[Drug coated balloon with paclitaxel for the treatment of symptomatic peripheral artery disease: early and midterm results]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the drug coated balloon (DCB) with paclitaxel in patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD).

METHODS

The clinical data of 18 patients, who were diagnosed as PAD and treated with DCB from October 2013 to June 2014 in Department of Vascular Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital, were retrospectively analyzed.Thirteen male and 5 female patients were in the series, the mean age of the patients was (65±7) years, and the Rutherford's categories were level 3 to 5. Patients were followed up at 3- and 6-month postoperative. The main efficacy end point were late lumen loss(LLL), rate of restenosis and clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR). Meanwhile, the clinical events were recorded.

RESULTS

Mean lesion length, the percentage of total occlusions and the percentage of in-stent restenosis were (138±91) mm, 9/18 and 2/18, respectively. Rate of technical success was 18/18. At 6-month postoperative, LLL, rate of restenosis and TLR were (0.1±0.9) mm, 2/14 and 0, respectively. There was no deaths or no amputations.

CONCLUSION

DCB with paclitaxel is safe in patients with PAD, and associated with reductions in LLL, restenosis and clinically driven TLR 6-month postoperative.

[Reconstruct abdominal aortic branch arteries totally by endovascular repair in complex aortic aneurysms: a single-centre experience]

OBJECTIVE

To report experiences and results of complex aortic aneurysms involving the visceral arteries treating by total endovascular repair.

METHODS

Seventy cases of thoracoabdominal aortic lesions treating by total endovascular repair in Department of Vascular Surgery, People's Liberation Army General Hospital from January 2011 to December 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 47 cases underwent chimney technique, 6 underwent sandwich technique, 15 underwent fenestration technique and 2 underwent branched stent grafts technique.

RESULTS

The average follow-up time was 21 months, range from 3 to 47 months. Completion angiography showed that typeⅠ endoleak of chimney, sandwich, fenestration and branched stent grafts group were 9/47, 5/6, 2/15 and 0, respectively. While at 30-day typeⅠ endoleak reduced to 7/47, 2/6, 0 and 0. During follow-up, there were 3 target vessel stents occlusion in chimney group, the patency rate of target vessel stent was 95.1% (58/61). In sandwich, fenestration and branched stent grafts group, all the target vessel stents kept patent.

CONCLUSION

In this study, chimney, sandwich, fenestration and branched stent grafts techniques show good short-term and midterm results, the long-term effects still need further studies.

[Behaviors on drug-abuse and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases among drug users in Tianjin, China, from 2011 to 2015]

OBJECTIVE

To understand the change of behavioral characteristics among drug users (DUS) in Tianjin and the prevalence rates of major sexually transmitted disease infections. A series of cross-sectional surveys were used.

METHODS

Between April and June, 2011 to 2015, a cross-sectional survey with face to face interview, was undertaken. Interview was conducted among DUS who entered the drug rehabilitation center and blood samples were drawn to test for HIV/syphilis/HCV infections. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between the infection of major sexually transmitted diseases and drug abuse or sexual behavior.

RESULTS

2 000 DUS were included during the 5-year study, with the average age of the DUS as 34.5 ± 8.7. Female accounted for 17.9% and club drug (new drugs) users accounted 45.4% of the participants, with its proportion increasing over the years. Comparing to traditional drug users, club drug users showed more sexual activities with partners, but lower proportion of condom use. Prevalence rates of HIV/Syphilis and HCV were 1.3%, 11.0%, 52.0%, respectively. The prevalence of syphilis among club drug users was significantly higher than those on traditional-drug use (χ(2)=67.778,P<0.001). Data from Binary logistic regression analysis showed that club drug use (adjusted OR=1.607, 95% CI:1.191-2.170) and females (adjusted OR=5.287, 95%CI: 3.824-7.311) were associated with syphilis infection among DUS.

CONCLUSION

Drug abuse behavior changed among the drug abuse in Tianjin. Proportion of club drug use continued to increase so as the risk of infected sexually transmitted diseases.

[Characteristics of HIV infections among over 50-year-olds population in China]

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the characteristics on demographical, spatial distribution and transmission mode of HIV infections among 50-year-old population.

METHODS

Related information on demography, spatial distribution, high risk behavioral and history of HIV infections among 50-year-old population were collected and analyzed. Possible time of infection based on their first CD4 testing results right after the HIV diagnoses, was estimated.

RESULTS

Since 2008, the number of new HIV/AIDS cases among the over-50-year-olds was reported increasing annually. The number of aged 50 and above in 2014 was 4.2 times than the number in 2008. 50-year-old or older population were infected mainly through heterosexual behavior (88.0%). Among these cases, 83.9% self-reported as having histories on extramarital sex intercourse and the number was increasing yearly. Among male cases who admitted as having heterosexual experience, 95.1% of them reported as having histories of extramarital sex intercourse while 53.4% of the female cases reported as having the same experiences. 46.6% of spouses of the females or with fixed partners were HIV positive. Through estimating the time of infection and the time interval between infection and diagnosis, we found that the proportion was 15.5%, from infection to diagnosis as 3 years among the 50 and older age groups, but the proportion of 8 years from infection to diagnosis was 43.6%. We estimated that 66.5% of the new HIV cases who were at age 50 and over, were infected when they were at that age span. The average time from infection and being tested was (6.8 ± 2.7) years.

CONCLUSION

The increasing number of being diagnosed on HIV among the 50-year-olds population might be related to both high risk exposure and belated diagnoses among this population, calling for the necessity of deriving the sources of HIV infection and tailoring the HIV prevention strategies in this population.

The split Renilla luciferase complementation assay is useful for identifying the interaction of Epstein-Barr virus protein kinase BGLF4 and a heat shock protein Hsp90

Protein-protein interactions can regulate different cellular processes, such as transcription, translation, and oncogenic transformation. The split Renilla luciferase complementation assay (SRLCA) is one of the techniques that detect protein-protein interactions. The SRLCA is based on the complementation of the LN and LC non-functional halves of Renilla luciferase fused to possibly interacting proteins which after interaction form a functional enzyme and emit luminescence. The BGLF4 of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a viral protein kinase that is expressed during the early and late stages of lytic cycles, which can regulate multiple cellular and viral substrates to optimize the DNA replication environment. The heat shock protein Hsp90 is a molecular chaperone that maintains the integrity of structure and function of various interacting proteins, which can form a complex with BGLF4 and stabilize its expression in cells. The interaction between BGLF4 and Hsp90 could be specifically detected through the SRLCA. The region of aa 250-295 of BGLF4 is essential for the BGLF4/Hsp90 interaction and the mutation of Phe-254, Leu-266, and Leu-267 can disrupt this interaction. These results suggest that the SRLCA can specifically detect the BGLF4/Hsp90 interaction and provide a reference to develop inhibitors that disrupt the BGLF4/Hsp90 interaction.

DNA Demethylation Rescues the Impaired Osteogenic Differentiation Ability of Human Periodontal Ligament Stem Cells in High Glucose

Diabetes mellitus, characterized by abnormally high blood glucose levels, gives rise to impaired bone remodeling. In response to high glucose (HG), the attenuated osteogenic differentiation capacity of human periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) is associated with the loss of alveolar bone. Recently, DNA methylation was reported to affect osteogenic differentiation of stem cells in pathological states. However, the intrinsic mechanism linking DNA methylation to osteogenic differentiation ability in the presence of HG is still unclear. In this study, we found that diabetic rats with increased DNA methylation levels in periodontal ligaments exhibited reduced bone mass and density. In vitro application of 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC), a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, to decrease DNA methylation levels in hPDLSCs, rescued the osteogenic differentiation capacity of hPDLSCs under HG conditions. Moreover, we demonstrated that the canonical Wnt signaling pathway was activated during this process and, under HG circumstances, the 5-aza-dC-rescued osteogenic differentiation capacity was blocked by Dickkopf-1, an effective antagonist of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway. Taken together, these results demonstrate for the first time that suppression of DNA methylation is able to facilitate the osteogenic differentiation capacity of hPDLSCs exposed to HG, through activation of the canonical Wnt signaling pathway.

Clinical application of highly agglutinative staphylococcin in cancer treatment updates of the literature

This review article summarized 100 published research papers and reviewed the application status of highly agglutinative staphylococcin in the clinical treatment of cancer. Highly agglutinative staphylococcin (HAS) derives from the superantigen of Staphylococcus aureus metabolite. Studies have shown that HAS can inhibit and kill tumors, repair tissues and cells, increase white blood cell count and improve the immune function. Its immunological effect acts through the following mechanism: activating T-cells and natural killer cells, enhancing phagocytes' phagocytosis and killing ability of lymphocytes, increasing white blood cell count in peripheral blood, repairing impaired histocytes, and inhibit the growth of tumor cells. Highly agglutinative staphylococcin is used in clinical treatment of tumors: intracavitary hyperthermic perfusion with single HAS is effective for malignant ascites; perfusion with HAS plus chemotherapeutics can remarkably improve the elimination rate of ascites. Highly agglutinative staphylococcin can also enhance the effect of and improve the response rate of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and improve patients' immune function and relieve gastrointestinal reactions caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Therefore, HAS is used to treat a malignant tumor, leucocytopenia, and malignant ascites, and relieve side effects caused by radiotherapy and chemotherapy and improve patients' immune function.

Outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection in oligozoospermic men with Y chromosome AZFb or AZFc microdeletions

We investigated whether the presence of Y chromosome azoospermia factor (AZF) microdeletions impacts upon the outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using fresh ejaculated spermatozoa. Sixteen oligozoospermia patients with Y chromosome AZFb or AZFc microdeletions and undergoing ICSI cycles between March 2013 and November 2014 were studied. Twenty-six infertile men with normal Y chromosomes and also undergoing IVF/ICSI in the same time period were used as controls. A retrospective case-control study approach was used. Among the 16 cases, 12 (75%, 12/16) had deletions of AZFc markers (sY152, sY254 and sY255), one (6.25%, 1/16) had a deletion of sY152, and two (12.5%, 2/16) had deletions of sY152, sY254, sY255 and sY157. AZFb microdeletions were found in one patient (6.25%, 1/16). There were no significant differences between groups for cleaved embryo rate, high-grade embryo rate, blastocyst formation rate, embryo implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate and delivery rate. The clinical outcomes of ICSI for oligozoospermic patients with Y chromosome AZF microdeletion are comparable to those of infertile patients with normal Y chromosomes. Our findings indicate that ICSI should be offered to patients with an AZFc deletion and that oligozoospermia patients with AZFb microdeletions are likely to father children.

Design and simulation of two-section DFB lasers with short active-section lengths

Distributed feedback lasers comprised of a reflection section and an active section have been proposed for high direct-modulation bandwidth. The reflection section has the same core layer as the active section so butt-joint re-growth is avoided. Without current injection the reflection section will be pumped to near transparency by the emission from the laser itself so high reflection (> 0.75) can still be achieved as confirmed by the simulation. Therefore a short (150 µm) active section can be used, which enables a low threshold current (~5 mA) and a high direct modulation bandwidth (>30 GHz) as demonstrated by the simulation.

miR-200a regulates Rheb-mediated amelioration of insulin resistance after duodenal-jejunal bypass

Objectives:

Duodenal–jejunal bypass (DJB) surgery can induce the rapid and durable remission of diabetes. Recent studies indicate that ameliorated hepatic insulin resistance and improved insulin signaling might contribute to the diabetic control observed after DJB. Ras homolog enriched in brain (Rheb) is reported to have an important role in insulin pathway, and some microRNAs (miRNAs) have been found to regulate Rheb. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of DJB on hepatic insulin resistance and the effects of miRNA-200a, a Rheb-targeting miRNA, on the development of DJB-induced amelioration in hepatic insulin resistance.

Subjects:

We investigated hepatic insulin signaling change and mapped the hepatic miRNAome involved in a rat model of DJB. We studied the effects of miR-200a on Rheb signaling pathway in buffalo rat liver cell lines. Liver tissues were studied and glucose tolerance tests were conducted in DJB rats injected with lentivirus encoding miR-200a inhibitor and diabetic rats injected with miR-200a mimic.

Results:

Rheb is a potential target of miR-200a. Transfection with an miR-200a inhibitor increased Rheb protein levels and enhanced the feedback action on insulin receptor substrate-dependent insulin signaling, whereas transfection with an miR-200a mimic produced the opposite effects. A luciferase assay confirmed that miR-200a bind to the 3′UTR (untranslated regions) of Rheb. Global downregulation of miR-200a in DJB rats showed impaired insulin sensitivity whereas upregulation of miR-200a in diabetic rats showed amelioration of diabetes.

Conclusions:

A novel mechanism was identified, in which miR-200a regulates the Rheb-mediated amelioration of insulin resistance in DJB. The findings suggest miR-200a should be further explored as a potential target for the treatment of diabetes.

OM-FBA: Integrate Transcriptomics Data with Flux Balance Analysis to Decipher the Cell Metabolism

Constraint-based metabolic modeling such as flux balance analysis (FBA) has been widely used to simulate cell metabolism. Thanks to its simplicity and flexibility, numerous algorithms have been developed based on FBA and successfully predicted the phenotypes of various biological systems. However, their phenotype predictions may not always be accurate in FBA because of using the objective function that is assumed for cell metabolism. To overcome this challenge, we have developed a novel computational framework, namely omFBA, to integrate multi-omics data (e.g. transcriptomics) into FBA to obtain omics-guided objective functions with high accuracy. In general, we first collected transcriptomics data and phenotype data from published database (e.g. GEO database) for different microorganisms such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We then developed a “Phenotype Match” algorithm to derive an objective function for FBA that could lead to the most accurate estimation of the known phenotype (e.g. ethanol yield). The derived objective function was next correlated with the transcriptomics data via regression analysis to generate the omics-guided objective function, which was next used to accurately simulate cell metabolism at unknown conditions. We have applied omFBA in studying sugar metabolism of S. cerevisiae and found that the ethanol yield could be accurately predicted in most of the cases tested (>80%) by using transcriptomics data alone, and revealed valuable metabolic insights such as the dynamics of flux ratios. Overall, omFBA presents a novel platform to potentially integrate multi-omics data simultaneously and could be incorporated with other FBA-derived tools by replacing the arbitrary objective function with the omics-guided objective functions.

[Preliminary study on intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging in laryngeal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of bi-exponential modeling of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging for laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

METHODS

A total of 32 patients with pathologically proven laryngeal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were included in this study from November 2014 to August 2015.All patients underwent IVIM-DWI by using twelve b values (0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70, 100, 150, 200, 400, 800 and 1 000 s/mm(2)). Using the IVIM approach, D, D(*) and f values were extracted using a bi-exponential fit.These quantitative parameters of primary carcinoma and normal pharyngeal tissue were compared.Statistical methods were used to assess differences between the tumor and normal pharyngeal tissue.

RESULTS

There were no significant differences of D (P=0.903) and f (P=0.223) values observed among laryngeal carcinoma and hypopharyngeal carcinoma, and D(*) value was significantly different among the two groups (P=0.028). The values of D, D(*,) and f for primary carcinoma were (0.84±0.22)×10(-3) mm(2)/s, (65.71±19.66)×10(-3) mm(2)/s, and 45%±14%, respectively; for normal pharyngeal tissue were (1.48±1.04)×10(-3) mm(2)/s, (37.85±14.04)×10(-3) mm(2)/s, and 36%±12%, respectively (P=0.001, 0.000, and 0.006, respectively). Setting D value 0.949×10(-3) mm(2)/s was threshold to distinguish abnormal and normal tissues, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 91.2%, 88.2% and 92.5%, respectively.There was no statistically significant difference of D and f values(both P>0.05)in different pathological grades of primary carcinoma, and there was statistically significant difference in D(*) values found among the different pathological grades of primary carcinoma (P=0.001). There were statistically significant differences in D(*) values between the well differentiated group and the other two group (both P<0.05), and there was no statistically significant difference between the moderately differentiated group and poorly differentiated group (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION

IVIM parameters can reflect the difference between laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma and normal pharyngeal tissue, and the D value has the best diagnostic performance.D(*) value in different pathological grades of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is distinct, and it could reflect the pathological grade of tumor to some extent.

Direct sequencing and analysis of the genomes of newly emerging GII.17 norovirus strains in South China

AIMS

This study aims to develop a quick and sensitive method for obtaining GII.17 norovirus genome sequences based on a novel amplification strategy.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Based on multiple alignments of GII.17 norovirus genome sequences available in GenBank, a set of primer pairs were first rationally designed, which could amplify six overlapping fragments encompassing the whole genome. Two sequencing primers II.17-Seq1R and II.17-Seq6F were also designed to complement sequences at both ends. The sensitivity of new primers was then evaluated by end-point dilution RT-PCR that was comparable to detection primers G2SKF/G2SKR. In practice, genome sequences of nine Guangzhou GII.17 strains were successfully obtained by the new method in one working day. All genomes comprised 7495 nucleotides with three complete ORFs, and their phylogenetic relationships were verified with other GII norovirus reference strains.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the new amplification strategy, a quick and sensitive method for direct sequencing of GII.17 norovirus genomes was successfully established.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

The newly developed method can be used as an important tool to collect genetic information of GII.17 noroviruses, and new obtained viral genomes in Guangzhou also provide reference data for norovirus research in future.

Emittance and lifetime measurement with damping wigglers

National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) is a new third-generation storage ring light source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The storage ring design calls for small horizontal emittance (<1 nm-rad) and diffraction-limited vertical emittance at 12 keV (8 pm-rad). Achieving low value of the beam size will enable novel user experiments with nm-range spatial and meV-energy resolution. The high-brightness NSLS-II lattice has been realized by implementing 30-cell double bend achromatic cells producing the horizontal emittance of 2 nm rad and then halving it further by using several Damping Wigglers (DWs). This paper is focused on characterization of the DW effects in the storage ring performance, namely, on reduction of the beam emittance, and corresponding changes in the energy spread and beam lifetime. The relevant beam parameters have been measured by the X-ray pinhole camera, beam position monitors, beam filling pattern monitor, and current transformers. In this paper, we compare the measured results of the beam performance with analytic estimates for the complement of the 3 DWs installed at the NSLS-II.

Functional traits contributed to the superior performance of the exotic species Robinia pseudoacacia: a comparison with the native tree Sophora japonica

Functional traits determine the ecological strategies of plants and therefore are widely considered to feature in the success of invasive species. By comparing a widespread exotic invasive species Robinia pseudoacacia L. with a related native one Sophora japonica L., this research aimed to study strategies of R. pseudoacacia for superior performance from the perspective of functional traits. We conducted a greenhouse experiment in which seedlings of R. pseudoacacia and S. japonica were grown separately under a factorial combination of two light regimes and three levels of nitrogen (N) fertilization, including a control and two levels intended to represent ambient and future levels of N deposition in Chinese forests. After 90 days of treatment, performance and functional traits were determined for the two species, the former referred to as the total biomass (TB) that directly affected fitness. Trait plasticity and integration (the pattern and extent of functional covariance among different plant traits) were analyzed and compared. We found that the two species showed significantly different plastic responses to light increase: in the low-light regime, they were similar in performance and functional traits, while in the high-light regime, R. pseudoacacia achieved a significantly higher TB and a suite of divergent but advantageous functional traits versus S. japonica, such as significantly greater photosynthetic capacity and leaf N concentration, and lower carbon-to-N ratio and root-to-shoot ratio, which conferred it the greater performance. Moreover, across the light gradient, R. pseudoacacia showed higher correlations between photosynthetic capacity and other functional traits than S. japonica. In contrast, N deposition showed little impact on our experiment. Our results suggested that across light regimes, three aspects of functional traits contributed to the superior performance of R. pseudoacacia: functional trait divergence, significantly different plasticity of these traits, as well as greater overall trait coordination.

Comparison of human dental follicle cells and human periodontal ligament cells for dentin tissue regeneration

AIM

To compare the odontogenic potential of human dental follicle cells (DFCs) and periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs).

MATERIALS & METHODS

In vitro and in vivo characterization studies of DFCs and PDLCs were performed comparatively. DFCs and PDLCs were subcutaneously implanted into the dorsum of mice for 8 weeks after combined with treated dentin matrix scaffolds respectively.

RESULTS

Proteomic analysis identified 32 differentially expressed proteins in DFCs and PDLCs. Examination of the harvested grafts showed PDLCs could form the dentin-like tissues as DFCs did. However, the structure of dentin tissues generated by DFCs was more complete.

CONCLUSION

PDLCs could contribute to regenerate dentin-like tissues in the inductive microenvironment of treated dentin matrix. DFCs presented more remarkable dentinogenic capability than PDLCs did.

¹³C Pathway Analysis for the Role of Formate in Electricity Generation by Shewanella Oneidensis MR-1 Using Lactate in Microbial Fuel Cells

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is a promising technology for direct electricity generation from organics by microorganisms. The type of electron donors fed into MFCs affects the electrical performance, and mechanistic understanding of such effects is important to optimize the MFC performance. In this study, we used a model organism in MFCs, Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, and (13)C pathway analysis to investigate the role of formate in electricity generation and the related microbial metabolism. Our results indicated a synergistic effect of formate and lactate on electricity generation, and extra formate addition on the original lactate resulted in more electrical output than using formate or lactate as a sole electron donor. Based on the (13)C tracer analysis, we discovered decoupled cell growth and electricity generation in S. oneidensis MR-1 during co-utilization of lactate and formate (i.e., while the lactate was mainly metabolized to support the cell growth, the formate was oxidized to release electrons for higher electricity generation). To our best knowledge, this is the first time that (13)C tracer analysis was applied to study microbial metabolism in MFCs and it was demonstrated to be a valuable tool to understand the metabolic pathways affected by electron donors in the selected electrochemically-active microorganisms.

Metabolic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce 1-hexadecanol from xylose

Background

An advantageous but challenging approach to overcome the limited supply of petroleum and relieve the greenhouse effect is to produce bulk chemicals from renewable materials. Fatty alcohols, with a billion-dollar global market, are important raw chemicals for detergents, emulsifiers, lubricants, and cosmetics production. Microbial production of fatty alcohols has been successfully achieved in several industrial microorganisms. However, most of the achievements were using glucose, an edible sugar, as the carbon source. To produce fatty alcohols in a renewable manner, non-edible sugars such as xylose will be a more appropriate feedstock.

Results

In this study, we aim to engineer a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain that can efficiently convert xylose to fatty alcohols. To this end, we first introduced the fungal xylose utilization pathway consisting of xylose reductase (XR), xylitol dehydrogenase (XDH), and xylulose kinase (XKS) into a fatty alcohol-producing S. cerevisiae strain (XF3) that was developed in our previous studies to achieve 1-hexadecanol production from xylose at 0.4 g/L. We next applied promoter engineering on the xylose utilization pathway to optimize the expression levels of XR, XDH, and XKS, and increased the 1-hexadecanol titer by 171 %. To further improve the xylose-based fatty alcohol production, two optimized S. cerevisiae strains from promoter engineering were evolved with the xylose as the sole carbon source. We found that the cell growth rate was improved at the expense of decreased fatty alcohol production, which indicated 1-hexadecanol was mainly produced as a non-growth associated product. Finally, through fed-batch fermentation, we successfully achieved 1-hexadecanol production at over 1.2 g/L using xylose as the sole carbon source, which represents the highest titer of xylose-based 1-hexadecanol reported in microbes to date.

Conclusions

A fatty alcohol-producing S. cerevisiae strain was engineered in this study to produce 1-hexadecanol from xylose. Although the xylose pathway we developed in this study could be further improved, this proof-of-concept study, for the first time to our best knowledge, demonstrated that the xylose-based fatty alcohol could be produced in S. cerevisiae with potential applications in developing consolidated bioprocessing for producing other fatty acid-derived chemicals.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12934-016-0423-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Utilization of native oxygen in Eu(RE)-doped GaN for enabling device compatibility in optoelectronic applications

The detrimental influence of oxygen on the performance and reliability of V/III nitride based devices is well known. However, the influence of oxygen on the nature of the incorporation of other co-dopants, such as rare earth ions, has been largely overlooked in GaN. Here, we report the first comprehensive study of the critical role that oxygen has on Eu in GaN, as well as atomic scale observation of diffusion and local concentration of both atoms in the crystal lattice. We find that oxygen plays an integral role in the location, stability, and local defect structure around the Eu ions that were doped into the GaN host. Although the availability of oxygen is essential for these properties, it renders the material incompatible with GaN-based devices. However, the utilization of the normally occurring oxygen in GaN is promoted through structural manipulation, reducing its concentration by 2 orders of magnitude, while maintaining both the material quality and the favorable optical properties of the Eu ions. These findings open the way for full integration of RE dopants for optoelectronic functionalities in the existing GaN platform.

Amidoxime-functionalized hydrothermal carbon materials for uranium removal from aqueous solution

Amidoxime-functionalized hydrothermal carbon (AO-HTC) has been synthesized and applied to adsorb U(vi) from aqueous solutions, exhibiting a high selectivity above 60% for a wide pH range from 1.0 to 5.0.