Leptin mediates the suppressive effect of partial fat removal on cellular and humoral immunity in striped hamsters.

Leptin secreted mainly by white adipose tissues (WAT) plays an important role in immune responses. To understand the role of energy status and leptin in immunity, bilateral perigonadal fat pads were removed or sham-removed in male striped hamsters (Cricetulus barabensis). Half of these hamsters were injected with sterile saline, and another half were administrated with exogenous leptin each day, which lasted for 20 days. Fat removal reduced total body fat mass and leptin titers significantly, leptin administration increased leptin levels in the fat removed hamsters to the control levels, but did not affect total body fat mass. Body mass and gross energy intake were not affected by fat removal, leptin supplement or their interaction. Fat removal decreased thymus mass, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) response at 12 h, and the levels of immunoglobin (Ig) G 5, IgG10, IgM5, IgM10, IL-2, IL-4, and TNF-α, indicating a reduction in fat mass suppressed cellular and humoral immunity and the production of cytokines. However, fat removal had no effect on spleen mass, bacteria killing activity and IFN-γ titers. Leptin supplement increased PHA response at 6 h and 12 h, and the levels of IgG5, IgG10, IL-4, and IFN-γ to the control levels, implying its boosting effects on these parameters. In addition, leptin level was positively correlated with body fat mass, PHA 6 h, 12 h, Ig G10, Ig M5, Ig M10, IL-2, IL-4, and TNF-α. Collectively, these findings implied leptin was a link between energy status and immunity, and leptin mediated the suppressive effects of reduced energy storage on cellular and humoral immunity.

Characterization of algal organic matter as precursors for carbonaceous and nitrogenous disinfection byproducts formation: Comparison with natural organic matter.

Algal organic matter (AOM) and natural organic matter (NOM) from a typical eutrophic lake were comprehensively investigated in terms of their physico-chemical property, components and disinfection byproduct formation potentials (DBPFPs). The relationships between specific chemical properties of AOM and NOM with their corresponding DBPFPs were further evaluated during chlorination. Results indicated that AOM had lower specific UV absorbance (SUVA) but richer organic nitrogen contents than NOM. Fluorescence excitation emission matrix spectroscopy further demonstrated that AOM were chiefly composed of aromatic protein-like and soluble microbial byproduct-like matters, while NOM were mainly contributed from humic acid-like and soluble microbial byproduct-like substances. Although the molecular weight (MW) distribution of AOM and NOM showed no significant difference, size-exclusion chromatography with organic carbon as well as organic nitrogen detection (LC-OCD-OND) revealed that AOM were concentrated with the fraction of building blocks and NOM had higher concentrations of biopolymers and humics (HS). Moreover, AOM displayed higher DBPFPs than NOM, especially for nitrogenous DBPFP (N-DBPFP). MW < 1 kDa fractions both in AOM and NOM contributed the largest proportion to the formation of carbonaceous disinfection byproducts (C-DBPs). In addition, Pearson correlation analysis showed that bulk parameter SUVA was significantly relevant to the formation potentials of trihalomethane both in AOM and NOM, but was ineffective for carbonaceous DBPFP (C-DBPFP) prediction. Dissolved organic nitrogen contents in biopolymer and HS characterized by LC-OCD-OND had strong correlations with N-DBPFPs from AOM and NOM, indicating that LC-OCD-OND quantitative analysis could improve the prediction accuracy of the DBP formation than bulk parameters during NOM and AOM chlorination.

[Transformation of Protein in Sludge During High Solids Anaerobic Digestion].

Dewatered waste sludge with a total solid (TS) concentration of 12% was used for mesophilic (37℃) anaerobic digestion (AD). The biotransformation mechanism of protein and the reason for the low conversion efficiency of protein under high solids AD was investigated by analyzing the variation of protein composition in the sludge before and after AD. The results showed that the conversion rate of protein in the sludge was 34.26% after 45 days of AD. The reason for the low efficiency of protein conversion was the poor mass transfer efficiency under the condition of high solids content and the large amount of ammonia nitrogen produced with the hydrolysis. After 45 days of AD, the total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentration reached 1201 mg·L-1, which resulted in the inhibition of the AD process, especially the decomposition of protein. Some of the protein converted to humic acid-like and fulvic acid-like substances, which are more difficult to decompose based on the three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy (3D-EEM) analysis. Two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE)- mass spectrometry (MS) was adopted for identifying the composition of protein in sludge before and after AD. It showed that the relative molecular weight and the isoelectric point (pI) of the protein in the sludge decreased after AD and most of the proteins left in the digested sludge came from the micro-organisms. These proteins cannot be further decomposed by the microbes because of the decreased microbial metabolic capacity at the end of the AD process or lack of specific enzymes for the hydrolysis of these proteins. This ultimately resulted in the low decomposition efficiency of the total protein in the sludge.

Insights into influencing factor, degradation mechanism and potential toxicity involved in aqueous ozonation of oxcarbazepine (CHEM46939R1).

Oxcarbazepine (OXC), as a potent antiepileptic drug, is widely used in recent years, but its residue is potentially harmful to the environment. Although ozonation is a high-efficient technology for chemical oxidation during water treatment, it cannot completely mineralize organic matters, but partially transforms them into some unidentified by-products. In order to provide more insight into OXC ozonation process, the influencing factor, transformation mechanism and potential toxicity were comprehensively investigated in this study. The results showed that the optimal ozonation temperature was 20 °C with a pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant of 0.161 min-1. The increase of pH significantly enhanced OXC degradation, while the presence of bicarbonate caused a remarkable negative effect, manifesting that hydroxyl radical (OH) oxidation should play an important role in OXC ozonation. Moreover, transformation mechanism was further elucidated based on the identification of ten OXC-related by-products using UPLC-Q-TOF-MSn, which mainly consisted of electrophilic substitution, N-heterocyclic ring cleavage and re-arrangement, hydroxylation, carbonylation, demethoxylation and deamidation, etc. The toxicity evaluation, using US Environmental Protection Agency Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (US-EPA TEST), suggested that most identified by-products were probably more toxic than OXC itself. Besides, further experiments, by measuring inhibitory effect of ozonated mixture on Vibrio fischeri bioluminescence, demonstrated that by-products with higher toxicity tended to be accumulated under a short reaction time. Taken together, the present investigation provided valuable information for further understanding OXC ozonation process, and suggested that special attention should be paid to the control and elimination of toxic transformation by-products in future studies.

[Construction of a High Efficiency Anaerobic Digestion System for Vinegar Residue].

The model of high solid anaerobic digestion was used by improving the degree of homogeneity of the reaction system and biogas slurry reflux to gradually increase the material load. The vinegar residue-efficient anaerobic digestion system was successfully constructed without pretreatment.The optimum anaerobic digestibility was observed when the material loading of the reaction system reached 6.15 g·(L·d)-1, when the amount of biogas produced per unit of dry material was 396 mL·g-1, and the amount of methane produced per unit of dry material was 211 mL·g-1. The degradation rate of hemicellulose reached 63.66%, which was the main reason for the improvement of anaerobic digestion performance. The degradation rates of cellulose and lignin were 21.46% and 24.43%, respectively. The lower degradation efficiency was mainly due to the complicated degradation of the benzene ring structure in lignin and hindered hydrolysis of cellulose, which had a shielding effect on cellulose degradation.

[Repair of the finger proximal and middle segment soft tissue defect with flap transplantation].

OBJECTIVE: To summarize and analyze the surgical methods and therapeutic effects of repair of the finger proximal and middle segment soft tissue defect with three different types of skin flaps. METHODS: From May 2011 to May 2015, 102 patients with 115 fingers proximal and middle segment soft tissue defect underwent reconstruction with three different types of skin flaps. There were 59 males with 70 fingers and 43 females with 45 fingers, aged from 19 to 62 years old with an average of 45.6 years. Twenty-nine patients with 29 fingers were repaired by free peroneal artery perforator flaps, 35 patients with 37 fingers were repaired by the free vascularized flaps based on the wrist cutaneous branch of ulnar artery, 38 patients with 49 fingers were repaired by metacarpal dorsal artery perforator flaps. The soft tissue defect area varied from 1.8 cm×4.0 cm to 2.8 cm×5.4 cm. The flap area varied from 2.0 cm×4.4 cm to 3.1 cm×6.0 cm. The clinical results were evaluated based on flap survival rate, finger function and complications. RESULTS: All flaps survived. Distal skin flap necrosis occurred in 5 flaps, but healed after wound dressing therapy. No deep infection were found in donor site and recipient site. There were 3 cases with partial necrosis of the skin graft, and delayed healing after wound dressing therapy. All patients were followed up from 6 to 28 months with an average of 10.6 months. The appearance and texture of flaps were well. The sensation were good, two-point discrimination was 9 to 13 mm. There were no obvious dysfunction happened in the donor site. The function of the fingers was excellent in 52 cases, good in 41, fair in 9 cases. CONCLUSIONS: About the repair of the finger proximal and middle segment soft tissue defect, the right flap should be choosen based on the difference of the sex and the age in patients, wounds situation, the master degree of the operation method and the hospital's technical conditions.

Degradation of phenazone in aqueous solution with ozone: influencing factors and degradation pathways.

Oxidation kinetics and degradation pathways of phenazone (an analgesic and antipyretic drug) upon reaction with O3 were investigated. Kinetic studies on degradation of phenazone were carried out under different operating conditions such as temperature, pH, anions and H2O2 addition. Results showed that the degradation followed the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The reaction rate constant (kobs) of phenazone reached the maximum at 20 °C (9.653×10(-3) s(-1)). The presence of NO3(-) could enhance the degradation rate, while the addition of HCO3(-), SO4(2)(-), Cl(-) and the rise of pH showed negative effects on the ozonation of phenazone. H2O2 addition increased the phenazone degradation efficiency by 45.9% with the optimal concentration of 0.135 mM. Reaction by-products were evaluated by UPLC-Q-TOF-MS, which allowed the identification of a total of 10 by-products. The transformation pathways of phenazone ozonation consisted mainly of electrophilic addition and substitution, pyrazole ring opening, hydroxylation, dephenylization and coupling. The toxicity of these intermediate products showed that they are expected not to be more toxic than phenazone, with the exception of P7 (aniline) and P10 (1,5-dimethyl-4-((1-methyl-2-phenylhydrazinyl)methoxy)-2-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-3(2H)-one).

Performance and dynamic characteristics of microbial communities in an internal circulation reactor for treating brewery wastewater.

A laboratory-scale internal circulation (IC) anaerobic reactor fed with brewery wastewater was operated at 35 degrees C + 1 degrees C. The influent was pumped into the bottom of the IC reactor by a pulse pump, whereas the effluent was drawn from the upper outlet and allowed to flow into the effluent tank. The biogas volume was recorded using a gas container connected to a biogas metre. The results indicated that the maximum organic loading rate (OLR) of the IC reactor was 19.5 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/m3/day; at which point, the dominant archaeal populations found in the sludge using the polymerase chain reaction with denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis were Methanosaeta species. The COD removal efficiencies of the reactor exceeded 85%, with a maximum specific methane production rate of 210 mL CH4/g volatile suspended solids (VSS)/day and a coenzyme F420 content of 0.16 micromol/g VSS, respectively. The main archaeal species in the sludge samples at different OLRs varied greatly, as compared with the organisms in the inoculated sludge. The dominant archaeal species in the treated sludge at low OLRs were Methanosarcina species, whereas those at high OLRs were Methanosaeta species.

[Effects of Ginkgo biloba extract in improving episodic memory of patients with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled trial].

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment is a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. It is important in terms of recognizing memory loss in older people as well as identifying a group of individuals at high risk of developing dementia and who may benefit from preventive strategies. Ginkgo biloba extract has been shown to possess polyvalent properties, such as anti-oxidation, anti-apoptosis and anti-inflammation. Ginkgo biloba extract appears to have a neuroprotective effect against neurodegenerative diseases. OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy of Ginkgo biloba leaf tablet in improving episodic memory of mild cognitive impairment. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: This is a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. The authors enrolled generally healthy, ambulatory or ambulatory-aided amnestic subjects with MCI, 60 to 85 years old, who expressed a memory complaint from Huadong Hospital, seven Community Health Centers in Shanghai, and Shanghai First Welfare Institution. A total of 120 MCI patients were randomly assigned to the Ginkgo biloba leaf tablet group (treatment group, 60 cases) and control group (60 cases). The patients in the treatment group took Ginkgo biloba leaf tablets 3 times a day, 19.2 mg each dose. The control group did not receive any intelligence-promoting or vasodilator reflex treatment except some health care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The patients were tested with nonsense picture recognition of the clinical memory scale and the logical memory test based on the Wechsler memory scale before and after treatment. RESULTS: After 6 months of treatment, the scores of the logical memory test and nonsense picture recognition were increased significantly in the treatment group (P<0.01, P<0.05), while the scores of the two tests from the control group had no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). After treatment, the positive rate of nonsense picture recognition was 55.17% in the treatment group, which was significantly higher than that of the control group at 32.73% (P<0.05). The efficacy rate of logical memory was 58.62% in the treatment group, also higher than 38.18% in the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Ginkgo biloba leaf tablet showed good efficacy in promoting episodic memory function in MCI patients.

Physicochemical properties and inhibition effect on iron deficiency anemia of a novel polysaccharide-iron complex (LPPC).

Porphyran (P) was extracted from red algae Porphyra by boiling water. A novel polysaccharide-iron complex (LPPC) was prepared under the alkaline condition by adding a ferric chloride solution to the low molecular weight porphyran (LP) solution. Physicochemical properties and inhibition effect on iron deficiency anemia of this complex were studied. The content of iron(III) in the complex is 21.57% determined with iodometry. The results indicate that LPPC was product required. The complex can increase red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb), Serum iron (SI), spleen index, spleen mass and mass of mice with iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Although the structure and deeper mechanisms on hemolytic anemia of LPPC should be further studied, LPPC is hoped to be developed as a late-model iron supplement which has a synergism on anemia.

Bis(1H-imidazole-κN)bis-(2-methyl-benzoato-κO)bis-(2-methyl-benzoic acid-κO)copper(II).

The structure of the title compound, [Cu(C(8)H(7)O(2))(2)(C(3)H(4)N(2))(2)(C(8)H(8)O(2))(2)], consists of centrosymmetric monomeric units, in which the Cu(II) atom has a tetra-gonally distorted octa-hedral coordination involving two imidazole N atoms and two carboxyl-ate O atoms in the square plane [Cu-N = 1.964 (3) and Cu-O = 1.960 (2) Å] and 2-methyl-benzoic acid O atoms in axial sites [Cu-O = 2.753 (3) Å]. Within the complex, the carb-oxy-lic acid forms intra-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, while the mol-ecules are assembled through N-H⋯O(carbox-yl) hydrogen bonds into chains extending along the a-axis direction. These chains are further linked by weak π-π inter-actions [centroid-centroid separation = 3.930 (2) Å].

Enhancement of substrate solubilization and hydrogen production from kitchen wastes by pH pretreatment.

Pretreatment at different pHs was adopted in this study to enhance the substance solubilization and hydrogen production from kitchen wastes through anaerobic digestion. After a pretreatment set at pH = 13, solubilization of kitchen wastes improved substantially as the concentration of soluble carbohydrate, soluble protein, lipids and soluble chemical oxygen demand increased by 283.1%, 203.2%, 259.1% and 108.2%, respectively, as compared with those of the control. The maximum hydrogen production potential reached 105.38 mL/g VS after the pretreatment, which was 2.66 times that of the control. Furthermore, butyric acid and acetic acid were the major components in the total metabolites after fermentation, while propionic acid had a relatively low concentration. Finally, the concentration of exoprotein and exopolysaccharide within extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) kept increasing during the initial 14 and 9 hours, respectively, then decreased afterwards. However, the concentration of DNA increased throughout the whole stage. The total EPS might indirectly indicate the anaerobic digestion process. These findings may represent a feasible method for high-quality treatment of kitchen wastes.