A novel advanced reduction process for the reduction of Cr(VI): Assistance of microbial metabolites.

Advanced reduction processes (ARPs) have become hotspot because of their fast and efficient features in pollutant treatment. In this study, a novel ARP was raised through the assistance of biological wastewater degradation solutions (PDs), to completely reduce Cr(VI). Enterobacter cloacae YN-4, which could completely degrade 1500 mg/L phenol within 72 h, was isolated and identified. While, the content of organic acids and their derivatives in PDs was extremely high (74.76 %). After the combination of PDs with Fe(III) and UV, 10 mg/L Cr(VI) was completely reduced within 66 min, whose reduction rate of Cr(VI) was stable at various concentrations (10-100 mg/L), which was applicable on electroplating wastewater. In addition, Cr(VI) could be reduced stably (71.63 %) after 10 cycles. Compared with the reported ARPs, herein, the components was complex, which was firstly proposed that simultaneous action of polycarboxylic acids, monocarboxylic acids, amino acids and alcohols could promote and ensure the stable reduction of Cr(VI). Among them, the multispecies radicals·CO2- and·O2- generated in PDs were combined with Fe(II), to co-reduce Cr(VI). This strategy produces a wide variety of radicals, which can provide an alternative pathway for remediation of various heavy metals and organic pollutants.

PRMT1-mediated arginine methylation promotes YAP activation and hepatocellular carcinoma proliferation.

The activity of Hippo signaling is commonly dysregulated in various human malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). YAP, the key effector of Hippo pathway, is regulated through several posttranslational modifications. However, the mechanism by which YAP is regulated by arginine methylation remains unknown. In this study, immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry were used to identify the arginine methylation site of YAP in HCC cells. The transcriptional activity of YAP and TEAD were further characterized by real-time qPCR and immunofluorescence assay, and a subcutaneous and orthotopic tumor mouse model was used to assess the effect of PRMT1-knockdown on HCC tumor growth. The result of mass spectrometry analysis identified that YAP was methylated at arginine 124. Moreover, we found that arginine methyltransferase PRMT1 interacted with YAP to mediate its arginine methylation, thus inhibited YAP phosphorylation and promoted YAP activity in the nucleus. PRMT1 was up-regulated in HCC tissues and positively associated with the expressions of YAP target genes. Silencing PRMT1 in HCC cells inhibited cell proliferation and tumor growth, while PRMT1-overexpression promoted HCC growth through YAP methylation. Our study reveals that PRMT1-mediated arginine methylation at R124 is mutually exclusive with YAP S127 phosphorylation, thereby facilitating YAP activity in the nucleus and promoting tumorigenesis in HCC.

Prevalence and correlations of schistosomiasis mansoni and schistosomiasis haematobium among humans and intermediate snail hosts: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The control of schistosomiasis is particularly difficult in sub-Saharan Africa, which currently harbours 95% of this disease. The target population for preventive chemotherapy (PC) is expanded to all age group at risk of infection, thus increasing the demands of praziquantel (PZQ) tablets according to the new released guideline by World Health Organization. Due to the gap between available PZQ for PC and requirements, alternative approaches to assess endemicity of schistosomiasis in a community, are urgently needed for more quick and precise methods. We aimed to find out to which degree the infection status of snails can be used to guide chemotherapy against schistosomiasis. METHODS: We searched literature published from January 1991 to December 2022, that reported on the prevalence rates of Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium in the intermediate snails Biomphalaria spp. and Bulinus spp., respectively, and in humans. A random effect model for meta-analyses was used to calculate the pooled prevalence estimate (PPE), with heterogeneity assessed using I-squared statistic (I2), with correlation and regression analysis for the exploration of the relationship between human S. mansoni and S. haematobium infections and that in their specific intermediate hosts. RESULTS: Forty-seven publications comprising 59 field investigations were included. The pooled PPE of schistosomiasis, schistosomiasis mansoni and schistosomiasis haematobium in humans were 27.5% [95% confidence interval (CI): 24.0-31.1%], 25.6% (95% CI: 19.9-31.3%), and 28.8% (95% CI: 23.4-34.3%), respectively. The snails showed an overall infection rate of 8.6% (95% CI: 7.7-9.4%), with 12.1% (95% CI: 9.9-14.2%) in the Biomphalaria spp. snails and 6.9% (95% CI: 5.7-8.1%) in the Bulinus spp. snails. The correlation coefficient was 0.3 (95% CI: 0.01-0.5%, P < 0.05) indicating that the two variables, i.e. all intermediate host snails on the one hand and the human host on the other, were positively correlated. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rate of S. mansoni and S. haematobium is still high in endemic areas. Given the significant, positive correlation between the prevalence of schistosomes in humans and the intermediate snail hosts, more attention should be paid to programme integration of snail surveillance in future.

The Chinese guideline for management of snakebites.

In 2009, the World Health Organization included snakebite on the list of neglected tropical diseases, acknowledging it as a common occupational hazard for farmers, plantation workers, and others, causing tens of thousands of deaths and chronic physical disabilities every year. This guideline aims to provide practical information to help clinical professionals evaluate and treat snakebite victims. These recommendations are based on clinical experience and clinical research evidence. This guideline focuses on the following topics: snake venom, clinical manifestations, auxiliary examination, diagnosis, treatments, and prevention.

Med-Query: Steerable Parsing of 9-DoF Medical Anatomies with Query Embedding.

Automatic parsing of human anatomies at the instance-level from 3D computed tomography (CT) is a prerequisite step for many clinical applications. The presence of pathologies, broken structures or limited field-of-view (FOV) can all make anatomy parsing algorithms vulnerable. In this work, we explore how to leverage and implement the successful detection-then-segmentation paradigm for 3D medical data, and propose a steerable, robust, and efficient computing framework for detection, identification, and segmentation of anatomies in CT scans. Considering the complicated shapes, sizes, and orientations of anatomies, without loss of generality, we present a nine degrees of freedom (9-DoF) pose estimation solution in full 3D space using a novel single-stage, non-hierarchical representation. Our whole framework is executed in a steerable manner where any anatomy of interest can be directly retrieved to further boost inference efficiency. We have validated our method on three medical imaging parsing tasks: ribs, spine, and abdominal organs. For rib parsing, CT scans have been annotated at the rib instance-level for quantitative evaluation, similarly for spine vertebrae and abdominal organs. Extensive experiments on 9-DoF box detection and rib instance segmentation demonstrate the high efficiency and effectiveness of our framework (with the identification rate of 97.0% and the segmentation Dice score of 90.9%), compared favorably against several strong baselines (e.g., CenterNet, FCOS, and nnU-Net). For spine parsing and abdominal multi-organ segmentation, our method achieves competitive results on par with stateof-the-art methods on the public CTSpine1K dataset and FLARE22 competition, respectively. Our annotations, code, and models are available at: Med-Query.

The novel peptide PEP-Z-2 potentially treats renal fibrosis in vivo and in vitro by regulating TGF-ß/Smad/AKT/MAPK signaling.

Renal fibrosis is a process in which excessive deposition of extracellular matrix leads to an increase in tissue hardness and gradual destruction of the renal parenchyma. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) commonly progresses to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), ultimately leading to renal failure. This disease has high incidence and mortality rates, but to date, effective treatment options are lacking. PEP-Z-2 is a collagen peptide isolated from redlip croaker scales and may have potential fibroprotective activity. In this study, PEP-Z-2 was found to alleviate unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO)- and folic acid (FA)-induced kidney injury in a mouse model, reduce collagen deposition in tissues, normalize renal function, reduce the expression of fibrosis markers, reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and restore the balance of the oxidant/antioxidant system. In vitro experiments also demonstrated that PEP-Z-2 inhibits the TGF-ß-induced differentiation of fibroblasts and renal tubular epithelial cells into myofibroblasts and reduces the production of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins such as fibronectin, Col I, and α-SMA, demonstrating notable therapeutic effects on renal fibrosis. This effect is achieved by regulating the TGF-ß/Smad/AKT/MAPK pathway. Our research suggested that PEP-Z-2 is a potential therapeutic drug for renal fibrosis, and peptides from aquatic organisms may constitute a new class of candidate drugs for the treatment of renal fibrosis and even other types of organ fibrosis.

Transposition with Tn3-family elements occurs through interaction with the host ß-sliding clamp processivity factor.

Tn3 family transposons are a widespread group of replicative transposons, notorious for contributing to the dissemination of antibiotic resistance, particularly the global prevalence of carbapenem resistance. The transposase (TnpA) of these elements catalyzes DNA breakage and rejoining reactions required for transposition. However, the molecular mechanism for target site selection with these elements remains unclear. Here, we identify a QLxxLR motif in N-terminal of Tn3 TnpAs and demonstrate that this motif allows interaction between TnpA of Tn3 family transposon Tn1721 and the host ß-sliding clamp (DnaN), the major processivity factor of the DNA replication machinery. The TnpA-DnaN interaction is essential for Tn1721 transposition. Our work unveils a mechanism whereby Tn3 family transposons can bias transposition into certain replisomes through an interaction with the host replication machinery. This study further expands the diversity of mobile elements that use interaction with the host replication machinery to bias integration.

Levosimendan and Atrial Fibrillation: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. / Levosimendana e Fibrilação Atrial: Uma Metanálise de Ensaios Clínicos Randomizados.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent complication associated with levosimendan; however, it remains uncertain whether there are any disparities in the effects of levosimendan on non-postoperative and postoperative AF. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the levosimendan effect on non-postoperative and postoperative AF by conducting a meta-analysis of randomized control trials (RCTs). METHODS: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and other databases were searched. Pairs of reviewers identified RCTs that compared levosimendan and placebo or other therapies, and the results reported AF events data. Random effects models were used (at a significance level of 5%). RESULTS: Twenty-nine eligible trials comprising 6550 participants were included, eleven of which evaluated the non-postoperative AF incidence, and 18 included postoperative AF. The analysis revealed that levosimendan elevated the AF risk significantly in the non-postoperative group (OR, 1.62; 95% CI: 1.19-2.20; p=0.002) and reduced the AF incidence in the postoperative group (OR, 0.65; 95% CI: 0.44-0.96; p=0.03). AF occurrence decreased more significantly in patients who used levosimendan after cardiac surgery (OR, 0.53; 95% CI: 0.32-0.88; p=0.02) than in patients who used levosimendan before cardiac surgery (OR, 0.67; 95% CI: 0.42-1.06; p=0.09). Moreover, The AF risk was significantly elevated by levosimendan large bolus dose (bolus dose≥12 µg/kg) (OR, 1.44; 95% CI: 1.10-1.88; p=0.004) and decreased by small bolus dose of levosimendan (bolus dose<12 µg/kg) (OR, 0.64; 95% CI: 0.34-1.20; p=0.16). CONCLUSION: Levosimendan was linked to an increased non-postoperative AF incidence. The employment of levosimendan was effective in preventing postoperative AF.

FUNDAMENTO: A fibrilação atrial (FA) é uma complicação prevalente associada à levosimendana; no entanto, permanece incerto se existem disparidades nos efeitos da levosimendana na FA não pós-operatória e pós-operatória. OBJETIVOS: Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da levosimendana na FA não pós-operatória e pós-operatória conduzindo uma metanálise de ensaios clínicos randomizados (ECR). MÉTODOS: PubMed, Embase, Biblioteca Cochrane e outras bases de dados foram pesquisadas. Pares de revisores identificaram ECRs que compararam levosimendana e placebo ou outras terapias, e os resultados relataram dados de eventos de FA. Foram utilizados modelos de efeitos aleatórios (com nível de significância de 5%). RESULTADOS: Foram incluídos 29 ensaios elegíveis compreendendo 6.550 participantes, onze dos quais avaliaram a incidência de FA não pós-operatória e 18 incluíram FA pós-operatória. A análise revelou que a levosimendana elevou significativamente o risco de FA no grupo não pós-operatório (OR, 1,62; IC 95%: 1,19-2,20; p=0,002) e reduziu a incidência de FA no grupo pós-operatório (OR, 0,65; IC 95%: 0,44-0,96; p=0,03). A ocorrência de FA diminuiu mais significativamente em pacientes que usaram levosimendana após cirurgia cardíaca (OR, 0,53; IC 95%: 0,32-0,88; p=0,02) do que em pacientes que usaram levosimendana antes da cirurgia cardíaca (OR, 0,67; IC 95%: 0,42-1,06; p=0,09). O risco de FA foi significativamente elevado pela grande dose em bolus de levosimendana (dose em bolus ≥12 µg/kg) (OR, 1,44; IC 95%: 1,10-1,88; p=0,004) e diminuído pela pequena dose em bolus de levosimendana (dose em bolus <12 µg/kg) (OR, 0,64; IC 95%: 0,34-1,20; p=0,16). CONCLUSÃO: A levosimendana foi associada a um aumento da incidência de FA não pós-operatória. O emprego da levosimendana foi eficaz na prevenção da FA pós-operatória.

Isolation of Limosilactobacillus mucosae G01 with inhibitory effects on porcine epidemic diarrhea virus in vitro from Bama pig gastroenteritis.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is responsible for causing fatal watery diarrhea in piglets, resulting in significant economic losses within the pig farming industry. Although vaccination is currently employed as a preventive measure, certain vaccines do not provide complete protection against PEDV field strains. Probiotics present a promising alternative due to their ability to regulate intestinal flora, enhance host immunity, and improve resistance against pathogenic microorganisms. We isolated six lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from the fecal microorganisms of Bama pigs, compared to Limosilactobacillus mucosae DSM13345 of the same genus in which Limosilactobacillus mucosae G01 (L. mucosae G01) proved to have a potent anti-PEDV effect. In a comprehensive manner, L. mucosae G01 significantly augmented the phosphorylation of IRF3 in IPEC-J2 cells, resulting in the induction of interferons (IFN α, IFN ß, IFN λ1, and IFN λ3) and subsequent upregulation of interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs) (MX1, MX2, OAS1, and ZAP) in a dose-dependent fashion, consequently leading to the mitigation of PEDV replication. These findings underscore the promising prospects of L. mucosae G01 as a naturally derived substitute for combating PEDV and other enteric coronavirus infections.

A Photolithography-Free Fabrication Strategy for Perovskite Photodetector Array with High-Security Imaging Application.

Metal halide perovskites have attracted significant attention for high-performance and cost-effective photodetector (PD) arrays in recent years. Traditional perovskite photodetector arrays typically rely on planar structure and photolithography, which limit resolution and involve complex, costly processes. To address these challenges, an innovative, lithography-free fabrication strategy is proposed utilizing direct laser writing ablation and a surface energy-assisted selective growth process. A 10 × 10 self-powered perovskite photodetector array is demonstrated with a vertical cross-bar structure fabricated on a laser-ablated textured Indium-Tin Oxide (ITO) substrate which improves the device performance. The device exhibits a fast photoresponse and effective imaging capability. Moreover, the intrinsic physical disorder and randomness of perovskite provide highly secure entropy sources, making the photodetector array suitable for physical unclonable function (PUF) devices. This method offers a promising opportunity for simplifying the fabrication process, enhancing manufacturability, and advancing the application of perovskite PD arrays in secure imaging systems.

A novel strategy of artificially regulating plant rhizosphere microbial community to promote plant tolerance to cold stress.

Artificial regulation of plant rhizosphere microbial communities through the synthesis of microbial communities is one of the effective ways to improve plant stress resistance. However, the process of synthesizing stress resistant microbial communities with excellent performance is complex, time-consuming, and costly. To address this issue, we proposed a novel strategy for preparing functional microbial communities. We isolated a cultivable cold tolerant bacterial community (PRCBC) from the rhizosphere of peas, and studied its effectiveness in assisting rice to resist stress. The results indicate that PRCBC can not only improve the ability of rice to resist cold stress, but also promote the increase of rice yield after cold stress relieved. This is partly because PRCBC increases the nitrogen content in the rhizosphere soil, and promotes rice's absorption of nitrogen elements, thereby promoting rice growth and enhancing its ability to resist osmotic stress. More importantly, the application of PRCBC drives the succession of rice rhizosphere microbial communities, and promotes the succession of rice rhizosphere microbial communities towards stress resistance. Surprisingly, PRCBC drives the succession of rice rhizosphere microbial communities towards a composition similar to PRCBC. This provides a feasible novel method for artificially and directionally driving microbial succession. In summary, we not only proposed a novel and efficient strategy for preparing stress resistant microbial communities to promote plant stress resistance, but also unexpectedly discovered a possible directionally driving method for soil microbial community succession.

[3 + 2] Annulation of Vinyl Azides with Aldehydes for the Synthesis of 3-Oxazolines via the [CO + CCN] Strategy.

Despite the widespread utilizable value of 3-oxazolines, mild and efficient access to such a class of unique structures still remains, to date, a challenge. Herein, we present a [3 + 2] annulation strategy, guided by the retrosynthetic principle of [CO + CCN], that utilizes vinyl azides as the CCN module and aldehydes as the CO module. This approach enables the efficient construction of the 3-oxazoline framework with remarkable features, including operational simplicity, environmental friendliness, and high efficiency. Notably, it solely requires the addition of inexpensive and readily available N-hydroxyphthalimide (NHPI) and air oxygen to obtain the desired product. It also provides a new way to generate the hydroxyl radical, which is produced by the homolysis of peroxycarboxylic acid. In addition, control experiments, X-ray crystallographic analysis, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations afford evidence for the key intermediates (hydroxyl radical, carboxyl radical, imine radical, hydroxyl substituted amide derivatives), further confirming the path for realization of 3-oxazolines.

Enterobacter ludwigii b3 in the rhizosphere of wild rice assists cultivated rice in mitigating drought stress by direct and indirect methods.

Drought is the primary factor limiting rice production in ecosystems. Wild rice rhizosphere bacteria possess the potential to assist in the stress resistance of cultivated rice. This study examines the impact of wild rice rhizosphere bacteria on cultivated rice under drought conditions. From the rhizosphere soil of wild rice, 20 potential drought-resistant strains were isolated. Subsequent to the screening, the most effective strain b3, was identified as Enterobacter ludwigii. Pot experiments were conducted on the cultivated Changbai 9 rice. It was found that inoculation with the E. ludwigii b3 strain improved the drought resistance of the rice, promotion of rice growth (shoot height increased by 13.47 %), increased chlorophyll content (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoid increased by 168.74 %, 130.68 % and 87.89 %), improved antioxidant system (content of glutathione was increased by 60.35 %), and accumulation of osmotic regulation substances (soluble sugar and soluble protein increased by 70.36 % and 142.03 %). Furthermore, E. ludwigii b3 had a transformative effect on the rhizosphere bacterial community of cultivated rice, increasing its abundance and diversity while simultaneously recruiting beneficial rhizosphere bacteria, resulting in a more complex community. Additionally, E. ludwigii b3 acted directly and indirectly on cultivated rice through its metabolites (organic acids, amino acids, flavonoids and other substances), which helped alleviate drought stress. In conclusion, the E. ludwigii b3 shows promise as a drought-resistant strain and has the potential to improve the growth and productivity of cultivated rice in arid agricultural ecosystems. This study represents the first investigation of E. ludwigii in the rhizosphere of wild rice under drought conditions on cultivated rice.

Microalgae-derived hydrogels/membranes for phosphorus removal and recovery from aquaculture tailwater: Waste utilization and phosphorus recycling.

Efficient removal and recovery of phosphorus from aquaculture tailwater is challenging due to increasing strict water environment restrictions. This study presents a sustainable approach by using microalgae-waste-derived hydrogels/membranes for phosphorus adsorption and microalgae cultivation. Waste from Euglena gracilis (or Haematococcus pluvialis), modified with magnesium, was converted into biochars (abbreviated as MEBC or MHBC). This biochars were then combined with sodium alginate to fabricate hydrogels and with polyvinyl chloride to create membranes. Due to the almost 100 % phosphorus removal of MEBC (or MHBC) biochar, the as-obtained hydrogels/membranes demonstrated excellent phosphate adsorption, reducing total phosphorus in real aquaculture tailwater from 11 mg/L to 0. Additionally, the phosphorus-saturated hydrogel served as a phosphorus source for microalgae cultivation, while the membranes facilitated microalgae harvesting with a water flux over 40 L/m2/h. This study provides an eco-friendly solution for using microalgae-waste-derived materials to effectively address phosphorus removal and recovery challenges in aquaculture tailwater.

Prenatal heavy metal exposure and pediatric asthma, allergic rhinitis, atopic dermatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: We review the prevalence of allergic diseases in children across prenatal exposures to heavy metals. METHODS: This systematic review and meta-analysis is registered in the PROSPERO database (CRD42023478471). A comprehensive search of PubMed, Web of Science, Medline and Cochrane library was conducted from the database inception until 31 October 2023. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale (NOS) was used to assess the quality of included studies. We used a random-effects model to summarize the effects from the studies. RESULTS: A total of 16 studies were included, 120,065 mother-child pairs enrolled. The NOS scores indicated that the quality of the literature included in the study was of a high standard. CONCLUSION: The final results indicate that prenatal exposure to Pb increased the incidence of wheeze and Eczema in infants, and exposure to Ni and CD increased the incidence of AD in infants.

The mechanism of survival and degradation of phenol by Acinetobacter pittii in an extremely acidic environment.

The treatment efficiency of acidic phenol-containing wastewater is hindered by the absence of efficient acid-resistant phenol-degrading bacteria, and the acid-resistant mechanism of such bacteria remains poorly studied. In this study, the acid-resistant strain Hly3 was used as a research model to investigate its ability to degrade phenol and its underlying mechanism of acid resistance. Strain Hly3 exhibited robust acid resistance, capable of surviving in extremely acidic environments (pH 3) and degrading 1700 mg L-1 phenol in 72 h. Through the physiological response analysis of strain Hly3 to pH, the results indicated: firstly, the strain could reduce the relative permeability of the cell membrane and increase EPS secretion to prevent H+ from entering the cell (shielding effect); secondly, the strain could accumulate more buffering substances to neutralize the intracellular H+ (neutralization effect); thirdly, the strain could expel H+ from the cell by enhancing H+-ATPase activity (pumping effect); finally, the strain produced more active scavengers to reduce the toxicity of acid stress on cells (antioxidant effect). Subsequently, combining liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology with exogenous addition experiments, it was verified that the acid resistance mechanism of microorganisms is achieved through the activation of acid-resistant response systems by glutamine, thereby enhancing functions such as shielding, neutralization, efflux, and antioxidation. This study elucidated the acid resistance mechanism of Acinetobacter pittii, providing a theoretical basis and guidance for the treatment of acidic phenol-containing wastewater.