Microbial fuel cells hold great promise as a sustainable biotechnological solution to future energy needs. Current efforts to improve the efficiency of such fuel cells are limited by the lack of knowledge about the microbial ecology of these systems. The purposes of this study were (i) to elucidate whether a bacterial community, either suspended or attached to an electrode, can evolve in a micr...

OBJECTIVE α/β-Hydrolase domain-6 (ABHD6) is a newly identified monoacylglycerol (MAG) lipase. We recently reported that it negatively regulates glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in the β cells by hydrolyzing lipolysis-derived MAG that acts as a metabolic coupling factor and signaling molecule via exocytotic regulator Munc13-1. Whether ABHD6 and MAG play a role in response to all class...

Hydrogen is an important chemical material that is utilized in a large scale in synthetic chemical industries in modern society. On the other hand, technologies for utilizing hydrogen as clean source of energy are considered to assume an important position in order to overcome problems of lack of energy and environment in future. Hence, fuel cells that store hydrogen and operate using it as fue...

Carbohydrates, particularly glucose, are an important source of fuel for living organisms. Glucose is a major energy source for all cells, and some tissues (e.g., brain) need a continuous delivery of glucose. Maintenance of serum glucose concentrations within a normal physiological range, critical to the maintenance of normal fuel use, is primarily accomplished by two pancreatic hormones, insul...

It was suggested in a previous study that cells of Acinetobacter venetianus VE-C3 adhere to diesel fuel by synthesizing a capsular polysaccharide containing glucose and/or mannose. To study the fine structure of cells and localization of bacterial polysaccharide in the presence of diesel fuel, two lectins were used: ConA, an agglutinin from Canavalia ensiformis specific for mannose and/or gluco...

background: diabetes is a major public health problem. the development of new therapies that are able to improve glycemia management and even to cure diabetes is of great interest. in this study, protective effects of sodium tungstate against stz-induced beta-cell damages were investigated. methods: sixty rats were divided into six groups: control, diabetic, sodium tungstate treated diabetic ra...

Two modifications to a reference direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) system are considered to improve methanol fuel utilisation. Fuel utilisation can be optimised by minimising the parasitic methanol crossover by manipulating methanol concentration in the fuel cells. Simulations of the two systems indicate that there is considerable potential to increase fuel utilisation for dynamic concentration ...