Novel mechanism by which extracellular vesicles derived from Lactobacillus murinus alleviates deoxynivalenol-induced intestinal barrier disruption.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a common environmental pollutant that poses a serious health risk to humans worldwide. This study was aim to explore whether gut microbiota is involved in DON-induced intestinal toxicity as well as to reveal effect of probiotics derived from gut microbiota in protecting intestinal barrier and to elucidate mechanism. We found that DON caused disturbed gut microbiota, particularly Lactobacillus murinus (L. murinus) deficiency. DON enhanced M1 macrophage polarization and decreased tight junction protein expression. Microbiota transplantation experiments showed that transfer of DON-disrupted microbiota to healthy mice resulted in delivery of DON-induced intestinal toxicity. Besides, DON lost its damaging effect on macrophage and intestinal barrier in antibiotic-treated mice. Further intervention experiments revealed that L. murinus induce macrophage conversion from M1 to M2 phenotype through secreted extracellular vesicles (EVs) to alleviate DON-induced intestinal barrier disruption. Mechanistically, EVs activate TLR2 to promote M2 macrophage polarization and release IL-10, which in turn enhances intestinal barrier function. Upon successful translation of its efficacy into clinical practice, EVs created from L. murinus could be a novel possible treatment strategy for DON-induced gut disease.

Dual slag filters for enhanced phosphorus removal from domestic waste water: performance and mechanisms.

The phosphorus (P) removal of five combinations of dual filters consisting of blast furnace slag (BFS), argon oxygen decarburisation slag (AOD) and electric arc furnace slag (EAF) was evaluated in column experiments with domestic waste water. The columns were fed with waste water for 24 days. The column with only EAF had the best P removal performance (above 93% throughout the experiment). The speciation of the bound P was evaluated by P K-edge X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. In all five columns, the main P species of the slag packed in the outlet chamber was amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP). In samples from the inlet chambers, the contributions from crystalline Ca phosphates, P adsorbed on gibbsite and P adsorbed on ferrihydrite were usually much greater, suggesting a shift of P removal mechanism as the waste water travelled from the inlet to the outlet. The results provide strong evidence that P was predominantly removed by the slags through the formation of ACP. However, as the pH decreased with time due to the progressively lower dissolution of alkaline silicate minerals from the slag, the ACP was rendered unstable and hence redissolved, changing the P speciation. It is suggested that this process strongly affected the lifespan of the slag filters. Of the slags examined, EAF slag had the best P removal characteristics and BFS the worst, which probably reflected different dissolution rates of alkaline silicates in the slags.

Phosphorus removal performance and speciation in virgin and modified argon oxygen decarburisation slag designed for wastewater treatment.

Argon oxygen decarburisation (AOD) slag may be used for phosphorus (P) removal, as its high pH and weatherable calcium (Ca) minerals provide sufficient Ca(2+) and OH(-) for calcium phosphate (Ca-PO4) precipitation. This study examined the P removal performance of AOD slag for use as wastewater treatment material. Batch experiments were carried out using both synthetic P solution and real wastewater, followed by chemical modelling and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. The influences of initial P concentration, slag dose and modification by polyethylene glycol (PEG), an effective agent for generation of porous materials, were investigated to determine the optimal conditions for P removal by AOD slag. It was found that virgin AOD slag removed 94.8% of P from a synthetic P solution in 4 h and 97.8% in 10 h. This high P removal was accompanied by a rapid increase in pH from 7.0 to 10.74. The maximum P removal capacity (PRC) from synthetic P solution ranged from 1.3 to 27.5 mg P g(-1). The optimal AOD dose for P removal from wastewater, determined in 8-h batch experiments, was 25 g L(-1). PEG modification increased the reaction rate and resulted in higher final pH, increasing PRC by 47.9%. Combined Visual MINTEQ and XANES analysis for detailed examination of P removal mechanisms revealed that the main P removal mechanism was precipitation of calcium phosphate. According to the XANES analysis, the main Ca-PO4 precipitate formed on virgin AOD slag under low initial P concentration and high pH was apatite, while brushite was the dominant product at high initial P concentration and low pH.

Copper leaching of MSWI bottom ash co-disposed with refuse: effect of short-term accelerated weathering.

Co-disposal of refuse with municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) bottom ash (IBA) either multi-layered as landfill cover or mixed with refuse could pose additional risk to the environment because of enhanced leaching of heavy metals, especially Cu. This study applied short-term accelerated weathering to IBA, and monitored the mineralogical and chemical properties of IBA during the weathering process. Cu extractability of the weathered IBA was then evaluated using standard leaching protocols (i.e. SPLP and TCLP) and co-disposal leaching procedure. The results showed that weathering had little or no beneficial effect on Cu leaching in SPLP and TCLP, which can be explained by the adsorption and complexation of Cu with DOM. However, the Cu leaching of weathered IBA was reduced significantly when situated in fresh simulated landfill leachate. This was attributed to weakening Cu complexation with fulvic acid or hydrophilic fractions and/or intensifying Cu absorption to neoformed hydr(oxide) minerals in weathered IBA. The amount of total leaching Cu and Cu in free or labile complex fraction (the fraction with the highest mobility and bio-toxicity) of the 408-h weathered IBA were remarkably decreased by 86.3% and 97.6% in the 15-day co-disposal leaching test. Accelerated weathering of IBA may be an effective pretreatment method to decrease Cu leaching prior to its co-disposal with refuse.