Aging leads to a gradual decline in physical activity and disrupted energy homeostasis. The NAD+-dependent SIRT6 deacylase regulates aging and metabolism through mechanisms that largely remain unknown. Here, we show that SIRT6 overexpression leads to a reduction in frailty and lifespan extension in both male and female B6 mice. A combination of physiological assays, in vivo multi-omics analyses and 13C lactate tracing identified an age-dependent decline in glucose homeostasis and hepatic glucose output in wild type mice. In contrast, aged SIRT6-transgenic mice preserve hepatic glucose output and glucose homeostasis through an improvement in the utilization of two major gluconeogenic precursors, lactate and glycerol. To mediate these changes, mechanistically, SIRT6 increases hepatic gluconeogenic gene expression, de novo NAD+ synthesis, and systemically enhances glycerol release from adipose tissue. These findings show that SIRT6 optimizes energy homeostasis in old age to delay frailty and preserve healthy aging.

The concept of a ‘plastisphere microbial community’ arose from research on aquatic plastic debris, while the effect of plastics on microbial communities in soils remains poorly understood. Therefore, we examined the inhabiting microbial communities of two plastic debris ecosystems with regard to their diversity and composition relative to plastic-free soils from the same area using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Furthermore, we studied the plastic-colonizing potential of bacteria originating from both study sites as a measure of surface adhesion to UV-weathered polyethylene (PE) using high-magnification field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The high plastic content of the soils was associated with a reduced alpha diversity and a significantly different structure of the microbial communities. The presence of plastic debris in soils did not specifically enrich bacteria known to degrade plastic, as suggested by earlier studies, but rather shifted the microbial community towards highly abundant autotrophic bacteria potentially tolerant to hydrophobic environments and known to be important for biocrust formation. The bacterial inoculates from both sites formed dense biofilms on the surface and in micrometer-scale surface cracks of the UV-weathered PE chips after 100 days of in vitro incubation with visible threadlike EPS structures and cross-connections enabling surface adhesion. High-resolution FESEM imaging further indicates that the microbial colonization catalyzed some of the surface degradation of PE. In essence, this study suggests the concept of a ‘terrestrial plastisphere’ as a diverse consortium of microorganisms including autotrophs and other pioneering species paving the way for those members of the consortium that may eventually break down the plastic compounds.

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The adsorption of organic micropollutants onto activated carbon is a favourable solution for the treatment of drinking water and wastewater. However, these adsorption processes are not sufficiently understood to allow for the appropriate prediction of removal processes. In this study, thermogravimetric analysis, alongside evolved gas analysis, is proposed for the characterisation of micropollutants adsorbed on activated carbon. Varying amounts of carbamazepine were adsorbed onto three different activated carbons, which were subsequently dried, and their thermal decomposition mechanisms examined. The discovery of 55 different pyrolysis products allowed differentiations to be made between specific adsorption sites and conditions. However, the same adsorption mechanisms were found for all samples, which were enhanced by inorganic constituents and oxygen containing surface groups. Furthermore, increasing the loadings led to the evolution of more hydrated decomposition products, whilst parts of the carbamazepine molecules were also integrated into the carbon structure. It was also found that the chemical composition, especially the degree of dehydration of the activated carbon, plays an important role in the adsorption of carbamazepine. Hence, it is thought that the adsorption sites may have a higher adsorption energy for specific adsorbates, when the activated carbon can then potentially increase its degree of graphitisation. Increasing amounts of pharmaceuticals enter the water bodies and are detected all over the world 1-3. Many of them are persistent and may accumulate within water cycles 4-6. These organic micropollutants already show adverse effects in aquatic ecosystems despite their comparably low concentrations 7-9. Therefore, technical measures are introduced as advanced wastewater treatment 10. One of the favoured techniques is the removal by adsorption onto activated carbon 11,12. Activated carbon has been used in water purification for more than hundred years. In modern times, we face more ecological and economical challenges that require the accurate prediction of removal efficiencies prior to the upgrade of wastewater treatment plants. Hence, several approaches have been applied to gain fast and efficient predictions through laboratory experiments and the optimization of operating parameters through data driven modeling 13-16. The removal of the target substances has been shown to be strongly influenced by the composition of the waters and that of the activated carbons used in the removal 17,18. The underlying adsorption processes have been extensively described in theory and investigated experimentally 19,20. However, adsorption in the liquid phase has been proven to be much more complicated than adsorption in gas phases, especially in complex water matrices that are governed by the presence of dissolved organic matter, the ionic strength and the pH value 21-23. Hence, both the adsorbate solution and the adsorbent, are mutually influenced. Moreover, activated carbon has a highly heterogeneous pore stru...

Microplastics (MP) can be detected in all environmental systems. Marine and terrestrial aquatic systems, especially the transported suspended solids, have often been the focus of scientific investigations in the past. Sediments of aquatic river systems, on the other hand, were often ignored due to the time‐consuming sample preparation and analysis procedures. Spectroscopic measurement methods counting particle numbers are hardly suitable as detection methods, because there are plenty of natural particles next to a small number of MP particles. Integral methods, such as thermoanalytical methods are determining the particle mass independently of the inorganic components.In this study, a workflow for sample preparation via density separation and subsequent analysis by thermal extraction desorption‐gas chromatography/mass spectrometry is presented, which leads to representative and homogeneous samples and allows fast and robust MP mass content measurements suitable for routine analysis. Polymers were identified and quantified in all samples. Polyethylene and styrene‐butadiene rubber are the dominant polymers, besides polypropylene and polystyrene. Overall, total polymer masses between 1.18 and 337.0 µg/g could be determined. Highest MP concentrations in riverbed sediment are found in sites characterized by low flow velocities in harbors and reservoirs, while MP concentrations in sandy/gravelly bed sediments with higher flow velocities are small.