Research and industrial application of bioenergy have developed quickly with the systematic and multifocal trends in recent years. The 4th International Conference on Biomass Energy Technologies-8th World Bioenergy Symposium (ICBT-WBS 2014) and Joint Biomass Energy Symposium of Chinese Renewable Energy Society (CRES) were held in Changsha, China, 17-19 October, 2014, with American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Biomass Energy Innovation Alliance, European Biomass Industry Association, AIChE and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This special issue on bioenergy is based on selected excellent papers from the submissions, together with free submissions. The special issue consists of reviews and original papers, mainly involving the aspects closely related to the bioenergy and related fields, including resource analyses, pretreatment, fuel/chemicals production, byproduct disposal and strategy investigation.
Biomass ; China ; Congresses as Topic ; Renewable Energy

Objective To investigate the changes of atherosclerosis and vascular tissue after pecutaneous tranluminal angioplasty (PTA) ,and evaluate the role of serum lipid ,lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] and tumor necrosis factor‐α(TNF‐α) in this progress .Methods Thirty New Zealand white rabbits with high fate diets were established as observation group ,and 10 rabbits with normal feed were set as control group .Blood biochemistry test was used to detect the levels of serum TC ,TG ,HDL‐C ,LDL‐C ,Lp(a) and TNF‐αbefore the experiment ,after 2 weeks feeding and 1 month ,2 months ,3months after PTA .The correlation among atherosclerosis and Lp(a) ,TNF‐a were measured by multiple logistic regression analysis .Opposite reference value was calculated with receiving operating characteristics (ROC) analysis .Results The levels of TC ,TG and LDL‐C were significant higher than baseline with the feeding time(P<0 .05) .The level of HDL‐C after 2 weeks high cholesterol diet feeding was lower than baseline (P<0 .05) .The content of TNF‐αat 2nd month after PTA was remarkable higher than baseline(P<0 .01) .ROC analysis showed that RR of TNF‐a was 1 .84(P<0 .01) and an area under the curve of 0 .871 for TNF‐α (95% CI:0 .811 -0 .956) compared to 0 .523 for Lp(a) (95% CI:0 .409-0 .720)regarding atherosclerosis .Conclusion The turbulence of lipid could be an important factor of atherosclero‐sis ,and the high level of TNF‐αmay take part in the process of repairing of arteriosclerotic vessel .

piRNA is a novel class of small single strand RNA that were recently isolated from testes of the mammals. These RNAs are bigger (26～31 nt) than most previously described small RNAs (21～23 nt) and are associated with Piwi-subfamily members of the Argonaute protein family.

We pretreated sawdust (Castanopsis fissa Rehd.et Wils) by solid state fermentation (SSF) with Phanerochaete chrysosporium, and then compressed it into pellets with the moisture content of 15% and the pressure of 98 MPa, to solve the problem of low density, low Meyer hardness, high water uptake, and short storage period of pellet in the woody pellet industry. We studied the effects of fermentation time on pelletization and pellets's characteristics (including energy consumption, density, Meyer hardness, and hydrophobicity). SSF affected the heating values of pellet. Compared with fresh sawdust, SSF consumed more energy at the maximal value by 6.98% but saved extrusion energy by 32.19% at the maximum. Meanwhile, SSF could improve the density, Meyer hardness and hydrophobicity of pellet. Pellet made of sawdust pretreated by SSF for 48 d had best quality, beneficial for long-term transportation and storage of pellets.
Biofuels ; Fermentation ; Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions ; Phanerochaete ; Water ; Wood

Objective To investigate the relationship between exon 11 CAG triplet nucleotide repeats ([CAG]n) of myocyte enhancer binding factor-2A (MEF2A ) polymorphisms and ischemic stroke caused by large artery atherosclerosis (LAA). Methods Two hundred and five patients with first onset ischemic stroke caused by LAA, admitted to our hospital from June 2010 to December 2014, and 192 healthy controls were chosen in our study. The polymorphisms of exons 11 of MEF2A gene were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-sequence-based typing (PCR-SBT). The relation of ischemic stroke caused by LAA with polymorphisms of (CAG)n was analyzed. Results Different (CAG)n alleles could be detected, with repeated sequences of 9-11. Frequencies for the different (CAG)n alleles in exon 11 CAG of MEF2A gene were not the same between the ischemic stroke patients and the controls (χ2=8.547, P=0.036). The distribution frequency of the (CAG)9 allele in the ischemic stroke group was significantly higher than that in the control group (χ2=6.650, P=0.010). Logistic regression analysis indicated that systolic pressure and (CAG)9 (OR=1.401, P=0.017, 95％CI: 1.063-1.847) were the independent risk factors of acute ischemic stroke caused by LAA. Conclusion The (CAG)n polymorphisms may be associated with ischemic stroke caused by LAA and the (CAG)9 allele may be one of the genetic susceptibility factors for this subtype of stroke.

Sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1/p62) is a selective autophagy adaptor protein that plays an important role in the clearance of proteins to be degraded as well as in the maintenance of cellular proteostasis. p62 protein has multiple functional domains, which interact with several downstream proteins to precisely regulate multiple signaling pathways, thereby linking p62 to oxidative defense systems, inflammatory responses and nutrient sensing. Studies have shown that mutation or abnormal expression of p62 is closely related to the occurrence and development of various diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, tumors, infectious diseases, genetic diseases and chronic diseases. This review summarizes the structural features and molecular functions of p62. Moreover, we systematically introduce its multiple functions in protein homeostasis and regulation of signaling pathways. Furthermore, the complexity and versatility of p62 in the occurrence and development of diseases are summarized, with the aim to provide a reference for understanding the function of p62 protein and facilitating related disease research.
Humans ; Autophagy/genetics* ; Sequestosome-1 Protein/metabolism* ; Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing/metabolism* ; Signal Transduction ; Neoplasms/genetics*

Ubiquitination is one of the reversible protein post-translational modifications, in which ubiquitin molecules bind to the target protein in a cascade reaction of ubiquitin activating enzymes, ubiquitin conjugating enzymes, and ubiquitin ligases. The deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) remove ubiquitin residues from the substrates, which play key roles in the formation of mature ubiquitin, the removal and trimming of ubiquitin chains, as well as the recycling of free ubiquitin chains. Ubp14, a member of the ubiquitin specific proteases family in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is mainly responsible for the recycling of intracellular free ubiquitin chains. To investigate its global biological function, a ubp14∆ mutant was constructed by homologous recombination technique. The growth rate of ubp14∆ mutant was lower than that of the wild-type (WT) strain. Using stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC) combined with deep coverage proteomics analysis, the differentially expressed proteins of ubp14∆ mutant relative to the wild-type strain were systematically analyzed. A total of 3 685 proteins were identified in this study, and 109 differentially expressed proteins were filtered out by statistical analysis. Gene ontology analysis found that differentially expressed proteins caused by Ubp14 loss were mainly involved in amino acid metabolism, REDOX, heat shock stress and etc, which shed light on the broad biological function of this DUB. This study provides highly reliable proteomic data for further exploring the biological functions of the deubiquitination enzyme Ubp14, and further understanding the relationship between the free ubiquitin homeostasis and biological process regulation.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae/metabolism* ; Proteomics ; Endopeptidases/metabolism* ; Ubiquitin/metabolism* ; Ubiquitination ; Proteins/metabolism* ; Deubiquitinating Enzymes/metabolism* ; Biological Phenomena