Improving Biomethanation of Chicken Manure by Co-Digestion with Ethanol Plant Effluent

As the global production of chicken manure has steadily increased, its proper management has become a challenging issue. This study examined process effluent from a bioethanol plant as a co-substrate for efficient anaerobic digestion of chicken manure. An anaerobic continuous reactor was operated in mono- and co-digestion modes by adding increasing amounts of the ethanol plant effluent (0%, 10%, and 20% (v/v) of chicken manure). Methanogenic performance improved significantly in terms of both methane production rate and yield (by up to 66% and 36%, respectively), with an increase in organic loading rate over the experimental phases. Correspondingly, the specific methanogenic activity was significantly higher in the co-digestion sludge than in the mono-digestion sludge. The reactor did not suffer any apparent process imbalance, ammonia inhibition, or nutrient limitation throughout the experiment, with the removal of volatile solids being stably maintained (56.3???58.9%). The amount of ethanol plant effluent appears to directly affect the rate of acidification, and its addition at ???20% (v/v) to chicken manure needs to be avoided to maintain a stable pH. The overall results suggest that anerobic co-digestion with ethanol plant effluent may provide a practical means for the stable treatment and valorization of chicken manure

Intracellular consequences of SOS1 deficiency during salt stress

A mutation of AtSOS1 (Salt Overly Sensitive 1), a plasma membrane Na+/H+-antiporter in Arabidopsis thaliana, leads to a salt-sensitive phenotype accompanied by the death of root cells under salt stress. Intracellular events and changes in gene expression were compared during a non-lethal salt stress between the wild type and a representative SOS1 mutant, atsos1-1, by confocal microscopy using ion-specific fluorophores and by quantitative RT-PCR. In addition to the higher accumulation of sodium ions, atsos1-1 showed inhibition of endocytosis, abnormalities in vacuolar shape and function, and changes in intracellular pH compared to the wild type in root tip cells under stress. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed a dramatically faster and higher induction of root-specific Ca2+ transporters, including several CAXs and CNGCs, and the drastic down-regulation of genes involved in pH-homeostasis and membrane potential maintenance. Differential regulation of genes for functions in intracellular protein trafficking in atsos1-1 was also observed. The results suggested roles of the SOS1 protein, in addition to its function as a Na+/H+ antiporter, whose disruption affected membrane traffic and vacuolar functions possibly by controlling pH homeostasis in root cells

Genome structures and transcriptomes signify niche adaptation for the multiple-ion-tolerant extremophyte Schrenkiella parvula

Schrenkiella parvula (formerly Thellungiella parvula), a close relative of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and Brassica crop species, thrives on the shores of Lake Tuz, Turkey, where soils accumulate high concentrations of multiple-ion salts. Despite the stark differences in adaptations to extreme salt stresses, the genomes of S. parvula and Arabidopsis show extensive synteny. S. parvula completes its life cycle in the presence of Na+, K+, Mg2+, Li+, and borate at soil concentrations lethal to Arabidopsis. Genome structural variations, including tandem duplications and translocations of genes, interrupt the colinearity observed throughout the S. parvula and Arabidopsis genomes. Structural variations distinguish homologous gene pairs characterized by divergent promoter sequences and basal-level expression strengths. Comparative RNA sequencing reveals the enrichment of ion-transport functions among genes with higher expression in S. parvula, while pathogen defense-related genes show higher expression in Arabidopsis. Key stress-related ion transporter genes in S. parvula showed increased copy number, higher transcript dosage, and evidence for subfunctionalization. This extremophyte offers a framework to identify the requisite adjustments of genomic architecture and expression control for a set of genes found in most plants in a way to support distinct niche adaptation and lifestyles. © 2014 American Society of Plant Biologists. All rights reserved

Primary Polydipsia in Children: Two Case Reports

Primary polydipsia (PP) is marked by an increase in thirst, and most often presents in patients with psychiatric illnesses. Although uncommon in children, we experienced cases of PP in a 15-month-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. Both were admitted to the hospital with symptoms of polydipsia and polyuria that appeared 1–3 months before admission. Brain magnetic resonance imaging in both patients was normal. A water restriction test was performed after hospitalization and showed normal results. The symptoms improved after the parents were instructed to implement water-intake restriction for 2 weeks. Our report provides useful information for the treatment of PP in children

Remote Bio-Sensing: Open Source Benchmark Framework for Fair Evaluation of rPPG

Remote Photoplethysmography (rPPG) is a technology that utilizes the light absorption properties of hemoglobin, captured via camera, to analyze and measure blood volume pulse (BVP). By analyzing the measured BVP, various physiological signals such as heart rate, stress levels, and blood pressure can be derived, enabling applications such as the early prediction of cardiovascular diseases. rPPG is a rapidly evolving field as it allows the measurement of vital signals using camera-equipped devices without the need for additional devices such as blood pressure monitors or pulse oximeters, and without the assistance of medical experts. Despite extensive efforts and advances in this field, serious challenges remain, including issues related to skin color, camera characteristics, ambient lighting, and other sources of noise, which degrade performance accuracy. We argue that fair and evaluable benchmarking is urgently required to overcome these challenges and make any meaningful progress from both academic and commercial perspectives. In most existing work, models are trained, tested, and validated only on limited datasets. Worse still, some studies lack available code or reproducibility, making it difficult to fairly evaluate and compare performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide a benchmarking framework to evaluate various rPPG techniques across a wide range of datasets for fair evaluation and comparison, including both conventional non-deep neural network (non-DNN) and deep neural network (DNN) methods. GitHub URL: https://github.com/remotebiosensing/rppg.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

Clinical disease characteristics according to karyotype in Turner syndrome

Purpose : Turner syndrome (TS) is a disorder in which various anomalies can be accompanied, especially cardiovascular, renal, thyroid and auditory problems. The aim of this study is to identify the incidence of these disorders in patients with TS according to karyotype. Methods : We reviewed medical records of 90 patients with TS diagnosed by chromosomal analysis in 4 hospitals from Jan 1998 to Dec 2007. We evaluated these cases by prepared protocol of 4 medical problems. Results : The distribution of karyotype was 45,X (47.8%), mosaic pattern (34.4%) and structural aberration group (17.8 %). Renal anomalies, cardiovascular anomalies, thyroid disorders and auditory problems are accompanied in 4.4%, 10.0 %, 11.1% and 5.6%, respectively. 45,X group had renal anomalies (7.0%), cardiovascular anomalies (18.6%), thyroid disorders (9.3%) and auditory problems (11.6%). Mosaic group had renal anomalies (3.2%), thyroid disorders (12.9%), no cardiovascular anomalies and auditory problems. Structural aberration group had cardiovascular anomalies (6.3%), thyroid disorders (12.5%) and no other 2 problems. Patients with 45,X group had a significant higher incidence of cardiovascular anomalies (P=0.025). Conclusion : Our results indicate that there are differences clinically according to karyotype of TS, especially in incidence of cardiovascular anomalies