Methane potential and biodegradability of rice straw, rice husk and rice residues from the drying process.

Agricultural solid residues are a potential renewable energy source. Rice harvesting and production in Sancti Spíritus province, Cuba, currently generates residues without an environmentally sustainable disposal route. Rice residues (rice straw, rice husk and rice residues from the drying process) are potentially an important carbon source for anaerobic digestion. For this paper, rice residues were placed for 36 days retention time in anaerobic batch reactor environments at both mesophilic (37 °C) and thermophilic (55 °C) conditions. Biogas and methane yield were determined as well as biogas composition. The results showed that rice straw as well as rice residues from the drying process had the highest biogas and methane yield. Temperature played an important role in determining both biogas yield and kinetics. In all cases, rice straw produced the highest yields; under mesophilic conditions the biogas yield was 0.43 m(3) kg(VS)(-1), under thermophilic conditions biogas yield reached 0.52 m(3) kg(VS)(-1). In the case of the rice husk, the biodegradability was very low. Methane content in all batches was kept above 55% vol. All digested material had a high carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratio, even though significant biodegradation was recorded with the exception of rice husk. A first-order model can be used to describe the rice crop residues fermentation effectively.

WIP, What an Interesting Protein for leukocyte activation, migration and inflammation

La inflamación es un proceso fisiológico dirigido a prevenir o reparar los daños producidos por agresiones externas, infecciones o intoxicación. Este proceso depende de la coordinación entre la activacióny migración de los leucocitos hacia la región dañada y por tanto está asociado con cambios en la morfología celular y con la reorganización del citoesqueleto de actina. El citoesqueleto de actina tambiéncontribuye a otros cambios morfológicos esenciales necesarios para la vida de la célula. WIP (WASP Interacting Protein) es una proteína que se une a la actina y participa en procesos inflamatorios.Dicha unión estabiliza los microfilamentos de actina y regula su organización especial y temporal. La ausencia de WIP induce la formación de redes de actina deficientes en linfocitos T y B, lo que conducea la modificación de la capacidad linfocitaria de activación y migración y desemboca en alteraciones autoinmunes con infiltración leucocitaria en órganos vitales y muerte del animal

Inflammation refers to a physiological process aimed at preventing or repairing the damage induced by infection, injury or intoxication. This process requires the coordinated activation and migration of leukocytes to the damaged area and therefore it is associatedwith changes in cell morphology and actin cytoskeleton reorganization. Actin cytoskeleton is also required for many other changes in cellular morphology that take place during cell life. WIP (WASP InteractingProtein) is an actin-binding protein involved in inflammation. WIP stabilizes actin filaments and regulates their temporal and spatial organization. Absence of WIP leads to formation of defective actinnetworks in T and B lymphocytes (that entail defective lymphocyte activation and migration) and ultimately results in autoimmunity and leukocyte infiltration in vital organs resulting in a fatal outcome

Solid mining residues from ni extraction applied as nutrients supplier to anaerobic process: optimal dose approach through Taguchi's methodology.

The use of solid mining residues (Cola) which contain a certain amount of Ni, Fe and Co, to stimulate anaerobic processes was evaluated. The effect over methane production and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was analysed. The studies were carried out in discontinuous reactors at lab scale under mesophilic conditions until exhausted. 0, 3, 5 and 7 mg Cola l(-1) doses were applied to synthetic wastewater. Volatile fatty acids (VFA) and sucrose were used as substrate, sulphur and nitrogen concentration, being the noise variable. Cola addition at dose around 5 mg I(-1), turned out to be stimulating for the anaerobic process. It was the factor that most influenced on methane production rate together with VFA and high content of volatile suspended solids. In the case of methane yield, pH was the control factor of strongest influence. Higher values of COD removal efficiency were obtained when the reactors were operated with sucrose at relatively low pH and at the smallest concentration of nitrogen and sulphur. Solid residues dose and the type of substrate were the factors that had most influence on COD removal efficiency.

Limited immune reconstitution at intermediate stages of HIV-1 infection during one year of highly active antiretroviral therapy in antiretroviral-naive versus non-naive adults.

Although several reports have attributed the clinical benefits of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to a possible immune restoration, long-term data are still scarce and most derive from patients with either advanced or very early stages of HIV infection. In the present study, changes in lymphocyte subsets, activation markers, and adhesion molecules in CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes were carefully monitored over a 1-year period in 27 HIV-infected adults at an intermediate stage of HIV infection. Cytokine-producing patterns were also studied. In these patients the HIV viral load disappeared by month 4 of HAART. Only limited immunological changes were observed: an incomplete recovery of naive CD4+ T cells, a less activated state of CD8+ T cells, and a repopulation of IL-2- and IFN-gamma-producing CD4+ T cells. These changes were observed principally in patients with more advanced disease. Furthermore, HIV-infected subjects who had received HAART previously showed less marked immunological changes than antiretroviral-naive individuals. In conclusion, the sustained viral suppression during 1 year of HAART was accompanied by limited immunological recovery at intermediate stages of HIV infection. This finding indicates a need for longer HIV suppression in order to achieve effective recovery of the immune system.