Washing antimony and arsenic from agricultural soil with eco-friendly organic acids and the relevant bioavailability assessment.

Antimony (Sb) and arsenic (As) contamination in agricultural soil poses human health risks through agricultural products. Soil washing with degradable low molecular weight organic acids (LMWOAs) is an eco-friendly strategy to remediate agricultural soils. In this study, three eco-friendly LMWOAs, oxalic acid (OA), tartaric acid (TA), and citric acid (CA), were used to treat Sb and As co-contaminated agricultural soil from Xikuangshan mine area. The OA, TA, and CA washed out 18.4, 16.8, and 26.6% of Sb and 15.3, 19.9, and 23.8% of As from the agricultural soil, with CA being the most efficient reagent for the soil washing. These organic acids also led to pH decline and macronutrients losses. Fraction analysis using a sequential extraction procedure showed that the three organic acids targeted and decreased the specifically sorbed (F2) (by 19.3-37.6% and 2.41-23.5%), amorphous iron oxide associated (F3) (by 49.1-61.2% and 51.2-70.2%), and crystallized iron oxide associated (F4) (by 12.3-26.0% and 26.1-29.1%) Sb and As. The leachability of Sb and As, as well as their concentrations and bioconcentration factor (BCF) in vegetables reduced due to the soil washing. It demonstrated that the bioavailability of both the elements was decreased by the organic acids washing. The concentrations of Sb and As in typical vegetable species cultivated in CA washed soil were less than the threshold value for consumption safety, while those in OA and TA washed soils were still higher than the value, suggesting that only CA is a potential washing reagent in soil washing for Sb- and As-contaminated agricultural soil.

The political economy and dynamics of bifurcated world governance and the decoupling of value chains: An alternative perspective.

Employing insights from political economics, international relations, and China studies, we identify the key variables that shape the dynamics of the U.S.-China rivalry and investigate their impacts on the bifurcation and value-chain decoupling processes. We show that the ongoing conflict and disengagement processes are more likely to evolve in the long run in significantly different ways to the one envisioned by current Washington decision-makers and echoed by Petricevic and Teece (2019). The latter predicted an escalation of the disengagement processes and inevitable convergence to a 'bifurcated world'. Our main findings are: (1) The potential costs of bifurcation and consequent value-chain decoupling are prohibitive to both China and the U.S. Resistance is likely to grow by U.S.' own MNEs and allies; (2) Washington decision-makers overstate the threats that 'China's rise' poses to the survival of the liberal world order; and (3) China's techno-nationalistic threats are likely to dissipate after a period of escalation, as a result of its own resource constraints, increasing costs of key programs, and inability to sustain in the long run its rapid innovation processes due to growing central controls. We conclude the paper by outlining an approach to maintain an open global economy and secure innovation systems.

Empleando conocimientos de economía política, relaciones internacionales y estudios sobre China identificamos variables clave que dan forma a las dinámicas de rivalidad entre Estados Unidos y China e investigamos su impacto en los procesos de bifurcación y desacoplamiento de cadenas de valor. Demostramos que es más probable que el conflicto en curso y los procesos de retirada evolucionen a largo plazo de formas significativamente diferentes a la prevista por los actuales responsables de Washington y de la que se hacen eco Petricevic & Teece (2019). Estos últimos predijeron una escalada de los procesos de retirada y una convergencia inevitable hacia un "mundo bifurcado". Nuestras principales conclusiones son: 1) Los costos potenciales de la bifurcación y el consiguiente desacoplamiento de la cadena de valor son prohibitivos tanto para China como para Estados Unidos. Es probable que aumente la resistencia por parte de las propias empresas multinacionales de los Estados Unidos; 2) Los tomadores de decisión de Washington exageran las amenazas que el "ascenso de China" supone para la supervivencia del orden mundial liberal; y 3) Es probable que las amenazas tecno-nacionalistas de China se disipen tras un periodo de escalamiento, como resultado de sus propias limitaciones de recursos, el aumento de los costos de programas clave y la incapacidad de mantener a largo plazo sus rápidos procesos de innovación debido a los crecientes controles centrales. Concluimos el documento esbozando un planteamiento para mantener una economía mundial abierta y unos sistemas de innovación seguros.

Empregando insights da economia política, relações internacionais e estudos sobre a China, identificamos variáveis chave que moldam a dinâmica da rivalidade EUA-China e investigamos seus impactos nos processos de bifurcação e desacoplamento da cadeia de valor. Mostramos que os correntes processos de conflito e desengajamento têm maior probabilidade de evoluir a longo prazo de maneiras significativamente diferentes daquelas previstas pelos atuais tomadores de decisão de Washington e ecoadas por Petricevic & Teece (2019). Este último previu uma escalada dos processos de desengajamento e inevitável convergência para um "mundo bifurcado". Nossos principais achados são: 1) Os custos potenciais de bifurcação e consequente desacoplamento da cadeia de valor são proibitivos tanto para a China quanto para os EUA. Resistência provavelmente crescerá pelas próprias MNE americanas e de aliados; 2) Tomadores de decisão de Washington exageram as ameaças que a "ascensão da China" representa para a sobrevivência da ordem mundial liberal; e 3) Ameaças tecnonacionalistas da China provavelmente se dissiparão após um período de escalada, como resultado de suas próprias restrições de recursos, custos crescentes de programas-chave e incapacidade de sustentar a longo prazo seus rápidos processos de inovação devido ao crescente controle central. Concluímos o artigo delineando uma abordagem para manter uma economia global aberta e garantir sistemas de inovação.

A Comprehensive Risk Assessment and Stratification Model of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma Based on the Autophagy-Related LncRNAs.

Background: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is one of the most common malignant carcinomas in the endocrine system, and it has a growing incidence worldwide. Despite the development of diagnosis and treatment modalities for thyroid carcinoma, the outcome remains uncertain. Autophagy participates in the process of cancer invasion, malignancy, metastasis, and drug resistance. Emerging research has shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the process of different types of cancers. However, the interaction between the process of autophagy and lncRNA and the value of autophagy-related lncRNA for risk assessment, prediction of drug sensitivity, and prognosis prediction in PTC patients remains unknown. Materials and Methods: We screened 1,283 autophagy-related lncRNAs and identified 144 lncRNAs with prognostic value in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) cohorts. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to establish the prognosis-related autophagy-related lncRNA risk classification consisting of 10 lncRNAs to indicate the level of risk, according to which the patients were grouped into high-risk group and low risk-group. Results: The high-risk group had dramatically worse overall survival compared with the low-risk group. Cox regression analysis was performed to confirm the independent prognostic value of the autophagy-related lncRNA risk stratification, and the time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves of the risk stratification were 0.981 (1 year), 0.906 (3 years), and 0.963 (5 years). LncRNA CRNDE (LINC00180) is overexpressed in the tumor, and its high expression matched with poorer survival state. So, we chose it for further experiment. Finally, knockdown of the CRNDE in PTC increased the sensitivity to sorafenib. Conclusion: Collectively, we successfully established a novel risk stratification for PTC based on the expression profiles of autophagy-related lncRNAs.

Performance of Positron Emission Tomography and Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography Using Fluorine-18-Fluorodeoxyglucose for the Diagnosis, Staging, and Recurrence Assessment of Bone Sarcoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

To investigate the performance of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) and PET/computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis, staging, restaging, and recurrence surveillance of bone sarcoma by systematically reviewing and meta-analyzing the published literature.To retrieve eligible studies, we searched the MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Central library databases using combinations of following Keywords: "positron emission tomography" or "PET," and "bone tumor" or "bone sarcoma" or "sarcoma." Bibliographies from relevant articles were also screened manually. Data were extracted and the pooled sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), on an examination-based or lesion-based level, were calculated to appraise the diagnostic accuracy of F-FDG PET and PET/CT. All statistical analyses were performed using Meta-Disc 1.4.Forty-two trials were eligible. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of PET/CT to differentiate primary bone sarcomas from benign lesions were 96% (95% confidence interval [CI], 93-98) and 79% (95% CI, 63-90), respectively. For detecting recurrence, the pooled results on an examination-based level were sensitivity 92% (95% CI, 85-97), specificity 93% (95% CI, 88-96), positive likelihood ratio (PLR) 10.26 (95% CI, 5.99-17.60), and negative likelihood ratio (NLR) 0.11 (95% CI, 0.05-0.22). For detecting distant metastasis, the pooled results on a lesion-based level were sensitivity 90% (95% CI, 86-93), specificity 85% (95% CI, 81-87), PLR 5.16 (95% CI, 2.37-11.25), and NLR 0.15 (95% CI, 0.11-0.20). The accuracies of PET/CT for detecting local recurrence, lung metastasis, and bone metastasis were satisfactory. Pooled outcome estimates of F-FDG PET were less complete compared with those of PET/CT.F-FDG PET and PET/CT showed a high sensitivity for diagnosing primary bone sarcoma. Moreover, PET/CT demonstrated excellent accuracy for the staging, restaging, and recurrence surveillance of bone sarcoma. However, to avoid misdiagnosis, pathological examination or long-term follow-up should be carried out for F-FDG-avid lesions in patients with suspected bone sarcoma.