Effects of food waste hydrolysate as an external carbon source on defoaming in wastewater treatment with activated sludge process.

The activated sludge process is the most widely used technology for treating municipal wastewater. However, thick foam often occurs in activated sludge process. Here, we reported for the first time the effect of food waste hydrolysate (FWH) as an external carbon source on defoaming in activated sludge process. The study found that FWH was effective in defoaming at a wide dose range of 50-1600 mg/L total solids, as exhibiting that the foaming tendency of FWH-added foam mixed liquor was reduced to 0 mL-foam/mL-air·min from initial 0.171 mL-foam/mL-air·min in the control without adding FWH with 100 % of defoaming efficiency. Fatty acids, oils, and solid particles in FWH jointly contributed to the deformation. Among these factors, the concentration of long-chain unsaturated fatty acids was mainly responsible for the defoaming. This work provides a cost-effective strategy to solve the foaming problem in activated sludge process as well as providing external carbon sources.

Efficient co-stabilization of arsenic and cadmium in farmland soil by schwertmannite under long-term flooding-drying condition.

Simultaneously stabilizing of arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) in co-contaminated soil presents substantial challenges due to their contrasting chemical properties. Schwertmannite (Sch) is recognized as a potent adsorbent for As pollution, with alkali modification showing promising results in the simultaneous immobilization of both As and Cd. This study systematically investigated the long-term stabilization efficacy of alkali-modified Sch in Cd-As co-contaminated farmland soil over a 200-day flooding-drying period. The results revealed that As showed significant mobility in flooded conditions, whereas Cd exhibited increased soil availability under drying phases. The addition of Sch did not affect the trends in soil pH and Eh fluctuations; nonetheless, it led to an augmentation in the levels of amorphous iron oxides and SO42- concentration in soil pore water. At a dosage of 0.5% Sch, there was a notable decrease in the mobility and soil availability of As and Cd under both flooding (34.5% and 53.6% at Day 50) and drying conditions (27.0% and 29.4% at Day 130), primarily promoting the transformation of labile metal(loid) fraction into amorphous iron oxide-bound forms. Throughout the flooding-drying treatment period, Sch maintained stable mineral morphology and mineralogical phase, highlighting its long-term stabilization effect. The findings of this study emphasize the promising application of Sch-based soil remediation agents in mitigating the challenges arising from As-Cd co-contamination. Further research is warranted to explore their application in real farmland settings and their impact on the uptake of toxic metal(loid)s by plants.

Five New Glycoside Constituents from the Roots of Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk.

Three undescribed glycoside constituents, macrophyllosides E-G and a pair of iridoid glycosides genticrasides A/B, together with eleven known glycoside compounds were isolated from the roots of Gentiana crassicaulis Duthie ex Burk. Their structures were identified by means of spectra analysis and data comparison with previous literatures. Interestingly, the glucose moieties in macrophylloside E and F possess free anomeric hydroxy groups. Genticrasides A/B, identified as a pair of iridoid originated lactones, have not been reported from Gentianaceae family up to now. The anti-inflammatory effects of selected compounds were also evaluated through the nitric oxide (NO) production inhibition in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 macrophage cells. In which, macrophyllosides G and D showed NO inhibitory activities with rates of 76.14±4.02 % and 52.44±8.29 % at 100 µg/mL.

Capsulized Fecal Microbiota Transplantation Induces Remission in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis by Gut Microbial Colonization and Metabolite Regulation.

Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) can induce clinical remission in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. Enemas, nasoduodenal tubes, and colonoscopies are the most common routes for FMT administration. However, there is a lack of definitive evidence regarding the effectiveness of capsulized FMT treatment in UC patients. In this study, we administered capsulized FMT to 22 patients with active UC to assess the efficiency of capsulized FMT and determine the specific bacteria and metabolite factors associated with the response to clinical remission. Our results showed that the use of capsulized FMT was successful in the treatment of UC patients. Capsulized FMT induced clinical remission and clinical response in 57.1% (12 of 21) and 76.2% (16 of 21) of UC patients, respectively. Gut bacterial richness was increased after FMT in patients who achieved remission. Patients in remission after FMT exhibited enrichment of Alistipes sp. and Odoribacter splanchnicus, along with increased levels of indolelactic acid. Patients who did not achieve remission exhibited enrichment of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella and increased levels of biosynthesis of 12,13-DiHOME (12,13-dihydroxy-9Z-octadecenoic acid) and lipopolysaccharides. Furthermore, we identified a relationship between specific bacteria and metabolites and the induction of remission in patients. These findings may provide new insights into FMT in UC treatment and provide reference information about therapeutic microbial manipulation of FMT to enhance its effects. (This study has been registered at ClinicalTrails.gov under registration no. NCT03426683). IMPORTANCE Fecal microbiota transplantation has been successfully used in patients. Recently, capsulized FMT was reported to induce a response in patients with UC. However, limited patients were enrolled in such studies, and the functional factors of capsulized FMT have not been reported in the remission of patients with UC. In this study, we prospectively recruited patients with UC to receive capsulized FMT. First, we found that capsulized FMT could induce clinical remission in 57.1% of patients and clinical response in 76.2% after 12 weeks, which was more acceptable. Second, we found a relationship between the decrease of opportunistic pathogen and lipopolysaccharide synthesis in patients in remission after capsulized FMT. We also identified an association between specific bacteria and metabolites and remission induction in patients after capsulized FMT. These findings put forward a possibility for patients to receive FMT at home and provide reference information about therapeutic microbial manipulation of FMT to enhance its effects.

[Retracted] Inhibition of δ­opioid receptors induces brain glioma cell apoptosis through the mitochondrial and protein kinase C pathways.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3892/ol.2013.1546.].

Identification of iron metabolism-related predictive markers of endometriosis and endometriosis-relevant ovarian cancer.

Endometriosis is associated with ovarian cancers, mainly endometrioid and clear-cell carcinomas. Iron metabolism has been shown to play a role in endometriosis. Therefore, it is vital to explore the relationship between iron metabolism and ovarian cancer and to identify novel markers for diagnostics and therapeutics. The endometriosis dataset GSE51981 and the ovarian cancer dataset GSE26712 were obtained from the gene expression omnibus database, and differentially expressed genes were identified. Iron metabolism genes were obtained from molecular signatures database, and hub genes from the 3 datasets were obtained. Seven hub genes were identified by bioinformatic analysis, and 3 hub genes (NCOA4, ETFDH, and TYW1) were further selected by logistic regression, which were verified in an independent endometriosis dataset (GSE25628) and ovarian cancer dataset (GSE14407), showing good predictive diagnostic value (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.88 and 0.9, respectively). Gene Ontology, gene set enrichment analysis, and immune infiltration analysis further confirmed the related functions, pathways, and immune relationship between iron metabolism and ovarian cancer. This study highlights the potential of targeting iron metabolism in the prevention of potential ovarian cancer and in the further exploration of endometriosis and endometriosis-relevant ovarian cancer therapeutics.

Malignant cerebral edema after cranioplasty: a case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Cranioplasty is a common surgery in the neurosurgery for patients with skull defects following decompression craniectomy. Concomitant rare complications are increasingly reported, such as malignant cerebral edema after cranioplasty. CASE REPORT: A 45-year-old man underwent decompression craniectomy due to traumatic brain injury. At 3 months after the decompression craniectomy, the patient developed refractory subdural hydrogen and received ipsilateral refractory subdural effusion capsule resection, but no significant relief was seen. Therefore, the cranioplasty was decided to treat subdural hydrogen and restore the normal appearance of the skull. After the successful cranioplasty surgery and the expected anesthesia recovery period, the pupils of the patients were continued to be dilated and fixed, without light reflection and spontaneous breathing. The Computed Tomography of the patient 1 hour after surgery showed malignant cerebral edema. CONCLUSIONS: Malignant cerebral edema is a rare and lethal complication after cranioplasty. Negative pressure drainage and deregulation of cerebral blood flow at the end of cranioplasty may partially explain the malignant cerebral after cranioplasty. In addition, patients with epileptic seizures, no spontaneous breathing, dilated pupils without reflection, and hypotension within a short period after cranioplasty may show the occurrence of malignant cerebral.

Elucidating interactive effects of sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron and ammonia on anaerobic digestion of food waste.

In our previous study, anaerobic digestion of food waste could be effectively enhanced by adding sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron (S-nZVI) under high-strength ammonia concentrations. In this study, in order to further elucidate the specific interactive effects of S-nZVI and ammonia on anaerobic digestion of nitrogen-rich food waste, the methanogenic performance of anaerobic digestion systems respectively added with nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) and S-nZVI were compared and monitored under different ammonia stress conditions. Both nZVI and S-nZVI could effectively stimulate the methanogenesis process among ammonia concentrations ranging from 0 to 3500 mg/L. However, the enhancing effects of S-nZVI and nZVI on anaerobic digestion of food waste were different, in which anaerobic digestion systems added with S-nZVI and nZVI performed best under 2500 mg/L of ammonia and 1500 mg/L of ammonia, respectively. Furthermore, the analysis of microbial communities suggested that ammonia stress enriched acetoclastic methanogens, while adding nZVI and S-nZVI into anaerobic digestions stimulated the process of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Moreover, S-nZVI performed better in promoting the evolution of DIET-related microorganisms than nZVI, resulting in enhanced methane production under high ammonia-stressed conditions. This work provided fundamental knowledge about the interactive effects of S-nZVI and ammonia on the anaerobic digestion of food waste.

Spatial distribution of fecal pollution indicators in sewage sludge flocs and their removal and inactivation as revealed by qPCR/viability-qPCR during potassium ferrate treatment.

Sludge reuse and utilization is one of important routines of disseminating fecal pollution to surface water and groundwater. However, it remains unclear the spatial distribution of fecal pollution indicators in sludge flocs and their reductions during sludge treatment processes. In this study, the abundances of fecal pollution indicators including cross-assembly phage (crAssphage), JC and BK polyomavirus (JCPyV, BKPyV), human adenovirus (HAdV), the human-specific HF183 Bacteroides (HF183) and Escherichia coli (EC) in soluble extracellular polymeric substances (S-EPS), loosely-bound EPS (LB-EPS), tightly-bound EPS (TB-EPS), and pellets of sludge flocs were determined, and the effect of potassium ferrate (PF) treatment on their removal and inactivation was investigated by using both qPCR and viability-qPCR. Results showed that all investigated indicators were detected in each fraction of sludge flocs. The PF treatment led to a great migration of indicators from sludge pellets to sludge EPS and some extent of their inactivation in each fraction of sludge flocs. The overall reductions of human fecal indicators in sludge determined by qPCR were 0-1.30 logs, which were 0-2 orders of magnitude lower than those of 0.69-2.39 logs detected by viability-qPCR, implying their inactivation by PF treatment to potentially alleviate the associated human health risks.

A neglected risk of nanoplastics as revealed by the promoted transformation of plasmid-borne ampicillin resistance gene by Escherichia coli.

Plastic pollution and antibiotic resistance are two emerging environmental and human health crises today. Although it was revealed that microplastics can serve as vectors for the dissemination of antibiotic resistance, it is still unclear how the nanoplastics influence the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Herein, we firstly compared the effect of polystyrene (PS) micro/nanoplastics on the transformation of plasmid-borne ARG, using a transformation model consisting of plasmid pUC19 (ampR ) and Escherichia coli DH5α (recipient). Due to its size effect, PS nanoplastics (10-500 mg/L) significantly enhanced the transformation efficiency (2.8-5.4 folds) and frequency (3.2-8.4 folds) of exogenous ampR into E. coli, while PS microplastics exerted no influence. The detailed mechanisms were found that nanoplastics induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction, activated SOS response, increased cell membrane permeability and changed the secretion systems, thereby facilitating the uptake of exogenous DNA by bacteria. Moreover, the co-presences of nanoplastics with humic acid or Fe3+ relieved to some extent, but did not completely alleviate the promoting effect of nanoplastics on plasmid transformation. Our findings suggest that the risk of nanoplastics on promoting the dissemination of antibiotic resistance should not be neglected, and further studies are needed to investigate such risk in complex environments.

Supplementation of tea polyphenols in sludge Fenton oxidation improves sludge dewaterability and reduces chemicals consumption.

The Fenton oxidation improves sludge dewatering but faces notable technical and economic challenges, including a narrow acidic pH range, slow reduction of Fe(III), and the use of high doses of chemicals. Herein, we used a natural polyhydroxyphenol tea polyphenols (TP), as an iron redox conversion enhancer, to mitigate these issues. Compared with the classical Fenton process at pH 3.0, the process with TP (33.8 mg/g dry solids (DS)) improved sludge dewaterability at pH 7.5 in a Fenton-like system with faster Fe(II)/Fe(III) cycling and two times lower consumption of the Fenton reagent. Sludge capillary suction time and specific resistance to filtration decreased from 70 s to 22 s and from 2.7 × 1013 m/kg to 5.2 × 1011 m/kg, respectively, while the required doses of Fe(II) and H2O2 were cut to 25 mg/g DS and 31.2 mg/g DS. Mechanistically, TP could bond readily with Fe(II)/Fe(III) at neutral pH to form stable complexes with complexation constants of 34 ± 161 M-1 and 52 ± 70 M-1, respectively, and reduce part of the Fe(III) to Fe(II) simultaneously. This maintained sufficient soluble Fe in the sludge and boosted efficient conversion of Fe(II)/Fe(III) to yield more hydroxyl radicals (•OH). Subsequently, •OH oxidation resulted in the decomposition of biopolymers with a molecular weight of 108 Da (e.g., 58.2% of polysaccharides and 31.6% of proteins in tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances) into small molecules and disintegration of bioflocs into smaller particles with increased porosity, contact angle, and cell lysis; these changes helped reduce bound water content and improved sludge dewaterability. In addition, the TP-mediated Fenton process disinfected fecal coliforms in the sludge and preserved the sludge organic matters. This work proposes a new paradigm for developing cost-effective sludge dewatering technologies that relies on the synergistic effects of plant polyphenols and advanced oxidation processes.

Modified chemical mineralization-alkali neutralization technology: Mineralization behavior at high iron concentrations and its application in sulfur acid spent pickling solution.

Mineralization coupled with neutralization is a dual-function technology for disposing acidic iron-rich waters, which can recover the valuable iron in the form of secondary mineral and concurrently purify the wastewater. In this study, a modified technology for treating high Fe wastewater (sulfur acid spent pickling liquor, 62 g Fe/L) was proposed based on the specific investigation of the mineralization behaviors in Fe concentration range of 20-70 g/L. Results showed that high SO42-/Fe2+ molar ratio (> 2.0) tended to trigger gelation phenomena at Fe concentrations above 30 g/L. Fe specie distribution suggested that the insufficient polymerization among Fe-OH complexes might be responsible for the gelation phenomena, since the strong Fe-SO4 coordination almost completely suppressed the Fex(OH)y(3x-y)+ form (a general terms of Fe3+ hydrolysates and their polymers). Modified mineralization strategies were proposed, including pretreatment with dilution or BaCl2/CaCl2 precipitation, of which CaCl2 pretreatment was a versatile and low-cost method. Following CaCl2 pretreatment, chemical mineralization converted above 90% of iron into secondary mineral, which therefore drastically reduced the alkali consumption (from 164.2 g/L to 1.4 g/L) and sludge yield (from 328.1 g/L to 2.4 g/L) in subsequent neutralization treatment. The resultant mineral was identified as schwertmannite, and exhibited efficient adsorption capacity toward arsenite (364.2 mg/g). The modified chemical mineralization-alkaline neutralization is a cost-effective technology for the treatment of the acidic iron-rich waters. In practical applications, several regulating strategies should be further explored to improve the mineral purity, and the mineralization conditions must be optimized according to the Fe and SO42- concentrations in wastewater.

Occurrence of bacterial and viral fecal markers in municipal sewage sludge and their removal during sludge conditioning processes.

Fecal contamination in wastewater treatment system may pose severe threats to human health, but the detailed contamination of fecal bacterial and viral pathogens in municipal sewage sludge remains unclear. In addition, it is also unclear how sludge conditioning treatments would impact the distribution of fecal markers in conditioned sewage sludge. Before addressing these two issues, the possible polymerase chain reaction (PCR) inhibition effect when determining the abundances of fecal markers in both sludge solids and sludge supernatants should be solved, and methods of effectively concentrating fecal markers from sludge supernatant should also be developed. In the present study, we found that the serial tenfold dilution effectively reduced the PCR inhibition effect when determining the abundances of fecal markers including cross-assembly phages (CrAssphage), JC polyomavirus (JCPyV), human-specific HF183 bacteroides (HF183), human BK polyomavirus (BKPyV), human adenovirus (HAdV) and Escherichia coli (EC), while the utilization of negatively charged HA membrane was effective to recover fecal markers from sludge supernatant. The results of a six-month monitoring revealed that gene markers of CrAssphage, JCPyV, HF183, BKPyV, HAdV, and EC can be detected in municipal sewage sludge collected from a local wastewater treatment plant. Among the investigated four chemical conditioning methods, i.e., chemical conditioning with polyacrylamide (PAM), Fe[III]/CaO, or Fenton's reagent, and chemical acidification conditioning, chemical conditioning with Fenton's reagent was much more effective than the other three conditioning methods to reduce the abundances of fecal markers in the supernatant and solid of conditioned sewage sludge. Furthermore, the investigated fecal markers in the conditioned sewage sludge can be simultaneously attenuated by employing suitable conditioning methods, consequently reducing the associated environmental risks.

Tea plant-legume intercropping simultaneously improves soil fertility and tea quality by changing bacillus species composition.

Tea plant is an economically important crop in China, but long-term monoculture and substantial chemical nitrogen fertilizer input cause soil acidification, which in turn affects the nutrient supply and tea quality. Intercropping has drawn more attention in tea gardens because this pattern is expected to improve soil fertility and tea quality and change the soil microbial community composition. However, the roles of some key microorganisms in rhizosphere soils have not been well characterized. Hereby, a "soybean in summer and smooth vetch in winter" mode was selected to investigate the effects of intercropped legumes in a tea garden on soil fertility, tea quality, and the potential changes in beneficial bacteria such as Bacillus. Our data showed that when soybeans were turned into soil, intercropping system exhibited higher soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), tea quality indices and the expression of Camellia sinensis glutamine synthetase gene (CsGS). Notably, intercropping significantly affected the bacterial communities and decreased the relative abundance of Bacillus but increased its absolute abundance. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens BM1 was isolated from intercropped soil and showed outstanding plant growth-promoting (PGP) properties when coinoculated with rhizobia. In winter, intercropping with smooth vetch had a beneficial effect on soil properties and tea quality. Comparably, coinoculation with strain BM1 and Rhizobium leguminosarum Vic5 on smooth vetch (Vicia villosa) showed huge improvements in SOM, TN and quality of tea leaves, accompanied by the highest level of amino acids and lowest levels of polyphenol and caffeine (p < 0.05). According to these results, our findings demonstrate that intercropping with some legumes in the tea garden is a strategy that increases SOM, TN and tea quality, and some PGP Bacillus species are optional to obtain an amplification effect.

Consolidation of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis by sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron in the anaerobic digestion of food waste upon ammonia stress.

The feasibility of adding sulfidated nanoscale zero-valent iron (S-nZVI) into anaerobic systems to improve anaerobic digestion of food waste (FW) under ammonia stress was evaluated in this study. The addition of S-nZVI improved the methane production compared to nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI), indicating that sulfidation significantly reinforced the enhancement effect of nZVI in consolidating the hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. The promoted methanogenic performance was associated with chemical reaction and variances of microbial community induced by S-nZVI. With the characteristics of generation of Fe2+ and slow-release of H2, S-nZVI made the anaerobic system respond positively in facilitating extracellular polymeric substances secretion and optimizing the microbial community structure. Moreover, microbial community analysis showed that S-nZVI addition enriched the species related to biohydrogen production (e.g., Prevotella) and ammonia-tolerant hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis (e.g., Methanoculleus), possibly enhancing the hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis pathway to accelerate methane production. Therefore, adding S-nZVI into the anaerobic systems might propose a feasible engineering strategy to improve the methanogenic performance of the anaerobic digestion of FW upon ammonia stress.

Nitrogen removal performance of high ammonium and high salt wastewater by adding carbon source from food waste fermentation with different acidogenic metabolic pathways.

Food waste fermentation liquid components, mainly lactate and volatile fatty acids (VFAs), can be used as alternative carbon sources to improve the nitrogen removal efficiency. To investigate the effects of carbon sources generated from food waste (FW) fermentation liquid on nitrogen removal for the treatment of high ammonium and high salt wastewater (HAHS), the lactate, acetate, propionate, butyrate, and their mixtures were added in activated sludge systems operating over 130-days. Lactate and butyrate inhibited nitrifiers by enriching polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs), thus deteriorated nitrogen removal after a long-term period. When fed with acetate or propionate, the dominant glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) groups simultaneously realized nitrification and denitrification. The mixed carbon source enhanced microbial community robustness and the transformation of Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), advancing nitrogen removal efficiency. Mixed carbon source of acetate-propionate was preferred, in which the coexisting groups of GAOs and PAOs enhanced the denitrification rate of denitrifiers and kept balancing with nitrifiers, where the highest denitrification rate (DNR) was 1.05 mg N/(h·g VSS) and the average TN removal efficiency was above 98% under the maximum nitrogen load of 0.48 kg N/(kg VSS·d). In addition, the primary pathways of nitrogen removal were heterotrophic nitrification and denitrification, since the autotrophic nitrifiers were inhibited by the free ammonium and salinity. This study illustrated the differences of nitrogen removal performance and mechanisms with fermentation liquid components as carbon sources processing of HAHS wastewater.

A collaborative strategy for enhanced anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge by using zero valent iron and ferrous sulfide.

The application of sulfidated zero-valent iron as an alternative used in coupled anaerobic systems to improve methane production is usually restricted by its high production costs and toxic gasses and wastewater generation. In this study, a collaborative strategy for coupling zero-valent iron (ZVI) and ferrous sulfide (FeS) together into anaerobic systems was used to evaluate the enhancement of methanogenesis during the co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge, with the microbial evolution and metabolic pathway revealed. Results showed that the enhanced hydrolysis and acidogenesis process of co-digestion in this coupled anaerobic system could be attributed to synergistic interactions among ZVI, FeS, and microorganisms. Furthermore, both acetoclastic and hydrogenotrophic pathways could be promoted by coupling ZVI and FeS. This study demonstrated that coupling ZVI and FeS together into anaerobic systems would be a promising method for improving the methanogenic performance for municipal solid waste treatment.

Sequential removal of selenate, nitrate and sulfate and recovery of elemental selenium in a multi-stage bioreactor process with redox potential feedback control.

Bioreduction can facilitate oxyanions removal from wastewater. However, simultaneously removing selenate, nitrate and sulfate and recovering high-purity elemental selenium (Se0) from wastewater by a single system is difficult and may lead to carcinogenic selenium monosulfide (SeS) formation. To solve this issue, a two-stage biological fluidized bed (FBR) process with ethanol dosing based on oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) feedback control was developed in this study. FBR1 performance was first evaluated at various ORP setpoints (between -520 and -360 mV vs. Ag/AgCl) and elevated sulfate concentration. Subsequently, ethanol-fed FBR2 was used to reduce sulfate from FBR1 effluent, followed by an aerated sulfide oxidation reactor (SOR). At - 520 mV≤ ORPs≤ -480 mV, FBR1 removed 100 ±â€¯0.1% nitrate and 99.7 ±â€¯0.3% selenate without sulfate reduction. At ORPs ≥ -440 mV, selenate reduction was incomplete, whereas nitrate removal remained stable. Se0 recovery efficiency from FBR1 effluent was 37.5% with 71% Se purity. FBR2 converted 86% of the remaining sulfate in FBR1 effluent to hydrogen sulfide, but the over-oxidation of dissolved sulfide in SOR decreased the overall sulfate removal efficiency to ~46.3%. Overall, the two-stage FBR process with ORP feedback dosing of ethanol was effective for sequentially removing selenate, nitrate and sulfate and recovering Se0 from wastewater.

[Retracted] miR­506 functions as a tumor suppressor in glioma by targeting STAT3.

Following the publication of this paper, it was drawn to the Editor's attention by a concerned reader that certain of the western blot assay data shown in Figs. 4D, 6B and 7F were strikingly similar to data appearing in different form in other articles by different authors. Furthermore, an independent investigation of this paper conducted by the Editorial Office unveiled possible anomalies associated with the cyclin D1 data presented in Fig. 4D. Owing to the fact that the contentious data in the above article were already under consideration for publication, or had already been published, prior to its submission to Oncology Reports, the Editor has decided that this paper should be retracted from the Journal. The authors themselves requested that the paper be retracted. The Editor apologizes to the readership for any inconvenience caused. [the original article was published in Oncology Reports 35: 1057­1064, 2016; DOI: 10.3892/or.2015.4406].

Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: To identify risk factors for hypovitaminosis D in inflammatory bowel disease and conduct a comprehensive systematic review with meta-analysis to quantify the impact on vitamin D deficiency. METHODS: We conducted a literature search of studies through PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. In addition, relevant articles were searched manually. Studies were included if the odds ratios (OR) and 95% CI of each risk factor were reported or could be calculated. We will use the fixed-effects or random-effects model to estimate the pooled effect. RESULTS: Out of 1018 articles, 25 eligible studies were identified, including 5826 participants. The risk factors associated with hypovitaminosis D were non-Caucasian (OR: 3.79, 95% CI: 2.68-5.34), Crohn's disease (OR: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.21-1.56), disease activity (OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.61-2.13), inflammatory bowel disease-related surgery (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.38-1.89), exposure to steroid (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.28-2.03), and biologics (OR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.48-2.14). In 30 ng/mL and adjusted OR subgroup, male (OR: 1.84, 95% CI: 1.47-2.31) and winter season (OR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.69-3.67) also were risk factors, respectively. 5-aminosalicylic acid (OR: 1.10, 95% CI: 0.74-1.63) and smoking (OR: 1.19, 95% CI: 0.98-1.45) were unrelated to vitamin D deficiency. CONCLUSIONS: For vitamin D deficiency in inflammatory bowel disease, non-Caucasian, Crohn's disease, disease activity, surgery, exposure to steroid and biologics, males are risk factors, while 5-aminosalicylic acid and smoking are not. The relationship between body mass index, winter season, exposure to immunomodulators, and vitamin D deficiency remains unclear.