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Highlights • An oral DNA vaccine was constructed by fusing rabbit IL-2 gene to RHDV-VP60 gene. • RHDV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses were well established in rabbits. • The rabbits immunized with the oral vaccine were protected against RHDV. • IL-2 is a promising vaccine adjuvant to enhance the effect of an RHDV DNA vaccine. Abstract Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) is a highly contagious infection that has caused significant damage to the rabbit industry since 1984. Inactivated vaccines, the currently used prevention measures, are effective in controlling RHD. However, these vaccines are derived from the livers of infected rabbits, which constitutes a major concern in terms of animal welfare and safety. Administration of DNA vaccines in collaboration with appropriate adjuvants, in particular, cytokines, to strengthen the immune response presents a novel optimization strategy to generate more efficient vaccines. In this study, the adjuvant effect of interleukin (IL)-2 co-expression with the VP60 gene in a DNA vaccine was evaluated. In total, four groups of 60 RHD virus (RHDV)-free rabbits (30 days old) were orally or subcutaneously administered recombinant SL7207-pVAX1-IL2-VP60, SL7207-pVAX1-VP60, SL7207-pVAX1 bacteria or the commercial inactive vaccine, and the induced immunity evaluated by challenge with the RHDV(Y8504/China) strain on day 56. The Recombinant SL7207-pVAX1-IL2-VP60 induced a higher level of antibodies than the vaccine SL7207-pVAX1-VP60 and inactivated vaccines to a significant extent. The concentrations of interleukin (IL)-4 were markedly higher than those in groups immunized with the naked or inactive vaccine alone. Furthermore, the fusion gene vaccine provided higher protection (93.33%) after virus challenge relative to immunization with the single gene (SL7207-pVAX1-VP60). The collective results indicate that recombinant SL7207-pVAX1-IL-2-VP60 bacteria exert enhanced protective effects against RHDV and therefore present a strong candidate as a potential vaccine. Moreover, IL-2 enhanced both humoral and cellular responses, highlighting the utility of rabbit IL-2 as an effective adjuvant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Vacuum cooling (VC) is a cooling technology for moist and porous foodstuffs with superiority in cooling rate, uniformity and hygiene, and low energy consumption. However, there are still some disadvantages that weaken the competitiveness of industrial applications such as the inevitable mass loss and uneven cooling in different parts of leafy vegetables. In order to improve the performance of VC, many efforts have been performed. Scope and approach In this review, the basic information of VC and the main applications for fruit, vegetables and meat products as well as limitations are described first. Improvements for enhancing performances of this technology in terms of operation processes including pre-treatment, technical optimization and integration, as well as equipment upgrade, and optimized operation conditions such as final pressure and pressure reduction rate are discussed. In addition, the limitation and further prospects of VC in the food industry are also mentioned. Key findings and conclusions The findings presented in this review demonstrated that optimizing operation processes and controlling operation conditions can effectively improve the performance of VC including mass loss, cooling rate and energy consumption and temperature distribution. However, many enhancing strategies still have limitation for applied in the food industry. Future trends of VC are the study of moisture migration characteristics based on food microstructure and multi-functional optimization of VC process or system. It is hoped that the current review can provide some guidance for further developments of the VC technology. Highlights • Contemporary applications of vacuum cooling to foods are presented. • Limitations in application and performance of vacuum cooling are discussed. • Innovative operation processes to improve vacuum cooling technology are assessed. • Strategies to refine operation conditions of vacuum cooling are outlined. • Key research trends comprise moisture migration and multi-functional optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the resin transfer molding (RTM) process, the existence of curved regions in a mold can significantly affect the resin filling process. To investigate the impregnation behavior in curved regions, a systematic experimental study was performed to detect the influences of bend angles, flow lengths, and preform layers on the resin flow-front progression. The results revealed that curved regions on molds would increase the resin flowing time by 15–30%, and this was attributed to the interaction between preform deformations and the race-tracking effect along the centerline. An analytical methodology was developed to simulate the flow progression on curved molds, where the pressure loss coefficient and overall permeability variations were evaluated. This analytical methodology provides a reliable and concise method for predicting the permeability variations on curved molds, without testing preform mechanical properties or building representative volume elements to model preform deformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mainstream deammonification of municipal wastewater has been recognized as one of the greatest challenges in wastewater engineering. The conventional activated sludge process has disadvantages of high energy input and sludge production. To tackle this situation, an innovative A-B process, where an anaerobic biofilm reactor (AnBR) functioned as the A stage for energy recovery, and a step-feed membrane bioreactor (MBR) functioned as the B stage for mainstream deammonification, was constructed for carbon-neutral wastewater treatment. For addressing the challenge associated with selective retention of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) over nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB), a multi-parameter control-based operation strategy was developed with synergistic control of influent COD redistribution, dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration and sludge retention time (SRT) in the innovative AnBR – step-feed MBR system. Results showed that more than 85% of wastewater COD could be removed with the direct production of methane gas in the AnBR. A relatively stable partial nitritation, which is a prerequisite of anammox, was achieved with the successful suppression of NOB, leading to 98% of ammonium-N and 73% of total nitrogen removed. Anammox bacteria could well survive and enrich in the integrated system, and the contribution of anammox to the total nitrogen removal was more than 70% at optimal conditions. Reactions network involved in the nitrogen transformation in the integrated system was further constructed through the mass balance and microbial community structure analyses. Consequently, this study demonstrated a practically feasible process configuration with high operation and control flexibility towards stable mainstream deammonification of municipal wastewater. [Display omitted] • Integrated AnBR-step feed MBR was developed for mainstream deammonification. • 98% of NH 4 +-N and 73% of TN were removed in the integrated process. • NOB was suppressed by synergistic control of COD redistribution, DO and SRT. • Redistribution of influent COD favored the enrichment of anammox bacteria. • Anammox made a significant contribution to the observed TN removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a novel electrodialysis membrane bioreactor was used for EBPR sludge treatment for energy and phosphorus resource recovery simultaneously. After 30 days stable voltage outputting, the maximum power density reached 0.32 W/m 3 . Over 90% of phosphorus in EBPR sludge was released while about 50% of phosphorus was concentrated to 4 mmol/L as relatively pure phosphate solution. Nitrogen could be removed from EBPR sludge by desalination and denitrification processes. This study provides an optimized way treating sludge for energy production and in situ phosphorus recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recovering resources, especially energy and nutrients, from source-separated urine, is attracting increasing interest. By integrating electrodialysis into an electrochemical membrane bioreactor, a novel, selectively electrodialysis membrane bioreactor (EDMBR) was developed for the treatment of source-separated urine and nutrient recovery. Before injection into the EDMBR system, the diluted urine was pretreated by ammonia stripping. The concentration of ammonia in the urine decreased from 1292.2 ± 47.5 mg/L to 235.1 ± 5.7 mg/L upon stripping, denoting an 81.8% ammonia removal efficiency. Phosphate and sulfate recovery from urine were then achieved in situ , utilizing the electricity generated by selective electrodialysis in the EDMBR. In this EDMBR system, which was fed with treated urine after stripping, a maximum power density of 23.5 W/m 3 was obtained at an external resistance of 1000 Ω. Consequently, 97.4% of the NH 4 + , 76.7% of the PO 4 3− , and 94.5% of the SO 4 2 − was removed, while 65% of the phosphate and 54.9% of the sulfate (based on their amounts in urine after stripping) were recovered as a concentrated solution. Moreover, other salts, especially NaCl, were selectively retained as brine, indicating that the EDMBR shows promise for urine desalination. This study demonstrates a new strategy for nutrient separation and recovery from source-separated urine by utilizing bioelectricity generated in situ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • This is the demonstration of the therapeutic effect of Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (EuO) on the liver disease of Micropterus salmoides caused by a high starch diet. • The repair of M. salmoides liver disease by EuO is achieved by enhancing antioxidant capacity, inhibiting apoptosis, and repairing damaged tissues. • EuO improves the non-specific immunity of M. salmoides. Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (EuO) is a traditional Chinese herb with effects on repairing disorders of liver lipid metabolism and enhancing immunity in mice. In this study, the effects of EuO on immune enhancement and liver protection of M. salmoides were tested by adding 3% EuO to a high-starch diet and were evaluated by histopathology, enzymology, flow cytometry, and molecular biology. The results showed that the high starch diet promoted hepatocytes apoptosis, damaged the liver, and led to impaired immune function. However, the integrality of liver was recoverd, innate response was enhanced, hepatocyte apoptosis was inhibited, and antioxidant capacity was improved after treatment with EuO. These findings reveal that EuO could improve the immune function while also repairing the M. salmoides liver injury induced by a high starch diet. This study provides a theoretical basis for EuO to solve the liver disease of M. salmoides caused by a high starch diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]