Biodegradation of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) in completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) process.

This study conducted a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) process in a continuous anoxic upflow bioreactor to treat synthetic wastewater with TMAH (tetramethylammonium hydroxide) ranging from 200 to 1000mg/L. The intermediates were analyzed for understanding the metabolic pathway of TMAH biodegradation in CANON process. In addition, (15)N-labeled TMAH was used as the substrate in a batch anoxic bioreactor to confirm that TMAH was converted to nitrogen gas in CANON process. The results indicated that TMAH was almost completely biodegraded in CANON system at different influent TMAH concentrations of 200, 500, and 1000mg/L. The average removal efficiencies of total nitrogen were higher than 90% during the experiments. Trimethylamine (TMA) and methylamine (MA) were found to be the main biodegradation intermediates of TMAH in CANON process. The production of nitrogen gas with (15)N-labeled during the batch anaerobic bioreactor indicated that CANON process successfully converted TMAH into nitrogen gas.

Low-pressure pulsed focused ultrasound with microbubbles promotes an anticancer immunological response.

BACKGROUND: High-intensity focused-ultrasound (HIFU) has been successfully employed for thermal ablation of tumors in clinical settings. Continuous- or pulsed-mode HIFU may also induce a host antitumor immune response, mainly through expansion of antigen-presenting cells in response to increased cellular debris and through increased macrophage activation/infiltration. Here we demonstrated that another form of focused ultrasound delivery, using low-pressure, pulsed-mode exposure in the presence of microbubbles (MBs), may also trigger an antitumor immunological response and inhibit tumor growth. METHODS: A total of 280 tumor-bearing animals were subjected to sonographically-guided FUS. Implanted tumors were exposed to low-pressure FUS (0.6 to 1.4 MPa) with MBs to increase the permeability of tumor microvasculature. RESULTS: Tumor progression was suppressed by both 0.6 and 1.4-MPa MB-enhanced FUS exposures. We observed a transient increase in infiltration of non-T regulatory (non-Treg) tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and continual infiltration of CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL). The ratio of CD8+/Treg increased significantly and tumor growth was inhibited. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that low-pressure FUS exposure with MBs may constitute a useful tool for triggering an anticancer immune response, for potential cancer immunotherapy.

High-rate composting of barley dregs with sewage sludge in a pilot scale bioreactor.

The feasibility of high-rate composting of barley dregs and sewage sludge was examined using a pilot scale bioreactor. A central composite design (CCD) was used to optimize the mix ratio of barley dregs/sewage sludge and moisture content. The performance of the bioreactor was monitored as a function of carbon decomposition rate (CDR) and total volatile solids (TVS) loss rate. The optimum range of mix ratio and moisture content was found to be 35-40% and 55-60%, respectively. High CO2 evolution rate (CER) and TVS loss rate were observed after 3 days of the composting and the compost was matured/stable after 7 days. Cardinal temperature model with inflection (CTMI) was used to analyze the compost stability with respect to CER as a parameter of composting efficiency. After examining the phytotoxicity, the compost can be promoted for land application.