Effectiveness and safety of Jiawei Xiaoyao pill in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome (liver depression, spleen deficiency, and blood-heat syndrome): a multi-center, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effectiveness and safety of Jiawei Xiaoyao pill (，JXP) in the treatment of symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). METHODS: A total of 144 regularly menstruating women with PMS were recruited at 8 sites in China from August 2017 to December 2018, and randomized to receive either a JXP or a matching placebo (12 g/d, 6 g twice a day) for 3 menstrual cycles. The primary indicator was the reduced Daily Record of Severity of Problems (DRSP) scores in the luteal phase after 3 months of treatment. The safety outcomes included clinical adverse events (AEs), adverse reactions (ARs), changes in vital signs, and laboratory tests. RESULTS: JXP surpassed the placebo in reducing DRSP scores (psychological/somatic dysfunction) in the luteal phase over 3 menstrual cycles of treatment (PFAS = 0.002, PPPS = 0.001). Additionally, there were no significant differences in the incidence of AEs, severe AEs, withdrawal due to AEs and ARs between the two groups (all P > 0.05), and no clinically significant adverse medical events related to the test drug observed. CONCLUSIONS: JXP was superior to the placebo in relieving the symptoms associated with PMS, which signified that JXP may be effective, safe, and well-tolerated as an alternative therapy.

Enhanced removal of tetracycline from synthetic wastewater using an optimal ratio of co-culture of Desmodesmus sp. and Klebsiella pneumoniae.

A sustainable approach of Desmodesmus sp. GIEC-179: Klebsiella pneumoniae (DUT-XJR-t-1.2) co-culture ratios were optimized to remove tetracycline (TET) from synthetic wastewater. To enhance the tetracycline removal performance, the effect of microalgae-bacterial co-culture ratio, maximum TET concentration, effective inoculum amount, growth temperature and pH were studied. The optimized ratio 1:2 of Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae showed the optimal removal percentage at the temperature of 25 °C, pH 7 and 10% inoculum amount; and the removal of TET was recorded as 95%. Moreover, this study explored the Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae (1:2) nutrient (COD, NH4+ and PO43-) exchange relationship and their interaction of TET removal to better understand their fundamental mechanism. According to the results of this study, Desmodesmus sp.: K. pneumoniae co-culture could be a green option for bio-removal of tetracycline from wastewater.

Successful bio-electrochemical treatment of nitrogenous mariculture wastewater by enhancing nitrogen removal via synergy of algae and cathodic photo-electro-catalysis.

Systems with catalytic cathode in microbial fuel cell can achieve high treatment efficiency enhanced by the cathode. Such bio-electrochemical systems have potential applications in treating high-salinity nitrogenous mariculture wastewater. For sustainable development of the mariculture industry, enhancing inorganic nitrogen removal is of vital importance due to the low carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio of wastewater and strict discharge standard. Herein, simulated mariculture wastewater (high salinity, low COD/N ratio of 0.5-1.0) was successfully treated in an integrated self-biased bio-electrochemical system, with catalyst (TiO2/Co-WO3/SiC) on the cathode and natural-grown algae in the cathode chamber. Satisfactory nitrogen removal (94.05% NH4+-N and 77.35% inorganic nitrogen) and favorable 76.66% removal of organics (UV254) were both achieved, with visible light illumination. The NH4+-N in the effluent was below 2 mg L-1. The synergy of bacteria, algae and cathode, promoted pollutant removal, and made the system sustainable and efficient in treating mariculture wastewater.

Investigating the potentiality of Scenedesmus obliquus and Acinetobacter pittii partnership system and their effects on nutrients removal from synthetic domestic wastewater.

A lab-scale study of Scenedesmus obliquus: Acinetobacter pittii (S. obliquus: A. pitti) partnership cultured in synthetic domestic wastewater was conducted to evaluate the partnership performance for growth and removal of nutrients from wastewater. To draw out the functional dependencies of this partnership measured the ammonia-nitrogen (NH4+-N), ortho-phosphate (PO43--P), soluble total phosphorus (TP), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and have got the nutrient removal rate of 85.90%, 91.50%, 73.75% and 100% respectively. The results showed that their optimized partnership ratio is 2:1 for S. obliquus: A. pitti and, CO2 & O2 exchanges in between was the more crucial parameters to shifting the best nutrient removals performance and promoted biomass quantity.