Replenishment of urban landscape ponds with reclaimed water: Spatiotemporal variations of water quality and mechanism of algal inhibition with alum sludge.

Algal blooms caused by high concentrations of nutrients (especially phosphorus) limit the use of recycled water (RW) for replenishing landscape ponds in the context of global water scarcity. Previous studies have demonstrated that alum sludge is a low cost phosphorus sorption medium, which could potentially be applied in constructed wetlands and sewage treatment plants. However, whether alum sludge can be used for algae inhibition in reclaimed water urban landscape ponds (RWULPs) should be explored. In this study, phosphorus removal and algae inhibition by alum sludge were investigated in a RWULP in China. The results highlight that there is a serious risk of algal blooms in RWULPs. The algal density was found to be 1.58 × 105 cell·mL-1, which is 6.84 times higher than that of the surface water ponds. The algal blooms presented a Cyanophyta-Chlorophyta-Bacillariophyta-type, and the dominant algae species were Microcystis flos-aquae (Wittr.) Kirchner, Chlorella vulgaris, and Scenedesmus quadricauda. Moreover, the removal rate of phosphorus by alum sludge was as high as 98% and eventually leads to phosphorus stress, which has an important effect on algae growth and algae inhibition rate of 80%. In addition, the proportion of phosphorus and nitrogen in the adsorbed alum sludge increased by 3.12% and 0.32%, respectively, and Al3+ was reduced by only 2.18%. Alum sludge is a potential inhibitor of algae in RWULPs that does not negatively impact the environment. These results are of great importance in algal bloom control of RWULPs and may help alleviate the problem of urban water resource scarcity.

Studies on the preparation, crystal structure and bioactivity of ginsenoside compound K.

Microbial transformation of Panaxnotoginseng saponins (PNS) using Aspergillus niger afforded, as the main metabolite, ginsenoside compound K (20-O-beta-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol). Its structure was determined spectroscopically and by X-ray analysis, and this is the first time the crystal structure of ginsenoside has been reported. In comparison with ginsenoside Rb1, the pro-drug for this metabolite, compound K exhibits potent cytotoxic activity against tumor cell lines. The mean concentrations of compound K needed to inhibit the proliferation of cells by 50% (IC50) were 12.7, 11.4, 8.5 and 9.7 microM for mouse high-metastatic melanoma (B16-BL6), human hepatoma (HepG2), human myeloid leukemia (K562) and human high-metastatic lung carcinoma (95-D) cell lines, respectively. The data show that ginsenoside compound K is a good antitumor drug candidate.