Co-pollution risk of petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals in typically polluted estuarine wetlands: Insights from the Xiaoqing River.

Excessive accumulation of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) and heavy metals (HMs) in sediments poses a significant threat to the estuarine ecosystem. In this study, the spatial and temporal distribution, ecological risks, sources, and their impacts on the microbial communities of TPH and nine HMs in the estuarine sediments of the Xiaoqing River were determined. Results showed that the spatial distribution of TPH and HMs were similar but opposite in temporal. Ni, Cr, Pb, and Co concentrations were similar to the reference values (RVs). However, the other five HMs (Cu, Zn, Cd, As, and Hg) and TPH concentrations were 2.00-763.44 times higher than RVs; hence, this deserves attention, particularly for Hg. Owing to the water content of the sediments, Hg was mainly concentrated on the surface during the wet season and on the bottom during the dry season. Moreover, because of weak hydrodynamics and upstream pollutant sinks, TPH-HMs in the river were higher than those in the estuary. TPH and HM concentrations were negatively correlated with microbial diversity. Structural equation modeling showed that HMs (path coefficient = -0.50, p < 0.001) had a negative direct effect on microbial community structure and a positive indirect effect on TPH. The microbial community (path coefficient = 0.31, 0.01 < p < 0.05) was significantly correlated with TPH. In summary, this study explores both the chemical analysis of pollutants and their interaction with microbial communities, providing a better understanding of the co-pollution of TPH and HMs in estuarine sediments.

Quercetin Protects Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity via the PI3K/Akt/Erk Signaling Pathway in a Mouse Model of Meningitis Induced by Glaesserella parasuis.

Glaesserella parasuis (G. parasuis) causes serious inflammation and meningitis in piglets. Quercetin has anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activities; however, whether quercetin can alleviate brain inflammation and provide protective effects during G. parasuis infection has not been studied. Here, we established a mouse model of G. parasuis infection in vivo and in vitro to investigate transcriptome changes in the mouse cerebrum and determine the protective effects of quercetin on brain inflammation and blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity during G. parasuis infection. The results showed that G. parasuis induced brain inflammation, destroyed BBB integrity, and suppressed PI3K/Akt/Erk signaling-pathway activation in mice. Quercetin decreased the expression of inflammatory cytokines (Il-18, Il-6, Il-8, and Tnf-α) and BBB-permeability marker genes (Mmp9, Vegf, Ang-2, and Et-1), increased the expression of angiogenetic genes (Sema4D and PlexinB1), reduced G. parasuis-induced tight junction disruption, and reactivated G. parasuis-induced suppression of the PI3K/Akt/Erk signaling pathway in vitro. Thus, we concluded that quercetin may protect BBB integrity via the PI3K/Akt/Erk signaling pathway during G. parasuis infection. This was the first attempt to explore the protective effects of quercetin on brain inflammation and BBB integrity in a G. parasuis-infected mouse model. Our findings indicated that quercetin is a promising natural agent for the prevention and treatment of G. parasuis infection.

A graphene oxide-assisted protein immobilization paper-tip immunosensor with smartphone and naked eye readout for the detection of okadaic acid.

BACKGROUND: Okadaic acid (OA), as a diarrhetic shellfish poisoning, can increase the risk of acute carcinogenic or teratogenic effects for the ingestion of OA contaminated shellfish. At present, much effort has been made to graft immunoassay onto a paper substrate to make paper-based sensors for rapid and simple detection of shellfish toxin. However, the complicated washing steps and low protein fixation efficiency on the paper substrate need to be further addressed. RESULTS: A novel paper-tip immunosensor for detecting OA was developed combined with smartphone and naked eye readout. The trapezoid paper tip was consisted of quantitative and qualitative detection zones. To improve the OA antigen immobilization efficiency on the paper substrate, graphene oxide (GO)-assisted protein immobilization method was introduced. Meanwhile, Au nanoparticles composite probe combined with the lateral flow washing was developed to simplify the washing step. The OA antigen-immobilized zone, as the detection zone Ⅰ, was used for quantitative assay by smartphone imaging. The paper-tip front, as the detection zone Ⅱ, which could qualitatively differentiate OA pollution level within 45 min using the naked eye. The competitive immunoassay on the paper tip exhibited a wide linear range for detecting OA (0.02-50 ng∙mL-1) with low detection limit of 0.02 ng∙mL-1. The recovery of OA in spiked shellfish samples was in the range of 90.3 %-113.%. SIGNIFICANCE: These results demonstrated that the proposed paper-tip immunosensor could provide a simple, low-cost and high-sensitivity test for OA detection without the need for additional large-scale equipment or expertise. We anticipate that this paper-tip immunosensor will be a flexible and versatile tool for on-site detecting the pollution of marine products.

Distribution, sources and ecological risks of PAHs and n-alkanes in water and sediments of typically polluted estuaries: Insights from the Xiaoqing River.

Seasonal water and sediment samples were collected from the Xiaoqing River estuary and the neighboring sea to study the spatial and temporal distributions, sources and ecological risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes. The results showed significant spatial and temporal differences in the concentrations of PAHs and n-alkanes under the influence of precipitation, temperature, and human activities. The concentrations of PAHs in water were lower in the wet season than in the dry season, and those in sediments were higher in the wet season than in the dry season. The concentrations of n-alkanes were higher in the rainy season than in the dry season for both water and sediments. The spatial distributions of PAHs and n-alkanes were estuarine > offshore. The concentration ranges of ∑PAHs in water and sediments were 230.66-599.86 ng/L and 84.51-5548.62 ng/g, respectively, in the wet season and 192.46-8649.55 ng/L and 23.39-1208.92 ng/g, respectively, in the dry season. The proportion of three-ring PAHs in water (57.03% and 78.27% in the wet and dry seasons, respectively) was high, followed by two-ring PAHs (27.31% and 13.59% in the wet and dry seasons, respectively). The proportion of four-ring PAHs was higher in sediments (24.79% and 32.20% in the wet and dry seasons, respectively). The ecological risk of PAHs assessed using the toxicity equivalent quotient and risk quotient was at moderate to moderately high risk levels. The high concentration of n-alkane fraction C16 (611.65-75594.58 ng/L) in the water is indicative of petroleum or other fossil fuel inputs. The main peaks of n-alkanes in river sediments were C27, C29 and C31, indicating higher inputs of plant sources. The sediments in the estuary showed dominance of both short-chain C16 and long-chain C25-C31, indicating a combined input of higher plants and petroleum. The diagnostic ratios of PAHs and n-alkanes indicated that their sources were mainly oil/coal/biomass combustion and petroleum spills attributed to frequent vehicular, vessel and mariculture activities. Given the potential ecological risks of PAHs and n-alkanes in water and sediments, future studies should focus on their bioaccumulation and biotoxicity.

Periodontitis and Sjogren's syndrome: a bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVES: Observational studies indicated a controversial relationship between periodontitis (PD) and Sjogren's syndrome (SS). To overcome restrictions in conventional observational studies, we conducted a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to assess the potential bidirectional relationship between PD and SS. METHODS: We utilized the largest available genome-wide association study (GWAS) of European ancestry on both PD (17,353 cases-28,210 controls) and SS (2495 cases-365,533 controls) for MR genetic instrument selection. The random-effect inverse-variance weighted (IVW) method complemented by Causal Analysis Using Summary Effect (CAUSE), weighted median, weighted mode, simple mode, MR-Egger regression, and MR-pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) was used for MR analysis. Subsequent pleiotropy and heterogeneity tests were conducted. RESULTS: IVW analysis exhibited neither an effect of PD on SS (OR = 0.939, 95%CI = 0.525-1.677, P = 0.8304) nor that of SS on PD (OR = 1.007, 95%CI = 0.977-1.038, P = 0.6440). The other five complementary methods further recognized the null association with an effect size close to one. No significant pleiotropy was detected in the relationship between PD and SS (P > 0.05). Heterogeneity existed in the effect of PD on SS but not vice versa. CONCLUSIONS: No genetic causality between PD and SS or vice versa was supported by our results under MR assumptions and limitations. The study results provided new insights into the relationship between periodontal status and sjogren's syndrome, highlighting the need for a more prudent medical intervention.

Assessment of eutrophication from Xiaoqing River estuary to Laizhou Bay: Further warning of ecosystem degradation in typically polluted estuary.

The coast of Laizhou Bay is plagued by a number of environmental issues, such as eutrophication, which are likely to worsen over the next few decades as a result of trends toward industrialization and urbanization. High nutrient levels in the Xiaoqing River are believed to be the main cause of Laizhou Bay becoming eutrophicated. Therefore, we conducted two cruises from the Xiaoqing River estuary to Laizhou Bay in August 2022 and December 2022, respectively, in the wet and dry periods to assess the potential impact of status of eutrophication due to human activities. The results showed that the concentration of DIN was higher than the quality standard for water (fi > 1) in both the wet season (August 2022) and the dry season (December 2022). DIN has major environmental impacts in Laizhou Bay. The eutrophication level index and organic pollution index have obvious spatial and temporal characteristics. In terms of time, the dry season is higher than the wet season. In space, Xiaoqing estuary is higher than Laizhou Bay. In the two surveys, DIN and DIP concentrations were significantly positively correlated, indicating that N and P pollution in the region had a common source and destination, and the spatial distribution was also similar. In addition, the current environmental conditions in the region are not ideal, reaching moderate and severe eutrophication levels, which proves that the ecosystem has the risk of aggravating degradation. As the Xiaoqing River is about to resume full navigation, human-related nutrient input (especially DIN) will continue to increase, and it is expected that the eutrophication risk in this area will increase in the next few years due to the increase in nutrient load.

Uncovering the dynamic evolution of microbes and n-alkanes: Insights from the Kuroshio Extension in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

Biomarkers offer unique insights into the state of the environment, but little is known about how they interact with microbial communities in the open ocean. This study investigated the correlative effects between microbial communities and n-alkane distribution in surface seawater and sediments from the Kuroshio Extension in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The n-alkanes in both surface seawater and surface sediments were mostly derived from algae and higher plants, with some minor contributions from anthropogenic and biological sources. The composition of microbial communities in surface seawater and sediments was different. In surface seawater, the dominant taxa were Vibrio, Alteromonas, Clade_Ia, Pseudoalteromonas, and Synechococcus_CC9902, while the taxa in the sediments were mostly unclassified. These variations/fluctuations of n-alkanes in three areas caused the aggregation of specialized microbial communities (Alteromonas). As the characteristic composition indexes of two typical n-alkanes, Short-chain n-alkane carbon preference index (CPI-L) and long-chain n-alkane carbon preference index (CPI-H) significantly influenced the microbial community structure in surface seawater, but not in surface sediments. Effect of CPI on microbial communities may be attributed to anthropogenic inputs or petroleum pollution. The abundance of hydrocarbon degradation genes also varied across the three different areas. Our work underscores that n-alkanes in the oceans alter the microbial community structure and enrich associated degradation genes. The functional differences in microbial communities within different areas contribute to their ecological uniqueness.

Colorful Electrochromic Displays with High Visual Quality Based on Porous Metamaterials.

The introduction of metamaterials into electrochromic (EC) displays has recently inspired a great breakthrough in the EC field, as this can offer a variety of new attractive features, from a very wide gamut of colors to very fast switching times. However, such metamaterial-based EC displays still face significant constraints when developing from single electrodes to full devices, because other supportive components in devices, such as counter electrodes and electrolytes, significantly affect light propagation and the subsequent perceived color quality in metamaterial-based EC devices. Herein, a new, cost-effective device design structured around a new type of porous metamaterial is reported to circumvent the critical problem in metamaterial-based EC displays. Owing to its unique design, the metamaterial-based EC device achieves good color quality with no drop in brightness or shift in color chromaticity when compared with a single electrode. Moreover, the porous-metamaterial-based EC device can exhibit non-iridescence and be viewed from a wide range of angles (5°-85°) and has fast switching response (2.4 and 2.5 s for coloration and bleaching, respectively), excellent cycling performance (at least 2000 cycles), and extremely low power consumption (4.0 mW cm-2 ).

Semiconductor SERS on Colourful Substrates with Fabry-Pérot Cavities.

Non-metallic materials have emerged as a new family of active substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), with unique advantages over their metal counterparts. However, owing to their inefficient interaction with the incident wavelength, the Raman enhancement achieved with non-metallic materials is considerably lower with respect to the metallic ones. Herein, we propose colourful semiconductor-based SERS substrates for the first time by utilizing a Fabry-Pérot cavity, which realize a large freedom in manipulating light. Owing to the delicate adjustment of the absorption in terms of both frequency and intensity, resonant absorption can be achieved with a variety of non-metal SERS substrates, with the sensitivity further enhanced by ≈100 times. As a typical example, by introducing a Fabry-Pérot-type substrate fabricated with SiO2 /Si, a rather low detection limit of 10-16  M for the SARS-CoV-2S protein is achieved on SnS2 . This study provides a realistic strategy for increasing SERS sensitivity when semiconductors are employed as SERS substrates.

Effect of Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy with the oXiris Hemofilter on Critically Ill Patients: A Narrative Review.

Critically ill patients with sepsis and severe COVID-19 are commonly characterized by a dysregulated immune response and an acute kidney injury. Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is now proposed as a promising adjuvant therapy to treat these critically ill patients by removing cytokines, pathogen-associated molecular patterns, and damage-associated molecular patterns from the blood. Although multiple hemofilters, including high-cutoff membranes, the oXiris hemofilter, the CytoSorb hemoadsorption device, and the Toraymyxin hemoperfusion cartridge, have been used in current clinical practice, the use of the oXiris hemofilter in critically ill patients is of particular interest because it is the only kind of hemofilter that can provide renal replacement therapy, remove endotoxins, and adsorb cytokines simultaneously. During the past five years, a growing body of literature has shown that CRRT with the oXiris hemofilter can improve hemodynamics and organ function and can decrease cytokines and endotoxins in both septic and COVID-19 patients. Here, we performed a narrative review to describe the development history of the oXiris hemofilter and to discuss the therapeutic effect of oXiris-CRRT on critically ill patients by searching the PubMed, Web of Science, and clinicaltrials.gov databases for articles published from inception to 8 September 2022 (updated on 1 November) with an English language restriction. We also summarized the current knowledge on anticoagulation techniques and safety concerns when delivering oXiris-CRRT sessions.

A Proinflammatory Diet May Increase Mortality Risk in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus.

This was an observational study based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and National Death Index (NDI) 2009-2014 which aimed to validate whether a proinflammatory diet may increase mortality risk in patients with diabetes mellitus. Dietary inflammatory potential was assessed by dietary inflammatory index (DII) based on 24 h dietary recall. Mortality follow-up information was accessed from NDI, which was then merged with NHANES data following the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) protocols. For 15,291 participants from the general population, the average DII was 0.37 ± 1.76 and the prevalence rate of diabetes was 13.26%. DII was positively associated with fasting glucose (ß = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.30, 1.36, p = 0.0022), glycohemoglobin (ß = 0.02, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.03, p = 0.0009), and the risk of diabetes (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.09, p = 0.0139). For 1904 participants with diabetes and a median follow-up of 45 person-months, a total of 178 participants with diabetes died from all causes (mortality rate = 9.34%). People with diabetes who adhered to a proinflammatory diet showed a higher risk of all-cause mortality (HR = 1.71, 95%CI: 1.13, 2.58, p = 0.0108). In summary, DII was positively associated with diabetes prevalence and a proinflammatory diet may increase mortality risk in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Electrochromic Metamaterials of Metal-Dielectric Stacks for Multicolor Displays with High Color Purity.

Inorganic electrochromic (EC) materials with vibrant multicolor change that are compatible with large-scale processing have been at the forefront of EC technology and are crucial in a wide range of applications, such as displays and camouflage. However, limited strategies are available to realize such inorganic materials, and challenges such as low color purity are yet to be overcome. Here, we demonstrate multilayered metal-dielectric metamaterials (MMDMs) as a new family of inorganics-based EC materials to achieve dynamic alternation among multicolors with high contrast and high color purity, which are structurally realized by significantly enhancing the confinement of the incident light in specific optical frequencies. This multilayer structure renders high reflectivity (75%), high quality factor (7.4), and a full width at half-maximum of 60 nm before coloration and presents a color gamut at least 40% wider than that of previously reported metamaterials after coloration, indicating good color quality.

The interaction between dispersed crude oil droplets and particulate matter.

In this study, the effect of particulate matter type, temperature, oil type and weathering degree on the interaction between dispersed crude oil droplets and particulate matter was investigated. The increase of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) percentage in oil-particle aggregates (OPAs) could be attributed to the increase of oil polarity or viscosity. For small size particulate matter, there was a fine dependence relationship between the TPH percentage in OPAs and the oil viscosity and the content of polar components, respectively (R2 > 0.7502). And the total organic carbon content also played an important role in the formation of OPAs. The petroleum hydrocarbon extracts of OPAs showed a decrease in short-carbon-chain components and a relative increase in long-carbon-chain compounds. Petroleum hydrocarbon compounds trapped by three types of particulate matter exhibited a similar change tendency, but there was no apparent difference in the residual TPH percentage in water.

Biodegradation of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide by a Bacillus megaterium strain SZK-5: Functional enzymes and antioxidant defense mechanism.

Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) is the most widely used water-soluble linear polymer with high molecular weight in polymer flooding. Microbiological degradation is an environment-friendly and effective method of treating HPAM-containing oilfield produced water. In this study, a strain SZK-5 that could degrade HPAM was isolated from soil contaminated by oilfield produced water. Based on morphological, biochemical characteristics and 16S rDNA sequence homology analysis, the strain was identified as Bacillus megaterium. The biodegradation capability of strain SZK-5 was determined by incubation in a mineral salt medium (MSM) containing HPAM under different environmental conditions, showing 55.93% of the HPAM removed after 7 d of incubation under the optimum conditions ((NH4)2SO4 = 1667.9 mg L-1, temperature = 24.05 °C and pH = 8.19). Cytochrome P450 (CYP) and urease (URE) played significant roles in biological carbon and nitrogen removal, respectively. The strain SZK-5 could resist the damages caused by oxidative stress given by crude oil and HPAM. To our knowledge, this is the first report about the biodegradation of HPAM by B. megaterium. These results suggest that strain SZK-5 might be a new auxiliary microbiological resource for the biodegradation of HPAM residue in wastewater and soil.

Great correlation: Biodegradation and chemotactic adsorption of Pseudomonas synxantha LSH-7' for oil contaminated seawater bioremediation.

Oil Contaminated Seawaters is treated by biological processes of sorption or degradation. Considering the chemotaxis of bacteria, they migrate towards a better way to survive. However, the information concerning the chemotactic biosorption of microorganism is severely limited thus far. Therefore, chemotactic biosorption a novel way of sorption was put forward. The equation was defined as: A chemotactic biosorption = A extracellular biosorption - A passive extracellular biosorption + E intracellular. Effects of controlling parameters like pollutant, fertilizer, sediments and surfactant on bacterial chemotactic sorption capacity of tetradecane, hexadecane, phenanthrene or pyrene were described in detail. The results showed bacterial chemotactic biosorption would be promoted under the conditions of low pollutant concentration, high sediment concentration and fertilizer. However, Tween 80 would promote the sorption of pollutants onto bacterial cells depending on the concentration of surfactant. Correlational analyses were conducted with the biodegradation rate and the concentration (mg/g) of hydrocarbons measured in the biomass. We concluded there existed great correlation between them. Biodegradation rate were all linearly correlated with the concentration (mg/g) of hydrocarbons measured in the biomass in all respects with tetradecane (R2 = 0.9873), hexadecane (R2 = 0.9705), phenanthrene (R2 = 0.9098) and pyrene (R2 = 0.9424). The above idea may provide a new insight into oil spill bioremediation from sorption to degradation.

Regulation of different electron acceptors on petroleum hydrocarbon biotransformation to final products in activated sludge biosystems.

The types and concentrations of electron acceptor are the significant factors influencing the oxidation and biotransformation of organic matter in the process of pollutant biodegradation. Regulation of O2, SO42- and NO3- as electron acceptors on petroleum hydrocarbon biotransformation to final products was studied using the multiple methods including mesoscale biodegradation experiments, thermodynamic theoretical calculations and stoichiometric analyses. Petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradation ratio (PHBR) rose from 64.7 to 82.4% with dissolved oxygen (DO) (3-5 mg L- 1). PHBR increased from 57.4 to 66.1% in SO42--reducing biosystems and rose from 65.0 to 77.9% in NO3--reducing biosystems. Carbon balance was verified in different cultures. The shared functional microorganisms in different biosystems included Candida, Rhodococcus, Pseudomonas, Ochrobactrum, Marinobacter, Bacillus, Azoarcus, Alcanivorax, Acinetobacter. Pandoraea, Enterobacter and Burkholderia in anaerobic biosystems preferred to use NO3- and SO42- as electron acceptors for metabolism, and order of availability followed: NO3- > SO42-. Thermodynamic constraint showed that potentials of alkanes biotransformation to methane through hydrogenotrophic and acetoclastic methanogenesis in NO3--reducing biosystems were 7.27-7.73 and 7.25-7.70 times larger than those of SO42--reducing biosystems, respectively. Metabolism equations of microorganisms proved that anabolism and catabolism on alkanes were feasible. This work provides a support for studying the biochemical process of petroleum hydrocarbon biotransformation and lays a foundation for the realization of oil-containing wastewater bioremediation.

Petroleum hydrocarbon release behavior study in oil-sediment aggregates: turbulence intensity and chemical dispersion effect.

This study investigated the effects of turbulence and oil dispersants on release of petroleum hydrocarbons in oil-sediment aggregates. A kinetic study showed that the static oil release process could be fitted to the first-order kinetics model. The oil concentration increased with increasing temperature and salinity, while remaining independent of pH. The dispersant desorption ability of petroleum hydrocarbons followed the sequence of: Tween 80 > Tween 85 > Span 80 > DOSS. In the presence of turbulence, the maximum release ratio was 40.28%. However, the combination of dispersants and turbulence had a smaller effect than turbulence alone. Furthermore, residual n-alkanes and PAHs in the sediments were analyzed. The results showed higher proportions of C15-C35 and 2-3 ring PAHs in residual oil. These results can help assess the fate and distribution of oil spills in marine environments.

Promoting the treatment of crude oil alkane pollution through the study of enzyme activity.

Microbes appear to play a key role in bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons pollution and little attention has been paid to the enzyme activity in the process of alkane bioremediation. Oil field bacterium identified as Pseudomonas synxantha LSH-7' was chosen as the tested strain. Periodically collected samples were analyzed by GC-FID (Gas Chromatography- Flame Ionization Detector) and RT-qPCR (Quantitative-Real-Time-PCR). GC-FID results showed this bacterial strain has great degradation ability on crude oil n-alkanes and RT-qPCR data indicated the differences between the three genes expression including AlkB-, Cytochromes P450-, and almA- related when grown on different-chain alkanes. Meanwhile, enzyme activity like alkane hydroxylase, alcohol dehydrogenase, dehydrogenase, protease, phosphatase, catalase and lipase were measured. Extracellular alkane hydroxylase was induced in a higher degree than intracellular in the early incubation time, alcohol dehydrogenase increased/decreased along with alkane hydroxylase, and the pH of the medium obviously decreased. Other enzymes were also described including dehydrogenase activity that reached a highest point that was slower than alcohol dehydrogenase, protease activity started multiplying after a period of culture while biomass was immediately increased, catalase activity dramatically enhanced in the presence of alkanes, phosphatase activity was closely linked to pH approximately but lipase activity was found to be moderate.

Construction of long-chain alkane degrading bacteria and its application in bioremediation of crude oil pollution.

In this study, a cloned almA gene was inserted into two plasmids PUC57 and pet-28a (+), and then transformed into Escherichia coli competent strains. The presence of almA was confirmed by PCR combined with restriction enzyme digestion. The results indicated two strains of PUC57/almA-E. coli and pet-28a (+)/almA-E. coli were all functioned on biodegradation long-chain alkanes, however, pet-28a (+)/almA-E. coli strain performed better and the speed of biodegradation was enhanced to about 12 mg L-1 h-1 when compared with PUC57/almA-E. coli strain. Furthermore, degradation degree of n-C32 was much higher than other long-chain alkanes for two engineered E. coli strains. Our results further suggested that exoenzyme was only detected in pet-28a (+)/almA-E. coli and followed a decreasing order of extracellular enzyme > intracellular enzyme > periplasmic enzyme. Besides, co-biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by Pseudomonas sp. B-1, Bacillus subtilis PH-1 with exoenzyme or pet-28a (+)/almA-E. coli posed enormous potential that could reach 70%-80% in oil pollution bioremediation.

Chinese guidelines for treatment of adult primary immune thrombocytopenia.

Primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a bleeding disorder commonly encountered in clinical practice. The International Working Group (IWG) on ITP has published several landmark papers on terminology, definitions, outcome criteria, bleeding assessment, diagnosis, and management of ITP. The Chinese consensus reports for diagnosis and management of adult ITP have been updated to the 4th edition. Based on current consensus positions and new emerging clinical evidence, the thrombosis and hemostasis group of the Chinese Society of Hematology issued Chinese guidelines for management of adult ITP, which aim to provide evidence-based recommendations for clinical decision making.