Semiconductor photocatalytic technology is widely recognized as one of the most promising technologies to solve current energy and environmental crisis, due to its ability to make effective use of ...solar energy. In recent years, graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4), a new type of non-metallic polymer semiconductor photocatalyst, has rapidly become the focus of intense research in the field of photocatalysis because of its suitable bandgap energy, unique structure, and excellent chemical stability. In order to improve its intrinsic shortages of small specific surface area, narrow visible light response range, high electron-hole pair recombination rate, and low photon quantum efficiency, a simple method was utilized to synthesize Br-doped g-C3N4 (CN–BrX, X = 5, 10, 20, 30), where X is a percentage mole ratio of NH4Br to melamine. Experimental results showed that Br atoms were doped into the g-C3N4 lattice by replacing the bonded N atoms in the form of C–N=C, while the derived material retained the original framework of g-C3N4. The interaction of Br element with the g-C3N4 skeleton not only broadened the visible-light response of g-C3N4 to 800 nm with an adjustable band gap, but also greatly promoted the separation efficiency of the photogenerated charge carrier and the surface area. The photocurrent intensity of bare CN and CN–BrX (X = 5, 10, 20, 30) catalysts is calculated to be 1.5, 2.0, 3.1, 6.5, and 1.9 μA, respectively. And their specific surface area is measured to be 9.086, 9.326, 15.137, 13.397, and 6.932 m2/g. As a result, this Br-doped g-C3N4 gives significantly enhanced photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI), achieving a twice enhancement over g-C3N4, with high stability during prolonged photocatalytic operation compared to bare g-C3N4 under visible light irradiation. Furthermore, an underlying photocatalytic reduction mechanism was proposed based on control experiments using radical scavengers.
Br-doped g-C3N4 exhibits improved photocatalytic activity for Cr(VI) reduction under visible light irradiation. The Br element was intercalated into g-C3N4 to form C-Br bonds, and photogenerated e−,•OH, and H2O2 play important roles in Cr(VI) reduction.
Antibiotics in surface waters and soils are growing public health concerns and treated wastewater has often been identified as the main source of antibiotics. However, few studies have been conducted ...to evaluate the occurrence and concentrations of antibiotics in coastal cities without direct impact of wastewater discharge. In this study, the occurrence of 14 antibiotics including four macrolides, three sulfonamides, three β-lactams, lincomycin, chloramphenicol, furazolidon, and monensin in surface waters and soils in Singapore were analyzed with SPE-LC-ESI-MS/MS. The detected concentrations of antibiotics were all below 82.5 ng/L in surface waters and below 80.6 ng/g dry wt in soils. These concentrations were significantly lower than other cities that were under the impact of treated wastewater discharge, suggesting that reduction of treated wastewater discharge reduces occurrence of antibiotics in the environment. However, the wide occurrence of trace levels of antibiotics suggest that other factors may have contributed to detected environmental antibiotics. Population density was positively correlated with concentrations of clarithromycin, lincomycin, azithromycin, and sulfamethoxazole in surface waters, suggesting that non-point source pollution due to anthropogenic pressure may contribute to the wide detection of trace levels of antibiotics. The potential impact of antibiotic use, natural production, and half-lives of antibiotics were further discussed. Further studies are needed to evaluate how anthropogenic activities other than wastewater discharge may contribute to the occurrence of trace level antibiotics and their associated health risks in urban environments.
•Antibiotics were detected in surface waters and soils without impact of wastewater.•Antibiotic concentrations without impact of treated wastewater were low.•Population density was positively correlated with certain antibiotics.•Antibiotic use and natural production may affect antibiotic concentrations.•Half-lives of antibiotics may affect antibiotic attenuation in soils.
Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most frequent subtype of lung cancer. The prognostic signature could be reliable to stratify LUAD patients according to risk, which helps the management of the ...systematic treatments. In this study, a systematic and reliable immune signature was performed to estimate the prognostic stratification in LUAD.
The profiles of immune-related genes for patients with LUAD were used as one TCGA training set: n = 494, other validation set 1: n = 226 and validation set 2: n = 398. Univariate Cox survival analysis was used to identify the candidate immune-related genes from each cohort. Then, the immune signature was developed and validated in the training and validation sets.
In this study, functional analysis showed that immune-related genes involved in immune regulation and MAPK signaling pathway. A prognostic signature based on 10 immune-related genes was established in the training set and patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups. Our 10 immune-related gene signature was significantly related to worse survival, especially during early-stage tumors. Further stratification analyses revealed that this 10 immune-related gene signature was still an effective tool for predicting prognosis in smoking or nonsmoking patients, patients with KRAS mutation or KRAS wild-type, and patients with EGFR mutation or EGFR wild-type. Our signature was negatively correlated with B cell, CD4+ T cell, CD8+ T cell, neutrophil, dendritic cell (DC), and macrophage immune infiltration, and immune checkpoint molecules PD-1 and CTLA-4 (P < 0.05).
These findings suggested that our signature was a promising biomarker for prognosis prediction and can facilitate the management of immunotherapy in LUAD.
We assessed the performance of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) in the diagnosis of infectious encephalitis and meningitis.
This was a prospective multicenter study. Cerebrospinal fluid ...samples from patients with viral encephalitis and/or meningitis, tuberculous meningitis, bacterial meningitis, fungal meningitis, and non-central nervous system (CNS) infections were subjected to mNGS.
In total, 213 patients with infectious and non-infectious CNS diseases were finally enrolled from November 2016 to May 2019; the mNGS-positive detection rate of definite CNS infections was 57.0%. At a species-specific read number (SSRN) ≥2, mNGS performance in the diagnosis of definite viral encephalitis and/or meningitis was optimal (area under the curve AUC = 0.659, 95% confidence interval CI = 0.566-0.751); the positivity rate was 42.6%. At a genus-specific read number ≥1, mNGS performance in the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (definite or probable) was optimal (AUC=0.619, 95% CI=0.516-0.721); the positivity rate was 27.3%. At SSRNs ≥5 or 10, the diagnostic performance was optimal for definite bacterial meningitis (AUC=0.846, 95% CI = 0.711-0.981); the sensitivity was 73.3%. The sensitivities of mNGS (at SSRN ≥2) in the diagnosis of cryptococcal meningitis and cerebral aspergillosis were 76.92 and 80%, respectively.
mNGS of cerebrospinal fluid effectively identifies pathogens causing infectious CNS diseases. mNGS should be used in conjunction with conventional microbiological testing.
Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1800020442.
•The study used a simple model to study water waves induced by prescribed landslide, focusing on the cases when there are two landslide bodies in transcritical regime.•The study compared the linear ...theory, the forced Korteweg–de Vries model and fully nonlinear equations which were solved by time-dependent conformal mapping method with high-order accuracy.•The results of the study showed that water waves generated by prescribed underwater landslides are characterized by the Froude number, sizes of landslide bodies and distance between them.
This paper is concerned with propagation of water waves induced by moving bodies with uniform velocity on the bottom of a channel, a simple model for prescribed underwater landslides. The fluid is assumed to be inviscid and incompressible, and the flow, irrotational. We apply this model to a variety of test problems, and particular attention is paid to long-time dynamics of waves induced by two landslide bodies moving with the same speed. We focus on the transcritical regime where the linear theory fails to depict the wave phenomena even in the qualitative sense since it predicts an infinite growth in amplitude. In order to resolve this problem, weakly nonlinear theory or direct numerical simulations for the fully nonlinear equations is required. Comparing results of the linear full-dispersion theory, the linear shallow water equations, the forced Korteweg-de Vries model, and the full Euler equations, we show that water waves generated by prescribed underwater landslides are characterized by the Froude number, sizes of landslide bodies and distance between them. Particularly, in the transcritical regime, the second body plays a key role in controlling the criticality for equal landslide bodies, while for unequal body heights, the higher one controls the criticality. The results obtained in the current paper complement numerical studies based on the forced Korteweg-de Vries equation and the nonlinear shallow water equations by Grimshaw and Maleewong (J. Fluid Mech. 2015, 2016).
MicroRNAs play crucial roles in various types of diseases. However, to date, no information about the role of miR-497 in the development of atherosclerosis has been reported. This study investigated ...the possible role of miR-497 in vascular endothelial cell injury during the early stage of atherosclerosis.
The expression level of miR-497 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) exposed to ox-LDL was detected using qRT-PCR. To perform gain of function and loss of function analyses, miR-497 mimics were transfected into HUVECs, and miR-497 inhibitors were transfected into HUVECs stimulated with ox-LDL. Flow cytometry was used to analyze cell cycle progression and apoptosis. EdU and CCK-8 assays were employed to detect DNA synthesis and cell proliferation, respectively. After bioinformatics prediction, a dual Luciferase Reporter assay was used to analyze the direct target genes of miR-497. The mRNA and protein levels of the target genes were detected using qRT-PCR and western blot analyses, respectively. Caspase-9/3 activity was analyzed to determine the mechanism of endothelial dysfunction.
We showed that miR-497 was significantly upregulated in HUVECs stimulated with ox-LDL. Ectopic expression of miR-497 suppressed cell proliferation, induced apoptosis and increased the activity of caspase-9/3. After verification, Bcl2 and CCND2 were shown to be direct target genes of miR-497 in HUVECs. MiR-497 significantly suppressed cell proliferation by arresting the cell cycle through the CCND2 protein and induced apoptosis through the Bcl2/Bax-caspase9-caspase3 pathway.
Overall, our study shows that miR-497 might play a role in the development of atherosclerosis by inducing apoptosis and suppressing the proliferation of vascular endothelial cells. Therefore, miR-497 could be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of atherosclerosis.
A “turn-on” fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensor (RBS) for Pd2+ has been designed and synthesized through introduction of sulfur as a ligand atom to Rhodamine B. RBS exhibits high selectivity ...(freedom from the interference of Hg2+ in particular) and sensitivity toward Pd2+ with a detection limit as low as 2.4 nM. RBS is also a reversible sensor, and it can be made into test paper to detect Pd2+ in pure water. Compared to the chemosensors that introduced phosphorus to Rhodamine to detect Pd2+, RBS can be synthesized more simply and economically.
Abstract
Acute lung injury (ALI), which could be induced by multiple factors such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), refer to clinical symptoms of acute respiratory failure, commonly with high morbidity ...and mortality. Reportedly, active ingredients from green tea have anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, including epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). In the present study, protein kinase C alpha (PRKCA) is involved in EGCG protection against LPS-induced inflammation and ALI. EGCG treatment attenuated LPS-stimulated ALI in mice as manifested as improved lung injury scores, decreased total cell amounts, neutrophil amounts and macrophage amounts, inhibited the activity of MPO, decreased wet-to-dry weight ratio of lung tissues, and inhibited release of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. PRKCA mRNA and protein expression showed to be dramatically decreased by LPS treatment while reversed by EGCG treatment. Within LPS-stimulated ALI mice, PRKCA silencing further aggravated, while PRKCA overexpression attenuated LPS-stimulated inflammation and ALI through MAPK signaling pathway. PRKCA silencing attenuated EGCG protection. Within LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, EGCG could induce PRKCA expression. Single EGCG treatment or Lv-PRKCA infection attenuated LPS-induced increases in inflammatory factors; PRKCA silencing could reverse the suppressive effects of EGCG upon LPS-stimulated inflammatory factor release. In conclusion, EGCG pretreatment inhibits LPS-induced ALI in mice. The protective mechanism might be associated with the inhibitory effects of PRKCA on proinflammatory cytokine release via macrophages and MAPK signaling pathway.
Distal stent graft-induced new entry (SINE) can occur after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) of type B aortic dissection. This study investigated the mechanism of distal SINE and its ...prevention using a restrictive bare stent (RBS) technique.
From January 2013 to December 2014, 68 consecutive type B aortic dissection patients received endovascular repair at our center. The RBS technique was used with distal oversizing (between the diameter of the thoracic stent graft and the descending aorta true lumen diameter at the level of the intended distal edge of the thoracic stent graft) >20%.
Twenty-three patients received TEVAR with a single thoracic stent graft (TEVAR group, n = 23); the rest received TEVAR combined with the RBS technique (TEVAR + RBS group, n = 45). Four distal SINEs occurred in the TEVAR group. Distal oversizing (69.7% ± 35.5% vs 31.2% ± 24.5%; P = .005) and expansion mismatch ratio (132.2% ± 16.9% vs 106.5% ± 11.6%; P < .05) were significantly higher in the SINE patients. Compared with standard TEVAR, TEVAR + RBS was associated with significantly lower distal oversizing (TEVAR vs TEVAR + RBS group, 59.8% ± 24.7% vs 16.7% ± 7.6%; P < .05), lower expansion mismatch ratio (113.8% ± 14.6% vs 103.8% ± 11.7%; P = .012), and lower distal SINE rate (4/23 17.4% vs 0/45 0%; P = .011). Compared with the TEVAR group, the false lumen was reduced significantly at the level of the RBS distal edge (P = .029).
Excessive distal oversizing and distal expansion mismatch ratio may contribute to the occurrence of distal SINE. The RBS technique reduced the incidence of distal SINE. Based on our midterm and long-term observations, implantation of an RBS may improve aortic remodeling.
Conventional onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTSs) could potentially contribute to the transmission of infectious diseases caused by waterborne pathogenic microorganisms and become an important ...human health concern, especially in the areas where OWTSs are used as the major wastewater treatment units. Although previous studies suggested the OWTSs could reduce chemical pollutants as well as effectively reducing microbial contaminants from onsite wastewater, the microbiological quality of effluents and the factors potentially affecting the removal are still understudied. Therefore, the design and optimization of pathogen removal performance necessitate a better mechanistic understanding of the hydrological, geochemical, and biological processes controlling the water quality in OWTSs. To fill the knowledge gaps, the sources of pathogens and common pathogenic indicators, along with their major removal mechanisms in OWTSs were discussed. This review evaluated the effectiveness of pathogen removal in state-of-art OWTSs and investigated the contributing factors for efficient pathogen removal (e.g., system configurations, filter materials, environmental and operational conditions), with the aim to guide the future design for optimized treatment performance.
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