•A flocculation-vacuum-curing integrated method (FVCM) was proposed to turn waste mud to be filling material.•The mechanical properties of cured soil of the FVCM are significantly better than those ...of the vacuum preloading + curing method and flocculation + vacuum preloading method.•Cement + retarder + quicklime is an ideal combination of curing agents for the proposed FVCM to treat waste mud from bored pile construction.
An integrated method of flocculation, vacuum preloading and solidification using curing agents was proposed to treat waste engineering mud. Flocculation, vacuum preloading and solidification work together to turn waste mud into cured soil that can be used as filling material for embankments or foundation pit filling. Model tests were carried out to verify the effectiveness of the method. A series of vane shear tests, unconfined compression tests, nuclear magnetic resonance tests and scanning electron microscopy tests were conducted to compare the strength of cured soil after treatment with different methods and investigate the solidification mechanism. The results showed that the flocculant accelerates the drainage speed in the early stage of vacuum drainage, and the curing agent consumes water and generates hydrates to fill the soil pores in the later stage of vacuum preloading to achieve rapid solidification of soil. Compared with vacuum preloading + flocculation method, the proposed method can achieve a significantly higher strength of solidified soil. The experimental results indicate the effectiveness of the proposed integrated treatment method. Cement + retarder + quicklime is an ideal combination of curing agents for the proposed method to treat waste mud from bored pile construction.
The massive food wastes pose a growing health concern for spreading of antibiotic resistance and pathogens due to food spoilage. However, little is known about these microbial hazards during ...collection, classification, and transportation before eventual treatment. Here, we profiled the temporal variations of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), pathogens, bacterial and fungal communities across four typical food wastes (vegetable, fish, meat, and rice) during storage at room temperature in summer (maximum 28–29 °C) of typical southeast city in China. A total of 171 ARGs and 32 mobile genetic elements were detected, and the absolute abundance of ARGs significantly increased by up to 126-fold with the storage time. Additionally, five bacterial pathogens containing virulence factor genes were detected, and Klebsiella pneumoniae was persistently detected throughout the storage time in all food types except rice. Moreover, fungal pathogens (e.g., Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Fusarium) were also frequently detected. Notably, animal food wastes were demonstrated to harbor higher abundance of ARGs and more types of pathogens, indicating a higher level of hazard. Mobile genetic elements and food types were demonstrated to mainly impact ARG profiles and pathogens, respectively. This work provides a comprehensive understanding of the microbial hazards associated with food waste recycling, and will contribute to optimize the food waste management to ensure biosecurity and benefit human health.
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•A total of 171 ARGs and 32 MGEs were detected in spoiled food wastes.•Five bacterial pathogens and several potential mycotoxigenic fungi accumulated.•The ARG absolute abundances significantly increased during food waste spoilage.•Fish harbored the highest abundances of ARGs and pathogens.•MGEs and food types mainly impacted the ARG profiles and pathogens, respectively.
Large area of nanodot arrays of polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) with inorganic species, including phosphotungstic acid, phosphomolybdic acid or transition metal ions have been ...fabricated at the planar liquid/liquid interface between pure water and chloroform solution of the block copolymers by adding the aqueous solution of the inorganic species dropwise into the water phase. The nanodots arrange into a quasi-hexagonal pattern, the area reaches to several hundreds of square microns, and the size of the nanodots and the distance between the nanodots can be tuned. The formation of the nanodot arrays is attributed to the interaction between the pyridine groups in the P2VP blocks and the inorganic species through electrostatic interaction or coordination that enhances the hydrophilicity of the block copolymers and leads to aggregation of the P2VP blocks during the adsorption and self-assembly process. This is a novel way to fabricate large area of ordered nanostructures.
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Ginseng is a traditional Chinese medicine with a wide range of pharmacological activities. Ginsenosides are the major constituents of ginseng. Ginsenosides have the unique biological activity and ...medicinal value, such as antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidation, and inhibition of cell apoptosis. With the increase of stress in life, the incidence of nervous system diseases is also increasing. Neurological diseases pose a huge burden on people’s life and health. In recent years, some studies have shown that ginsenosides have a certain role in the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases. However, the research is still in its infancy, and the relevant mechanisms are complex. In the paper, we review the effects and mechanisms of ginsenosides on epilepsy, depression, cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease. We hope to provide a theoretical basis for the treatment of nervous system diseases by ginsenosides.
We report on the achievement of wafer-level photocatalytic overall water splitting on GaN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy with the incorporation of Rh/Cr2O3 core–shell nanostructures acting ...as cocatalysts, through which H2 evolution is promoted by the noble metal core (Rh) while the water forming back reaction over Rh is effectively prevented by the Cr2O3 shell O2 diffusion barrier. The decomposition of pure water into H2 and O2 by GaN nanowires is confirmed to be a highly stable photocatalytic process, with the turnover number per unit time well exceeding the value of any previously reported GaN powder samples.
Background: Cardiovascular disease is one of the major threats to human life and health, and vascular aging is an important cause of its occurrence. Antisense non-coding RNA in the INK4 locus (ANRIL) ...is a kind of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that plays important roles in cell senescence. However, the role and mechanism of ANRIL in senescence of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are unclear. Methods: Cell viability and cell cycle were evaluated using an MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. Senescence-associated (SA)-β-galactosidase (gal) staining was used to determine cell senescence. Dual luciferase reporter assays were conducted to confirm the binding of ANRIL and miR-181a, as well as miR-181a and Sirt1. The expression of ANRIL, miR-181a, and Sirt1 was determined using qRT-PCR and protein levels of SA-β-gal and p53–p21 pathway-related proteins were evaluated by Western blotting. Results: ANRIL and Sirt1 were down-regulated, whereas miR-181a was up-regulated in aging VSMCs. In young and aging VSMCs, over-expression of ANRIL could down-regulate miR-181a and up-regulate Sirt1. MTT and SA-β-gal staining assays showed that over-expression of ANRIL and inhibition of miR-181a promoted cell viability and inhibited VSMC senescence. The dual-luciferase reporter assay determined that miR-181a directly targets ANRIL and the 3′-UTR of Sirt1. Furthermore, over-expression of ANRIL inhibited cell cycle arrest and the p53–p21 pathway. Conclusion: ANRIL promotes cell viability and inhibits senescence in VSMCs, possibly by regulating miR-181a/Sirt1, and alleviating cell cycle arrest by inhibiting the p53–p21 pathway. This study provides novel insights for the role of ANRIL in the development of cell senescence.
As a longstanding problem, Alzheimer's disease (AD) has stymied researchers in the medical field with its increasing incidence and enormous treatment difficulty. Silymarin has always been valued by ...researchers for its good efficacy and safety in treating liver disease. Recent studies have shown that silymarin also has good pharmacological activity in the nervous system, especially for the treatment of AD. Silymarin can control the production of Aβ by inhibiting the precursor substance of Aβ (β-amyloid precursor protein), and it can inhibit the polymerization of Aβ. Silymarin can also increase the acetylcholine content in the nervous system by inhibiting cholinesterase activity. At the same time, it also has the effect of resisting oxidative stress and the inflammatory response of the nervous system. These pharmacological activities contribute to the inhibition of the onset of AD. The good efficacy of silymarin on AD and its high safety and availability give it huge potential for the treatment of AD.
This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of rituximab (RTX) plus recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) with RTX alone in patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who had failed to ...respond to corticosteroids or relapsed. Recruited patients were randomized at a ratio of 2:1 into 2 groups: the combination group (RTX + rhTPO, n = 77) and the monotherapy group (RTX, n = 38). Overall response was achieved in 79.2% of patients in the combination group vs 71.1% in the monotherapy group (P = .36), and the complete response (CR) rate was 45.4% in the combination group compared with 23.7% in the monotherapy group (P = .026). The combination group had significantly shorter time to response (TTR; median and range, 7 and 4-28 days) compared with the monotherapy group (28 and 4-90 days) (P < .01). There was no difference between these 2 groups in terms of the long-term response (P = .12). Our findings demonstrated that the combination of RTX and rhTPO significantly increased the CR rate and shortened TTR compared with RTX monotherapy in the treatment of corticosteroid-resistant or relapsed ITP but failed to show a beneficial effect on the long-lasting response. This study is registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01525836.
•Rituximab plus recombinant human thrombopoietin is superior to rituximab monotherapy for corticosteroid-resistant or relapsed ITP patients.
It is of great importance to explore the self-assembly behavior of amphiphilic block copolymers at the liquid/liquid interface for the construction of hierarchical nanostructures and evaluation of ...emulsifiers. In this work, the adsorption and self-assembly of PS-b-PEO, a typical amphiphilic and temperature-sensitive block copolymer with abundant coordination sites were investigated by using a liquid/liquid interfacial assembly method in which pure water covered a chloroform solution of PS-b-PEO to form a planar liquid/liquid interface first, and then the aqueous solution of copper acetate was added dropwise into the water. It was found that spontaneous interfacial emulsification occurred when Cu2+ aqueous solution was added into the water at 28 °C. The PS-b-PEOs with shorter PEO chains self-assembled into hollow spheres, hierarchical hollow spheres, and hollow spheres with layered walls, depending on the relative length of the PEO blocks; while the PS-b-PEO with a longer PEO chain formed Janus sheets. While, PS-b-PEOs self-assembled into Janus sheets with monolayer or stepped multilayer structures at 18 and 8 °C through interfacial adsorption and assembly, regulated by the molecular structures. In addition, the concentrations of PS-b-PEO and Cu2+ ions also affect the self-assembly behavior and the aggregate morphologies.
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•The liquid/liquid interfacial self-assembly of PS-b-PEOs was investigated.•They self-assembled into various hollow spheres at higher temperature.•The formation of hollow spheres was attributed to spontaneous emulsification.•They self-assembled into monolayer or multilayer Janus sheets at lower temperature.•The self-assembly behavior also depends on molecular structure and metal ions.
Wide application of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) has raised great concerns on their side-effects on human health. PFAAs have been shown to accumulate mainly in the liver and cause hepatotoxicity. ...However, PFAAs can also deposit in lung tissues through air-borne particles and cause serious pulmonary toxicity. But the underlying mechanisms are still largely unknown. Autophagy is a type of programmed cell death parallel to necrosis and apoptosis, and may be involved in the lung toxicity of PFAAs. In this study, lung cancer cells, A549, were employed as the model to investigate the effects of three PFAAs with different carbon chain lengths on cell autophagy. Through Western blot analysis on LC3-I/II ratio of cells exposed to non-cytotoxic concentration (200 µM) and cytotoxic concentration (350 µM), we found concentration-dependent increase of autophagosomes in cells, which was further confirmed by TEM examination on ultra-thin section of cells and fluorescence imaging on autophagosomes in live cells. The abundance of p62 increased with the PFAAs concentration indicating the blockage of autophagy flux. Furthermore, we identified the mitochondrial autophagy (mitophagy) and endoplasmic reticulum autophagy (ER-phagy) morphologically as the major types of autophagy, suggesting the disruption on mitochondria and ERs. These organelle damages were confirmed by the overgeneration of ROS, hyperpolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential, as well as the up-regulation of ER-stress-related proteins, ATF4 and p-IRE1. Further analysis on the signaling pathways showed that PFAAs activated the MAPK pathways and inhibited the PI3K/Akt pathway, with potencies following the order of PFDA > PFNA > PFOA. Anti-oxidant (NAC) treatment did not rescue cells from death, indicating that oxidative stress is not the reason of cytotoxicity. Inhibition of autophagy by Atg5 siRNA and chloroquine even increased the toxicity of PFAAs, suggesting that PFAAs-autophagy was induced as the secondary effects of organelle damages and played a protective role during cell death.
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