Kinetics of biological nitrogen removal in a single sludge activated sludge process

The objective of this investigation was to develop experimental set-ups and operational procedures for accurate and reliable evaluation of the kinetic constants and sewage characteristics that influence nitrification and denitrification in the single sludge nitrification-denitrification activated sludge process

Maternal Nutrition Induces Pervasive Gene Expression Changes but No Detectable DNA Methylation Differences in the Liver of Adult Offspring

<div><p>Aims</p><p>Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that maternal diet can influence metabolism in adult offspring. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these changes remain poorly understood. Here, we characterize the phenotypes induced by maternal obesity in a mouse model and examine gene expression and epigenetic changes induced by maternal diet in adult offspring.</p><p>Methods</p><p>We analyzed genetically identical male mice born from dams fed a high- or low-fat diet throughout pregnancy and until day 21 postpartum. After weaning, half of the males of each group were fed a high-fat diet, the other half a low-fat diet. We first characterized the genome-wide gene expression patterns of six tissues of adult offspring - liver, pancreas, white adipose, brain, muscle and heart. We then measured DNA methylation patterns in liver at selected loci and throughout the genome.</p><p>Results</p><p>Maternal diet had a significant effect on the body weight of the offspring when they were fed an obesogenic diet after weaning. Our analyses showed that maternal diet had a pervasive effect on gene expression, with a pronounced effect in liver where it affected many genes involved in inflammation, cholesterol synthesis and RXR activation. We did not detect any effect of the maternal diet on DNA methylation in the liver.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Overall, our findings highlighted the persistent influence of maternal diet on adult tissue regulation and suggested that the transcriptional changes were unlikely to be caused by DNA methylation differences in adult liver.</p></div

Body weight of male offspring.

<p>Average offspring weight (in g, ±SE) is presented from one week through six months of age. Maternal diet is denoted by line color (light gray: LF, black: HF) and adult diet is shown by line style (dashed: LF, solid: HF).</p

Summary of the gene expression patterns in liver.

<p>The figure displays some of the key molecular pathways affected by maternal diet (black boxes) with some representative genes. The blue box highlights some of the nuclear receptors that are differentially expressed according to the maternal diet and link Srebps and the most affected canonical pathways. Genes colored in green are over-expressed when the animals are born from LF fed dams (compared to animals born from HF fed dams), red genes that are under-expressed (with all animals being fed HF post-weaning).</p