Identification of key degraders for controlling toxicity risks of disguised toxic pollutants with division of labor mechanisms in activated sludge microbiomes: Using nonylphenol ethoxylate as an example.

Efficient management of disguised toxic pollutants (DTPs), which can undergo microbial degradation and convert into more toxic substances, necessitates the collaboration of diverse microbial populations in wastewater treatment plants. However, the identification of key bacterial degraders capable of controlling the toxicity risks of DTPs through division of labor mechanisms in activated sludge microbiomes has received limited attention. In this study, we investigated the key degraders capable of controlling the risk of estrogenicity associated with nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPEO), a representative DTP, in textile activated sludge microbiomes. The results of our batch experiments revealed that the transformation of NPEO into NP and subsequent NP degradation were the rate-limiting processes for controlling the risk of estrogenicity, resulting in an inverted V-shaped curve of estrogenicity in water samples during the biodegradation of NPEO by textile activated sludge. By utilizing enrichment sludge microbiomes treated with NPEO or NP as the sole carbon and energy source, a total of 15 bacterial degraders, including Sphingbium, Pseudomonas, Dokdonella, Comamonas, and Hyphomicrobium, were identified as capable of participating in these processes, Among them, Sphingobium and Pseudomonas were the two key degraders that could cooperatively interact in the degradation of NPEO with division of labor mechanisms. Co-culturing Sphingobium and Pseudomonas isolates exhibited a synergistic effect in degrading NPEO and reducing estrogenicity. Our study underscores the potential of the identified functional bacteria for controlling estrogenicity associated with NPEO and provides a methodological framework for identifying key cooperators engaged in labor division, contributing to the management of risks associated with DTPs by leveraging intrinsic microbial metabolic interactions.

[Treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer with chemotherapy and Sansheng Huatan Decoction].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of Chinese medicine Sansheng Huatan Decoction combined with chemotherapy in treating advanced primary non-small-cell lung cancer and to evaluated the effect of Sansheng Huatan Decoction increasing clinical effect and decreasing toxicity in chemotherapy for non-small-cell lung cancer. METHODS: One hundred and sixty patients of advanced primary non-small-cell lung cancer proved by pathological examination were randomized into two groups. The treatment group was treated with Sansheng Huatan Decoction and chemotherapy, and the control group was treated only with chemotherapy. The clinic effect, life quality, natural killer (NK) activities, liver and kidney functions, and blood routine test of the 2 groups were evaluated. RESULTS: The clinical effective rates of the treatment and control groups were 56.7% and 48.2% respectively, and there was no statistic significance (P>0.10). The life quality, NK activities and blood routine test of the treatment group were better than those of the control group. CONCLUSION: Sansheng Huatan Decoction combined with chemotherapy is a better treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer as compared with chemotherapy.