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A novel combined biosorption-precipitation process has been designed and applied to recycle Pb2+ from low concentration lead containing wastewater. Pb2+ was firstly removed selectively from wastewater by pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) modified sugarcane bagasse (SB) fixed-bed column, and then, it was desorbed into the concentrated eluate and recycled by adding chemical precipitant. Adsorption performance of the column and optimum desorption and precipitation condition for Pb2+ were investigated in detail. Results showed that the as-prepared column could efficiently remove Pb2+ from aqueous solution and optimum condition for Pb2+ precipitation in eluate was at pH 3.0 and molar ratio of precipitant to Pb2+ of 5:1 by using Na3PO4 as precipitant. Recovery experiment illustrated that Pb2+ was selectively removed from wastewater containing ions of Pb2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Ca2+, K+, and Na+ through competitive substitution adsorption on the modified SB, and mass ratio of the five metal ions in eluate was 96.8:0.7:0.7:0.7:0.5:0.5. Pb2+ in this concentrated and purified eluate solution was recycled efficiently by adding Na3PO4. The combined method had great potential in application of heavy metal recovery from wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-dispersed Pt-Cu alloy nanoparticles (NPs) with a diameter of only ≈2 nm encapsulated in carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are synthesized using electrospinning technology followed by a graphitization process in a chemical vapor deposition furnace. Distinctly, even with a small amount of Pt, the Pt-Cu/CNFs-1:2 catalyst possesses outstanding hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) activity, including small overpotential, long-term stability, and a high exchange current density as well as large double layer capacitance (Cdl). The excellent HER performance of the Pt-Cu/CNFs-1:2 catalyst is attributed to the synergistic interaction between Pt and Cu, the uniform distribution of the alloy NPs and the use of CNFs with 3D architectures. This development may provide a simple, efficient, and green synthesis method to design bi- or multimetal alloys for use as the cathode electrocatalysts for the HER or other electrocatalytic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase(UGT) is a highly conserved protein in plants, which usually functions in secondary metabolic pathways. This study used the Hidden Markov Model(HMM) to screen out members of UGT gene family in the whole genome of Dendrobium officinale, and 44 UGT genes were identified. Bioinformatics was used to analyze the structure, phylogeny, and promoter region components of D. officinale genes. The results showed that UGT gene family could be divided into four subfamilies, and UGT gene structure was relatively conserved in each subfamily, with nine conserved domains. The upstream promoter region of UGT gene contained a variety of cis-acting elements related to plant hormones and environmental factors, indicating that UGT gene expression may be induced by plant hormones and external environmental factors. UGT gene expression in different tissues of D. officinale was compared, and UGT gene expression was found in all parts of D. officinale. It was speculated that UGT gene played an important role in many tissues of D. officinale. Through transcriptome analysis of D. officinale mycorrhizal symbiosis environment, low temperature stress, and phosphorus deficiency stress, this study found that only one gene was up-regulated in all three conditions. The results of this study can help understand the functions of UGT gene family in Orchidaceae plants and provide a basis for further study on the molecular regulation mechanism of polysaccharide metabolism pathway in D. officinale.

Tetraethylenepentamine modified sugarcane bagasse was prepared and applied to test its feasibility in removing and recovering Cu 2+ from wastewater under dynamic condition. Results showed that the Cu 2+ could be selectively absorbed from wastewater by the modified SCB fixed bed column. To understand the adsorption mechanism, Cd 2+ had been selected as the model interfering ion to investigate how co-ions influence the adsorption of Cu 2+ on the sorbent. It was observed that the adsorption capacity of the sorbent for Cu 2+ (0.26 mmol g -1 ) was significantly higher than that of Cd 2+ (0.03 mmol g -1 ), even when the Cd 2+ initial concentration was 100 times higher than that of Cu 2+ in the binary system. This finding indicated that the presence of Cd 2+ in the solution exerted negligible influence on the adsorption of Cu 2+ on the modified SCB. The selectivity of the modified sorbent was further confirmed in the Cu/Cd/Mg/Pb/K quinary system. Further analysis to dynamic adsorption experiment illustrated that, due to the presence of amine groups, the modified SCB showed strong coordination ability to Cu 2+ , which allowed the other adsorbed ions (e.g., Cd 2+ ) desorbed. This high adsorption selectivity toward Cu 2+ suggested that this prepared sorbent would be a promising candidate for removing and recovering Cu 2+ from wastewater.

Chronic exposure to opiates impairs hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and spatial memory, but the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. Given the well known effects of adenosine, an important neuromodulator, on hippocampal neuronal excitability and synaptic plasticity, we investigated the potential effect of changes in adenosine concentrations on chronic morphine treatment-induced impairment of hippocampal CA1 LTP and spatial memory. We found that chronic treatment in mice with either increasing doses (20-100 mg/kg) of morphine for 7 d or equal daily dose (20 mg/kg) of morphine for 12 d led to a significant increase of hippocampal extracellular adenosine concentrations. Importantly, we found that accumulated adenosine contributed to the inhibition of the hippocampal CA1 LTP and impairment of spatial memory retrieval measured in the Morris water maze. Adenosine A(1) receptor antagonist 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine significantly reversed chronic morphine-induced impairment of hippocampal CA1 LTP and spatial memory. Likewise, adenosine deaminase, which converts adenosine into the inactive metabolite inosine, restored impaired hippocampal CA1 LTP. We further found that adenosine accumulation was attributable to the alteration of adenosine uptake but not adenosine metabolisms. Bidirectional nucleoside transporters (ENT2) appeared to play a key role in the reduction of adenosine uptake. Changes in PKC-alpha/beta activity were correlated with the attenuation of the ENT2 function in the short-term (2 h) but not in the long-term (7 d) period after the termination of morphine treatment. This study reveals a potential mechanism by which chronic exposure to morphine leads to impairment of both hippocampal LTP and spatial memory.