Substantial removal of four pesticide residues in three fruits with ozone microbubbles.

Developing a straightforward method to remove pesticide residues from fruits is essential for food safety. In this study, ozone microbubble treatment was performed on three fruits (strawberry, cherry, and apricot) to remove four pesticide residues (emamectin benzoate, azoxystrobin, boscalid, and difenoconazole) while comparing removal efficiency. The concentration of hydroxyl radicals in different washing orientations was homogeneous at a concentration ranging between 8.9 and 10.2 µmol·L-1. Under long washing time (18 min), strawberry, cherry, and apricot obtained higher removal rates of 51 %∼65 %, 51 %∼59 % and 24 %∼70 %, respectively. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and contact angle (CA) revealed that apricot has better hydrophobicity, leading to a higher pesticide removal of 45 âˆ¼ 84 % with less water and more vigorous washing. Notably, vitamin C content in fruits remain largely unchanged following ozone microbubble treatment. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of ozone microbubble treatment as pollution-free method for enhancing food safety by removing pesticide residues on fruits.

Adsorption of azoxystrobin and pyraclostrobin onto degradable and non-degradable microplastics: Performance and mechanism.

Microplastics (MPs) exist after agricultural operations and thus present potential hazards to the environment and human health. However, the ecological risks posed by MPs carrying pesticides remain unclear. In this study, the adsorption and desorption behaviors of two pesticides, azoxystrobin and pyraclostrobin, on degradable and non-degradable MPs of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) and polyethylene (PE) were compared before and after UV aging. Additionally, the bioaccessibility of MPs carrying pesticides within a condition simulating gastrointestinal fluids was evaluated. The results showed that, after UV aging, the adsorption capacity of PBAT for pesticides decreased, while that of PE increased. Moreover, PBAT possessed higher adsorption ability towards both the pesticides due to its higher specific surface area, pore volume, contact angle, and lower crystallinity, as well as stronger van der Waals forces, electrostatic interactions, and hydrogen bonding indicated by theoretical calculation. Bioaccessibility experiments showed that azoxystrobin and pyraclostrobin had a higher risk of desorption from PBAT than PE, which is mainly dependent on the LogKow of pesticides according to the random forest analysis. In brief, the study highlights the potential risks of degradable MPs carrying pesticides to human health and the ecosystem, especially when compared to their non-degradable counterparts, manifesting that the ecological risk posed by degradable MPs should not be ignored.

Enhancement mechanism of magnetite on the ball-milling destruction of perfluorooctane sulfonate by iron.

Zero-valent iron (Fe) is commonly employed as an additive for the mechanochemical destruction (MCD) of organic pollutants. The poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (e.g., perfluorooctane sulfonate, PFOS) are a class of toxic environmental pollutants that are difficult to effectively degrade due to their thermodynamic and chemical stability. In this study, magnetite (Fe3O4) was applied to improve the milling performance of Fe to PFOS and its promoting mechanisms were emphatically explored. The desulfurization rate was in ahead of the defluorination rate because the C-S bond is less stable than the C-F bonds in PFOS. Fe3O4 had an excellent reinforcement effect on the milling performance of Fe, which was mainly through accelerating the electron transfer as a conductor, reacting with Fe to produce FeO, and facilitating the formation of HO●. During the MCD of PFOS with Fe/Fe3O4 as an additive, HO● played a dominant role in the defluorination process (accounting for >67%). After the elimination of sulfonate group (-SO3-), the produced radical (C7F15CF2●) continued to react through two main pathways: one was the stepwise defluorination after hydrogenation, and the other one was oxidation reaction after alcoholization to yield the corresponding aldehydes and carboxylic acids. The optimum Fe fraction (MFe) was 30%, and air atmosphere was more effective than oxygen and nitrogen conditions. This study helps to comprehensively understand the role of Fe3O4 in defluorination and fills the gap of Fe/Fe3O4 application in the MCD of PFASs.

Accelerated removal of five pesticide residues in three vegetables with ozone microbubbles.

A simple and effective approach to remove pesticide residues on vegetables is necessary for food safety. Ozone microbubbles treatment as an eco-friendly washing technique was investigated for three vegetables (celery, pakchoi and cowpea) collected from the field applied with five pesticides. The removal rates of five pesticide residues on cowpea by ozone microbubbles treatment were 15 %-47 % higher than that by ozone macrobubbles. Moreover, compared with the other four systemic pesticides, emamectin benzoate had a preferable removal rate (65 %-94 %) as a non-systemic pesticide with high water solubility. Through Mass Spectrometry (MS), the double-bonded structure of emamectin benzoate made it more possible to be removed chemically, carrying a degradation rate of 88 % at 25 min in water. Additionally, cowpea showed low removal (28 %-65 %) owing to its stomata and rough surface with SEM. Conclusively, this study demonstrated the potential of the ozone microbubble treatment on pesticide residues removal to enhance food safety.

An achieved strategy for magnetic biochar for removal of tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones: Adsorption and mechanism studies.

In this study, poplar wood biochar modified with Fe3O4 (MPBC) was prepared using poplar wood as carbon source applied to remove tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones. The adsorption behavior was investigated by batch experiments, and a series of characterization techniques were used to study the corresponding mechanism. Characterizations indicated that pore filling, electrostatic interactions, π-π interaction, surface complexation, and hydrogen bond contributed to the adsorption of antibiotics on MPBC. Most importantly, the thermodynamic experiment results showed that the adsorption capacity of MPBC for tetracyclines (70.28-89.58 mg⋅g-1) was significantly higher than fluoroquinolones (35.54-60.31 mg⋅g-1), which was further explained by hydrogen bond interactions calculated from Conductor-like screening model for real solvents (COSMO-RS). In addition, the adsorption between MPBC and antibiotics was favorable at lower ionic strengths and neutral conditions. Conclusively, this study could provide a promising approach to controlling the pollution of tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones.

[Progress in preparation of plant biomass-derived biochar and application in pesticide residues field].

Pesticides such as insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides play an important role in the global agricultural industry as they reduce the occurrence of crop diseases, kill pests, and remove weeds. On the other hand, these pesticides are a double-edged sword because they have both acute effects and chronic adverse effects on human health. The widespread use of pesticides has led to their persistence in soil, water, and agricultural products, thus posing a serious threat to public health. Therefore, the removal and analysis of pesticides are critical to protecting human safety and health. When removing pesticides from the environment, it is imperative to ensure high removal efficiency while preventing secondary pollution to the environment. Because of the low concentrations of pesticide residue in the environment, complex matrix, and large throughput of pesticide residue analysis, a low-cost fast pre-treatment technique that has strong selectivity and an enrichment effect on the target pesticide residue, with little environmental impact, is required. Plant biomass-derived biochar is obtained from wheat straw, corn cob, rice husk, etc. This material has a large specific surface area, high pore capacity, tunable surface functional groups, and good environmental compatibility, which make it an inexpensive and efficient adsorbent. Hence, there is a need to systematically review the knowledge regarding the application of plant-based biochar on pesticide removal and pesticide residue analysis. This paper reviews the application progress of plant biomass-derived biochar in the above mentioned two areas over the last decade. The pesticide removal applications include reducing the mobility of pesticides in soil, eliminating the pollution caused by chiral pesticides, loading pesticide-degrading bacteria, and releasing fertilizers sustainably when removing pesticide. As mentioned above, plant biomass-derived biochar has a large specific surface area, a high number of functional groups on the surface, and good environmental compatibility. Therefore, it can effectively remove pesticides or their metabolites from the environment without causing any secondary pollution. During pre-treatment, plan biomass-derived biochar is used as an adsorbent for dispersive solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, and magnetic solid-phase extraction to selectively adsorb organophosphorus and triazole pesticides in fruits and vegetables, as well as organochlorine pesticides in the aquatic environment. This paper also introduces the adsorption mechanism of plant biomass-derived biochar, where studies based on computational simulations such as the density functional theory, molecular dynamics simulation, and giant canonical Monte Carlo simulation are carefully discussed. The benefits of adopting computational simulations are also mentioned. Finally, this paper summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of using plant biomass-derived biochar in pesticide removal and pre-treatment, as well as the future research trends in this area.

Effects of pretreatment with terazosin and valsartan on intraoperative haemodynamics in patients with phaeochromocytoma.

OBJECTIVE: Surgery is the primary strategy for treating phaeochromocytoma (PCC), but it can lead to severe hypertension and heart failure. Although valsartan is effective in reducing high blood pressure, clinical data on the potential role of valsartan in PCC are currently limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of pretreatment with terazosin and valsartan on patients with PCC. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, 50 patients who underwent laparoscopic resection of PCC were enrolled. During preoperative preparation, the patients (n=25) in the control group were treated with terazosin, while those (n=25) in the combination treatment group were treated with terazosin and valsartan. The levels of catecholamine hormones before and after surgery were determined, and the intraoperative blood pressure and the incidence of complications were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The results showed no significant differences in baseline patient characteristics or surgical conditions between the two groups (p>0.05). However, on the third day after surgery, the levels of catecholamine hormones in the two groups were significantly lower than those before surgery (p<0.05), while the levels in the combination treatment group were notably lower than those in the control group (p<0.05). The patients in the combination treatment group showed lower intraoperative blood pressure fluctuations and incidence of perioperative complications compared with the control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Terazosin combined with valsartan can effectively improve perioperative haemodynamic instability and reduce postoperative complications in the preoperative management of PCC.

MiR-142-5p directly targets cyclin-dependent kinase 5-mediated upregulation of the inflammatory process in acquired middle ear cholesteatoma.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and inflammatory responses. MiR-142-5p is an important inflammation-associated miRNA, whose abnormal expression has been associated with a variety of inflammation-related diseases. However, the role and signaling pathways targeted by miR-142-5p in acquired middle ear cholesteatoma (AMEC) have not been fully elucidated. Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5), a special member of the CDK family compared with classic cyclins that plays a critical role in the inflammatory response. In this study, we investigated the roles of miR-142-5p and CDK5 in inflammatory responses in AMEC. Our results revealed that the expression of miR-142-5p was significantly reduced in AMEC, and was negatively correlated with the expression of CDK5 (r=-0.5451). We also found that miR-142-5p can inhibit CDK5 expression by directly target 3' untranslated region (UTR) of CDK5. Additionally, our findings indicated that the increased expression of CDK5 induces the secretion of inflammatory cytokines. In order to further confirm the involvement of miR-142-5p in the regulation of the inflammatory response in AMEC through its inhibitory effect on CDK5 expression, we studied the inflammatory response in HaCaT cells transfected with small interfering RNA against CDK5 (si-CDK5) and a miR-142-5p inhibitor. The results confirmed that miR-142-5p regulates the inflammatory response in AMEC by downregulating CDK5. In summary, miR-142-5p directly inhibits the CDK5-mediated upregulation of inflammatory cytokines in AMEC, which makes it a potential therapeutic target in this disease.

TFIIB-related factor 2 regulates glucose-regulated protein 78 expression in acquired middle ear cholesteatoma.

Acquired middle ear cholesteatoma leads to hearing loss, ear discharge, ear pain, and more serious intracranial complications. However, there is still no effective treatment other than surgery. TFIIB-related factor 2 (BRF2) acted as a redox sensor overexpressing in oxidative stress which linked endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, while glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78) was a biomarker of ER stress in cancer, atherosclerosis and inflammation. In our study, we investigated the roles of BRF2 and GRP78 in acquired middle ear cholesteatoma. Our results revealed that the expression of BRF2 was significant increased in acquired middle ear cholesteatoma, and which was positively correlated with the expression of GRP78. In addition, BRF2 and GRP78 showed colocalization in epithelium of acquired middle ear cholesteatomas and HaCaT cells. Prolongation of LPS stimulation in HaCaT cells escalated the expression of BRF2 and GRP78. To confirm the role of BRF2 and GRP78, we transfected si-BRF2 into HaCaT cells. All results indicated that BRF2 expression positively regulates the expression of GRP78 and may participate in the pathogenesis of acquire middle ear cholesteatoma.

Silencing of ATP2B1-AS1 contributes to protection against myocardial infarction in mouse via blocking NFKBIA-mediated NF-κB signalling pathway.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is an acute coronary syndrome that refers to tissue infarction of the myocardium. This study aimed to investigate the effect of long intergenic non-protein-coding RNA (lincRNA) ATPase plasma membrane Ca2+ transporting 1 antisense RNA 1 (ATP2B1-AS1) against MI by targeting nuclear factor-kappa-B inhibitor alpha (NFKBIA) and mediating the nuclear factor-kappa-B (NF-κB) signalling pathway. An MI mouse model was established and idenepsied by cardiac function evaluation. It was determined that ATP2B1-AS1 was highly expressed, while NFKBIA was poorly expressed and NF-κB signalling pathway was activated in MI mice. Cardiomyocytes were extracted from mice and introduced with a series of mouse ATP2B1-AS1 vector, NFKBIA vector, siRNA-mouse ATP2B1-AS1 and siRNA-NFKBIA. The expression of NF-κBp50, NF-κBp65 and IKKß was determined to idenepsy whether ATP2B1-AS1 and NFKBIA affect the NF-κB signalling pathway, the results of which suggested that ATP2B1-AS1 down-regulated the expression of NFKBIA and activated the NF-κB signalling pathway in MI mice. Based on the data from assessment of cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis and levels of inflammatory cytokines, either silencing of mouse ATP2B1-AS1 or overexpression of NFKBIA was suggested to result in reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and expression of inflammatory cytokines, as well as enhanced cardiomyocyte viability. Our study provided evidence that mouse ATP2B1-AS1 silencing may have the potency to protect against MI in mice through inhibiting cardiomyocyte apoptosis and inflammation, highlighting a great promise as a novel therapeutic target for MI.