Spontaneous activity in peripheral sensory nerves: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT: In the peripheral nervous system, spontaneous activity in sensory neurons is considered to be one of the 2 main drivers of chronic pain states, alongside neuronal sensitization. Despite this, the precise nature and timing of this spontaneous activity in neuropathic pain is not well-established. Here, we have performed a systematic search and data extraction of existing electrophysiological literature to shed light on which fibre types have been shown to maintain spontaneous activity and over what time frame. We examined both in vivo recordings of preclinical models of neuropathic pain, as well as microneurography recordings in humans. Our analyses reveal that there is broad agreement on the presence of spontaneous activity in neuropathic pain conditions, even months after injury or years after onset of neuropathic symptoms in humans. However, because of the highly specialised nature of the electrophysiological methods used to measure spontaneous activity, there is also a high degree of variability and uncertainty around these results. Specifically, there are very few directly controlled experiments, with less directly comparable data between human and animals. Given that spontaneous peripheral neuron activity is considered to be a key mechanistic feature of chronic pain conditions, it may be beneficial to conduct further experiments in this space.

Effect of activated carbon electrode material characteristics on hardness control performance of membrane capacitive deionization.

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is an electrochemical-based water treatment technology that has attracted attention as an effective hardness-control process. However, few systematic studies have reported the criteria for the selection of suitable electrode materials for membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) to control hardness. In this study, the effect of electrode material characteristics on the MCDI performance for hardness control was quantitatively analyzed. The results showed that the deionization capacity and the deionization rate were affected by the specific capacitance and BET-specific surface area of the activated carbon electrode. In addition, the deionization rate also showed significant relationship with the BET specific surface area. Furthermore, it was observed that the deionization capacity and the deionization rate have a highly significant relationship with the BET specific surface area divided by the wettability performance expressed as the minimum wetting rate (MWR). These findings highlighted that the electrode material should have a large surface area and good wettability to increase the deionization capacity and the deionization rate of MCDI for hardness control. The results of this study are expected to provide effective criteria for selecting MCDI electrode materials aiming hardness control.

Preparation and application of patterned membranes for wastewater treatment.

Membrane fouling remains a critical factor limiting the widespread use of membrane processes in water and wastewater treatment. To mitigate membrane fouling, we introduced a patterned morphology on the membrane surface using a lithographic method. A modified immersion precipitation method was developed to relieve the formation of dense layer at the solvent-nonsolvent interface, that is, the opposite side of the patterned surface. Diverse patterned membranes, such as pyramid-, prism-, and embossing-patterned membranes, were prepared and compared with a flat membrane in terms of morphology, permeability, and biofouling. Patterned membrane fidelity was largely dependent on the polymer concentration in cast solution. The patterned surface augmented the water flux in proportion to the roughness factor of the patterned membrane. However, the type of pattern did not affect substantially the mean pore size on the patterned surface. Deposition of microbial cells on the patterned membrane was significantly reduced compared to that on the flat membrane in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) for wastewater treatment. This was attributed to hydraulic resistance of the apex of the patterned surface, which induced local turbulence.

Enzyme-immobilized nanofiltration membrane to mitigate biofouling based on quorum quenching.

Recently, enzymatic quorum quenching (in the form of a free enzyme or an immobilized form on a bead) was successfully applied to a submerged membrane bioreactor with a microfiltration membrane for wastewater treatment as a novel approach to control membrane biofouling. In this study, a quorum quenching enzyme (acylase) was directly immobilized onto a nanofiltration membrane to mitigate biofouling in a nanofiltration process. In a flow cell experiment, the acylase-immobilized membrane with quorum quenching activity prohibited the formation of mushroom-shaped mature biofilm due to the reduced secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The acylase-immobilized membrane maintained more than 90% of its initial enzyme activity for more than 20 iterative cycles of reaction and washing procedure. In the lab-scale continuous crossflow nanofiltration system operated at a constant pressure of 2 bar, the flux with the acylase-immobilized nanofiltration (NF) membrane was maintained at more than 90% of its initial flux after a 38-h operation, whereas that with the raw NF membrane decreased to 60% accompanied with severe biofouling. The quorum quenching activity of the acylase-immobilized membrane was also confirmed by visualizing the spatial distribution of cells and polysaccharides on the surface of each membrane using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) image analysis technique.