The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive review on renewable methane fuel production through the biological route of biomethanation process from major lignocellulosic agricultural crop ...waste biomass (maize, wheat, rice and sugarcane). Global annual approximate production of major agriculture based lignocellulosic biomass has been explored. Fundamental requirements of biomethanation process have been discussed in details for optimum production of methane. The essential properties of biomass (proximate, ultimate and compositional) conscientious for quality of derived fuel have also been presented along with the pretreatment requirements for lignocellulosic biomass. Methane generation potential of the major lignocellulosic agricultural crop biomass has been explored and presented. Furthermore, the methane production potential and its energetic analysis have also been compared with the bio-ethanol productions. The overall parametric analysis involved in anaerobic digestion and alcoholic fermentation explore that methane generation from lignocellulosic agricultural crop waste biomass is more economical and environmentally beneficial way of biomass utilization in a sustainable way of energy production.
►Hydrothermal pretreatment offer accelerated pre-hydrolysis of rice straw biomass. ► 5% NaOH addition is a mandatory requirement in rice straw hydrothermal substrate. ► Methane production was ...increased by 222.0% for hydrothermal pretreated substrates. ► Hydrothermal pretreatment found as the promising method for improved biomethanation.
This paper presents the results of an experimental batch methane fermentation (at 37°C mesophilic temperature) study carried out on untreated and pretreated substrates of rice straw using NaOH and hydrothermal pretreatments. 3% NaOH pretreatment was given to ground rice straw biomass for 120h at 37°C and hydrothermal pretreatment was given for 10min at 200°C. It was observed that NaOH addition is a mandatory requirement for maintaining a suitable range of pH and starting the biogas production from hydrothermal pretreated biomass slurry of rice straw. The fed substrate concentrations were maintained at 5% TS (50g TS/L). The study revealed into 140.0L/kg VSa biogas and 59.8L/kg VSa methane from untreated rice straw substrate. However, NaOH pretreated substrate resulted into 184.8L/kg VSa biogas and 74.1L/kg VSa methane. Hydrothermal pretreated followed by 5% NaOH added substrate resulted into highest biogas and methane production yields as 315.9L/kg VSa and 132.7L/kg VSa, respectively. NaOH pretreated substrate showed an increase of 132.0% in biogas production and 123.9% in methane production relative to the untreated substrate. However, the hydrothermal pretreated substrate had resulted into an increase of 225.6% in biogas production and 222.0% in methane production relative to untreated rice straw substrate. Hydrothermal pretreatment provided an accelerated pre-hydrolysis of biomass contents during the treatment process and thereby resulted into enhanced biogas and methane production yields.
Uncovering grain-scale mechanisms that underlie the disorder-order transition in assemblies of dissipative, athermal particles is a fundamental problem with technological relevance. To date, the ...study of granular crystallization has mainly focussed on the symmetry of crystalline patterns while their emergence and growth from irregular clusters of grains remains largely unexplored. Here crystallization of three-dimensional packings of frictional spheres is studied at the grain-scale using X-ray tomography and persistent homology. The latter produces a map of the topological configurations of grains within static partially crystallized packings. Using numerical simulations, we show that similar maps are measured dynamically during the melting of a perfect crystal. This map encodes new information on the formation process of tetrahedral and octahedral pores, the building blocks of perfect crystals. Four key formation mechanisms of these pores reproduce the main changes of the map during crystallization and provide continuous deformation pathways representative of the crystallization dynamics.
This paper presents the results of an experimental methane fermentation study on untreated, NaOH and hydrothermal pretreated substrates of wheat straw. Experiments were conducted at 37 °C (mesophilic ...temperature). Substrates concentration were maintained at 4.45% VS (44.5 g VS/L). Untreated wheat straw substrate had resulted into specific methane and biogas production yields of 78.4 L/kg VSa and 188.4 L/kg VSa, respectively. The specific methane and biogas production yield of NaOH pretreated wheat straw substrate had resulted into 165.9 L/kg VSa and 353.2 L/kg VSa, respectively. Hydrothermal pretreated wheat straw substrate had resulted to yield specific methane and biogas production of 94.1 L/kg VSa and 205.7 L/kg VSa, respectively. NaOH pretreated substrate produced 87.5% higher biogas production and 111.6% higher methane production compared to the untreated wheat straw substrate. Hydrothermal pretreated substrate had resulted into an increase of 9.2% in biogas production and 20.0% in methane production compared to that of untreated wheat straw substrate.
► NaOH, hydrothermal pretreated substrates of wheat straw were studied for Methane fermentation. ► Minimum 5% NaOH addition is required for hydrothermal substrate to maintain a suitable pH. ► Biogas and methane production were increased by 87.5% and 111.6% for 4% NaOH pretreated substrate. ► Wheat straw NaOH pretreatment found a potential method to enhance biogas and methane production.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive neuronal loss and cognitive decline. Oligomeric amyloid β (oAβ) is involved in the pathogenesis of AD by ...affecting synaptic plasticity and inhibiting long-term potentiation. Although several lines of evidence suggests that microglia, the resident immune cells in the central nervous system (CNS), are neurotoxic in the development of AD, the mechanism whether or how oAβ induces microglial neurotoxicity remains unknown. Here, we show that oAβ promotes the processing of pro-interleukin (IL)-1β into mature IL-1β in microglia, which then enhances microglial neurotoxicity. The processing is induced by an increase in activity of caspase-1 and NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) via mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) and partially via NADPH oxidase-induced ROS. The caspase-1 inhibitor Z-YVAD-FMK inhibits the processing of IL-1β, and attenuates microglial neurotoxicity. Our results indicate that microglia can be activated by oAβ to induce neuroinflammation through processing of IL-1β, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, in AD.
The analysis of functional connectivity at rest (rFC) enables us to know how brain regions within and between networks interact. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance ...imaging and a creativity test of divergent thinking (DT) to investigate the relationship between creativity measured by DT and rFC. We took the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to be the seed region and investigated correlations across subjects between the score of the DT test and the strength of rFC between the mPFC and other brain regions. Our results showed that the strength of rFC with the mPFC significantly and positively correlated with creativity as measured by the DT test in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). These results showed that higher creativity measured by DT is associated with rFC between the mPFC and the PCC, the key nodes of the default mode network (DMN). Increased rFC between these regions is completely opposite from that is generally expected from the association between higher creativity and reduced deactivation in DMN during an externally directed attention-demanding task shown in our previous study but is similar to the pattern seen in relatives of schizophrenia. These findings are comparable to the previously reported psychological associations between schizotypy and creativity.
Minocycline is commonly used to inhibit microglial activation. It is widely accepted that activated microglia exert dual functions, that is, pro-inflammatory (M1) and anti-inflammatory (M2) ...functions. The in vivo status of activated microglia is probably on a continuum between these two extreme states. However, the mechanisms regulating microglial polarity remain elusive. Here, we addressed this question focusing on minocycline. We used SOD1(G93A) mice as a model, which exhibit the motor neuron-specific neurodegenerative disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Administration of minocycline attenuated the induction of the expression of M1 microglia markers during the progressive phase, whereas it did not affect the transient enhancement of expression of M2 microglia markers during the early pathogenesis phase. This selective inhibitory effect was confirmed using primary cultured microglia stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or interleukin (IL)-4, which induced M1 or M2 polarization, respectively. Furthermore, minocycline inhibited the upregulation of NF-κB in the LPS-stimulated primary cultured microglia and in the spinal cord of SOD1(G93A) mice. On the other hand, IL-4 did not induce upregulation of NF-κB. This study indicates that minocycline selectively inhibits the microglia polarization to a proinflammatory state, and provides a basis for understanding pathogeneses of many diseases accompanied by microglial activation.
Oesophagectomy has a high risk of postoperative morbidity. The impact of postoperative complications on overall survival of oesophageal cancer remains unclear. This meta-analysis addressed the impact ...of complications on long-term survival following oesophagectomy.
A search of PubMed and Cochrane Library databases was undertaken for systematic review of papers published between January 1995 and August 2016 that analysed the relation between postoperative complications and long-term survival. In the meta-analysis, data were pooled. The main outcome was overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints included disease-free (DFS) and cancer-specific (CSS) survival.
A total of 357 citations was reviewed; 21 studies comprising 11 368 patients were included in the analyses. Overall, postoperative complications were associated with significantly decreased 5-year OS (hazard ratio (HR) 1·16, 95 per cent c.i. 1·06 to 1·26; P = 0·001) and 5-year CSS (HR 1·27, 1·09 to 1·47; P = 0·002). Pulmonary complications were associated with decreased 5-year OS (HR 1·37, 1·16 to 1·62; P < 0·001), CSS (HR 1·60, 1·35 to 1·89; P < 0·001) and 5-year DFS (HR 1·16, 1·00 to 1·33; P = 0·05). Patients with anastomotic leakage had significantly decreased 5-year OS (HR 1·20, 1·10 to 1·30; P < 0·001), 5-year CSS (HR 1·81, 1·11 to 2·95; P = 0·02) and 5-year DFS (HR 1·13, 1·02 to 1·25; P = 0·01).
Postoperative complications after oesophagectomy, including pulmonary complications and anastomotic leakage, decreased long-term survival.
Background
To date, there have been no studies evaluating adherence to clozapine with electronic adherence monitoring (EAM) such as the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS®).
Methods
In ...outpatients with schizophrenia, we conducted a 3‐month prospective study investigating antipsychotic adherence with EAM (eCAP®). Participants were treated with different oral antipsychotics, including clozapine, and blind to EAM monitoring; all were on antipsychotic monotherapy administered once daily. Outcome measures included adherence rate, missed dose, and medication gap. Adherence trajectory patterns were also analyzed for clozapine vs. other antipsychotics collectively.
Results
A total of 111 patients were included in the study; 33 and 78 patients received clozapine or other antipsychotics, respectively. Adherence rates, defined as proportion of days that the subject took the medication at the prescribed time ± 3 h and proportion of subjects with ≥80% adherence, were numerically higher in patients receiving clozapine vs. other antipsychotics (72.0% vs. 65.1%, P = 0.10; 49.5% vs. 35.7%, P = 0.11, respectively). Along similar lines, some of the missed dose and medication gap outcomes were significantly better in patients receiving clozapine vs. other antipsychotics. Three adherence trajectory patterns were identified for both clozapine and other antipsychotics, with two shared by both groups (i.e., low adherence with a slight decrease over time; high and stable adherence).
Conclusion
Findings suggest that in patients with schizophrenia clozapine adherence is at least comparable, if not slightly better, compared with other antipsychotics.
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