Inhibitory factors affecting the process of enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) – A mini-review

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) technology has been widely considered as a key strategy in preventing eutrophication and recognized as the advancing front of research in wastewater treatment. The key to keep its high efficiency in biological phosphorus removal is to optimize the operation and management of the system. Previous research in this field has undoubtedly improved understanding of the factors hindered overall efficiency of EBPR. However, it is obvious that much remains to be learnt. This paper attempts to review the fundamental understanding in factors inhibiting the stability and reliability of the EBPR systems in the state-of-the-art research. In view of modeling the EBPR systems, an appropriate extension of the current mechanistic models with these inhibitory factors is recommended in order to better simulate and predict the behavior of full-scale and lab-scale EBPR plants. From the perspectives of the further mechanistic and multi-factors study, the direction of denitrifying dephosphatation and granules/biofilms are also discussed. This comprehensive overview will not only help us to understand the overall mechanism of the EBPR process, but also benefit the researchers and engineers to consider all the possible factors affecting the process in the urban sewage treatment plants.     

Separate Intramolecular Targets for Protein Kinase A Control N-Methyl-d-aspartate Receptor Gating and Ca2+ Permeability

Protein kinase A (PKA) enhances synaptic plasticity in the central nervous system by increasing NMDA receptor current amplitude and Ca²⁺ flux in an isoform-dependent yet poorly understood manner. PKA phosphorylates multiple residues on GluN1, GluN2A, and GluN2B subunits in vivo, but the functional significance of this multiplicity is unknown. We examined gating and permeation properties of recombinant NMDA receptor isoforms and of receptors with altered C-terminal domain (CTDs) prior to and after pharmacological inhibition of PKA. We found that PKA inhibition decreased GluN1/GluN2B but not GluN1/GluN2A gating; this effect was due to slower rates for receptor activation and resensitization and was mediated exclusively by the GluN2B CTD. In contrast, PKA inhibition reduced NMDA receptor-relative Ca²⁺ permeability (P_Ca/P_Na) regardless of the GluN2 isoform and required the GluN1 CTD; this effect was due primarily to decreased unitary Ca²⁺ conductance, because neither Na⁺ conductance nor Ca²⁺-dependent block was altered substantially. Finally, we show that both the gating and permeation effects can be reproduced by changing the phosphorylation state of a single residue: GluN2B Ser-1166 and GluN1 Ser-897, respectively. We conclude that PKA effects on NMDA receptor gating and Ca²⁺ permeability rely on distinct phosphorylation sites located on the CTD of GluN2B and GluN1 subunits. This separate control of NMDA receptor properties by PKA may account for the specific effects of PKA on plasticity during synaptic development and may lead to drugs targeted to alter NMDA receptor gating or Ca²⁺ permeability.     

墨红鲜花香气(头香)成分分析

利用 XAD-4憎水性吸附树脂采集墨红头香,以毛细管气相色谱双柱保留指数和 GC/MS/DS 联用方法鉴定头香的化学成份。共分离鉴定或初步鉴定了45种组份,其中含量较大的有乙酸芳樟酯(14.98%),柠檬烯(12.07%),甲基苯甲醚(9.88%),香茅醇(4.82%),乙酸巳酯(3.98%),β-石竹烯(4.55%),芳樟醇(3.18%),正巳醇(3.17%)等.     

Scanning motion,ocellar morphology and orientation mechanisms in the phototaxis of the nematode Mermis nigrescens

Summary The putative ocellus of Mermis females consists of a hollow cylinder of dense hemoglobin pigmentation located in the anterior tip. The exact location of the photoreceptive nerve endings, however, is unknown. During phototaxis a continual bending or scanning motion of the head (anterior 2 mm) causes the orientation of the tip to swing about the direction of the source. By turning off (shuttering) the light source whenever the tip orientation was to one side of the source direction, the average orientation of the base of the head, and eventually the body orientation, was caused to be biased about 28° to the opposite side. Because the shuttering was synchronized with the scanning motion, the scanning motion must be involved in the maintenance of orientation to light. The direction of the bias rules out a two-signal comparison mechanism of orientation and demonstrates that a deviation of the tip from the source direction must decrease, rather than increase, the illumination of the photoreceptors. These findings, and the ocellar morphology, require that the photoreceptors be located inside the hollow tube of pigmentation where they can be shadowed by the pigment during deviations of the tip. Focusing by the curved anterior end should cause a similar modulation of the illumination at this location. The occasional episodes of transverse phototaxis can be explained by the leakiness of the pigment walls to transverse illumination. Analysis of the motion of the anterior in the presence and absence of shuttering indicates that the orientation of the base of the head, due to the motion of the neck, is controlled by the signals generated during one or more cycles of the scanning motion of the head. The orientation may be regulated by the phase relationship between the photoreceptor signal and putative proprioceptive signals that indicate the bending in the head.     

Breakdown of crystalline cellulose by synergistic action between cellulase components from Clostridium thermocellum and Trichoderma koningii

Abstract Certain isolated components of fungal cellulases, which cannot effect the breakdown of highly ordered cellulose individually, interact together synergistically to do so when recombined. Suprisingly, not all fungal cellulase components exhibit this property, and no such synergism has been observed so far between fungal and bacterial cellulases.
The cellulase complex of Clostridium thermocellum cannot effect the extensive breakdown of highly ordered cellulose unless Ca²⁺ and dithiothreitol (DTT) are present. However, we now report that isolated cellobiohydrolase from Trichoderma koningii can combine with C. thermocellum cellulase to effect the breakdown of cellulose in the absence of Ca²⁺ and DTT. enhanced activity is observed if Ca²⁺ and DTT are present.
This finding may have important applications in industry: it certainly has important implications for those interested in the basic mechanism of cellulase action in C. thermocellum .     

不同季节银木叶精油化学成分的研究

用毛细管气相色谱-质谱-计算机联用技术、毛细管气相色谱双柱保留指数法和双柱标准品叠加法分析了不同季节银木叶精油化学成分。从分离出来的207—250个色谱峰中,初步鉴定出59个成分,被鉴定成分的总量占精油总组成的94.45—98.92%,其主要成分随采油季节不同而有所不同。     

Copper retention by a strain ofBacillus

Summary A survey has been made of the copper accumulation by resting cells of bacteria selected as copper-resistant, isolated from activated sludges. The best selected strain, classified asBacillus, retained copper at up to 3.8% of its cell dry weight. These values were lower in the presence of glucose, unlike a type culture ofBacillus cereus, in which the retention of copper was higher when glucose was present. Possible reasons for these changes in uptake of both strains are suggested.     

Structure,development and function of the branchial sieve of the common bream,Abramis brama,white bream,Blicca bjoerkna and roach,Rutilus rutilus

Synopsis The filter feeding organ of cyprinid fishes is the branchial sieve, which consists of a mesh formed by gill rakers and tiny channels on the gill arches. In order to establish its possible role during growth we measured the following morphological gill raker parameters over a range of sizes in three cyprinid fishes, bream, white bream and roach: inter raker distance, bony raker length, raker width, cushion length and channel width. At any given standard length common bream has the largest inter raker distance, roach the lowest and white bream is intermediate. In the comb model of filter feeding the inter raker distance is considered to be a direct measure of the mesh size and retention ability (= minimal size of prey that can be retained) of a filter. For the three species under study there is a conflict between the comb model and experimental data on particle retention. Lammens et al. (1987) found that common bream has a large retention ability whereas roach and white bream have a much smaller one. A new model, the channel model (Hoogenboezem et al. 1991) has been developed for common bream; in this model the lateral gill rakers can regulate the mesh size of the medial channels on the other side of the gill slit. The present data indicate that this model is not appropriate for white bream and roach. At any given standard length white bream and roach only reach 70% of the raker length of common bream, which means that in this model the gill slits should to be very narrow during filter feeding. The gill rakers consist of a bony raker and a fleshy cushion. The bony rakers have a rather long needle-like part outside the cushion in bream, but not in white bream and roach which have blunt gill rakers. Blunt gill rakers are not suited to reduce the diameter of the medial channels. The comb model seems more appropriate for white bream and roach, but doubts about the validity of this simple model remain. The sum of the areas of the medial channels is an approximation of the area through which water flows in the filter. This channel area therefore gives an impression of the capacity or flow rate of the filter. With this capacity estimation and an estimation of energy consumption we calculated an energy ratio of filter feeding. The energy ratio decreases with increasing standard length with an exponent close to the expected exponent of -0.40. The energy ratio is highest in bream, intermediate in white bream and lowest in roach.     

长叶车前花叶病毒(HRV_(sh))外壳蛋白赖氨酸残基的修饰

我们曾报道长叶车前花叶病毒上海分离株(简称HRVsh)的外壳蛋白有二个赖氨酸残基,在PH8.5无变性剂存在的条件下,完整病毒颗粒表面的赖氨酸残基可与三硝基苯磺酸(TNPS)起反应,反应后的TNP-HRVsh病毒颗粒的感染力丧失达90％以上。 本文又进行了甲基乙亚胺甲酯(MEI)对HRVsh赖氨酸残基的修饰反应,修饰后的MEI-HRVsh病毒颗粒的感染力也同样丧失90％以上。 从三硝基苯磺酸修饰的病毒颗粒(TNP-HRVsh)中分离得到的RNA能与天然的HRVsh的外壳蛋白重建病毒颗粒,并具有感染力,说明修饰过程中核酸并不受影响。 进一步用同位素~(35)S,~(32)P双标记病毒,再以TNPS修饰标记的病毒,得到(~(35)S,~(32)P)-HRVsh及TNP-(~(35)S,~(32)P)-HRVsh。将两者分别接种于系统寄主青菜(Brassica chinensis)的一片叶片,一天后在非接种叶片上都可测得~(35)S,~(32)P的放射计数。其中,(~(35)S,~(32)P)-HRVsh的~(35)S/~(32)P比值降低了,而TNP-(~(35)S,~(32)P)-HRVsh的~(35)S/~(32)P比值保持不变。说明HRVsh外壳蛋白赖氨酸残基的修饰并不影响病毒颗粒进入寄主细胞,以及在寄主细胞间的转移。同位素双标记的结果表明,其感染力丧失的原因可能是由于上述修饰作用阻止了病毒在感染中所必须的脱壳过程。     

水蒸汽蒸馏巴柑檬叶和果皮精油化学成分的研究

巴柑檬是我们第一次从国外引种成功的一种名贵香料植物。用色谱-质谱-计算机联用技术、毛细管气相色谱保留指数法和标准品叠加法分析了水蒸汽蒸馏巴柑檬叶和果皮精油的化学成分。从叶和果皮精油分离出来的220个和200个成分中,分别鉴定出48个和57个成分。鉴定组分的含量分别占叶和果皮精油的99.80％和98.54％。叶精油与果皮精油在化学成分方面的主要区别是叶油中萜烃化合物含量较低,而萜醇类化合物含量较高。