Aims
The study aimed to investigate the inactivation efficacy and mechanisms of plasma activated water (PAW) on selected bacteria in planktonic state.
Methods and Results
Plasma activated water was ...generated using an atmospheric cold plasma jet at 15, 22 and 30 kV for 5 min. Escherichia coli, Listeria innocua, Staphylococcus aureus, Aeromonas hydrophila, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Shewanella putrefaciens were selected as the representative bacterial species. Each bacterial suspension was inoculated into PAW immediately after generation, and the viable counts at different exposure times of 0·5, 1, 3, 5 and 24 h during 4°C storage were measured to determine the inactivation efficacy. Scanning electron microscopy images of the bacteria were conducted to examine the structural changes. Physicochemical properties of PAW, including pH, conductivity, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), and reactive species of H2O2, NO2− and NO3− were measured. The results demonstrated that inactivation efficacy was in positive correlation with voltage and exposure time. Gram‐negative bacteria were more susceptible to PAW than Gram‐positive bacteria. Morphology damage was observed for all the bacterial species. PAW was significantly acidified, conductivity and ORP were significantly increased, and reactive species were detectable after 48 h.
Conclusions
This study offered a better understanding of the inactivation mechanisms of PAW, and the inactivation efficacy can be affected by voltage, exposure time and bacterial species.
Significance and Impact of the Study
This study demonstrated the potential usage of PAW as an alternative disinfectant.
The role of autotransplantation in end-stage hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is unclear. We aimed to present our 15-case experience and propose selection criteria for autotransplantation. All ...patients were considered to have unresectable hepatic AE by conventional resection due to critical invasion to retrohepatic vena cava, hepatocaval region along with three hepatic veins, and the tertiary portal and arterial branches. All patients successfully underwent ex vivo extended right hepatectomy and autotransplantation without intraoperative mortality. The median autograft weight was 706 g (380–1000 g); operative time was 15.5 hours (11.5–20.5 hours); and anhepatic time was 283.8 minutes (180–435 min). Postoperative hospital stay was 32.3 days (12–60 days). Postoperative complication Clavien–Dindo grade IIIa or higher occurred in three patients including one death that occurred 12 days after the surgery due to acute liver failure. One patient was lost to follow-up after the sixth month. Thirteen patients were followed for a median of 21.6 months with no relapse. This is the largest reported series of patients with end-stage hepatic AE treated with liver autotransplantation. The technique requires neither organ donor nor postoperative immunosuppressant. The early postoperative mortality was low with acceptable morbidity. Preoperative precise assessment and strict patient selection are of utmost importance.
The impact of central Asian aridification on the low latitude North Pacific Ocean since the late Miocene remains unclear. To address this question, we systematically studied an abyssal manganese ...nodule from the northwestern Pacific Ocean, which is expected to be sensitive to eolian dust sourced from central Asia. Geochemical variations and the fossilized remains of magnetotactic bacteria within the studied nodule manifest two prominent Asian aridification events at ∼8–7 Ma and 3.6–0 Ma. These results suggest that central Asian aridification impacted both primary productivity and abyssal microbial activity in the NW Pacific Ocean via eolian dust inputs. In contrast to the Pliocene aridification event, the late Miocene event was associated with a primary productivity bloom that is not evident in coeval global primary productivity records, which indicates that the ∼8–7 Asian aridification event was likely due to NE Tibetan Plateau uplift rather than to global cooling.
Plain Language Summary
Central Asian aridification since the late Miocene has had a significant influence on climate, temperature, and North Pacific Ocean productivity through eolian dust inputs transported by westerlies. However, it is unclear whether the low latitude of NW Pacific Ocean responded to this aridification. We systematically analyzed the geochemistry and magnetism of a NW Pacific manganese nodule, and find that Asian aridification since, the late Miocene impacted biogeochemical cycling and abyssal microbial activity in the NW Pacific Ocean via eolian dust input. Our results imply that these two prominent Asian aridification events at around 8–7 Ma and ca. 3.6 Ma can be attributed to the NE Tibetan Plateau uplift and global cooling, respectively.
Key Points
A manganese nodule from the NW Pacific carries a paleoclimatic record of Asian aridification since the Late Miocene
Asian aridification impacted biogeochemical cycling and abyssal microbial activity in the NW Pacific Ocean
Major Asian aridification events at ∼8–7 Ma and ∼3.6–0 Ma may be attributed to NE Tibetan Plateau uplift and global cooling, respectively
Data from clinical trials of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines showed that women naïve (negative for both type-specific antibodies and DNA) to vaccine types would derive benefit from vaccination; ...therefore, an understanding of the proportion of naïve women in different age groups is important for developing HPV vaccination strategies.
From November 2012 to April 2013, a total of 7372 healthy women aged 18–45 years were recruited in five provinces in China. Cervical specimens and serum samples were collected for each woman at entry. Cervical specimens were first tested by the HPV DNA enzyme immunoassay method; if positive, the specimens were then tested by reverse hybridization line probe assay and HPV-16 and HPV-18 specific polymerase chain reactions. Neutralizing antibodies against HPV-16 or HPV-18 were tested with a pseudovirion-based neutralization assay.
The overall prevalence of high-risk HPV DNA was 14.8% (1088/7367, 95% CI 14.0–15.6), and the seroprevalence of neutralizing antibodies against HPV-16 and HPV-18 was 12.6% (925/7367) and 4.9% (364/7367), respectively. In younger women (18–26 years) and middle-aged women (27–45 years), 83.8% (3116/3719) and 81.4% (2968/3648) were naïve to both HPV-16 and HPV-18 (both neutralizing antibodies and DNA were negative), respectively. In addition, 98.5% (3664/3719) and 98.0% (3575/3648) of the younger or middle-aged women were naïve to at least one HPV type (HPV-16 or HPV-18).
This study revealed that the majority of Chinese women aged 18–26 years and 27–45 years were naïve to both HPV-16 and HPV-18 and would thus derive full benefit from bivalent HPV vaccination.
The extension of the cosmic-ray spectrum beyond 1 petaelectronvolt (PeV; 10
electronvolts) indicates the existence of the so-called PeVatrons-cosmic-ray factories that accelerate particles to PeV ...energies. We need to locate and identify such objects to find the origin of Galactic cosmic rays
. The principal signature of both electron and proton PeVatrons is ultrahigh-energy (exceeding 100 TeV) γ radiation. Evidence of the presence of a proton PeVatron has been found in the Galactic Centre, according to the detection of a hard-spectrum radiation extending to 0.04 PeV (ref.
). Although γ-rays with energies slightly higher than 0.1 PeV have been reported from a few objects in the Galactic plane
, unbiased identification and in-depth exploration of PeVatrons requires detection of γ-rays with energies well above 0.1 PeV. Here we report the detection of more than 530 photons at energies above 100 teraelectronvolts and up to 1.4 PeV from 12 ultrahigh-energy γ-ray sources with a statistical significance greater than seven standard deviations. Despite having several potential counterparts in their proximity, including pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants and star-forming regions, the PeVatrons responsible for the ultrahigh-energy γ-rays have not yet been firmly localized and identified (except for the Crab Nebula), leaving open the origin of these extreme accelerators.
We report a new measurement of electron antineutrino disappearance using the fully constructed Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. The final two of eight antineutrino detectors were installed in ...the summer of 2012. Including the 404 days of data collected from October 2012 to November 2013 resulted in a total exposure of 6.9×10^{5} GW_{th} ton days, a 3.6 times increase over our previous results. Improvements in energy calibration limited variations between detectors to 0.2%. Removal of six ^{241}Am-^{13}C radioactive calibration sources reduced the background by a factor of 2 for the detectors in the experimental hall furthest from the reactors. Direct prediction of the antineutrino signal in the far detectors based on the measurements in the near detectors explicitly minimized the dependence of the measurement on models of reactor antineutrino emission. The uncertainties in our estimates of sin^{2}2θ_{13} and |Δm_{ee}^{2}| were halved as a result of these improvements. An analysis of the relative antineutrino rates and energy spectra between detectors gave sin^{2}2θ_{13}=0.084±0.005 and |Δm_{ee}^{2}|=(2.42±0.11)×10^{-3} eV^{2} in the three-neutrino framework.
ABSTRACT
High time resolution and accuracy are of critical importance in the studies of timing analysis and time delay localization of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and ...pulsars. The Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor (GECAM) consisting of two micro-satellites, GECAM-A and GECAM-B, launched on 2020 December 10, is aimed at monitoring and locating X-ray and GRBs all over the sky. To achieve its scientific goals, GECAM is designed to have the highest time resolution (0.1 $\mu {\rm s}$) among all GRB detectors ever flown. Here, we make a comprehensive time calibration campaign including both on-ground and on-orbit tests to derive not only the relative time accuracy of GECAM satellites and detectors, but also the absolute time accuracy of GECAM-B. Using the on-ground calibration with a $\rm ^{22}Na$ radioactive source, we find that the relative time accuracy between GECAM-A and GECAM-B is about 0.15 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ). To measure the relative time accuracy between all detectors of a single GECAM satellite, cosmic-ray events detected on orbit are utilized since they could produce many secondary particles simultaneously record by multiple detectors. We find that the relative time accuracy among all detectors onboard GECAM-B is about 0.12 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ). Finally, we use the novel Li-CCF method to perform the absolute time calibration with Crab pulsar and SGR J1935+2154, both of which were jointly observed by GECAM-B and Fermi/GBM, and obtain that the time difference between GECAM-B and Fermi/GBM is 3.06 ± 6.04 $\mu {\rm s}$ (1σ).
MicroRNAs are a class of small, non‐coding RNAs that can negatively regulate protein‐coding genes, and are associated with almost all known physiological and pathological processes, especially ...cancer. The number of studies documenting miRNA expression patterns in malignancy continues to expand rapidly, with continuously gained critical information regarding how aberrantly expressed miRNAs may contribute to carcinogenesis. miRNAs can influence cancer pathogenesis, playing a potential role as either oncogenes or tumour suppressors. Recently, several miRNAs have been reported to exert different regulatory functions in oesophageal cancer – the carcinoma typically arising from the epithelial lining of the oesophagus. These miRNAs also have potential clinical applications towards developing biomarkers or targets for possible use in diagnosis or therapy in oesophageal cancer. In this review, we have summarized the two (oncogenic or tumour suppressive) roles of miRNAs here, and their applications as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets, which may illuminate future treatment for oesophageal cancer.
Purpose
To investigate whether growth hormone (GH) could improve pregnancy rates of patients with thin endometrium by clinical study and laboratory experiments.
Materials and methods
Ninety-three ...patients were randomized to either the GH-received group (40) or the routine exogenous administration of estrogens control group (53) for clinical study. The human endometrial carcinoma cell line RL95-2 was used for testing the role of GH with Western blot and real-time PCR by exposure to various concentrations of GH (0.1 nM,1 nM,10 nM,100 nM).
Results
Patients treated with GH had a significantly (
P
< 0.05) greater endometrium thickness on day 3 (7.87±0.72 vs 6.34±0.86), higher implantation rates (24.4% vs 10.5%) and greater clinical pregnancy rates (42.5% vs 18.9%) compared with the control group. No adverse events were associated with the use of GH. Administration of GH significantly up-regulated the expression of VEGF, ItgB3 and IGF-I expression in RL95-2 cells at both mRNA and protein levels (
P
< 0.05). AG490, an inhibitor of JAK2, nearly completely inhibited the up-regulative effect of GH through the JAK2-STAT5 pathway, and GH-induced effects could be mediated through autocrine IGF-I together with its hepatic counterpart. IGF-I mRNA was detected in the RL95-2 cells.
Conclusion
GH may improve pregnancy outcomes of patients with thin endometrium who undergo frozen embryo transfer by acting on human endometrial cells to promote proliferation and vascularization and to up-regulate receptivity-related molecular expression.
Background
Enucleation of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours (pNETs) via robotic surgery has rarely been described. This study sought to assess the safety and efficiency of robotic surgery for the ...enucleation of small pNETs.
Methods
A comparison was conducted of enucleation of pNETs smaller than 2 cm by robotic or open surgery between January 2000 and May 2015. Propensity score matching was used to balance sex, age, BMI, tumour location and tumour diameter. Pathological results, safety‐related outcomes (postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) rate, estimated blood loss, and short‐term mortality and morbidity) and efficiency‐related outcomes (duration of surgery and postoperative length of hospital stay) were compared between the groups.
Results
A cohort of 120 patients with pNET were enrolled in the study (1 : 1 matched for open or robotic surgery, 60 per group). Ninety‐three patients (77·5 per cent) had a grade 1 tumour and 114 (95·0 per cent) had an insulinoma. Robotic surgery had a conversion rate of 5 per cent (3 of 60), and was not associated with an increased POPF rate (10 per cent versus 17 per cent after open surgery; P = 0·283) or grade III–V surgical complications according to the Dindo–Clavien classification (3 versus 10 per cent respectively; P = 0·272). Estimated blood loss was reduced with the robotic approach (32·5 versus 80·0 ml in the open group; P = 0·008), as was duration of surgery (117 versus 150 min; P < 0·001). Length of hospital stay after surgery was similar in the two groups (12·0 versus 13·5 days respectively; P = 0·071).
Conclusion
Robotic surgery for enucleation of pNETs smaller than 2 cm did not increase POPF or major complication rates, and reduced the duration of surgery and estimated blood loss, compared with open surgery. Registration number: NCT02125929 (
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/).
Robot beats surgeon
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