44 research outputs found
Sustainable Strategy for Enhancing Anaerobic Digestion of Waste Activated Sludge: Driving Dissimilatory Iron Reduction with Fenton Sludge
The Fenton process
has been extensively applied for treatment of
refractory organic pollutants. The potentially hazardous iron-containing
sludge generated from the Fenton process requires proper treatment
and disposal, due to its high Fe contents and toxic organic matter
involved. Considering that FeÂ(III) oxides exhibit an ideal potential
for enhancing anaerobic digestion (AD), in this study Fenton sludge
with a high abundance of FeÂ(III) was introduced in the AD of waste
activated sludge (WAS) with the aim to improve sludge digestion as
well as to remove the organic matter in Fenton sludge. Results showed
that methane production and sludge reduction of WAS were significantly
improved, and the organic matter contained in Fenton sludge was removed
by 70.0%. Meanwhile, nearly half of Fenton sludge was converted to
Fe<sup>2+</sup> via dissimilatory iron reduction during the digestion,
in agreement with the microbial community analysis. The study suggests
an Fe recycling between AD and the Fenton process and that Fenton
sludge can be used as an iron source to enhance AD, during which most
of the harmful organic matter in Fenton sludge was removed, and FeÂ(II)
generated can serve as a reactant again for a new Fenton reaction
Amelioration of cognitive impairments in APPswe/PS1dE9 mice is associated with metabolites alteration induced by total salvianolic acid
<div><p>Purpose</p><p>Total salvianolic acid (TSA) is extracted from salvia miltiorrhiza; however, to date, there has been limited characterization of its effects on metabolites in Alzheimer’s disease model-APPswe/PS1dE9 mice. The main objective of this study was to investigate the metabolic changes in 7-month-old APPswe/PS1dE9 mice treated with TSA, which protects against learning and memory impairment.</p><p>Methods</p><p>APPswe/PS1dE9 mice were treated with TSA (30 mg/kg·d and 60 mg/kg·d, i.p.) and saline (i.p.) daily from 3.5 months old for 14 weeks; saline-treated (i.p.) WT mice were included as the controls. The effects of TSA on learning and memory were assessed by a series of behavioral tests, including the NOR, MWM and step-through tasks. The FBG and plasma lipid levels were subsequently assessed using the GOPOD and enzymatic color methods, respectively. Finally, the concentrations of Aβ42, Aβ40 and metabolites in the hippocampus of the mice were detected via ELISA and GC-TOF-MS, respectively.</p><p>Results</p><p>At 7 months of age, the APPswe/PS1dE9 mice treated with TSA exhibited an improvement in the preference index (PI) one hour after the acquisition phase in the NOR and the preservation of spatial learning and memory in the MWM. Treatment with TSA substantially decreased the LDL-C level, and 60 mg/kg TSA decreased the CHOL level compared with the plasma level of the APPswe/PS1dE9 group. The Aβ42 and Aβ40 levels in the hippocampus were decreased in the TSA-treated group compared with the saline-treated APPswe/PS1dE9 group. The regulation of metabolic pathways relevant to TSA predominantly included carbohydrate metabolism, such as sorbitol, glucose-6-phosphate, sucrose-6-phosphate and galactose, vitamin metabolism involved in cholecalciferol and ascorbate in the hippocampus.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>TSA induced a remarkable amelioration of learning and memory impairments in APPswe/PS1dE9 mice through the regulation of Aβ42, Aβ40, carbohydrate and vitamin metabolites in the hippocampus and LDL-C and CHOL in the plasma.</p></div
The correlations between N2 amplitudes and RTs under two conditions at two time points in the rTMS and sham rTMS groups.
<p>The correlations between N2 amplitudes and RTs under two conditions at two time points in the rTMS and sham rTMS groups.</p
The effects of high-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC on cognitive control in young healthy participants
<div><p>A large body of evidence suggests that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is clinically effective in treating neuropsychiatric disorders and multiple sessions are commonly used. However, it is unknown whether multiple sessions of rTMS improve cognitive control, which is a function of the neural circuitry of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-cingulate cortex in healthy individuals. In addition, it is still unclear which stages of neural processing are altered by rTMS. In this study, we investigated the effects of high-frequency rTMS on cognitive control and explored the time course changes of cognitive processing after rTMS using event-related potentials (ERPs). For seven consecutive days, 25 young healthy participants underwent one 10-Hz rTMS session per day in which stimulation was applied over the left DLPFC, and a homogeneous participant group of 25 individuals received a sham rTMS treatment. A Stroop task was performed, and an electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. The results revealed that multiple sessions of rTMS can decrease reaction time (RTs) under both congruent and incongruent conditions and also increased the amplitudes of both N2 and N450 compared with sham rTMS. The negative correlations between the mean amplitudes of both N2 and N450 and the RTs were found, however, the latter correlation were restricted to incongruent trials and the correlation was enhanced significantly by rTMS. This observation supports the view that high-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC can not only recruit more neural resources from the prefrontal cortex by inducing an electrophysiologically excitatory effect but also enhance efficiency of resources to deploy for conflict resolution during multiple stages of cognitive control processing in healthy young people.</p></div
The grand-average N2 and N450 waveforms and their scalp distributions in the two groups.
<p>A: The grand-average N2 and N450 waveforms under two conditions (congruent, incongruent) at two time points (T1, T2) in the rTMS group and sham rTMS group. The gray areas represent the time windows of the measured mean amplitudes of N2 (190–330 ms) and N450 (380–480 ms). B: The scalp distributions of N2. C: The scalp distributions of N450.</p
The mean accuracies and standard deviations of the Stroop task at two time points in the rTMS and sham rTMS groups.
<p>The mean accuracies and standard deviations of the Stroop task at two time points in the rTMS and sham rTMS groups.</p