China has abundant available marginal land that can be used for cultivation of lignocellulosic energy plants. Saccharum arundinaceum Retz. is a potential energy crop with both high biomass yield and low soil fertility requirements. It can be planted widely as cellulosic ethanol feedstock in southern China. In the present work Saccharum arundinaceum was pretreated by liquid ammonia treatment (LAT) to overcome biomass recalcitrance, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis. The monosaccharide contents (glucose, xylose, and arabinose) of the enzymatic hydrolysate were determined by high performance liquid chromatography. Experimental results show that the optimal LAT pretreatment conditions were 130 0C, 2:1 (W/W) ammonia to biomass ratio, 80% moisture content (dry weight basis) and 5 min residence time. Approximately 69.34% glucan and 82.60% xylan were converted after 72 h enzymatic hydrolysis at 1% glucan loading using 15 FPU/(g of glucan) of cellulase. The yields of glucose and xylose were 573% and 1 056% higher than those of the untreated biomass, and the LAT-pretreated substrates obtained an 8-fold higher of total monosaccharide yield than untreated substrates. LAT pretreatment was an effective to increase the enzymatic digestibility of Saccharum arundinaceum compared to acid impregnated steam explosion and similar to that of acid treatment and ammonia fiber expansion treatment.
Ammonia ; chemistry ; Cellulase ; metabolism ; Ethanol ; metabolism ; Fermentation ; Hydrolysis ; Monosaccharides ; metabolism ; Saccharum ; chemistry ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo identify the value of lymphography in the location and treatment decision of chyle leakage.

METHODSThe clinic data of 177 patients suffered from chyle leakage admitted in 6 medical centers in Shanghai from February 1998 to December 2014 was analyzed retrospectively. There were 94 male and 83 female patients aging from 9 to 84 years with a mean of 49 years, including 128 cases of chyluria, 34 cases of primary chylothorax and 15 cases of other chyle leakage. All patients had failed to conservative treatment more than 2 weeks. Pedal lymphography was performed in every patient to investigate the site and range of chyle leakage. Effect of surgical or conservative management was compared according to the different results of lymphography.

RESULTSNo serious complication was noticed. For all 177 patients, lymphography showed localized lymphatic diseases in 148 cases (83.6%), including 125 cases of lymphatic renal pelvic leaks, 14 cases of unilateral identified leak within thorax and 9 cases of chyle leakage in neck, heart, abdomen or scrotum. Among these patients, surgical treatment cured 129 and improved 3 patients but failed in 2 patients, while the remaining 14 cases had their leaks decreased after lymphography and cured by conservative management. For those 15 patients having disseminated lymphatic diseases or 14 with no abnormality under lymphography, surgery only cured 2 and improved 1 patient but failed in 8 patients (with 3 death), whereas continuous conservative treatment cured 11 patients, improved 5 patients but only failed in 2 patients (with one death). For localized leakage, surgical treatment showed better efficacy (98.5% vs. 3/11), whereas conservative treatment had significantly higher successful rate than surgical interventions in patients with disseminated lymphatic diseases or no abnormality under lymphography (16/18 vs. 3/11).

CONCLUSIONSLymphography could identify the location and range of complicate chyle leakage failed to primary conservative management. Patients with disseminated lymphatic diseases or no abnormality under lymphography would be better managed by continuous non-operative treatment partly due to therapeutic effect of lymphography, while surgical intervention could be a good option for patients having localized lymphatic etiology.

Abdominal Cavity ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Child ; Chyle ; Chylothorax ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Female ; Heart ; Humans ; Kidney Pelvis ; Lymphatic Diseases ; Lymphography ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neck ; Retrospective Studies ; Scrotum ; Young Adult