Coupling with in-situ electrochemical reactive chlorine species generation and two-phase partitioning method for enhanced microalgal biodiesel production.

Microalgal-based biofuel production is of great significance in alleviating energy crisis and achieving carbon neutrality. However, the excessive costs and high solvent consumption in lipids extraction from microalgal obstruct the widespread application of biodiesel in practice. Reported herein is the construction of facile strategy for lipids extraction via electrocatalytic pretreatment and a subsequent two-phase partitioning method. Electrocatalytic pretreatment method adopts the solar as power source and avoids the drying of microalgal biomass, in favor of carbon neutrality requirement. During this process, eco-friendly electrode with high specific surface area could contribute to the sufficient generation of reactive chlorine species (RCS), facilitating the outflows of intracellular lipid. As a result, assisted with two-phase partitioning method, a satisfied performance of lipid recovery (86.72 %) was obtained. Notably, compared with traditional solvent method, two-phase partitioning method greatly reduced the dosage of organic solvent, which is an economical or environmental technique.

Water-plasma-enhanced and phase-separation-assisted extraction of microalgal lipid for biodiesel production.

Traditional methods for lipid extraction from microalgal biomass usually involve harsh reaction conditions or the use of contaminant reagents, which lead to enormous energy consumption and wastage. Hence, a novel strategy was presented, which combined water-plasma and three-phase partitioning (TPP) techniques. Benefiting from its unique advantages such as rapid and low cost, water-plasma strategy can disrupt microalgal cell wall and can thus greatly affect lipid extraction. As a result, assisted with the TPP method, excellent performance lipid recovery (74.34%) was obtained at 200 W in 10 min. The performance was superior to that achieved through cell disruption via water-plasma pretreatment. Importantly, the whole process of lipid extraction prevented the drying of microalgal biomass, contributing to reduced energy consumption in large-scale biodiesel production. Moreover, the high fatty acids content suggested that the extracted lipids are great potential candidate for biodiesel production.

Alternative Splicing: A New Cause and Potential Therapeutic Target in Autoimmune Disease.

Alternative splicing (AS) is a complex coordinated transcriptional regulatory mechanism. It affects nearly 95% of all protein-coding genes and occurs in nearly all human organs. Aberrant alternative splicing can lead to various neurological diseases and cancers and is responsible for aging, infection, inflammation, immune and metabolic disorders, and so on. Though aberrant alternative splicing events and their regulatory mechanisms are widely recognized, the association between autoimmune disease and alternative splicing has not been extensively examined. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by the loss of tolerance of the immune system towards self-antigens and organ-specific or systemic inflammation and subsequent tissue damage. In the present review, we summarized the most recent reports on splicing events that occur in the immunopathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and attempted to clarify the role that splicing events play in regulating autoimmune disease progression. We also identified the changes that occur in splicing factor expression. The foregoing information might improve our understanding of autoimmune diseases and help develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for them.

Noise exposure in occupational setting associated with elevated blood pressure in China.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is the primary out-auditory adverse outcome caused due to occupational noise exposure. This study investigated the associations of noise exposure in an occupational setting with blood pressure and risk of hypertension. METHODS: A total of 1,390 occupational noise-exposed workers and 1399 frequency matched non-noise-exposed subjects were recruited from a cross-sectional survey of occupational noise-exposed and the general population, respectively. Blood pressure was measured using a mercury sphygmomanometer following a standard protocol. Multiple logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of noise exposure adjusted by potential confounders. RESULTS: Noise-exposed subjects had significantly higher levels of systolic blood pressure(SBP) (125.1 ± 13.9 mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (77.6 ± 10.7 mm Hg) than control subjects (SBP: 117.2 ± 15.7 mm Hg, DBP: 70.0 ± 10.5 mm Hg) (P < 0.001). Significant correlations were found between noise exposure and blood pressure (SBP and DBP) (P < 0.001). However, the linear regression coefficients with DBP appeared larger than those with SBP. The prevalence of hypertension was 17.8% in subjects with noise exposure and 9.0% in control group (P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, the subjects with noise exposure had the risk of hypertension with an OR of 1.941 (95% CI = 1.471- 2.561) after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, and drinking status. Dose-response relationships were found between noise intensity, years of noise exposure, cumulative noise exposure and the risk of hypertension (all P values < 0.05). No significant difference was found between subjects wearing an earplug and those not wearing an earplug, and between steady and unsteady noise categories (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Occupational noise exposure was associated with higher levels of SBP, DBP, and the risk of hypertension. These findings indicate that effective and feasible measures should be implemented to reduce the risk of hypertension caused by occupational noise exposure.

Structure-based functional design of chemical ligands for AMPA-subtype glutamate receptors.

Glutamate receptors (GluRs) function as transmembrane ion channels to regulate intracellular level of ions such as calcium in control of excitatory synaptic transmission of the central nervous system. Dysfunction of these glutamate receptors has been implicated in human brain neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases. Despite such a significant role in both the biology and pathology of the central nervous system, detailed understanding of molecular mechanisms by which subtype- or subunit-specific glutamate receptors function in cells is still lacking. The recently determined three-dimensional crystal structure of the extracellular ligand-binding core of the prototypic AMPA-subtype GluR2, in complex with its agonist, provides a new opportunity for rational design of chemical ligands that could help elucidate the underlying mechanisms and also be useful in the therapy of the neurodegenerative diseases. Here we report our recent development in structure-based functional design of chemical ligands by using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The NMR structure-based method enables rapid identification of small molecular chemical ligands that bind to specific sites of the target protein. These chemical compounds can be optimized for selective binding to the target protein, and linked to produce chemical ligands with high-affinity and selectivity of the AMPA-subtype glutamate receptors.