Effect of humic substances on the fraction of heavy metal and microbial response.

Contamination of soils by Molybdenum (Mo) has raised increasing concern worldwide. Both fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA) possess numerous positive properties, such as large specific surface areas and microporous structure that facilitates the immobilization of the heavy metal in soils. Despite these characteristics, there have been few studies on the microbiology effects of FA and HA. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the Mo immobilization effects of FA and HA, as well as the associated changes in microbial community in Mo-contaminated soils (with application rates of 0%, 0.5% and 1.0%). The result of the incubation demonstrated a decrease in soil pH (from 8.23 ~ 8.94 to 8.05 ~ 8.77). Importantly, both FA and HA reduced the exchangeable fraction and reducible fraction of Mo in the soil, thereby transforming Mo into a more stable form. Furthermore, the application of FA and HA led to an increase in the relative abundance of Actinobacteriota and Firmicutes, resulting in alterations to the microbial community structure. However, it is worth noting that due to the differing structures and properties of FA and HA, these outcomes were not entirely consistent. In summary, the aging of FA and HA in soil enhanced their capacity to immobilization Mo as a soil amendment. This suggests that they have the potential to serve as effective amendments for the remediation of Mo-contaminated soils.

A prognosis and impact factor analysis of DC-CIK cell therapy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma undergoing postoperative TACE.

Dendritic cell-cytokine-induced killer (DC-CIK) cell therapy has been experimentally implemented for enhancing anti-tumoral immunity in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) undergoing postoperative transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (POTACE). We performed a retrospective study to evaluate the clinical efficacies of DC-CIK cell therapy and its correlations with several immune factors of the primary tumors. The overall survival time of HCC patients with HBV infection in the study group (POTACE plus DC-CIK cell therapy) was significantly longer than that of the control group (POTACE alone). The expression level of PD-L1 but not the tumor-infiltrated CD8 and CD4 T cells in the tumor tissues showed significant negative correlations with relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), which was also an independent prognostic factor for the five-years' suvival of patients with HCC receiving POTACE treatment. Furthermore, our study validated that PD-L1 expression was significantly inversely correlated with the survival time of HCC patients receiving POTACE plus DC-CIK cell therapy treatment. More importantly, DC-CIK cell therapy provided the best clinical benefits to HCC patients with the low PD-L1 expression receiving POTACE, which indicate that PD-L1 expression level can serve as a pivotal predictor for the therapeutic efficacy of DC-CIK cell therapy for HCC patients receiving POTACE treatment.