Microbial Succession and Nitrogen Cycling in Cultured Biofilms as Affected by the Inorganic Nitrogen Availability

Biofilms play important roles in nutrients and energy cycling in aquatic ecosystems. We hypothesized that as eutrophication could change phytoplankton community and decrease phytoplankton diversity, ambient inorganic nitrogen level will affect the microbial community and diversity of biofilms and the roles of biofilms in nutrient cycling. Biofilms were cultured using a flow incubator either with replete inorganic nitrogen (N-rep) or without exogenous inorganic nitrogen supply (N-def). The results showed that the biomass and nitrogen and phosphorous accumulation of biofilms were limited by N deficiency; however, as expected, the N-def biofilms had significantly higher microbial diversity than that of N-rep biofilms. The microbial community of biofilms shifted in composition and abundance in response to ambient inorganic nitrogen level. For example, as compared between the N-def and the N-rep biofilms, the former consisted of more diazotrophs, while the latter consisted of more denitrifying bacteria. As a result of the shift of the functional microbial community, the N concentration of N-rep medium kept decreasing, while that of N-def medium showed an increasing trend in the late stage. This indicates that biofilms can serve as the source or the sink of nitrogen in aquatic ecosystems, and it depends on the inorganic nitrogen availability.</p

Harvesting Microalgae with Different Sources of Starch-Based Cationic Flocculants

In this study, starches obtained from wheat, potato, and corn were used to synthesize cationic starches (CS), and the flocculation efficiency of these materials was tested with Chlorella pyrenoidosa and Botryococcus braunii cultures under different conditions. Our results indicated that these three CS had differing degrees of substitution following identical synthesis conditions. The various CS functioned similarly in this study, and the desired harmless flocculation efficiency was obtained at low dosages, with CS to microalgal biomass ratios of approximately 89 and 119 mg g(-1) for C. pyrenoidosa and B. braunii, respectively. Impressive harmless harvesting efficiencies were obtained at lower dosages with respect to appropriate stirring time before the settling, with ratios ranging from 58 to 78 mg g(-1) for C. pyrenoidosa cultures. The cost of microalgae harvesting can be cut dramatically by choosing cheaper starches prior to the synthetic CS and by applying suitable flocculation procedures

Construction and application of microneedle-mediated photothermal therapy and immunotherapy combined anti-tumor drug delivery system

AbstractConventional treatments for tumors were frequently accompanied by drawbacks and side effects. It might be useful to use the revolutionary microneedle technology which combines photothermal therapy with tumor immunotherapy. In this study, we created a microneedle drug delivery system with mercapto-modified gold nanorods and immune checkpoint blocker anti-PD-1 polypeptide. With good mechanical strength, the microneedle system can efficiently penetrate the skin and deliver drugs. When inserted into human skin, anti-PD-1 peptides and gold nanorods can be released, boosting the capacity of cytotoxic T lymphocytes to destroy tumor cells. Additionally, the elimination of the tumor is aided by the production of heat while being exposed to near-infrared light. This microneedle drug delivery system can enhance the immunological reaction and prolong the survival time of mice. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that the system has mild toxic and side effects on normal tissues and can effectively inhibit the growth of tumors, indicating a bright prospect for the treatment of cancers

Application of sodium alginate in induced biological soil crusts: enhancing the sand stabilization in the early stage

Induced biological soil crust (IBSC) technology has proved to be an effective means for speeding up the recovery of biological soil crusts (BSC) in arid and semi-arid regions. This study aims at improving the IBSC technology by using sodium alginate (SA) due to its sand-stabilizing ability in the early development stage of IBSCs. Results showed that SA can easily form a thin film on the surface of soil and can significantly enhance the compressive strength of the topsoil. More importantly, no negative effects of SA on the development and physiological activity of IBSCs were observed, and SA could facilitate the colonization and growth of cyanobacteria on sand. Moreover, the application of SA was much cheaper than the straw checkerboard barriers which are widely used in desertification control. This study suggests that SA can promote and accelerate the formation of BSCs; thus, it can be applied in IBSC technology to enhance the sand-stabilizing property of BSCs in the early stage.</p

The role of non-rainfall water on physiological activation in desert biological soil crusts

Non-rainfall water (NRW, e.g. fog and dew), in addition to rainfall and snowfall, are considered important water inputs to drylands. At the same time, biological soil crusts (BSCs) are important components of dry lands. However, little information is available regarding the effect of NRW inputs on BSC activation. In this study, the effects of NRW on physiological activation in three BSC successional stages, including the cyanobacteria crust stage (Crust-C), moss colonization stage (Crust-CM), and moss crust stage (Crust-M), were studied in situ. Results suggest NRW inputs hydrated and activated physiological activity (F-v/F-m, carbon exchange, and nitrogen fixation) in BSCs but led to a negative carbon balance and low rates of nitrogen fixation in BSCs. One effective NRW event could hydrate BSCs for 7 h. Following simulated rainfall, the physiological activities recovered within 3 h, and net carbon gain occurred until 3 h after hydration, whereas NRW-induced physiological recovery processes were slower and exhibited lower activities, leading to a negative carbon balance. There were significant positive correlations between NRW amounts and the recovered values of F-v/F-m in all the three BSC stages (p &lt; .001). The thresholds for F-v/F-m activation decreased with BSC succession, and the annual effective NRW events increased with BSC succession, with values of 29.8, 89.2, and 110.7 in Crust-C, Crust-CM and Crust-M, respectively. The results suggest that moss crust and moss-cyanobacteria crust use NRW to prolong metabolic activity and reduce drought stress more efficiently than cyanobacteria crusts. Therefore, these results suggest that BSCs utilize NRW to sustain life while growth and biomass accumulation require precipitation (rainfall) events over a certain threshold. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Efficacy and safety of patient-controlled intravenous analgesia after APS team standardized postoperative pain management: A 6-year experience of an acute pain service in 107802 Chinese patients

There are few studies on the impact of postoperative pain management (such as Acute Pain Service, APS) on the prognosis of patients, especially the research on large samples, even less data on Chinese patients. It is reported that only 25.12 % of hospitals in China have established APS or similar teams, and less than 10 % of them are responsible for the whole process of postoperative analgesia services. Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology has established a professional APS team led by anesthesiologists (TJ-APS), and has a standardized workflow and management system. Based on the TJ-APS standardized postoperative pain management, the incidence and adverse effects of postoperative pain in different types of surgical patients were analyzed. In total, 107,802 patients receiving intravenous PCA from the Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology were selected between January 2016 and December 2021, which were under TJ-APS standardized postoperative analgesia process, postoperative analgesia strategy based on the principle of “low opioid, multimodal, specialization and individualization”, as well as regular ward rounds and 24-h on call on-duty system. We assessed the incidence and adverse effects of postoperative pain in different types of surgical patients. Based on the TJ-APS standardized postoperative pain management, the incidence of poor postoperative analgesia in patients with intravenous PCA is significantly lower than that reported in the current literature (20 %), and mainly occurs in biliary-pancreatic surgery, extrahepatic surgery and gastrointestinal surgery. The overall incidence of adverse effects was 5.52 %, of which nausea and vomiting was the highest, especially among gynecological tumors and gynecological patients, which were 10.75 % and 8.68 % respectively, but both were lower than the level reported in the current literature (20 %). This APS multimodal management and analgesia process can provide reference and guidance for PCA management of postoperative acute pain

Effects of integrated rice-crayfish farming on soil biodiversity and functions

5 páginas.- 2 figuras.- 15 referencias.-Supplementary materials to this short communucaiton can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2023.08.037This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFD1901205), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177022 and 32071595), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662023PY010), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-115813RA-I00), the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) and the Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades of the Junta de Andalucía (FEDER Andalucía 2014–2020 Objetivo temático ‘‘01 - Refuerzo de la investigación, el desarrollo tecnológico y la innovación”) (P20_00879 (ANDABIOMA)). We thank Yi Zhang (Huazhong Agricultural University) for his help in collecting soil samples.Peer reviewe