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Our Energy Future, Fall/Winter 2007, Issue 15

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Future Prospects For Corn As A Biofuel Crop, Kenneth J. Moore, Douglas L. Karlen, Kendall R. Lamkey

Douglas L Karlen

Ethanol production from corn grain has increased signifi cantly during the past ten years in the US. This increase was driven by government policy guided by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and embodied in the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit and other legislation created to promote a biofuels industry. As corn grain ethanol production approaches the target set out in the RFS, the industry is looking to develop capacity for producing advanced biofuels, primarily from agricultural wastes and dedicated energy crops. The residues remaining following corn harvest have been identifi ed as a voluminous and readily available feedstock for advanced …

Industry Compliance Costs Under The Renewable Fuel Standard: Evidence From Compliance Credits, Arthur R. Wardle

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Renewable Fuel Standard requires US oil refineries to blend biofuels into domestic transportation fuels. To ensure that compliance costs under this mandate don’t disproportionately affect any subset of refiners, the regulation includes a compliance credit program, whereby refiners blending excess biofuels can sell their excess compliance to refiners that do not blend enough. The price of these credits can be interpreted as the marginal cost of compliance with the mandate. I measure how changes in the prices of these compliance credits affect the stock prices of oil refining firms. There are a number of ways one might expect these …

Natural Neurotropic Autoantibodies To Neuroreceptors At Chronic Alcohol Intoxication, M.I. Abdullayeva

Central Asian Journal of Medicine

Objective: To determine the concentration of natural neurotropic autoantibodies to receptors of neurotransmitters in the serum of rats during chronic alcohol intoxication. Material and Methods: The experiments were conducted on 48 Wistar male rats weighing 130-150 g. Simulation of chronic alcohol intoxication in rats was performed according to Liber C.S., DeCarli L.M. Control animals were injected with saline intraperitoneally at a dose of 0.3 ml/100 g. The duration of the experiment was 4 weeks. Studies were conducted on the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th day from the beginning of the experiment. The content of neurotropic auto-AT, directed to neuroreceptors: Glu-R, …

Developing A Control System To Better Understand The Effects Of Pyruvate Decarboxylase Activity On Clostridium Thermocellum Metabolism, Nicholas Cervenka

ENGS 88 Honors Thesis (AB Students)

In order for cellulosic biofuels from Clostridium thermocellum to be commercially viable, the ethanol yield and titer of the microbe must be increased. To accomplish this, it has been suggested to introduce the Pyruvate Decarboxylase (PDC) enzyme into C. thermocellum. In order to demonstrate effects on ethanol production by PDC prior to genetic modification, a cell free system (CFS) has been developed. A purified enzyme system was developed with the CFS to function as a control. Using the purified enzyme system, PDC from Saccharomyces cerevisiae was demonstrated to be a good candidate for further testing in the CFS.

Characterization Of Ethanol-Related Phenotypic Differences Between C57bl/6j And C57bl/6nj Substrains: Role Of Cyfip2?, Matthew C. Hartmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The C57BL/6 (B6) mouse is the most commonly used inbred strain in biomedical research, and has served as the basis for various large-scale genetic and genomic projects. Although the parental substrain, C57BL/6J (B6J), originated at The Jackson Laboratory, isolated breeding colonies are now maintained at numerous sites. This separation has resulted in genetic drift that has led to the emergence of phenotypic differences among these colonies. For instance, B6J mice display higher levels of voluntary ethanol consumption and increased locomotor responses to psychostimulants, relative to C57BL/6N mice (B6N). Initial progress has been made in elucidating the genetic bases of these …

Naloxone And Ethanol Addiction Reinforcement, Roland T. Smith Iii

Theses and Dissertations

A study was carried out examining how naloxone administered after high-incentive ethanol exposure can interrupt the reinforcing effect of drugs of abuse in C57BL/6 mice. Naloxone was shown to be an effective tool for blunting preferential and motivational behaviors associated with ethanol addiction.

Biofiltration Of Volatile Organic Compounds Emitted At Ethanol Plants, Christopher Arthur Duerschner

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Ethanol manufacturing is an important and growing sector in the biofuels marketplace. At ethanol plants, the control of volatile organic compound containing emissions from fermentation tanks and distillers dried grains with solubles driers is accomplished through the use of air scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers. The operation of these control units imposes substantial operating costs for the ethanol plant. Biotrickling filters have the ability to replace scrubbers and regenerative thermal oxidizers resulting in significant economic and environmental benefits. Two biotrickling filters were operated in parallel under acetaldehyde loadings ranging from 4 to 136 gm^-3hr^-1. To examine …

Utilization Of Fruit Waste For Bioethanol Production By Co-Cultures Of Aspergillus Niger And Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Nutchanat Chamchoi

Applied Environmental Research

The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of simultaneous fermentation offruit waste with co-cultures of Aspergillus niger TISTR 3063 and Saccharomyces cerevisiaeTISTR 5606 in production of ethanol. The effect of fermentation temperature on ethanol yield was also observed. Pomelo and banana peels were selected as substrates and prepared by chopping into small rectangular pieces. Fermentation of batches of fruit waste was carriedout using a 250mL Erlenmeyer flask with glucose as a control. Analysis of the composition of the fruit waste included sugar, pH, TS, VS, ash, moisture, COD and TKN. From the results, it was found that …

Advanced Proteomic And Epigenetic Characterization Of Ethanol-Induced Microglial Activation, Jennifer Guergues Guergues

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microglia, the resident immune cells of the brain, can exhibit a broad range of activation phenotypes and have been implicated in several diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. Here, we described a method optimized for sensitive and rapid quantitative proteomic analysis of microglia that involves suspension trapping (S-Trap) for efficient and reproducible protein extraction from a microglial cell count expected from an individual mouse brain (~300K) while also simultaneously providing the first comprehensive proteomic characterization of a novel adult-derived mouse microglial cell line. This enhanced method was used throughout all subsequent works and was especially necessary when we …

Indoor Air Monitoring Of Ethanol And Benzene In A Pilot Winery Using Active Sampling, Andrew I. Kaneda

Master's Theses

Acute indoor concentrations of benzene and ethanol were evaluated in the California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo’s pilot winery workroom. Air samples were collected during four different wine-making activities: fermentation, fermentation with Brix content testing, post-alcoholic fermentation pressing, and storage/finishing. Average workroom benzene concentrations ranged from 0.05 to 0.12 mg/m³. Ethanol concentrations in the winery workroom varied with the activity, ranging from 0.9 to 12 mg/m³. Pressing and fermentation with Brix content testing both led to higher indoor ethanol concentrations than fermentation without Brix content testing and storage/finishing.

Tracer gas decay air exchange tests were …

Star-Related Lipid Transfer Protein 10 (Stard10): A Novel Key Player In Alcohol-Induced Breast Cancer Progression, Andrea Floris, Jia Luo, Jacqueline A. Frank, Jennifer Zhou, Sandro Orrù, Michela Biancolella, Sabina Pucci, Augusto Orlandi, Paolo Campagna, Antonella Balzano, Komal Ramani, Maria Lauda Tomasi

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Ethanol abuse promotes breast cancer development, metastasis and recurrence stimulating mammary tumorigenesis by mechanisms that remain unclear. Normally, 35% of breast cancer is Erb-B2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinase 2 (ERBB2)-positive that predisposes to poor prognosis and relapse, while ethanol drinking leads to invasion of their ERBB2 positive cells triggering the phosphorylation status of mitogen-activated protein kinase. StAR-related lipid transfer protein 10 (STARD10) is a lipid transporter of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE); changes on membrane composition of PC and PE occur before the morphological tumorigenic events. Interestingly, STARD10 has been described to be highly expressed in 35–40% of ERBB2-positive breast …

Lipophagy And Alcohol-Induced Fatty Liver, Li Yang, Changqing Yang, Paul G. Thomes, Kusum K. Kharbanda, Carol A. Casey, Mark A. Mcniven, Terrence M. Donohue

Journal Articles: Internal Medicine

This review describes the influence of ethanol consumption on hepatic lipophagy, a selective form of autophagy during which fat-storing organelles known as lipid droplets (LDs) are degraded in lysosomes. During classical autophagy, also known as macroautophagy, all forms of macromolecules and organelles are sequestered in autophagosomes, which, with their cargo, fuse with lysosomes, forming autolysosomes in which the cargo is degraded. It is well established that excessive drinking accelerates intrahepatic lipid biosynthesis, enhances uptake of fatty acids by the liver from the plasma and impairs hepatic secretion of lipoproteins. All the latter contribute to alcohol-induced fatty liver (steatosis). Here, our …

The Effect Of Moderate Alcohol Consumption On Sodium-Dependent Nutrient Co-Transport In Intestinal Epithelial Cells In Vitro And In Vivo, Molly Rae Butts

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Background: Alcohol consumption leads to a variety of different health consequences including cardiovascular disease, cancer and malnutrition. This malnutrition is in part due to a sub-optimal diet but also due to the malabsorption of nutrients along the small intestine. Many studies have shown that ethanol directly decreases nutrient absorption along the small intestine; however, few studies have investigated the effect of a moderate dose of ethanol on the transmembrane nutrient co-transporters that line the brush border membrane of the small intestine. The primary fuel source for the small intestine, glutamine, as well as for the entire body, glucose, are …

Thermostable Phytase In Feed And Fuel Industries, Ushasree Mrudula Vasudevan, Amit Jaiswal, Shyam Krishna, Ashok Pandey

Articles

Phytase with wide ranging biochemical properties has long been utilized in a multitude of industries, even so, thermostability plays a crucial factor in choosing the right phytase in a few of the sectors. Mesophilic phytases are not considered to be a viable option in the feed industry owing to its limited stability in the required feed processing temperature. In the recent past, inclusion of thermostable phytase in fuel ethanol production from starch based raw material has been demonstrated with economic benefits. Therefore, considerable emphasis has been placed on using complementary approaches such as mining of extremophilic microbial wealth, encapsulation and …

Role Of The Oxytocin System In Alcohol Consumption And Stress-Induced Alcohol Relapse-Like Behavior, Courtney E. King

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Alcoholism is a widespread public health concern with limited therapeutic interventions available to help individuals battle relapse, moderate their use, and sustain abstinence. While many variables contribute to relapse vulnerability, stress is considered to play a prominent role in triggering relapse. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OXT) has recently been implicated in a number of neuropsychiatric disorders, including drug and alcohol use disorders. Given that OXT is known to interact with brain reward systems and exert anxiolytic and anti-stress effects in humans and rodents, the main overall hypothesis of this dissertation is that OXT (and OXT receptor signaling) will be effective in …

Neuroprotective Effects Of Melatonin And Celecoxib Against Ethanol-Induced Neurodegeneration: A Computational And Pharmacological Approach, Lina T. Al Kury, Alam Zeb, Zain Ul Abidin, Nadeem Irshad, Imran Malik, Arooj Mohsin Alvi, Atif Ali Khan Khalil, Sareer Ahmad, Muhammad Faheem, Arif Ullah Khan, Fawad Ali Shah, Shupeng Li

All Works

© 2019 Al Kury et al. This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. Purpose: Melatonin and celecoxib are antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents that exert protective effects in different experimental models. In this study, the neuroprotective effects of melatonin and celecoxib were demonstrated against ethanol-induced neuronal injury by in silico, morphological, and biochemical approaches. Methods: For the in silico study, 3-D structures were constructed and docking analysis performed. For in vivo studies, rats were treated with ethanol, melatonin, and celecoxib. Brain samples were collected for biochemical and morphological analysis. Results: Homology modeling was performed to build 3-D …

The Analgesic-Like Properties Of Alcohol In Animal Models Of Chronic Pain, Bradley Neddenriep

Theses and Dissertations

Chronic pain and excessive alcohol consumption are individually problems in our society today. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) affects 15.1 million adult Americans each year. Chronic pain affects over 100 million people annually in the United States. However, there is growing evidence suggesting that these two conditions can often be interrelated with chronic pain increasing consumption of alcohol, and excessive alcohol consumption increasing pain that leaves a feedback cycle trapping millions of patients in an ever worsening spiral. Large population-based studies show an association between pain and alcohol abuse, suggesting a link between increased alcohol use and reduced pain. While rodent …

Role Of Bdnf In The Ability Of Exercise To Attenuate Dependence-Related Escalated Alcohol Drinking In C57bl/6j Mice, Matthew Gustav Solomon

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) continues to be a burden to society. Currently, few efficacious treatments exist. In addition to behavioral therapy and support groups (e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous), there are only three FDA approved pharmacotherapies. The lack of treatment options for alcohol addiction denotes the need to discover and develop new strategies and pharmacological targets to improve abstinence, prevent relapse, and inhibit the development of alcohol addiction. Chronic alcohol exposure reduces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Reductions of BDNF in the mPFC drive alcohol-dependent drinking in mice and conversely, elevating BDNF in this region blocks alcohol …

The Effects Of Kv7 Channel Positive Modulation On Prefrontal Cortex Activity In Alcohol Dependent Mice, Sharad Sethukumaran Nair

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic relapsing brain disease characterized by compulsive alcohol use, withdrawal symptoms, and adaptations in the reward neurocircuitry. Evidence from previous studies have demonstrated that voltage-dependent KV7 potassium channels are a novel target for reducing alcohol seeking and behaviors commonly associated with AUD. However, the underlying changes in KV7 channel expression and function following chronic alcohol exposure are still largely unknown. We believe that cortical interneurons play a crucial role in these behavioral and neural adaptations. We utilized immunofluorescent staining procedures to quantify alterations in KV7 channel colocalization with one of the primary interneuron subtypes, …

Alcohol Metabolism Potentiates Hiv-Induced Hepatotoxicity: Contribution To End-Stage Liver Disease, Murali Ganesan, Moses New-Aaron, Raghubendra Singh Dagur, Edward Makarov, Weimin Wang, Kusum K. Kharbanda, Srivatsan Kidambi, Larisa Y. Poluektova, Natalia A. Osna

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

In an era of improved survival due to modern antiretroviral therapy, liver disease has become a major cause of morbidity and mortality, resulting in death in 15–17% of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients. Alcohol enhances HIV-mediated liver damage and promotes the progression to advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, the mechanisms behind these events are uncertain. Here, we hypothesize that ethanol metabolism potentiates accumulation of HIV in hepatocytes, causing oxidative stress and intensive apoptotic cell death. Engulfment of HIV-containing apoptotic hepatocytes by non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) triggers their activation and liver injury progression. This study was performed on primary human hepatocytes and …