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Mercury (Hg) is a contaminant of global concern, and an accurate understanding of its atmospheric fate is needed to assess its risks to humans and ecosystem health. Atmospheric oxidation of Hg is key to the deposition of this toxic metal to the Earth's surface. Short-lived halogens (SLHs) can provide halogen radicals to directly oxidize Hg and perturb the budget of other Hg oxidants (e.g., OH and O3). In addition to known ocean emissions of halogens, recent observational evidence has revealed abundant anthropogenic emissions of SLHs over continental areas. However, the impacts of anthropogenic SLHs emissions on the atmospheric fate of Hg and human exposure to Hg contamination remain unknown. Here, we show that the inclusion of anthropogenic SLHs substantially increased local Hg oxidation and, consequently, deposition in/near Hg continental source regions by up to 20%, thereby decreasing Hg export from source regions to clean environments. Our modeling results indicated that the inclusion of anthropogenic SLHs can lead to higher Hg exposure in/near Hg source regions than estimated in previous assessments, e.g., with increases of 8.7% and 7.5% in China and India, respectively, consequently leading to higher Hg-related human health risks. These results highlight the urgent need for policymakers to reduce local Hg and SLHs emissions. We conclude that the substantial impacts of anthropogenic SLHs emissions should be included in model assessments of the Hg budget and associated health risks at local and global scales.
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Mercurio , Humanos , Mercurio/toxicidad , Mercurio/análisis , Monitoreo del Ambiente/métodos , Ecosistema , China , IndiaRESUMEN
Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VP-AHPND) is regarded as one of the main pathogens that caused acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) in the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. PirAvp and PirBvp toxin proteins are the main pathogenic proteins of AHPND in shrimp. Knowledge about the mechanism of shrimp response to PirAvp or PirBvp toxin is very helpful for developing new prevention and control strategy of AHPND in shrimp. In this study, the pathological sections showed that after 4 h treatment, significant pathological changes were observed in the PirBvp treated group, and no obvious pathological changes was found in PirAvp treated group. In order to learn the mechanism of shrimp response to PirAvp and PirBvp, comparative transcriptome was applied to analyze the different expressions of genes in the hepatopancreas of shrimp after treatment with PirAvp or PirBvp. A total of 9978 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between PirAvp or PirBvp-treated and PBS control shrimp, including 6616 DEGs in the PirAvp treated group and 3362 DEGs in the PirBvp treated group. There were 2263 DEGs that were commonly expressed, 4353 DEGs were only expressed in PirAvp VS PBS group and 1099 DEGs were uniquely expressed in PirBvp VS PBS group. Among these DEGs, the anti-apoptosis related pathways and immune response related genes significantly expressed in the commonly expressed DEGs of PirAvp VS PBS group and PirBvp VS PBS group, and small GTPase-mediated signaling and DNA metabolic process might relate to the host special reaction towards PirAvp and PirBvp exposure. The data suggested that the differential expression of these immune and metabolic-related genes in hepatopancreas might contribute to the pathogenicity variations of shrimp to VP-AHPND. The identified genes in this study will be useful for clarifying the response mechanism of shrimp toward different toxins of VP-AHPND and will further provide molecular basis for understanding the pathogenic mechanism of VP-AHPND.
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Pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) play a crucial role in the recognition and activation of innate immune responses against invading microorganisms. This study characterizes a novel C-type lectin (CTL), SpccCTL. The cDNA sequence of SpccCTL has a full length of 1744 bp encoding a 338-amino acid protein. The predicted protein contains a signal peptide, a coiled-coil (CC) domain, and a CLECT domain. It shares more than 50 % similarity with a few CTLs with a CC domain in crustaceans. SpccCTL is highly expressed in gills and hemocytes and upregulated after MCRV challenge, suggesting that it may be involved in antiviral immunity. Recombinant SpccCTL (rSpccCTL) as well as two capsid proteins of MCRV (VP11 and VP12) were prepared. Pre-incubating MCRV virions with rSpccCTL significantly suppresses the proliferation of MCRV in mud crabs, compared with the control (treatment with GST protein), and the survival rate of mud crabs is also significantly decreased. Knockdown of SpccCTL significantly facilitates the proliferation of MCRV in mud crabs. These results reveal that SpccCTL plays an important role in antiviral immune response. GST pull-down assay result shows that rSpccCTL interacts specifically with VP11, but not to VP12. This result is further confirmed by a Co-IP assay. In addition, we found that silencing SpccCTL significantly inhibits the expression of four antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Considering that these AMPs are members of anti-lipopolysaccharide factor family with potential antiviral activity, they are likely involved in immune defense against MCRV. Taken together, these findings clearly demonstrate that SpccCTL can recognize MCRV by binding viral capsid protein VP11 and regulate the expression of certain AMPs, suggesting that SpccCTL may function as a potential PRR playing an essential role in anti-MCRV immunity of mud crab. This study provides new insights into the antiviral immunity of crustaceans and the multifunctional characteristics of CTLs.
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Braquiuros , Animales , Proteínas Portadoras/genética , Proteínas Virales/genética , Lectinas Tipo C/genética , Lectinas Tipo C/metabolismo , Inmunidad Innata/genética , Señales de Clasificación de Proteína/genética , Proteínas de Artrópodos , FilogeniaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Hepatitis is a major public health challenge and a leading cause of death worldwide. We aimed to study the cause-specific incidence and temporal trends of acute viral hepatitis (AVH). METHODS: Data on AVH etiologies were available from the Global Burden of Disease study 2019. Estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) was used to quantify temporal trend in AVH age-standardized incidence rates (ASIRs) by region, sex and aetiology. RESULTS: From 1990 to 2019, the global incidence of AVH increased by 8.02%, from 244 350 063 in 1990 to 263 951 645 in 2019, with an average decreasing ASIR of 0.52% (95% CI -0.58% to -0.45%) annually. The ASIR of AVH due to hepatitis B virus (HBV) decreased, while those of hepatitis A (HAV), hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis E (HEV) remained stable, with EAPCs (95% CI) of -1.47 (-1.58 to -1.36), 0 (-0.09 to 0.09), -0.35 (-0.83 to -0.13), and -0.16 (-0.41 to 0.09) respectively. Although the number of new AVH cases increased in the low sociodemographic index (SDI), low-middle SDI regions, the ASIRs decreased in all five SDI regions. Globally, HAV and HBV are the leading causes of acute hepatitis. The EAPC is significantly associated with a baseline ASIR of less than 5500 per 100 000 population (ρ = -0.44), and with the 2019 human development index (HDI) (ρ = 0.16) for AVH. CONCLUSIONS: Although the ASIR of AVH showed a generally decreasing trend, the burden of AVH remains a major public health challenge globally. The findings may be helpful for policymakers in establishing appropriate policies to reduce the viral hepatitis burden.
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Hepatitis A , Hepatitis C , Hepatitis E , Humanos , Incidencia , Hepatitis C/epidemiología , Hepatitis C/complicaciones , Hepatitis E/complicaciones , Hepacivirus , Hepatitis A/epidemiología , Hepatitis A/complicaciones , Virus de la Hepatitis B , Enfermedad Aguda , Carga Global de Enfermedades , Salud GlobalRESUMEN
Particulate matter (PM) concentrations are affected by anthropogenic emissions and sand transport jointly; however, the relative contributions from those two aspects are usually unknown. In our work, statistical analysis and back trajectories model were used to identify the dominant source in such area, by taking Yumen City as an example. We come to the conclusion that local emissions dominate the concentration of airborne pollutants, while sand transport plays a significant role on PM concentration. The conclusions were supported by the following results. (1) PM monthly mean concentrations at the two air quality stations, which are 70 km far away from each other, have the similar levels and variation trend; furthermore, a regression analysis of PM2.5 and PM10 daily concentrations between both stations indicated a significant correlation, suggesting that PM at both locations was influenced by the same emission sources; (2) statistical analysis results revealed that PM concentration has a positive correlation with wind speed, indicating the wind-blown dust and sand contribute mainly on PM concentration; (3) back-trajectory clustering analysis indicates that long-distance transport particulates from dust sources and their pathways had a significant impact on local PM concentrations.
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Contaminantes Atmosféricos/análisis , Contaminación del Aire/análisis , Contaminantes Ambientales , China , Ciudades , Monitoreo del Ambiente , Material Particulado/análisisRESUMEN
Purpose: This study contributes to the evolving understanding of the pivotal involvement of Sirtuins (SIRTs) in various human cancers, with a particular focus on elucidating their expression patterns and clinical relevance within the context of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The investigation involves a comprehensive analysis of mRNA expression and prognostic implications associated with distinct SIRTs in HCC. Patients and Methods: Initial data pertaining to SIRT expression in HCC patients were collated from publicly accessible databases. Subsequently, the expression levels of select members of the SIRT family were validated using clinicopathological specimens from HCC patients. Additionally, HCC tissue microarray was employed to scrutinize the correlation between SIRT7 expression and HCC prognosis. Results: The findings indicated a substantial upregulation of SIRT2, SIRT3, SIRT4, SIRT6, and SIRT7 in HCC tissues. Survival analysis underscored a pronounced association between elevated mRNA levels of SIRT3, SIRT6, and SIRT7 and an adverse prognosis for HCC patients. Particularly, SIRT7 emerged as a potential independent risk factor for poor prognosis in HCC patients. Examination of the HCC tissue microarray revealed heightened expression of SIRT7 in 68 cases (54.8%) of HCC tissues. Multivariate analysis established high SIRT7 expression as an independent risk factor for diminished Disease-Free Survival (DFS) and Overall Survival (OS) in HCC patients. Conclusion: The aberrant expression of SIRT7 presents itself may be as a novel biomarker for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients.
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The problem of large calculation models in bus-two-wheeled vehicle traffic accidents (TA) leads to the difficulty of balancing the calculation efficiency and accuracy, as well as difficulties in accident reconstruction. Herein, two typical accidents were reconstructed, based on the rigid-flexible coupled human model (HM) and the Facet vehicle model, and the vehicle damage conditions and the human head biomechanical injury were analyzed. The simulation results showed that the physical process of the human-vehicle collision was basically consistent with the accident video, the windshield fracture was consistent with the actual vehicle report, and the human biomechanical injury characteristics were also consistent with the autopsy report, which verified the feasibility of the simulation model, and provides a basis and reference for forensic identification and for traffic police to deal with accident disputes.
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Traumatismos Craneocerebrales , Humanos , Accidentes de Tránsito , Simulación por Computador , Medicina Legal/métodos , PoliciaRESUMEN
The association between the serum levels of cancer antigen 125 (CA125; also termed MUC16) and the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has not been widely reported to date. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between preoperative serum CA125 levels and prognosis of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC after hepatectomy. The study included 306 patients with HBV-related HCC who underwent liver resection and were classified into four subgroups based on their baseline CA125 and α-fetoprotein (AFP) levels. The perioperative clinical data were compared and analyzed. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed to determine the associations between patient clinicopathological characteristics and survival. The results revealed that the median follow-up time was 35 months. Patients with low preoperative serum CA125 levels presented with improved 3-year disease-free survival (DFS) (79.3 vs. 75.7%; P=0.278) and overall survival (OS) (84.4 vs. 77.1%; P=0.001) rates compared with those among patients with high preoperative serum CA125 levels. High preoperative serum CA125 levels were a risk factor associated with short DFS and OS rates in all patients. In patients with baseline AFP levels >100 ng/ml, low preoperative serum CA125 levels were significantly associated with prolonged DFS and OS rates (log-rank test P=0.002 and P=0.005, respectively). In patients with AFP levels ≤100 ng/ml, no significant differences were observed in DFS or OS rates between the high and low preoperative serum CA125 groups. Patients with high preoperative serum CA125 and AFP levels exhibited the worst prognosis (low DFS and OS rates). In conclusion, high baseline CA125 levels may be associated with a poor prognosis in patients with HBV-related HCC.
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OBJECTIVE: To explore the method for labeling Flk1+ CD31- CD34- human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hBMSCs) with ferumoxide-PLL and evaluate the feasibility of its tracing after transplantation into the brains of Macaca Fascicularis. METHODS: The hBMSCs were incubated with ferumoxide-PLL. Trypan blue staining, Prussian blue staining, and transmission electron microscope were performed to show intracellular iron, marking efficiency, and the vigor of the labeled cells. After the hBMSCs were transplanted into the brains of cynomolgus monkeys by stereotaxis, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed to trace the cells in vivo. Cell survival and differentiation were studied with immunohistochemistry, Prussian blue staining, and HE staining. RESULTS: The marking efficiency of the ferumoxide-PLL was 96%. Iron particles were found intracytoplasmic of the hBMSCs by Prussian blue staining and transmission electron microscopy. The relaxation rates of labeled cells in MRI were 4.4 and 4.2 times higher than those of the unlabeled cells. Hypointensity area was found by MRI three weeks after transplantation. Many hBMSCs and new vessels were found in the transplantation zone by pathological and immunofluorescence methods. CONCLUSIONS: Ferumoxide-PLL can effectively label hBMSCs and thus increase its contrast in MRI results. The cells can survive in the brains of cynomolgus monkeys. The labeled hBMSCs can be traced in vivo by MRI.