| 1. |
- Alakalhunmaa, Suvi, et al.
(författare)
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Softwood-based sponge gels
- 2016
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Ingår i: Cellulose. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0969-0239 .- 1572-882X. ; 23:5, s. 3221-3238
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Crosslinking-aided gelation was utilized to prepare hydrogels from softwood polysaccharides, with spruce galactoglucomannans (GGM)—a group of largely unexploited hemicelluloses—as the main component, aiming at conversion into sponge-like aerogels. Cellulose nanofibrils were used for the formation of a reinforcing network, which was further crosslinked together with a GGM matrix by ammonium zirconium carbonate, an inorganic salt that is regarded as safe for use in food packaging. The hydrogels were freeze-dried into stiff, low-density aerogels with 98 % of their volume composed of air-filled pores. When immersed in water, the aerogels absorbed water up to 37 times their initial weight, demonstrating elasticity and repeatable and reversible sponge capacity. The developed concept reassembles the wood polysaccharides in a new way, creating interesting possibilities for utilizing the abundant “green gold,†GGM. The obtained biobased materials could find application potential, for example, in the field of food packaging and could contribute in the reduction of the usage of petroleum-based plastics in the future.
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| 2. |
- Giacomello, Stefania, et al.
(författare)
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Spatially resolved transcriptome profiling in model plant species
- 2017
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Ingår i: Nature Plants. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2055-026X .- 2055-0278. ; 3:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Understanding complex biological systems requires functional characterization of specialized tissue domains. However, existing strategies for generating and analysing high-throughput spatial expression profiles were developed for a limited range of organisms, primarily mammals. Here we present the first available approach to generate and study highresolution, spatially resolved functional profiles in a broad range of model plant systems. Our process includes highthroughput spatial transcriptome profiling followed by spatial gene and pathway analyses. We first demonstrate the feasibility of the technique by generating spatial transcriptome profiles from model angiosperms and gymnosperms microsections. In Arabidopsis thaliana we use the spatial data to identify differences in expression levels of 141 genes and 189 pathways in eight inflorescence tissue domains. Our combined approach of spatial transcriptomics and functional profiling offers a powerful new strategy that can be applied to a broad range of plant species, and is an approach that will be pivotal to answering fundamental questions in developmental and evolutionary biology.
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| 3. |
- Vegunta, Vijaya Lakshmi, et al.
(författare)
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Thermal and Alkali Stability of Sodium Dithionite Studied Using ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy
- 2017
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Ingår i: BioResources. - : BioResources. - 1930-2126 .- 1930-2126. ; 12:2, s. 2496-2506
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4) may have the potential to be used as a reducing agent for the stabilization of glucomannan in kraft cooking for increased pulp yield. However, due to the fact that dithionite decomposes under the conditions of kraft pulping, studies of the effects of dithionite in kraft pulping are non-conclusive; sometimes clearly showing an increased yield, and in other studies no effect at all. The specific conditions influencing dithionite degradation are also unclear. For that reason, this study was conducted to determine the thermal and chemical stability of sodium dithionite with respect to specific factors, such as the pH, temperature, heating time, and the concentration of sodium dithionite solution. The study was performed under anaerobic conditions using attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The thermal and alkali stability of the sodium dithionite solution was shown to decrease with increasing temperature, heating time, and concentration of the solution at the alkaline conditions studied. The thermal stability decreased rapidly at weak alkalinity (pH 9) as well as in high alkalinity (pH 14), whereas the sodium dithionite was rather stable at moderate alkalinity (pH 11.5 to pH 13).
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