Organic acids are important chemicals. Municipal sludge can be reused by anaerobic fermentation, from which organic acids could be obtained with liquid-liquid extraction and useful substances be produced. Based on the determination of optimum organic solvent and extractant, it effect on production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) from municipal sludge was investigated in this research. The results showed that the proper organic solvent and extractant were sulfonated kerosene and trialkyl phosphine oxide. And, the VFA production was improved by a slight amount of sulfonated kerosene.
Anaerobiosis ; Cities ; Fatty Acids, Volatile ; isolation & purification ; Fermentation ; drug effects ; Kerosene ; Organic Chemicals ; chemistry ; Sewage ; chemistry ; Solvents ; chemistry

The correlation between muscle glycogen content and physical performance in mice was evaluated by investigating whether an increase in glycogen content in skeletal muscle with insulin administration can improve the physical performance without other effects of exercise. Albino rats(group I) were divided into two groups, i.e., insulin and saline administered group. The former experimental group was treated with protamine zinc insulin(15U/kg/day) subcutaneously for two weeks to increase the content of the muscle glycogen and the latter control group with saline. Mice (group II) were also divided into insulin treated and control groups and both groups were subjected to running exercise on an animal treadmill up to point of exhaustion once every day. After two weeks of insulin treatment, the muscle glycogen content, the maximal running time and the maximal swimming time were measured in non-exercised group I. In group II, after 12 days of insulin and saline administration, the muscle glycogen content, the maximal running time, concentrations of lactate and pyruvate in the blood were measured before and after the maximal exhaustive running. The results were summarized as follows. In group I, the muscle glycogen content, the maximal running time and the maximal swimming time of the insulin administered group were significantly greater of the control groups. In group II, the maximal running time was significantly greater(P < 0.01) in the experimental group than of the control group, while the muscle glycogen content revealed no significant difference between the two groups. On the other hand, lactate concentration and lactate/pyruvate ratios in the blood were significantly lower in the experimental group than those of the control groups. From the above results, it may be concluded that the elevation of muscle glycogen content alone by insulin treatment without any previous physical training can improve physical performance of rats. And insulin was also found to improve physical performance even in experimental animals which had been subjected to a longterm of exercise.
Anaerobiosis/drug effects* ; Animal ; Blood Glucose/analysis ; Body Weight ; Exertion/drug effects* ; Glycogen/analysis* ; Injections, Subcutaneous* ; Insulin/administration & dosage ; Insulin/pharmacology* ; Lactates/blood ; Male ; Metabolism/drug effects* ; Mice ; Muscles/analysis* ; Pyruvates/blood ; Rats

Hypoxia, a common consequence of solid tumor growth in breast cancer or other cancers, serves to propagate a cascade of molecular pathways which include angiogenesis, glycolysis, and various cellcycle control proteins. As we have shown previously, hypoxia activates STAT5 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 5) and increases its binding activity to the GAS element in mammary epithelial cells. In this study we attempted to elucidate the mechanism by which cyclin D1 is regulated by the STAT5 protein under hypoxic conditions. Our data demonstrate that hypoxia (2% O2) or desferrioxamine (DFO) induces tyrosine and serine phosphorylation of STAT5 in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and mammary epithelial cells (HC11). Imunoprecipitation and subsequent Western analysis showed that Jak2 leads to the tyrosine phosphorylation and activation of STAT5a or STAT5b under hypoxic conditions. Using a transfected COS-7 cell model system, we demonstrate that the activity of a cyclin D1 promoter-luciferase construct increased under hypoxic conditions or DFO treatment. The activity of the STAT5b/cyclin D1 promoter increased significantly by 12 h of hypoxia, whereas the activity of the STAT5a/cyclin D1 promoter was unaffected under hypoxic conditions. These increases in promoter activity are predominantly mediated by the Jak2/ STAT5b signaling pathway. We have shown by EMSA that hypoxia induces STAT5 to bind to the cyclin D1 promoter (GAS-1) in MCF-7 and HC11 cells. These data suggest that STAT5b may mediate the transcriptional activation of cyclin D1 after hypoxic stimulation.
Anaerobiosis/genetics ; Animals ; Breast Neoplasms/*genetics/metabolism ; COS Cells ; Cell Hypoxia/genetics ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Cyclin D1/*genetics ; Deferoxamine/pharmacology ; Female ; *Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Phosphorylation/drug effects ; Promoter Regions (Genetics) ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinase/*metabolism ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins/*metabolism ; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't ; Serine/metabolism ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Tyrosine/metabolism