Capabilities and mechanisms of microalgae on nutrients and florfenicol removing from marine aquaculture wastewater.

The regulations governing the discharge of marine aquaculture wastewater are becoming increasingly stringent, and the problems of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution and antibiotic residues in wastewater are serious. Microalgae-based treatment with the dual benefits of wastewater purification and microalgae resource recycling was regarded as the most promising technology in aquaculture wastewater treatment. Isochrysis galbana and Chlorella sp. were chosen to investigate antibiotic and nutrient removal mechanisms from aquaculture wastewater. FLO addition stimulated microalgae growth at low FLO concentrations (0.1 and 1 mg/L) but inhibited growth at 10 mg/L. The removal efficiency of DIN by Chlorella sp. and I. galbana after 7 days of cultivation was 66.4% and 25.8%, respectively. Linear curves were obtained between DIN concentration and cultivation duration, remove constant (k) increased as FLO concentration increased from 0 to 10 mg/L, and the highest value of k was obtained in both the Chlorella sp. and I. galbana groups at 10 mg/L. DIP concentrations in FLO-contained simulated aquaculture wastewater decreased sharply with the cultivation of Chlorella sp. and I. galbana, and DIP removal rate increased as FLO concentration increased. When the initial concentration of FLO was 0.1 mg/L, biodegradation by I. galbana accounted for 86.67% of FLO removal. In contrast, FLO removal with biodegradation and biosorption by Chlorella sp. was 89.74% and 3.72%, respectively. Furthermore, Chlorella sp. grown in MPBR demonstrated superior capability for antibiotic-containing marine aquaculture wastewater purification, with average removal rates of DIN and DIP of 81.2% and 100%, respectively. The high removal rate is related to membranes which can improve microalgae performance by decoupling SRT and HRT. For microalgae-based aquaculture wastewater, ammonia was the most crucial nitrogen source, followed by nitrate. These findings serve as a theoretical foundation for developing microalgae-based aquaculture wastewater treatment technology and eliminating antibiotics in aquaculture.

Responses of Leaf Cuticles to Rice Blast: Detection and Identification Using Depth-Profiling Fourier Transform Mid-Infrared Photoacoustic Spectroscopy.

Cuticle is the first barrier for rice to resist blast fungus on the surface of the leaf. Studies on how the rice leaf cuticle responds to rice blast and attempts to perform early detection of rice blast are limited, and these two issues were explored in this study via depth-profiling Fourier transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS). Rice leaves with four different scales of injury (healthy leaves as CK, asymptomatic leaves from mildly diseased seedlings as S1, infected leaves with fewer than five lesions as S2, and infected leaves with more than 10 lesions as S3) were scanned by three moving mirror velocities 0.32, 0.47, and 0.63 cm/s for the depth profiling of the rice leaf surface. The response patterns were acquired via chemometrics to analyze the variations of the chemical group absorptions in the different layers of a sample and in the same layer between different samples. Results showed that the leaf cuticle tended to be thicker and the relative content of fatty alcohols and cutin, unsaturated compounds, and aromatics in the cuticle increased when rice seedlings were infected by blast fungus. Together with the principal component analysis, the probabilistic neural network was applied to identify the samples in early stages (CK and S1), which reached an accuracy of 90% for the samples in the greenhouse and 82% for the samples in the field. Thus, depth-profiling FTIR-PAS was good at analyzing the variation in cuticle layers and showed great potential in the early detection of rice blast or other diseases in different species.

DNA methylation biomarkers for the occurrence of lung adenocarcinoma from TCGA data mining.

The development of lung cancer is a combination of multifactor, multistage, and multiple genetic alterations processes. DNA methylation is an important factor. Currently, the study on the genome-scale epigenetic modification for studying the pathogenesis of lung cancer is still lacking. Here, we aimed to identify the epigenetic modifications of lung cancer, thus to provide scientific basis for the personalized medicine, and research of classification screening for lung adenocarcinoma patients. The DNA methylation data, and the corresponding clinical information of lung adenocarcinoma samples were extracted from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We explored the association of DNA methylation and gene transcription expression of lung adenocarcinoma by identifying the differentially expressed genes, DNA methylated locis, functional gene clusters, and the relevant genes associated with the survival. We identified 17 differentially expressed genes which had differentially methylated locis, 4 functional gene clusters regulated by methylation, and 522 genes, which were relevant to the survival time of patients. Our study suggested that methylation controlled the gene expression in a variety of ways, which had high/low expression and hyper-/hypo-methylation. Genes of different methylation status showed the different survival curve. The genes and methylated locis identified in this study could be potential biomarkers and therapeutic targets for lung adenocarcinoma.

Response of bean cultures' water use efficiency against climate warming in semiarid regions of China.

Farm crop growing and high efficiency water resource utilizing are directly influenced by global warming, and a new challenge will be given to food and water resource security. A simulation experiment by farm warming with infrared ray radiator was carried out, and the result showed photosynthesis of broad bean was significantly faster than transpiration during the seedling stage, ramifying stage, budding stage, blooming stage and podding stage when the temperate was increased by 0.5-1.5 °C. But broad bean transpiration was faster than photosynthesis during the budding stage, blooming stage and podding stage when the temperature was increased by 1.5 °C above. The number of grain per hill and hundred-grain weight were significantly increased when the temperature was increased by 0.5-1.0 °C. But they significantly dropped and finally the yield decreased when the temperature was increased by 1.0 °C above. The broad bean yield decreased by 39.2-88.4% when the temperature was increased by 1.5-2.0 °C. The broad bean water use efficiency increased and then decreased with temperature rising. The water use efficiency increased when the temperature was increased by 1.0 °C below, and it quickly decreased when the temperature was increased by 1.0 °C above. In all, global warming in the future will significantly influence the growth, yield and water use efficiency of bean cultures in China's semiarid regions.

Risk factors for dementia with type 2 diabetes mellitus among elderly people in China.

OBJECTIVE: to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of diabetes to dementia and its subtypes such as Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD) among the Chinese elderly population. METHODS: among 8,213 Chinese people aged 65 years and older, 1,109 subjects with type 2 diabetes millitus (T2DM) were ascertained by interview and direct glucose testing. All diabetic subjects were initially screened with the "DSM-IV criteria" for dementia and its subtypes. We compared the prevalence of dementia in diabetic patients with that in ordinary subjects, and analyzed the association of the status of diabetes with dementia including AD and VD. Logistic regression was used to assess OR of dementia and its subtypes with T2DM. RESULTS: after a comprehensive geriatric and cognitive assessment, 132 diabetic subjects were diagnosed with all-cause dementia. The prevalence rate for dementia with T2DM was 1.61%. Of demented subjects, 37 subjects had AD, 30 subjects had VD. The prevalence rates for AD with T2DM and VD with T2DM were 4.51% and 3.65%, respectively. In the univariate analyses, among all diabetic subjects, compared with cognitive intactly subjects, the demented subjects, including AD and VD subjects, were older, more female had higher percentage of current smoking, had a greater duration of diabetes, took more frequent use of diabetes medications, and stronger effect of APOE ε4 status. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, variables including age, APOE ε4 allele, duration from onset of diabetes, using oral hypoglycemic agents, HMG-CoA reductase (statins) were significantly associated with increased risk for dementia with T2DM (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: the present study shows that T2DM is associated with dementia and its subtypes amongst elderly people in the Chinese population.

Prevalence and distribution of cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND) among the aged population and the analysis of socio-demographic characteristics: the community-based cross-sectional study.

The epidemiology on "cognitive impairment no dementia" (CIND) and its natural history are of great importance for understanding the transition from normal aging to dementia. Epidemiologic studies of CIND, however, are limited in China. The goal of our study was to determine the prevalence and distribution of CIND in the aged population and analyze socio-demographic factors. To accomplish this, we performed cluster random sampling of 6192 people aged over 65 years in Taiyuan, a metropolitan city located in northern China. Socio-demographic factors were surveyed by self-administered questionnaires. Neuropsychologic testing consisting of the Mini-Mental State Examination, Boston Naming Test, Trail Making Tests A and B, Block Design, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Visual Reproduction, Logical Memory, letter and category fluency, the National Adult Reading Test, the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the "state" section of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was also obtained. Pearson chi statistics and odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals were used to identify the relationship between CIND and socio-demographic factors. Logistic regression modeling was undertaken to identify potential risk factors. Results showed that an overall prevalence of CIND was 9.70% (95% confidence intervals: 9.62%-9.77%). Univariate analyses showed that the prevalence of CIND differed significantly according to age, sex, education level, monthly household income, and marital status (P<0.01), but not by occupational achievement (P>0.05). In a multiple logistic regression analysis, age, sex, marital status, educational level, and occupation were significantly associated with increased risk for CIND (P<0.01). This study confirms the high prevalence of CIND among the elderly population of China, similar to previous epidemiologic studies in other countries. Nearly all socio-demographic characteristics are associated with CIND. The putative risk factors identified merit further study.

The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment with type 2 diabetes mellitus among elderly people in China: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: In absence of curative treatments for dementia with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in T2DM, the preclinical transitional states of dementia with T2DM has attracted dramatic attention. Our study was to estimate the prevalence and distribution of MCI in T2DM subjects from China, and identify influencing factors of subjects in MCI with T2DM. METHODS: In the present study, we performed cluster random sampling of 8213 people aged 65 years and older in Tianjin, a metropolitan city, located in northern China. All participants were interviewed and screened for T2DM. 1109 subjects with T2DM were initially screened with American Diabetes Association criteria for diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and were diagnosed with MCI and dementia according to the criteria of DSM-IIIR. The prevalence of MCI and dementia in subjects with T2DM were compared with that in ordinary subjects. Logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate risk of MCI with T2DM. RESULTS: Among all 8213 subjects, overall MCI and dementia with T2DM prevalence were 13.5% and 2.34%, respectively. Compared with ordinary subjects, the prevalence of MCI in the present study was more frequent than the prevalence of MCI for the general population in almost each age group. In the univariate analyses, among all diabetic subjects, compared with cognitive intactly subjects, MCI subjects had significantly higher levels of age, current smoking, mean waist circumference, duration from onset of diabetes, insulin intake, systolic BP, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and immunoreactive insulin (IRI). In multivariate logistic regression analyses, variables including current smoking, duration from onset of diabetes, FPG, HbA1c and IRI were significantly associated with increased risk for MCI with T2DM, the ORs were 1.36,1.33,1.17,1.25 and 1.33, respectively (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The present study confirms the high prevalence of MCI with T2DM among the elderly population of China. T2DM is related to a higher risk of MCI in a population with a high prevalence of this disorder and may aggravate the clinical picture as a concomitant factor.

Apolipoprotein ε4-allele as a significant risk factor for conversion from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis of prospective studies.

Recent studies of the relationship between progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer disease (AD) and APOE ε4-allele revealed inconsistent results. To estimate the risk posed by APOE ε4-allele for developing AD in MCI subjects using meta-analysis and identify possible sources of heterogeneity between studies, we reviewed longitudinal epidemiological studies of the presence of APOE ε4-allele on risk for progression to dementia in MCI subjects, and conducted meta-analyses of the results from these studies. Our study was derived from 315 positive-outcome events and 461 negative-outcome events from 8 prospective studies. The pooled RR was statistically significant (pooled RR = 2.09; 95 % CI, 1.52-2.88). The Q statistics indicated high heterogeneity across studies (Q = 14.21, p = 0.003). RR were significantly related to the ethnicity of the sample (z = 3.58, p = 0.024). No significant heterogeneity was observed after stratification in four European-population studies (χ² = 0.67, p = 0.880), but it remained in four American-population studies (χ² = 18.52, p = 0.003). Heterogeneity markedly reduced after excluding one specific study (Q = 4.9, p = 0.009; I² = 39 %). APOE ε4-allele conferred increased risk for progression to dementia in MCI subjects. Ethnicity is a critical factor to yield heterogeneity. Further studies using larger sample sizes are required.

The relationship of plasma Aß levels to dementia in aging individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

Amyloid ß(Aß) peptides are important components of plaques in Alzheimer's disease(AD). A decrease in the CSF concentration of Aß40 and Aß42 is a potential biomarker for incident AD. In contrast, studies on plasma Aß40 and Aß42 concentrations have yielded contradictory results. To explore the relationship between plasma Aß40 and Aß42 concentrations and AD in aging individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), evaluate the sensitivity and the specificity of plasma Aß and their ratio as a marker for progression to AD. We measured baseline concentrations of Aß40 and Aß42, and their ratio in plasma of patients carefully categorized clinically and neurochemically as having AD or other dementias from a cohort of patients with MCI (n=588) after 4-6 years of follow-up time. Plasma concentrations of Aß40, Aß42 were measured using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay technology. The association between plasma Aß concentrations and the risk of dementia was assessed using Cox proportional hazard models. Optimal sensitivity and specificity of Aß measurements were determined by ROC curve analysis. Plasma Aß42 concentration and the Aß42/Aß40 ratio at baseline were significantly decreased in the MCI patients who developed AD as compared to cognitively stable MCI patients. The baseline concentrations of Aß40 were similar in all MCI groups. The Aß42/Aß40 ratio was superior to Aß42 concentration with regard to identify incipient AD in MCI. The ratio of Aß42 to Aß40 rather than absolute levels of the peptides can aid in the identification of incipient AD among MCI patients. A potential role of plasma Aß concentrations as a marker of incipient dementia warrants further investigation.