Linking Material Flow Analysis with Environmental Impact Potential

Technology transition can have significant implications on the evolution of environmental impact potential of disposed electronics over time. Considering technology transition, we quantify the temporal behavior of ecological and human health impact potential from select heavy metals in electronic waste (e‐waste). The case study analyzes product substitution effects in two electronic cohorts from the U.S. market: (1) computers (laptops substituting for desktops) and (2) televisions (flat‐panel liquid crystal displays [LCDs] and plasma displays substituting for cathode‐ray tubes [CRTs]). Quantities of end‐of‐life (EoL) units to year 2030 are forecasted by the unique combination of dynamic material flow analysis, logistic trend analysis, and product lifespan calibration methods. Metal content from EoL units are assessed via a pathway and effect model using USETox? characterization factors to determine the toxicity potential attributed to heavy metal releases into different media (e.g., air, water, and soil) as an indicator of environmental burden. Results show high impact materials such as lead, nickel, and zinc cause changes in human health toxicity potential and copper causes changes in ecological toxicity potential. Effects of dematerialization, such as reduced metal content in laptops over desktops, provide some positive benefits in toxicity potential per product. However, from a market perspective, emerging e‐waste quantities created by increasing per capita penetration rates of electronics and increasing population will offset gains in environmental performance at the product level. The resulting analysis provides guidance on the timing expected for emerging EoL units and an indication of high impact potential materials requiring pollution prevention as product substitution occurs.     

Cellular defense against heat shock-induced oxidative damage by mitochondrial NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase

Heat shock may increase oxidative stress due to increased production of reactive oxygen species and/or the promotion of cellular oxidation events. Mitochondrial NADP⁺-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDPm) produces NADPH, an essential reducing equivalent for the antioxidant system. The protective role of IDPm against heat shock in HEK293 cells, an embryonic kidney cell line, was investigated in control and cells transfected with the cDNA for IDPm, where IDPm activity was 6–7 fold higher than that in the control cells carrying the vector alone. Upon exposure to heat shock, the viability was lower and the protein oxidation, lipid peroxidation and oxidative DNA damage were higher in control cells as compared to HEK293 cells in which IDPm was over-expressed. We also observed the significant difference in the cellular redox status reflected by the endogenous production of reactive oxygen species, NADPH pool and GSH recycling between two cells. The results suggest that IDPm plays an important role as an antioxidant defense enzyme in cellular defense against heat shock through the removal of reactive oxygen species.     

Deinococcus swuensis sp. nov., a gamma-radiation-resistant bacterium isolated from soil

Strain DY59^T, a Gram-positive non-motile bacterium, was isolated from soil in South Korea, and was characterized to determine its taxonomic position. Phylogenetic analysis based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain DY59^T revealed that the strain DY59^T belonged to the family Deinococcaceae in the class Deinococci. The highest degree of sequence similarities of strain DY59^T were found with Deinococcus radiopugnans KACC 11999^T (99.0%), Deinococcus marmoris KACC 12218^T (97.9%), Deinococcus saxicola KACC 12240^T (97.0%), Deinococcus aerolatus KACC 12745^T (96.2%), and Deinococcus frigens KACC 12220^T (96.1%). Chemotaxonomic data revealed that the predominant fatty acids were iso-C_15:0 (19.0%), C_16:1 ω7c (17.7%), C_15:1 ω6c (12.6%), iso-C_17:0 (10.3%), and iso-C_17:1 ω9c (10.3%). A complex polar lipid profile consisted of a major unknown phosphoglycolipid. The predominant respiratory quinone is MK-8. The cell wall peptidoglycan contained D-alanine, L-glutamic acid, glycine, and L-ornithine (di-amino acid). The novel strain showed resistance to gamma radiation, with a D₁₀ value (i.e. the dose required to reduce the bacterial population by 10-fold) in excess of 5 kGy. Based on the phylogenetic, chemotaxonomic, and phenotypic data, strain DY59^T (=KCTC 33033^T =JCM 18581^T) should be classified as a type strain of a novel species, for which the name Deinococcus swuensis sp. nov. is proposed.     

Chemical constituents isolated from Polygala japonica leaves and their inhibitory effect on nitric oxide production in vitro

A methanolic extract of dried leaves of Polygala japonica Houtt (Polygalaceae) significantly attenuated nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-simulated BV2 microglia. Five anthraquinones chrysophanol (1), emodin (2), aloe-emodin (3), emodin 8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4) and trihydroxy anthraquinone (5), and four flavonoids kaempferol (6), chrysoeriol (7), kaempferol 3-gentiobioside (8) and isorhamnetin (9) were isolated from the methanolic extract using bioactivity-guided fractionation. Among them, compounds 1–4, 6 and 7 showed significant inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in BV2 microglia at the concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 100.0 μM.     

Design and Synthesis of Dually Branched 5′-Norcarbocyclic Adenosine Phosphonodiester Analogue as a New Anti-HIV Prodrug

A novel 3′,4′-dimethyl-5′-norcarbocyclic adenosine phosphonic acid was prepared using acyclic stereoselective route from 4-hydroxybutan-2-one (4). To improve the cellular permeability and enhance the anti-HIV activity of this phosphonic acid, a (bis)SATE phosphonodiester nucleoside prodrug (20) was prepared and its chemical stability was evaluated. The newly synthesized bis(SATE) analogue (20) and its parent nucleoside phosphonic acid (18) were assayed for anti-HIV activity using an in vitro assay system in a CEM cell line.     

Simple Synthesis and Anti-Hiv Activity of Novel 3′-Vinyl Branched Apiosyl Pyrimidine Nucleosides

Novel vinyl branched apiosyl nucleosides were synthesized in this study. Apiosyl sugar moiety was constructed by sequential ozonolysis and reductions. The bases (uracil and thymine) were efficiently coupled by glycosyl condensation procedure (persilyated base and TMSOTf). The antiviral activities of the synthesized compounds were evaluated against the HIV-1, HSV-1, HSV-2, and HCMV. Compound 10β displayed moderate anti-HIV activity (EC₅₀ = 17.3 μg/mL) without exhibiting any cytotoxicity up to 100 μM.     

Enhanced Phase II Detoxification Contributes to Beneficial Effects of Dietary Restriction as Revealed by Multi-platform Metabolomics Studies

Dietary restriction (DR) has many beneficial effects, but the detailed metabolic mechanism remains largely unresolved. As diet is essentially related to metabolism, we investigated the metabolite profiles of urines from control and DR animals using NMR and LC/MS metabolomic approaches. Multivariate analysis presented distinctive metabolic profiles and marker signals from glucuronide and glycine conjugation pathways in the DR group. Broad profiling of the urine phase II metabolites with neutral loss scanning showed that levels of glucuronide and glycine conjugation metabolites were generally higher in the DR group. The up-regulation of phase II detoxification in the DR group was confirmed by mRNA and protein expression levels of uridinediphospho-glucuronosyltransferase and glycine-N-acyltransferase in actual liver tissues. Histopathology and serum biochemistry showed that DR was correlated with the beneficial effects of low levels of serum alanine transaminase and glycogen granules in liver. In addition, the Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 signaling pathway was shown to be up-regulated, providing a mechanistic clue regarding the enhanced phase II detoxification in liver tissue. Taken together, our metabolomic and biochemical studies provide a possible metabolic perspective for understanding the complex mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of DR.It has been known for more than 70 years that dietary restriction (DR)¹ can extend the life span and delay the onset of age-related diseases, based on an early rodent study showing such effects (1). However, not until the 1980s was DR recognized as a good model for studying the mechanism of or inhibitory measures for aging (2). So far, extensive studies employing model organisms such as yeasts, nematodes, fruit flies, and rodents have shown that DR has beneficial effects in most of the species studied (for a review, see Ref. 3). Most notably, a recent 20-year-long study showed that monkeys, the species closest to humans, also benefit from DR similarly (4). Although there has not been (or could not have been) a systematic study on the effects of DR on the human life span, several longitudinal studies strongly suggest that changes in dietary intake can affect the life span and/or disease-associated marker values greatly (5–7).This inverse correlation between dietary intake and long-term health strongly indicates that DR''s effects should involve metabolism, and that DR elicits the reorganization of metabolic pathways. It also seems quite natural that something we eat should affect the body''s metabolism. Despite this seemingly straightforward relationship between diet and metabolism, the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of DR are anything but simple. Intensive efforts, spanning decades, to understand the mechanisms of DR have identified several genes that might mediate the effects of DR, such as mTOR, IGF-1, AMPK, and SIRT1 (for a review, see Ref. 8). Still, most of them are involved in early nutrient-sensing steps, and specific metabolic pathways, especially those at the final steps actually responsible for the effects of DR, are largely unknown.This might be at least partially due to the fact that previous studies have focused mostly on genomic or proteomic changes induced by DR, instead of looking at changes in metabolism or metabolites directly. Metabolomics, which has gained much interest in recent years (9–11), might be a good alternative for addressing the mechanistic uncertainty of DR''s effects, with the direct profiling of metabolic changes elicited by environmental factors. In contrast to genomics or proteomics, which often employ DNA or proteins extracted from particular tissues, metabolomics studies mostly employ body fluids (i.e. urine or blood), which can reflect the metabolic status of multiple organs, enabling investigations at a more systemic level. In particular, urine has been used extensively to study the mechanism of external stimuli (i.e. drugs or toxic insults) at most major target organs, such as the lung, kidney, liver, or heart (12–18). Still, metabolomics studies of DR effects have been very limited. A few previous ones reported the changes in phenomenological urine metabolic markers with DR, without identification and/or validation of specific metabolic pathways reflected at the actual tissue or enzyme level (19, 20). Therefore, those studies fell short of providing a mechanistic perspective on DR''s effects. In addition, they employed either NMR or LC/MS approaches without validation across the two analytical platforms.Among the metabolic pathways that can directly affect the integrity of multiple organs, and hence long-term health, are phase II detoxification pathways (21). Typically, lipophilic endo/xenobiotics are metabolized first by a phase I system, such as cytochrome P450, which modifies the compounds so that they have hydrophilic functional groups for increased solubility. In many cases, though, these modifications might increase the reactivity of the compounds, leading to cellular damage. The phase II detoxification systems involve conjugation reactions that attach charged hydrophilic molecular moieties to reactive metabolites, thus facilitating the elimination of the harmful metabolites from body, ultimately reducing their toxicity (22). These systems are thus especially important in protecting cellular macromolecules, such as DNA and proteins, from reactive electrophilic or nucleophilic metabolites. The enzymes involved in these processes include glutathione-S-transferase (GST), sulfotransferase, glycine-N-acyltransferase (GLYAT), and uridinediphospho-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT), with the last enzyme being the most prevalent (23). The beneficial effects of phase II reactions have been particularly studied in relation to the mechanism of healthy dietary ingredients. It is well believed that many such foods can prevent cancers (hence the term “chemoprevention”) by inducing phase II detoxification systems (24–26). Although DR also substantially reduces the incidence of cancers, the exact mechanism remains elusive.Here, we employed multi-platform metabolomics to obtain metabolic perspectives on the beneficial effects of DR on rats. Our results about urine metabolomics markers suggest that DR enhances the phase II detoxification pathway, which was confirmed by means of conjugation metabolite profiling and changes in mRNA/protein expression levels of phase II enzymes in actual liver tissues. A possible molecular mechanism was also addressed through the exploration of Nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf-2) pathway activation upon DR. We believe the current study provides new metabolic insights into DR''s beneficial effects, as well as a workflow for studying DR''s effects from a metabolic perspective.     

Effects of an electric pulse on variation of bacterial community and metabolite production in kimchi-making culture

Three, six, nine, and twelve V of electric pulse (EP) was applied to a culture of Weissella cibaria SKkimchi1 in MRS medium and kimchi-making culture (KMC). Viable cell number of SKkimchi1 in MRS medium was decreased in proportion to pulse intensity but that of bacteria in KMC was not. Lactic acid and ethanol produced by SKkimchi1 tended to be decreased in proportion to EP intensity but acetic acid was proportionally increased to EP intensity. Lactic acid, ethanol, and propionic acid produced in KMC were proportionally decreased, but acetic acid was proportionally increased to the EP intensity. Bacterial community and diversity in KMC were analyzed based on culture time by a temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) technique. Most bacterial communities grown in freshly prepared kimchi belonged to Bacillus genus. Lactic acid bacteria responsible for kimchi fermentation began to grow on day 4, and were completely substituted for Bacillus genus on day 8, but some Bacillus genus began to grow again on day 12. However, bacterial community diversities were not different based on varying EP intensity.