Achieving short-cut nitrification and denitrification in modified intermittently aerated constructed wetland

This study aim to enhance nitrogen removal performance via shifting nitrogen removal pathway from nitrate to nitrite pathway. It was demonstrated that nitrite pathway was successfully and stably achieved in CWs by using modified intermittent aeration control with aeration 20 min/non-aeration 100 min and reducing DO concentration during aeration, nitrite in the effluent could accumulate to over 70% of the total oxidized nitrogen. Q-PCR analysis showed that nitrifying microbial communities were optimized under the alternating anoxic and aerobic conditions, ammonia oxidizing bacteria increased from 7.15 x 10(6) to 8.99 x 10(6) copies/g, while nitrite oxidizing bacteria decreased approximately threefold after 234 days operation. Most importantly, high nitrogen removal efficiency with ammonium removal efficiency of 94.6%, and total nitrogen removal efficiency of 82.6% could be achieved via nitrite pathway even under carbon limiting conditions. In comparison to the nitrate pathway, the nitrite pathway could improve the TN removal by about 55%. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.</p

Responses of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells to chemical microenvironment of the intervertebral disc

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) may be ideal source of cells for intervertebral disc (IVD) regeneration, but the harsh chemical microenvironment of IVD may significantly influence the biological and metabolic vitality of ADMSCs and impair their repair potential. This study aimed to investigate the viability, proliferation and the expression of main matrix proteins of ADMSCs in the chemical microenvironment of IVD under normal and degeneration conditions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>ADMSCs were harvested from young (aged 8-12 years, n = 6) and mature (aged 33-42 years, n = 6) male donors and cultured under standard condition and IVD-like conditions (low glucose, acidity, high osmolarity, and combined conditions) for 2 weeks. Cell viability was measured by annexin V-FITC and PI staining and cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay. The expression of aggrecan and collagen-I was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>IVD-like glucose condition slightly inhibited cell viability, but increased the expression of aggrecan. In contrast, IVD-like osmolarity, acidity and the combined conditions inhibited cell viability and proliferation and the expression of aggrecan and collagen-I. ADMSCs from young and mature donors exhibited similar responses to the chemical microenvironments of IVD.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>IVD-like low glucose is a positive factor but IVD-like high osmolarity and low pH are deleterious factors that affect the survival and biological behaviors of ADMSCs. These findings may promote the translational research of ADMSCs in IVD regeneration for the treatment of low back pain.</p

Cu/Ag Sphere Segment Void Array as Efficient Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Substrate for Detecting Individual Atmospheric Aerosol

Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) shows great promise in studying individual atmospheric aerosol. However, the lack of efficient, stable, uniform, large-array, and low-cost SERS substrates constitutes a major roadblock. Herein, a new SERS substrate is proposed for detecting individual atmospheric aerosol particles. It is based on the sphere segment void (SSV) structure of copper and silver (Cu/Ag) alloy. The SSV structure is prepared by an electrodeposition method and presents a uniform distribution, over large 2 cm 2 arrays and at low cost. The substrate offers a high SERS enhancement factor (due to Ag) combined with lasting stability (due to Cu). The SSV structure of the arrays generates a high density of SERS hotspots (1.3 × 10 14/cm 2), making it an excellent substrate for atmospheric aerosol detection. For stimulated sulfate aerosols, the Raman signal is greatly enhanced (&gt;50 times), an order of magnitude more than previously reported substrates for the same purpose. For ambient particles, collected and studied on a heavy haze day, the enhanced Raman signal allows ready observation of morphology and identification of chemical components, such as nitrates and sulfates. This work provides an efficient strategy for developing SERS substrate for detecting individual atmospheric aerosol. </p

Author Correction: Magnesium intake and mortality due to liver diseases: Results from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Cohort

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper

“Hot Edges” in Inverse Opal Structure Enable Efficient CO2 Electrochemical Reduction and Sensitive in-situ Raman Characterization

Conversion of CO 2 into fuels and chemicals via electroreduction has attracted significant interest. Via mesostructure design to tune the electric field distribution in the electrode, it is demonstrated that the Cu-In alloy with an inverse opal (CI-1-IO) structure provides efficient electrochemical CO 2 reduction and allows for sensitive detection of the CO 2 reduction intermediates via surface-enhanced Raman scattering. The significant enhancement of Raman signals of the intermediates on the CI-1-IO surface can be attributed to electric field enhancement on the "hot edges" of the inverse opal structure. Additionally, a highest CO 2 reduction faradaic efficiency (FE) of 92% (sum of formate and CO) is achieved at-0.6 V vs. RHE on the CI-1-IO electrode. The diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) results show that the Cu-In alloy with an inverse opal structure has faster adsorption kinetics and higher adsorption capacity for CO 2. The "hot edges" of the bowl-like structure concentrate electric fields, due to the high curvature, and also concentrate K + on the active sites, which can lower the energy barrier of the CO 2 reduction reaction. This research provides new insight into the design of materials for efficient CO 2 conversion and the detection of intermediates during the CO 2 reduction process. </p

Synthesis, characterisation, and in vitro cellular uptake kinetics of nanoprecipitated poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine)-b-poly(2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (MPC-DPA) polymeric nanoparticle micelles for nanomedicine applications

Abstract Nanoscience offers the potential for great advances in medical technology and therapies in the form of nanomedicine. As such, developing controllable, predictable, and effective, nanoparticle-based therapeutic systems remains a significant challenge. Many polymer-based nanoparticle systems have been reported to date, but few harness materials with accepted biocompatibility. Phosphorylcholine (PC) based biomimetic materials have a long history of successful translation into effective commercial medical technologies. This study investigated the synthesis, characterisation, nanoprecipitation, and in vitro cellular uptake kinetics of PC-based polymeric nanoparticle micelles (PNM) formed by the biocompatible and pH responsive block copolymer poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine)-b-poly(2-(diisopropylamino)ethyl methacrylate) (MPC-DPA). Atom transfer radical polymerisation (ATRP), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) were used to synthesise and characterise the well-defined MPC100-DPA100 polymer, revealing organic GPC, using evaporative light scatter detection, to be more accurate than aqueous GPC for this application. Subsequent nanoprecipitation investigations utilising photon correlation spectroscopy (PCS) revealed PNM size increased with polymer concentration, and conferred Cryo-stability. PNM diameters ranged from circa 64–69 nm, and increased upon hydrophobic compound loading, circa 65–71 nm, with loading efficiencies of circa 60 % achieved, whilst remaining monodisperse. In vitro studies demonstrated that the PNM were of low cellular toxicity, with colony formation and MTT assays, utilising V79 and 3T3 cells, yielding comparable results. Investigation of the in vitro cellular uptake kinetics revealed rapid, 1 h, cellular uptake of MPC100-DPA100 PNM delivered fluorescent probes, with fluorescence persistence for 48 h. This paper presents the first report of these novel findings, which highlight the potential of the system for nanomedicine application development

Ferroelectricity driven by magnetism in quasi-one-dimensional Ba9Fe3Se15

The spin-induced ferroelectricity in quasi-1D spin chain system is little known, which could be fundamentally different from those in three-dimensional (3D) system. Here, we report the ferroelectricity driven by a tilted screw spin order and its exotic dynamic in the spin-chain compound Ba9Fe3Se15. It is found that the spin-induced polarization has already occurred and exhibits magnetoelectric coupling behavior far above the long-range spin order (LRSO) at TN = 14 K. The polarized entities grow and their dynamic responses slow down gradually with decreasing temperature and permeate the whole lattice to form 3D ferroelectricity at TN. Our results reveal that the short-range spin orders (SRSOs) in the decoupled chains play a key role for the exotic dynamic in this dimension reduced system. Ba9Fe3Se15 is the only example so far which exhibits electric polarization above LRSO temperature because of the formation of SRSOs