Protection against Cu(II)-induced oxidative stress and toxicity to Chlorella vulgaris by 2,2'-Bipyridine-5,5'-dicarboxylic acid.

In this study, we evaluated the role of 2,2'-bipyridine-5,5'-dicarboxylic acid (Bpy-COOH) in protecting Chlorella vulgaris from the oxidative stress and toxicity induced by Cu(II). Both in vivo and in vitro tests were performed. Different addition orders of Bpy-COOH and Cu(II) were tried in the former, whereas different Bpy-COOH concentrations were used in both experiments. The in vivo experiments showed that the production of reactive oxygen species in C. pyrenoidosa treated by the addition of Bpy-COOH and Cu(II) in three orders were all significantly less than that in cases treated with only Cu(II). In vitro tests indicated that peroxidase-like complexes could be formed between Bpy-COOH and Cu(II). Based on these results, it could be concluded that the use of Bpy-COOH could significantly decrease Cu(II) toxicity to algal cells by forming peroxidase-like complexes.

Analysis of the clinical characteristics and surgical methods of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions of the cervix in postmenopausal women: A retrospective case study.

The purpose of this study was to thoroughly evaluate the clinical features and surgical options for high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) in postmenopausal women. A total of 308 patients diagnosed with HSIL through colposcopic cervical biopsy and endocervical curettage were included. Their clinical characteristics, surgical treatments, and postoperative pathology were analyzed. Key findings include: 1. Patients with positive preoperative thinprep cytologic test (TCT) results and postoperative pathology indicating HSIL or squamous cell carcinoma (≥HSIL) were significantly more frequent than those with negative preoperative TCT results (P < .05). 2. Univariate analysis indicated significant impacts of TCT, human papillomavirus (HPV) type, transformation zone (TZ) location, and surgical technique on postoperative pathology (P < .05). 3. Logistic regression analysis confirmed significant influences of TCT, HPV type, TZ location, and surgical method on postoperative pathology outcomes (P < .05), showing that each unit increase in TZ raised the probability of ≥HSIL in postoperative pathology by 49.7%. In surgical comparisons, cold knife conization (CKC) and extrafascial hysterectomy resulted in 8.379 and 4.427 times higher probabilities of ≥HSIL in postoperative pathology, respectively, compared to loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP). 4. Surgical methods significantly influenced margin results (P < .05). After LEEP, 17.5% of cases had positive margins, compared to 9.4% after CKC, and 3.7% after extrafascial hysterectomy, indicating the highest rate of positive surgical margins occurred with LEEP. 1. Combined TCT and HPV screening is crucial for cervical cancer prevention, early detection, and management in postmenopausal women. Women with positive results for both TCT and HPV should undergo colposcopic cervical biopsy and endocervical curettage. 2. For patients with TZ3, CKC is the recommended surgical option. 3. CKC is the preferred treatment for postmenopausal women with HSIL, as it effectively diagnoses and treats the lesion, showing superior outcomes in managing postmenopausal HSIL.

Effects of photodynamic therapy in the treatment of high-grade vaginal intraepithelial lesions following hysterectomy and HPV infection.

BACKGROUND: Non-invasive treatment therapy, such as 5-Aminolevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT), has gained attention for its effect on select cervical and vaginal lesions. To investigate the effect of ALA-PDT on high-grade vaginal intraepithelial lesions (HG VAIN) after hysterectomy and high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection, in this study, we evaluated the clinical efficacy and safety of ALA-PDT in 23 patients with HG VAIN following hysterectomy and HPV. METHODS: 23 patients with HG VAIN after hysterectomy were selected for photodynamic therapy, and the therapeutic effect, adverse reactions, recurrence rate and HPV clearance rate were analyzed respectively. The patients were followed up at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after ALA-PDT. HPV, thinprep cytologic test (TCT) and reid colposcopic index (RCI) score should be performed 3 months after treatment. When the RCI score is higher than or equal to 3, a colposcopy biopsy should be conducted, the additional ALA-PDT should be continued if residual lesions were detected. When the RCI score is lower than or equal to 2, HPV and TCT should be reviewed every 3 months. RESULTS: After 3 months of photodynamic therapy, 21 patients were cured, with the cure rate of 91.3% (21/23). Two patients (8.7%) had residual lesions, which had degraded compared with the previous. After treatment, the overall HR-HPV clearance rate was 56.5% at 3 months, 65.2% at 6 months, 69.5% at 9 months, and 74% at 12 months. No obvious adverse reactions were found during and after treatment. Moreover, no recurrence occurred during the whole follow-up period. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with other therapies, ALA-PDT is a novel therapy with non-invasive procedure in HG VAIN after hysterectomy. ALA-PDT can be used for the treatment of HG VAIN after hysterectomy, moreover, it can not only effectively clear HR-HPV, but also can prevent the recurrence and progression of vaginal lesions caused by persistent HR-HPV infection.

Research on the interaction of "tourism development-land use-landscape pattern" since the 1990s in a small karst basin, China.

The rapid rise of tourism in the karst regions has promoted the development of the local economy by relying on the unique landforms and landscapes. However, tourism development is often accompanied by land use changes and has an impact on the ecological environment. Exploring the coupling relationship between "tourism development-land use-landscape pattern" is very important for ecologically fragile karst areas. Taking the Yulong River Basin as an example, this research applied 3S technology, spatial analysis based on POIs, and regression analysis to the following: (1) identifying the process and effects of land use change, (2) determining the spatial pattern of tourism land and its correlation with land use change, (3) determining the characteristics and impacts of landscape pattern evolution. As the results suggested: (1) The significant expansion of construction land occupies a large amount of farmland, there is a balanced relationship between farmland and forest land for mutual conversion. (2) The aggregation of tourist land is affected by the trend of tourist behavior and the distribution of scenic spots. There is a significant moderate positive correlation between tourism land and construction land. (3) With the land use change, landscape heterogeneity has improved, but landscape fragmentation is serious and landscape connectivity is reduced. This research provides new evidences for the effect of the rapid development of tourism on land use change and ecological environment and as a reference to future orderly and moderate land development and ecological sustainability in karst regions.

[Identification and analysis of vaginal lactobacilli in patients with bacterial vaginosis patients and healthy women in nationality of Pastoral area].

OBJECTIVE: To identify and analyze the species of vaginal lactobacilli between patients with bacterial vaginosis (BV) and healthy women at childbearing age in Inner Mongolia. METHODS: From Jun. 2008 to Dec. 2008, 203 Mongolian healthy women, 74 Han healthy women and 102 Mongolian patients with BV from 3 pastoral areas were enrolled in this study. Isolation and culture of lactobacilli from vaginal wall were performed by modified culture medium. DNA of lactobacilli were extracted and sequenced. H2O2 were detected by TMB-HRP-MRS. RESULTS: (1) The rate of lactobacilli identification were 76.8% (156/203) in Mongolian healthy women and 21.6% (22/102) in Mongolian patients with BV, which reached statistical difference (P < 0.01). Lactobacilli identification in Han healthy women [82.4% (61/74)] did not show significant difference with that of Mongolian healthy women (P > 0.05). (2) The total of 193 strains and 11 species of Lactobacillus were detected in 203 Mongolian healthy women. Meanwhile, 22 strains and 4 species of Lactobacillus were found in 102 Mongolian BV cases. (3) The rate of H2O2 generating Lactobacilli was 27.3% (6/22) in Mongolian BV patients and 75.7% (56/74) in Mongolian healthy women, which showed statistical difference (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The rate of Lactobacillus was not related with the race of women in pastoral area in Inner Mongolian. The amount of lactobacilli and H2O2 generating Lactobacilli in the vagina of BV patients was remarkably lower than those of healthy women at childbearing age.

[The photoluminescence characteristics of organic multilayer quantum wells].

By the use of multi-source high-vaccum organic beam deposition system, the authors prepared organic multilayer quantum well structures, which consist of alternate organic small molecule materials PBD and Alq3. Based on 4-period organic quantum wells, different samples with different thickness barriers and wells were prepared. The authors measured the lowest unoccupied molecular orbit (LUMO) and the highest occupied molecular orbit (HOMO) by electrochemistry cyclic voltammetry and optical absorption. From the energy diagrams, it seems like type-I quantum well structures of the inorganic semiconductor, in which PBD is used as a barrier layer and Alq3 as a well layer and emitter. From small angle X-ray diffraction measurements, the results indicate that these structures have high interface quality and uniformity. The photoluminescence characteristics of organic multilayer quantum wells were investigated. The PL peak has a blue-shift with the decrease of the well layer thickness. Meanwhile as the barrier thickness decreases the PL peaks of PBD disappear gradually. And the energy may be effectively transferred from PBD to Alq3, inducing an enhancement of the luminescence of Alq3.

Reduction of Cr (VI) into Cr (III) by organelles of Chlorella vulgaris in aqueous solution: An organelle-level attempt.

The priority pollutant chromium (Cr) was ubiquitous and great efforts have been made to reduce Cr (VI) into less-toxic Cr (III) by alga for the convenient availability and low expense. However, the functional role of organelle inside the algal cell in Cr (VI) reduction was poorly understood. In this study, organelles in green algae Chlorella vulgaris were extracted and further decorated for Cr (VI) reduction tests. Results showed that the chloroplast exhibited not only adsorption ability of total Cr (21.18% comparing to control) but also reduction potential of Cr (VI) (almost 70% comparing to control), whose most suitable working concentration was at 17µg/mL. Furtherly, the isolated thylakoid membrane (ITM) showed better Cr (VI) reduction potential with the presence of sodium alginate (SA), even though the Hill reaction activity (HRA) was inhibited. As for photosystem II (PSII), the addition of mesoporous silica SBA-15 enhanced the reduction ability through improving the light-harvesting complex (LHC) II efficiency and electron transport rate. On the whole, the reduction ability order of the three kinds of materials based on chloroplast in C. vulgaris was PSII@SBA-15>Chloroplast>ITM@SA. The attempt made in this study to reduce the Cr (VI) with C. vulgaris organelles might not only offer basement to detect the potential action mechanism of Cr (VI) reduction by C. vulgaris but also provide a new sight for the scavenge of heavy metal with biological materials.

Toxicity of Cu (II) to the green alga Chlorella vulgaris: a perspective of photosynthesis and oxidant stress.

The toxic effects of Cu (II) on the freshwater green algae Chlorella vulgaris and its chloroplast were investigated by detecting the responses of photosynthesis and oxidant stress. The results showed that Cu (II) arrested the growth of C. vulgaris and presented in a concentration- and time-dependent trend and the SRichards 2 model fitted the inhibition curve best. The chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, including qP, Y (II), ETR, F v /F m , and F v /F 0, were stimulated at low concentration of Cu (II) but declined at high concentration, indicating the photosystem II (PSII) of C. vulgaris was destroyed by Cu (II). The chloroplasts were extracted, and the Hill reaction activity (HRA) of chloroplast was significantly decreased with the increasing Cu (II) concentration under both illuminating and dark condition, and faster decline speed was observed under dark condition. Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were also significantly decreased at high concentration Cu (II), companied with a large number of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. All these results indicated a severe oxidative stress on algal cells occurred as well as the effect on photosynthesis, thus inhibiting the growth of algae, which providing sights to evaluate the phytotoxicity of Cu (II).

[Effects of interaction of genotypes with environments on major latently fragrant substances of flue-cured tobacco in Baoshan of Yunnan, Southwest China].

To study the stability of major latently fragrant substances of flue-cured tobacco of different varieties in Baoshan of Yunnan, three tobacco cultivars (K326, Y87 and Y99) in two soil types at three test sites with different altitudes were tested. The contents of major latently fragrant substances were measured and the effects of genotypes, environments and their interactions were analyzed by AMMI model. The results showed that genotypes, environments and their interactions had significant effects on the contents of lutein, ß-carotene, and chlorogenic acid. The rutin content was mainly influenced by genotypes while the major latently fragrant substances and their stability were affected significantly by the interactions of genotypes and environments. The contents of lutein, ß-carotene, and chlorogenic acid increased remarkably with altitude, and their stabilities were strengthened to different extents. K326 adapted well to middle-lower altitude, while Y87 and Y99 adapted well to middle-higher altitude.

Efficient removal of dyes in water using chitosan microsphere supported cobalt (II) tetrasulfophthalocyanine with H2O2.

A new efficient catalyst, CoTSPc@chitosan, was developed by immobilizing water soluble cobalt (II) tetrasulfophthalocyanine onto adsorbent chitosan microspheres covalently for the heterogeneous catalytic oxidation of C. I. Acid Red 73 with H(2)O(2). The result indicated that the COD removal and discoloration of C. I. Acid Red 73 made 55 and 95% respectively in the presence of CoTSPc@chitosan with H(2)O(2) in 4h. In addition, CoTSPc@chitosan-H(2)O(2) system could proceed efficiently in a relatively wide pH range and remain high catalytic activity after 6 reuse cycles. Furthermore, the adsorption study of CoTSPc@chitosan confirmed that chitosan was an outstanding support which contributed a lot to the removal reaction. In conclusion, the combination of adsorption process and catalytic oxidation made the CoTSPc@chitosan-H(2)O(2) system achieve a simple, efficiently and environmentally friendly water treatment.