• BMB Reports
• /
• v.48 no.6
• /
• pp.336-341
• /
• 2015

Sepsis is a life-threatening, infectious, systemic inflammatory disease. In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effect of α-cubebenoate, a novel compound isolated from Schisandra chinensis against polymicrobial sepsis in a cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) experimental model. Administration of α-cubebenoate strongly enhanced survival in the CLP model. α-cubebenoate administration also markedly blocked CLP-induced lung inflammation and increased bactericidal activity by enhancing phagocytic activity and hydrogen peroxide generation in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages and neutrophils. Expression of two important inflammatory cytokines, IL-1 and IL-6, was strongly increased in the CLP model, and this was dramatically blocked by α-cubebenoate. Lymphocyte apoptosis and caspase-3 activation, which are associated with immune paralysis during sepsis, were markedly attenuated by α-cubebenoate. Taken together, our findings indicate that α-cubebenoate, a natural compound isolated from Schisandra chinensis, is a powerful potential anti-septic agent. [BMB Reports 2015; 48(6): 336-341]

• Journal of Energy Engineering
• /
• v.15 no.2 s.46
• /
• pp.118-126
• /
• 2006

This publication provides an overview of the state-of-the-art and perspective of biological $H_2$ production from water and/or organic substances. The biological $H_2$ production processes, being explored in fundamental and applied researches, are direct and indirect biophotolysis from water, photo-fermentation, dark anaerobic fermentation and in vitro $H_2$ production. The development of biological $H_2$ production technology, as an energy carrier, started at the late 1940's in the lab-scale. Now it has a high priority in the world, especially USA, Japan, EU and Korea.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.89-95
• /
• 1998

Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides K7 and E15-1 produced hydrogen from glucose rapidly for the first 24 hrs of culture under the anaerobic and photosynthetic conditions and then ceased the hydrogen production because of the accumulation of organic acids such as acetic acid and formic acid in the culture broth, decreasing the pH to 4.2-4.5. Only 43% and 73% of glucose in the culture were consumed even after 6 days of incubation by R. sphaeroides K7 and E15-1, respectively. The hydrogen production and glucose consumption, however, were substantially increased when the pH of the culture was adjusted to 6.8-7.0: Hydrogen production continues even after 10 days of culture and glucose was consumed completely after 2.5 and 4.5 days by R. sphaeroides K7 and E15-1, respectively, Furthermore, the bacteriochlorophyll contents in R. sphaeroides K7 and E15-1 were increased by 44 and 9 folds and the cell concentrations by 10 and 2.5 folds, respectively, after 7 days of culture. R. sphaeroides K7 and E15-1 also produced hydrogen from acetic, lactic, butyric and malic acids under the anaerobic and photosynthetic conditions even though the amounts of hydrogen produced were lower than that from glucose. The results of this experiment indicate that under the anaerobic and synthetic conditions R. sphaeroides K7 and E15-1 might use the NADH oxidation mediated by ferredoxin and hydrogenase to evolve hydrogen from glucose for the first 24 hrs and then the organic acids produced were used as electron donners for the production of hydrogen in the nitrogen-limited condition.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.62-69
• /
• 1999

Clostridium butyricum NCIB 9576 evolved hydrogen gas and produced various organic acids from glucose, lactose, starch, and glycerol. Total amount of hydrogen gas produced from 1 and 2% glucose were 630 and 950ml $H_2$/l-broth, respectively, for the first 24 hrs of incubation and the maximum hydrogen production rates were 42 and 94ml $H_2$/hr/1-broth, respectively. Teh initial pH 6.8 decreased to 4.2~4.5 during the first 12~16 hrs of fermentation when the pH was not controlled, resulting in ceasing the cell growth and hydrogen evolution and in degradation of 82 and 40% glucose after 24hrs of incubation from 1 and 2% glucose, respectively. When pH was controlled to 5.5, glucose was consumed completely and resulted in increasing hydrogen production approximately 38~50% compared to the experiments without the pH control. C. butyricum NCIB 9576 produced hydrogen gas approximately 644, 1,700 and 3,080 ml $H_2$/l-broth with 0.5, 1 and 2% lactose, respectively and the maximum hydrogen production rates were 41, 141 and 179ml $H_2$/hr/l-broth, respectively. All of the lactose added was degraded completely during fermentation even though pH was not controlled. C. butyricum NCIB 9576 produced 183 and 709ml $H_2$/l-broth with 0.1 and 0.5% starch for 48 hrs, respectively, when pH was not controlled. The maximum rates of hydrogen gas production were 43 and 186ml $H_2$/l-broth, respectively and 80~100% of starch added was fermented. Approximately 107ml $H_2$/l-broth was produced using 1% glycerol by C. butyricum NCIB 9576 and the pH was maintained higher than 6.1 during fermentation without pH control. The degradation of glucose, lactose, starch and glycerol by C. butyricum NCIB 9576 were affected by the pH of fermentation broth and the organic acids released during fermentation. The pH of feremtntation broth dropped to 4.2~4.6 after 12~14 hrs incubation when glucose was used as a substrate while pHs were maintained above pH 5 under the same experimental conditions when lactose, starch and glycerol were used. The organic solvents and acids produced during glucose fermentation were mainly ethanol, butyrate, acetate and a little of propionate, while butyrate was the main organic acids during the lactose, starch, and glycerol fermentation by C. butyricum NCIB 9576.

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.11-25
• /
• 2009

Fuel cells are expected to be one of the major clean new energy sources in the near future. However, the slow kinetics of electrocatalytic hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and the high loading of Pt for the anode and cathode material are the urgent issues to be addressed since they determine the efficiency and the cost of this energy source. In this review paper, a new approach was developed for designing electrocatalysts for the HOR and ORR in fuel cells. It was found that the electronic properties of Pt could be fine-tuned by the electronic and geometric effects introduced by the substrate alloy metal and the lateral effects of the neighboring metal atoms. The role of substrate was found reflected in a volcano plot for the HOR and ORR as a function of their calculated d-band centers. This paper demonstrated a viable way to designing the electrocatalysts which could successfully alleviate two issue facing the commercializing of the fuel cell-the cost of electrocatalysts and their efficiency.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.706-713
• /
• 2011

The effects of silica-alumina type catalysts addition on the thermal decomposition of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) resin have been studied in a thermal analyzer (TGA, DSC) and a small batch reactor. The silica-alumina type compounds tested were kaolinite, bentonite, perlite, activated clay and clay. As the results of TGA experiments, pyrolysis starting temperature for EVA resin had the 1st pyrolysis temperature range of 300~$400^{\circ}C$ and the 2nd pyrolysis temperature range of 425~$525^{\circ}C$. The silica-alumina type catalysts did not affect the pyrolysis rate in EVA pyrolysis reaction. In the DSC experiments, addition of kaolinite and bentonite catalysts reduced the heat of fusion and heat of 2nd pyrolysis reaction. In the batch system experiments, the mixing of silica-alumina type catalysts enhanced the yield of fuel oil, and affected to the distribution of carbon numbers. In the silica-alumina type inorganic material used in this experiments, bentonite was the most effective from the pyrolysis heat, yields, and the characteristics of fuel oil.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.13 no.5
• /
• pp.33-38
• /
• 2009

Synthetic natural gas was producd by the reaction of carbon monoxide and hydrogen via methanation. Ni-Co bimetallic catalyst supported on $Al_2O_3$ for methanation was prepared using deposition-precipitation method. For the comparison, Ni, Co monometallic catalyst was prepared using the same method. The prepared catalysts were characterized by TEM, XRD and TPR and applied to methanation reaction. The catalysts prepared using deposition-precipitation method showed the high metal dispersion. The activity of Ni-Co bimetallic catalyst was higher than that of Ni, Co monometallic catalyst. TPR measurements indicated that Ni-Co bimetallic catalyst had more active hydrogen species than Ni, Co monometallic catalyst due to the synergetic effect in the presence of Ni and Co.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2004

The history of studies in biology regarding reactive oxygen species (ROS) is approximately 40 years. During the initial 30 years, it appeared that these studies were mainly focused on the toxicity of ROS. However, recent studies have identified another action regarding oxidative signaling, other than toxicity of ROS. Basically, it is suggested that ROS are reactive, and degenerate to biomolecules such as DNA and proteins, leading to deterioration of cellular functions as an oxidative stress. On the other hand, recent studies have shown that ROS act as oxidative signaling in cells, resulting in various gene expressions. Recently ROS emerged as critical signaling molecules in cardiovascular research. Several studies over the past decade have shown that physiological effects of vasoactive factors are mediated by these reactive species and, conversely, that altered redox mechanisms are implicated in the occurrence of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases ROS is a collective term often used by scientist to include not only the oxygen radicals($O2^{-{\cdot}},\;{^{\cdot}}OH$), but also some non-radical derivatives of oxygen. These include hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and ozone (O3). The superoxide anion ($O2^{-{\cdot}}$) is formed by the univalent reduction of triplet-state molecular oxygen ($^3O_2$). Superoxide dismutase (SOD)s convert superoxide enzymically into hydrogen peroxide. In biological tissues superoxide can also be converted nonenzymically into the nonradical species hydrogen peroxide and singlet oxygen ($^1O_2$). In the presence of reduced transition metals (e.g., ferrous or cuprous ions), hydrogen peroxide can be converted into the highly reactive hydroxyl radical (${^{\cdot}}OH$). Alternatively, hydrogen peroxide may be converted into water by the enzymes catalase or glutathione peroxidase. In the glutathione peroxidase reaction glutathione is oxidized to glutathione disulfide, which can be converted back to glutathione by glutathione reductase in an NADPH-consuming process.

• Ocean and Polar Research
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.225-234
• /
• 2016

This project sought to conduct an economic feasibility study regarding the commercial production of bio-hydrogen by the marine hyperthermophilic archaeon, Thermococcus onnurineus NA1 using carbon monoxide-containing industrial off-gas. We carried out the economic evaluation of the bio-hydrogen production process using the raw material of steel mill by-product gas. The process parameter was as follows: $H_2$ production rate was 5.6 L/L/h; the conversion of carbon monoxide was 60.7%. This project established an evaluation criterion for about 10,000 tonne/year. Inflation factors were considered as 3%. The operating costs were recalculated based on prices in 2014. The total investment required for development was covered 30% by capital and 70% by a loan. The operation cost for the 0.5-year test and integration, and the cost for the first three months in the 50% production period were considered as the working capital in the cost estimation. The costs required for the rental of office space, facilities, and other related costs from the construction through to full-scale production periods were considered as continuing expenses. Materials, energy, waste disposal and other charges were considered as the operating cost of the development system. Depreciation, tax, maintenance and repair, insurance, labor, interest rate charges, general and administrative costs, lubrication and miscellaneous expenses were also calculated. The hydrogen price was set at US$ 4.15/kg for the economic evaluation. As a result, the process was considered to be economical with the payback period of 6.3 years, NPV of 18 billion Won and IRR of 26.7%.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.307-311
• /
• 2014

This study investigated the effects of polyurethane foam on continuous hydrogen production from mixed wastes. Molasses was co-fermented with non-pretreated sewage sludge in a sequencing batch reactor. The results indicated that the addition of polyurethane foams as a microbial carrier in the reactor mitigated biomass loss at HRT 12 h, while most of the biomass was washed out during the operation period with no carrier. There was a stable hydrogen production rate of $0.4L-H_2/l/d$ in the carrier-sequencing batch reactor. Suspended biomass in the carrier-reactor indicated it possessed the highest specific hydrogen production rate ($241{\pm}4ml-H_2/g\;VSS/d$) when compared to that of biomass on the surface ($133{\pm}10ml-H_2/g\;VSS/d$) or inner carrier ($95{\pm}14ml-H_2/g\;VSS/d$).