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Full utilization of all three major components of biomass (glucan, xylan and lignin) is considered to be the key to commercialization of bio-refinery process of biomass. In this work, based on pretreatment severity (PS), a controlled magnesium bisulfite pretreatment (MBSP) was developed to produce ethanol, xylo -oligosaccharides (XOS) and magnesium lignosulfonate (ML) simultaneously. After MBSP at PS 3.66 (170 °C for 40 min), about 136 g of ethanol, 98 g of XOS and 133 g of ML were achieved from1 kg raw wheat straw. As high values-added chemicals, XOS has many applications in food and pharmaceutical industries while ML can be used as surfactants and dispersing agents. These results suggest that a controlled MBSP offers an effective way to fully utilize its components and coproduce ethanol, XOS and ML from wheat straw. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For wheat straw, an ideal bio-refinery process is that all three major components of biomass could be efficiently utilized to make high value chemicals, MBSP could directly convert the hemicelluloses and lignin into xylo-oligosaccharides and lignosulfonate. However, these value-added compounds still present in spent liquor and thus should be isolated as an individual product. In present work, a simple and efficient ion exchange process was developed for separating xylo-oligosaccharides and lignosulfonate simultaneously from spent liquor. D354 resin was selected for its high adsorption capacity of magnesium lignosulfonate and remarkable selectivity. 93.09% of XOS and 98.03% of lignosulfonate were recovered from the treated spent liquor in a fixed bed column with D354 resin. Overall, 1 L of MBSP spent liquor could coproduce 9.5 g XOS and 74 g lignosulfonate. These results offer an opportunity for complete and effective utilization of biomass by a novel integrated process coupling of MBSP and ion-exchange process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropomyosin receptor kinases (TRKs) are a family of TRKA, TRKB and TRKC isoforms. It has been widely reported that TRKs are implicated in a variety of tumors with several Pan -TRK inhibitors currently being used or evaluated in clinical treatment. However, off-target adverse events frequently occur in the clinical use of Pan -TRK inhibitors, which result in poor patient compliance, even drug discontinuation. Although a subtype-selectivity TRK inhibitor may avert the potential off-target adverse events and can act as a more powerful tool compound in the biochemical studies on TRKs, the high sequence similarities of TRKs hinder the development of subtype-selectivity TRK inhibitors. For example, no selective TRKC inhibitor has been reported. Herein, a selective TRKC inhibitor (L13) was disclosed, with potent TRKC inhibitory activity and 107.5-/34.9-fold selectivity over TRKA/B (IC 50 TRKA/B/C = 1400 nM, 454 nM, 13 nM, respectively). Extensive molecular dynamics simulations illustrated that key interactions of L13 with the residues and diversely conserved water molecules in the ribose regions of different TRKs may be the structural basis of selectivity. This will provide inspiring insights into the development of subtype-selectivity TRK inhibitors. Moreover, L13 could serve as a tool compound to investigate the distinct biological functions of TRKC and a starting point for further research on drugs specifically targeting TRKC. [Display omitted] • Off-target adverse events can occur in the use of Pan -TRK inhibitors. • A subtype-selectivity TRK inhibitor may avert off-target adverse events. • A subtype-selective TRKC (L13) inhibitor was disclosed for the first time. • Molecular dynamics simulations illustrated the structural basis of selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study established a new more neutral magnesium bisulfate pretreatment (MBSP) using magnesium bisulfate as sulfonating agent for improving the enzymatic hydrolysis efficiency of corn stover. Using the MBSP with 5.21% magnesium bisulfate, 170 °C and pH 5.2 for 60 min, about 90% of lignin and 80% of hemicellulose were removed from biomass and more than 90% cellulose conversion of substrate was achieved after 48 h hydrolysis. About 6.19 kg raw corn stover could produce 1 kg ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Meanwhile, MBSP also could protect sugars from excessive degradation, prevent fermentation inhibition formation and directly convert the hemicelluloses into xylooligosaccharides as higher-value products. These results suggested that the MBSP method offers an alternative approach to the efficient conversion of nonwoody lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol and had broad space for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the shifts of bacterial and archaea diversity suffering the organic load shocks during the start-up. To demonstrate the effects of organic load shock, six reactors was operated in different OLR for 31 days. The community was analyzed using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and quantitative PCR. Findings revealed that bacteria diversity was the poorest and archaea quantity was the fewest when suffering OLR shock. MST and MSC were found to the more vulnerable methanogenic archaea groups during organic overloading. Our results explained why gradually increasing OLR is good for favoring the growth of an active biofilm and reactor successful startup quickly during the start-up from the perspective of microbial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The two-phase anaerobic co-digestion of CD with PM was evaluated using 4 SBRs and a CSTR. [•] Co-acidification of PM and CD promoted the production and accumulation of VFAs, SCOD and NH4–N. [•] Methanogenic fermentation of the acidification products was efficient and steady. [•] Co-digestion of PM and CD supported higher quantity and diversity of methanogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molasses is a typical feedstock for fermentation, but the effluent is hard to treat. In this study, molasses containing a high concentration of organic matter was treated by a two-stage Fix-bed reactor system with an increased organic loading rate (OLR). The results indicated at high molasses loading rate, the two-stage system was more efficient (i.e. organic matter removal, the COD of effluent and biogas production) than the single-stage system. The relative abundance of Anaerolineaceae and W5_norank was higher in the first stage (R1), where these organisms digest carbohydrates, while the second stage (R2) had higher relative abundance of Synergistaceae and SB-1_norank , which digest VFAs and decomposition-resistant compounds to produce compounds used by hydrogen methanogens. The qPCR analysis demonstrated that the Methanosaetaceae dominated the archaeal community in the first stage (R1), while Methanomicrobiales and Methanobacteriales were predominant in the second stage (R2), where they were involved in hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate and predict the therapeutic agents associated with disulfidptosis in periodontitis. The dataset GSE10334 was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database and used to train a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM–RFE) algorithm to identify genes associated with disulfidptosis in periodontitis. GSE16134 validation sets, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and gingival immunofluorescence were used to verify the results.Single-gene Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to explore the potential mechanisms and functions of the characterized genes. Immune infiltration and correlation analyses were performed, and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) networks were constructed. Effective therapeutic drugs were then predicted using the DGIdb database, and molecular docking was used to validate binding affinity. Six genes (SLC7A11, SLC3A2, RPN1, NCKAP1, LRPPRC, and NDUFS1) associated with disulfidptosis in periodontitis were obtained. Validation results from external datasets and experiments were consistent with the screening results. Single-gene GSEA analysis was mainly enriched for antigen presentation and immune-related pathways and functions.Immune infiltration and correlation analyses revealed significant regulatory relationships between these genes and plasma cells, resting dendritic cell, and activated NK cells. The ceRNA network was visualized. And ME-344, NV-128, and RILUZOLE, which have good affinity to target genes, were identified as promising agents for the treatment of periodontitis. SLC7A11, SLC3A2, RPN1, NCKAP1, LRPPRC, and NDUFS1 are targets associated with disulfidptosis in periodontitis, and ME-344, NV-128, and RILUZOLE are promising agents for the treatment of periodontitis. • NDUFS1 , LRPPRC , NCKAP1 , RPN1 , SLC3A2 , and SLC7A11 are associated with periodontitis. • ME-344, NV-128, and RILUZOLE are promising treatments for periodontitis. • Disulfidptosis may be one of the pathogenic mechanisms of periodontitis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been a long-term challenge for radiation-voltaics to meet the power requirements of the fast-developed exploration activities in extreme environments such as deep sea, polar regions, and outer space. In this work, we demonstrated novel X-ray radiation-voltaic (X-ray-voltaic) batteries adopting SiC conversion units, which could improve the output power up to 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of state-of-the-art betavoltaics. A comprehensive model integrating the radioactive sources and semiconductor units was built to guide the design of X-ray voltaics. SiC devices with the optimal structure were fabricated and confirmed experimentally the accuracy of the device model. According to the model, the SiC X-ray-voltaics with 55Fe radioactive sources can achieve a highest output power of 19.10 μW/cm2 and a highest power efficiency (η total) of 7.71%. The unique advantages of SiC X-ray-voltaic batteries including the excellent irradiation hardness, the superlong lifetime, and the outstanding prospects as power sources were discussed in details. This work reveals the promising potentials of the X-ray-voltaics for extreme environmental explorations and will inspire the further development of the high-performance isotope batteries. • The X-ray-voltaic batteries is a new member of micro power sources. • The output power of SiC based X-ray-voltaic battery can be up to 19.10 μW/cm2 with the real 55Fe source. • The output power of X-ray-voltaics have achieved 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of betavoltaics. • The overall efficiency of X-ray-voltaic battery is 2- to 3-fold of that of betavoltaics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Napier grass is potentially a viable feedstock for biofuel production. The present study investigated biological pretreatment of Napier grass by three microbial consortia followed by saccharification and anaerobic digestion. The pretreatment efficiencies of three microbial consortia were compared in terms of degradation ability, saccharide and biogas yield. The lignocellulose loss rates of Napier grass varied largely. The biomass pretreated by the consortium WSD-5 gave 43.4% and 66.2% total sugar yield under low and moderate loadings of commercial enzyme mixtures, while the highest yield was 83.2% pretreated by the consortium MC1 under a high enzyme loading. The maximum methane yield of pretreated samples by the consortia MC1, WSD-5 and XDC-2 were 259, 279, 247 ml/g VS, respectively, which were 1.39, 1.49 and 1.32 times greater than the values of the untreated controls. This study showed that pretreatments by MC1, WSD-5 and XDC-2 were capable of significantly enhancing both the saccharide and methane yields from Napier grass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]