Aims
Microbial consortia can be more efficient at biological processes than single isolates. The purposes of this study were to design and evaluate a synthetic microbial consortium containing the ...methanotroph Methylocystis sp. M6 and the helper Hyphomicrobium sp. NM3, and develop a novel methanotrophic process for this consortium utilizing a dialysis membrane.
Methods and Results
Hyphomicrobium increased the methane‐oxidation rate (MOR), biomass and stability at a dilution rate of 0·067 day−1 in fed‐batch co‐culture. qRT‐PCR showed that Methylocystis population increased gradually with time, whereas Hyphomicrobium population remained stable despite cell washing, confirming synergistic population interaction. At 0·1 day−1, spiking of Hyphomicrobium effectively increased the methanotrophic activity, after which Hyphomicrobium population decreased with time, indicating that the consortium is optimal at <0·1 day−1. When Hyphomicrobium was grown in dialysis membrane within the bioreactor, MOR increased linearly up to 155·1 ± 1·0 mmol l−1 day−1 at 0·067, 0·1, 0·2 and 0·4 day−1, which is the highest observed value for a methanotrophic reactor.
Conclusions
Hyphomicrobium sp. NM3 is a promising helper micro‐organism for methanotrophs. Hyphomicrobium‐methanotroph consortia used concurrently with existing methods can produce an efficient and stable methane oxidation system.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This novel methanotrophic process is superior to those previously reported in the literature, and can provide efficient and stable methane oxidation.
Unprecedented heatwave-drought concurrences in the past two decades have been reported over inner East Asia. Tree-ring-based reconstructions of heatwaves and soil moisture for the past 260 years ...reveal an abrupt shift to hotter and drier climate over this region. Enhanced land-atmosphere coupling, associated with persistent soil moisture deficit, appears to intensify surface warming and anticyclonic circulation anomalies, fueling heatwaves that exacerbate soil drying. Our analysis demonstrates that the magnitude of the warm and dry anomalies compounding in the recent two decades is unprecedented over the quarter of a millennium, and this trend clearly exceeds the natural variability range. The "hockey stick"-like change warns that the warming and drying concurrence is potentially irreversible beyond a tipping point in the East Asian climate system.
Mutations of MKRN3, the gene encoding makorin RING-finger protein 3, lead to central precocious puberty (CPP). The aim of this study was to investigate mutations of the MKRN3 gene in Korean girls ...with CPP. Two hundred-sixty Korean girls with idiopathic CPP were included. Auxological and endocrine parameters were measured, and the entire MKRN3 gene was directly sequenced. MKRN3 gene analysis revealed one novel nonsense mutation (p.Gln281 *) and 6 missense variants (p.Ile100Phe, p.Gly196Val, p.Ile204Thr, p.Gln226Pro, p.Lys233Asn, and p.Ser396Arg). The novel nonsense mutation (p.Gln281 *) was a heterozygous C>T nucleotide change (c.841C>T) predicted to result in a truncated protein due to a premature stop codon in the MKRN3 gene. The nonsense mutation (p.Gln281 *) was only identified in one of the girls and her younger brother. Compared to previous reports on MKRN3 mutations in familial and sporadic cases of CPP, the present study reveals a relatively low number of MKRN 3 mutations in Korean girls with CPP. Larger samples of children with CPP and MKRN3 mutations are necessary in order to clarify whether the clinical course of puberty may differ as compared to idiopathic CPP.
Background
Many surgical instruments have been replaced with powered devices in open gastrointestinal and laparoscopic surgery. The production of smoke as a result of vaporization of surgical tissue ...is inevitable, and exposure to surgical smoke is a long‐standing concern. These vapours are potentially hazardous to patients and surgical teams. The present research was designed to compare various surgical devices to determine whether viable cells exist in their surgical smoke.
Methods
The search for viable cells in surgical smoke was conducted using both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Various cancers were cauterized with electrocautery, radiofrequency ablation and ultrasonic scalpels, and the resulting surgical smoke was aspirated with Transwell® membrane; viable cells were sought in the surgical smoke. In an in vivo experiment, samples of SCC7 were cauterized with an ultrasonic scalpel and the sediment from the rinsed Transwell® membrane liquid after centrifugation was injected subcutaneously into the lower back of mice.
Results
Viable cells were found only in the smoke from ultrasonic scalpels (in all 25 samples taken 5 cm from the cautery; 2 of 25 samples at 10 cm). Viable cells in the surgical smoke from ultrasonic scalpels implanted in mice grew in 16 of 40 injection sites. Histological and biochemical analyses revealed that these cancer cells were identical to the cancer cells cauterized by the ultrasonic scalpel.
Conclusion
Viable tumour cells are produced in the surgical smoke from tumour dissection by ultrasonic scalpel.
Surgical relevance
Surgical smoke is a byproduct of dissection using a number of powered devices. Hazards to operating room personnel and patients are unclear.
This study has shown that use of an ultrasonic dissection device can produce smoke that contains viable tumour cells.
Although the model is somewhat artificial, a theoretical risk exists, and measures to evacuate surgical smoke efficiently are important.
Surgical smoke is potentially hazardous
•Indirect extrusion was used for microstructural refinement in Mg–Ca alloys.•Corrosion resistance was tested in the Hank’s solution.•Corrosion rates of Mg–Ca alloys (2–3Ca%) greatly decreased after ...extrusion.•Refining of Mg2Ca phase is important for enhancement of corrosion resistance.
The effect of indirect extrusion on microstructural refinement, mechanical properties and corrodibility of the pure Mg and Mg–Ca alloys (up to 3wt.% Ca) in Hank’s solution has been systematically studied. After extrusion, mechanical properties including tensile strength and ductility, and corrosion resistance of the Mg–Ca alloys were greatly enhanced in the Mg–Ca alloys with Ca⩾1%. Effective break-up of (semi-)continuous secondary phase (Mg2Ca) existing along grain boundaries or interdendritic regions during extrusion played a critical role in enhancement of the corrosion resistance of the Mg–Ca alloys with Ca⩾1% compared to the as-cast counterparts.
Aims
Recovering DNA of airborne micro‐organisms (AM) from air is a challenging task. We compared five membrane filters for bioaerosol sampling—mixed cellulose ester (MCE), polyethersulfone (PES), ...polyamide (PA), polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)—based on their bacterial, fungal and eukaryotic DNA recoveries.
Methods and results
Bacterial, fungal and eukaryotic populations were quantified using quantitative PCR. With a bacterial consortium, PTFE exhibited the best recovery efficiency (113%), followed by PA (92%), PES (86%), MCE (48%) and PVDF (1%). When filters were compared with air, PA was used as a control to normalize results from the others. The bacterial, fungal and eukaryotic DNA recovery ratios were markedly greater in PES (9·3, 11·5 and 10·3 respectively) than in the remaining. Eukaryotic MiSeq sequencing revealed that PES recovered a more diverse and considerably richer assemblage (richness ratios, 4·97 vs ≤ 1·16 for PES vs the others). Rank abundance distribution analysis showed that distribution tails were longer (>4 times) in PES, but these did not differ between the remaining and PA. Community comparison showed that PES exhibited a lower variation across trials than the PA, while the remaining did not.
Conclusions
PES filter markedly outperformed the other filters in quantitative and qualitative recovery of AM.
Significance and Impact of the Study
Our findings demonstrated the importance of filter selection for sampling AM.
Given the mode of transmission of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), healthcare workers (HCWs) in contact with MERS patients are expected to be at risk of MERS infections. We evaluated the ...prevalence of MERS coronavirus (CoV) immunoglobulin (Ig) G in HCWs exposed to MERS patients and calculated the incidence of MERS-affected cases in HCWs. We enrolled HCWs from hospitals where confirmed MERS patients had visited. Serum was collected 4 to 6 weeks after the last contact with a confirmed MERS patient. We performed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to screen for the presence of MERS-CoV IgG and an indirect immunofluorescence test (IIFT) to confirm MERS-CoV IgG. We used a questionnaire to collect information regarding the exposure. We calculated the incidence of MERS-affected cases by dividing the sum of PCR-confirmed and serology-confirmed cases by the number of exposed HCWs in participating hospitals. In total, 1169 HCWs in 31 hospitals had contact with 114 MERS patients, and among the HCWs, 15 were PCR-confirmed MERS cases in study hospitals. Serologic analysis was performed for 737 participants. ELISA was positive in five participants and borderline for seven. IIFT was positive for two (0.3%) of these 12 participants. Among the participants who did not use appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), seropositivity was 0.7% (2/294) compared to 0% (0/443) in cases with appropriate PPE use. The incidence of MERS infection in HCWs was 1.5% (17/1169). The seroprevalence of MERS-CoV IgG among HCWs was higher among participants who did not use appropriate PPE.
In the Kondo insulator samarium hexaboride (SmB6), strong correlation and band hybridization lead to an insulating gap and a diverging resistance at low temperature. The resistance divergence ends at ...about 3 kelvin, a behavior that may arise from surface conductance. We used torque magnetometry to resolve the Fermi surface topology in this material. The observed oscillation patterns reveal two Fermi surfaces on the (100) surface plane and one Fermi surface on the (101) surface plane. The measured Fermi surface cross sections scale as the inverse cosine function of the magnetic field tilt angles, which demonstrates the two-dimensional nature of the conducting electronic states of SmB6.
Summary Objective The present study was performed to elucidate the possible role of SIRT1 signaling in joint inflammation in human articular chondrocytes. Design Real-time quantitative reverse ...transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting were performed to detect gene products and proteins involved in tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α)-induced inflammation and cartilage degradation in human primary chondrocytes. Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activity was evaluated by gelatin zymography. Overexpression and knockdown of SIRT1 were also performed to investigate whether SIRT1 is associated with the anti-inflammatory activity of resveratrol in chondrocytes. Results Resveratrol dose-dependently inhibited TNF-α-induced cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-13 and PGE2 production in human chondrocytes. Moreover, MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity was increased by treatment with TNF-α; however, SIRT1 activation decreased the proinflammatory effects induced by TNF-α. In addition, treatment of SIRT1 activator and overexpression of SIRT1 inhibited the expression and activation of the main proinflammatory regulator NF-κB, which was increased by TNF-α. When SIRT1 was overexpressed in chondrocytes, the anti-inflammatory action of SIRT1 was similar to that exerted by resveratrol. Conclusions SIRT1 activation deacetylates and inactivates NF-κB, and thereby, exerts an anti-inflammatory effect on chondrocytes, suggesting that SIRT1 activators could be explored as potential treatments for arthritis.
The industry foundation class (IFC) standard building model schema is a necessary but not sufficient condition for achieving full interoperability between building information modeling (BIM) tools. ...Unless each information exchange within construction project workflows has its specific contents and level of detail defined, the breadth and flexibility of the IFC schema leaves room for errors. The national BIM standard approach for resolving the ambiguities of information exchange is based on “use cases,” which precisely define the data required in each information exchange between disciplines in engineering workflows. In this paper, we define specific procedures for developing information delivery manuals (IDM), which capture the use cases and the precise information to be exchanged. We also identify some of the data semantics we found problematic that require workflow specification. We further propose details of the information capture that allow the IDM to serve as a specification for later implementation and testing. The procedures are illustrated using examples from an IDM specification developed for the domain of architectural precast concrete.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, FGGLJ, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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