“
“In the electrospinning selleck kinase inhibitor of polymer nanofibers, an electrically driven jet of polymer solution travels to a grounded target to be collected. The morphology of the resulting nanofibers

can be manipulated through process parameters, though little work has been done to correlate electrospinning parameters with those of the free-jet flow of pure liquids. This is essential when the nanofibers hold entrained beaded structures indicative of jet breakup. The effects of applied voltage and solution concentration on the fiber morphology of electrospun aqueous solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) were investigated. Solution concentrations of 4-8 wt % were used along with voltages of 4.5-11 kV to produce nanofibers with and without entrained beads. It was determined that the calculated Weber number for each condition correlated well with the resulting

morphology. These results may suggest that Weber number may also be used to predict nanofibers morphology in the electrospinning of other polymer systems. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 120: 880 885, 2011″
“Ethanol production from corn stover hemicellulosic hydrolysate was investigated using immobilized recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cells. Detoxification of hemicellulosic hydrolysate by roto-evaporation and lime neutralization was carried out to remove volatile fermentation inhibitors. All furfural and more AZD2014 cell line than 50% acetic acid in the hydrolysate were removed, meanwhile the xylose concentration was enhanced to 71.8 g/L. The fermentability of the detoxified hydrolysate was significantly improved using immobilized cells of recombinant S. cerevisiae by Ca-alginate. An ethanol concentration of 31.1 g/L and the corresponding ethanol yield on fermentable sugars of 0.406 g/g were obtained within 72 h in batch fermentation of the detoxified hydrolysate with Epacadostat immobilized cells. In addition, repeated batch fermentation of immobilized recombinant S. cerevisiae cells was attempted for ethanol production for 5 batches. The concentration of ethanol

in each batch maintained above 30.1 g/L with the ethanol yield on fermentable sugars over 0.393 g/g. These results demonstrate the viability and significance of ethanol production from corn stover hemicellulosic hydrolysate. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“The essential trace element selenium has long been considered to exhibit anti-diabetic and insulin-mimetic properties, but recent epidemiological studies indicated supranutritional selenium intake and high plasma selenium levels as possible risk factors for development of type 2 diabetes, pointing to adverse effects of selenium on carbohydrate metabolism in humans. However, increased plasma selenium levels might be both a consequence and a cause of diabetes.