Coagulation-adsorption of reactive orange from aqueous solution by freshly formed magnesium hydroxide: mixing time and mechanistic study.

The utilization of magnesium hydroxide was successfully carried out to remove reactive orange by coagulation-adsorption from aqueous solution. The coagulation-adsorption mechanisms and magnesium hydroxide-reactive orange floc property were analyzed through zeta potential, scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Flocculation Index was then discussed with controlled experiments using intelligent Particle Dispersion Analyzer (iPDA) and optimum rapid mixing time of 90 s was obtained for pH 12. The results of this study indicate that charge neutralization and adsorption are proposed to be the main coagulation mechanisms. The FT-IR spectra and SEM showed that reactive orange was adsorbed on the magnesium hydroxide surface during coagulation and adsorption. Freshly generated magnesium hydroxide can effectively remove reactive orange and the removal efficiency can reach 96.7% and 46.3% for coagulation and adsorption, respectively. Adsorption process accounts for 48% of the whole coagulation experiment. The removal efficiency decreased significantly with increasing magnesium hydroxide formation time.

Damage Evolution Characteristics and Constitutive Model for Coal and Rock under Asymmetric Loading.

Tunnels and shaft mining roadways are often subjected to varying degrees of asymmetric loading due to terrain relief or project excavation. In order to analyze the influence of the asymmetric degree of loading on the mechanical properties and damage rupture law of coal rock, uniaxial compression tests of coal rock under four asymmetric loading modes were carried out, the influence of the asymmetric coefficients of loading on macro- and micromechanical properties of coal and rock was analyzed, and a statistical damage constitutive model of coal and rock was established to reflect the asymmetric loading degree. The results of the study show that the peak stress of the coal rock decreases gradually with the increase in the asymmetric coefficient of loading, and the two are linear functions of each other. The distribution of the acoustic emission ringing count peak value is concentrated under uniform loading, while the acoustic emission ringing count rate presents a multipeak phenomenon under asymmetric loading, and the peak value points are scattered. In the case of asymmetric loading, the stress concentration on the edge of the upper loading plate leads to shear failure, and the microscopic cracks are concentrated near the interface between the loading zone and the nonloading zone. According to the established damage constitutive model, when the damage degree is the same, the larger the asymmetric coefficient, the smaller the strain value, which indicates that the asymmetric loading promotes the damage of coal and rock.

Screening of Medications for Idiopathic Membranous Nephropathy Using Glomerular Whole-Genome Sequencing.

Objective: To explore medications that have a therapeutic effect on idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) using the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), the Connectivity Map (CMap) database, and bioinformatics approaches. Methods: IMN patients' glomerular whole-genome sequencing data were retrieved and screened in the GEO database, differentially expressed genes were identified using GEO2R analysis, a PPI network was built in the STRING database, node degree values were calculated, and topological analysis was performed using the degree value to identify core genes. The WebGestalt database was used to perform GO enrichment and KEGG pathway analyses on the core genes. Candidate medications for the therapy of IMN were collected from the CMap database, and the candidate medications were then searched and analyzed. Results: 113 core genes were identified by topological analysis from the 1157 genes that were shown to be differentially expressed. The enrichment analysis identified several important gene functions and signaling pathways related to IMN. Some possible medications for the treatment of IMN have been found using the CMap database. Naringin, with the lowest CMap score, meaningful P value, and specificity score, was predicted as the most likely medication. Conclusion: The GEO and CMap databases can be used to understand the molecular changes of IMN and to provide new ideas for medication research. However, medication candidates must undergo clinical and experimental testing.

Coagulation properties of magnetic magnesium hydroxide for removal of microplastics in the presence of kaolin and humic acid.

Microplastics (MPs) is one of the most concerned emerging pollutants in recent years. Its widespread distribution has been shown to have potentially adverse effects on human health and ecosystems. Therefore, in this study, magnetic magnesium hydroxide coagulant (MMHC) was prepared by adding Fe3O4 magnetic micron particles in the Mg(OH)2 generation process, and it was used with PAM, a polymer flocculant, to remove polyethylene microplastics (≤270 µm) from water by coagulation. The removal efficiency of microplastics by MMHC reached 87.1%, which was 14.7% higher than that of traditional magnesium hydroxide coagulant (MHC). However, the Zeta potential of MMHC was lower than that of MHC, only 17.3 mV. In addition, the surface morphology of MMHC showed bubble-like clusters. The effect of PAM adding time on the microplastic removal efficiency was investigated. The best adding time of non-ionic PAM was 15s before the slow mixing started. The removal efficiency of organic matter and suspended particles in water by MMHC was determined by turbidity, ultraviolet spectrophotometry and three-dimensional fluorescence. The maximum removal efficiency was 98.5% and 93.3%, respectively. With the increase of the concentration of humic acid and kaolin in water, the removal efficiency of microplastics was basically not affected. MMHC can be reused after recycle, but it was found that the electrical neutralization mechanism was affected due to the transformation of its Zeta potential, and the adsorption effect of humic acid and kaolin particles in water became worse, the removal efficiency of microplastics, turbidity and UV254 decreased to 20.2%, 17.5% and 30%, respectively.

Floc formation and growth mechanism during magnesium hydroxide and polyacrylamide coagulation process for reactive orange removal.

Magnesium hydroxide is commonly used as a coagulant for treating reactive dyes wastewater. However, the flocs are relatively small and coagulation process needs longer sedimentation time. Large flocs and short operation time are important for good coagulation performance. Coagulation floc formation and growth processes using magnesium hydroxide and polyacrylamide (PAM) dual-coagulant were investigated with controlled experiments through flocculation index (FI), floc size distribution, zeta potential, scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The final average floc size reached 58.5 and 4.96 µm with and absence of PAM addition during slow mixing periods. PAM feeding time and magnesium hydroxide formation time can affect the floc formation and growth processes. The results showed that floc formed rapidly during magnesium hydroxide generation within 90 s and flocs aggregated together by PAM bridging function. Reactive orange removal efficiency reached 99.3% with rapid mixing 250 rpm at 90 s during 100 mg/L magnesium ion addition, then adding 6 mg/L PAM at the beginning of slow mixing period in dual-coagulant system.

Study on the influence of hole defects with different shapes on the mechanical behavior and damage law of coal and rock.

To study the effect of different shapes of hole defects in coal and rocks on their mechanical behavior and macro damage law, the microscopic mechanical parameters required for particle flow code (PFC) simulation were calibrated with laboratory test data, and then the evolution process of crack and stress field in coal and rocks with circle, square, triangular and trapezoidal holes under uniaxial compression were researched. The findings indicate that: the existence of hole defects lowers the elastic modulus, peak stress, peak strain and other mechanical parameters of coal and rock, and the reduction degree is influenced by the shape of defect. Meanwhile, the existence of hole defects promotes the generation and evolution of meso-cracks in coal and rock. For coal and rock with hole defects, the crack initiation stress and expansion stress are less than those of intact coal and rocks. The crack initiation stress and expansion stress of coal and rocks with trapezoidal hole defects are the smallest, and the coal and rocks with circular hole defects are the largest. The existence of hole defects weakens the damage degree of coal and rocks to some extent. With the increase of axial strain, the evolution curve of the number of meso-cracks shows stage characteristics, which consists of the calm period before the crack initiation point, the stable growth stage between the crack initiation point and the dilatation point, and the accelerated growth stage after the dilatation point. Before the initiation of crack, the concentration zone of compressive stress is located on the left and right sides of the hole defect, and the concentration zone of tensile stress is located on the upper and lower sides of the hole defect. The concentration of tensile stress is the main reason for the initiation and propagation of cracks, while the existence of compressive stress chain among macroscopic cracks is the cause of the residual strength of coal and rocks after failure.

Benefits of non-work interactions with your supervisor: Exploring the bottom-up effect of employee boundary blurring behavior on abusive supervision.

Abusive supervision has long been found to have remarkably negative impacts on individual and organizational outcomes. Accordingly, prior studies have explored many organizational and supervisory predictors of abusive supervision and offered several interventions to reduce it. However, extant research lacks the bottom-up perspective to explore how employees can act to reduce abusive supervision, which is an important factor that enriches abusive supervision literature and helps employees protect themselves from being abused. Drawing on self-disclosure theory, we develop a model of whether and how employee boundary blurring behavior may protect them from being abused by their supervisors. Specifically, we conducted two studies to test the theoretical model, including a scenario-based experimental study and a multi-source, multi-wave field study. The results reveal a negative indirect effect of employee boundary blurring behavior on abusive supervision via supervisor liking toward the employee. By uncovering employee boundary blurring behavior as an antecedent of abusive supervision, we enrich the abusive supervision literature with a bottom-up behavioral strategy for employees to proactively protect themselves from being abused. We hope our findings will encourage future studies to identify boundary conditions and other solutions for employees to minimize the risk of being abused.

Screening and Analysis of Key Genes in miRNA-mRNA Regulatory Network of Membranous Nephropathy.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are confirmed to participate in occurrence, development, and prevention of membranous nephropathy (MN), but their mechanism of action is unclear. Objective: With the GEO database and the use of bioinformatics, miRNA-mRNA regulatory network genes relevant to MN were explored and their potential mechanism of action was explained. Methods: The MN-related miRNA chip data set (GSE51674) and mRNA chip data set (GSE108109) were downloaded from the GEO database. Differential analysis was performed using the GEO2R online tool. TargetScan, miRTarBase, and StarBase databases were used to predict potential downstream target genes regulated by differentially expressed miRNAs, and the intersection with differential genes were taken to obtain candidate target genes. According to the regulatory relationship between miRNA and mRNA, the miRNA-mRNA relationship pair was clarified and Cytoscape was used to construct a miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. WebGestalt was used to conduct enrichment analysis of the biological process of differential mRNAs in the regulatory network; FunRich analyzes the differential mRNA pathways in the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network. And the STRING database was used to construct a PPI network for candidate target genes, and Cytoscape visually analyzes the PPI network. Results: Experiments were conducted to screen differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs. There were 30 differentially expressed miRNAs, including 22 upregulated and 8 downregulated; and 1267 differentially expressed mRNAs, including 536 upregulated and 731 downregulated. Using TargetScan, miRTarBase, and StarBase databases to predict the downstream targets of differentially expressed miRNAs, 2957 downstream target genes coexisting in the 3 databases were predicted to intersect with differentially expressed mRNAs to obtain 175 candidate target genes. Finally, 36 miRNA-mRNA relationship pairs comprising 10 differentially expressed miRNAs and 27 differentially expressed mRNAs were screened out, and the regulatory network was constructed. Further analysis revealed that the miRNA regulatory network genes may be involved in the development of membranous nephropathy by mTOR, PDGFR-ß, LKB1, and VEGF/VEGFR signaling pathways. Conclusion: The miRNA regulatory network genes may participate in the regulation of podocyte autophagy, lipid metabolism, and renal fibrosis through mTOR, PDGFR-ß, LKB1, and VEGF/VEGFR signaling pathways, thereby affecting the occurrence and development of membranous nephropathy.

[Change and significance of peripheral blood Th17 cells in patients with acute asthma].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the change of peripheral blood Th17 cells and relationship between the severity and Th17 cells in patients with acute asthma. METHODS: We recruited patients with mild acute asthma(n=10) and severe acute asthma(n=10), and healthy volunteers(n=10). T-lymphocytes were collected from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Flow cytometer (FCM) was used to detect the expression of peripheral blood Th17 cells. IL-17 levels in the peripheral blood were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbentassay (ELISA). RESULTS: The rate of positive Th17 cells of peripheral blood in the severe acute asthma group was higher than that in the mild acute asthma group(P<0.05) and the rate of positive Th17 cells of peripheral blood in healthy volunteer group were the lowest among all groups (P<0.05, respectively). The level of IL-17 in the peripheral blood of patients with severe acute asthma increased significantly compared with that in patients with mild acute asthma and healthy volunteers (P<0.05). The positive Th17 cells of peripheral blood in patients with acute asthma were positively correlated with the severity of acute asthma(r=0.869, P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The positive rate of Th17 cells in the peripheral blood increases in patients with acute asthma and has positive correlation with the severity of acute asthma.

Expression of diaphragmatic myostatin and correlation with apoptosis in rats with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by progressive airflow limitation and loss of lung function. The present study aimed to investigate the diaphragmatic protein expression of myostatin and its correlation with apoptosis in a rat model of CPOD. Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into a control group and a COPD group, the latter of which were exposed to cigarette smoke to build a rat model of COPD. The validity of the COPD model was evaluated by assessment of lung function and histopathological analysis. Diaphragmatic myostatin expression and apoptosis were measured by western blot and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end labeling, respectively. The rat model of COPD was efficiently established by cigarette smoke exposure. Diaphragmatic myostatin expression and apoptotic index in COPD rats were obviously increased as compared with that in the control animals. A positive correlation between diaphragmatic myostatin expression and apoptotic index was identified (r=0.857). Diaphragmatic myostatin overexpression in rats with COPD may promote diaphragmatic apoptosis and atrophy, leading to diaphragm weakness and respiratory muscle dysfunction, which is involved in the pathology of COPD.