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•Reviews recently reported treatment train studies relative to the PFAS remediation.•Divides selected studies into tandem treatment and parallel treatment processes.•Provides future ...perspectives on the synergistic treatment train approach of PFAS.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have recently drawn great attention due to their ubiquitous presence in aquatic environments and potential toxicity to human health and the environment. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that “passive” removal approaches, such as adsorption, filtration, and reverse osmosis or “active” degradation technologies, such as enhanced photolysis, electrochemical oxidation, and sonochemical destruction, are all able to individually conduct remedial measures for PFAS contamination at some level. However, drawbacks, specifically high energy consumption, low cost-efficiency, and extreme operating conditions, are commonly observed from these studies which significantly suppress the future for commercialization of these innovative technologies. Since 2015, a new trend of PFAS remediation has emerged that uses multiple synergetic technologies simultaneously (known as treatment train processes) to effectively achieve in-situ remediation of PFAS. This paper provides new insight of the recently reported treatment train studies selected from approximately 150 different publications with regards to the remediation of PFAS and discusses their innovative designs, remediation performances, present limits, and possible improvements. Based on a comprehensive review of the current treatment train studies, this review work proposes a new design that consists of three individual technologies, namely, nanofiltration, electrochemical anodic oxidation, and electro-Fenton degradation, to maximize economic and environmental benefits of PFAS remedial measures.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Acoustic black holes (ABHs) have been so far investigated mainly for flexural wave manipulation in structures. Exploration of ABHs for sound wave manipulation, referred to as Sonic black holes ...(SBHs), as well as the design of SBH-based noise control devices are scarce. To fill the gap, this paper proposes a SBH sound absorber inside a circular duct in conjunction with the use of Micro-perforated panels (MPPs) to achieve broadband and low-frequency sound absorption. Capitalizing on the ABH-specific wave retarding and trapping phenomena and the energy dissipation ability of the MPP, a compact and ultra-broadband near perfect sound absorbing device with sub-wavelength thickness is realized for noise abatement in a duct. Finite element simulations are performed to assess the achieved sound absorption performance, which is experimentally confirmed by impedance tube tests. Analyses reveal that the physical mechanism underpinning the superior sound absorption is attributed to the combined effects of the ABH-induced wave speed changes, energy trapping and the spatially graded local resonances of the cavity-backed MPP. The proposed solution shows promise for circumventing some existing limitations of traditional noise control devices.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has posed a significant global public health threat and caused dramatic social and economic disruptions. A new research direction is attracting a ...significant amount of attention in the academic community of environmental sciences and engineering, in which rapid community-level monitoring could be achieved by applying the methodology of wastewater based epidemiology (WBE). Given the fact that the development of a mass balance on the total number of viral RNA copies in wastewater samples and the infected stool specimens is the heart of WBE, the result of the quantitative RNA detection in wastewater has to be highly sensitive, accurate, and reliable. Thus, applying effective concentration methods before the subsequent RNA extraction and RT-qPCR detection is a must-have procedure for the WBE. This review provides new insights into the primary concentration methods that have been adopted by the eighteen recently reported COVID-19 wastewater detection studies, along with a brief discussion of the mechanisms of the most commonly used virus concentration methods, including the PEG-based separation, electrostatically charged membrane filtration, and ultrafiltration. In the end, two easy and well-proven concentration strategies are recommended as below, aiming to maximize the practical significance and operational effectiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus concentration from wastewater samples.Strategy1: Prefiltration-Salt addition-Electronegative membrane filtration (for initial volume ≤ 50 mL).Strategy2: Prefiltration-PEG-based separation-Overnight standing (for initial volume from 50 to 1000 mL).
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•Discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of commonly used virus concentration methods•Focus on the recently reported analytical studies of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater samples•Compare the performance of the reported studies based on efficiency, easy to access, and operate•Recommend two methods of electronegative membrane filtration and PEG-based separation
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The discharge of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) from industrial waste or disposal of such materials from commercial and/or domestic use will inevitably occur with increasing production and enter into ...wastewater treatment facilities with unknown consequences. Therefore, a better knowledge of the toxicity of CNTs to biological processes in wastewater treatment will be critical. This study examined the toxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the microbial communities in activated sludge. A comparative study using the activated sludge respiration inhibition test was performed on both unsheared mixed liquor and sheared mixed liquor to demonstrate the potential toxicity posed by MWCNTs and to illustrate the extent of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in protecting the microorganisms from the toxicity of CNTs. Respiration inhibition was observed for both unsheared and sheared mixed liquor when MWCNTs were present, however, greater respiration inhibition was observed for the sheared mixed liquor. The toxicity observed by the respiration inhibition test was determined to be dose-dependent; the highest concentration of MWCNTs exhibited the highest respiration inhibition. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images demonstrated direct physical contact between MWCNTs and activated sludge flocs.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK
Altered expressions of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are potential cancer prognostic biomarkers that play a critical role in the development of tumorigenesis and metastasis of cancer. However, the ...relationship between the expression of lncRNAs in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and the diagnosis, progression, and prognosis of OSCC has not been thoroughly elucidated. To identify the differentially expressed lncRNAs between OSCC tissue and normal tissue, RNA-Seq data were used. lncRNA SLC16A1-AS1 was significantly highly expressed in OSCC samples than that in normal samples. Systematic bioinformatics analysis revealed that SLC16A1-AS1 was associated with histological tumor grades and overall survival status, as well as copy number variation, somatic mutation, tumor mutation burden, tumor stemness, tumor microenvironment and infiltrating immune cells. According to three advanced bioinformatic algorithms prediction (WGCNA, GSEA and GSVA), SLC16A1-AS1 played an essential role in OSCC proliferation and its biological function was related to cell-cycle regulation. Loss-of-function experiments were performed to determine the biological functions of SLC16A1-AS in OSCC cells. Silencing SLC16A1-AS1 significantly reduced the cell proliferation rate and colony-forming ability in both CAL27 and SCC25 cell lines. Flow cytometry and western blot analysis revealed that SLC16A1-AS1 silencing induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and inhibited the expression of cyclin D1 in both CAL27 and SCC25 cells. In conclusion, our study comprehensively investigated the role of the lncRNA SLC16A1-AS1 in OSCC growth and proved that it may serve as a new diagnostic indicator and a new target for the treatment of OSCC.
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BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, KISLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
Given its potential applications in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) has attracted tremendous attention. Developing a fast, cost-effective, and practical method ...for SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater is of great significance to facilitate future WBE development. By now, the PCR-based approach serves as the reference method and “gold standard” to detect the virus in wastewater. However, we found a trend that the PCR-based method becomes almost an unshakable choice as more and more studies were published regarding SARS-CoV-2 WBE. Of note, the importance of exploring new, alternative approaches for SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater should not be underestimated. In this context, the prospect of using electrochemical immunosensors as the alternative detection method was investigated in this survey. Based on the previous efforts towards different virus immunoassay studies and newly published PCR-based COVD-19 WBE works, this survey provides new insights into the electrochemical immunoassay that have been widely adopted in body fluids virus detection, along with an extensive discussion of the detection mechanism, detection performance, past performances, current efforts, and potential challenges with wastewater detection. In the end, this survey concludes that using electrochemical immunosensors to analyze SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater samples quantitatively may have better feasibility and practicability than using the conventional PCR-based approach, especially when considering its fast detection, ease of miniaturization, and potential on-site measurement.
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•Discuss the types, mechanisms, and advantages of electrochemical immunosensors.•Focus on the current efforts on using electrochemical immunosensors in virus detection.•Elaborate the challenges of using electrochemical immunosensors in COVID-19 WBE.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Interlayer transport of charges and carriers of 2D nanomaterials is a critical parameter that governs the material and device performance in energy storage applications. Inspired by multilevel ...natural bamboo‐membrane with ultrafast water and electrolyte transport properties to support its super‐rapid growth rate, 2D–2D multilevel heterostructured graphene‐based membranes with tailored gradient interlayer channels are rationally designed for achieving ultrafast interlayer ion transport. The bioinspired heterostructured membranes possess multilevel interlayer spacing distributions, where the closely packed layers with sub‐nanosized interlayer space provide ultrafast confined interlayer ion transport, while the loosely stacked outer layers consisting of open channels with large distances up to few micrometres are favorable for rapid wetting and penetration of liquid electrolytes. The combination of advantages of large‐size open channels and nanosized confined channels offers ultrafast electrolyte wetting and permeation and interlayer ion transport and provide the devices with superior volumetric capacity as free‐standing electrodes for rechargeable batteries.
Inspired by the multilevel natural bamboo‐membrane with ultrafast water and electrolyte transport properties, 2D–2D multilevel heterostructured graphene‐based membranes with tailored gradient interlayer channels are rationally designed for achieving ultrafast interlayer ion transport. This design brings about superior volumetric capacity when the bioinspired membrane used as free‐standing electrodes for energy storage devices.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
One explanation for the gender pay differences in labor markets is that women propose lower desired salaries. By using an actual job seeking resume database and applying text mining techniques, we ...are able to observe both the extent of gender differences in desired salaries and job-related self-view. We find gender differences in global self-view favoring females, and in some domain-specific self-view favoring males. Previous findings of disadvantaged groups having levels of self-view at least as high as those of advantaged groups lend credibility to our findings. Moreover, we argue that the differences in global self-view favoring females may be related to the theories of "belief flipping", since women in our sample of online-recruitment markets are distinct from the general population, with on average 15.2 years of education and 8.99 years of work experience, due to self-selection. In addition, we find that women do propose lower desired salary than men, after controlling for various factors such as human capital, marital status, industries. We further investigate the role of self-view and find it contributes to explain desired salaries, with modest mediator effect but little moderator effect on gender differences in desired salaries.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), one widely used organophosphate flame retardant, has attracted accumulating attention due to its high detection rate in human biological samples. Up to date, the effects ...of TPHP exposure on intestinal health remain unexplored. In this study, BALB/c mice were used as a model and exposed to TPHP at dose of 2, 10, or 50 mg/kg body weight for 28 days. We observed Crohn's disease-like features in ileum and ulcerative colitis disease-like features in colon, such as shorter colon length, ileum/colon structure impairment, intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis, enrichment of proinflammatory cytokines and immune cells, and disruption of tight junction. Furthermore, we found that TPHP induced production of reactive oxygen species and apoptosis in intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells, accompanied by disruption of tight junction between cells. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying TPHP-induced changes in intestines, we build the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) framework based on Comparative Toxicogenomics and GeneCards database. The AOP framework revealed that PI3K/AKT and FoxO signaling pathway might be associated with cellular apoptosis, an increase in ROS production, and increased inflammation response in mouse ileum and colon tissues challenged with TPHP. These results identified that TPHP induced IBD-like features and provided new perspectives for toxicity evaluation of TPHP.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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