Under conditions of stress, such as elevated temperature, molecular chaperones stabilize proteins from unfolding, aggregating, and precipitating. We have investigated the chaperone activity of the major milk proteins alpha(S)-, beta-, and kappa-casein with reduced insulin and the milk whey proteins, alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin, and compared it with that of the mammalian small heat shock protein (sHsp), alpha-crystallin, and clusterin. alpha(S)-Casein exhibited different chaperone behavior under reduction and heat stresses, i.e., chaperone activity increased with increasing temperature (as observed with alpha-crystallin), but under reduction stress, its chaperone activity increased at lower temperatures. beta- and kappa-casein had comparable chaperone ability with each other but were less effective than alpha(S)-casein. Under molecular crowding conditions, precipitation of stressed protein was accelerated, and alpha(S)-casein was a poorer chaperone. Furthermore, at slightly alkaline pH values, alpha(S)-casein was a less effective chaperone than at neutral pH. Detailed fluorescence, size exclusion chromatography, and real-time NMR studies studies indicated that the casein proteins underwent conformational changes and stabilized the partially unfolded whey proteins prior to formation of high molecular weight soluble complexes. These results are consistent with casein proteins acting as molecular chaperones in a manner similar to sHsps and clusterin.

White-rot fungi (WRF) and their lignin modifying enzymes (LME) can degrade a wide range of trace organic contaminants (TrOC), which are suspected to cause adverse health effects in humans and other biota. Recent studies have successfully applied either whole-cell WRF or their extracellular culture extract to remove TrOC from the aqueous phase. TrOC removal by a WRF system is dependent on a range of factors including molecular structure of the TrOC, fungal species and their specific LME, culture medium composition, and methods to enhance fungal degradation capacity; however, the specific relationships between these factors have not been systematically delineated. The aim of this review paper is to fill this important gap in the literature by critically analysing the ability of WRF and their LME specifically to remove TrOC. Mechanisms and factors governing the degradation of TrOC by WRF and their LME are reviewed and discussed. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. AbstractWhite-rot fungi (WRF) and their lignin modifying enzymes (LME) can degrade a wide range of trace organic contaminants (TrOC), which are suspected to cause adverse health effects in humans and other biota. Recent studies have successfully applied either whole-cell WRF or their extracellular culture extract to remove TrOC from the aqueous phase. TrOC removal by a WRF system is dependent on a range of factors including molecular structure of the TrOC, fungal species and their specific LME, culture medium composition, and methods to enhance fungal degradation capacity; however, the specific relationships between these factors have not been systematically delineated. The aim of this review paper is to fill this important gap in the literature by critically analysing the ability of WRF and their LME specifically to remove TrOC. Mechanisms and factors governing the degradation of TrOC by WRF and their LME are reviewed and discussed.

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The ability to electrodeposit titanium at low temperatures would be an important breakthrough for making corrosion resistant layers on a variety of technically important materials. Ionic liquids have often been considered as suitable solvents for the electrodeposition of titanium. In the present paper we have extensively investigated whether titanium can be electrodeposited from its halides (TiCl(4), TiF(4), TiI(4)) in different ionic liquids, namely1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide ([EMIm]Tf(2)N), 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethyl-sulfonyl)amide ([BMP]Tf(2)N), and trihexyltetradecyl-phosphonium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide ([P(14,6,6,6)]Tf(2)N). Cyclic voltammetry and EQCM measurements show that, instead of elemental Ti, only non-stoichiometric halides are formed, for example with average stoichiometries of TiCl(0.2), TiCl(0.5) and TiCl(1.1). In situ STM measurements show that-in the best case-an ultrathin layer of Ti or TiCl(x) with thickness below 1 nm can be obtained. In addition, results from both electrochemical and chemical reduction experiments of TiCl(4) in a number of these ionic liquids support the formation of insoluble titanium cation-chloride complex species often involving the solvent. Solubility studies suggest that TiCl(3) and, particularly, TiCl(2) have very limited solubility in these Tf(2)N based ionic liquids. Therefore it does not appear possible to reduce Ti(4+) completely to the metal in the presence of chloride. Successful deposition processing for titanium in ionic liquids will require different maybe tailor-made titanium precursors that avoid these problems.

We demonstrate the simultaneous extraction of phosphorus and clean water from digested sludge centrate using a forward osmosis (FO)–membrane distillation (MD) hybrid process. In this FO–MD hybrid process, FO concentrates orthophosphate and ammonium for subsequent phosphorus recovery in the form of struvite (MgNH4PO4 ·6H2O), while MD is used to recover the draw solution and extract clean water from the digested sludge centrate. A decline in water flux was observed during the FO process, but fouling was largely reversible after a brief, simple membrane flushing using deionized water. The FO process also provides an effective pretreatment capacity to the subsequent MD process, which exhibited stable water flux. The use of MgCl2 as the draw solute for the FO process is another novel aspect of the system. The reverse salt flux of magnesium to the concentrated digested sludge across the FO membrane and the diffusion of protons away from the digested sludge create favorable conditions for the formation of struvite crystals. The precipitates obtained in the hybrid process were verified to be struvite crystals by examining the crystal morphology, element composition, and crystal structure. Results reported here highlight the potential and robustness of the FO–MD hybrid process for extracting phosphorus from wastewater.

This study demonstrates the robustness and treatment capacity of a forward osmosis (FO)-membrane distillation (MD) hybrid system for small-scale decentralized sewer mining. A stable water flux was realized using a laboratory-scale FO-MD hybrid system operating continuously with raw sewage as the feed at water recovery up to 80%. The hybrid system also showed an excellent capacity for the removal of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs), with removal rates ranging from 91 to 98%. The results suggest that TrOC transport through the FO membrane is governed by "solute-membrane" interaction, whereas that through the MD membrane is strongly correlated to TrOC volatility. Concentrations of organic matter and TrOCs in the draw solution increased substantially as the water recovery increased. This accumulation of some contaminants in the draw solution is attributed to the difference in their rejection by the FO and MD systems. We demonstrate that granular activated carbon adsorption or ultraviolet oxidation could be used to prevent contaminant accumulation in the draw solution, resulting in near complete rejection (>99.5%) of TrOCs.

Hydromethanolic extracts of brown, red, and white sorghum whole grains were analysed by LC-MS(n) in negative ESI mode within the range m/z 150-550amu. Besides the flavonoids already reported in sorghum, a number of flavonoids were also identified in the sorghum grain for the first time, including flavanones, flavonols and flavanonols, and flavan-3-ol derivatives. Various phenylpropane glycerides were also found in the sorghum grain, the majority of them are reported here for the first time, and a few of them were detected with abundant peaks in the extracts, indicating they are another important class of phenolic compounds in sorghum. In addition, phenolamides were also found in sorghum grain, which have not been reported before, and dicaffeoyl spermidine was detected in high abundance in the extracts of all three type sorghum grains. These results confirmed that sorghum is a rich source of various phenolic compounds.

This study has elucidated the fragmentation pathway for deprotonated isoflavones in electrospray ionization using MS(n) ion trap mass spectrometry and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. Genistein-d(4) and daidzein-d(3) were used as references for the clarification of fragment structures. To confirm the relationship between precursor and product ions, some fragments were traced from MS(2) to MS(5). The previous literature for the structurally related flavones and flavanones located the loss of ketene (C(2)H(2)O) to ring C, whereas the present fragmentation study for isoflavones has shown that the loss of ketene occurs at ring A. In the further fragmentation of the [M-H-CH(3)](-*) radical anion of methoxylated isoflavones, loss of a hydrogen atom was commonly found. [M-H-CH(3)-CO-B-ring](-) is a characteristic fragment ion of glycitein and can be used to differentiate glycitein from its isomers. Neutral losses of CO and CO(2) were prominent in the fragmentation of deprotonated anions in ion trap mass spectrometry, whereas recyclization cleavage accounted for a very small proportion. In comparison with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry, ion trap MS(n) mass spectrometry has the advantage of better elucidation of the relationship between precursor and product ions.