Field scale biodegradation of total petroleum hydrocarbons and soil restoration by Ecopiles: microbiological analysis of the process.

Ecopiling is a method for biodegradation of hydrocarbons in soils. It derives from Biopiles, but phytoremediation is added to biostimulation with nitrogen fertilization and bioaugmentation with local bacteria. We have constructed seven Ecopiles with soil heavily polluted with hydrocarbons in Carlow (Ireland). The aim of the study was to analyze changes in the microbial community during ecopiling. In the course of 18 months of remediation, total petroleum hydrocarbons values decreased in 99 and 88% on average for aliphatics and aromatics, respectively, indicating a successful biodegradation. Community analysis showed that bacterial alfa diversity (Shannon Index), increased with the degradation of hydrocarbons, starting at an average value of 7.59 and ending at an average value of 9.38. Beta-diversity analysis, was performed using Bray-Curtis distances and PCoA ordination, where the two first principal components (PCs) explain the 17 and 14% of the observed variance, respectively. The results show that samples tend to cluster by sampling time instead of by Ecopile. This pattern is supported by the hierarchical clustering analysis, where most samples from the same timepoint clustered together. We used DSeq2 to determine the differential abundance of bacterial populations in Ecopiles at the beginning and the end of the treatment. While TPHs degraders are more abundant at the start of the experiment, these populations are substituted by bacterial populations typical of clean soils by the end of the biodegradation process. Similar results are found for the fungal community, indicating that the microbial community follows a succession along the process. This succession starts with a TPH degraders or tolerant enriched community, and finish with a microbial community typical of clean soils.

[Overview of systematic reviews of Shufeng Jiedu Capsules].

At present, there have been many clinical trials and systematic reviews/Meta-analysis proving the good clinical efficacy of Shufeng Jiedu Capsules in the treatment of respiratory diseases, while comprehensive discussion is still required. This article overviews and analyzes the systematic reviews/Meta-analysis of Shufeng Jiedu Capsules to provide evidence support for clinical practice. The systematic reviews/Meta-analysis of Shufeng Jiedu Capsules were searched from CBM, Wanfang, CNKI, VIP, PubMed, EMbase and Cochrane Library. The AMSTAR 2 scale and GRADE system were respectively employed for the evaluation of methodological quality and the grading of evidence quality. Finally, 8 systematic reviews/Meta-analysis published during 2018-2021 were included for analysis. The diseases involved include acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, community-acquired pneumonia, acute tonsillitis, acute exacerbation of chronic bronchitis and acute upper respiratory tract infection. The number of included RCTs studies ranged from 8 to 25. The results showed that Shufeng Jiedu Capsules combined with western medicine routine had better therapeutic effect than the latter alone in the treatment of the above five diseases. The reported adverse reactions caused by Shufeng Jiedu Capsules were mainly gastrointestinal discomforts such as mild nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting, with low incidence and mild symptoms, which can be relieved by drug withdrawal. The methodological quality of the included studies was extremely low, and the outcome indicators were mainly of low and very low grades. The efficacy and safety of Shufeng Jiedu Capsules in the clinical treatment of diseases still need to be verified based on more high-quality studies. The relevant clinical research and systematic review/Meta-analysis should pay more attention to methodological quality and reporting standards and strengthen the scientificity of research.

Enzyme cocktail containing NADH regeneration system for efficient bioremediation of oil sludge contamination.

Oil sludge is one kind of toxic and persistent contamination to ecology system from petroleum industry. In order to recycle contaminated sands and reduce environmental impacts at a lower operating cost, enzyme cocktail 21/CbFDH including NADH regeneration system for oily sludge bioremediation was constructed for the first time. The intracellular enzymes of oil-degrading strain Acinetobacter calcoaceticus 21 were prepared and the formate dehydrogenase gene Cbfdh from Candida boidinii was cloned and functionally expressed in E.coli BL21 induced by lactose. The activity and stability of CbFDH was enhanced through self-induction medium optimization using Box-Behnken design. The CbFDH activity was 12.2 times increased and was only decreased 3.9% upon storage at 30 °C for 5 d. The CbFDH increased the degradation rate of oil in high concentration. For the sludge with 10% oil (w/w), the degradation rate achieved 35.6% after 12 h using enzyme 21/CbFDH with the protein ratio of 1:4. The results will provide novel perspectives for creation and operation of petroleum-degrading enzymes involving formate dehydrogenase with higher efficiency and lower cost comparing to current microbial strains or consortium.