A novel very small granular starch from Chlorella sp. MBFJNU-17.

Novel resources of very small granular starch are of great interests to food scientists. We previously found Chlorella sp. MBFJNU-17 contained small granular starch but whether the MBFJNU-17 was a novel resource of very small granular starch remained unresolved. This study isolated and characterized the starch from MBFJNU-17 in comparison with quinoa starch (a typical very small granular starch), and discussed whether the MBFJNU-17 could be a resource of very small granular starch. Results showed that chlorella starch displayed a smaller size (1024 nm) than quinoa starch did (1107 nm), suggesting MBFJNU-17 was a good resource of very small granular starch. Additionally, chlorella starch had less amylose, higher proportion of long amylopectin branches, more ordered structures, thinner amorphous lamellae, better paste thermostability, and slower enzymatic digestion than quinoa starch did. These findings indicated that Chlorella sp. MBFJNU-17 was a novel resource of very small granular starch with desirable thermostability and nutritional attributes.

A newly isolated microalga Chlamydomonas sp. YC to efficiently remove ammonium nitrogen of rare earth elements wastewater.

The aim of this study was to establish a practical approach to remove ammonium nitrogen of rare earth elements (REEs) wastewater by an indigenous photoautotrophic microalga. Firstly, a new microalgal strain was successfully isolated from REEs wastewater and identified as Chlamydomonas sp. (named Chlamydomonas sp. YC). The obtained results showed that microalga could completely remove the NH4+-N of 10% REEs wastewater after 10 days of cultivation; however, the highest NH4+-N removal rate was attained by microalga to treat undiluted REEs wastewater. Then, three cultivation modes including batch, semi-continuous and continuous cultivation methods were developed to evaluate the ability of NH4+-N removal rate by this microalga to treat diluted (10%) and undiluted REEs wastewater. It was found that, Chlamydomonas sp. YC exhibited superior performance towards NH4+-N removal rates (32.75-61.05 mg/(L·d)) by semi-continuous and continuous processes for the treatments of 10% and undiluted REEs wastewater in comparison to the results (19.50-30.38 mg/(L·d) by batch process. Interestingly, under the same treatment conditions, among the three cultivation modes, microalga exhibited the highest removal rates of NH4+-N in undiluted REEs wastewater by semi-continuous (61.05 mg/(L·d)) and continuous (57.10 mg/(L·d) processes. In term of the biochemical analysis, microalgal biomass obtained from the wastewater treatment had 35.40-44.40% carbohydrate and 4.97-6.03% lipid, which could be potential ingredients for sustainable biofuels production. And the highest carbohydrate and lipid productivities attained by Chlamydomonas sp. YC in the continuous mode were 226.36 mg/(L·d) and 32.98 mg/(L·d), respectively. Taken together, the established processes mediated with Chlamydomonas sp. YC via continuous cultivation was the great promising approaches to efficiently remove NH4+-N of REEs wastewater and produce valuable biomass for sustainable and renewable biofuels in a simultaneous manner.

Tomographic Ultrasound Imaging in the Diagnosis of Breast Tumors under the Guidance of Deep Learning Algorithms.

This study was aimed to discuss the feasibility of distinguishing benign and malignant breast tumors under the tomographic ultrasound imaging (TUI) of deep learning algorithm. The deep learning algorithm was used to segment the images, and 120 patients with breast tumor were included in this study, all of whom underwent routine ultrasound examinations. Subsequently, TUI was used to assist in guiding the positioning, and the light scattering tomography system was used to further measure the lesions. A deep learning model was established to process the imaging results, and the pathological test results were undertaken as the gold standard for the efficiency of different imaging methods to diagnose the breast tumors. The results showed that, among 120 patients with breast tumor, 56 were benign lesions and 64 were malignant lesions. The average total amount of hemoglobin (HBT) of malignant lesions was significantly higher than that of benign lesions (P < 0.05). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of TUI in the diagnosis of breast cancer were 90.4%, 75.6%, 81.4%, 84.7%, and 80.6%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of ultrasound in the diagnosis of breast cancer were 81.7%, 64.9%, 70.5%, 75.9%, and 80.6%, respectively. In addition, for suspected breast malignant lesions, the combined application of ultrasound and tomography can increase the diagnostic specificity to 82.1% and the accuracy to 83.8%. Based on the above results, it was concluded that TUI combined with ultrasound had a significant effect on benign and malignant diagnosis of breast cancer and can significantly improve the specificity and accuracy of diagnosis. It also reflected that deep learning technology had a good auxiliary role in the examination of diseases and was worth the promotion of clinical application.

A novel two-stage heterotrophic cultivation for starch-to-protein switch to efficiently enhance protein content of Chlorella sp. MBFJNU-17.

This work aimed to firstly establish an efficient and novel two-stage cultivation process to produce microalgal biomass rich in protein using a heterotrophic Chlorella sp. MBFJNU-17 strain. In the first-stage cultivation, to reduce the glucose and urea utilization, microalga achieved a high biomass at 40 g/L glucose and 1 g/L urea; meantime, the expression from starch biosynthesis genes of microalga was up-regulated under nitrogen-starvation conditions for starch accumulation (55.01%). In the second-stage cultivation, based on the over-compensation effect, Chlorella cells after the first-stage cultivation were further treated at 5 g/L glucose and 3 g/L urea to up-regulate starch degradation, central carbon metabolism and urea absorption genes expression to drive intracellular starch-to-protein switch for biosynthetic protein (59.75%). Moreover, microalga performed similar characteristics in a 10-L fermenter by the established process. Taken together, Chlorella sp. MBFJNU-17 was the promising candidate to produce high-value biomass enriched in protein by the established two-stage cultivation.

A novel and efficient strategy mediated with calcium carbonate-rich sources to remove ammonium sulfate from rare earth wastewater by heterotrophic Chlorella species.

This work was the first time to establish the desired approach with two heterotrophic Chlorella species for ammonium sulfate (AS)-rich rare earth elements (REEs) wastewater treatment by heterotrophic cultivation. The results showed that these two Chlorella species treated by 6 g/L CaCO3 performed the best ability to remove NH4+-N and SO42- of REEs wastewater. Moreover, the established process performed similar features in REEs wastewater treatment by replacing CaCO3 with eggshell powder (ESP) and oyster shell powder (OSP) enriched in CaCO3. Furthermore, microalgae treated by ESP/OSP in a 10-L fermenter showed 837.39 mg/(L·d) NH4+-N and 1,820 mg/(L·d) SO42- removal rates. The developed kinetic models could be well fitted to the experimental data obtained by the 10-L fermenter. Taken together, the established process mediated with two Chlorella species and ESP/OSP by heterotrophic cultivation was the great potential for AS-rich REEs wastewater treatment in a cost-effective manner.

[Effect of cupping on hemodynamic levels in the regional sucked tissues in patients with lumbago].

OBJECTIVE: To observe hemodynamic changes in the local sucked tissue of lower back undergoing negative pressure after cupping in patients with lumbago. METHODS: Twenty-two lumbago outpatients were recruited in the present study and 32 sucked tissues accepted measurements. The cupping was applied to the tenderpoint of the patients' lower back for 10 min by using a glass-mug (5 cm in diameter). Hemodynamic indexes [peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV) and resistance index (RI)] of the sucked skin and subcutaneous tissues at the lower back were detected before and after cupping by using a color Doppler flow imaging. RESULTS: After cupping intervention at the lower back, the PSV [(14.2 +/- 1.8) cm/s] and EDV [(5.5 +/- 0.7) cm/s] levels were increased significantly in comparison with those [(5.9 +/- 0.9) and (1.9 +/- 0.3) cm/s] before cupping (P < 0.01), while RI was reduced evidently after cupping (0.61 +/- 0.05 vs 0.68 +/- 0.06, P < 0.01), suggesting an increase of the regional blood flow. CONCLUSION: Cupping therapy can increase the peak systolic velocity and end-diastolic velocity and lower vascular resistance of the subcutaneous arterioles in the regional tissue, which may contribute to its effect in relieving lumbago.