Effects of ethyl-3-nitrooxy propionate and 3-nitrooxypropanol on ruminal fermentation,microbial abundance,and methane emissions in sheep

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of feeding ethyl-3-nitrooxy propionate (E3NP) and 3-nitrooxypropanol (3NP), 2 recently developed compounds with potential antimethanogenic activity, in vitro and in vivo in nonlactating sheep on ruminal methane production, fermentation pattern, the abundance of major microbial groups, and feed degradability. Three experiments were conducted, 1 in vitro and 2 in vivo. The in vitro batch culture trial (experiment 1) tested 2 doses of E3NP and 3NP (40 and 80 μL/L), which showed a substantial reduction of methane production (up to 95%) without affecting concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA). The 2 in vivo trials were conducted over 16 d (experiment 2) and 30 d (experiment 3) to study their effects in sheep. In experiment 2, 6 adult nonpregnant sheep, with permanent rumen cannula and fed alfalfa hay and oats (60:40), were treated with E3NP at 2 doses (50 and 500 mg/animal per day). After 7, 14, and 15 d of treatment, methane emissions were recorded in respiration chambers and rumen fluid samples were collected for VFA analysis and quantification of bacterial, protozoal, and archaeal numbers by real-time PCR. Methane production decreased by 29% compared with the control with the higher dose of E3NP on d 14 to 15. A decrease in the acetate:propionate ratio was observed without detrimental effects on dry matter intake. In experiment 3, 9 adult nonpregnant sheep, with permanent rumen cannula and fed with alfalfa hay and oats (60:40), were treated with E3NP or 3NP at one dose (100 mg/animal per day) over 30 d. On d 14 and d 29 to 30, methane emissions were recorded in respiration chambers. Rumen fluid samples were collected on d 29 and 30 for VFA analysis and quantification of bacterial, protozoal, and archaeal numbers by real-time PCR. In addition, on d 22 and 23, samples of oats and alfalfa hay were incubated in the rumen of sheep to determine dry matter ruminal degradation over 24 and 48 h, respectively; no effect was observed (78.6, 78.3, and 78.8% of alfalfa and 74.2, 74.0, and 70.6% of oats in control, E3NP, and 3NP groups, respectively). A reduction in methane production was observed for both additives at d 14 and d 29 to 30. In both treatments, the acetate:propionate ratio was significantly decreased. Likewise, total concentrations of the analyzed microbial groups in the rumen showed no difference among treatments and doses for both experiments. Both tested compounds showed promise as methane inhibitors in the rumen, with no detrimental effects on fermentation or intake, which would need to be confirmed in lactating animals.     

Contradicting incentives for research collaboration

This study describes the Danish publication award system (BFI), investigates whether its built-in incentives have had an effect on publication behavior at the University of Southern Denmark, and discusses the possible future implications on researcher incentives should universities wish to measure BFI on the individual level. We analyzed publication data from the university CRIS system (Pure) and from SciVal. Several studies indicate that co-authored scholarly journal articles attract more citations than single author articles. The reason for this are not clear, however, research collaboration across institutions and countries is commonly accepted in the research community and among university managements as one way of increasing the researcher’s and institution’s reputation and impact. The BFI system is designed to award scholarly publication activity at Danish universities, especially publication in international journals of high status. However, we find that the built-in incentives leave the researcher and his or her institution with a dilemma: If the researchers optimize their performance by forming author groups with external collaborators, the optimal way of doing so for the researchers is not the optimal way seen from the perspective of the university. Our analysis shows that the typical article has 6.5 authors, two of which are internal, and that this has remained stable since the introduction of the BFI. However, there is variation across the disciplines. While ‘the Arts and Humanities’ and ‘the Social Sciences’ seem to compose author groups in a way which does not optimize the performance of the institution, both ‘Health’ and ‘the Natural Sciences’ seem to optimize according to criteria other than those specified in the BFI.     

Investigation of long-term engine oil performance using lab-based artificial ageing illustrated by the impact of ethanol as fuel component

The effect of ethanol and its combustion products on the lubrication system is not very well understood. In this paper, a novel lab-based artificial ageing method for the evaluation of engine oils for bio-fuelled automotives and the results thereof are presented. Artificial ageing of three fully formulated engine oils with addition of ethanol, acetaldehyde, and acetic acid was carried out. The oil formulations chosen represent a consequent series of optimisation steps based on the engine oil performance in terms of preservation of typical oil parameters, e.g. base reserve and oxidation, observed during the artificial ageing procedure. It was shown that ethanol as well as acetaldehyde has almost no effect on the oil degradation especially in the case that advanced additive technology was used. On the contrary, acetic acid significantly affected the formulated oil showing influence on the detergent chemistry and even caused sludge formation. The use of the novel artificial ageing method proved to clearly differentiate the impact of the respective compounds added with the possibility to simulate enhanced stress conditions without the need of time-consuming and expensive engine bench tests. Hence, the novel setup offers valuable input for the formulation and the pre-selection of future engine oils suitable for bio-fuel.     

Influence of the Oxygen Partial Pressure on the Oxidation of Inconel 617 Alloy at High Temperature

Ni-based superalloy Inconel 617 (IN617) is one of the main candidate structural materials for high temperature components (heat exchanger) of the gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR), a possible candidate for generation IV nuclear reactor. The material in operating conditions will be exposed to impure He at a temperature of around 850 °C. The impurities are expected to be oxidizing (such as O₂, H₂O) but since no feedback experience is available for this type of reactor, the level of impurities is completely unknown. Hence, an attempt has been made to understand the influence of oxygen partial pressure on oxide composition and on the oxidation mechanisms of IN617 at 850 °C. To achieve this, oxidation tests were performed at 3 different range of partial pressure: 10^?5, 0.2 and 200 mbar. Tests were performed from 1 h to 28 days and the obtained oxide layers were characterized using MEB, EDX, XPS, XRD and GD-OES. The oxide layers were mainly composed of chromia containing TiO₂ and thickening with time. Aluminium oxide formed internally. Other oxides were detected in the scale, such as NiO, CoO, MoO₃ and MnO₂, except for the lowest oxygen partial pressure experiments, where a selective oxidation took place. The scale-growth mechanism was cationic for low and medium oxygen partial pressure conditions. A growth following a transient oxidation mechanism was observed for high oxygen partial pressure.     

Antioxidant Activity of Seaweed Extracts: In Vitro Assays,Evaluation in 5 % Fish Oil‐in‐Water Emulsions and Characterization

In this study the antioxidant activity of absolute ethanol, 50 % ethanol and water extracts of two species of seaweeds, namely Fucus serratus and Polysiphonia fucoides, were evaluated both in in vitro assays and in 5 % fish oil‐in‐water (o/w) emulsions. The 50 % ethanolic extracts of P. fucoides showed higher antioxidant activity both in in vitro assays and in 5 % oil‐in‐water emulsion in the presence or absence of iron. In spite of the higher phenolic content and very good antioxidant activity in some of the in vitro assays, the absolute ethanol extracts of both the species showed a pro‐oxidative tendency in 5 % fish oil‐in‐water emulsion in the presence or absence of iron. In order to investigate the reason for the higher antioxidant activity of 50 % ethanolic extracts of P. fucoides, these extracts were further fractionated into polyphenol‐rich, protein‐rich, polysaccharide‐rich and low‐molecular‐weight fractions. These fractions were tested both in in vitro and in 5 % oil‐in‐water emulsions. The results of the present study showed that the main effect was due to the phenolic compounds. In conclusion, the 50 % ethanolic extracts of P. fucoides can be a potential source of natural antioxidants as these extracts have antioxidant activities similar to those of synthetic antioxidants such as BHT.     

Evaluation of environmental design strategies for university buildings

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the performance of environmental strategies in seven recently constructed or refurbished university buildings in the UK. These buildings contain a range of administrative spaces, classrooms, libraries and studios, reflecting their often complex, multi-use, heterogeneous nature. The key features of each environmental strategy are described (including passive, mixed-mode or active systems), in the context of the occupants and spaces they serve and the level of interaction that they afford. Energy performance and occupant thermal comfort (assessed by user surveys) are analysed and compared with studies of other non-domestic buildings, which have typically focused on more predictable single administrative uses (e.g. government offices), and unusually effective operation scenarios (e.g. continuous monitoring by expert building managers). The paper concludes by examining two of the case studies that reflect an increasingly common model of ‘flexible’ environmental design in more detail, identifying key features of the strategies for each building that have had a significant impact on their performance. The design assumptions leading to these features will be explored, and key lessons identified, contributing towards the development of a more robust evidential basis for choosing appropriate environmental strategies for university and other non-domestic buildings in the UK.     

Dynamic mechanical analysis of the multiple glass transitions of plasticized wheat gluten biopolymer

Glass transition of thermo‐molded biomaterials made from wheat gluten and its main protein classes is studied by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The materials are plasticized with variable contents of glycerol (30–40 wt %) and water (0–20 wt %). For all materials, three successive relaxation phases are systematically detected. Their positions shift to lower temperature as the plasticizer content of materials increases. Composition in gluten, glycerol and water of each relaxation phase is estimated using the Couchman‐Karasz model. Irrespective of the plasticizer content or composition, the relaxation phases shows rather constant plasticizer volume fractions. The low‐, middle‐, and high relaxation phases include respectively around 30, 60 and 80 vol % of gluten protein. These relaxations are assigned to the segmental motion of the surface amino‐acid side groups, to the collective motion of packed gluten proteins, and to the gain in protein conformational mobility as a 2D network of interacting plasticizer molecules forms. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43254.     

Tracking the Molecular Fingerprint of Head and Neck Cancer for Recurrence Detection in Liquid Biopsies

The 5-year relative survival for patients with head and neck cancer, the seventh most common form of cancer worldwide, was reported as 67% in developed countries in the second decade of the new millennium. Although surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or combined treatment often elicits an initial satisfactory response, relapses are frequently observed within two years. Current surveillance methods, including clinical exams and imaging evaluations, have not unambiguously demonstrated a survival benefit, most probably due to a lack of sensitivity in detecting very early recurrence. Recently, liquid biopsy monitoring of the molecular fingerprint of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma has been proposed and investigated as a strategy for longitudinal patient care. These innovative methods offer rapid, safe, and highly informative genetic analysis that can identify small tumors not yet visible by advanced imaging techniques, thus potentially shortening the time to treatment and improving survival outcomes. In this review, we provide insights into the available evidence that the molecular tumor fingerprint can be used in the surveillance of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Challenges to overcome, prior to clinical implementation, are also discussed.     

Classification of Amyloidosis by Model-Assisted Mass Spectrometry-Based Proteomics

Amyloidosis is a rare disease caused by the misfolding and extracellular aggregation of proteins as insoluble fibrillary deposits localized either in specific organs or systemically throughout the body. The organ targeted and the disease progression and outcome is highly dependent on the specific fibril-forming protein, and its accurate identification is essential to the choice of treatment. Mass spectrometry-based proteomics has become the method of choice for the identification of the amyloidogenic protein. Regrettably, this identification relies on manual and subjective interpretation of mass spectrometry data by an expert, which is undesirable and may bias diagnosis. To circumvent this, we developed a statistical model-assisted method for the unbiased identification of amyloid-containing biopsies and amyloidosis subtyping. Based on data from mass spectrometric analysis of amyloid-containing biopsies and corresponding controls. A Boruta method applied on a random forest classifier was applied to proteomics data obtained from the mass spectrometric analysis of 75 laser dissected Congo Red positive amyloid-containing biopsies and 78 Congo Red negative biopsies to identify novel “amyloid signature” proteins that included clusterin, fibulin-1, vitronectin complement component C9 and also three collagen proteins, as well as the well-known amyloid signature proteins apolipoprotein E, apolipoprotein A4, and serum amyloid P. A SVM learning algorithm were trained on the mass spectrometry data from the analysis of the 75 amyloid-containing biopsies and 78 amyloid-negative control biopsies. The trained algorithm performed superior in the discrimination of amyloid-containing biopsies from controls, with an accuracy of 1.0 when applied to a blinded mass spectrometry validation data set of 103 prospectively collected amyloid-containing biopsies. Moreover, our method successfully classified amyloidosis patients according to the subtype in 102 out of 103 blinded cases. Collectively, our model-assisted approach identified novel amyloid-associated proteins and demonstrated the use of mass spectrometry-based data in clinical diagnostics of disease by the unbiased and reliable model-assisted classification of amyloid deposits and of the specific amyloid subtype.