Assessment of the surgical outcomes of esotropia in pediatric subjects with high accommodative convergence/accommodation ratio: A clinical assessment

Background: Treating subjects with a high AC/A ratio and with esotropia is a challenging and complex procedure, often associated with increased near deviation which may lead to various outcomes following the surgery. Aims: The present study was conducted to assess outcomes following surgery in children with esotropia who were surgically treated with primary bilateral medial rectus (BMR) recessions. The study also compared preoperative and postoperative measurements in subjects with a high AC/A ratio to a normal AC/A ratio to assess surgical outcomes. Materials and Methods: 122 subjects were divided into 2 groups based on AC/A ratio into high AC/A ratio and normal AC/A ratio The subjects with high AC/A were treated with bifocal management if they had near persistent ET of ≥10Δ in full cycloplegic correction and not if they had far ET of ≥10Δ. Target angle at the time of the surgery was assessed with stereopsis presence via positive butterfly/fly, and near and distance deviations ≤10Δ within orthophoria. These success outcomes were compared in subjects with normal AC/A ratio and AC/A ratio groups. The collected data were subjected to statistical evaluation

Effects of extracellular proteome on wheat straw pretreatment during solid-state fermentation of Phlebia radiata ATCC 64658

Biological pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass potentially offers a less energy intensive alternative to chemical pretreatment for the reduction of recalcitrance towards cellulolytic enzymes, but possesses some disadvantages, including a slow rate and loss of polysaccharides. This study characterizes the biodegradation of wheat straw by Phlebia radiata, a white rot fungus capable of secreting three major classes of ligninolytic enzymes: lignin peroxidase, manganese peroxidase, and laccase under natural conditions. We investigated the correlation between synergistic action of fungal enzymes and characteristics of the pretreated biomass. The results showed a sequential expression of enzymes over the course of a three-week pretreatment, with members of the peroxidase family being expressed in week one, followed by laccase expression starting in week two which continued until the course of pretreatment. This highlights the synergy of ligninolytic enzymes in the selective degradation pattern for wheat straw. 1H–13C HSQC NMR spectroscopy results demonstrated reduced amounts of syringyl (S) and hydroxyphenyl (H) lignin after pretreatment. Moreover, the reduction in H lignin was also seen in Pyrolysis – GC/MS and FT-IR results. This strongly suggests that this unique lignin modification pattern is associated with P. radiata extracellular proteome, as expressed during the solid-state fermentation (pretreatment) of wheat straw. [Display omitted] •Ligninolytic enzymes of Phlebia radiata work synergistically in wheat straw degradation.•MnP is secreted early in the process, to generate substrate for laccases.•Laccase allows the lignin modification to continue via relatively higher breakdown of H-units than G and S subunits.•Sequential secretion strategy serves the purpose of an efficient biodegradation

Structural Modification of Lignin and Characterization of Pretreated Wheat Straw by Ozonation

Ozonolysis is potentially an effective method for pretreating lignocellulosic biomass to improve the production of fermentable sugars via enzymatic hydrolysis. Further understanding of the ozonolysis process and identifying specific lignin structural changes are crucial for improving the pretreatment process. Investigation into pretreatment of wheat straw using ozonolysisis is reported in this paper, with special emphasis on selective modification/degradation of lignin subunits. The ozonolysis was performed for 2 h with less than 60 mesh particles in order to achieve maximum lignin oxidation. The results showed that the lignin structure was significantly modified under these conditions, leading to higher sugar recovery of more than 50% which increased from 13.11% to 63.17% corresponding to the control and ozone treated samples, respectively. Moisture content was found to be an important parameter for improving sugar recovery. Ninety percent (w/w) moisture produced the highest sugar recovery. The concentration of acid soluble lignin in the ozone treated sample increased from 4% to 11% after 2 h treatment. NMR analysis revealed that the S2/6 and G2 lignin units in the wheat straw were most prone to oxidation by ozone as the concentration of aromatic units decreased while the carboxylic acids became more abundant. The experimental data suggest the degradation of β-O-4 moieties and aromatic ring opening in lignin subunits. The pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry results revealed that the rate of lignin unit degradation was in the following order: syringyl > guaiacyl > <i>p</i>-hydroxyphenyl. Long ozone exposure resulted in few condensed lignin structure formation. In addition, the formation of condensed units during this process increased the activation energy from ASTM-<i>E</i>, 259.74 kJ/mol; Friedman-<i>E</i>, 270.08 kJ/mol to ASTM-<i>E</i>, 509.29 kJ/mol; Friedman-<i>E</i>, 462.17 kJ/mol. The results provide new information in overcoming lignin barrier for lignocellulose utilization

Structural and Thermal Characterization of Wheat Straw Pretreated with Aqueous Ammonia Soaking

Production of renewable fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic feedstocks requires an efficient pretreatment technology to allow ready access of polysaccharides for cellulolytic enzymes during saccharification. The effect of pretreatment on wheat straw through a low-temperature and low-pressure soaking aqueous ammonia (SAA) process was investigated in this study using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (Py-GC/MS), solid and liquid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and thermogravimetry/differential thermogravimetry (TG/DTG) to demonstrate the changes in lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose structure. After treatment of 60 mesh wheat straw particles for 60 h with 28–30% ammonium hydroxide (1:10 solid/liquid) at 50 °C, sugar recovery increased from 14% (untreated) to 67% (SAA treated). The FTIR study revealed a substantial decrease in absorbance of lignin peaks. Solid and liquid state NMR showed minimal lignin structural changes with significant compositional changes. Activation energy of control and pretreated wheat straw was calculated according to the Friedman and ASTM methods and found to be decreased for SAA-treated wheat straw, from 259 to 223 kJ/mol. The SAA treatment was shown to remove significant amounts of lignin without strongly affecting lignin functional groups or structure

Simulation of the ozone pretreatment of wheat straw

•Two models for ozonolysis pretreatment of wheat straw were developed.•First study that takes into account the residual lignin.•Compared cuticle model with the existing general model for ozonolysis of biomass.•Cuticle model better fit with experimental data. Wheat straw is a potential feedstock in biorefinery for sugar production. However, the cellulose, which is the major source of sugar, is protected by lignin. Ozonolysis deconstructs the lignin and makes cellulose accessible to enzymatic digestion. In this study, the change in lignin concentration with different ozonolysis times (0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 30, 60min) was fit to two different kinetic models: one using the model developed by Garcia-Cubero et al. (2012) and another including an outer mass transfer barrier or “cuticle” region where ozone mass transport is reduced in proportion to the mass of unreacted insoluble lignin in the cuticle. The kinetic parameters of two mathematical models for predicting the soluble and insoluble lignin at different pretreatment time were determined. The results showed that parameters derived from the cuticle-based model provided a better fit to experimental results compared to a model without a cuticle layer

Biorefinery processing of waste to supply cost-effective and sustainable inputs for two-stage microalgal cultivation

Overcoming obstacles to commercialization of algal-based processes for biofuels and co-products requires not just piecemeal incremental improvements, but rather a comprehensive and fundamental re-consideration starting with the selected algae and its associated cultivation, harvesting, biomass conversion, and refinement. A novel two-stage process designed to address challenges of mass outdoor microalgal cultivation for biofuels and co-products was previously demonstrated using an oleaginous, haloalkaline-tolerant, and multi-trophic green Chlorella vulgaris. ALP2 from a soda lake. This involved cultivating the microalgae in a fermenter heterotrophically or photobioreactor mixotrophically (first-stage) to rapidly obtain high cell densities and inoculate an open-pond phototrophic culture (second-stage) featuring high levels of NaHCO3, pH, and salinity. An improved two-stage cultivation that instead sustainably used as more cheap and sustainable inputs the organic carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous from fractionation of waste was here demonstrated in a small-scale biorefinery process. The first cultivation stage consisted of two simultaneous batch flask cultures featuring (1) mixotrophic cell productivity of 7.25 × 107 cells mL−1 day−1 on BG-110 medium supplemented with 1.587 g L−1 urea and an enzymatic hydrolysate of pre-treated (torrefaction + grinding + ozonolysis + soaking ammonia) wheat-straw that corresponded to 10 g L−1 glucose, and (2) mixotrophic cell productivity of 2.25 × 107 cells mL−1 day−1 on BG-110 medium supplemented with 1.587 g L−1 urea and a purified and de-toxified condensate of pre-treated (torrefaction + grinding) wheat straw that corresponded to 0.350 g L−1 of potassium acetate. The second cultivation stage featured 1H NMR-determined phototrophic lipid productivity of 0.045 g triacylglycerides (TAG) L−1 day−1 on BG-110 medium supplemented with 16.8 g L−1 NaHCO3 and fed batch-added 22% (v/v) anaerobically digested food waste effluent at HCl-mediated pH 9.</jats:p