Mixotrophic denitrification of waste activated sludge fermentation liquid as an alternative carbon source for nitrogen removal: Reducing N2O emissions and costs.

Heterotrophic-sulfur autotrophic denitrification (HAD) has been proposed to be a prospective nitrogen removal process. In this work, the potential of fermentation liquid (FL) from waste-activated sludge (WAS) as the electron donor for denitrification in the HAD system was explored and compared with other conventional carbon sources. Results showed that when FL was used as a carbon source, over 99% of NO3--N was removed and its removal rate exceeded 14.00 mg N/g MLSS/h, which was significantly higher than that of methanol and propionic acid. The produced sulfate was below the limit value and the emission of N2O was low (1.38% of the NO3--N). Microbial community analysis showed that autotrophic denitrifiers were predominated in the HAD system, in which Thiobacillus (16.4%) was the dominant genus. The economic analysis showed the cost of the FL was 0.062 €/m3, which was 30% lower than that in the group dosed with methanol. Our results demonstrated the FL was a promising carbon source for the HAD system, which could reduce carbon emission and cost, and offer a creative approach for waste-activated sludge resource reuse.

Functional Connectivity of Paired Default Mode Network Subregions in Retinal Detachment.

PURPOSE: To explore the difference of the default mode network (DMN) in patients with retinal detachment (RD) by the study of the resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC). METHODS: A total of 30 patients with RD (16 men, 14 women) and 30 similarly matched normal controls (NCs) were examined and recorded with rs-fMRI. The DMN was divided into eight core regions, and each rs-FC map of each subregion was obtained. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to classify the mean FC values of RD patients from NCs, and the interrelationships between the FC and each region were evaluated with Pearson's correlation analysis. RESULTS: Compared with NCs, there were significantly increased FC in the left medial temporal lobe (MTL.L) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), MTL.L and left hippocampus formation (HF.L), MTL.L and HF.R, MTL.L and left inferior parietal cortices (IPC.L), MTL.L and IPC.R in the RD group (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, no correlation between the FC values of each paired region and the manifestations was found in the RD group. ROC curve analysis showed that the accuracy of the area under the curve was excellent in MTL.L-HF.R and MTL.L-IPC.R and less reliable in MTL.L-PCC, MTL.L-HF.L, and MTL.L-IPC.L. CONCLUSIONS: The visual function impairments of RD patients were closely related to the DMN functional connections, which provided insight into the neural variation in RD patients and assisted in revealing the potential mechanisms of RD. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: This study provided insight into the neural variation in RD patients and assisted in revealing the potential mechanisms of RD.

Altered spontaneous brain activity patterns in strabismus with amblyopia patients using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation: a resting-state fMRI study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have demonstrated that strabismus or amblyopia can result in markedly brain function and anatomical alterations. However, the differences in spontaneous brain activities of strabismus with amblyopia (SA) patients still remain unclear. This current study intended to use the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) technique to investigate the intrinsic brain activity changes in SA subjects. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 16 patients with SA (6 males and 10 females) and 16 healthy controls (HCs; 6 males and 10 females) similarly matched in age, gender, and education status were recruited and examined with the resting-state functional MRI. The spontaneous brain activity changes were investigated using the ALFF technique. The receiver operating characteristic curve was performed to classify the mean ALFF signal values of the SA patients from HCs. The correlations between the ALFF values of distinct brain regions and the clinical manifestations in SA patients were evaluated in terms of the Pearson's correlation analysis. RESULTS: Compared with HCs, SA patients had significantly decreased ALFF in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left middle frontal gyrus, and bilateral thalamus. In contrast, SA patients showed increased ALFF values in the right superior frontal gyrus, right precuneus, left cuneus, and bilateral precentral gyrus. Nonetheless, there was no linear correlation between the mean ALFF values in brain regions and clinical features. CONCLUSION: Diverse brain regions including vision-related and motion-related areas exhibited aberrant intrinsic brain activity patterns, which imply the neuropathologic mechanisms of oculomotor disorder and vision deficit in the SA patients.