新型抗氧化膜材料PSAA的研制

对聚亚磺酰氨基酰胺(PSAA)作为新型抗氧化反渗透膜材料的可能性,以及聚合条件和成膜条件对膜性能的影响作了初步研究。     

Monitoring of bacterial morphology for controlling filamentous overgrowth in an ultracompact biofilm reactor.

This research was part of a study of filamentous growth and control in an ultracompact biofilm reactor (UCBR). Morphologies of biofilm and filamentous bacteria in the UCBR were investigated. Ethanol was used as a substrate and sodium hypochlorite was applied as a toxicant to control filamentous growth. The results indicated that factors such as chemical oxygen demand, surface loading rate, pH, and dissolved oxygen could initiate filamentous overgrowth in the UCBR. Different biofilm and filamentous morphologies in the UCBR were observed under different operational conditions. Chlorination was an effective approach to control filamentous growth during and after biofilm formation. Proper chlorine dosing had no effect on biofilm, but killed filaments. Overdose of chlorine damaged biofilm and caused adverse effects such as low treatment efficiency, media clogging and washout, and biofilm color change in the reactor. Frequent monitoring of the morphologies of filaments and biofilm was needed during chlorination to prevent chlorine overdose.     

Prenatal diagnosis of pseudo arylsulphatase a deficiency

Prenatal diagnosis was performed on a pregnancy at risk for metachromatic leukodystrophy (MLD) in a family with the pseudo arylsulphatase A deficiency trait. Extracts of cultured amniotic fluid cells were deficient in arylsulphatase A indicating that the fetus was either affected with MLD or had the benign pseudodeficiency trait. In the cerebroside sulphate loading test, the at risk cells hydrolysed sulphatide like control cultured amniotic fluid cells implying that the fetus had pseudodeficiency. The pregnancy was carried to term and a male child was delivered. Placenta, urine and fibroblasts had very low activities of arysulphatase A. However, no sulphatide could be detected in urine and growing fibroblasts responded normally in the cerebroside sulphate loading test, suggesting pseudodeficiency. At 29 months, the infant is healthy and shows no stigmata of MLD. The prediction based on the results of the cerebroside sulphate loading test on cultured amniotic fluid cells appeared to be borne out.     

Genetic heterogeneity among New Zealand species of hydrothermal vent mussels (Mytilidae: Bathymodiolus)

Molecular systematic studies provide evidence for three new species of Bathymodiolus-like hydrothermal vent mussels (Bivalvia: Mytilidae) from relatively shallow waters (depth less than 750 m) associated with the Kermadec Arc off northern New Zealand. Mitochondrial COI sequences from the three putative new species differed substantially from those of other known bathymodiolin species from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Population genetic analysis of one of these species (Bathymodiolus new species NZ-1) revealed heterogeneity in allozyme gene frequencies between samples collected from two seamounts about 50 km apart. Factors that might contribute to genetic differentiation between neighbouring seamounts are discussed.Communicated by M.S. Johnson, Crawley     

Estrogenic effects of phenolic compounds on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in MCF-7 cells and uterine glutathione peroxidase in rats

In this study, we tested phenolic compounds such as bisphenol A (BPA), 4-nonylphenol (NP), 4-octylphenol (OP) and 4-propylphenol (PP) by using glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) in estrogen sensitive human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 cells) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in female immature Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. This study was designed to investigate whether phenolic compounds have estrogenic effects in these useful screening methods for endocrine disruptors. We chose 6 h as the incubation period for the G6PD assay through a preliminary experiment using 17beta-estradiol (E2). Above the concentration of 1 x 10(-8) M, BPA significantly increased the G6PD activity in a concentration-dependent manner, relative to the control. NP (over the concentration of 1 x 10(-9) M) also enhanced the G6PD activity by about 1.8 times that of the control. OP produced weaker effects on G6PD than NP, and showed a tendency to increase the G6PD activity. PP did not affect the G6PD activity. These results show that BPA and NP have the effect of enhancing G6PD activities in MCF-7 cells. In the in vivo GPx assay, both BPA and E2 significantly increased the uterus wet weights and dramatically enhanced uterine GPx activities in immature female rats in a dose-dependent manner. Treatment with NP (500 mg/kg/day) increased significantly both the uterine GPx activity and the uterus wet weights in immature female rats. OP (500 mg/kg/day) also caused a significant increase in uterine GPx activity, but had no effect on the uterus wet weights. This finding indicates that the change in uterine GPx activities could be a more sensitive parameter than that of uterus wet weights in immature rats. This study implies that phenolic compounds have a weak estrogenic effects.     

Biofiltration pretreatment for reverse osmosis (RO) membrane in a water reclamation system

Biofouling control is considered as a major challenge in operating membrane systems. A lab-scale RO system was setup at a local water reclamation plant to study the feasibility of using biofiltration as a pretreatment process to control the biofouling. The biological activity in the RO system (feed, product, reject streams) was tested using the standard serial dilution plating technique. Operational parameters such as differential pressure (DP) and permeate flowrate of the system were also monitored. Effects of biofilter on AOC and DOC removals were investigated. Biofiltration was found to be a viable way of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removals, with removal efficiencies of 40-49% and 35-45% at an empty bed contact time (EBCT) of 30 min. It was also found that using the biofiltration as a pretreatment reduced the rate of biofouling. It took only about 72 h for biofouling to have a significant impact on the performance of the RO membrane, when the system was operated without using biofiltration as pretreatment. There was, however, a five times increase in operational length to more than 300 h when biofiltration was used. This study presented the suitability of the biofilter as an economical and simple way of biofouling control for RO membrane.     

废塑料裂解生产原料油的研究

本文对聚乙烯和聚丙烯的混合物裂解成原料油进行了研究 ,在 44 0℃条件下 ,不同比例的聚乙烯和聚丙烯被裂解。结果发现 ,聚丙烯有最高的液体回收率。几种催化剂被应用到聚丙烯的裂解过程中。裂解产品组分的构成及催化剂的选择是本研究的主要内容。通过比较几种不同催化剂的催化结果发现 ,复合催化剂有更好的催化效果。本研究为将来的废塑料综合利用提供了一种新的有用方法