[Effects of the Physical Structure of Activated Sludge on Respiration Processes].

Physical properties and bioactivity are two important aspects of the activated sludge process. To solve the contradiction between these two aspects in the operation control process, the physical structure and respiration processes of sludge in different activated sludge systems were analyzed. Sludge from seven different activated sludge systems was used for the experiments, and the particle size, microscopic morphology, fractal dimension, compression settling performance, adsorption performance, and respirogram were studied and analyzed.

Probing operational conditions of mixing and oxygen deficiency using HSV color space.

In this work, the relationship between sludge color and operational conditions was studied. It was found that the coordinates H and S of the HSV color space well correlated with biological status and the operational conditions of mixing and oxygen deficiency, and a coefficient of variation (CV) of the ratio of H to S in sludge cake images was derived. A smaller CV indicated better mixing conditions based on the observations of four laboratory-scale experiments and two full scale WWTPs, which can be used as a promising index for the monitoring of mixing condition.

MicroRNA-206 Downregulates Connexin43 in Cardiomyocytes to Induce Cardiac Arrhythmias in a Transgenic Mouse Model.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are critical modulators of various physiological and pathological processes, but their role in cardiac arrhythmias remains yet to be completely understood. Connexin43 (Cx43) is an important cardiac gap junction protein and a potential target of miR-206, and downregulation of Cx43 induces ventricular tachyarrhythmias.

Methods: We investigated the effects of miR-206 overexpression on the adult mouse heart and in cardiac arrhythmias.

[Analysis of Respirogram Characteristics of Filamentous Bulking Caused by Low Dissolved Oxygen].

The current research on filamentous bulking focuses on the effluent quality and the settling properties but the reports on the microbial physiology under filamentous bulking conditions are seldom. In this study, the variations in the respirogram of microorganisms and affinity coefficient during filamentous bulking were explored in a sequence batch reactor. Low dissolved oxygen, regarded as the typical reason for filamentous bulking, was applied as the stimulation method.

[Investigation of Initiation and Shock Process of ANAMMOX Based on Color Space].

Anaerobic ammonia oxidation (ANAMMOX) is an efficient and energy-saving denitrification technology, but it still lacks a simple and easy method to characterize its start-up process and stable state. Based on the analysis of water quality, color space was used to monitor the color change of sludge during the start-up of ANAMMOX, and the species and quantity of microbial flora were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing technology. The results were as follows.

Characterization of aerobic granular sludge of different sizes for nitrogen and phosphorus removal.

Granular size plays a key role in the performance of the aerobic granular sludge (AGS). As the diameter of the granule increases, stratification may begin to appear due to the increase in mass transfer resistance. Aerobic granules harvested from a lab-scale anaerobic-aerobic sequencing batch reactor (AO-SBR) were classified into three categories according to their size: (a) 0.

A simple respirogram-based approach for the management of effluent from an activated sludge system.

Managing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) based on respirometric analysis is a new and promising field. In this study, a multi-dimensional respirogram space was constructed, and an important index R (ratio of in-situ respiration rate to maximum respiration rate) was derived as an alarm signal for the effluent quality control. A smaller R value suggests better effluent.

Atherogenic index of plasma is an effective index for estimating abdominal obesity.

Background: The correlation between the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and waist circumference (WC) remains unknown.

Methods: A total of 5351 middle-aged men living in Southeastern China were surveyed using the random stratified cluster sampling method. A WC of 90 cm or greater was indicative of abdominal obesity, and AIP was calculated as follows: log [triglyceride (TG)/high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C)].

Evaluation of robustness of activated sludge using calcium-induced enhancement of respiration.

Robustness of an activated sludge system, describing uncertainty and operational risk, was evaluated using the absence or presence of calcium-induced enhancement of respiration (CaER) effect. Generally, the fast-growing system was susceptible to external environmental variations, of which the sludge exhibited significant CaER effect under normal operational conditions, while the slow growing system showed less significant CaER effect. However, sludge in both systems exhibited CaER effect under stressed conditions of decreasing temperature or ammonia shocking.

Resveratrol protects the loss of connexin 43 induced by ethanol exposure in neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes.

Excessive alcohol consumption provides risk to cardiomyopathy with unknown mechanisms. Resveratrol, a plant polyphenol, is widely reported for its cardiovascular benefits, while its effect on alcohol-induced impairments in cardiomyocytes largely remains unknown. Effects of resveratrol on the cardiomyocytes under ethanol insult were studied in vitro.

High serum YKL-40 level positively correlates with coronary artery disease.

Aim: We investigated the predictive value of chitinase-like protein YKL-40 in coronary artery disease (CAD).

Patients: Serum YKL-40 levels in 116 CAD patients and 82 healthy controls were analyzed. Severity of CAD was evaluated using Gensini scores.

Swimming exercise increases serum irisin level and reduces body fat mass in high-fat-diet fed Wistar rats.

Background: It has been shown that irisin levels are reduced in skeletal muscle and plasma of obese rats; however, the effect of exercise training on irisin level remains controversial. We aim to evaluate the association of swimming exercise with serum irisin level and other obesity-associated parameters.

Methods: Forty healthy male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups: a normal diet and sedentary group (ND group), normal diet and exercise group (NDE group), high-fat diet and sedentary group (HFD group), and high-fat diet and exercise group (HFDE group.

MiR-214 regulates the pathogenesis of patients with coronary artery disease by targeting VEGF.

Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in patient body fluids have recently been considered to hold the potential of being novel disease biomarkers and drug targets. We aimed to investigate the correlation between the levels of circulating miR-214 and the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease patients to further explore the mechanism involved in the vasculogenesis. Three different cohorts, including 13 acute myocardial infarction patients, 176 angina pectoris patients, and 127 control subjects, were enrolled to investigate the expression levels of circulating miR-214 in patients with myocardial ischemia and also the relationship between plasma miR-214 and severity of coronary stenosis.

A successful emergency management of spontaneous coronary artery dissection and review of the literature.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare and lethal myocardial ischemic event, which usually causes acute coronary syndrome and sudden death. Emergency management of SCAD includes medical treatment, percutaneous coronary interventions, and coronary artery bypass grafting. Here, we report 1 case of 37-year-old young woman who was found to have a mid-distal SCAD of the left anterior descending artery, taking conservative management decision.

Bis[1-(eth-oxy-carbonyl-meth-yl)pyridinium] bis-(1,2-dicyano-ethene-1,2-dithiol-ato-κ(2)S,S')nickelate(II).

The asymmetric unit of the title ion-pair complex, (C(9)H(12)NO(2))(2)[Ni(C(4)N(2)S(2))(2)], contains two 1-(eth-oxy-carbonyl-meth-yl)pyridinium cations and one bis-(1,2-dicyano-ethene-1,2-dithiol-ato)nickelate(II) dianion, which exhibits a slightly distorted square-planar coordination geometry. In the crystal, the cations are linked by strong C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds into C(6) chains along [100]. The cations and anions are linked into a three-dimensional architecture by weak C-H⋯N and C-H⋯S inter-actions.

[The echocardiographic diagnostic characteristics and follow-up of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.].

Objective: To evaluate the echocardiographic features of apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (ApHCM).

Methods: Twenty-seven patients with ApHCM including 21 men and 6 women, average age (42.7 +/- 5.

A prospective evaluation of apolipoprotein M gene T-778C polymorphism in relation to coronary artery disease in Han Chinese.

Objectives: Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is important for the formation of pre-beta-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and cholesterol efflux in macrophages. It is demonstrated that single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) T-778C of apoM gene is related to type 2 diabetes in Han Chinese. In the present study, we investigated the possible association of apoM polymorphism in relation to coronary artery disease (CAD) in Han Chinese.

[Effects of surfactants on adsorption of methyl parathion by neutral alumina].

The sorption of methyl parathion by neutral alumina which was modified by ionic surfactants such as SDS, SDBS and CTMAB was studied. It showed that the adsorbability of alumina to methyl parathion were related to the type and concentration of surfactant and pH of the system. The adsorbabilities of alumina on three kinds of surfactants were different.