Facile Fabrication of Cellulosic Paper-based Composites with Temperature-controlled Hydrophobicity and Excellent Mechanical Strength

In this paper,we presented a novel strategy to employ a plantderived carbohydrate polymer,i.e.,cellulose,to prepare a hydrophobic composite.Cellulose was used as a scaffold,and ethylene-propylene side by side(ES)fiber was thermally melted and then coated on the cellulose surface to achieve hydrophobicity.Experimental results revealed that the thermocoating ES fibers greatly increased the water contact angle of the cellulose scaffold from 25°to 153°while simultaneously enhanced the wet tensile strength of the composite approximately 6.7-fold(drying temperature of 170℃)compared with the pure cellulose paper.In particular,compared with other related research,the prepared cellulose-based composite possessed excellent hydrophobicity and superior mechanical strength,which introduces a new chemical engineering approach to prepare hydrophobic cellulose-based functional materials.

Rare Variation of the Origin of Dorsal Pancreatic Artery:A Case Report

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization(TACE)has become an important method for the treatment of liver cancer.It is necessary to super-select the tumor feeding artery,avoid arteries of nonnal tissues and organs,and avoid complications caused by ectopic embolization.This case is a rare variation of the origin of dorsal pancreatic artery in the course of TACE.

Ameliorated enzymatic saccharification of corn stover with a novel modified alkali pretreatment

Enzymatic saccharification/hydrolysis is one of the key steps for the bioconversion of lignocelluloses into sustainable biofuels.In this work,corn stover was pretreated with a novel modified alkali process(NaOH+anthraquinone(AQ)+sodium lignosulfonate(SLS)),and then enzymatically hydrolyzed with an enzyme cocktail(cellulase(Celluclast 1.5L),β-glucosidase(Novozyme 188)and xylanase(from thermomyceslanuginosus))in the pH range of 4.0-6.5.It was found that the suitable pH for the enzymatic saccharification process to achieve a high glucan yield was between 4.2 and 5.7,while the appropriate pH to obtain a high xylan yield was in the range of 4.0-4.7.The best pH for the enzymatic saccharification process was found to be 4.4 in terms of the final total sugar yield,as xylanase worked most efficiently in the pH range of 4.0-4.7,under the conditions in the study.The addition of xylanase in the enzymatic saccharification process could hydrolyze xylan in the substrates and reduce the nonspecific binding of cellulase,thus improving the total sugar yields.

Recent progress on the pretreatment and fractionation of lignocelluloses for biorefinery at QIBEBT

Pretreatment and fractionation are amongst the key steps for the conversion of lignocelluloses to sustainable biofuels,biomaterials or biochemicals,as pretreatment/fractionation can break the natural recalcitrance of lignocelluloses,improving the conversion efficiency of downstream processes.This paper reviews the recent progress on the pretreatment and fractionation of lignocelluloses for biorefinery at the Chinese Academy of Sciences-Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology(QIBEBT).The main technologies developed at the QIBEBT in recent years include alkaline twin-screw extrusion pretreatment,modified alkali pretreatment,hydrogen peroxide-assisted sodium carbonate pretreatment,fractionation with formic acid,as well as the two-step fractionation by hot water treatment coupling ammonium sulfite treatment.With the development of these technologies,a pilot scale platform for the pretreatment and saccharification of biomass has been established in the pilot plant of QIBEBT.

CRISPR/Cas9-edited Pax6-GFP reporter system facilitates the generation of mouse neural progenitor cells during differentiation

Embryonic stem cells （ESCs） obtained from blastocysts can self-renew and potentially differentiate into three germ layers, thus acting as a promising platform in cell-replacement therapies and developmental research （Evans and Kaufman, 1981; Thomson et al., 1998）. Neural specification of ESCs has been extensively studied due to their superior value as a cellular resource in studying neurodegenerative diseases （Tao and Zhang, 2016）.