Effect of Lactobacillus salivarius SNK-6 on egg quality, intestinal morphology, and cecal microbial community of laying hens.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus salivarius (L. salivarius) SNK-6 supple-mentation on the laying performance, egg quality, blood parameters, intestinal morphology, and cecal microbial community of laying hens. A total of 432 healthy 30-wk-age laying hens were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 replicates under the same husbandry and dietary regimes: control (CON); 2.0 × 108 CFU/kg L. salivarius supplementation (T1); 2.0 × 109 CFU/kg L. salivarius supplementation (T2). The experiment lasted for 10 wk. The results indicated that the supplementation resulted in a significant reduction in the broken egg and unqualified egg ratios, and a significant increase in the eggshell strength, eggshell relative weight, albumen height, and Haugh units (P < 0.05). The L. salivarius-treated hens exhibited significantly reduced serum malondialdehyde levels (P < 0.05); significantly increased total protein, phosphorus, calcitonin, and immunoglobulin M (P < 0.05); significantly increased cecal secretory immunoglobulin A concentration (P < 0.05); significantly improved villus height (VH) in the duodenum and VH to crypt depth ratio in the jejunum (P < 0.05). The serum globulin and interleukin-1ß, immunoglobulin G concentrations, and catalase activity significantly increased in T2 (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the serum interferon-α level in T1 was significantly higher than that of the CON (P < 0.05). The intestinal barrier-related mRNA gene ZO-1, CLDN1, and MUC2 expression in the jejunum was significantly upregulated in the T1 and T2 groups (P < 0.05). The Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was higher and the relative abundances of Flavonifractor and Clostridiales_noname were significantly higher in the T1 group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with L. salivarius SNK-6 may improve hen egg quality, serum antioxidant capacity, immune function, and intestinal health.

Metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and proteomics reveal the metabolic mechanism of biofilm sequencing batch reactor with higher phosphate enrichment capacity under low phosphorus load.

The biofilm sequencing batch reactor (BSBR) process has higher phosphate recovery efficiency and enrichment multiple when the phosphorus load is lower, but the mechanism of phosphate enrichment at low phosphorus load remains unclear. In this study, we operated two BSBR operating under low and high phosphorus load (0.012 and 0.032 kg/(m3·d)) respectively, and used metagenomic, metatranscriptomic, and proteomics methods to analyze the community structure of the phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) in the biofilm, the transcription and protein expression of key functional genes and enzymes, and the metabolism of intracellular polymers. Compared with at high phosphorus load, the BSBR at low phosphorus load have different PAOs and fewer types of PAOs, but in both cases the PAOs must have the PHA, PPX, Pst, and acs genes to become dominant. Some key differences in the metabolism of PAOs from the BSBR with different phosphorus load can be identified as follows. When the phosphorus load is low, the adenosine triphosphoric acid (ATP) and NAD(P)H in the anaerobic stage come from the TCA cycle and the second half of the EMP pathway. The key genes that are upregulated include GAPDH, PGK, ENO, ppdk in the EMP pathway, actP in acetate metabolism, phnB in polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) synthesis, and aceA, mdh, sdhA, and IDH1 in the TCA cycle. In the meantime, the ccr gene in the PHV pathway is inhibited. As a result, the metabolism of the PAOs features low glycogen with high PHB, Pupt, Prel, and low PHV. That is, more ATP and NAD(P)H flow to phosphorus enrichment metabolism, thus allowing the highly efficient enrichment of phosphorus from low concentration phosphate thanks to the higher abundance of PAOs. The current results provide theoretical support and a new technical option for the enrichment and recovery of low concentrations of phosphate from wastewater by the BSBR process.

Rapid and Low-Cost Quantification of Adulteration Content in Camellia Oil Utilizing UV-Vis-NIR Spectroscopy Combined with Feature Selection Methods.

This study aims to explore the potential use of low-cost ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectroscopy to quantify adulteration content of soybean, rapeseed, corn and peanut oils in Camellia oil. To attain this aim, test oil samples were firstly prepared with different adulterant ratios ranging from 1% to 90% at varying intervals, and their spectra were collected by an in-house built experimental platform. Next, the spectra were preprocessed using Savitzky-Golay (SG)-Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and the feature wavelengths were extracted using four different algorithms. Finally, Support Vector Regression (SVR) and Random Forest (RF) models were developed to rapidly predict adulteration content. The results indicated that SG-CWT with decomposition scale of 25 and the Iterative Variable Subset Optimization (IVSO) algorithm can effectively improve the accuracy of the models. Furthermore, the SVR model performed best for predicting adulteration of camellia oil with soybean oil, while the RF models were optimal for camellia oil adulterated with rapeseed, corn, or peanut oil. Additionally, we verified the models' robustness by examining the correlation between the absorbance and adulteration content at certain feature wavelengths screened by IVSO. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using low-cost UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy for the authentication of Camellia oil.

Selenium alleviates cadmium-induced oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and apoptosis in L8824 cells.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic pollutant in industrial production that induces organ damage and apoptosis, While, selenium (Se) has the biological function of antagonizing Cd toxicity. Hence, to gain further insight into the protective mechanisms of selenium against Cd-induced damage in Ctenopharyngodon idella liver (L8824) cells, L8824 were exposed to 5 µM, 15 µM, 25 µM cadmium chloride for 24 h after pre-incubation with 25 µM sodium selenite for 9 h. Cell proliferation and morphological changes, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzyme activity, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-related pathway genes expression, intracellular calcium levels and apoptosis were assessed to explore the protective effect of selenium in Cd-induced L8824 cell damage. The results showed that Cd caused decreased cell viability, ROS accumulation, reduced activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT GPx and T-AOC) and apoptosis in L8824 cells. The incubation of Se prominently ameliorated cell proliferation, activated the Keap1-Nrf2 pathway, and restored antioxidant enzyme activity. Furthermore, the expression of grp78, perk, eif-2α, atf4, chop bax, jnk, caspase-3 and caspase-9 was significantly upregulated after Cd exposure, while the expression of bcl-2 was significantly downregulated. Se supplementation alleviated Cd-induced ERS and apoptosis. Moreover, Cd-induced elevation of intracellular Ca2+ levels were alleviated by dantrolene and 2-APB, suggesting that intracellular calcium disorders were caused by Ca2+ released by RyR and IP3R-mediated ER. The results of this study suggested that Cd could induce oxidative stress, ERS, mitochondrial damage and evoke apoptosis, whereas Se had protective effects in preventing Cd induced damage by inhibiting ERS, maintaining intracellular calcium homeostasis, enhancing the antioxidant capacity of L8824 cells and downregulating the Keap1/Nrf2 pathway.

Phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge ash (SSA): An integrated technical, environmental and economic assessment of wet-chemical and thermochemical methods.

Incineration is a promising disposal method for sewage sludge (SS), enriching more than 90% of phosphorus (P) in the influent into the powdered product, sewage sludge ash (SSA), which is convenient for further P recovery. Due to insufficient bioavailable P and enriched heavy metals (HMs) in SSA, it is limited to be used directly as fertilizer. Hence, this paper provides an overview of P transformation in SS incineration, characterization of SSA components, and wet-chemical and thermochemical processes for P recovery with a comprehensive technical, economic, and environmental assessment. P extraction and purification is an important technical step to achieve P recovery from SSA, where the key to all technologies is how to achieve efficient separation of P and HMs at a low economic and environmental cost. It can be clear seen from the review that the economics of P recovery from SSA are often weak due to many factors. For example, the cost of wet-chemical methods is approximately 5∼6 €/kg P, while the cost of recovering P by thermochemical methods is about 2∼3 €/kg P, which is slightly higher than the current P fertilizer (1 €/kg P). So, for now, legislation is significant for promoting P recovery from SSA. In this regard, the relevant experience in Europe is worth learning from countries that have not yet carried out P recovery from SSA, and to develop appropriate policies and legislation according to their own national conditions.

Pectin-rich dragon fruit peel extracts: An environmentally friendly emulsifier of natural origin.

Pectin extraction is generally an energy-intensive industrial process, while on the other hand their extraction methods vary from different sources. Starting with that perspective, pectin (WSP) containing ultra-low degree of methylation (31.08 ± 1.27%) from dragon fruit peel (DFP) was extracted by using pure water at room temperature. WSP, dominant in DFP (17.13 ± 1.01%), showed both a high molecular weight and a wide molecular weight distribution, while the yield of the rest acid-soluble pectin (HAP) from DFP residue was only 5.22 ± 0.76%. Furthermore, WSP can stabilize emulsions over a wide range of concentrations and oil phases, especially HIPE. Therefore, the hypothesis was verified that the pectin-rich extract from dragon fruit peel with excellent emulsifying properties could be simply extracted by pure water. This environmentally-friendly and energy-saving extraction method provides a new insight to increase the additional value of dragon fruit peel produced in food processing.

Synthesis of calcium carbonate-loaded mesoporous SBA-15 nanocomposites for removal of phosphate from solution.

Removal of phosphate from water is very crucial for protecting the ecological environment since massive phosphorus fertilizers have been widely used and caused serious water deterioration. Thus, we fabricated a series of calcium carbonate-loaded mesoporous SBA-15 nanocomposites with different Ca:Si molar ratio (CaAS-x) as phosphorus adsorbents via a simple wet-impregnation method. The multiply approaches including X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption, thermogravimetric mass spectrometry (TG-MS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) were used to characterize the structure, morphology, and composition of mesoporous CaAS-x nanocomposites. The phosphate adsorption efficiency of the CaAS-x nanocomposites was studied through adsorption and desorption batch tests. Results showed that the increases of Ca:Si molar ratio (rCa:Si) improved the phosphate removal capacity of CaAS nanocomposites, especially CaAS with the optimum synthesis molar ratio of Ca:Si as 0.55 showed the high adsorption capacity of 92.0 mg·g-1 to high concentration of phosphate (> 200 mg·L-1). Note that the CaAS-0.55 had a fast exponentially increased adsorption capacity with increasing the phosphate concentration and correspondingly showed a much faster phosphate removal rate than pristine CaCO3. Apparently, mesoporous structure of SBA-15 contributed to high disperse of CaCO3 nanoparticles leading to the monolayer chemical adsorption complexation formation of phosphate calcium (i.e., =SPO4Ca, =CaHPO4-, and =CaPO4Ca0). Therefore, mesoporous CaAS-0.55 nanocomposite is an environmental-friendly adsorbent for effective removal of high concentration of phosphate in neutral contaminated wastewater.

Antioxidant activity and semi-solid emulsification of a polysaccharide from coffee cherry peel.

In order to further improve the economic benefits of the coffee industry chain, we carried out the following systematic research on processing by-products. In this research, the obtained coffee cherry peel polysaccharide (CCP) which was removed from the coffee cherry peel by hot acid method had a galacturonic acid content of 20.50 % and a molecular weight of 3.05 kg/mol. According to the results of monosaccharide analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, molecular weight distribution, and thermal analysis, CCP was a typical high methoxy polysaccharide. In vitro antioxidant results showed that CCP had better antioxidant capacity than commercial citrus polysaccharide (APC). When it came to emulsification performance, the water-oil bonding ability and disturbance resistance to the fluid of CCP were also significantly higher than that of APC. Specially, we found that 0.50 % (wt%) CCP could form a solid-liquid gel with very high plasticity at low oil phase fraction. In conclusion, the coffee cherry peel could be used as a natural source of a novel emulsifier, providing a promising alternative for polysaccharide in the food industry.

Who does better for in-situ eutrophic remediation in anoxic environment improvement and nutrient removal: MgO2 versus CaO2.

The long-term insufficient dissolved oxygen (DO), excessive nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) have become the main causes of the troublesome eutrophication. Herein, a 20-day sediment core incubation experiment was conducted to comprehensively evaluate the effects of two metal-based peroxides (MgO2 and CaO2) on eutrophic remediation. Results indicated that CaO2 addition could increase DO and ORP of the overlying water more effectively and improve the anoxic environment of the aquatic ecosystems. However, the addition of MgO2 had a less impact on pH of the water body. Furthermore, the addition of MgO2 and CaO2 removed 90.31% and 93.87% of continuous external P in the overlying water respectively, while the removal of NH4+ was 64.86% and 45.89%, and the removal of TN was 43.08% and 19.16%. The reason why the capacity on NH4+ removal of MgO2 was higher than that of CaO2 is mainly that PO43- and NH4+ can be removed as struvite by MgO2. Compared with MgO2, mobile P of the sediment in CaO2 addition group was reduced obviously and converted to more stable P. Notably, the microbial community structure of sediments was optimized by MgO2 and CaO2, which showed that the relative abundance of anaerobic bacteria decreased and that of aerobic bacteria increased significantly, especially some functional bacteria involved in the nutrient cycle. Taken together, MgO2 and CaO2 have a promising application prospect in the field of in-situ eutrophication management.

Pickering emulsions stabilized by zein-proanthocyanidins-pectin ternary composites (ZPAAPs): Construction and delivery studies.

Proanthocyanidins (Pas) are widely used in the preparation of functional foods due to their diverse biological activities. Taking advantage of the effect of Pas on the stability of Pickering emulsions, this study constructed the zein-proanthocyanidins-pectin ternary composites (ZPAAPs) as stabilizer to establish Pickering emulsions with potential delivery capacity. The appearance of the emulsion was pink which could be found in visual observation. The emulsion was stable during long-term storage in the range of 0.1 âˆ¼ 0.7 oil phase. CLSM showed that the oil droplets were coated with covering layer formed by ZPAAPs, which effectively prevented droplets congregating. The rheological results indicated that ZPAAPEs had elastic gel-like structure. In addition, ZPAAPEs still contained 54.4 % curcumin after storage for 15 d. And the bioavailability of curcumin was increased to 39.7 % ± 0.3. These studies may contribute to the controllable fabrication of Pickering emulsions for nutrient delivery in the food and pharmaceutical fields.

[Phosphorus Enrichment Efficiency of CaO2@FA Composites and the Effect of Its Recovered Material on Soil Improvement].

To explore the resource utilization of phosphorus (P) in wastewater and industrial waste fly ash, we used an efficient composite material (CaO2@FA) for phosphorus removal by loading nano-CaO2 on the surface of fly ash as well as in the pores using the surface precipitation method. The results showed that the material had a larger specific surface area and porosity after loading CaO2 on the fly ash surface. The specific surface area increased to 4.641 m2·g-1, and the total pore volume was up to 0.025 cm3·g-1. The adsorption process of CaO2@FA on P could be described using the Langmuir isothermal adsorption model, and its maximum adsorption capacity was 185.776 mg·g-1(20℃). The adsorption mechanism was attributed to chemical precipitation, mainly the formation of calcium hydroxyphosphate. The enrichment efficiency of CaO2@FA composites on P was significantly higher than that of fly ash, and the efficiency was increasing with the increase in the dosage added. HCO3- and CO32- in the coexisting ions had a negative effect on P adsorption by the composites. The enrichment rate of P in domestic wastewater was up to 93% when the dosage of CaO2@FA composites was 2.0 g·L-1. The content of biological P in the recovered precipitates reached 1.658 mg·g-1. The soil improvement test showed that the biological P content in soil increased by 102.9% when the recovered precipitates were added into the soil. This indicated that the operating cost of recovering 100 mg of P by this composite was as low as 0.76 yuan.

Tandem mass tag-based proteomics analysis reveals the multitarget mechanisms of Phyllanthus emblica against liver fibrosis.

Phyllanthus emblica (PE), a traditional multiethnic herbal medicine, is commonly applied to treat liver diseases. Our previous study demonstrated that aqueous extract of PE (AEPE) could alleviate carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver fibrosis in vivo, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are still unclear. The present study was undertaken to clarify the multitarget mechanisms of PE in treating liver fibrosis by proteomics clues. A CCl4-induced liver fibrosis rat model was established. The anti-liver fibrosis effects of chemical fractions from AEPE were evaluated by serum biochemical indicators and pathological staining. Additionally, tandem mass tag (TMT) - based quantitative proteomics technology was used to detect the hepatic differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment, gene ontology (GO) enrichment and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were used to perform bioinformatics analysis of DEPs. Western blot analysis was used to verify the key potential targets regulated by the effective fraction of AEPE. The low-molecular-weight fraction of AEPE (LWPE) was determined to be the optimal anti-liver fibrosis active fraction, that could significantly improve ALT, AST, HA, Col IV, PCIII, LN, Hyp levels and reduce the pathological fibrotic lesion of liver tissue in model rats. A total of 195 DEPs were screened after LWPE intervention. GO analysis showed that the DEPs were related mostly to extracellular matrix organization, actin binding, and extracellular exosomes. KEGG pathway analysis showed that DEPs are mainly related to ECM-receptor interactions, focal adhesion and PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Combined with the GO, KEGG and Western blot results, COL1A2, ITGAV, TLR2, ACE, and PDGFRB may be potential targets for PE treatment of liver fibrosis. In conclusion, LWPE exerts therapeutic effects through multiple pathways and multiple targets regulation in the treatment of liver fibrosis. This study may provide proteomics clues for the continuation of research on liver fibrosis treatment with PE.

Pectin extracted from dragon fruit Peel: An exploration as a natural emulsifier.

As a potential source of pectin, the peel of dragon fruit is a by-product of fruit processing and will bring considerable economic benefits. In this study, pectin (DFP) was extracted from dragon fruit peel by using a hot-acid method, and two commercial pectins were used as controls to correlate structural differences with physical and chemical properties through systematic evaluation. The galacturonic acid (GalA) content, degree of esterification (DM) and molecular weight (Mw) of DFP were 87.02 ± 0.89 %, 37.26 ± 1.37 % and 1181.75 ± 11.21 kDa, respectively. The FTIR and XRD analysis also confirmed that DFP is ultra-low methoxylated pectin and also contains characteristic functional groups naturally present in pectin. Compared to APA140 and LMP, DFP showed excellent emulsification at low concentrations. In particular, the extraordinary antioxidant activity of DFP may be attributed to polyphenols in free or bound form. Overall, DFP can be considered as a promising emulsifier and the results of the study provide an alternative to natural sources of emulsifiers in the food industry.

Encapsulation and sustained release of curcumin by hawthorn pectin and Tenebrio Molitor protein composite hydrogel.

In this study, the effects of pH value, mixing ratio and the Ca2+ concentration on the complex gelation of hawthorn pectin (HP) and Tenebrio Molitor protein (TMP) were investigated. The turbidity results showed that the composite gel had the maximum polymer concentration when the mixing ratio was 2:1 and the pH value was 3.35. The rheological measurement results showed that TMP/HP (15 mmol/L) hydrogel (THIH) had the highest storage modulus and loss modulus, indicating that the properties of the hydrogel at this Ca2+ concentration had been significantly improved. The results of scanning electron microscope and pore size also proved that the network structure prepared under this condition was compact and uniform, the pore size was small, which was beneficial to the entrapment of active components. Subsequently, in order to explore the storage stability and antioxidant activity of THIH-loaded curcumin in simulated gastrointestinal environment, in vitro simulated digestion experiment was carried out and satisfactory results were obtained. To sum up, THIH was a promising delivery system with broad application prospects, which was expected to provide a novel idea for the entrapment and delivery of active components.

Preoperative supplementation of calcitriol and calcium relieves symptom and extent of hypocalcemia in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy and bilateral central compartment neck dissection: A prospective, randomized, open-label, parallel-controlled clinical study.

Background: Hypocalcemia is the most common complication that challenges surgeons performing total thyroidectomy. Conventional postoperative calcium and calcitriol supplement has been reportedly effective; however, a time lag has been reported before taking effect. Therefore, the role of preoperative strategy is yet to be determined. Study design: In this prospective, randomized, open-label, parallel-controlled phase II clinical study (registration number: ChiCTR2200059815), a short-term preoperative administration of calcitriol and calcium was proposed in 210 patients undergoing total thyroidectomy and bilateral central compartment neck dissection. Patients were recruited and randomized (1:1:1) into three groups: (A) combined (preoperative calcitriol and calcium), (B) calcium only (preoperative calcium only), and (C) control (no preoperative intervention). Finally, a total of 172 patients were qualified for final analysis. Results: Our data showed that 16 of 63 patients (25.4%) in the combined group had symptomatic hypocalcemia, whereas more patients from the control group (25 of 57 patients, 43.9%, P = 0.033) had symptomatic hypocalcemia. Further, the postoperative calcium level in the combined group is higher than in the control group (2.15 ± 0.15 vs. 2.09 ± 0.15 mmol/L, P = 0.031). Moreover, patients from the combined group showed lower calcium rates of <2.00 mmol/L (12.7% vs. 28.1%, P = 0.036). Remarkably, compared with the control group, patients with transient hypoparathyroidism in the combined group showed fewer rates for both symptomatic and biochemical hypocalcemia (28.6% vs. 61.1% for symptomatic hypocalcemia; 47.6% vs. 75% for biochemical hypocalcemia). Patients without transient hypoparathyroidism in all three groups showed no significant difference in rates for either symptomatic or biochemical hypocalcemia, indicating that this preoperative strategy is only effective for patients with transient hypoparathyroidism. We did not observe such beneficial effects in patients from the calcium group. Conclusions: Preoperative administration of calcitriol and calcium could reduce symptomatic and biochemical hypocalcemia, especially for those with transient hypoparathyroidism. Moreover, this maneuver could be recommended as a clinical routine in patients undergoing total thyroidectomy and bilateral central compartment neck dissection. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=164316&htm=4, identifier ChiCTR2200059815.

Design of an Incremental Music Teaching and Assisted Therapy System Based on Artificial Intelligence Attention Mechanism.

With the continuous updating and advancement of artificial intelligence technology, it gradually begins to shine in various industries, especially playing an increasingly important role in incremental music teaching and assisted therapy systems. This study designs artificial intelligence models from the perspectives of attention mechanism, contextual information guidance, and distant dependencies combined with incremental music teaching for the segmentation of MS (multiple sclerosis) lesions and achieves the automatic and accurate segmentation of MS lesions through the multidimensional analysis of multimodal magnetic resonance imaging data, which provides a basis for physicians to quantitatively analyze MS lesions, thus assisting them in the diagnosis and treatment of MS. To address the highly variable characteristics of MS lesion location, size, number, and shape, this paper firstly designs a 3D context-guided module based on Kronecker convolution to integrate lesion information from different fields of view, starting from lesion contextual information capture. Then, a 3D spatial attention module is introduced to enhance the representation of lesion features in MRI images. The experiments in this paper confirm that the context-guided module, cross-dimensional cross-attention module, and multidimensional feature similarity module designed for the characteristics of MS lesions are effective, and the proposed attentional context U-Net and multidimensional cross-attention U-Net have greater advantages in the objective evaluation index of lesion segmentation, while being combined with the incremental music teaching approach to assist treatment, which provides a new idea for the intelligent assisted treatment approach. In this paper, from algorithm design to experimental validation, both in terms of accuracy, the operational difficulty of the experiment, consumption of arithmetic power, and time cost, the unique superiority of the artificial intelligence attention-based combined with incremental music teaching adjunctive therapy system proposed in this paper can be seen in the MS lesion segmentation task.

Metagenomics reveals the metabolism of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms in biofilm sequencing batch reactor: A new model.

This study assessed the impact of the operating conditions of the biofilm sequencing batch reactor (BSBR) on the community structure and the growth/metabolic pathways of its polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs). There are significant difference with reference to the enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process. The leading PAOs in BSBR generally are capable of high affinity acetate metabolism, gluconeogenesis, and low affinity phosphate transport, and have various carbon source supplementation pathways to ensure the efficient circulation of energy and reducing power. A new model of the metabolic mechanism of PAOs in the BSBR was formulated, which features low glycogen metabolism with simultaneous gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis and differs significantly from the classic mechanism based on Candidatus_Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera. The findings will assist the efficient recovery of low concentration phosphate in municipal wastewater.

Protective effects of the phenolic compounds from mung bean hull against H2O2-induced skin aging through alleviating oxidative injury and autophagy in HaCaT cells and HSF cells.

To add value to food waste and seek skin aging suppressor, petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water phenolic extracts were produced from mung bean hulls subjected to ultrasound-assisted ethanolic extraction. The four extracts all contained protocatechuic acid, isovitexin, vitexin, caffeic acid, 4-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, rutin and chlorogenic acid (revealed by UHPLC-MS/MS). The effects of the four extracts and their main phenolic compounds against H2O2-caused cell damage and aging in HaCaT and HSF cells were examined (including cell viability, ROS, MDA, SOD, GSH-px and ß-galactosidase levels). The four extracts and the eight phenolic compounds exhibited different protective effects on H2O2-treated HaCaT/HSF cells viability, with the ethyl acetate extract among the extracts, and isovitexin and vitexin among the eight compounds, exerting the greatest protection. Therefore, isovitexin and vitexin may be the key oxidative stress and autophagy modulators of mung bean hull, and they inhibit skin aging and damage likely through suppressing Nrf2/keap1/HO-1 related oxidative damage and LC3II/p62/GATA4 related autophagy.

Apple phenolic extracts ameliorate lead-induced cognitive impairment and depression- and anxiety-like behavior in mice by abating oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis via the miR-22-3p/SIRT1 axis.

Lead can lead to neurotoxicity and cognitive impairment. In this study, for the first time, the protective effects and working mechanisms of apple phenolic extracts (APEs) against lead acetate (Pb(Ac)2)-induced cognitive impairment and depression- and anxiety-like behavior were examined in vivo. Forty male mice were administered daily (via gastric gavage; 8 weeks) with 0.9% normal saline (control), Pb(Ac)2 (20 ppm), APE (200 ppm) or Pb(Ac)2 (20 ppm) + APE (200 ppm). The APE contained five major phenolic compounds: chlorogenic acid, proanthocyanidin B2, epicatechin, phloridzin and phloretin. Behavioral tests, histopathological examinations and biochemical analyses revealed that Pb(Ac)2-treated mice exhibited cognitive and behavioral deficits (i.e. a reduced percentage of spontaneous alternation, prolonged duration of immobility and decreased open field test scores compared with the control. Pb(Ac)2 exposure significantly increased cellular oxidative damage and the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (Iba1) and pro-apoptotic proteins (caspase 3, caspase 9 and Bax), while downregulating the expression of Bcl-2 in the brain. APE administration alleviated these Pb(Ac)2-induced changes through regulating oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and apoptosis via the miR-22-3p/Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) signaling pathway. Taken together, the APE has the potential to treat lead-induced neurotoxicity and neurodegenerative disorders via antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic actions.

Study on community structure and metabolic mechanism of dominant polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) in suspended biofilm based on phosphate recovery.

Biofilm sequencing batch reactor (BSBR) can achieve efficient phosphate (P) removal and enrichment, but its process performance and metabolic mechanisms for P removal and enrichment of municipal wastewater remain largely unclear. In the present study, we assessed the P removal and enrichment of municipal wastewater at influent P concentrations of 2.5 mg/L and 10 mg/L. The efficiency of P removal and enzyme activity in polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAOs) were compared, and the growth and metabolic characteristics of dominant PAOs and GAOs at different influent P concentrations were studied with the macro-sequencing technology. The results showed that the P recovery efficiencies were 70.03% and 76.19% when the influent P concentration was 2.5 mg/L and 10 mg/L in BSBR, respectively, and the maximum P concentration of recovery liquid was 81.29 mg/L and 173.12 mg/L, respectively. There were no phosphate kinase (PPK) and phosphate hydrolase (PPX) in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The dominant PAOs were Candidatus_Contendobacter, Dechloromonas, and Flavobacterium, and the dominant GAO was Candidatus_Competibacter. The abundance of Candidatus_Contendobacter was the highest with the most potential contribution to P removal. PAOs had competitive advantages in carbon (C) source uptake, glycogen metabolism, P metabolism, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) metabolism. HMP was unique to PAOs, EMP had the highest abundance in glycogen metabolism, and ED was contained in PAOs of BSBR. These results indicated that BSBR provided sufficient reducing power and ATP for PAOs through different glycogen decomposition pathways to promote P uptake and obtained competitive advantages in P metabolism, C source uptake, and ATP utilization to achieve efficient P removal and enrichment. Collectively, our current findings provided valuable insights into the P removal and enrichment mechanism of BSBR in municipal sewage.