Rapid and reliable detection of ultralow-abundance nucleic acids and proteins in complex biological media may greatly advance clinical diagnostics and biotechnology development. Currently, nucleic ...acid tests rely on enzymatic processes for target amplification (e.g., PCR), which have many inherent issues restricting their implementation in diagnostics. On the other hand, there exist no protein amplification techniques, greatly limiting the development of protein-based diagnosis. We report a universal biomolecule enrichment technique termed hierarchical nanofluidic molecular enrichment system (HOLMES) for amplification-free molecular diagnostics using massively paralleled and hierarchically cascaded nanofluidic concentrators. HOLMES achieves billion-fold enrichment of both nucleic acids and proteins within 30 min, which not only overcomes many inherent issues of nucleic acid amplification but also provides unprecedented enrichment performance for protein analysis. HOLMES features the ability to selectively enrich target biomolecules and simultaneously deplete nontargets directly in complex crude samples, thereby enormously enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio of detection. We demonstrate the direct detection of attomolar nucleic acids in urine and serum within 35 min and HIV p24 protein in serum within 60 min. The performance of HOLMES is comparable to that of nucleic acid amplification tests and near million-fold improvement over standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for protein detection, being much simpler and faster in both applications. We additionally measured human cardiac troponin I protein in 9 human plasma samples, and showed excellent agreement with ELISA and detection below the limit of ELISA. HOLMES is in an unparalleled position to unleash the potential of protein-based diagnosis.
•Persulfate-based AOPs have extensive application for contaminated soil remediation.•Experimental parameters and soil properties affect contaminant degradation.•Simple persulfate addition has evolved ...to couple with various activation methods.•Soil geochemistry, biology, and contaminant dynamics would change after application.•Mathematical models were developed to understand the oxidation process.
Sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been applied in soil remediation to degrade traditional pollutants in situ, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), diesel, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). Emerging pollutants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and phthalates have gradually entered the treatment list, and removal technology has been optimized from simple persulfate addition to coupling with various activation methods, including iron activation, thermal activation, base activation, and electrical activation. Peroxydisulfate (PDS) is widely used as oxidant in soil remediation due to its low cost and long environmental retention time. Experimental parameters and some soil properties significantly impact the contaminant removal rate. Changes in soil geochemistry, biology, and contaminant dynamics occur after application of this technology. The degradation rate of contaminants in soil is generally characterized by a pseudo-first-order reaction kinetic model. Other mathematical models have also been developed to understand the oxidation process. This review provides an overview of persulfate-based AOPs for organic contaminated soil remediation, especially for the deep understanding of the activation mechanisms and influential factors.
The speed of super-resolution microscopy methods based on single-molecule localization, for example, PALM and STORM, is limited by the need to record many thousands of frames with a small number of ...observed molecules in each. Here, we present ANNA-PALM, a computational strategy that uses artificial neural networks to reconstruct super-resolution views from sparse, rapidly acquired localization images and/or widefield images. Simulations and experimental imaging of microtubules, nuclear pores, and mitochondria show that high-quality, super-resolution images can be reconstructed from up to two orders of magnitude fewer frames than usually needed, without compromising spatial resolution. Super-resolution reconstructions are even possible from widefield images alone, though adding localization data improves image quality. We demonstrate super-resolution imaging of >1,000 fields of view containing >1,000 cells in ∼3 h, yielding an image spanning spatial scales from ∼20 nm to ∼2 mm. The drastic reduction in acquisition time and sample irradiation afforded by ANNA-PALM enables faster and gentler high-throughput and live-cell super-resolution imaging.
Nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs)integrated on a chip hold great promise for point‐of‐care diagnostics. Currently, nucleic acid (NA) purification remains time‐consuming and labor‐intensive, ...and it takes extensive efforts to optimize the amplification chemistry. Using selective electrokinetic concentration, we report one‐step, liquid‐phase NA purification that is simpler and faster than conventional solid‐phase extraction. By further re‐concentrating NAs and performing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a microfluidic chamber, our platform suppresses non‐specific amplification caused by non‐optimal PCR designs. We achieved the detection of 5 copies of M. tuberculosis genomic DNA (equaling 0.3 cell) in real biofluids using both optimized and non‐optimal PCR designs, which is 10‐ and 1000‐fold fewer than those of the standard bench‐top method, respectively. By simplifying the workflow and shortening the development cycle of NAATs, our platform may find use in point‐of‐care diagnosis.
Concentrate (and reconcentrate): Two‐stage selective electrokinetic concentration enables one‐step purification of nucleic acids and microfluidic PCR resistant to non‐specific amplification, thereby significantly shortening the development cycle and simplifying the workflow of nucleic acid amplification tests for point‐of‐care disease diagnosis.
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•Critical climate factors involved in nitrogen loss were identified.•High and normal precipitation dominated variation of Org-N and nitrate loss.•SWAT and copula were used to identify ...risk areas for N loss under climate extremes.•The N loss risk caused by high precipitation was higher than that by temperature.
Climate change is a key factor that profoundly affects aquatic environments. Because of climate warming, the increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme climate events has aggravated the uncertainty of nitrogen pollution. However, the risk of nitrogen loss under different climatic conditions has not been well assessed, which is of great significance for controlling diffuse pollution. In this study, we used the upper and middle Wei River Basin (UMWB) as the study area, and selected organic nitrogen (Org-N) and nitrate (NO3-N) as the two forms of nitrogen pollution. Then, we quantified the contributions of 10 climate factors and combined the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and copula to analyze the risk of pollution when extreme weather occurs. Our results showed that during periods of high precipitation and temperature, Org-N loss accounted for 96% and 83% of the total loss, and nitrate loss accounted for 74% and 67%, respectively. Org-N loss responded more strongly to high precipitation than nitrate loss because Org-N was transported with soil particles. The attribution analysis indicated that high precipitation amount (R95P) contributed to the largest Org-N loss. As for the nitrate loss, R95P, normal precipitation amount, and consecutive days with no precipitation were the most important climatic drivers, accounting for 35%, 32%, and 13% of the watershed area, respectively. After selecting critical source areas by identification method, an optimized copula model for nitrogen loss and the main climatic factors was proposed. The risk of nitrogen pollution under the defined climate severity was then quantified. The probabilities of Org-N and nitrate loss exceeding the top 1%–20% were 0.2%–15% and 0.8%–10% when the precipitation exceeded the top 20%. The pollution risk caused by high temperatures is lower than that caused by precipitation. This study emphasized the dominant role of extreme climate in driving nitrogen loss and proposed a method for quantifying the risk of nitrogen pollution under specific climate conditions, which enabled managers to identify high-risk pollution areas and optimize management measures to prevent diffuse nitrogen pollution.
A platform for capture and release of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) is demonstrated by utilizing aptamer grafted silicon nanowires. Here, single‐stranded DNA‐aptamers are generated via the ...Cell‐SELEX process to serve as capture agents, allowing specific capture and release of non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) CTCs from whole‐blood samples with minimum contamination and negligible disruption to CTC viability and functions.
The rapid global urbanization and other extensive anthropogenic activities exacerbated the worldwide human health risks induced by antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Knowledge of the origins and ...dissemination of ARGs is essential for understanding modern resistome, while little information is known regarding the overall resistance levels in urban river. In this study, the abundance of multi-resistant bacteria (MRB) and ARGs was investigated using culture-based method and high-throughput qPCR in water samples collected from urban stream and source of Jiulongjiang River, China, respectively. The abundance of MRB (conferring resistance to three combinations of antibiotics and vancomycin) was significantly higher in urban samples. A total of 212 ARGs were detected among all the water samples, which encoded resistance to almost all major classes of antibiotics and encompassed major resistant mechanisms. The total abundance of ARGs in urban samples (ranging from 9.72 × 10¹⁰ to 1.03 × 10¹¹ copies L⁻¹) was over two orders of magnitude higher than that in pristine samples (7.18 × 10⁸ copies L⁻¹), accompanied with distinct ARGs structures, significantly higher diversity, and enrichment of ARGs. Significant correlations between the abundance of ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were observed, implicating the potential of horizontal transfer of ARGs. High abundance and enrichment of diverse ARGs and MGEs detected in urban river provide evidence that anthropogenic activities are responsible for the emergence and dissemination of ARGs to the urban river and management options should be taken into account for minimizing the spread of ARGs.
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•Plastic policy was adapted due to COVID-19 pandemic.•COVID-19 pandemic is contributing to worldwide plastic pollution.•COVID-19 precautionary measures challenged environmental ...sustainability.•Sustainability calls for straightened links between policy-industry-research.
Plastics have become a severe transboundary threat to natural ecosystems and human health, with studies predicting a twofold increase in the number of plastic debris (including micro and nano-sized plastics) by 2030. However, such predictions will likely be aggravated by the excessive use and consumption of single-use plastics (including personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves) due to COVID-19 pandemic. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the effects of COVID-19 on macroplastic pollution and its potential implications on the environment and human health considering short- and long-term scenarios; addressing the main challenges and discussing potential strategies to overcome them. It emphasises that future measures, involved in an emergent health crisis or not, should reflect a balance between public health and environmental safety as they are both undoubtedly connected. Although the use and consumption of plastics significantly improved our quality of life, it is crucial to shift towards sustainable alternatives, such as bio-based plastics. Plastics should remain in the top of the political agenda in Europe and across the world, not only to minimise plastic leakage and pollution, but to promote sustainable growth and to stimulate both green and blue- economies. Discussions on this topic, particularly considering the excessive use of plastic, should start soon with the involvement of the scientific community, plastic producers and politicians in order to be prepared for the near future.
Deep learning methods have shown extraordinary potential for analyzing very diverse biomedical data, but their dissemination beyond developers is hindered by important computational hurdles. We ...introduce ImJoy (https://imjoy.io/), a flexible and open-source browser-based platform designed to facilitate widespread reuse of deep learning solutions in biomedical research. We highlight ImJoy's main features and illustrate its functionalities with deep learning plugins for mobile and interactive image analysis and genomics. Deep learning methods, which use artificial neural networks to learn complex mappings between numerical data, have enabled recent breakthroughs in a wide range of biomedical data analysis tasks. Examples for imaging data include image segmentation 1,2 and medical diagnosis, where deep learning vastly outperforms more traditional methods and often exceeds human expert performance 3,4 , or methods to enhance microscopy images, e.g. for denoising or 1
Confined to one cell: A method to detect and isolate single circulating melanoma cells (CMCs; see figure) has been produced by integrating a polymer‐nanofiber‐embedded nanovelcro cell‐affinity assay ...with a laser microdissection (LMD) technique. This method is able to separate CMCs from normal white blood cells (WBCs) and sequence individual cells for a specific mutation related to cancer progression, allowing for more personalized cancer therapy.
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