•Different phage populations in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are reviewed.•The development of phage-host interactions affects biological treatment performance.•Many factors can drive the ...development of phage-host interactions in WWTPs.•More attention is advocated to the phage dynamics in WWTPs.
In wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), the stable operation of biological wastewater treatment is strongly dependent on the stability of associated microbiota. Bacteriophages (phages), viruses that specifically infect bacteria and archaea, are highly abundant and diverse in WWTPs. Although phages do not have known metabolic functions for themselves, they can shape functional microbiota via various phage-host interactions to impact biological wastewater treatment. However, the developments of phage-host interaction in WWTPs and their impact on biological wastewater treatment are overlooked. Here, we review the current knowledge regarding the phage-host interactions in biological wastewater treatment, mainly focusing on the characteristics of different phage populations, the phage-driven changes in functional microbiota, and the potential driving factors of phage-host interactions. We also discuss the efforts required further to understand and manipulate the phage-host interactions in biological wastewater treatment. Overall, this review advocates more attention to the phage dynamics in WWTPs.
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•BC-nClAP was synthesized with the support of biochar.•The BC-nClAP can effectively transform labile Pb to stable fraction with a maximum residual fraction of 94.1%.•The stabilization ...efficiency of TCLP-leachable Pb achieved 100% only after 16 days of treatment.•The application of BC-nClAP can reduce the potential risk of eutrophication.
Some rivers in China have been seriously contaminated due to the discharge of lead (Pb) smelting wastewater. In this study, biochar-supported nano-chlorapatite (BC-nClAP) was synthesized to immobilize Pb in contaminated sediment. The remediation effect of BC-nClAP on Pb-contaminated sediment was evaluated through batch experiments and the materials were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Brunner-Emmet-Teller and electronic differential system. It was found that BC-nClAP can transform Pb effectively from labile fraction into stable fraction with a maximum transformation efficiency increasing to 94.1% after 30 days of treatment, and the stabilization efficiency of toxicity characteristic leaching procedure reached 100% only after 16 days of treatment. The content of available phosphorus (AP) in the sediments treated by BC-nClAP was much less than that treated by nClAP, which indicated a lower risk of eutrophication and suggested the dissolution-precipitation mechanism involved in Pb immobilization. BC-nClAP presented the best immobilization efficiency of Pb and the content of organic matters in BC-nClAP treated samples increased the most, thus the OM might play an important role during the Pb immobilization.
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•Rha-nClAP was synthesized with the combination of Rha and ClAP.•Rha-nClAP could effectively immobilize Pb and Cd and reduce the TCLP-lechable Pb and Cd.•Rha could enhance the Pb and ...Cd immobilization by promoting the metal liberation from sediment.•The organic matter and available phosphorus indicated the microorganism may involve.
Phosphate (P) compounds are usually used as chemical amendment for in situ remediation of heavy metal polluted sediment. However, the low deliverability, weak utilization and potential risk of eutrophication inhibit the application of most P materials. Therefore, rhamnolipid (Rha), a kind of anionic biosurfactant which has algicidal activity, was employed in this study to synthesize a new kind of nano-chlorapatite (nClAP) for Pb and Cd immobilization. Characterization results showed that the Rha stablized nClAP (Rha-nClAP) was uniformly distributed in suspensions within about 5nm. Experimental data demonstrated that the combination of Rha and nClAP could greatly enhance the Pb- and Cd-immobilization efficiencies, promoting their transformation from labile fractions to stable fractions through precipitation or adsorption processes, especially when the Rha approached to its critical micelle concentration. And Rha-nClAP could also decrease both the TCLP-leachable Pb and Cd with maximum reduction efficiencies of 98.12% and 96.24%, respectively, which also presented concentration dependence of Rha. Changes of available phosphorus implied the dissolution of nClAP during the treatment and the detection of organic matter demonstrated that the microorganisms may involve in the remediation.
•Microcystins and microplastics are potential co-contaminant in aquatic environment.•Microplastics-mediate adsorption and transportation of microcystins is highlighted.•The combination of ...microcystins and microplastics may cause more adverse effects.•Microplastics affect cyanobacteria growth and microcystin production and release.•The environmental degradation of microcystins could be affected by microplastics.
Microcystins are highly toxic cyanotoxins and have been produced worldwide with the global expansion of harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HABs), posing serious threats to human health and ecosystem safety. Yet little knowledge is available on the underlying process occurring in the aquatic environment with microcystins. Microplastics as vectors for pollutants has received growing attention and are widely found co-existing with microcystins. On the one hand, microplastics could react with microcystins by adsorption, altering their environmental behavior and ecological risks. On the other hand, particular attention should be given to microplastics due to their implications on the outbreak of HABs and the generation and release of microcystins. However, limited reviews have been undertaken to link the co-existing microcystins and microplastics in natural water. This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding on the environmental relevance of microcystins and microplastics and their potential interactions, with particular emphasis on the adsorption, transport, sources, ecotoxicity and environmental transformation of microcystins affected by microplastics. In addition, current knowledge gaps and future research directions on the microcystins and microplastics are presented. Overall, this review will provide novel insights into the ecological risk of microcystins associated with microplastics in real water environment and lay foundation for the effective management of HABs and microplastic pollution.
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Finding a low cost and effective alternative to noble metal based catalyst has long been concerned in wastewater treatment and organic transformation. This work developed a highly efficient sewage ...sludge-based catalyst via a simple one-step pyrolysis method, and for the first time, applied it in the catalytic reduction of nitrophenols. Due to the higher content of graphitic nitrogen, abundant defect sites and low electron transfer resistance, sewage sludge derived biochar obtained at 800 °C (SSBC-800) exhibits the best catalytic performance, with the reaction rate of 0.48 min−1 and turnover frequency for 4-nitrophenol calculated to be 1.25 × 10−4 mmol•mg−1 min−1, which is comparable to or even superior than some reported noble metal-based catalyst. Moreover, SSBC-800 showed good recyclability of 90% 4-nitrophenol removal within 8 min after 4 runs, and maintained high catalytic activity in reduction of other substituent nitrophenols, such as 2-nitrophenol (0.54 min−1), 3-nitrophenol (0.61 min−1) and 2,4-dinitrophenol (0.18 min−1), and in real water samples, indicating its practical applicability. The electron paramagnetic resonance spectra and electrochemical characterization demonstrate that SSBC-800 accelerates the dissociation of BH4− to form active hydrogen, which is the main species responsible for 4-nitrophenol reduction, while electron transfer reaction involving the surface bound hydride derived from the intimate contact between BH4− and SSBC-800 plays an important role in this process. This research not only provides a novel valorization pathway for sewage sludge, but also sheds new light on further designing of carbon-based catalyst for nitrophenol reduction.
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•Ferrocene immobilized hollow porous carbon spheres (HPCS-Fc) was used as the signal probe.•The large surface area and high pore volume of HPCS ensured the high load efficiency of ...Fc.•The high conductivity of HPCS promoted the electron transfer between HPCS-Fc and electrode.•Tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs) controlled the orientation of HPCS-Fc-cDNA on the biosensing interface.•The developed aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) electrochemical aptasensor exhibited high sensitivity and low detection limit.
Due to the high toxicity and carcinogenicity of Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), a sensitive, low-cost and simple method to accurately detect AFB1 in foodstuffs is highly desirable. Herein, a sensitive and selective AFB1 electrochemical aptasensor was developed by using ferrocene immobilized hollow porous carbon spheres (HPCS-Fc) as the electrochemical signal tag. Attributed to the large surface and high conductivity of HPCS, the prepared Fc-HPCS showed the high load amount of Fc and HPCS-Fc labelled GC electrode displayed large oxidation peak current. To further improve the biosensing ability, tetrahedral DNA nanostructures (TDNs) was attached on the biosensing interface to control the orientation of HPCS-Fc-cDNA. Based on the above advantages, the HPCS-Fc labelled electrochemical aptasensor exhibited high sensitivity towards AFB1 in a wide linear range from 1.0 × 10−2 pg mL−1 to 100.0 μg mL−1 and a low detection limit down to 3.3 × 10−5 ng mL−1. Furthermore, the developed aptasensor was applied to detect AFB1 in wheat powder samples with satisfactory recoveries of 91.7%∼107.7%, demonstrating its potential application in testing AFB1 in food samples.
Despite many studies on single doping (especially N, S) to improve the catalytic performance of biochar in persulfate-based oxidation process (PS-AOP), the investigations of co-doping with multiple ...heteroatoms for biochar are relatively few. Herein, choosing shrimp shell biochar (NSC-bio, natural N,S co-doped) as research object with exogenous P/S doping, N,S co-doped and N,S,P co-doped biochars were prepared and applied in PS-AOP, respectively. Exogenous S doping (NSC–S-bio) showed a negative effect with the decreased removal efficiency from 88.7% to 45.7%. Quantitative structure-activity relationships analysis showed that, the decreased kobs (0.0692–0.0171 min−1) of NSC-S-bio was linearly related to the decreased Qe (229.0–158.7 mg/g), where the increased electrostatic repulsion during the key catalytic zone by S doping was the key factor. As for NSC-P-bio, a positive effect could be observed (98.9% removal). The increased kobs (0.0692–0.1299 min−1) showed high linear fitting toward P content and specific surface area (449.4–971.6 m2/g) but low fitting degree toward Qe. Further electrochemical characterization revealed that, the increased surface catalytic sites and enhanced electronic conductivity endowed NSC-P-bio improved catalytic performance, which achieved rapid activation of PDS via non-radical electron transfer path and showed selectively toward substrate with electron-donating groups. This study provides new insight for the construction of efficient co-doped biochar catalysts in PS-AOP.
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Materials with core-shell structures have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their unique properties and wide applications in energy storage and conversion systems. Through ...reasonable adjustments of their shells and cores, various types of core-shell structured materials can be fabricated with favorable properties that play significant roles in energy storage and conversion processes. The core-shell material can provide an effective solution to the current energy crisis. Various synthetic strategies used to fabricate core-shell materials, including the atomic layer deposition, chemical vapor deposition and solvothermal method, are briefly mentioned here. A state-of-the -art review of their applications in energy storage and conversion is summarized. The involved energy storage includes supercapacitors, li-ions batteries and hydrogen storage, and the corresponding energy conversion technologies contain quantum dot solar cells, dye-sensitized solar cells, silicon/organic solar cells and fuel cells. In addition, the correlation between the core-shell structures and their performance in energy storage and conversion is introduced, and this finding can provide guidance in designing original core-shell structures with advanced properties.
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•The synthesis strategies and different structures of CSSMs are introduced.•The performance of CSSMs in energy storage and conversion systems are described.•The correlation between the core-shell structures are detailed analyzed.•Advantages, disadvantages and challenges are discussed.•Future opportunities for CSSMs are reviewed.
Fishbone is a major by-product of fishing processing and how to deal with the increasingly generated fishbone has been a big challenge. In an effort to convert the low-value waste into valuable ...material, this research explores the valorization of fishbone biowaste, which can be transformed into biochar as a persulfate activator for phenol removal. The fishbone derived biochar (FBBC) was prepared by one-step pyrolysis without additional template. The catalytic efficiency of FBBC increases with pyrolysis temperature, with FBBC-800 (pyrolyzed at 800 °C) exhibiting the best performance of 100% phenol (20 mg/L) removal within 60 min at the catalyst dosage of 0.1 g/L, which is comparable to other recently reported carbon-based catalysts but with the advantage of easy preparation, low cost and wastes valorization. The high efficacy of FBBC-800 is related to its large surface area (758.44 m2/g), carbonyl group and defective structure. In the FBBC-800/peroxydisulfate/phenol system, both radical and non-radical pathways are involved, among which hydroxyl radical is more important in radical pathway while singlet oxygen dominates in non-radical pathway. Electron transfer plays a key role in this process through electron capture experiment and electrochemical characterization. This study proposes a new strategy for the valorization of fishbone, and provides the guidance for the structure design of carbon-based catalyst for persulfate activation.
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•A new strategy for fishbone valorization was developed.•The fishbone derived biochar is cost effective and easy to prepare.•High surface area, carbonyl group and defective structure contribute to the catalytic activity.•SO4·−, ·OH, O2·− and 1O2 were identified in the catalytic reaction.•Electron transfer mechanism for pollutant degradation was proposed.
Diabetes is a chronic disease and has huge pressure on patients and the medical system, especially for patients with diabetic complications, for example, diabetic nephropathy. Diabetic nephropathy is ...a diabetic complication associated with damage to the kidney. To improve the quality of life of patients with diabetes, it is necessary to understand the factors that are associated with diabetic nephropathy. The objective of the study was to find the prevalence of diabetic nephropathy in newly diagnosed patients with diabetes and to develop the association between clinicopathological parameters and diabetic nephropathy. In a case-control study, demographics, anthropometric, and clinicopathological parameters of a total of 305 newly diagnosed patients with diabetes (the fasting blood glucose ≥ 7.0 mM/L and/or glycosylated hemoglobin ≥ 6.5 mM/L) in Hebei province were included in the analysis. If the urine albumin to creatinine ratio was ≥ 30 (microalbuminuria) then patients were considered diabetic nephropathy. Among enrolled patients, 206 (68%) were males and 99 (32%) were females and they were 46 to 71 years old. Demographic variables and health-related behaviors were the same among patients with diabetes either with nephropathy (case group, n = 135) or patients without nephropathy (control group, n = 170, P > .05 for all). The prevalence of diabetic nephropathy was 44%. Female to male ratio was 1:1.7 in the case group. Patients with diabetic nephropathy had higher body weight (P < .0001), waist circumference (P = .0006), and body mass index (P = .0002) than those of patients without nephropathy. Abnormal urinary globulin (P = .041, odd ratio (OR): 1.1231) was associated with diabetic nephropathy. Aspartate transaminase (P = .0651, OR: 0.8541), alkaline phosphatase (P = .0661, OR: 0.8122), hypertension (P = .0821, OR: 0.8214), and blood urea nitrogen (P = .0842, OR: 0.9411) were not significantly associated with diabetic neuropathy. However, they are near the statistical cutoff value. The prevalence of diabetic nephropathy in newly diagnosed diabetic patients of Hebei province is higher than those of the other provinces. Urinary globulin excretion had a weak association with the presence of nephropathy defined by urinary albumin excretion in patients with diabetes. The presence of other diabetic complications is also an essential parameter for diabetic nephropathy. Males are more susceptible to diabetic nephropathy than females if diabetic (Evidence Level: V; Technical Efficacy: Stage 3).
