Improvement of ferrous ion-dependent nitrate removal (FeNiR) process with chelating ferrous ion as substrate.

In order to improve the ferrous ion-dependent nitrate removal (FeNiR) process, hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion was used as substrate to replace the free ferrous ion. With hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion as substrate, the influent pH was adjusted to 6.8, and as a result a higher effluent pH (7.2) was detected. The volumetric removal rate (VRR) of nitrate kept at 0.42 ± 0.03 kg-N/(m3∙d) for 48 days and the corresponding nitrogen removal efficiency was 94.39 ± 4.57%. After 88 days of cultivation, FeNiR granules became small because of the oligotrophic substrate. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis showed that less iron encrustation was formed on the surface or in the periplasm of FeNiR cells. The linear curve of the living cell percentage versus time showed that the death rate of FeNiR cells with chelated ferrous ion as substrate was much lower than that with free ferrous ion as substrate (0.4210 vs 0.9221). Without iron encrustation, both the FeNiR activity and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of FeNiR cells kept at high level and thus the efficiency of the FeNiR reactor kept stable and high. With hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion as substrate, the pH in bulk liquid was high (pH = 7.2) resulting in the high FeNiR rate, and less iron encrustation was formed around cells ensuring the stability of high FeNiR rate. Therefore, using hexametaphosphate chelated ferrous ion as substrate was an efficient way to improve the FeNiR process.

PML4 facilitates erythroid differentiation by enhancing the transcriptional activity of GATA-1.

Promyelocytic leukemia protein (PML) has been implicated as a participant in multiple cellular processes including senescence, apoptosis, proliferation, and differentiation. Studies of PML function in hematopoietic differentiation previously focused principally on its myeloid activities and also indicated that PML is involved in erythroid colony formation. However, the exact role that PML plays in erythropoiesis is essentially unknown. In this report, we found that PML4, a specific PML isoform expressed in erythroid cells, promotes endogenous erythroid genes expression in K562 and primary human erythroid cells. We show that the PML4 effect is GATA binding protein 1 (GATA-1) dependent using GATA-1 knockout/rescued G1E/G1E-ER4 cells. PML4, but not other detected PML isoforms, directly interacts with GATA-1 and can recruit it into PML nuclear bodies. Furthermore, PML4 facilitates GATA-1 trans-activation activity in an interaction-dependent manner. Finally, we present evidence that PML4 enhances GATA-1 occupancy within the globin gene cluster and stimulates cooperation between GATA-1 and its coactivator p300. These results demonstrate that PML4 is an important regulator of GATA-1 and participates in erythroid differention by enhancing GATA-1 trans-activation activity.

Diagnostic utility of serum and urine biomarkers in idiopathic membranous nephropathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Membranous nephropathy is an autoimmune nephropathy that is one of the most common pathological types of nephrotic syndrome. It is important to find and apply specific biomarkers for the noninvasive diagnosis of idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). However, there are limited data about their diagnostic value. Therefore, an overall meta-analysis helps to identify effective biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis of IMN. METHODS: A systematic literature search was carried out in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and Web of Science from inception until December 31, 2020. Two researchers searched for studies that met the inclusion criteria. The results of the joint study were expressed in terms of sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 24 studies with biomarkers for the clinical diagnosis of IMN, including antibody against phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R-AB), antibody against thrombospondin type I domain-containing 7A (THSD7A-AB), lysosome membrane protein-2 (LIMP-2) and circular RNAs. The diagnostic efficiency of PLA2R-AB for IMN had a combined sensitivity of 60% and a combined specificity of 100%. The diagnostic efficiency of THSD7A-AB for IMN had a combined sensitivity of 3% and a combined specificity of 99%. The diagnostic efficiency of urinary LIMP-2 for IMN was 100%, and the specificity was 100%. The diagnostic efficiency of exosomal circRNAs for IMN was 100%, and the specificity was 100%. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis shows that PLA2R-AB and THSD7A-AB are of important diagnostic value for IMN. More studies are needed in the future to reveal the diagnostic value of LIMP-2 and circRNAs for IMN.

Condition optimization of iron-air fuel cell to treat phosphate-containing wastewater regarding sustainable development.

Increasing use of phosphorus products and excessive exploitation of phosphorus resources become two major problems in perspective of phosphorus sustainable development. Phosphorus recovery is the shortcut to solve this dilemma. Combining electrochemistry, an iron-air fuel cell was adopted to recover phosphate and electricity from phosphate-containing wastewater in our previous studies. The present study focused on investigating the effects of catholyte/anolyte conductivity, external resistance, and anolyte pH on the performance of iron-air fuel cell, and obtaining the optimized conditions. Furthermore, the electrochemical methods of phosphate recovery were compared and assessed, and it is concluded that iron-air fuel cell has great potential for energy recovery. The phosphate removal efficiencies and vivianite yield roughly positively correlated with the catholyte conductivity and the anolyte pH, but negatively correlated with the external resistance and the anolyte conductivity. The electricity generation roughly positively correlated with the catholyte conductivity and anolyte conductivity, but showed limitations in the test range of anolyte pH and external resistance. To pursue high phosphate removal efficiencies and vivianite yield, the catholyte conductivity, external resistance, anolyte pH and anolyte conductivity were suggested to be 35 g-NaCl/L, 10 Ω, 8 and 0 g-NaCl/L. While if electricity generation was the primary goal, these parameters should be 35 g-NaCl/L, 220 Ω, 5 and 70 g-NaCl/L. The optimized conditions will help to improve the phosphate removal efficiency, vivianite yield and electricity generation, and to promote the development of iron-air fuel cell technology.

[Complications and short-term outcomes of intraoperative electron radiotherapy (IOERT) in patients with periarticular soft-tissue sarcomas of the extremities].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the complications and short-term outcomes of patients receiving intraoperative electron radiotherapy (IOERT) for locally advanced and recurrent periarticular soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities. METHODS: Twenty-one adult patients with locally advanced and/or recurrent periarticular soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities treated with IOERT were included in this study. Among them 14 patients had recurrent diseases after prior operation and 7 patients with locally advanced disease with primary treatment. The total dose of radiation ranged from 11 Gy to 21 Gy of 6 - 12 MeV beta ray given by intraoperative radiotherapy after complete tumor resection with negative margins. Five patients were given external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) with a total dose of 40 - 50 Gy, and 10 patients received chemotherapy. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 15 months. Five patients (23.8%) had tumor relapse, including one patients with local recurrence, one patient with regional recurrence, two patients with distant metastasis and one patient with local recurrence and distant metastasis. The actuarial local control rate at 1 year was 95.2% (20/21), and at 2 years was 90.5% (19/21). Acute skin toxicity (RTOG) within 3 months after surgery included grade I in 6 patients and grade II in 3 patients. Two year late skin toxicity (RTOG/EORTC) included grade I in 4 patients and grade II in 2 patients. Fibrosis included grade I in 3 patients and grade II in 3 patients. Six patients had joint dysfunction (3 patients with grade I and 3 with grade II) and 6 patients had healing problems. One patient got ipsilateral schiatic neuritis 9 months after IOERT. No adverse events occurred during surgery. CONCLUSIONS: IOERT brings tolerable complications of acute and late toxicities and favorable local control rate. IOERT should be followed by postoperative radiotherapy or increase the intraoperative radiation dose for locally advanced and recurrent sarcomas to get a better local control. Otherwise, distant metastasis is one of the main reasons of treatment failure, so chemotherapy should be added to the treatment regimen.

Aggregation enhances the activity and growth rate of anammox bacteria and its mechanisms.

The aggregation of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria is important for the start-up and biomass retention of anammox processes. However, it is unclear whether it is beneficial to the activity, growth and reproduction of anammox bacteria. In this study, four reactor systems were developed to explore the effects of aggregation on anammox activity, growth and reproduction, after excluding the contribution of aggregation to sludge settling and retention. Results demonstrated that (i) compared with free-living planktonic bacteria, the aggregated bacteria had a higher volumetric nitrogen removal rate (0.75 kg-N/(m³·d)) and specific nitrogen removal activity (1.097 kg-N/VSS/d). And after 67 days cultivation, it had the higher sludge concentration and relative abundance (92.4%); (ii) compared with acidic polysaccharides and α-d-glucopyranose polysaccharides, ß-d-glucopyranose polysaccharide play more essential roles of anammox aggregation; (iii) norspermidine triggered the secretion of α-d-glucopyranose polysaccharides to combat the toxicity, and inhibited biomass growth rate; (iv) immobilization in polyvinyl alcohol (10%) or sodium alginate (2%) gel beads was better than sodium alginate-chitosan gel beads and norspermidine (biofilm inhibitor) for the cultivation of free-living planktonic anammox bacteria. This is the first comparative study of three methods for cultivating free-living anammox bacteria. In conclusion, we found that the aggregation of anammox sludge not only facilitates biomass retention but also enhances the bioactivity, relative abundance, growth, and reproduction rate of anammox bacteria. The work is helpful to understand the formation of anammox granular sludge and contribute to the fast start-up and stable operation in anammox application.

Precise diagnosis of three top cancers using dbGaP data.

The challenge of decoding information about complex diseases hidden in huge number of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes is undertaken based on five dbGaP studies. Current genome-wide association studies have successfully identified many high-risk SNPs associated with diseases, but precise diagnostic models for complex diseases by these or more other SNP genotypes are still unavailable in the literature. We report that lung cancer, breast cancer and prostate cancer as the first three top cancers worldwide can be predicted precisely via 240-370 SNPs with accuracy up to 99% according to leave-one-out and 10-fold cross-validation. Our findings (1) confirm an early guess of Dr. Mitchell H. Gail that about 300 SNPs are needed to improve risk forecasts for breast cancer, (2) reveal an incredible fact that SNP genotypes may contain almost all information that one wants to know, and (3) show a hopeful possibility that complex diseases can be precisely diagnosed by means of SNP genotypes without using phenotypical features. In short words, information hidden in SNP genotypes can be extracted in efficient ways to make precise diagnoses for complex diseases.

[Operational Performance and Microbiological Characteristics of an Iron-Salt Denitrification Reactor in Co-substrate Mode].

When iron salt is used as an autotrophic denitrification electron donor, the high iron yield generated by oxidation is easy to precipitate, resulting in "iron encrustation" on the surface of denitrifying microorganisms, which inhibits their activity and even leads to their death. In order to solve the degradation of the efficiency of the autotrophic ferric denitrification reactor caused by the "iron encrustation" coating, this paper adopted the co-substrate mode to cultivate the ferric denitrification reactor; that is, a small amount of sodium acetate was added into the water of the reactor as an organic electron donor, to realize the efficient and stable operation of the ferric denitrification reactor. The results showed that adding an appropriate amount of organic matter could make the iron salt denitrification reactor run efficiently and stably, with an efficiency of up to 0.51 kg·(m3·d)-1, for more than 30 days. Heterotrophic bacteria could always be detected during the operation of the reactor in the co-substrate mode. Combined with the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) test results of the sludge, it was found that during the stable operation of the iron-salt denitrification reactor, heterotrophic bacteria were the main cause of iron-salt denitrification, and their unique iron-salt metabolism mode could effectively avoid the formation of iron encrustation. This study effectively solved the problem of microbial "iron encrustation" coating in the process of iron-salt denitrification, and will contribute to the development and application of autotrophic denitrification technology.

[Retrospective analysis of 896 cases of parotid gland tumor].

PURPOSE: To review the clinical data of patients undergoing operation, in order to summarize the incidence, proportion, clinical examination and diagnostic methods of parotid tumors. METHODS: Eight hundred and ninty-six cases of parotid gland tumors were collected from 2008 January to 2015 July from department of oral and maxillofacial surgery in Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University. A retrospective study of the clinical data was carried out, including age, gender, tumor location, diagnostic methods and pathological results. RESULTS: In 896 patients with parotid gland tumor, 432 were male, 464 were female, the ratio was 1:1.07; 431 cases were on the left side, 454 cases were on the right side, 11 cases were bilateral; The proportion of parotid tumor was higher in patients aged 31 to 70 years old. 786 cases were benign, 110 cases were malignant, the ratio of benign to malignant was 7.15:1. Pleomorphic adenoma, Warthin tumor and basal cell adenoma were the most common types of benign tumors, while mucoepidermoid carcinoma, acinic cell carcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma accounted for the most of malignant tumors. CONCLUSIONS: The pathological types of parotid gland tumor are complicated. Clinical examination and imaging features are helpful to diagnosis. The accuracy is high in diagnosis of parotid gland tumor by frozen section, which is useful to assist making treatment plan.

Long noncoding RNA LINC00305 promotes inflammation by activating the AHRR-NF-κB pathway in human monocytes.

Accumulating data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have provided a collection of novel candidate genes associated with complex diseases, such as atherosclerosis. We identified an atherosclerosis-associated single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the intron of the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) LINC00305 by searching the GWAS database. Although the function of LINC00305 is unknown, we found that LINC00305 expression is enriched in atherosclerotic plaques and monocytes. Overexpression of LINC00305 promoted the expression of inflammation-associated genes in THP-1 cells and reduced the expression of contractile markers in co-cultured human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs). We showed that overexpression of LINC00305 activated nuclear factor-kappa beta (NF-κB) and that inhibition of NF-κB abolished LINC00305-mediated activation of cytokine expression. Mechanistically, LINC00305 interacted with lipocalin-1 interacting membrane receptor (LIMR), enhanced the interaction of LIMR and aryl-hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR), and promoted protein expression as well as nuclear localization of AHRR. Moreover, LINC00305 activated NF-κB exclusively in the presence of LIMR and AHRR. In light of these findings, we propose that LINC00305 promotes monocyte inflammation by facilitating LIMR and AHRR cooperation and the AHRR activation, which eventually activates NF-κB, thereby inducing HASMC phenotype switching.

Netrin-1 suppresses the MEK/ERK pathway and ITGB4 in pancreatic cancer.

The axon guidance factor netrin-1 promotes tumorigenesis in multiple types of cancers, particularly at their advanced stages. Here, we investigate whether netrin-1 is involved in the in vivo growth of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. We show that netrin-1 is significantly under-expressed in stage-I/II pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Netrin-1 over-expression effectively arrests the growth of xenografted PDAC cells without decreasing cell proliferation or increasing apoptosis in two-dimensional cultures in vitro. Integrin-beta4 (ITGB4) expression is significantly reduced, and ITGB4-knockdown mimics the tumor-suppressive effect of netrin-1, implying that ITGB4 is a main target of netrin-1 in constraining PDAC. We further show that netrin-1 signals to UNC5B/FAK to stimulate nitric oxide production, which promotes PP2A-mediated inhibition of the MEK/ERK pathway and decreases phosphorylated-c-Jun recruitment to the ITGB4 promoter. Our findings suggest that netrin-1 can suppress the growth of PDAC and provide a mechanistic insight into this suppression.

MicroRNA-100 functions as a tumor suppressor by inhibiting Lgr5 expression in colon cancer cells.

Previous studies have demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs), a class of single­stranded RNA molecules that are 18­27 nucleotides in length, serve a critical function in tumorigenesis, including in the development of colon cancer. In the current study, miR­100 levels were demonstrated to be reduced in colon cancer tissues compared with the levels in matched adjacent normal tissues. Forced overexpression of miR­100 by transfection with miR­100 mimics substantially inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of SW480 and HCT116 cells, whereas reduced expression, resulting from transfection of antisense oligonucleotides, promoted these processes. At the molecular level, miR­100 was observed to reduce the levels of leucine­rich repeat­containing G protein­coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5), by binding to its 3'­untranslated region. As a result of this, Wnt/ß­catenin signaling was affected by fluctuations in the level of miR­100 mimics or antisense. Collectively, the results of the current study elucidate a novel regulatory pathway involving miR­100 and Lgr5 in colon cancer cells, which may present a potential therapeutic target.

Association of type 2 diabetes genetic variants with breast cancer survival among Chinese women.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the genetic susceptibility of T2D was associated with overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) outcomes for breast cancer (BC). METHODS: Included in the study were 6346 BC patients who participated in three population-based epidemiological studies of BC and were genotyped with either GWAS or Exome-chip. We constructed a genetic risk score (GRS) for diabetes using risk variants identified from the GWAS catalog (http://genome.gov/gwastudies) that were associated with T2D risk at a minimum significance level of P ≤ 5.0E-8 among Asian population and evaluated its associations with BC outcomes with Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 8.08 years (range, 0.01-16.95 years), 1208 deaths were documented in 6346 BC patients. Overall, the diabetes GRS was not associated with OS and DFS. Analyses stratified by estrogen receptor status (ER) showed that the diabetes GRS was inversely associated with OS among women with ER- but not in women with ER+ breast cancer; the multivariable adjusted HR was 1.38 (95% CI: 1.05-1.82) when comparing the highest to the lowest GRS quartiles. The association of diabetes GRS with OS varied by diabetes status (P for interaction <0.01). In women with history of diabetes, higher diabetes GRS was significantly associated with worse OS, with HR of 2.22 (95% CI: 1.28-3.88) for the highest vs. lowest quartile, particularly among women with an ER- breast cancer, with corresponding HR being 4.59 (95% CI: 1.04-20.28). No significant association between the diabetes GRS and OS was observed across different BMI and PR groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that genetic susceptibility of T2D was positively associated with total mortality among women with ER- breast cancer, particularly among subjects with a history of diabetes. Additional studies are warranted to verify the associations and elucidate the underlying biological mechanism.

Involvement of spinal CC chemokine ligand 5 in the development of bone cancer pain in rats.

In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of spinal CC chemokine ligand 5 (CCL5) in the development of bone cancer pain (BCP). A BCP model was established by inoculation of Walker 256 cells into the intramedullary space of rat tibia. The levels of spinal CCL5 mRNA and protein expression significantly and time dependently increased in BCP rats compared with sham rats. On day 15 after inoculation, intrathecal administration of anti-CCL5 neutralizing antibody (4 µg) significantly attenuated the established mechanical hyperalgesia in the Walker 256 cells-injected rats, and the effect was abolished by intrathecal pre-treatment with recombinant rat CCL5 (0.2 µg). These results suggest that the spinal CCL5 may be involved in the development of BCP. The findings of this study may provide an evidence for developing novel analgesic agents to treat BCP.

Research on the practical parameters of sex pheromone traps for the oriental fruit moth.

BACKGROUND: The oriental fruit moth (OFM) is a worldwide fruit-boring insect pest. In China, OFM monitoring traps use a sex pheromone lure, but their overall design is varied. As such, there is a critical need to develop a standardised OFM trap design. In this field study, ten different trap shapes in varying combinations of colours and sizes (such as trap length and surface area) were examined. RESULTS: The results showed that there was no significant difference in the trapping efficiency between eight colours. The ship-shaped trap could kill more OFM in a short period, whereas the automatic watering basin trap could be more effective in the long run. The optimal trapping diameter of the basin trap was 25 cm. The trapping efficiency of triangle traps with diameters of less than 10 cm was better than that of triangle traps with diameters of over 30 cm. The trapping number of pasteboard traps obviously declined when the surface area increased, and the pasteboard trap with a single board possessed excellent trapping efficiency. CONCLUSION: The results provide useful information for the design of standardised sex pheromone traps for monitoring as well as trapping of OFM in the field.

Lymph node ratio and preoperative CA 19-9 levels predict overall survival and recurrence-free survival in patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

AIM: Clinicopathologic factors predicting overall survival (OS) would help identify a subset to benefit from adjuvant therapy. METHODS: One hundred and sixty-nine patients patients from 1984 to 2009 with curative resections for pancreatic adenocarcinoma were included. Tumors were staged by American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition criteria. Univariate and multivariable analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier methodology or Cox proportional hazard models. Log-rank tests were performed. Statistical inferences were assessed by two-sided 5% significance level. RESULTS: Median age was 67.1 (57.2-73.0) years with equal gender distribution. Tumors were in the head (89.3%) or body/tail (10.7%). On univariate analysis, adjuvant therapy, lymph node (LN) ratio, histologic grade, negative margin status, absence of peripancreatic extension, and T stage were associated with improved OS. Adjuvant therapy, LN ratio, histologic grade, number of nodes examined, negative LN status, and absence of peripancreatic extension were associated with improved recurrence-free survival (RFS). On multivariable analysis, LN ratio and carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 levels were associated with OS. LN ratio was associated with RFS. CONCLUSION: The LN ratio and CA 19-9 levels are independent prognostic factors following curative resections of pancreatic cancer.

[Expression of Survivin mRNA and Caspase-3 mRNA and their correlation in tongue squamous cell carcinoma].

PURPOSE: To investigate the expression of Survivin mRNA and Caspase-3 mRNA in tongue squamous cell carcinoma(TSCC), and clarify their significance and correlation in TSCC. METHODS: In situ hybridization technique was employed to detect the expression of Survivin mRNA and Caspase-3 mRNA in 10 normal lingual mucous membranes (NLMM) and 45 TSCCs. Data was analyzed with SPSS13.0 software package for Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test, and Spearman rank correlation was used for analysis of their correlation. RESULTS: The positive staining rate of Survivin mRNA in TSCC was 55.6%, and significantly higher than that in normal control group (P<0.01). The positive staining rate of Caspase-3 mRNA in TSCC was 42.2%, and significantly lower than that in normal control group 80.0%(P<0.05). Overexpression of Survivin mRNA and underexpression of Caspase-3 mRNA were related to the pathological grade, cervical lymphatic metastasis of TSCC (P<0.05) and closely related to TNM stage (P<0.01). There was a negative relation between them, and the Spearman correlation coefficient r was -0.412, P=0.005. CONCLUSIONS: The higher expression of Survivin mRNA takes part in inhibiting Caspase-3 mRNA expression, which correlates with carcinogenesis and progress of TSCC.

[Effect of electroacupuncture on metabolism of lipids in rats of obesity induced by sodium glutamate].

OBJECTIVE: To explore mechanisms of acupuncture for reducing of body weight. METHODS: The rat obesity model was developed by subcutaneous injection of sodium glutamate solution, and the experimental rats were divided into a blank control group, a model group, an electroacupuncture group and a sibutramine group; blood TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C contents and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, and serum leptin and insulin levels were determined. RESULTS: The body weight and Lee's index, and TG, TC and LDL-C contents in the electroacupuncture group decreased significantly as compared with those in the model group (all P<0.01), the actions in the electroacupuncture group being superior to those in the sibutramine group; the HDL-C contents in both the electroacupuncture and the sibutramine groups were higher than that of the model group (P<0.01) with no significant difference between the electroacupuncture group and the sibutramine group; LPL activity in the electroacupuncture group increased significantly as compared with that in the model group (P<0.01); serum leptin and insulin levels in both the electroacupuncture group and the sibutramine group were lower than that in the model group (P<0.05, P<0.01), with no significant difference between the electroacupuncture group and the sibutramine group in the effect on insulin content, and the decrease of leptin level in the electroacupuncture group was more as compared with the sibutramine group (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Electroacupuncture can improve the status of high blood lipids, increase lipoprotein lipase activity, and regulate serum leptin and insulin levels in the obestic rat.