Rice straw holocellulose was TEMPO-oxidized and mechanically defibrillated to produce holocellulose nanofibrils (HCNFs) at 33.7% yield (based on original rice straw mass), 4.6% higher yield than cellulose nanofibril (CNF) generated by the same process from pure rice straw cellulose. HCNFs were similar in lateral dimensions (2.92 nm wide, 1.36 nm thick) as CNF, but longer, less surface oxidized (69 vs 85%), and negatively charged (0.80 vs 1.23 mmol/g). HCNFs also showed higher affinity to hydrophobic surfaces than CNFs while still attracted to hydrophilic surfaces. By omitting hemicellulose/silica dissolution step, the two-step 2:1 toluene/ethanol extraction and acidified NaClO2 (1.4%, pH 3-4, 70 °C, 6 h) delignification process for holocellulose was more streamlined than that of pure cellulose, while the resulting amphiphilic HCNFs were more hydrophobic and self-assembled into much finer nanofibers, presenting unique characteristics for new potential applications.

Alkali treatment (4% NaOH, 70 °C, 5 min, twice) of dewaxed rice straw was effective in removing most hemicelluloses, lignin and silica to yield 47.6% cellulose-rich solid. Optimal TEMPO oxidation (7.5 mmol NaClO per gram of alkaline cellulose) followed by mechanical defibrillation (30 min) produced 36.5% alkaline cellulose nanofibrils (ACNFs), higher than the 29.1% CNFs from sodium chlorite oxidation-alkali leaching as well as the 33.7% HCNFs from sodium chlorite oxidation. At the same 5 mmol NaClO level, ACNFs were similar in lateral dimensions (1.25 ± 0.47 nm) and crystallinity (68%), but less surface oxidized (65%) than CNFs and HCNFs (1.55 ± 0.54 and 1.36 ± 0.62 nm, 69% and 68% CrI, 85% and 69% surface oxidization, respectively). While the residual noncellulosics consumed oxidizing agents, their presence led to longer ACNFs and HCNFs, higher thermal stability, and thinner self-assembling fibers (197 and 94 nm, respectively) than CNFs (497 nm). Therefore, this facile alkali pretreatment is not only highly efficient in preparing ACNFs with attributes similar to CNFs and HCNFs, but like HCNFs due to their less pristine nature, also present some unique properties that are promising for advanced applications.

Rice straw was dewaxed and optimally separated into cellulose-rich solid and hemicelluloses/lignin (HL)-rich aqueous suspension with two 5 min alkali immersions (4% NaOH, 70 °C). Alkaline cellulose nanofibrils (ACNFs) were derived, at 36.5% yield from the original rice straw, by TEMPO-mediated oxidation and mechanical defibrillation of cellulose-rich portion whereas HL was isolated at 18.1% yield from the aqueous suspension. Aqueous HL solutions containing up to 30% ACNF as well as three other nanocelluloses, i.e., cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), TEMPO oxidized and aqueous counter collision generated CNFs (OCNF and ACCNF) were cast into films to exhibit significantly improved flexibility, transparencies, mechanical and moisture barrier properties. The structure-properties relations of these holistic composite films were analyzed systematically, in particular regarding to the types and loadings of the different nanocelluloses.

The plausability of the retracting information, which can affect whether the retracted information be replaced bythe retracting information, had not been studied much in previous studies on continued influence effect. An experiment wasconducted to investigate how the plausability of a retracting information affects the understanding of an event in which someof the information had been retracted. In the experiment, the plausibility of the retracting information (low versus high) andthe manner of correcting information (simple retraction versus supplying an alternative) were manipulated, and the participantswere asked to answer memory questions and inference questions. Retracted information was better remembered for memoryquestions, but was used less frequently for inference questions when the retracting information was less plausible comparedto when the retracting information was quite plausible. The results were interpreted to support the ‘memory-based’ theory ofmemory updating.

Colibactin is an as-yet-uncharacterized genotoxic secondary metabolite produced by human gut bacteria. Here we report the biosynthetic discovery of two new precolibactin molecules from Escherichia coli, including precolibactin-886, which uniquely incorporates the highly sought genotoxicity-associated aminomalonate building block into its unprecedented macrocyclic structure. This work provides new insights into the biosynthetic logic and mode of action of this colorectal-cancer-linked microbial chemical.

In preclinical studies, a new antituberculosis drug regimen markedly reduced the time required to achieve relapse-free cure. This study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the efficacy and safety of this four-month regimen, consisting of clofazimine, prothionamide, pyrazinamide and ethambutol, with a standard six-month regimen in patients with drug-susceptible tuberculosis. An open-label pilot randomized clinical trial was conducted among the patients with newly diagnosed bacteriologically-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. The primary efficacy end-point was sputum culture negative conversion. Totally, 93 patients were included in the modified intention-to-treat population. The rates of sputum culture conversion were 65.2% (30/46) and 87.2% (41/47) for short-course and standard regimen group, respectively. There was no difference on two-month culture conversion rates, time to culture conversion, nor early bactericidal activity (P > 0.05). However, patients on short-course regimen were observed with lower rates of radiological improvement or recovery and sustained treatment success, which was mainly attributed to higher percent of patients permanently changed assigned regimen (32.1% vs. 12.3%, P = 0.012). The main cause for it was drug-induced hepatitis (16/17). Although lowering the dose of prothionamide was approved, the alternative option of changing assigned regimen was chosen in this study. While in per-protocol population, sputum culture conversion rates were 87.0% (20/23) and 94.4% (34/36) for the respective groups. Overall, the short-course regimen appeared to have inferior efficacy and higher incidence of hepatitis but desired efficacy in per-protocol population. It provides the first proof-of-concept in humans of the capacity of the short-course approach to identify drug regimens that can shorten the treatment time for tuberculosis.