Biodegradation of biphenyl and 2-chlorobiphenyl by a Pseudomonas sp. KM-04 isolated from PCBs-contaminated coal mine soil.

The biphenyl-degrading strain, Pseudomonas sp. KM-04, was isolated from polychlorinated biphenyls-contaminated soil sample obtained from the vicinity of a former coal mine. We herein report that strain KM-04 can use biphenyl as a sole carbon source, and resting cells convert biphenyl to its corresponding metabolic intermediates. Incubation of KM-04 with autoclaved mining-contaminated soil for 10 days in a slurry system reduced the levels of biphenyl and 2-chlorobiphenyl by 98.5 % and 82.3 %, respectively. Furthermore, treatment of a mine-soil microcosm with strain KM-04 for 15 days in a composting system under laboratory conditions reduced the levels of biphenyl and 2-chlorobiphenyl by 87.1 % and 68.7 %, respectively. These results suggest that KM-04 is a potential candidate for the biological removal of biphenyl and its chlorinated derivatives from polychlorinated biphenyl-contaminated mining areas.

Triple rule-out computed tomography for risk stratification of patients with acute chest pain.

AIMS: Clinical evidence supporting triple rule-out computed tomography (TRO-CT) for rapid screening of cardiovascular disease is limited. We investigated the clinical value of TRO-CT in patients with acute chest pain. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 1024 patients who visited the emergency department (ED) with acute chest pain and underwent TRO-CT using a 128-slice CT system. TRO-CT was classified as "positive" if it revealed clinically significant cardiovascular disease including obstructive coronary artery disease, pulmonary thromboembolism, or acute aortic syndrome. The clinical endpoint was occurrence of a major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) within 30 days, defined by a composite of all cause death, myocardial infarction, revascularization, major cardiovascular surgery, or thrombolytic therapy. Clinical risk scores for acute chest pain including TIMI, GRACE, Diamond-Forrester, and HEART were determined and compared to the TRO-CT findings. RESULTS: TRO-CT revealed clinically significant cardiovascular disease in 239 patients (23.3%). MACE occurred in 119 patients (49.8%) with positive TRO-CT and in 7 patients (0.9%) with negative TRO-CT (p < 0.001). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of TRO-CT was 95%, 88%, 54%, and 99%, respectively. TRO-CT was a better discriminator between patients with vs. without events as compared to clinical risk scores (c-statistics = 0.91 versus 0.64 to 0.71; integrated discrimination improvement = 0.31 to 0.37; p < 0.001 for all comparisons). Patients with a negative TRO-CT showed shorter ED stay times and admission rates compared to patients with positive TRO-CT, irrespective of clinical risk scores (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). CONCLUSION: Triple rule-out CT has high predictive performance for 30-day MACE and permits rapid triage and low admission rates irrespective of clinical risk scores.

Hemorrhagic cystitis with massive bleeding from nontyphoidal Salmonella infection: A case report.

Hemorrhagic cystitis is defined by lower urinary tract symptoms that include dysuria, hematuria, and hemorrhage and is caused by viral or bacterial infection or chemotherapeutic agents. Reports of hemorrhagic cystitis caused by non-typhoidal salmonella (NTS) are extremely rare. We report a case of a 41-year-old man with hemorrhagic cystitis from NTS that caused massive bleeding and shock. The patient was hospitalized for uncontrolled diabetes and obstructive uropathy related to severe cystitis. A urine culture was positive for group D NTS. This case demonstrated that hemorrhagic cystitis in a patient with a risk factor such as diabetes can be a manifestation of local extra-intestinal NTS infection.

Characterization of spectral responses of humic substances upon UV irradiation using two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy.

The spectral responses of a leaf litter derived humic substance (LLHS) and Suwannee River fulvic acid (SRFA) upon ultraviolet (UV) A irradiation were characterized using two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D-COS) based on the absorption and the synchronous fluorescence spectra at different irradiation times. A 12 day irradiation on the humic substances (HS) resulted in higher reduction of the absorbance relative to the dissolved organic carbon concentration, suggesting that aromatic chromophores were preferentially oxidized and/or non UV-absorbing compounds were generated by the photobleaching. Synchronous fluorescence spectra revealed the preferential removal of fulvic-like and humic-like fluorophores and delayed response of protein-like fluorescence upon the irradiation. The spectral features at long wavelengths (>430 nm) appear to be affected by intra-molecular interactions of the individual chromophores associated with shorter wavelengths. Absorption-based 2D-COS demonstrated that there are three types of absorption bands for the two HS, which changed sequentially in the order of 290-400 nm → 200-250 nm → 250-290 nm. In addition, two or three distinctive fluorescence bands in response to the irradiation were identified from 2D-COS. The sequential orders and the associated wavelength bands were possibly explained by the irradiation wavelengths and the differences between direct and indirect photochemical reactions. The interpretation of the 2D-COS results was very consistent with the kinetic rate constants individually calculated at several discrete wavelengths. Our study demonstrated that 2D-COS could be used as a powerful tool in identifying distinctive bands of HS that have dissimilar behavior and the associated sequential orders by visualizing the spectral changes at continuous wavelengths.

Altering the characteristics of a leaf litter-derived humic substance by adsorptive fractionation versus simulated solar irradiation.

Changes in the characteristics of a leaf litter-derived humic substance (LLHS) that resulted from its adsorption onto kaolinite or exposure to simulated solar irradiation were tracked using selected spectroscopic descriptors, apparent weight-average molecular weight (MW(w)) and pyrene binding. Heterogeneity within the original bulk LLHS was confirmed by a range of different characteristics obtained from ultrafiltration-based size fractions. In general, trends of some changing LLHS characteristics were similar for the adsorption and irradiation processes when tracked against percent carbon removal. For example, the overall values of specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA), MW(w), and humification index (HIX) all decreased with increasing irradiation time and with increasing concentration of mineral adsorbent in the respective experiments, indicating that both processes resulted in less aromatic and smaller-sized LLHS components remaining in solution. In addition, both the adsorption and irradiation experiments resulted in enrichment of the relative distribution of protein-like fluorescence (PLF), implying the PLF-related components had low affinities for phototransformation and mineral surface adsorption. Despite these apparently similar overall trends in LLHS characteristics caused by the adsorption and irradiation processes, closer examination revealed considerable differences in how the two processes altered the original material. Net production of intermediate-sized constituents was observed only with the irradiation experiments. In addition, residual LLHS resulting from the adsorptive fractionation experiments exhibited consistently higher pyrene binding versus the irradiated LLHS despite having comparable MW(w) values. Changes in LLHS characteristics due to adsorption by kaolinite were likely caused by physical mechanisms (primarily hydrophobic interactions between LLHS components and the kaolinite surface) whereas the irradiation-induced changes appear to have been governed by the combined effects of several alteration mechanisms, including the transformation of more condensed aromatic structures to less aromatic constituents, conformational changes resulting from selective photooxidation, and the photochemical disruption of intramolecular charge-transfer interactions.