Enzyme activity test paper with high wet strength and anion adsorption properties fabricated from whole cationized softwood chemical fiber.

Paper-based test film material is widely used in a variety of test instruments for different applications. The enzyme activity test paper sheet is one of the most popularly used test papers. Here we present a novel fabrication of paper-based enzyme activity test paper without cationic resin added in. The chemical pulping fibers were first beaten to different degrees (from 14.6 to 41.5°SR) with a PFI beater. After that, the fibers were modified with a cationic agent (3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride) under the system of alkali and water solution. Finally, the test papers were made with the modified fiber by a regular paper former in lab. The results showed that beating is beneficial for the improvement of the cationization reaction which is indicated by the Zeta potential, FTIR and EDS. The main mechanisms involved are the destruction of crystalline zone, increase of free hydroxyl group and defibrillation. This hypothesis was supported by the SEM, XRD and fiber analyzer. Beating under the optimized condition, the wet strength and liquid absorbability of test paper can meet the application requirement, and the test results of enzyme activity are quite close to those of commercial test papers.

Synthesis of lignin-based resin and fabrication of sustainable transparent wood based on bio-recycling concept.

Transparent wood (TW) has attracted much attention in the field of energy saving building structural materials because of its high light transmittance, good thermal insulation performance and good toughness. However, the polymeric resins used in the present study to impregnate lignin-based wood templates are usually derived from petroleum-based chemical resources, which pose a fatal threat to human beings both in terms of consuming large amounts of resources and causing environmental pollution problems. It is therefore important to develop alternatives to petroleum-derived chemicals in renewable natural resources. Here, we report a green and sustainable TW production process based on the bio-recycling concept. Lignin-based sustainable resin (LSR) was prepared from waste lignin produced during delignification by polymerization of guaiacol. At the same time, according to FT-IR and NMR data analysis combined with previous studies, the synthesis mechanism of LSR was proposed, and this result provided a reference for bio-based resins made from biomass materials. The prepared lignin-based sustainable transparent wood (LSTW) has good light transmittance and good dimensional stability. In addition, the LSTW also shows good thermal insulation and indoor temperature regulation capabilities compared with the common glass.

Effect of Lignin Structure Characteristics on the Performance of Lignin Based Phenol Formaldehyde Adhesives.

As the second most abundant biopolymer, lignin remains underutilized in various industrial applications. Various forms of lignin generated from different methods affect its physical and chemical properties to a certain extent. To promote the broader commercial utilization of currently available industrial lignins, lignin sulfonate (SL), kraft lignin (KL), and organosolv lignin (OL) are utilized to partially replace phenol in the synthesis of phenol formaldehyde (PF) adhesives. The impact of lignin production process on the effectiveness of lignin-based phenolic (LPF) adhesives is examined based on the structural analysis of the selected industrial lignin. The results show that OL has more phenolic hydroxyl groups, lower molecular weight, and greater number of reactive sites than the other two types of lignins. The maximum replacement rate of phenol by OL reaches 70% w/w, resulting in organosolv lignin phenolic (OLPF) adhesives with a viscosity of 960 mPa·s, a minimal free formaldehyde content of 0.157%, and a shear strength of 1.84 MPa. It exhibits better performance compared with the other two types of lignin-based adhesives and meets the requirements of national standards.

Fractionated lignin as a polyol in polyurethane fabrication.

The main purpose of this paper was to systematically evaluate the effect of lignin, which was fractioned by green solvents into different molecular weights and used as polyol in the production of polyurethane foams (PUF). The results indicated that the foams prepared with the lower molecular weight lignin had uniform and complete pore structure and improved the mechanical strength. However, the higher molecular weight fraction lignin improved the density and thermal stability of the foam more significantly at the expense of inferior mechanical strength and pore structure deficiency. When the substitution degree of lignin in the PUF was 2 %-30 %, 99.13 % of the lowest molecular weight lignin was participated in the reaction to produce PUF, which improved the elongation at break (Eb) and tensile strength (Ts) of PUF to 834 % and 0.90 MPa, respectively. Also, thermal stability and the amount of unreacted lignin in PUF were increased at a higher substitution degree of lignin in PUF.

Two-Pronged Approach: Synergistic Tuning of the Surface and Carbon Core to Achieve Yellow Emission in Lignin-Based Carbon Dots.

In this study, yellow emissive lignin-based carbon dots (Y-CDs) were successfully prepared through a synergistic approach to adjust its surface and carbon core states. The lignin was initially effectively oxidized and carboxymethylated to impart abundant -COOH onto the precursor, which eventually adjusts the surface state of the CDs. Subsequently, α-naphthol was employed during the solvothermal treatment of lignin with the aim of elevating the sp2 domain content in the CDs and, thus, adjusting its carbon core state. The obtained Y-CDs possessed abundant carboxyl groups and nanoscale spherical shape with an average diameter of 5.21 nm. Meanwhile, the energy gap of Y-CDs was 2.46 eV and the optimal emission wavelength was 561 nm under the excitation wavelength of 410 nm. Synergistic adjusting carbon core and surface of the Y-CDs would alter the surface charge distribution and promote the delocalization of π electrons, and thus lead to a red shifting with the emission wavelength of 154 nm. Furthermore, a shape memory film with excellent recovery performance and fluorescent properties was designed by embedding the Y-CDs into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer. The incorporation of Y-CDs could impart the film with considerable high-value applications in the fields of intelligent sensing, biomedicine, and tissue engineering.

High expression of B4GALT1 is associated with poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia is the most prevalent type of leukemia in adults and is prone to relapse and chemoresistance, with a low long-term survival rate. Therefore, the identification of quality biomarkers constitutes an urgent unmet need. High expression of beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase 1 (B4GALT1) has been observed in several cancer types; however, its function in acute myeloid leukemia has rarely been studied. Therefore, our study obtained gene expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database to analyze the relationship between B4GALT1 and LAML. We compared the expression of B4GALT1 in LAML and healthy samples using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Furthermore, the association between B4GALT1 and survival rates was investigated using Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression. The nomogram obtained by Cox analysis predicts the effect of B4GALT1 on the prognosis. To assess B4GALT1-related genes' enrichment pathway and function and the correlation between B4GALT1 and immune features, GO/KEGG, protein-protein interaction network, and single sample gene set enrichment analysis were used. In addition, B4GALT1-specific siRNAs were used to verify the effect of B4GALT1 on apoptosis. The results showed that B4GALT1 is overexpressed in LAML and has some reference value in the diagnostic and prognostic assessment of LAML. Moreover, functional enrichment showed that B4GALT1 and its 63 associated genes were closely associated with the negative regulation of the apoptotic signaling pathway. Silencing B4GALT1 significantly promoted apoptosis. In addition, B4GALT1 expression was positively correlated with the infiltration levels of macrophages, regulatory T-cell (Tregs), and Th17 cells; in contrast, B4GALT1 expression was negatively correlated with the infiltration levels of T helper cells, Mast cells, and NK cells. In conclusion, our study shows that B4GALT1 may play a vital role in the occurrence of LAML.

Preparation of Nitrogen and Sulfur Co-Doped Fluorescent Carbon Dots from Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Sensor for the Detection of Rutin.

The poor water solubility, large particle size, and low accessibility of cellulose, the most abundant bioresource, have restricted its generalization to carbon dots (CDs). Herein, nitrogen and sulfur co-doped fluorescent carbon dots (N, S-CDs) were hydrothermally synthesized using cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) as a carbon precursor, exhibiting a small particle size and excellent aqueous dispersion. Thiourea was selected as a nitrogen and sulfur dopant to introduce abundant fluorescent functional groups into N, S-CDs. The resulting N, S-CDs exhibited nanoscale size (6.2 nm), abundant functional groups, bright blue fluorescence, high quantum yield (QY = 27.4%), and high overall yield (16.2%). The excellent optical properties of N, S-CDs endowed it to potentially display a highly sensitive fluorescence "turn off" response to rutin. The fluorescence response for rutin allowed a wide linear range of 0-40 mg·L-1, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.02 µM, which revealed the potential of N, S-CDs as a rapid and simple sensing platform for rutin detection. In addition, the sustainable and large-scale production of the N, S-CDs in this study paves the way for the successful high-value utilization of cellulose.

Correlation between physicochemical characteristics of lignin deposited on autohydrolyzed wood chips and their cellulase enzymatic hydrolysis.

Enzymatic hydrolysis is a method to generate biofuel from biomass, and autohydrolysis is a popular method to pretreat biomass prior to enzymatic hydrolysis. The primary aim of the present study was to determine the role of lignin produced in the autohydrolysis process on the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass. The HSQC and 31P NMR analyses confirmed that ß-O-4 of lignin was reduced, while ß-5, ß-ß, and S/G-ratio of lignin were increased with intensifying the hydrolysis intensity.The increase in the hydrolysis intensity significantly enhanced the condensed and non-condensed phenolic OH group of lignin. Interestingly, the cellulase enzyme adsorbed more on lignin that had more phenolic content, and its association with lignin reduced its activity for hydrolyzing cellulose microcrystals. Strong negative correlations were observed between the enzymatic hydrolysis yield and the condensed S-OH (r2 = 0.978) and G-OH (r2 = 0.961) of lignin generated in the autohydrolysis process.

Green solvents-based molecular weight controllable fractionation process for industrial alkali lignin at room temperature.

The molecular weight is one of the most important factors influencing the utilization of industrial lignin obtained from chemical pulping process. In this paper, a facile operative green solvent system was successfully developed for molecular weight-controllable fractionation of industrial alkali lignin (IAL) at room temperature. The results showed that through adjusting the ratio of water, ethanol and γ-Valerolactone (GVL), the industrial lignin was fractionated into six levels with molecular weight stepwise controllable from low to high. The fractionation is a physical process according to FTIR and 2D-HSQC NMR analysis, and the chemical structure of lignin has not changed. Additionally, the polydispersity of fractionated lignin with higher molecular weight tends to be narrower. The content of hydroxyl and carboxyl group is higher for the fractionated lignin with lower molecular weight, which would be beneficial for the chemical reactivity in the down-stream application.

Design and analysis of a robust breast cancer diagnostic system based on multimode MR images.

In this paper, we propose a Robust Breast Cancer Diagnostic System (RBCDS) based on multimode Magnetic Resonance (MR) images. Firstly, we design a four-mode convolutional neural network (FMS-PCNN) model to detect whether an image contains a tumor. The features of the images generated by different imaging modes are extracted and fused to form the basis of classification. This classification model utilizes both spatial pyramid pooling (SPP) and principal components analysis (PCA). SPP enables the network to process images of different sizes and avoids the loss due to image resizing. PCA can remove redundant information in the fused features of multi-sequence images. The best accuracy of this model achieves 94.6%. After that, we use our optimized U-Net (SU-Net) to segment the tumor from the entire image. The SU-Net achieves a mean dice coefficient (DC) value of 0.867. Finally, the performance of the system is analyzed to prove that this system is superior to the existing schemes.

Fluorescent N-functionalized carbon nanodots from carboxymethylcellulose for sensing of high-valence metal ions and cell imaging.

A convenient and sensitive reversible-fluorescence sensing platform for accurate monitoring of high-valence metal ions is still very challenging. As a green kind of fluorescent carbon nanomaterials, carbon dots (CDs) have captured considerable attention because of the stable fluorescence property and low cost. Herein, we fabricated a type of nitrogen-functionalized carbon dots (N-CDs) from CMC as a fluorescent reversible sensing platform for detecting various high-valence metal ions. N-CDs with a mean size of 2.3 nm were obtained and possessed 22.9% quantum yields (QY). A label-free fluorescent probe for detection of high-valence metal ions (Fe3+, Cr6+, Mn7+) was established via the fluorescence quenching response. Among them, the detection limit (LOD) toward Fe3+ ions reached 0.8 µM. We have explored the quenching mechanism of N-CDs to explain the valence state-related electron-transfer fluorescence quenching between high-valence metal ions and N-CDs. Moreover, the valence state-related fluorescence quenching phenomenon of N-CDs in aqueous solution could be effectively recovered by introducing a reducing agent (Ti3+). This "turn off-on" fluorescence recovery system of N-CDs could be applied in different applications covering the selective detection of environmental high-valence metal ions and cellular imaging.

A rapid and quantitative method for assessing the whiteness of whitened lignin based on an in-depth analysis of reported methods.

The modification of lignin to a lighter color has been a concern in lignin valorization. In the previous reports on lignin color reduction, the methods of assessing the whiteness of lignin varied from each other, due to the absence of a universal method for characterizing the lightness/darkness of dark samples. In this paper, the reported methods for assessing the whiteness of lignin were analyzed, including "comparison of absorbance curve", "absorbance at specific wavelength", "ISO or TAPPI brightness" and "photograph observation". Our study revealed that various defects existed in these methods. In light of the Munsell color system, we herein proposed a quantitative method for evaluating the whiteness of lignin, based on the finding that the sum of the reflectance of samples with the same Munsell value (whiteness) are substantially equal. A model for converting the reflectance of lignin to Munsell value was established, and the effectiveness of the model was verified and discussed. The standard deviation of the model ranges from 0.23-1.10. The applicability of the method to liquid was also discussed in the paper. Moreover, because the model was derived from the Munsell color system, it can also be applied to characterize other medium to dark-colored objects besides lignin.

Surface sediments formation during auto-hydrolysis and its effects on the benzene-alcohol extractive, absorbability and chemical pulping properties of hydrolyzed acacia wood chips.

The aim of this work was to study the sedimentary substances formed on the surface of auto-hydrolyzed wood chips. And its potential effect on the subsequent chemical pulping was then investigated by the analysis of surface morphology, benzene-alcohol extractive, absorbability and kraft pulping of wood chips hydrolyzed. The results showed that sediments on the surface of auto-hydrolyzed wood chips were microspheric and the amount of them increased with intensifying the severity of treatment. The benzene-alcohol extractives and lignin content in the extractives increased from 1.36% and 16.42% in the control sample to 9.42% and 47.68% in the hydrolyzed wood chips at the P-factor of 808. The absorbability of hydrolyzed wood chips firstly improved in the early stage (P-factor < 306) and after then decreased. Negative effect of the sediments on the surface of hydrolyzed wood chips was found on the subsequent kraft chemical pulping and the properties of final pulp.

Investigation on the production of formic and acetic acids from lignin by ethanol organosolv treatment at mild conditions.

Cellulose and hemicellulose are usually considered the sources of formic and acetic acids that are obtained during ethanol pulping process, while our research reveals that lignin is another critical source of acids in the process. In this research, the sample lignin was purified and treated under ethanol pulping conditions and the factors that influence the yields of acids including: ethanol ratio (0-100%), residence time (30-210 min), reaction temperature (150-200 °C) and the effect of residual oxygen in the vessel, were tested separately. The yields of acids were identified using UPLC, the volatile products were characterized by GC-MS and the residual lignin was characterized by 13C NMR. The results indicated that the residual oxygen in the reaction vessel acted as an oxidant and the maximum yields of formic and acetic acid are 5.5% and 4.8% (g/g-lignin) from reed and aspen lignin, respectively. For understanding mechanism of the reaction, six lignin model compounds (LMCs) were treated and analyzed in the same reaction conditions; the subsequent results showed that both formic and acetic acid could be detected for all the LMCs tested. On the bases of the experimental results, the reaction pathways have been proposed and discussed.

Balancing the effect of pretreatment severity on hemicellulose extraction and pulping performance during auto-hydrolysis prior to kraft pulping of acacia wood.

When using a combination of pre-extraction and chemical pulping, a high yield of sugar recovery and minimal negative effect on the subsequent pulping step are expected. In this work, the P factor was utilized to investigate the effect of auto-hydrolysis severity on sugar recovery, removal of the main component, and impact on the kraft pulping of acacia wood chips. Using a P factor of 235, 84.34% of the polysaccharides in 14.05 g L-1 of dissolved sugars could be obtained. In addition, the soluble sugars were easily separated with a recovery yield of 3.54 g ·L-1 and Mw of 4,690 g mol-1 by direct precipitation using organic solvents. However, a maximum of 22.14 g L-1 of dissolved sugars was obtained with approximately 72.53% polysaccharides and Mw of 2,198 g mol-1 for a P factor of 601. Moreover, nearly 50% of the degraded carbohydrates remained in the auto-hydrolyzed wood chips. The decrease in the mass of pentosan, holocellulose, and klason lignin was 62, 30, and 8.76%, respectively. With intensifying severity, the screened yield and viscosity of pulps decreased markedly, whileas the Kappa number increased. No significant differences were observed in the morphology of the resultant fibers. Moreover, there was a decrease in the physical strength of the pulps due to the loss of the intrinsic strength of the pulp fibers, which in turn resulted from the cellulose damage. The combustion performance of the resultant pulping black liquor is improved due to the higher lignin content.

A combined acidification/PEO flocculation process to improve the lignin removal from the pre-hydrolysis liquor of kraft-based dissolving pulp production process.

The presence of lignin impairs the utilization of the hemicelluloses dissolved in the pre-hydrolysis liquor (PHL) of the kraft-based dissolving pulp production process. In this paper, a novel process was developed by combining the acidification and poly ethylene oxide (PEO) flocculation concepts to improve the lignin removal. The results showed that the lignin removal was improved by the addition of PEO to the acidified PHL, particularly at a low pH of 1.5. The main mechanisms involved are the lignin/PEO complex formation and the bridging of the formed complexes. This hypothesis was supported by the turbidity, FTIR and particle size measurements. Interestingly, the hemicelluloses removal from the acidification/PEO flocculation was marginal, which would be beneficial for the down-stream ethanol production from the PHL. Additionally, a process flow diagram was proposed that incorporates this new concept into the existing configuration of kraft-based dissolving pulp production process.

[Measurement of triglyceride content of resin in masson pulp by UV spectral method].

Pitch deposit is one of the most troublesome problems for the paper mills in South China that use the masson pine as a raw material to make paper. The triglyceride has been identified as the main composition accounting for pitch problem. in order to set down effective pitch control scheme, the triglyceride content in papermaking process must be measured quantitatively. A method to measure the content of triglyceride in masson wood pulp was developed based on UV spectrophotometer in the present work. The UV spectrogram and characteristic peak location of standard glycerol trioleate as well as the effect of measuring time on absorbency were discussed. The results showed that at 412 nm the relation between absorbency and consistency of glycerol trioleate was linear and the pertinent coefficient reached 0. 971 in the range of reagent dosage and consistency in this experiment. The absorbency decreased linearly with measuring time and the pertinent coefficient reached 0. 990 2. The results of reproductive experiment showed that the recoveries were 98%-104%0 and the accuracy was 1. 27%-4. 03% for the samples in consistency 1. 25-0. 50 g x L(-1). With this method, the content of triglyceride in hexane extractive of masson TMP and acid SP were measured respectively. The degradative effect of triglyceride before and after enzyme treatment for masson wood pulp was also evaluated. The results showed that the triglyceride content was relatively high, about 50% both in the total extractive of masson TMP and acid SP. After enzyme treatment, the content of triglyceride in masson TMP and acid SP was reduced by 46. 31% and 35. 55% respectively.