Wet Matter Research Articles

Diurnal variation in rumen fill of dairy cows grazing Persian clover at different pasture allowances

In this experiment 12 rumen-fistulated cows in late lactation, grazing Persian clover (Trifolium resupinatum) at four pasture allowances [9, 16, 32 and 53 kg dry matter (DM)/cow.day], had their entire rumen contents removed and sampled six times over 6 days, with the time of sampling varied between days. These rumen pool size measurements occurred at 0645 hours, 0915 hours, 1045 hours, 1345 hours, 1530 hours and 1900 hours. The cows were offered new allocations of pasture twice daily at 0715 hours and 1530 hours. Herbage intake increased (P < 0.001) from 5.6 to 20.4 kg DM as pasture allowance increased. Pasture allowance had no effects on rumen pool sizes of wet matter (WM) (P = 0.95), DM (P = 0.914), neutral detergent fibre (NDF, P = 0.499) or the DM% of the digesta (P = 0.078). Rumen pool sizes of WM, DM and NDF varied throughout the day. Pool sizes of WM and DM were lowest at 0645 hours and highest at 1900 hours for all allowances (P < 0.001) and along with pool sizes of NDF, were also lower at 0645 hours compared with 0915 hours and at 1530 hours compared with 1900 hours. The lack of increase in rumen pool sizes as pasture allowance increased when cows grazed Persian clover suggests that outflow rates increased with the increasing intakes. The low, and similar, rumination times between allowances also suggests that there is little restriction to the ability of outflow rates to increase when cows graze Persian clover at increasing allowances. The changes in rumen pool sizes over the day were consistent with the twice daily allocation of fresh pasture to the cows. The diurnal rumen pool size information obtained from this experiment will assist with the development of mechanistic rumen models that are capable of simulating the discontinuous intake and varying rumen pool sizes of cows in grazing systems.

Anaerobic Digestion of Kitchen Waste to Produce Biogas

Kitchen waste (KW) can be utilized to produce biogas due to its high biodegradability, calorific value and nutritive value to microbes, which will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. The research work was conducted to investigate the production ability of biogas as an alternative energy from KW with co-digestion of cow manure (CM) through anaerobic digestion (AD). Firstly, three digesters were prepared to observe the individual degradation rate of KW, CM and co-digested KW with CM at room temperature (250C∼300 C) and at temperature of 370C (mesophilic digestion) respectively and observed the degradation rate for co-digested KW with CM was higher than KW and CM alone. Secondly, three digesters were constructed to observe the effect of alkalinity at temperature 370 C and loading rate 200 gm/L. Three alkali (NaOH) doses 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% on wet matter basis of kitchen waste were applied to improve biodegradability and biogas production. The highest degradation rate was 6.8ml/gm which was obtained from 1.5% NaOH and also observed that biogas production was almost doubled from treated KW than untreated KW. Finally, a portable biogas reactor was fabricated for pilot-scale biogas production which included an agitator and heating system. This reactor was operated at both 370 C and room temperature at a loading rate of 200 gm/L and observed that the digestion rate was faster at 370 C than room temperature. The prime object of this work was to investigate the prospect of kitchen waste for biogas production and ultimate protection of environment from the bad effect of methane gas that would be produced by uncontrolled anaerobic digestion.

Experimental and Theoretical Study of Aqueous cis-Pinonic Acid Photolysis

Direct aqueous photolysis of cis-pinonic acid (PA; 2-(3-acetyl-2,2-dimethylcyclobutyl)acetic acid; CAS Registry No. 473-72-3) by 280-400 nm radiation was investigated. The photolysis resulted in Norrish type II isomerization of PA leading to 3-isopropenyl-6-oxoheptanoic acid (CAS Registry No. 4436-82-2), also known as limononic acid, as the major product, confirmed by (1)H and (13)C NMR analysis, chemical ionization mass spectrometry, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Several minor products resulting from Norrish type I splitting of PA were also detected. The molar extinction coefficients of aqueous PA were measured and used to calculate the photolysis quantum yield of aqueous PA as 0.5 ± 0.3 (effective average value over the 280-400 nm range). The gas-phase photolysis quantum yield of 0.53 ± 0.06 for PA methyl ester (PAMe; CAS Registry No. 16978-11-3) was also measured for comparison. These results indicate that photolysis of PA is not significantly suppressed by the presence of water. This fact was confirmed by photodissociation dynamics simulations of bare PA and of PAMe hydrated with one or five water molecules using on-the-fly dynamics simulations on a semiempirical potential energy surface. The calculations correctly predicted the occurrence of both Norrish type I and Norrish type II photolysis pathways, both driven by the dynamics on the lowest triplet excited state of PA and PAMe. The rate of removal of PA by direct aqueous photolysis in cloudwater and in aerosol water was calculated for a range of solar zenith angles and compared with rates of other removal processes such as gas-phase oxidation by OH, aqueous-phase oxidation by OH, and gas-phase photolysis. Although the direct photolysis mechanism was not the most significant sink for PA in cloud and fog droplets, direct photolysis can be expected to contribute to removal of PA and more soluble/less volatile biogenic oxidation products in wet particulate matter.

회귀분석을 이용한 C소각장에 반입되는 도시고형폐기물의 저위발열량 예측

The main purpose of the present study was to establish a quicker and cheaper model for predicting the LHV of MSW based on its wet physical composition being brought into C Incinerator. The one regression model was developed to correlate the energy content with variables from physical composition based on a wet matter. The performance of this model for MSW of the C Incinerator was superior to that of equations developed on a dry matter basis by other researchers for estimating energy content. The applicability of this model at the other 4 incinerators showed also an acceptable precision level.

Impaired transcriptional response of the murine heart to cigarette smoke in the setting of high fat diet and obesity.

Smoking and obesity are each well-established risk factors for cardiovascular heart disease, which together impose earlier onset and greater severity of disease. To identify early signaling events in the response of the heart to cigarette smoke exposure within the setting of obesity, we exposed normal weight and high fat diet-induced obese (DIO) C57BL/6 mice to repeated inhaled doses of mainstream (MS) or sidestream (SS) cigarette smoke administered over a two week period, monitoring effects on both cardiac and pulmonary transcriptomes. MS smoke (250 μg wet total particulate matter (WTPM)/L, 5 h/day) exposures elicited robust cellular and molecular inflammatory responses in the lung with 1466 differentially expressed pulmonary genes (p < 0.01) in normal weight animals and a much-attenuated response (463 genes) in the hearts of the same animals. In contrast, exposures to SS smoke (85 μg WTPM/L) with a CO concentration equivalent to that of MS smoke (~250 CO ppm) induced a weak pulmonary response (328 genes) but an extensive cardiac response (1590 genes). SS smoke and to a lesser extent MS smoke preferentially elicited hypoxia- and stress-responsive genes as well as genes predicting early changes of vascular smooth muscle and endothelium, precursors of cardiovascular disease. The most sensitive smoke-induced cardiac transcriptional changes of normal weight mice were largely absent in DIO mice after smoke exposure, while genes involved in fatty acid utilization were unaffected. At the same time, smoke exposure suppressed multiple proteome maintenance genes induced in the hearts of DIO mice. Together, these results underscore the sensitivity of the heart to SS smoke and reveal adaptive responses in healthy individuals that are absent in the setting of high fat diet and obesity.

Neuroentreprenuership

The human brain, it is said, is the most complex object in the known universe. That a part of it “lights up” on an fMRI scan does not mean the rest is inactive; nor is it obvious what any such lighting-up indicates; nor is it straightforward to infer general lessons about life from experiments conducted under highly artificial conditions. Nor do we have the faintest clue about the biggest mystery of all—how does a lump of wet gray matter produce the conscious experience you are having right now, reading this paragraph? How come the brain gives rise to the mind? No one knows.Poole, 2012

Growth rates are related to production efficiencies in juveniles of the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus.

Growth rates of newly-metamorphosed urchins from a single spawning event (three males and three females) were highly variable, despite being held en masse under identical environmental and nutritional conditions. As individuals reached ~5 mm diameter (0.07-0.10 g wet weight), they were placed in growth trials (23 dietary treatments containing various nutrient profiles). Elapsed time from the first individual entering the growth trials to the last individual entering was 121 days (N = 170 individuals). During the five-week growth trials, urchins were held individually and proffered a limiting ration to evaluate growth rate and production efficiency. Growth rates among individuals within each dietary treatment remained highly variable. Across all dietary treatments, individuals with an initially high growth rate (entering the study first) continued to grow at a faster rate than those with an initially low growth rate (entering the study at a later date), regardless of feed intake. Wet weight gain (ranging from 0.13 -3.19 g, P < 0.0001, R2 = 0.5801) and dry matter production efficiency (ranging from 25.2-180.5%, P = 0.0003, R2 = 0.6162) were negatively correlated with stocking date, regardless of dietary treatment. Although canalization of growth rate during en masse early post-metamorphic growth is possible, we hypothesize that intrinsic differences in growth rates are, in part, the result of differences (possibly genetic) in production efficiencies of individual Lytechinus variegatus. That is, some sea urchins are more efficient in converting feed to biomass. We further hypothesize that this variation may have evolved as an adaptive response to selective pressure related to food availability.

Spring Harvest of Corn Stover for Animal Bedding with a Self-Loading Wagon

During a two-year experiment, 148.4 t wet matter (WM) or 134.0 t dry matter (DM) of corn stover (average 9.7% moisture content, MC) were harvested in the spring over an area of 97 ha. The grain had been harvested in the previous fall as kernel-cob silage (“snaplage”). The remaining stover available for harvest was estimated at 3.89 and 4.38 t DM ha-1 in spring 2010 and 2011, respectively. After stover was cut, shredded, and windrowed in a single operation, windrows were harvested with a 1.5-m diameter × 1.2-m width round baler or a 66-m3 self-loading wagon (SLW) in 2010 and a 100-m3 SLW in 2011. The baler collected 1.44 t DM ha-1 at 8.0% MC; the collection efficiency was 36% with respect to stover yields available in the spring. Bales weighed 191 kg DM with an average density of 90 kg DM m-3. The SLW collected 1.85 t DM ha-1 at 6.8% MC in 2010 and 1.31 t DM ha-1 at 10.8% MC in 2011; collection efficiencies were 57% and 30%, respectively. Bulk densities were 43.2 and 49.0 kg DM m-3 in the 66 and 100 m³ SLW, respectively. The shredder, baler, and SLW were operated in the field at average speeds of 12.3, 5.0, and 10.9 km h-1, respectively. The effective field capacities of the shredder and baler were 5.1 and 3.8 ha h-1, respectively, while the capacity of the SLW was variable due to the travel distance from the field to the storage site. The pickup configuration of the SLW allowed good collection efficiency and high field speed. Corn stover presented superior absorbency values (2.8 on average) for animal bedding when compared to saw dust (2.1) and wood shavings (1.8).

Comparison of Biological Responses in Rats Under Various Cigarette Smoke Exposure Conditions

A variety of exposure regimens of cigarette smoke have been used in animal models of lung diseases. In this study, we compared biological responses of smoke exposure in rats, using different smoke concentrations (wet total particulate matter [WTPM]), daily exposure durations, and total days of exposure. As a range-finding acute study, we first compared pulmonary responses between SD and F344 strains after a single nose-only exposure to mainstream cigarette smoke or LPS. Secondly, F344 rats were exposed to cigarette smoke for 2 or 13 weeks under the comparable daily exposure dose (WTPM concentration x daily exposure duration; according to Haber’s rule) but at a different WTPM concentration or daily exposure duration. Blood carboxylhemoglobin was increased linearly to the WTPM concentration, while urinary nicotine plus cotinine value was higher for the longer daily exposure than the corresponding shorter exposure groups. Gamma glutamyl transferase activity in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was increased dose dependently after 2 and 13 weeks of cigarette smoke exposure, while the neutrophil content in BALF was not increased notably. Smoke-exposed groups showed reduced body weight gain and increased relative lung and heart weights. While BALF parameters and the relative lung weights suggest pulmonary responses, histopathological examination showed epithelial lesions mainly in the upper respiratory organs (nose and larynx). Collectively, the results indicate that, under the employed study design, the equivalent daily exposure dose (exposure concentration x duration) induces equivalent pulmonary responses in rats.

UNEP Demonstrations of Mercury Emission Reduction at Two Coal-fired Power Plants in Russia

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) partnership area “Mercury releases from coal combustion” (The UNEP Coal Partnership) has initiated demonstrations of mercury air emission reduction at two coal-fired power plants in Russia. The first project has modified the wet particulate matter (PM) scrubber installed in Toliatti thermal plant to allow for addition of chemical reagents (oxidants) into the closedloop liquid spray system. The addition of oxidant resulted in significant improvement of mercury capture from 20% total mercury removal (without the additive) up to 60% removal (with the additive). It demonstrates the effectiveness of sorbent injection technologies in conjunction with an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). ESPs are installed at 60%, while wet PM scrubbers are installed at 30% of total coal-fired capacity in Russia. Thus, the two UNEP Coal Partnership projects address the majority of PM emission control configurations occurring in Russia.

Evaluation of the Modifying Effect of Inhalation of Mainstream Cigarette Smoke on Mouse Bladder Carcinogenesis

Cigarette smoking is one of the major risk factors of bladder cancer in humans. To date, however, there is no experimental evidence for the effects of inhalation exposure to mainstream cigarette smoke on bladder carcinogenesis. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of inhalation of mainstream cigarette smoke on mouse bladder carcinogenesis using a cigarette smoke inhalation exposure system. Six-week-old male C57BL mice were administered 0.025% N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl) nitrosamine (BBN) in their drinking water for 8 weeks and then divided into 2 groups and exposed to 0 or 300 mg/m3 wet total particulate matter mainstream cigarette smoke for 2 h per day, five times per week, for 22 weeks. The incidences of bladder tumors (papilloma and urothelial carcinoma) tended to increase in the cigarette smoke-exposed group (25.0%) compared with the controls (15.8%), albeit without a statistically significant difference. We also evaluated mRNA expression levels of cytochrome P450 (cyp) enzymes and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in the bladder epithelium. Expression of cyp1a1 was significantly increased in the cigarette smoke-exposed group. Cigarette smoke exposure did not have a significant effect on the expression of cyp1a2, cyp 1b1, cyp 2a4, cyp 2b10, cyp 2e1, or PCNA. In conclusion, limited exposure to mainstream cigarette smoke for 22 weeks, caused a significant increase in cyp1a1 expression. This increase coupled with the nonsignificant increase in bladder tumors suggests that a longer period of exposure is required to clarify the effects of cigarette smoke on bladder carcinogenesis.

Can a Threshold Value Be Used to Classify Chondrichthyan Reproductive Modes: Systematic Review and Validation Using an Oviparous Species

The maternal-embryonic nutritional relationship in chondrichthyans has been poorly explored. Consequently, accurately discerning between their different reproductive modes is difficult; especially lecithotrophy and incipient histotrophy. This present study is the first to assess changes in mass throughout embryonic development of an oviparous chondrichthyan other than Scyliorhinus canicula. Heterodontus portusjacksoni egg cases were collected and used to quantify the gain or loss of wet mass, dry mass, water content, inorganic and organic matter from freshly deposited eggs (without macroscopically visible embryos) to near full-term embryos. A loss in organic mass of ∼40% found from this study is approximately double the values previously obtained for S. canicula. This raises concerns for the validity of the current threshold value used to discern between lecithotrophic and matrotrophic species. Accordingly, 26 studies published in the primary literature between 1932 and 2012 addressing the maternal-embryonic nutritional relationship in sharks were reviewed. Values for changes in mass reported for over 20 different shark species were synthesised and recalculated, revealing multiple typographical, transcribing, calculation and rounding errors across many papers. These results suggest that the current threshold value of −20% established by previous studies is invalid and should be avoided to ascertain the reproductive mode of aplacental viviparous species.

Effect of baking of sardine (Sardina pilchardus) and frying of anchovy (Engraulis encrasicholus) in olive and sunflower oil on their quality

Quality changes due to oven-baking of sardine for 20, 40, 50 and 60 min and due to deep frying of anchovy for 2, 3, 4 and 5 min in olive and sunflower oil were studied. Linear increase in total losses with the time of processing was observed. A linear inverse relationship was observed between moisture/lipid and moisture/protein due to time of baking of sardines and time of frying of anchovies (wet matter). However, no changes were detected in sardine samples due to time of baking (dry matter), while a reduction in proteins and ash followed by an increase in lipids was detected in fried anchovies due to time of frying (dry matter). The fatty acid profiles indicated that a rich in EPA + DHA (33.16%) and in ω-3/ω-6 ratio (9.40) baked sardines can be produced in 20 min at 200 °C. The fatty acid profiles of fried anchovies tremendously changed, indicating entirely different products. Olive oil is probably a better medium to fry fish products, since either the two beneficial fatty acids (EPA and DHA) detected at higher concentrations in anchovies fried in olive oil or the ω-3/ω-6 ratio remained at higher values (0.71-2.56). An increase of cholesterol and squalene content with increasing the time of baking was detected in sardine samples, probably due to decline of moisture content. On the contrary, cholesterol significantly reduced due to frying of anchovy in olive oil. Simultaneously squalene concentration significantly and linearly increased, from 3.87 mg/100 g in the unprocessed anchovies to 73.25 mg/100 g in the samples fried for 5 min, indicating its existence at beneficial levels, besides low cholesterol concentration detected in fried olive oil and squalene concentration gradually and linearly decreased, confirming the absorption from the anchovy samples. Similar was the changes of cholesterol and squalene in anchovies samples fried in sunflower oil.

Assessing the Jarman–Bell Principle: Scaling of intake, digestibility, retention time and gut fill with body mass in mammalian herbivores

Differences in allometric scaling of physiological characters have the appeal to explain species diversification and niche differentiation along a body mass (BM) gradient — because they lead to different combinations of physiological properties, and thus may facilitate different adaptive strategies. An important argument in physiological ecology is built on the allometries of gut fill (assumed to scale to BM1.0) and energy requirements/intake (assumed to scale to BM0.75) in mammalian herbivores. From the difference in exponents, it has been postulated that the mean retention time (MRT) of digesta should scale to BM1.0–0.75=BM0.25. This has been used to argue that larger animals have an advantage in digestive efficiency and hence can tolerate lower-quality diets. However, empirical data does not support the BM0.25 scaling of MRT, and the deduction of MRT scaling implies, according to physical principles, no scaling of digestibility; basing assumptions on digestive efficiency on the thus-derived MRT scaling amounts to circular reasoning. An alternative explanation considers a higher scaling exponent for food intake than for metabolism, allowing larger animals to eat more of a lower quality food without having to increase digestive efficiency; to date, this concept has only been explored in ruminants. Here, using data for 77 species in which intake, digestibility and MRT were measured (allowing the calculation of the dry matter gut contents (DMC)), we show that the unexpected shallow scaling of MRT is common in herbivores and may result from deviations of other scaling exponents from expectations. Notably, DMC have a lower scaling exponent than 1.0, and the 95% confidence intervals of the scaling exponents for intake and DMC generally overlap. Differences in the scaling of wet gut contents and dry matter gut contents confirm a previous finding that the dry matter concentration of gut contents decreases with body mass, possibly compensating for the less favorable volume–surface ratio in the guts of larger organisms. These findings suggest that traditional explanations for herbivore niche differentiation along a BM gradient should not be based on allometries of digestive physiology. In contrast, they support the recent interpretation that larger species can tolerate lower-quality diets because their intake has a higher allometric scaling than their basal metabolism, allowing them to eat relatively more of a lower quality food without having to increase digestive efficiency.

Effects of UV-B Radiation on Oxalate Content of Silver Beet Leaves

Silver beet (&lt;em&gt;Beta vulgaricus &lt;/em&gt;var. &lt;em&gt;cicla&lt;/em&gt;) a common vegetable in New Zealand is known to contain high levels of oxalates in the leaves. Silver beet plants were grown in afield trial under glass and perspex sheets which filtered sunlight reaching the plants. After eight weeks of growth, the plants were harvested and the total, soluble and insoluble oxalate content of the leaves of the plants grown under the two filter treatments and a no-frame control were measured. Perspex allowed the transmission of UV-A, UV-B and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), whereas glass excluded UV-B radiation. No significant differences between the perspex treatment and the no-frame control were observed when the data was compared on a wet matter (WM) or dry matter (DM) basis Shielding the growing plants with glass significantly reduced the total oxalate and soluble oxalates to 83 and 84% respectively when compared to the perspexand no-frame treatments.

Oil extraction from microalga Nannochloropsis sp. with isopropyl alcohol

AbstractAn efficient process for fractioning microalgae oil and non‐lipid biomass was developed. Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) was used to extract oil from Nannochloropsis sp. at 80 °C, leaving the majority of non‐lipid biomass in the solid fraction. The effectiveness of extraction with or without a dewatering pretreatment (DW) was compared. Effects of dewatering time and solvent ratio, IPA concentration, IPA refluxing time, and sonication pretreatment on the oil and biomass yields were studied. The dewatering conditions with a high water‐to‐alcohol ratio (W/A = 2:1) and mild mixing (1 min gentle shaking) had 14 % less oil loss in the DW fraction than that with a low water‐to‐alcohol ratio (W/A = 1:1) and vigorous mixing (30 min and 300 rpm mixing). Sonication resulted in 14–26 % more oil loss in the DW fraction when compared to intact cell treatment. Without dewatering, 85 % of the total oil from intact cells was extracted by a single extraction using 70 % (wt) IPA aqueous solution. The 88 and 95 % IPA treatments extracted similar percentages of oil to that of the 70 % IPA, but used two‐ and fivefold more solvent. The amount of oil extracted from broken cells increased with increasing IPA concentrations. An effective extraction can be completed in 30 min. On a 100‐g (wet matter) scale, the 70 % IPA achieved 92 % oil yield and 93 % non‐lipid biomass yield.

Nanopattern Fabrication of Gold on Hydrogels and Application to Tunable Photonic Crystal

Pattern fabrication was performed by transcribing Au nano-dots from Si to the hydrogel surface. The nano-dots exhibited excellent adhesion despite extensive hydrogel expansion and contraction. Au nano-dots on a hydrogel can produce iridescent color, and its spectral response can be finely modulated by controlling the nano-dot spacing. This is a novel tunable photonic crystal made from soft and wet matter.

Seasonal variation of soil respiration rates in a secondary forest and agroforestry systems

Agroforestry systems are widely practiced in tropical forests to recover degraded and deforested areas and also to balance the global carbon budget. However, our understanding of difference in soil respiration rates between agroforestry and natural forest systems is very limited. This study compared the seasonal variations in soil respiration rates in relation to fine root biomass, microbial biomass, and soil organic carbon between a secondary forest and two agroforestry systems dominated by Gmelina arborea and Dipterocarps in the Philippines during the dry and the wet seasons. The secondary forest had significantly higher (p < 0.05) soil respiration rate, fine root biomass and soil organic matter than the agroforestry systems in the dry season. However, in the wet season, soil respiration and soil organic matter in the G. arborea dominated agroforestry system were as high as in the secondary forest. Whereas soil respiration was generally higher in the wet than in the dry season, there were no differences in fine root biomass, microbial biomass and soil organic matter between the two seasons. Soil respiration rate correlated positively and significantly with fine root biomass, microbial biomass, and soil organic C in all three sites. The results of this study indicate, to some degree, that different land use management practices have different effects on fine root biomass, microbial biomass and soil organic C which may affect soil respiration as well. Therefore, when introducing agroforestry system, a proper choice of species and management techniques which are similar to natural forest is recommended.

The ion channel transient receptor potential melastatin-2 does not play a role in inflammatory mouse models of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases

BackgroundThere is strong evidence that oxidative stress is associated with the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The transient receptor potential melastatin-2 (TRPM2) is an oxidative stress sensing channel that is expressed in a number of inflammatory cells and therefore it has been suggested that inhibition of TRPM2 could lead to a beneficial effect in COPD patients. In this study, we have investigated the role of TRPM2 in a variety of mouse models of oxidative stress and COPD using TRPM2-deficent mice.MethodsMice were exposed to ozone (3 ppm for 4 h) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 0.3 mg/kg, intranasaly). In another model, mice were exposed to tobacco smoke (750 μg/l total wet particulate matter) for 30 min twice a day on three consecutive days. For the exacerbation model, the smoke exposure on the morning of day 3 animals was replaced with intranasal administration of LPS (0.3 mg/kg). Animals were killed 3 and 24 h after the challenge (ozone and LPS model) or 18 h after the last tobacco smoke exposure. In vitro neutrophil chemotaxis and monocyte activation were also studied using cells isolated from wild type and TRPM2-deficient animals. Statistical significance for the in vivo data (P < 0.05) was determined using analysis of variance with Kruskal-Wallis and Dunns multiple comparison test.ResultsIn all models studied, no difference in the bronchoalveolar lavage inflammation could be evidenced when comparing wild type and TRPM2-deficient mice. In addition, no difference could be seen in the lung inflammation as assessed by the measurement of various cytokines/chemokines. Similarly in various in vitro cellular activation assays using isolated neutrophils and monocytes no significant differences could be observed when comparing wild type and TRPM2-deficient mice.DiscussionWe have shown, in all the models tested, no difference in the development of airway inflammation or cell activation between TRPM2-deficient mice and their wild type counterparts. These results would suggest that inhibiting TRPM2 activity in COPD would have no anti-inflammatory effect.

A complete mass balance of a complex combined anaerobic/aerobic municipal source-separated waste treatment plant

In this study a combined anaerobic/aerobic full-scale treatment plant designed for the treatment of the source-separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was monitored over a period of one year. During this period, full information was collected about the waste input material, the biogas production, the main rejects and the compost characteristics. The plant includes mechanical pre-treatment, dry thermophilic anaerobic digestion, tunnel composting system and a curing phase to produce compost. To perform the monitoring of the entire plant and the individual steps, traditional chemical methods were used but they present important limitations in determining the critical points and the efficiency of the stabilization of the organic matter. Respiration indices (dynamic and cumulative) allowed for the quantitative calculation of the efficiency of each treatment unit. The mass balance was calculated and expressed in terms of Mgy−1 of wet (total) matter, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. Results show that during the pre-treatment step about 32% of the initial wet matter is rejected without any treatment. This also reduces the biodegradability of the organic matter that continues to the treatment process. About 50% of the initial nitrogen and 86.4% of the initial phosphorus are found in the final compost. The final compost also achieves a high level of stabilization with a dynamic respiration index of 0.3±0.1g O2 per kg of total solids per hour, which implies a reduction of 93% from that of the raw OFMSW, without considering the losses of biodegradable organic matter in the refuse (32% of the total input). The anaerobic digestion process is the main contributor to this stabilization.