Effect of passively aerated biological pretreatment on different biomasses with diverse lignocellulosic fiber profiles.

Passively aerated biological pretreatment was applied to four different lignocellulosic biomasses with varying fiber content profiles: sugar beet pulp (SBP), brewery bagasse (BB), rice husk (RH), and orange peel (OP). In order to analyze the organic matter solubilization yield at 24 and 48 h, different percentages of activated sewage sludge (2.5-10%) were utilized as inoculum. The OP achieved the best organic matter solubilization yield in terms of soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at 2.5% inoculation and 24 h: 58.6% and 20%, respectively, since some total reducing sugars (TRS) consumption was identified after 24 h. On the contrary, the worst organic matter solubilization yield was obtained with RH, the substrate with the highest lignin content among the tested, with percentages of 3.6% and 0.7% in terms of sCOD and DOC respectively. In fact, it could be considered that this pretreatment was not successful with RH. The optimum inoculation proportion was 7.5% (v/v) except for the OP (2.5% (v/v)). Finally, due to the counterproductive organic matter consumption at longer pretreatment durations, the optimal time for BB, SBP, and OP was 24 h.

New criteria to determine the destabilization of the acidogenic anaerobic co-digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) with mixed sludge (MS).

Effect of hydraulic retention time (HRT) on bio-hydrogen production from co-digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and mixed sludge (MS) in dry thermophilic conditions (55°C and 20% total solids) was investigated. A decreasing sequence of six HRTs, from 2.9 to 0.8-days, was performed to evaluate the stability of the system and the influence of HRT on the organic matter solubilization, the daily hydrogen production (HP) and the specific hydrogen production (SHP). Best results were obtained operating at 1.2-days HRT: HP of 3.67L H2/Lreactor/day, SHP of 33.8mL H2/gVSadded and hydrogen percentage in biogas of 52.4%. However, HRTs lower than 1.2-days induce failure in the system due to an unbalance of the hydrolytic phase. This fact was corroborated through the evaluation of two indirect parameters, "non-solubilized carbon" (NSC) and "acidogenic substrate as carbon" (ASC), and the relationships of NSC/TOC and ASC/TOC.

Influence of total solids concentration on the anaerobic co-digestion of sugar beet by-products and livestock manures.

A series of batch anaerobic digestion assays were implemented to determine the influence of total solids concentration on the anaerobic digestion of sugar beet by-products and their co-digestion with two kind of livestock manures (pig and cow manures). The two total solid concentrations studied were 8% and 5%. Total solids contents above 8% were not evaluated because of the inappropriate rheological behaviour of sugar beet by-products at these concentrations. The best total solid content tested corresponded to 8%, achieving specific methane yields of 464.3 and 451.4mL/g VSadded for co-digestion with pig manure and cow manure respectively. These data were 1.5 times higher than that obtained for reactors operating with 5% total solids content. For individual digestion of sugar beet by-products, final methane yields operating at 8% were also higher than those measured at 5% total solids concentration. However, in these tests, a large delay in the start of biogas production was registered due to the inhibition caused by the accumulation of volatile fatty acids. No significant differences in the organic matter removal efficiencies were observed for the two total solids contents studied.

Genetic variation among 82 pharmacogenes: The PGRNseq data from the eMERGE network.

Genetic variation can affect drug response in multiple ways, although it remains unclear how rare genetic variants affect drug response. The electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network, collaborating with the Pharmacogenomics Research Network, began eMERGE-PGx, a targeted sequencing study to assess genetic variation in 82 pharmacogenes critical for implementation of "precision medicine." The February 2015 eMERGE-PGx data release includes sequence-derived data from ∼5,000 clinical subjects. We present the variant frequency spectrum categorized by variant type, ancestry, and predicted function. We found 95.12% of genes have variants with a scaled Combined Annotation-Dependent Depletion score above 20, and 96.19% of all samples had one or more Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium Level A actionable variants. These data highlight the distribution and scope of genetic variation in relevant pharmacogenes, identifying challenges associated with implementing clinical sequencing for drug treatment at a broader level, underscoring the importance for multifaceted research in the execution of precision medicine.

Design and anticipated outcomes of the eMERGE-PGx project: a multicenter pilot for preemptive pharmacogenomics in electronic health record systems.

We describe here the design and initial implementation of the eMERGE-PGx project. eMERGE-PGx, a partnership of the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics Network and the Pharmacogenomics Research Network, has three objectives: (i) to deploy PGRNseq, a next-generation sequencing platform assessing sequence variation in 84 proposed pharmacogenes, in nearly 9,000 patients likely to be prescribed drugs of interest in a 1- to 3-year time frame across several clinical sites; (ii) to integrate well-established clinically validated pharmacogenetic genotypes into the electronic health record with associated clinical decision support and to assess process and clinical outcomes of implementation; and (iii) to develop a repository of pharmacogenetic variants of unknown significance linked to a repository of electronic health record-based clinical phenotype data for ongoing pharmacogenomics discovery. We describe site-specific project implementation and anticipated products, including genetic variant and phenotype data repositories, novel variant association studies, clinical decision support modules, clinical and process outcomes, approaches to managing incidental findings, and patient and clinician education methods.

Enhancement in hydrogen production by thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste and sewage sludge--optimization of treatment conditions.

Batch dry-thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion (55°C) of organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and sewage sludge (SS) for hydrogen production was studied under several sludge combinations (primary sludge, PS; waste activated sludge, WAS; and mixed sludge, MS), TS concentrations (10-25%) and mixing ratios of OFMSW and SS (1:1, 2.5:1, 5:1, 10:1). The co-digestion of OFMSW and SS showed a 70% improvement in hydrogen production rate over the OFMSW fermentation only. The co-digestion of OFMSW with MS showed 47% and 115% higher hydrogen production potential as compared with OFMSW+PS and OFMSW+WAS, respectively. The maximum hydrogen yield of 51 mL H2/g VS consumed was observed at TS concentration of 20% and OFMSW to MS mixing ratio of 5:1, respectively. The acetic and butyric acids were the main acids in VFAs evolution; however, the higher butyric acid evolution indicated that the H2 fermentation was butyrate type fermentation.

New strategy for a suitable fast stabilization of the biomethanization performance.

The start-up strategies for thermophilic anaerobic reactors usually consist of an initial mesophilic stage (35°C), with an approximate duration of 185 days, and a subsequent thermophilic stage (55°C), which normally requires around 60 days to achieve the system stabilizatio. During the first 8-10 days of the mesophilic stage, the reactor is not fed so that the inoculum, which is generally a mesophilic anaerobic sludge, may be adapted to the organic solid waste. Between mesophilic and thermophilic conditions the reactor is still not fed in an effort to prevent possible imbalances in the proces. As a consequence, the start-up and stabilization of the biomethanization performance described in the literature require, at least, around 245 days. In this sense, a new strategy for the start-up and stabilization phases is presented in this study. This approach allows an important reduction in the overall time necessary for these stages in an anaerobic continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) operated at thermophilic-dry conditions for treating the organic fraction of the municipal solid waste (OFMSW): 60 days versus 245 days of conventional strategies. The new strategy uses modified SEBAC technology to adapt an inoculum to the OFMSW and the operational conditions prior to seeding the CSTR.