Amphiphilic biodegradable photoluminescent polymers (ABPLPs) composed of a biodegradable fluorescent polymer and methoxy poly (ethyleneglycol) demonstrate intrinsic bright, tunable, and stable fluorescence emission. ABPLP micelles elicit minor cellular toxicity and can be used for cell and tissue imaging both in vitro and in vivo.

BACKGROUNDS Drug-eluting stents (DES) with biodegradable polymers have been developed to address the risk of thrombosis associated with first-generation DES. We aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of biodegradable polymer biolimus-eluting stents (BES) versus durable polymer DES. METHODS Systematic database searches of MEDLINE (1950 to June 2013), EMBASE (1966 to June 2013), the Cochran...

BACKGROUND Biodegradable stents that disintegrate after a period of time are expected to be well tolerated and have advantages over other stents that are more commonly used in practice today. Polydioxanone is a biodegradable polymer that is widely used during surgery with absorbable sutures. METHODS We present cases from the first four patients to undergo a tracheal polydioxanone stent insert...

BACKGROUND The complex characteristics and unclear biological fate of biomacromolecules (BMM), including colloidal and soluble microbial products (SMP), extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and membrane surface foulants (MSF), are crucial factors that limit our understanding of membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). FINDINGS In this study, the microbial transformation of BMM was...

A 48-year-old man presented to our hospital with corrosive (sulfuric acid)-induced esophageal and pyloric strictures and a barium study showing narrowing of a long segment in the distal esophagus (●" Fig.1a), reduced capacity of stomach, and antropyloric narrowing (●" Fig.1b). Balloon dilation (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts, USA) of esophageal and pyloric strictures was done over a p...

Municipal solid waste landfills are significant parts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of significant amount of landfill gas has generated considerable interest in quantifying such emissions. The chemical composition of the organic constituents and potential amount of landfill gas that can be derived from the waste were determined. The chemical formulae for the rapidly bi...

Municipal solid waste landfills are significant parts of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The emission of significant amount of landfill gas has generated considerable interest in quantifying such emissions. The chemical composition of the organic constituents and potential amount of landfill gas that can be derived from the waste were determined. The chemical formulae for the rapidly bi...

Petroleum-based plastics have replaced many natural materials in their former applications. With their excellent properties, they have found widespread uses in almost every area of human life. However, the high recalcitrance of many synthetic plastics results in their long persistence in the environment, and the growing amount of plastic waste ending up in landfills and in the oceans has become...

The process for the production of biodegradable plastic material (polyhydroxyalkanoates, PHAs) from microbial cells by mixed-bacterial cultivation using readily available waste (renewable resources) is the main consideration nowadays. These observations have shown impressive results typically under high carbon fraction, COD/N and COD/P (usually described as nutrient-limiting conditions) and war...

In this study, we evaluated the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus PLO6 using oxo-biodegradable plastics as a carbon and energy source. Oxo-biodegradable polymers contain pro-oxidants that accelerate their physical and biological degradation. These polymers were developed to decrease the accumulation of plastic waste in landfills. To study the degradation of the plastic polymers, oxo-biodegradable p...