Mariculture affects antibiotic resistome and microbiome in the coastal environment.

Antibiotics are increasingly used and released into the marine environment due to the rapid development of mariculture, resulting in spread of antibiotic resistance. The pollution, distribution, and characteristics of antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and microbiomes have been investigated in this study. Results showed that 20 antibiotics were detected in Chinese coastal environment, with predominance of erythromycin-H2O, enrofloxacin and oxytetracycline. In coastal mariculture sites, antibiotic concentrations were significantly higher than in control sites, and more types of antibiotics were detected in the South than in the North of China. Residues of enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and sulfadiazine posed high resistance selection risks. ß-Lactam, multi-drug and tetracycline resistance genes were frequently detected with significantly higher abundance in the mariculture sites. Of the 262 detected ARGs, 10, 26, and 19 were ranked as high-risk, current-risk, future-risk, respectively. The main bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, of which 25 genera were zoonotic pathogens, with Arcobacter and Vibrio in particular ranking in the top10. Opportunistic pathogens were more widely distributed in the northern mariculture sites. Phyla of Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the potential hosts of high-risk ARGs, while the conditional pathogens were associated with future-risk ARGs, indicating a potential threat to human health.

MMP1 Overexpression Promotes Cancer Progression and Associates with Poor Outcome in Head and Neck Carcinoma.

Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1) has been reported to play key roles in a variety of cancers by degrading the extracellular matrix. However, its carcinogenic roles have not been shown yet in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). This study aimed to elucidate its expression pattern and functional roles as well as clinical significance in HNSCC. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were utilized to determine the MMP1 expression pattern and the associations between its expression and patients' outcome in HNSCC. Mice tongue squamous cell carcinoma model induced by 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4NQO) and siRNA-mediated cellular assay in vitro were utilized to evaluate the oncogenic role of MMP1. The biological functions and cancer-related pathways involved in MMP1-related genes were found through bioinformatics analysis. Both mRNA and protein abundance of MMP1 were highly increased in HNSCC as compared to its non-tumor counterparts. MMP1 overexpression positively correlated with advanced tumor size, cervical node metastasis, and advanced pathological grade and lower patients' survival. In the 4NQO-induced animal model, MMP1 expression increased along with the progression of the disease. In HNSCC cells, siRNA-mediated knockdown of MMP1 significantly inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and activated apoptosis and epithelia-mesenchymal transition (EMT). GSEA, GO, and KEGG analyses showed that MMP1 expression was significantly related to cancer-related pathways and cancer-related functions. Together, our results demonstrated MMP1 serves as a novel prognostic biomarker and putative oncogene in HNSCC.

Preoperative circulating fibrinogen to albumin ratio in predicting 5-year prognosis of oral cancer radical surgery.

Accurate prediction of oral cancer (OC) prognosis before surgery is the key to treatment. The prognosis of OC is mainly based on the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system, but TNM staging cannot accurately predict clinical prognosis. Current research results show that systemic inflammatory and nutritional markers can influence the postoperative prognosis and outcome of malignant tumors. The objectives of this research are to explore the preoperative blood fibrinogen and albumin in OC patients and to determine the predictive validity of the fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR) over 5 years of follow-up. This retrospective cohort study queried The Affiliated Huaian No.1 People's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University database and identified 157 cases of OC operations performed between 2014 and 2016. Survival curves were presented by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to assess clinical value for patients with radical surgery. The FAR revealed a good prediction for 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS). The optimal cut-off value for FAR was 0.072. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that FAR was an independent risk factor for survival. Increased FAR (>0.072) is negatively associated with the CSS of patients (log-rank test, p<0.01). The preoperative FAR may provide a significant predictor of cancer-specific survival in oral cancer patients undergoing radical surgery.

Prognostic role of an inflammation scoring system in radical resection of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory markers can influence the postoperative prognosis and outcome of malignant tumors. However, the role of inflammatory factors in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) are still debatable. The primary objective of this investigation was to detect the preoperative blood fibrinogen and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in OSCC patients and to determine the predictive validity of F-NLR (combined fibrinogen and NLR score). METHODS: A total of 365 patients with oral cancer after surgery were separated into three classes: F-NLR of 2, with hyperfibrinogenemia (> 250 mg/dL) and high NLR (> 3.2); F-NLR of 1, with only one higher index; and F-NLR of 0, with no higher indices. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients in the three F-NLR groups. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to assess the prognosis. RESULTS: Preoperative F-NLR showed a relatively better predictive role in oral cancer prognosis than fibrinogen and NLR alone. Multivariate analysis revealed that F-NLR has the potential to be an independent predictor for OSCC cancer-specific survival (P < 0.001). Patients with high scores had a relatively poorer prognosis than those with low scores (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that blood F-NLR may serve as an independent prognostic factor in OSCC patients.

Unplanned reoperation after radical surgery for oral cancer: an analysis of risk factors and outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Unplanned reoperation (UR) after radical surgery for oral cancer (OC) is a health threat for the patients. The aim of the study was to identify the incidence of and risk factors for unplanned reoperation following oral cancer radical surgery, and to explore a potential role for long-term survival. METHODS: The present study followed a retrospective study design. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to identify risk factors for demographic and clinical characteristics of patients. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method. The data was analyzed statistically between November and December 2021. RESULTS: The incidence of UR was 15.7%. The primary cause of UR was reconstructed flap complications. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that diabetes, tumor size, type of reconstruction, and nodal metastasis were independent risk factors for UR. Patients undergoing UR had a longer hospitalization, more post-operative complications, and a higher mortality compared with the non-UR group. UR is negatively correlated with the cancer-specific survival rate of patients (Log-rank test, P = 0.024). CONCLUSION: Diabetes, tumor size, pedicled flap reconstruction and cervical nodal metastasis (N2) as independent risk factors for UR was discovered. UR was positively correlated with perioperative complications prolong hospital stay, and increased early mortality, but negatively correlated with the cancer-specific survival rate survival rate.

Antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes and microbial community in grouper mariculture.

Increasing use of feed and medicine in mariculture could cause negative environmental impacts such as habitat modification, microbial disease development and antibiotic resistance. Here we investigated contamination of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and composition of microbial community in grouper mariculture systems in Hainan province, China. Results showed detection of various antibiotic residues with the dominance of fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines in the six grouper cultivation systems. The concentrations of the detected antibiotics in the grouper mariculture water were significantly higher than those in the original seawater. Some of the detected antibiotics such as enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, oxytetracycline and erythromycin in the mariculture water and/or sediment would pose high resistance selection risks. Sulfonamides resistance genes sul1 and sul2 were found to be predominant in water and sediment, while tetracycline resistance genes were prevalent in fish gill and gut. The dominant bacterial phyla in water and sediments were Bacteroides, Actinomycetes, and Proteobacteria, while the dominant ones in fish gill and gut were the Proteobacteria. Genera of Vibrio and Mycobacterium in the core microbiota were important zoonotic pathogens, and there was a significant positive correlation between Vibrio and ARGs. Phyla of Proteobacteria, Actinomyces, and Cyanobacteria were positively correlated to ARGs, indicating that these microorganisms are potential hosts of ARGs. The putative functions of microbiome related to antibiotic resistance and human diseases were significantly higher in fish than in the mariculture environment. This study suggests that mariculture system is a reservoir of ARGs, and the use of antibiotics in mariculture could induce the increase of antibiotic resistance and the prevalence of opportunistic pathogens.

[Related factors of cervical lymph node metastasis and prognosis of patients with cN0 tongue squamous cell carcinoma].

PURPOSE: To explore the related factors of cervical lymph node metastasis and postoperative quality of life in patients with cN0 tongue squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and provide a theoretical basis for clinical prediction of occult neck metastasis and improvement of survival rate. METHODS: A total of 283 patients with cN0 tongue SCC who underwent surgery in Huaian No.1 People's Hospital were collected. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used to analyze the correlation between cervical lymph node metastasis and clinical pathological parameters of patients. Single-factor and multi-factor Cox regression analysis were used to explore independent risk factors for prognosis of patients with tongue SCC. Survival analysis was used to study the correlation between cervical lymph node metastasis and prognosis of patients. SPSS 21.0 software package was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis showed that infiltration depth, T stage and pathological grade were closely related to cervical lymph node metastasis(P<0.05), and infiltration depth was the main factor leading to postoperative cervical lymph node metastasis(OR=2.175). The depth of invasion, pathological grade and cervical lymph node metastasis could be regarded as independent risk factor affecting the prognosis of patients with tongue SCC(P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Invasion depth, T stage and pathological grade can be used as indicators to predict occult cervical lymph node metastasis in patients with cN0 tongue SCC. Invasion depth, pathological grade and cervical lymph node metastasis can be used as independent indicators to predict the prognosis of patients with cN0 tongue SCC.

[Pollution Characteristics and Removal of Typical Pharmaceuticals in Hospital Wastewater and Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants].

In this study, solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was used to track the contamination of 17 benzodiazepines, 14 acidic pharmaceuticals, and 5 neutral pharmaceuticals in 4 hospital wastewater treatment systems and 3 municipal wastewater treatment plants in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. The results showed that a total of 10 benzodiazepines, 8 acidic, and 3 neutral pharmaceuticals were detected in the hospital wastewater treatment systems with concentrations in the ranges of 0.41-23376 ng·L-1 and 0.11-22888 ng·L-1 in the influents and effluents, respectively; The 8 benzodiazepines, 8 acidic, and 4 neutral pharmaceuticals were detected in the municipal wastewater treatment plants with concentrations in the ranges of 0.4-1695 ng·L-1 (influents) and 0.1-1526 ng·L-1 (effluents). Among them, high levels of benzodiazepine compounds including lorazepam[(53.1±2.7) ng·L-1, H1], oxazepam[(39.5±4.1) ng·L-1, W2] and clozapine[(30.6±4.0) ng·L-1, W1] were detected. Ibuprofen[(19014±5430) ng·L-1, H1] and paracetamol[(2600±570) ng·L-1, H2] were found to have the highest concentrations for the acidic and neutral pharmaceuticals, respectively. Less than 30% of benzodiazepines were removed in hospital wastewater treatment systems and municipal wastewater treatment plants; however, acidic and neutral pharmaceuticals had higher removal rates. The municipal wastewater treatment plants had greater performance in the removal of acidic and neutral pharmaceuticals (mostly 60%-99%) than the hospital wastewater treatment systems (mostly 10%-60%). Finally, the usage and pollution emissions of 20 typical pharmaceuticals in Guangzhou and Guangdong Province were calculated based on the average emission per person. The total amount of usage in Guangzhou and Guangdong was 3942 kg·a-1 and 30371 kg·a-1, respectively. Paracetamol and ibuprofen had the greatest values, as did oxazepam and lorazepam benzodiazepines. The emission rate of these 20 pharmaceuticals in Guangzhou reached 1456 g·a-1 with concentrations ranging from 3.07 (mefenamic acid) to 378 g·a-1 (oxazepam).

The fate of sulfonamides in the process of phytoremediation in hydroponics.

Phytoremediation has been proven to be an alternative in-situ treatment technique for sulfonamide polluted wastewater. However, the fate of sulfonamides in the phytoremediation process of multiple sulfonamides coexistence is unclear. Therefore, the possibility and mechanism of phytoremediation of ten sulfonamides by different wetland plants through hydroponics were investigated in this study. The phytoremediation rates of Σsulfonamides by different wetland plants were from 44.5% to 56.9%. Mass balance analysis showed that rhizosphere biodegradation (90.2% - 92.2%) dominated the phytoremediation of Σsulfonamides, while hydrolysis (7.63% - 8.95%) and plant uptake (0.05% - 0.17%) accounted for a small proportion. It is worth mentioning that the dissipation of the target sulfonamides in the hydroponic system followed the first-order reaction kinetic model, with half-lives of 13.3 d to 53.3 d, which are close to or even lower than that of aerobic biodegradation in river water, sediment, and piggery wastewater. Six of the ten spiked sulfonamides were detected in plant samples demonstrated that the selective uptake of plants under the coexistence of multiple sulfonamides. The distribution of sulfonamides (concentrations and uptake amounts) in plant tissues followed the sequence of root > stem > leaf in this study, but the distribution in stems and leaves needs further study. The uptake and rhizosphere biodegradation of Cyperus papyrus to sulfonamides are optimally resulting that its phytoremediation rate is significantly higher than other plants (p < 0.05), which indicates that plant species is one of the key factors affecting the phytoremediation efficiency of sulfonamides. These findings verify the feasibility of phytoremediation of sulfonamides, and provide new insights into the fate of sulfonamides in the process of phytoremediation.

Biodegradation of typical azole fungicides in activated sludge under aerobic conditions.

Widespread use of azole fungicides and low removal efficiency in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have led to the elevated concentration of azole fungicides in receiving environment. However, there was limited research about the removal mechanism of azole fungicides in the biological treatment of WWTPs. Imidazole fungicide climbazole and triazole fungicide fluconazole were selected to investigate the biodegradation mechanism of azole fungicides in activated sludge under aerobic conditions. Climbazole was found to be adsorbed to solid sludge and resulted in quick biodegradation. The degradation of climbazole in the aerobic activated sludge system was fitted well by the first-order kinetic model with a half-life of 5.3 days, while fluconazole tended to stay in liquid and had only about 30% of loss within 77 days incubation. Ten biotransformation products of climbazole were identified by high resolution mass spectrometry using suspect and non-target screening method. But no biodegradation products of fluconazole were identified due to its limited removal. The possible biodegradation pathways for climbazole were proposed based on the products identification and pathway prediction system, and involves oxidative dehalogenation, side chain oxidation and azole ring loss. The findings from this study suggest that it should be a concern for the persistence of fluconazole in the environment.

Highly enhanced biodegradation of pharmaceutical and personal care products in a novel tidal flow constructed wetland with baffle and plants.

Research on decentralized wastewaters deserves special focus due to the potential abundance of emerging organic pollutants including pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), which might pose serious threats to the local water bodies and even to human health. Constructed wetland (CW) is a common decentralized wastewater treatment technology, with a certain ability to eliminate PPCPs. Nonetheless, PPCPs removal in common CWs is frequently challenging, besides, the removal mechanism remains elusive. Based on our previous study, tidal flow constructed wetlands (TFCWs) is effective in nitrogen removal. Here, 3 TFCWs with different modifications (baffle, plants, both baffle and plants) were constructed to treat raw domestic sewage and specifically to evaluate the removal efficiencies and mechanism of PPCPs. 24 PPCPs including 7 antibiotics, 8 steroid hormones and 9 biocides were detected in the level of 1.10 ± 0.29 ng/L-799 ± 10.6 ng/L in the influents. Consequently, we found that modification with both baffle and plants significantly influenced the removal of PPCPs. Moreover, the highest removal rates of biocides (97.1 ± 0.29%), steroid hormones (99.8 ± 0.02%), and antibiotics (90.2 ± 1.60%) were achieved via both baffles and plants in TFCWs. Based on the mass balance analysis, microbial degradation dominated the removal of PPCPs with a percentage higher than 85.7%, followed by substrate adsorption (5.22 × 10-2-14.3%) and plant uptake (1.66 × 10-3-0.44%). Further, 16S rDNA sequencing analysis revealed that the presence of baffle and plants improve the removal efficiency of PPCPs by means of enhancing microbial diversity and changing dominant microorganisms. Moreover, Thaumarchaeota was potentially the key microorganism in the phylum level for PPCPs elimination by TFCWs through LEfSe (linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size) analysis. These findings provide new insights into the removal of PPCPs in CWs.

Rapid Test Method for Multi-Beam Profile of Phased Array Antennas.

The measurement of the phased array antenna (PAA) is completely different from the traditional antenna, due to its multi beam patterns. Usually, each beam pattern of the PAA needs a separate measurement, which makes the overall time extremely long. Thus, the traditional method can no longer meet the efficiency and cost requirements of new PAA measurement. In this paper, a pattern reconstruction method is proposed which significantly reduce the measurement time of multi-beam PAAs. With the known array element patterns (AEP) and theoretical weighted port excitation of the beams, any beam pattern can be predicted by measuring only a certain beam pattern, due to the element excitation coefficient (including the matching, mutual coupling, and manufacturing factors, etc.) of the specific PAA being calculated. The approach has low reconstruction error in term of beam pointing accuracy, side lobe, and co-polar and cross-polar patterns while being validated for large scanning range. Through theoretical derivation and experiments, the effectiveness of the method is verified, and the testing efficiency of the phased array antenna can be improved by 10 times or even more.

Occurrence, fate and mass loading of benzodiazepines and their transformation products in eleven wastewater treatment plants in Guangdong province, China.

Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are one of the most widely prescribed psychoactive drugs, however their persistence in the receiving environment has raised great concerns about their potential ecological risks. Here we investigated the occurrence, fate and mass loading of 17 BZDs and their 3 transformation products in 11 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Guangdong province, China. A total of 10 BZDs and 1 transformation product were found in the WWTPs influents, effluents and excess sludge, with concentrations reaching up to 44.5 ng/L (clozapine), 27.1 ng/L (oxazepam) and 62.9 ng/g (clozapine), respectively. The overall removal efficiency varied widely from negative to complete removal in these 11 WWTPs. Mass balance analysis of two representative WWTPs (WWTPA and WWTPB) with different treatment processes showed that their removals were mainly attributed to the sludge adsorption and biodegradation/biotransformation. The total usage of detected BZDs was estimated to be 185 kg/y in Guangdong province, China, while the total emission was 143 kg/y. Based on sewage epidemiology method, the total back-estimated consumption and emissions of BZDs and their transformation products in one district of Guangzhou (WWTPC service area) were 1012 mg/d/1000 people and 10.1 mg/d/1000 people, respectively. The findings from this study demonstrate the persistence of BZDs in WWTPs and also provide basis for further investigation into the potential ecological risks from this group of chemicals.

Trace analysis of 28 antibiotics in plant tissues (root, stem, leaf and seed) by optimized QuEChERS pretreatment with UHPLC-MS/MS detection.

Phytoremediation has proven to be an effective in-situ treatment technique for antibiotic contamination. Due to the immature methods of extracting multi-antibiotics in different plant tissues, the antibiotic absorption and transportation mechanism in the phytoremediation process has yet to be resolved. Therefore, an improved Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) pretreatment with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) detection method for 28 antibiotics in different plant tissues (root, stem, leaf and seed) was developed in this study. The optimized method showed satisfactory performance with recoveries for most antibiotics ranging from 70% to 130% (except sulfadoxine with 138 ± 8.84% in root, sulfameter with 68.9 ± 1.87% and sulfadoxine with 141 ± 10.0% in seed). The limits of detection (LODs) of the target compounds in root, stem, leaf and seed were 0.04 ± 0.02 ~ 2.50 ± 1.14 ng/g, 0.05 ± 0.02 ~ 1.78 ± 0.42 ng/g, 0.06 ± 0.01 ~ 2.50 ± 0.14 ng/g and 0.13 ± 0.10 ~ 3.64 ± 0.74 ng/g, respectively. This developed method was successfully applied to the determination of antibiotics in different tissues of hydroponic wetland plants exposed to antibiotics-spiked water for one-month. Sixteen of 28 spiked antibiotics were detected in plant tissue samples. Overall, of these 16 antibiotics, all were detected in root samples (from < LOQ to 1478 ± 353 ng/g), eleven in stem samples (from < LOQ to 425 ± 47.0 ng/g), and nine in leaf samples (from < LOQ to 429 ± 84.5 ng/g). This developed analytical method provided a robust tool for the simultaneous screening and determination of antibiotics in different plant tissues.