From Waste to Watts: Updates on Key Applications of Microbial Fuel Cells in Wastewater Treatment and Energy Production

Due to fossil fuel depletion and the rapid growth of industry, it is critical to develop environmentally friendly and long-term alternative energy technologies. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a powerful platform for extracting energy from various sources and converting it to electricity. As no intermediate steps are required to harness the electricity from the organic substrate?s stored chemical energy, MFC technology offers a sustainable alternative source of energy production. The generation of electricity from the organic substances contained in waste using MFC technology could provide a cost-effective solution to the issue of environmental pollution and energy shortages in the near future. Thus, technical advancements in bioelectricity production from wastewater are becoming commercially viable. Due to practical limitations, and although promising prospects have been reported in recent investigations, MFCs are incapable of upscaling and of high-energy production. In this review paper, intensive research has been conducted on MFCs? applications in the treatment of wastewater. Several types of waste have been extensively studied, including municipal or domestic waste, industrial waste, brewery wastewater, and urine waste. Furthermore, the applications of MFCs in the removal of nutrients (nitrogen and sulphates) and precious metals from wastewater were also intensively reviewed. As a result, the efficacy of various MFCs in achieving sustainable power generation from wastewater has been critically addressed in this studyScopu

Design and Synthesis of Novel NSAIDs Class Acting as Anticancer Agents

Several effective anticancer therapeutic drugs containing coumarin nucleus. Thus, some coumarin derivatives 3-2

Recent developments and advancements in graphene-based technologies for oil spill cleanup and oil-water separation processes

The vast demand for petroleum industry products led to the increased production of oily wastewaters and has led to many possible separation technologies. In addition to production-related oily wastewater, direct oil spills are associated with detrimental effects on the local ecosystems. Accordingly, this review paper aims to tackle the oil spill cleanup issue as well as water separation by providing a wide range of graphene-based technologies. These include graphene-based membranes; graphene sponges; graphene-decorated meshes; graphene hydrogels; graphene aerogels; graphene foam; and graphene-coated cotton. Sponges and aerogels modified by graphene and reduced graphene oxide demonstrated effective oil water separation owing to their superhydrophobic/superoleophilic properties. In addition, oil particles are intercepted while allowing water molecules to penetrate the graphene-oxide-coated metal meshes and membranes thanks to their superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic properties. Finally, we offer future perspectives on oil water separation that are hindering the advancements of such technologies and their large-scale applications.Scopu

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron-derived outer membrane vesicles promote regulatory dendritic cell responses in health but not in inflammatory bowel disease

BACKGROUND: Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Bt) is a prominent member of the human intestinal microbiota that, like all gram-negative bacteria, naturally generates nanosized outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) which bud off from the cell surface. Importantly, OMVs can cross the intestinal epithelial barrier to mediate microbe-host cell crosstalk involving both epithelial and immune cells to help maintain intestinal homeostasis. Here, we have examined the interaction between Bt OMVs and blood or colonic mucosa-derived dendritic cells (DC) from healthy individuals and patients with Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). RESULTS: In healthy individuals, Bt OMVs stimulated significant (p < 0.05) IL-10 expression by colonic DC, whereas in peripheral blood-derived DC they also stimulated significant (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively) expression of IL-6 and the activation marker CD80. Conversely, in UC Bt OMVs were unable to elicit IL-10 expression by colonic DC. There were also reduced numbers of CD103+ DC in the colon of both UC and CD patients compared to controls, supporting a loss of regulatory DC in both diseases. Furthermore, in CD and UC, Bt OMVs elicited a significantly lower proportion of DC which expressed IL-10 (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively) in blood compared to controls. These alterations in DC responses to Bt OMVs were seen in patients with inactive disease, and thus are indicative of intrinsic defects in immune responses to this commensal in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, our findings suggest a key role for OMVs generated by the commensal gut bacterium Bt in directing a balanced immune response to constituents of the microbiota locally and systemically during health which is altered in IBD patients. Video Abstract

Endocytosis of commensal antigens by intestinal epithelial cells regulates mucosal T cell homeostasis

Commensal bacteria influence host physiology, without invading host tissues. We show that proteins from segmented filamentous bacteria (SFB) are transferred into intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) through adhesion-directed endocytosis that is distinct from the clathrin-dependent endocytosis of invasive pathogens. This process transfers microbial cell wall–associated proteins, including an antigen that stimulates mucosal T helper 17 (T_H17) cell differentiation, into the cytosol of IECs in a cell division control protein 42 homolog (CDC42)–dependent manner. Removal of CDC42 activity in vivo led to disruption of endocytosis induced by SFB and decreased epithelial antigen acquisition, with consequent loss of mucosal T_H17 cells. Our findings demonstrate direct communication between a resident gut microbe and the host and show that under physiological conditions, IECs acquire antigens from commensal bacteria for generation of T cell responses to the resident microbiota

One-year hemodynamic comparison of Perimount Magna with St Jude Epic aortic bioprostheses.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiac surgeons are using more bioprosthetic valves due to the ageing population as well as to improvements that have been made to these implants. We sought to compare the 1-year hemodynamics of two commercially available valves by echocardiographic parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective review of our institutional database revealed 69 patients who received either Perimount Magna (n = 33) or St Jude Epic (n = 36) valves in the aortic position with no other valve surgery between June 2004 and March 2006. All patients received transthoracic echocardiography at 1 year. Comparisons between groups were made at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. In addition, a pairwise comparison was performed in each patient to determine the change in echocardiographic parameters between baseline and follow-up. RESULTS: Mean implanted valve size was similar (Magna 24.3 ±2.0 mm vs. Epic 24.1 ±2.2 mm). Pre- and intraoperative patient variables were similar between the two groups. There were lower peak and mean pressure gradients in the Magna group, both at discharge and one year after surgery. This correlated with a larger indexed effective orifice area (Magna 0.8 ±0.2 cm(2)/m(2) vs. Epic 0.67 ±0.2 cm(2)/m(2), p = 0.02). In spite of these findings, left ventricular mass regression was not different. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that in a series with relatively low indexed effective orifice areas, the peak and mean gradients obtained were acceptable. More clinical follow-up of these patients is required to assess the true impact of prosthesis patient mismatch

Key applications and potential limitations of ionic liquid membranes in the gas separation process of CO2, CH4, N2, H2 or mixtures of these gases from various gas streams

Heightened levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) have prompted research into techniques for their capture and separation, including membrane separation, chemical looping, and cryogenic distillation. Ionic liquids, due to their negligible vapour pressure, thermal stability, and broad electrochemical stability have expanded their application in gas separations. This work provides an overview of the recent developments and applications of ionic liquid membranes (ILMs) for gas separation by focusing on the separation of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrogen (N2), hydrogen (H2) or mixtures of these gases from various gas streams. The three general types of ILMs, such as supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs), ionic liquid polymeric membranes (ILPMs), and ionic liquid mixed-matrix membranes (ILMMMs) for the separation of various mixed gas systems, are discussed in detail. Furthermore, issues, challenges, computational studies and future perspectives for ILMs are also considered. The results of the analysis show that SILMs, ILPMs, and the ILMMs are very promising membranes that have great potential in gas separation processes. They offer a wide range of permeabilities and selectivities for CO2, CH4, N2, H2 or mixtures of these gases. In addition, a comparison was made based on the selectivity and permeability of SILMs, ILPMs, and ILMMMs for CO2/CH4 separation based on a Robeson?s upper bound curves.Qatar Foundation; Qatar National Research FundScopu

Photonic device sensitivity analysis methods: towards process variation-aware silicon photonics design

© COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only. Silicon photonics offers the ability to fabricate and integrate photonic and electronic components using existing integrated circuit fabrication infrastructure. Recent work seeks to understand the impact of IC process variations on performance of photonic components. In particular, methods for analysis that identify sensitivity of photonic components to process variations are crucial to enable viable design and manufacturing of silicon photonic systems. We present two different and complementary methods for understanding the impact of geometric process variations on photonics components: ensemble statistical virtual fabrication simulations, and adjoint methods. These are utilized to identify the most sensitive regions of a Y-splitter photonic component to line edge roughness (LER) due to inherent lithography and etch process variations. In the ensemble approach, we simulate multiple instantiations with random LER applied to specific sections of the Y-splitter. This enables localization and quantification of LER impact on transmission, phase imbalance, and excess losses. These evaluations, however, come at the cost of many simulations. In adjoint sensitivity evaluation, only one or two simulations can identify regions most sensitive to LER. While first-order linear sensitivity is extracted, the adjoint has challenges in quantifying mean variation impacts. Both methods reveal that the Y-splitter is most sensitive to LER in the input taper, accounting for over 95% of the imbalance transmission. These two methods can be combined to quantify mean, variance, and sensitivity of photonic device components in the face of statistical variations. Incorporated into future photonic process design kits (PDKs), these analysis methods will help designers predict and optimize photonic component performance and yield