Microplastics (MPs) that have accumulated in the environment are emerging as contaminating pollutants due to their interactions with metal ions. MPs change the migration and transformation of metal ...ions in the environment and afterward impact their environmental presence. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the interaction characteristics and mechanisms between Cd2+and MPs for assessing the ecological impacts of MPs. The traditional sequencing batch equilibrium test demonstrated that the sorption of Cd2+ onto MPs was related to the type of MPs present, the pH value of the solution, the ionic strength of the participants and the presence of humic acid. The sorption dynamics and isotherm experiment illustrated that the interactions were controlled by surface sorption and distribution effects. The specific surface area and surface charge were the main factors in managing the sorption process. FTIR spectra and a 2D-COS analysis showed that different functional groups played an important role in the sorption of Cd2+onto MPs. The results from this work afford new insights on how MPs may play an important role in the fate and transport of heavy metals and present a new analysis method for evaluating the environmental behavior of MPs and their role in transporting other contaminants.
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•The Cd-MPs interaction process was highly dependent on solution pH, ionic strength and humic acid.•The sorption was controled by surface sorption and distributional effects.•The 2D-COS analysis stated functional groups played an important role for sorption of Cd2+ on MPs.
•Do not ignore patients without certain exposure history.•Pay attention to identifying asymptomatic infected patients.•Certain laboratory inspection may contribute to the judgment of the severity of ...illness.•There is no specific treatment to COVID-19 infection currently.
To investigate the epidemiological and clinical features of patients with COVID-19 in Anhui province of China.
In this descriptive study, we obtained epidemiological, demographic, manifestations, laboratory data and radiological findings of patients confirmed by real-time RT-PCR in the NO.2 People’s Hospital of Fuyang City from Jan 20 to Feb 9, 2020. Clinical outcomes were followed up to Feb 18, 2020.
Of 125 patients infected SARS-CoV-2, the mean age was 38.76 years (SD, 13.799) and 71(56.8%) were male. Common symptoms include fever 116 (92.8%), cough 102(81.6%), and shortness of breath 57(45.6%). Lymphocytopenia developed in 48(38.4%) patients. 100(80.0%) patients showed bilateral pneumonia, 26(20.8%) patients showed multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity. All patients were given antiviral therapy. 19(15.2%) patients were transferred to the intensive care unit. By February 18, 47(37.6%) patients were discharged and none of patients died. Among the discharged patients, the median time of length of stay was 14.8 days (SD 4.16).
In this single-center, retrospective, descriptive study, fever is the most common symptom. Old age, chronic underlying diseases and smoking history may be risk factors to worse condition. Certain laboratory inspection may contribute to the judgment of the severity of illness.
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•An integrative index of multiple ecosystem services was presented.•Supply and demand balance for ecosystem service was modeled in a basin.•Relationship between ecosystem services and ...socioeconomic factors is complex.•Education and foreign investment can maintain oversupply of ecosystem services.•Municipalities with dense population and developed economy show undersupply.
The provision of ecosystem services from multifunctional landscapes has contributed to human well-being. However, a general tendency exists to consider only marketed ecosystem services and to ignore non-marketed services, which has become more common when evaluating multiple-ecosystem services at the local level. In this study, we present an integrative index of multiple-ecosystem services (IMES) that avoids this tendency. Our main objective is to evaluate how socioeconomic factors interact with the spatial differences between the supply of and demand for multiple-ecosystem services. GlobCover data and a modified ecosystem service “matrix” are used to quantify and map ecosystem service supply and demand at the municipality level in the Yangtze River Basin, China. We used multiple regression analysis to detect relationships between ecosystem services and socioeconomic factors in municipalities to identify the main drivers of change in the supply of and demand for multiple-ecosystem services at the local level, respectively. The results revealed that 111 municipalities in the Yangtze River Basin (84.7% of the area) had an oversupply of multiple-ecosystem services; these municipalities were primarily situated in the western part of the upper reach and the southeast parts of the middle reach. Undersupplied areas were mainly situated in densely populated municipalities in the northern part of the lower reach and in agricultural municipalities in the northeastern part of the middle reach. The driving factors of changes in multiple-ecosystem services are significantly different not only in terms of the supply, demand and balance between the two but also among the three reaches. These differences in the driving factors among the three reaches can produce incorrect conclusions if an entire basin is considered, particularly for large basins. This information may be of interest to policymakers. The first principal component for the supply of and demand for multiple-ecosystem services exhibits a good correlation with the IMES in the Yangtze River Basin. Additionally, the integrative index of multiple-ecosystem services (including IMESs and IMESd) in the study area is relatively reliable according to the sensitivity analysis. Therefore, IMES is an effective tool for aggregating the value of multiple-ecosystem services at local scales. This tool can be used to identify the drivers of changes in multiple-ecosystem services based on the relationships between IMES and socioeconomic factors at the municipality scale. IMES should be useful for policymakers and stakeholders because it can provide important information for local decision-making.
Patients infected with Acinetobacter baumannii (AB) bacteremia in hospital have high morbidity and mortality. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of pneumonia and nonpneumonia-related AB ...bloodstream infections (AB BSIs) and explored the possible independent risk factors for the incidence and prognosis of pneumonia-related AB BSIs.
A retrospective monocentric observational study was performed. All 117 episodes of hospital-acquired AB bacteremia sorted into groups of pneumonia-related AB BSIs (n = 45) and nonpneumonia-related AB BSIs (n = 72) were eligible. Univariate/multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to explore the independent risk factors. The primary outcome was the antibiotic susceptibility in vitro of pneumonia-related AB BSIs group. The secondary outcome was the independent risk factor for the pneumonia-related AB BSIs group.
Among 117 patients with AB BSIs, the pneumonia-related group had a greater risk of multidrug resistant A. baumannii (MDRAB) infection (84.44%) and carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii (CRAB) infection (80%). Polymyxin, minocycline and amikacin had relatively high susceptibility rates (> 80%) in the nonpneumonia-related group. However, in the pneumonia-related group, only polymyxin had a drug susceptibility rate of over 80%. Univariate analysis showed that survival time (day), CRAB, MDRAB, length of hospital stay prior to culture, length of ICU stay prior to culture, immunocompromised status, antibiotics used prior to culture (n > = 3 types), endotracheal tube, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, PITT, SOFA and invasive interventions (n > = 3 types) were associated with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that recent surgery (within 1 mo) P = 0.043; 0.306 (0.098-0.962) and invasive interventions (n > = 3 types) P = 0.021; 0.072 (0.008-0.671) were independent risk factors related to pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that length of ICU stay prior to culture P = 0.009; 0.959 (0.930-0.990) and recent surgery (within 1 mo) P = 0.004; 0.260 (0.105-0.646) were independent risk factors for mortality in patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia. The Kaplan‒Meier curve and the timing test showed that patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia had shorter survival time compared to those with nonpneumonia-related AB bacteremia.
Our study found that A. baumannii had a high rate of antibiotic resistance in vitro in the pneumonia-related bacteremia group, and was only sensitive to polymyxin. Recent surgery was a significantly independent predictor in patients with pneumonia-related AB bacteremia.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Organic pollutants are widespread around our daily life that has brought serious environmental and health issues. Search for an effective technology to completely remove and ideally decompose organic ...pollutant is the main task for the scientists. There has been growing interest on the photocatalysis for degradation of organic pollutants in recent years, however, the fast recombination between the electrons and holes and the limited absorption in the visible-light range restrict its wide use. Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials with built in electric field are now proved to be a favorable approach for the new candidates and open a new chapter in the photocatalysis field. In this review, we described the fundamentals of NLO materials in the application of the photocatalysis field. The role of the built in electric field improved the charges separation was detailed explained, and next we introduced some classical NLO materials applied in the field of environmental containing the BaTiO
3
, SrTiO
3
, and the LiNbO
3
. In particular, we focused on the recent progress of mixed borate-based polar photocatalyst for the degradation of organic pollutants in our lab. We hope this review will offer a full understanding of borate-based NLO photocatalyst and facilitate the design of new photocatalytic materials for organic pollutant degradation.
To study the clinical significance of autoantibodies in Chinese patients with new-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), we enrolled 526 new-onset patients who met the 1997 Updated American ...College of Rheumatology SLE Classification Criteria for a retrospective cohort study. Chi-square test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to detect the relationship of autoantibodies with clinical manifestations and serological results respectively. Our results demonstrated that the positive rate of anti-ribosomal P protein (anti-P) antibody in female patients was higher than that in male patients (41.2% vs. 22%, P = 0.008). Patients with anti-SSB (43.95 ± 73.12 vs. 40.92 ± 75.75, P = 0.004; 63.93 ± 103.56 vs. 55.06 ± 120.84, P = 0.008 respectively) antibodies had higher levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), whereas those with anti-P antibody (28.90 ± 25.70 vs. 50.08 ± 93.00, P = 0.014; 38.51 ± 48.19 vs. 69.95 ± 142.67, P = 0.047, respectively) had lower levels of them. Anti-dsDNA antibody (P = 0.021) was associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The patients with anti-Ro60 (P = 0.044), anti-P (P = 0.012) and anti-dsDNA (P = 0.013) antibodies were less likely to develop Interstitial lung disease. Anti-SmRNP antibody was correlated to lower prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (P = 0.037), and patients with anti-centromere antibody (ACA) were more likely to develop serositis (P = 0.016).We identified five clusters of SLE-related autoantibodies, confirmed previously reported associations of autoantibodies, and discovered new associations.
Powerline detection is becoming a significant issue for powerline monitoring and maintenance, which further ensures transmission security. As an efficient method, laser scanning has attracted ...considerable attention in powerline detection for its high precision and robustness during the night period. However, due to occlusion and varying point density, gaps will appear in scans and greatly influence powerline detection by over–clustering, insufficient extraction, or misclassification in existing methods. Moreover, this situation will be worse in terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), because TLS suffers more from gaps due to its unique ground–based scanning mode compared to other laser scanning systems. Thereby, this paper explores a robust method to repair gaps for extracting powerlines from TLS data. Firstly, a hierarchical clustering method is used to extract the powerlines. During the clustering, gaps are repaired based on neighborhood relations of powerline candidates, and repaired gaps can create continuous neighborhood relations that ensure the execution of the clustering method in return. Test results show that the hierarchical clustering method is robust in powerline extraction with repaired gaps. Secondly, reconstruction is performed for further detection. Pylon–powerline connections are found by the slope change method, and powerlines with multi–span are successfully fitted using these connections. Experiment shows that it is feasible to find connections for multi–span reconstruction.
High-precision and robust localization in GNSS-denied areas is crucial for autonomous vehicles and robots. Most state-of-the-art localization methods are based on simultaneous localization and ...mapping (SLAM) with a camera or light detection and ranging (LiDAR). However, SLAM will suffer from drift during long-term running without loop closure or prior constraints. Lightweight, high-precision environmental maps have gradually become an indispensable part of future autonomous driving. In order to solve the problem of real-time global localization for autonomous vehicles and robots, we propose a precise and robust LiDAR localization system based on a pre-built, occupied high-definition (HD) map called the Extended QuadTree (EQT) map. It makes use of a planar quadtree for block division and a Z-sequence index structure within the block cells. Then, a four-level occupancy probability cell value model is adopted. It will save about eight times the storage space compared with Google Cartographer, and the EQT map can be extended to store other information. For efficient scan-to-map matching with our specialized EQT map, the Bursa linearized model is used in the Gauss–Newton iteration of our algorithm, which makes the calculation of partial derivatives fast. All the above improvements lead to optimal storage and efficient querying for real-time scan-to-map matching localization. Field tests in an industrial park and road environment prove that positioning accuracy of about 6–13 cm and attitude accuracy of about 0.15° were achieved using a VLP-16 LiDAR. They also show that the method proposed in this paper is significantly better than the NDT method. For the long and narrow environment of an underground mine tunnel, high-resolution maps are also helpful for accurate and robust localization.
The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of simvastatin (SIM) on lipid metabolism disorders and gut microbiota in high-fat diet-induced hyperlipidemic rats. The obtained results ...revealed that feeding rats with SIM (20 mg/kg/day) significantly decreased serum lipid level and inhibited hepatic lipid accumulation and steatosis. Histological analysis further indicated that SIM reduced lipid deposition in adipocytes and hepatocytes in comparison with that of the HFD group. The underlying mechanisms of SIM administration against HFD-induced hyperlipidemia were also studied by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS-based liver metabonomics coupled with pathway analysis. Metabolic pathway enrichment analysis of liver metabolites with significant difference in abundance indicated that fatty acids metabolism and amino acid metabolism were the main metabolic pathways altered by SIM administration. Meanwhile, operational taxonomic units (OTUs) analysis revealed that oral administration of SIM altered the composition of gut microbiota, including
(OTU960) and
(OTU152), and so on. Furthermore, SIM treatment also regulated the mRNA levels of the genes involved in lipid and cholesterol metabolism. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of the liver-related proteins (CD36, CYP7A1 and SREBP-1C) showed that oral administration of SIM could regulate the levels of the protein expression related to hepatic lipid metabolism.
Thallium (Tl) contamination in natural waters can pose a severe risk to human health. In this study, a magnetically responsive Fe
3
O
4
@TiO
2
core-shell adsorbent was developed for the effective ...removal of thallium(I) from water. The isoelectric point of the adsorbent surface was decreased from 6.0 to 4.8 due to the loading of nano-sized TiO
2
, leading to an enhanced electrostatic interaction between the adsorbent and Tl(I) ions in a wider pH range. The Fe
3
O
4
@TiO
2
magnetic adsorbent exhibited a threefold higher BET specific surface area compared to pristine Fe
3
O
4
particles. The kinetics study showed that approximately 82% of the maximum Tl(I) loading amount could be achieved within 30 min at the initial Tl(I) concentration of 8 mg/L and adsorbent dosage of 0.1 g/L. The adsorption of Tl(I) was significantly increased with increasing solution pH. The experimental data was better fitted by the Langmuir and Temkin isotherms than the Freundlich isotherm and the maximum adsorption capacity of the magnetic adsorbent was 101.5 mg/g at pH 7.0. The interference of co-existing cations in the Tl(I) adsorption followed the subsequence: Cu
2+
> Mg
2+
> Ca
2+
> Na
+
. The hydroxyl groups bonded on titanium atoms might play a key role in the uptake of Tl(I) ions. During the adsorption, the Tl(I) ions can be effectively adsorbed on the adsorbent surface via the formation of Ti–O–Tl linkages.
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