Highly Efficient Purification of Multicomponent Wastewater by Electrospinning Kidney-Bean-Skin-like Porous H-PPAN/rGO-g-PAO@Ag+/Ag Composite Nanofibrous Membranes.

Due to the complexity of harmful wastewater components, environmental and multifunctional materials are required for sewage purification. In this paper, a novel kidney-bean-skin-like hydrophilic porous polyacrylonitrile/reduced graphene oxide-g-poly(amidoxime)-loaded Ag+ (H-PPAN/rGO-g-PAO@Ag+/Ag) composite nanofiber membrane was fabricated by combining electrospinning and hydrolysis methods. The spinning solution was pumped at a rate of 0.4 mL/h with the voltage set at a constant value of 23 kV. Then, some of the -CN groups switched to hydrophilic -COOH groups via a hydrolysis method, which acts as a linker of GO-g-PAN, Ag+, and the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) matrix. A further step of chelation and thermal treatment were used for generating Schottky junctions between rGO-g-PAO@Ag+ and Ag. After five-cycle tests, it exhibited outstanding mechanical properties ensuring the filtration and purification performance of the H-PPAN/rGO-g-PAO@Ag+/Ag composite nanofiber membrane (i.e., the tensile strength was still 7.21 MPa, and the elongation was 61.53%) for simulated wastewater. The methods of thermal treatment and high-pressure Hg lamp irradiation promoted the reduction of GO to rGO and Ag+ to Ag particles, which endows the final product H-PPAN/rGO-g-PAO@Ag+/Ag with excellent photocatalytic and bactericidal properties. Its catalytic efficiency for dyes benzoic acid (BA), Rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), and methyl orange (MO) was up to 99.8, 98, 95, and 91%. The antibacterial rate was 100% against Escherichia coli and 99% against Staphylococcus aureus. More importantly, the photocatalytic and antibacterial PAN-based nanofiber membrane can be simply scaled up, which provides the membrane with great potential in highly efficient wastewater treatment and augmenting water supply.

[Cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential elicited by different types air conducted sounds among normal young Chinese people].

OBJECTIVE: To observe waveform difference among cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) elicited with different types of air conducted sound in normal young Chinese subjects. METHOD: Twenty adult volunteers (40 ears) were recruited as research subjects including 10 males and 10 females aged between 19 and 30.500 Hz Tone Burst, 1000 Hz Tone Burst and Click were employed as stimulus for conventional air conducted sound-cVEMP (ACS-cVEMP) examinations in bilateral ears of each subject. The response rate, threshold, P1 latency, N1 latency, P1-N1 latency interval, amplitude and inter-aural asymmetry were recorded and compared among groups. RESULT: The response rate was 97.5% in 500Hz Tone Burst (39/40), 87.5% in 1 000Hz Tone Burst (35/40)and 67.5% in Click (27/40), There were no statistically significant difference between 500Hz Tone Burst and 1000Hz Tone Burst (P > 0.05) but there were statistically significant difference between click and the other groups (P < 0.05). We collected the waveform parameters (the threshold, P1 latency, N1 latency, P1-N1 latency interval, amplitude) which had statistically significant difference between 500 Hz Tone Burst and the other groups (P < 0.05). The inter-aural asymmetrys had no statistically significant differents among groups. CONCLUSION: The response rate and parameter could be affected by different types of air conducted sound in normal young Chinese subjects. 500 Hz Tone Burst was the best stimulus of type what we have known.

Tracheobronchial foreign bodies in children - a retrospective study of 2,000 cases in Northwestern China.

The aim of this study is to report our experience in the diagnosis and treatment of tracheobronchial foreign bodies (TFBs). We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 2,000 TFB patients (1,260 males and 740 females) who were treated between January 2010 and December 2013. Chest radiography and computed tomography were performed to diagnose TFBs. The location and type of foreign bodies (FBs), anesthesia methods, and treatment outcomes and complications were analyzed. Overall, 72.5% of our patients with TFB were aged between 1 years and 3 years. Plant-based FBs are the most common FB type, accounting for 91.5%. Almost 52.1% of the FBs were encountered in the right bronchus. The coincidence rate for computed tomography-based three-dimensional reconstruction was significantly greater than that for chest X-ray examination (98.7% vs 82.0%, P<0.01). Under general anesthesia, the FBs were removed by rigid bronchoscopy. Neither anesthesia complication nor intraoperative hypoxemia occurred. There were seven deaths from acute obstructive asphyxia and eight from residual FB-induced chronic asphyxia and respiration-circulation failure. In conclusion, early diagnosis and prompt treatment of TFBs with rigid bronchoscopy under general anesthesia is effective in reducing complications and mortality in affected children.

Polysaccharide of Boschniakia rossica induces apoptosis on laryngeal carcinoma Hep2 cells.

The aim of this study was to explore the anti-tumor potential of a polysaccharide isolated from Boschniakia rossica (BRP) in Hep2 human larynx squamous carcinoma cells. High performance size-exclusion chromatography analysis showed that BRP was a homogeneous polysaccharide and had a molecular weight of 22 kDa. Total carbohydrate content in BRP was determined to be 96.9%, without the presence of protein and nucleic acid. BRP suppressed the proliferation of Hep2 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle analysis revealed that exposure to BRP (200 µg/ml) caused a G0/G1 cell cycle arrest in Hep2 cells. Moreover, treatment with BRP at 100-400 µg/ml for 24h induced a significant apoptosis Hep2 cells compared to untreated control cells, as determined by flow cytometry with annexin-V/propidium iodide double staining. Additionally, BRP treatment promoted the cleavage of pro-caspase-3, pro-caspase-8, and pro-caspase-9, coupled with increased expression of death receptor DR5 and Bax and reduced expression of Bcl-2. Taken together, our data demonstrate that BRP shows potent anti-tumor activity in human larynx squamous carcinoma, largely through induction of G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Activation of both mitochondria-mediated and death receptor-mediated apoptosis pathways is involved in the cytotoxicity of BRP.