling Mechanisms during Membrane Filtration Based on Piecewise Multiple Linear Regression.

Membrane fouling is a complicated issue in microfiltration and ultrafiltration. Clearly identifying the dominant fouling mechanisms during the filtration process is of great significance for the phased and targeted control of fouling. To this end, we propose a semi-empirical multiple linear regression model to describe flux decline, incorporating the five fouling mechanisms (the first and second kinds of standard blocking, complete blocking, intermediate blocking, and cake filtration) based on the additivity of the permeate volume contributed by different coexisting mechanisms.

Relationship between fluorescence excitation-emission matrix properties and the relative degree of DOM hydrophobicity in wastewater treatment effluents.

Excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in wastewater systems. It is of particular value if its utility could be extended by connecting the spectral features to hydrophobicity, one of the fundamental physicochemical properties of DOM. In this study, we employed a DAX-8 resin column to fractionate the hydrophobic/philic components of DOM and determine the relative degree of hydrophobicity by adjusting the critical retention factor (k', the ratio of treated water sample volume to column volume).

Determination of Surface Energy Parameters of Hydrophilic Porous Membranes via a Corrected Contact Angle Approach.

While the contact angle is a well-applied indicator of membrane hydrophobicity and surface energy, the interference of surface roughness and porosity in contact angle measurement and surface energy calculation has been long neglected in the field of porous membrane study. We propose an improved method to straightforwardly derive the surface energy of the porous membrane from contact angles with the interference effect corrected. A linearized model was established combining the Young-Dupré and Cassie-Baxter equations, from which the surface energy (Lifshitz-van der Waals and Lewis acid/base components) and roughness index (surface area difference) can be solved simultaneously at a given porosity using contact angles measured with a set of standard polar/nonpolar test liquids.

Stokes Shift and Specific Fluorescence as Potential Indicators of Organic Matter Hydrophobicity and Molecular Weight in Membrane Bioreactors.

Hydrophobicity and molecular weight (MW) are two fundamental properties of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in wastewater treatment systems. This study proposes fluorescence Stokes shift and specific fluorescence intensity (SFI) as novel indicators of hydrophobicity and MW. These indicators originate from the energy gap and photon efficiency of the fluorescence process and can be readily extracted from a fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM).

Physiological response of a red tide alga (Skeletonema costatum) to nitrate enrichment, with special reference to inorganic carbon acquisition.

A classical red tide alga Skeletonema costatum was cultured under various nitrate levels to investigate its physiological response to nitrate enrichment combined with CO limitation. The higher nitrate levels increased content of photosynthetic pigments (Chl a and Chl c), electron transport rate in photosystem II, photosynthetic O evolution, and thus growth rate in S. costatum.

Synthesis and antitumor activity of novel 2',3'-diethanethio-2',3',5'-trideoxy-5'-triazolonucleoside analogues.

A series of novel 2',3'-diethanethio-2',3',5'-trideoxy-5'-triazoloribonucleosides was synthesized in excellent yields and their antitumor activity was evaluated. These nucleoside analogues with aromatic substituted triazole rings showed significantly improved activity towards a broad range of tumor cell lines and those without arene substitutes were inactive.

(5S*,6R*,7R*)-6-Formyl-5-phenyl-7-propyl-perhydro-pyrazolo[1,2-a]pyrazol-1-one.

The title compound, C(16)H(20)N(2)O(2), was obtained by catalytic asymmetric cyclo-addition of trans-3-propyl-acrolein with 1-benzyl-idenepyrazolid-3-one betaine. There are two symmetry-independent mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit. In both mol-ecules, the two five-membered heterocyclic rings adopt envelope conformations.

Synthesis and antitumor activity of novel 2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-diethanethionucleosides bearing 1,2,3-triazole residues.

A series of novel 2',3'-dideoxy-2',3'-diethanethioribonucleosides and those modified with a triazole ring were prepared in excellent yields and their antitumor activity was evaluated. Nucleosides with a triazole ring, 16a-16c, showed significantly improved activity towards a broad range of tumor cell lines.

A new type of NADH model compound: synthesis and enantioselective reduction of benzoylformates to the corresponding mandelates.

A new type of NADH model compound with good reactivity and enantioselectivity has been synthesized in good yields by an efficient and convenient synthetic method. The structures of these model compounds were confirmed by 1H and 13C-NMR and MS.