Enhancement of sewer sediment control and disruption of adhesive gelatinous sediment structure using low-dose calcium peroxide.

Large quantities of sediments in urban sewer systems pose significant risk of pipe clogging and corrosion. Owing to their gel-like structure, sewer sediments have strong resistance to hydraulic shear stress. This study proposed a novel approach to weaken the erosion resistance of sewer sediments by destroying viscous gel-like biopolymers in sediments with low doses of calcium peroxide (CaO2). After treatment with 10-50 mg g-1 TS of CaO2, the critical erosion shear stress was significantly reduced by 25.7%-59.9%. The sediment aggregates gradually disintegrated into small diameter particles with increasing CaO2 dosage. Further analysis showed that the strong oxidizing and alkaline environment induced by CaO2 treatment led to cell lysis and changes in the composition and property of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). After CaO2 treatment, aromatic proteins and humic acid-like substances associated with adhesion translocated from the inner EPS layers to outer layers while being disintegrated into small organic molecules. Concomitantly, CaO2 treatment disrupted the main functional groups (-OH, COO-, C-N, CO, and CN) in inner EPS layers, thus weakening EPS adhesion. Analysis of protein secondary structure and zeta potential reflected the reduced aggregation capacity of sediment microorganisms and loosening of sediment structure after CaO2 treatment. Thus, CaO2 treatment facilitated fragmentation and disaggregation of the gelatinous structure of sewer sediments. Such green strategy decreased the cost of sewer sediment disposal by 42.10-68.95% when compared to water flushing, and it would improve the self-cleaning capacity of sewer system and efficiency of dredging equipment.

Decreased retinal vascular density is associated with cognitive impairment in CADASIL: an optical coherence tomography angiography study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to assess alterations in retinal vascular density in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) patients using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and investigate their association with MRI and cognitive features. METHODS: Twenty-five patients with CADASIL and forty healthy controls were evaluated by Cirrus HD-OCT 5000 with AngioPlex OCTA to determine changes in macular retinal vasculature. Retinal vasculature parameters between two groups were compared. The MRI lesion burden and neuropsychological scales were also examined in patients. The association between OCTA parameters and MRI/cognitive features was evaluated using partial Spearman rank correlation. RESULTS: The vessel density and perfusion density of whole image in macular region (vessel density: t = - 2.834, p = 0.005; perfusion density: t = - 2.691, p = 0.007) were significantly decreased in patients with CADASIL. Moreover, vessel density of whole image in macular region was negatively associated with Fazekas scores (ρ = - 0.457; p = 0.025) and the number of lacunar infractions (ρ = - 0.425, p = 0.038) after adjustment for age. Decreased macular vessel density and perfusion density of whole image were also associated with MoCA scores (vessel density: ρ = 0.542, p = 0.006; perfusion density: ρ = 0.478, p = 0.018) and other domain-specific neuropsychological tests (p < 0.05) after adjustment for age. CONCLUSION: Decreased retinal vascular density was associated with increased MRI lesion burden and cognitive impairment in patients with CADASIL. Our findings suggest that the degree of retinal vascular involvement, as demonstrated by OCTA, may be consistent with the severity of MRI lesions and the degree of cognitive impairment in patients.

The influence of educational and emotional support on e-learning acceptance: An integration of social support theory and TAM.

Flexible education is considered the primary function of e-learning, however, empirical evidence during the COVID-19 pandemic has also demonstrated that students may seek emotional comforts in e-learning to alleviate their negative emotions. This study aims to provide a holistic view of the antecedents of college students' e-learning acceptance by integrating social support theory with the technology acceptance model. Specifically, drawing upon social support theory, this study adopted perceived educational support and perceived emotional support as two driving factors and examined their influences on students' continuous intention in e-learning. The model was empirically validated using survey data from 512 college respondents in China during the first wave of the pandemic. Our results suggested that while perceived educational support exerts a major influence on e-learning acceptance, perceived emotional support also has an important role to play. Besides, the analytics results suggested that the two facets of support had different influencing patterns: perceived educational support has a positive and significant relationship with both perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, whereas perceived emotional support solely has a significant relationship with perceived ease of use. Additionally, compared with the prior studies, the effect size ( ß ) between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness is larger in the present study (COVID-19 context). These findings stress the need to better understand the mechanism by which social support influences college students' e-learning acceptance and to make use of various kinds of social supports to enhance perceived ease of use (e.g. human-computer interface), promote perceived usefulness, and ultimately motivate more students' continuance intention in e-learning.

Comparison of hyperreflective foci in macular edema secondary to multiple etiologies with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography: An observational study.

BACKGROUND: Hyperreflective foci (HRF) features in macular edema associated with different etiologies may indicate the disease pathogenesis and help to choose proper treatment. The goal of this study is to investigate the retinal microstructural features of macular edema (ME) secondary to multiple etiologies with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and analyze the origin of HRF in ME. METHODS: This was a retrospective study. SD-OCT images were reviewed to investigate macular microstructural features such as the number and distribution of HRF and hard exudates and the internal reflectivity of the cysts. The differences in microstructural features between groups and the correlations between the number of HRF and other parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 101 eyes with ME from 86 diabetic (diabetic macular edema, DME) patients, 51 eyes from 51 patients with ME secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (branch retinal vein occlusion-macular edema, BRVO-ME), 59 eyes from 58 central retinal vein occlusion (central retinal vein occlusion-macular edema, CRVO-ME) patients, and 26 eyes from 22 uveitis (uveitic macular edema, UME) patients were included in this study. The number of HRF, the frequency of hard exudates and the enhanced internal reflectivity of the cysts were significantly different among the groups. The number of HRF in the DME group was significantly higher than that in the other groups (all P < 0.05). The frequency of hard exudates and enhanced internal reflectivity of the cysts in the DME group were significantly higher than ME secondary to other etiologies (all P < 0.001). Within the DME group, the number of HRF in the patients with hard exudates was significantly higher than that in the patients without hard exudates (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: HRF detected with SD-OCT were more frequent in DME patients than in BRVO-ME, CRVO-ME, or UME patients. The occurrence of HRF was correlated with the frequency of hard exudates. HRF may result from the deposition of macromolecular exudates in the retina, which is speculated to be a precursor of hard exudates.

Impact of Hospital Characteristics and Governance Structure on the Adoption of Tracking Technologies for Clinical and Supply Chain Use: Longitudinal Study of US Hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Despite the increasing adoption rate of tracking technologies in hospitals in the United States, few empirical studies have examined the factors involved in such adoption within different use contexts (eg, clinical and supply chain use contexts). To date, no study has systematically examined how governance structures impact technology adoption in different use contexts in hospitals. Given that the hospital governance structure fundamentally governs health care workflows and operations, understanding its critical role provides a solid foundation from which to explore factors involved in the adoption of tracking technologies in hospitals. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to compare critical factors associated with the adoption of tracking technologies for clinical and supply chain uses and examine how governance structure types affect the adoption of tracking technologies in hospitals. METHODS: This study was conducted based on a comprehensive and longitudinal national census data set comprising 3623 unique hospitals across 50 states in the United States from 2012 to 2015. Using mixed effects population logistic regression models to account for the effects within and between hospitals, we captured and examined the effects of hospital characteristics, locations, and governance structure on adjustments to the innate development of tracking technology over time. RESULTS: From 2012 to 2015, we discovered that the proportion of hospitals in which tracking technologies were fully implemented for clinical use increased from 36.34% (782/2152) to 54.63% (1316/2409), and that for supply chain use increased from 28.58% (615/2152) to 41.3% (995/2409). We also discovered that adoption factors impact the clinical and supply chain use contexts differently. In the clinical use context, compared with hospitals located in urban areas, hospitals in rural areas (odds ratio [OR] 0.68, 95% CI 0.56-0.80) are less likely to fully adopt tracking technologies. In the context of supply chain use, the type of governance structure influences tracking technology adoption. Compared with hospitals not affiliated with a health system, implementation rates increased as hospitals affiliated with a more centralized health system-1.9-fold increase (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.60-2.13) for decentralized or independent hospitals, 2.4-fold increase (OR 2.40, 95% CI 2.07-2.80) for moderately centralized health systems, and 3.1-fold increase for centralized health systems (OR 3.07, 95% CI 2.67-3.53). CONCLUSIONS: As the first of such type of studies, we provided a longitudinal overview of how hospital characteristics and governance structure jointly affect adoption rates of tracking technology in both clinical and supply chain use contexts, which is essential for developing intelligent infrastructure for smart hospital systems. This study informs researchers, health care providers, and policy makers that hospital characteristics, locations, and governance structures have different impacts on the adoption of tracking technologies for clinical and supply chain use and on health resource disparities among hospitals of different sizes, locations, and governance structures.

Next-to-Next-to-Leading Order Calculation of Quasiparton Distribution Functions.

We present the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculation of quark quasiparton distribution functions (PDFs) in the large momentum effective theory. The nontrivial factorization at this order is established explicitly and the full analytic matching coefficients between the quasidistribution and the light-cone distribution are derived. We demonstrate that the NNLO numerical contributions can improve the behavior of the extracted PDFs sizably. With the unprecedented precision study of nucleon tomography at the planned electron-ion collider, high precision lattice QCD simulations with our NNLO results implemented will enable to test the QCD theory and more precise results on the PDFs of nucleons will be obtained.

Minocycline prevents the inflammatory response after retinal detachment, where microglia phenotypes being regulated through A20.

Retinal detachment (RD) is a severe sight-threatening complication that can be caused by a multitude of retinal diseases. It has been evidenced that minocycline exerts neuroprotective effects by targeting microglia in the pathogenesis of massive ocular lesions including RD, but mechanisms remain elusive. We carried out this research to elucidate the potential mediators that link RD-induced vision loss with microglia reactivity by discussing effects of minocycline on cytokine levels and A20, a negative regulator of inflammation. Minocycline or vehicle was intraperitoneally administrated immediately after RD and continued daily before animals being euthanized. The oxygen glucose deprivation assay was undertaken on the co-cultured BV-2 and 661W cells to mimic the condition of RD in vitro, where A20 siRNA was adopted to knock down the A20 expression in BV-2 cells. Photoreceptor cells apoptosis, inflammatory response and microglia activity following RD with or without minocycline were evaluated. Photoreceptor cells apoptosis and inflammatory response were induced after RD, which could be largely counteracted by minocycline. Minocycline postponed the migration and proliferation of microglia and facilitated their transition to the M2 subtype following RD. Blocking A20 expression in BV-2 cells with siRNA crippled the effect of minocycline. Collectively, minocycline yields a promoting effect on photoreceptor cells survival post-RD by modulating the transformation of microglia phenotypes, in which process A20 may play a "bridge" role.

Association of Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha-308 G/A and -238 G/A Polymorphism with Diabetic Retinopathy: A Systematic Review and Updated Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mounting evidence has suggested that tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) can promote the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR), and TNF-α gene variants may influence DR risk. However, the results are quite different. OBJECTIVES: To comprehensively address this issue, we performed the meta-analysis to evaluate the association of TNF-α-308 G/A and -238 G/A polymorphism with DR. METHOD: Data were retrieved in a systematic manner and analyzed using STATA Statistical Software. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of associations. Allelic and genotypic comparisons between cases and controls were evaluated. RESULTS: For the TNF-α-308 G/A polymorphism, overall analysis suggested a marginal association with DR (the OR [95% CI] of [GA vs. GG], [GA + AA] vs. GG, and [A vs. G] are 1.21 [1.04, 1.41], 1.20 [1.03, 1.39], and 1.14 [1.01, 1.30], respectively). And the subgroup analysis indicated an enhanced association among the European population. For the TNF-α-238 G/A polymorphism, there was a mild correlation in the entire group (the OR [95% CI] of [GA vs. GG] is 1.55 [1.14, 2.11]), which was strengthened among the Asian population. CONCLUSION: The meta-analysis suggested that -308 A and -238 A allele in TNF-α gene potentially increased DR risk and showed a discrepancy in different ethnicities.

Mechanism study of improving anaerobic co-digestion performance of waste activated sludge and food waste by Fe3O4.

A large amount of waste activated sludge (WAS) and food waste (FW) are produced every year in China. Anaerobic co-digestion is considered to be an effective way to solve this problem. This study applied FW/WAS mixture as co-substrate to create different digestive environment, aiming to understand the mechanism of Fe3O4 particles in promoting AD performance. The results showed that the addition of Fe3O4 presented various performances when facing different digestive acidification stress brought by different mixing ratios of WAS and FW. Methanogenic pathways and microbial communities varied with substrates' properties. For group A (WAS mono-digestion), the acetoclastic methanogens dominated, 20 mg/g VS (according to the iron element) Fe3O4 could promote methane production, while 200 mg/g VS Fe3O4 would inhibit microbial activity. The promoted methane production by Fe3O4 was attributable to the promotion of sludge hydrolysis. For group B (WAS: FW = 1:0.5, based on VS addition, similarly hereinafter), Fe3O4 triggered direct interspecific electron transfer (DIET) between bacteria and methanogens. For group C (WAS: FW = 1:1), the hydrogenotrophic methanogens dominated, bacteria excreted more non-conductive polysaccharides in EPS to resist unfavorable environment, thereby it prevented their contact with Fe3O4 particles. So, it was difficult for Fe3O4 to trigger DIET and promote the digestive performance of batch experiments in such condition.

Aged landfill leachate enhances anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is considered as a sustainable pathway to recover energy from organic wastes, but the digestive efficiency for waste activated sludge (WAS) is not as expected due to the limitations in WAS hydrolysis. This study proposes an effective strategy to simultaneously treat WAS and landfill leachate, aiming to promote WAS hydrolysis and enhance organics converting to methane. The effects of landfill leachate on the four stages (i.e., solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis) of AD of WAS, as well as the effect mechanisms were investigated. Results showed that adding appropriate amounts of landfill leachate could promote the steps of solubilization, hydrolysis and acidogenesis of WAS, but had no-effect on methanogenesis. The hydrolysis and acidogenesis efficiency in the leachate added digesters were 2.0%-8.4% and 35.2%-72.7% higher than the control digester. Mechanism studies indicated that humic acid (HA) contained in the leachate was conducive to the processes of both hydrolysis and acidogenesis, but detrimental to the methanogenesis. Effects of heavy metals (HMs) on AD of WAS was also dose-dependent. Digestive performance was inhibited by excessive HMs but promoted by moderate dosages. Humic acid and metal ions tend to interact to form complexes, and thus relieve their each inhibition effects. It is also found that the stability of sludge flocs was reduced by the leachate through reducing both apparent activation energy (AAE) and median particle size (MPS) of the sludge. Microbial community and diversity results revealed that the relative abundance of microbes responsible for hydrolysis and acidogenesis increased when landfill leachate was present. This research provides a more technically and economically feasible approach to co-treating and co-utilizing WAS and landfill leachate.

Quantitative analysis of retinal and choroidal microvascular parameters using optical coherence tomography angiography in children with nephrotic syndrome: a pilot study.

PURPOSE: To study the retinal and choroidal microvascular parameters in children with nephrotic syndrome (NS). METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study. Optical coherence tomography angiography was used to evaluate the changes of retinal and choroidal microvessels in patients with NS. Thirty NS children and 20 normal controls were included in this study. The macular vessel density (VD) of the superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), choroid capillary plexus (CCP), and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area of the SCP and DCP was quantitatively calculated. Clinical data including serum protein, blood lipid, uric acid, urea, serum creatinine, urinary protein concentration, urinary creatinine, 24-h urine volume, 24-h urinary total protein, 24-h creatinine clearance rate, and urinary albumin to creatinine ratio were collected. RESULTS: The VDs of the DCP and CCP in children with NS were significantly lower than those in controls (59.35 ± 2.45 vs. 61.15 ± 1.53, p = 0.002, 66.34 ± 1.43 vs. 67.16 ± 1.23, p = 0.042, respectively). The VD of the SCP in children with NS had a tendency to decrease compared with that in controls, but there were no significant differences. There were also no significant differences in FAZ area between the two groups. The VD of the SCP was positively correlated with serum total protein (ρ = 0.446, p = 0.014), serum albumin (ρ = 0.431, p = 0.017), and 24-h urine volume (ρ = 0.389, p = 0.034) but negatively correlated with triglyceride (ρ = - 0.450, p = 0.013), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (ρ = -0.432, p = 0.017), urinary protein concentration (ρ = - 0.606, p < 0.001), and 24-h urinary total protein (ρ = - 0.517, p = 0.004). The VDs of the SCP, DCP, and CCP were negatively correlated with the urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ρ = - 0.473, p = 0.008, ρ = - 0.438, p = 0.015, ρ = -0.467, p = 0.009, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Retinal and choroidal VDs were decreased in children with NS and paralleled the severity of kidney disease. Optical coherence tomography angiography can be used as a noninvasive method for evaluating renal injury in patients with NS.

Enhanced hydrolysis of lignocellulose in corn cob by using food waste pretreatment to improve anaerobic digestion performance.

This study aims to enhance hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion of corn cob (CC) by using food waste (FW) pretreatment. FW, which tends to be acidification in fermentation, was applied in this process as an acid-like agent to accelerate lignocellulose hydrolysis, aiming to promote methane yield in further digestion process. The effect of FW pretreatment on pH, soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), volatile fatty acids (VFAs), cellulose/hemicellulose contents and cellulose crystallinity are specially focused. FW:CC = 1:3 based on volatile solid (VS) was found to be the optimal mixing ratio in pretreatment and its hydrolysis efficiency was 28% higher than the control group. An increase of 13.2% in cellulose reduction and a decrease of 6.7% in cellulose crystallinity was achieved at this ratio. Supplementation of FW increased VFA concentrations in slurry mixture that directly change the activities of enzymes and microorganisms. In the stage of methane production, the digester A3 (FW:CC = 1:6 based on VS) with higher hydrolysis efficiency presented the best performance in methane production with a specific methane yield of 401.6 mL/g·VS, due to the recovery of the pH in this digester to the optimal pH range for methanogens' metabolism (pH 6.3-7.2). Kinetics studies of cellulose/hemicellulose degradation indicated that the pretreatment of FW could improve the degradation of cellulose. Three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3DEEM) results further confirmed that FW play an important role in lignocellulose hydrolysis. In addition, variations of lignocellulosic textures during the pretreatment were also cleared by using field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) analysis.

Subretinal echinococcosis: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Echinococcosis is a dangerous zoonotic parasitic disease. Ocular echinococcosis is very rare, especially the hydatid cysts in subretinal space. We present a case of subretinal echinococcosis and management. CASE PRESENTATION: A 37-year-old man with subretinal echinococcosis who developed panuveitis and visual impairment. The patient lives on agriculture and animal husbandry, which made him susceptible to parasitic infection. He had severe panuveitis and blurred vision on arrival at hospital. According to his ocular examination and systemic review, the subretinal echinococcosis diagnosis was made. The patient received pars plana lensectomy and pars plana vitrectomy. The lesion underneath his retina was removed, and histopathology examination confirmed the subretinal echinococcosis diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Echinococcosis is a dangerous zoonotic parasitic disease in pastoral areas. Ocular echinococcosis is usually secondary to systemic infection. Although the incidence is rare, the disease could lead to destructive visual function impairment.

Sulfitobacter pseudonitzschiae sp. nov., isolated from the toxic marine diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries.

A taxonomic study was carried out on bacterial strain H3(T), which was isolated from the toxic marine diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries. Cells of strain H3(T) were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile and capable of reducing nitrate to nitrite, but not denitrification. Growth was observed at NaCl concentrations of 1-9%, pH 6-12 and 10-37 °C. It was unable to degrade aesculin or gelatin. The dominant fatty acids (>10 %) were C18:1ω7c/ω6c (summed feature 8) and C16:0. The respiratory ubiquinone was Q10. The major lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, an aminolipid and one unknown lipid, and the minor lipids were two phospholipids and three unknown lipids. The G+C content of the chromosomal DNA was 61.7 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence comparison showed that strain H3(T) was related most closely to Sulfitobacter donghicola DSW-25(T) (97.3% similarity) and levels of similarity with other species of the genus Sulfitobacter were 95.1-96.9%. The mean (± sd) DNA-DNA hybridization value between strain H3(T) and Sulfitobacter donghicola DSW-25(T) was 18.0 ± 2.25%. The average nucleotide identity between strain H3(T) and Sulfitobacter donghicola DSW-25(T) was 70.45%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain H3(T) formed a separate clade close to the genus Sulfitobacter and was distinguishable from phylogenetically related species by differences in several phenotypic properties. On the basis of the phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain H3(T) represents a novel species of the genus Sulfitobacter, for which the name Sulfitobacter pseudonitzschiae is proposed (type strain H3(T) =DSM 26824(T) =MCCC 1A00686(T)).

Influences of domoic Acid exposure on cardiac development and the expression of cardiovascular relative genes in zebrafish (Daniorerio) embryos.

Domoic acid (DA) is a highly toxic phycotoxin that is generated from marine diatoms Pseudonitzschia spp. It has been found that bivalves or cephalopods can accumulate DA to a high level through their feeding activities and cause illness or death in consumers. Zebrafish have been used as a model to investigate and characterize the developmental toxicity of DA. However, there is no report about the relationship between DA and cardiac development in zebrafish. Here, zebrafish embryos were exposed to DA with at the dose of 1, 10, 100, and 1000 ng/L. High mortality and some developmental toxicity including pericardial and yolk sac edema, dorsal curvature, and cardiac defects were observed in the DA-treated larvae. We found that DA exposure not only disrupted normal cardiac development but also altered the expression of some cardiac development correlated genes and calcium ion channels, such as Anf, Bnp, Atp2a2a, Atp2a2b, Ncx1h, Ryr2b, and Tbx5.

Computer-aided analyses of mouse retinal OCT images - an actual application report.

PURPOSE: There is a need for automated retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) image analysis tools for quantitative measurements in small animals. Some image processing techniques for retinal layer analysis have been developed, but reports about how useful those techniques are in actual animal studies are rare. This paper presents the use of a retinal layer detection method we developed in an actual mouse study that involves wild type and mutated mice carrying photoreceptor degeneration. METHODS: Spectral domain OCT scanning was performed by four experimenters over 12 months on 45 mouse eyes that were wild-type, deficient for ephrin-A2 and ephrin-A3, deficient for rhodopsin, or deficient for rhodopsin, ephrin-A2 and ephrin-A3. The thickness of photoreceptor complex between the outer plexiform layer and retinal pigment epithelium was measured on two sides of the optic disc as the biomarker of retinal degeneration. All the layer detection results were visually confirmed. RESULTS: Overall, 96% (8519 out of 9000) of the half-side images were successfully processed using our technique in a semi-automatic manner. There was no significant difference in success rate between mouse lines (p = 0.91). Based on a human observer's rating of image quality for images successfully and unsuccessfully processed, the odds ratios for 'easily visible' images and 'not clear' images to be successfully processed is 62 and 4, respectively, against 'indistinguishable' images. Thickness of photoreceptor complex was significantly different across the quadrants compared (p < 0.001). It was also found that the average thickness based on 4-point sparse sampling was not significantly different from the full analysis, while the range of differences between the two methods could be up to about 6 µm or 16% for individual eyes. Differences between mouse lines and progressive thickness reduction were revealed by both sampling measures. CONCLUSIONS: Although the thickness of the photoreceptor complex layer is not even, manual sparse sampling may be as sufficiently accurate as full analysis in some studies such as ours, where the error of sparse sampling was much smaller than the effect size of rhodopsin deficiency. It is also suggested that the image processing method can be useful in actual animal studies. Even for images poorly visible to human eyes the image processing method still has a good chance to extract the complex layer.

Improving anaerobic digestion performance after severe acidification: Unveiling the impacts of Fe3O4-bentonite composites in co-digestion of waste activated sludge and food waste.

Acidification recovery in anaerobic digestion of food waste is challenging. This study explored its in-situ recovery using a co-substrate of food waste and waste activated sludge. Fe3O4 and bentonite were used as conductor and carrier, respectively, to enhance AD performance under severe acidification. The application of Fe3O4-bentonite resulted in a 152% increase in cumulative methane in the Fe3O4-bentonite 10 digester, demonstrating its effectiveness in restoring the acidified AD system. In acidified systems, bentonite enhanced the diversity and richness of microbial communities due to its buffering capacity. The excessive non-conductive polysaccharides excreted by bacteria in extracellular polymeric substances reduced the possibility of electron transfer by Fe3O4. However, in the synergistic application of Fe3O4 and bentonite, this resistance was alleviated, increasing the possibility of direct interspecies electron transfer, and accelerating the consumption of volatile fatty acids. This approach of integrating carrier and conductive materials is significant for in-situ restoration of acidified systems.

Characterization of Ocular Morphology in Col4a3-/- Mice as a Murine Model for Alport Syndrome.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the ocular morphological characteristics of Col4a3-/- mice as a model of Alport syndrome (AS) and the potential pathogenesis. Methods: The expression of collagen IV at 8, 12, and 21 weeks of age was evaluated by immunohistochemistry in wild-type (WT) and Col4a3-/- mice. Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and thickness measurements were performed to assess the thickness of anterior lens capsule and retina. Ultrastructure analysis of corneal epithelial basement membrane, anterior lens capsule, internal limiting membrane (ILM), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) basement membrane was performed using transmission electron microscopy. Finally, Müller cell activation was evaluated by glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) expression. Results: Collagen IV was downregulated in the corneal epithelial basement membrane and ILM of Col4a3-/- mice. The hemidesmosomes of Col4a3-/- mice corneal epithelium became flat and less electron-dense than those of the WT group. Compared with those of the WT mice, the anterior lens capsules of Col4a3-/- mice were thinner. Abnormal structure was detected at the ILM Col4a3-/- mice, and the basal folds of the RPE basement membrane in Col4a3-/- mice were thicker and shorter. The retinas of Col4a3-/- mice were thinner than those of WT mice, especially within 1000 µm away from the optic nerve. GFAP expression enhanced in each age group of Col4a3-/- mice. Conclusions: Our results suggested that Col4a3-/- mice exhibit ocular anomalies similar to patients with AS. Additionally, Müller cells may be involved in AS retinal anomalies. Translational Relevance: This animal model could provide an opportunity to understand the underlying mechanisms of AS ocular disorders and to investigate potential new treatments.

Effect of Different Edible Trichosanthes Germplasm on Its Seed Oil to Enhance Antioxidant and Anti-Aging Activity in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The seeds of various Trichosanthes L. plants have been frequently used as snacks instead of for traditional medicinal purposes in China. However, there is still a need to identify the species based on seeds from Trichosanthes germplasm for the potential biological activities of their seed oil. In this study, 18 edible Trichosanthes germplasm from three species were identified and distinguished at a species level using a combination of seed morphological and microscopic characteristics and nrDNA-ITS sequences. Seed oil from the edible Trichosanthes germplasm significantly enhanced oxidative stress tolerance, extended lifespan, delayed aging, and improved healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans. The antioxidant activity of the seed oil exhibits a significant positive correlation with its total unsaturated fatty acid content among the 18 edible Trichosanthes germplasm, suggesting a genetic basis for this trait. The biological activities of seed oil varied among species, with T. kirilowii Maxim. and T. rosthornii Harms showing stronger effects than T. laceribractea Hayata.