Multi-residue monitoring and dietary risk assessment of 17 pesticides and 3 related metabolites in rice and rice flour from markets in China.

Pesticide residues in rice have attracted widespread public attention in recent years. This research aimed to monitor the residues of 17 pesticides and their 3 metabolites in 120 samples of rice and rice flour collected from markets in China using the QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) pretreatment method combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The monitoring results showed that isoprothiolane, tricyclazole, fenoxanil, and tebuconazole were detected in the rice samples, with detection frequencies of 33.3%, 17.5%, 8.3%, and 2.5%, and concentrations ranging from 0.02 to 0.1 mg/kg (median = 0.04), 0.01 to 0.17 mg/kg (median = 0.14), 0.04 to 0.06 mg/kg (median = 0.05), and 0.01 to 0.02 mg/kg (median = 0.01), respectively. The residues of these four pesticides were all below their corresponding maximum residue levels (MRLs) set by China. Additionally, isoprothiolane, tricyclazole, fenoxanil, and tebuconazole were detected in rice flour samples, with detection frequencies of 74.2%, 55.0%, 5.0%, and 2.5%, and concentrations ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 mg/kg (median = 0.04), 0.01 to 0.04 mg/kg (median = 0.02), 0.01 to 0.06 mg/kg (median = 0.03), and 0.02 to 0.04 mg/kg (median = 0.03), respectively. Furthermore, the chronic dietary intake risk (HQc), the acute dietary intake risk (HQa), and cumulative dietary risk (HI) for all the detected pesticides were evaluated and found well below 100%, indicating that the dietary intake risks would not pose potential health risks.

Comparative Assessment of APTT Reagents for Evaluating Anticoagulant Sensitivity of Fucosylated Glycosaminoglycans (FGs) Derived from Sea Cucumbers.

Fucosylated glycosaminoglycans (FGs) derived from sea cucumbers exhibit potent intrinsic Xase (iXase) inhibition, anticoagulation, and antithrombosis. Plasma activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), a widely used screening test worldwide, is crucial for evaluating anticoagulant efficacy. However, the applicability of these commercially available APTT reagents for assessing anticoagulation of FGs remains unreported. In this study, we investigated the disparity between ellagic acid and colloidal silica APTT reagents in evaluating anticoagulation of dHG-5 and dHLFG-4, two depolymerized FGs, and elucidated the underlying rationale. The results demonstrated that dHG-5 and dHLFG-4 exhibited heightened sensitivity to the ellagic acid APTT reagent both in vitro and in vivo, and did not significantly affect the activation of APTT reagents for plasma. In addition, both ellagic acid and colloidal silica APTT reagents inhibited the anti-iXase of dHG-5 and dHLFG-4, and the inhibition of the ellagic acid APTT reagent was less pronounced compared to the colloidal silica APTT reagent. These findings suggest that the reduced impact of the ellagic acid APTT reagent on the anti-iXase activity of dHG-5 and dHLFG-4 is responsible for the increased sensitivity in plasma APTT analysis. This study offers valuable insights into the characteristics of two APTT reagents applied for assessing the anticoagulant activity of FG-related compounds.

[Pollution Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances and Emerging Alternatives in Road Dust, Shijiazhuang].

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs, n=22), including emerging alternatives, in dust samples were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) to study their pollution characteristics. These samples were collected from main and minor roads in Shijiazhuang. Some of the roads were located near sewage treatment plants and fire stations. The results showed that PFASs were ubiquitous in the road dust of Shijiazhuang; in particular, hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), an alternative, was measured for the first time in China. The total concentrations of PFASs ranged from 2.62 to 137.65 ng·g-1. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was the dominant PFAS, followed by perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), HFPO-DA, and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). The highest and lowest levels of PFASs were observed in the northwest and southeast regions of Shijiazhuang, respectively. The compositions of PFASs were obviously different in road dust near sewage treatment plants and fire stations, especially for the types of emerging alternatives. Health risk assessment indicated that road dust intake had a low risk of human exposure to PFASs and emerging alternatives. Among the three routes (ingestion intake, inhalation intake, and dermal contact), ingestion intake was the main route for PFASs and emerging alternatives in road dust to enter the human body. Under the same exposure route, the exposure dose of children was higher than that of adults.

Exploring cost-effective measure portfolios for ecosystem services optimization under large-scale vegetation restoration.

Ecosystem services-based land management incorporates environmental features and social needs, providing an important opportunity to realize global sustainability goals. Recent decades, the interaction among water-related ecosystem services (ESs) is getting ambiguous during regional vegetation restoration, which entails challenges for coordinating restoration actions, economic resources, and water-soil resources' availability. In this study, we first explored mechanism of trade-offs among five water-related ESs in the Chinese Loess Plateau under vegetation restoration. Given the decreased baseflow and its widespread trade-offs with water quality, we then developed four scenarios aiming at enhancing the baseflow and nutrient retention in a cost-effective way, by engaging a spatially explicit biophysical software tool-the RIOS model. Moreover, we selected four typical watersheds in the Loess Plateau as cases to demonstrate the differentiated information on the budget levels and the activity sites. The results indicated that, a deep mechanism of scale effects of trade-off among ESs was largely related to spatial heterogeneity rather than spatial resolution, which also affected activity portfolios under different ES scenarios. For the entire Loess Plateau, activity of forest maintenance should be concentrated on the cost-effective locations of investment for the enhancement of baseflow and nutrient retention. Under the regular budget scenarios, trade-offs only could be locally alleviated in reality, while dropping the high-cost ES objectives is an advisable strategy for minimizing investment risk. Taking conservation agricultural practices in the plain river basins should be regarded as a priority when budget can be increased. In contrast, an approach of 'governing by non-interference' for typical watersheds of re-vegetation was sensible strategy for avoiding trade-offs aggravation. These findings emphasized interrelation between the mechanism of ESs trade-offs and activity portfolios, which is an important basis for the implementation of conservation activities in real world context, and a rational reference for the simulation of desired ES goals in future studies.

N, S Co-Doped Carbons Derived from Enteromorpha prolifera by a Molten Salt Approach: Antibiotics Removal Performance and Techno-Economic Analysis.

N, S co-doped bio-carbons with a hierarchical porous structure and high surface area were prepared using a molten salt method and by adopting Entermorpha prolifera (EP) as a precursor. The structure and composition of the bio-carbons could be manipulated by the salt types adopted in the molten salt assisted pyrolysis. When the carbons were used as an activating agent for peroxydisulfate (PDS) in SMX degradation in the advanced oxidation process (AOP), the removal performance in the case of KCl derived bio-carbon (EPB-K) was significantly enhanced compared with that derived from NaCl (EPB-Na). In addition, the optimized EPB-K also demonstrated a high removal rate of 99.6% in the system that used local running water in the background, which proved its excellent application potential in real water treatment. The degradation mechanism study indicated that the N, S doping sites could enhance the surface affinity with the PDS, which could then facilitate 1O2 generation and the oxidation of the SMX. Moreover, a detailed techno-economic assessment suggested that the price of the salt reaction medium was of great significance as it influenced the cost of the bio-carbons. In addition, although the cost of EPB-K was higher (USD 2.34 kg-1) compared with that of EPB-Na (USD 1.72 kg-1), it was still economically competitive with the commercial active carbons for AOP water treatment.

Cost-effectiveness of medical migration for chronic kidney disease: a national cross-sectional study in China.

BACKGROUND: The phenomenon of medical migration is common in China. Due to the limited capacity and substantial geographical variation in medical practice, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) travel more frequently to seek medical care. We aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of medical migration for CKD patients in China and provide real-world evidence for the allocation of CKD resources. METHODS: Records of patients with CKD between January 2014 and December 2018 were extracted from a large national database. A patient is defined as a medical migrant if she travelled across the provincial border to a non-residential province to be admitted for inpatient care. The propensity score matching method is used to estimate the effect of medical migration on medical expenditure, length of hospital stay, and in-hospital mortality. The cost-effectiveness is evaluated by comparing the estimated cost per life saved with contemporaneous estimates of the value of a statistical life. RESULTS: Among 4,392,650 hospitalizations with CKD, medical migrants accounted for 4.9% in 2018. Migrant patients were estimated to incur a 26.35% increase in total medical expenditure, experience a 0.24-percentage-points reduction in in-hospital mortality rates, and a 0.49-days reduction in length of hospital stay compared to non-migrant patients. Overall, medical migration among CKD patients incurred an average of 1 million yuan per life saved, which accounted for 20-40% of contemporaneous estimates of the value of a statistical life. Compared with migrant patients with self-payment and commercial insurance, migrant patients with public health insurance (urban basic medical insurance and new rural co-operative medical care) incurred lower cost per life saved. Cost per life saved for CKD patients was similar between female and male, lower among older population, and varied substantially across regions. CONCLUSIONS: The medical care seeking behaviors of CKD patients was prominent and medical resources of kidney care were unevenly allocated across regions. Medical migration led to a reduction in mortality, but was associated with higher medical expenditure. It is imperative to reduce the regional disparity of medical resources and improve the clinical capacity. Our study shows that it is imperative to prioritize resource allocation toward improving kidney health and regional health care planning.

Re-engineering a Clinical Trial Management System Using Blockchain Technology: System Design, Development, and Case Studies.

BACKGROUND: A clinical trial management system (CTMS) is a suite of specialized productivity tools that manage clinical trial processes from study planning to closeout. Using CTMSs has shown remarkable benefits in delivering efficient, auditable, and visualizable clinical trials. However, the current CTMS market is fragmented, and most CTMSs fail to meet expectations because of their inability to support key functions, such as inconsistencies in data captured across multiple sites. Blockchain technology, an emerging distributed ledger technology, is considered to potentially provide a holistic solution to current CTMS challenges by using its unique features, such as transparency, traceability, immutability, and security. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to re-engineer the traditional CTMS by leveraging the unique properties of blockchain technology to create a secure, auditable, efficient, and generalizable CTMS. METHODS: A comprehensive, blockchain-based CTMS that spans all stages of clinical trials, including a sharable trial master file system; a fast recruitment and simplified enrollment system; a timely, secure, and consistent electronic data capture system; a reproducible data analytics system; and an efficient, traceable payment and reimbursement system, was designed and implemented using the Quorum blockchain. Compared with traditional blockchain technologies, such as Ethereum, Quorum blockchain offers higher transaction throughput and lowers transaction latency. Case studies on each application of the CTMS were conducted to assess the feasibility, scalability, stability, and efficiency of the proposed blockchain-based CTMS. RESULTS: A total of 21.6 million electronic data capture transactions were generated and successfully processed through blockchain, with an average of 335.4 transactions per second. Of the 6000 patients, 1145 were matched in 1.39 seconds using 10 recruitment criteria with an automated matching mechanism implemented by the smart contract. Key features, such as immutability, traceability, and stability, were also tested and empirically proven through case studies. CONCLUSIONS: This study proposed a comprehensive blockchain-based CTMS that covers all stages of the clinical trial process. Compared with our previous research, the proposed system showed an overall better performance. Our system design, implementation, and case studies demonstrated the potential of blockchain technology as a potential solution to CTMS challenges and its ability to perform more health care tasks.

Gestational exposure to landscape fire increases under-5 child death via reducing birthweight: A risk assessment based on mediation analysis in low- and middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to landscape fire smoke (LFS) is linked to child mortality and birthweight. It is unknown whether gestational exposure to LFS affects child survival rate. We aimed to link under-five death (U5D) to gestational LFS exposure by performing a causal mediation analysis based on birthweight. METHOD: We conducted a sibling-matched case-control study of children under 5 years of age who were affiliated with the same mothers from Demographic and Health Surveys in 54 low- and middle-income countries, during the period from 2000 to 2014. LFS exposure was quantified as the surface concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) attributable to landscape fires, estimated using a global atmospheric model. Three pairwise associations between fire-sourced PM2.5, birthweight, and U5D were assessed using fixed-effects regressions. We used a bootstrap-based mediation test of regression coefficients to examine whether the LFS-birthweight-U5D pathway was statistically significant. We also conducted three pairwise exposure-response functions using nonlinear models and used them to estimate the pathway-specific disease burden from 2000 to 2014. RESULTS: After adjustments for multiple confounders, each 1-µg/m3 increase in gestational exposure to fire-sourced PM2.5 was associated with a reduction of 2.179 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -3.777, -0.580) g in birthweight. Each 1-g birthweight reduction was associated with a 0.072% (95% CI: 0.065%, 0.078%) increase in U5D. Furthermore, each increase in exposure to fire-sourced PM2.5 was associated with a 2.853% (95% CI: 0.835%, 4.911%) increase in U5D; 7.294% (95% CI: 0.710%, 24.254%) of the linkage was explained by LFS-attributable birthweight reduction. Based on the estimated exposure-response functions, from 2000 to 2014, global exposure to fire-sourced PM2.5 contributed a mean birthweight reduction of 10.30 (95% CI: 2.93, 19.47) g, contributing to 60,350 (18,111, 106,619) premature U5Ds annually. CONCLUSION: In low- and middle-income countries, gestational exposure to LFS can increase mortality during infancy; appropriate interventions are needed to promote health in childhood.

Residual levels and dietary risk assessment of bifenthrin and dinotefuran and its major metabolites in open wheat field conditions.

To evaluate the residual levels of bifenthrin and dinotefuran, a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) and high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous detection of bifenthrin and dinotefuran and its major metabolites in wheat was developed and validated. Dietary risk assessments were further performed based on the relevant residual data from 12 wheat fields, toxicology data and dietary patterns. In wheat grain and straw, the recoveries of all analytes ranged from 77 to 102% with the relative standard deviation <9.7% and the limit of quantitation 0.05 mg kg-1 . The highest terminal residue of bifenthrin in wheat grain was 0.069 mg kg-1 and dinotefuran was 0.34 mg kg-1 . Residual concentrations of bifenthrin and dinotefuran decreased to <0.05 and 0.15 mg kg-1 at 21 days (pre-harvest interval), respectively. The chronic risk quotient ranged from 6.4 to 62.7% and the acute risk quotient varied from 0.38 to 17.73%. The chronic and acute dietary risks caused by the terminal residues of the two insecticides were negligible for Chinese populations. The recommended pre-harvest interval was proposed to ensure safe wheat consumption. These data could provide a scientific reference to establish the Chinese maximum residue limit of dinotefuran in wheat.

Comparative assessment of favipiravir and remdesivir against human coronavirus NL63 in molecular docking and cell culture models.

Human coronavirus NL63 (HCoV-NL63) mainly affects young children and immunocompromised patients, causing morbidity and mortality in a subset of patients. Since no specific treatment is available, this study aims to explore the anti-SARS-CoV-2 agents including favipiravir and remdesivir for treating HCoV-NL63 infection. We first successfully modelled the 3D structure of HCoV-NL63 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) based on the experimentally solved SARS-CoV-2 RdRp structure. Molecular docking indicated that favipiravir has similar binding affinities to SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-NL63 RdRp with LibDock scores of 75 and 74, respectively. The LibDock scores of remdesivir to SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-NL63 were 135 and 151, suggesting that remdesivir may have a higher affinity to HCoV-NL63 compared to SARS-CoV-2 RdRp. In cell culture models infected with HCoV-NL63, both favipiravir and remdesivir significantly inhibited viral replication and production of infectious viruses. Overall, remdesivir compared to favipiravir is more potent in inhibiting HCoV-NL63 in cell culture. Importantly, there is no evidence of resistance development upon long-term exposure to remdesivir. Furthermore, combining favipiravir or remdesivir with the clinically used antiviral cytokine interferon-alpha resulted in synergistic effects. These findings provided a proof-of-concept that anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs, in particular remdesivir, have the potential to be repurposed for treating HCoV-NL63 infection.

Numerical assessment of the effect of water-saving irrigation on the water cycle at the Manas River Basin oasis, China.

Mulch drip irrigation is widely used in the arid areas of Northwest China. Consequently, the Manas River Basin has developed into the fourth largest irrigated agricultural area in China. In this study, a groundwater model of the regional water cycle was developed to quantitatively assess the groundwater balance in response to different irrigation schemes, including traditional irrigation, conventional water-saving irrigation, and high-efficiency water-saving irrigation schemes. Our results reveal that 1) The water-saving irrigation technology has affected the water cycle process in farmlands. The higher the degree of water conservation, the lower the infiltration into groundwater, the higher the deficit of the groundwater balance, and the more significant the decline of the groundwater level. 2) The groundwater at the Manas River Basin remains in a negative equilibrium state. To achieve an equilibrium state of the groundwater at the Manas River Basin, the catchment management agencies should restrict the scale of oasis development and the utilization of groundwater.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition in non-targeted lung tissues of Kunming mice exposed to X-rays is suppressed by celecoxib.

Lung cancer is one of the highest health risks caused by ionizing radiation, which induces both direct effects and non-targeted effects. However, whether radiation-induced non-targeted effects result in epithelial-mesenchymal transition, a critical process during tumorigenesis, in non-targeted lung tissues remains unknown. In the present study, Kunming mice were subjected to whole-body, cranial or local abdominal irradiation of single-dose or fractionated 4 Gy X-rays, and the expressions of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers in non-targeted lung tissues were assessed by both qRT-PCR and immunofluorescent staining. It was found that the epithelial marker was downregulated while the mesenchymal markers were upregulated significantly in non-targeted lung tissues of the irradiated mice. Local abdominal irradiation was more efficient in inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition than whole-body or cranial irradiation when the fractionated irradiation method was adopted. In addition, the intraperitoneal administration of celecoxib suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition in the non-targeted lung tissues. In conclusion, our findings suggest that epithelial-mesenchymal transition is induced in non-targeted lung tissues, but can be suppressed by inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 by celecoxib.

Is surgical Apgar score an effective assessment tool for the prediction of postoperative complications in patients undergoing oesophagectomy?

A best evidence topic in thoracic surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether the surgical Apgar score (SAS) was an effective assessment tool for the prediction of postoperative complications in patients undergoing oesophagectomy. In total, 7 papers were identified using the reported search, of which 6 cohort studies represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. Five of 6 cohort studies demonstrated that a low SAS was significantly associated with more postoperative complications in patients undergoing oesophagectomy. The rates of major individual complications in patients with a lower SAS were commonly higher than those in patients with a higher SAS. Two cohort studies further reported that a low SAS was significantly associated with the prolonged length of stay. The cut-off value of the SAS that had the discriminative power for patients who were considered at high morbidity risk, however, was not defined but was more likely to be 6 or less. Current available evidence suggests that the SAS system may serve as an effective assessment tool for the prediction of morbidity risk after oesophagectomy.

Heavy metal bioaccumulation and health hazard assessment for three fish species from Nansi Lake, China.

Metal accumulation in fish is a global public health concern, because the consumption of contaminated fish accounts for the primary exposure of humans to toxic metals. In this study, the concentrations of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), and mercury (Hg) in Crucian carp (Carassius auratus),Yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco), and Bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) from Nansi Lake of China were evaluated, and compared with the corresponding historical values in 2001 when the government started to govern water environment effectively. Bioaccumulation of heavy metal was highest in P.fulvidraco, followed by C.auratus and H.nobilis. The concentrations of Pb, As, Cd were much lower than the historical values, but Hg concentration was higher, suggesting that heavy metal pollution problem in fish from Nansi Lake still exists. Health hazard assessment showed no health risk from exposure to Pb, As, Cd, and Hg by consuming fish from this lake.

A novel alternate feeding mode for semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of food waste with chicken manure.

A novel alternate feeding mode was introduced to study the possibilities of improving methane yield from anaerobic co-digestion of food waste (FW) with chicken manure (CM). Two kinds of feeding sequence (a day FW and next day CM (FM/CM), two days FM and the third day CM (FW/FM/CM)) were investigated in semi-continuous anaerobic digestion and lasted 225 days, and the mono-digestions of FW and CM were used as control group, respectively. The feeding sequence of FW/CM and mono-digestion of CM were observed to fail to produce gas at hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 70 days due to the ammonia inhibition, however, the mode of FW/FM/CM was proved to successfully run at HRT of 35 days with a higher OLR of 2.50 kg L(-1)d(-1) and obtain a higher methane production rate of 507.58 ml g(-1) VS and volumetric biogas production rate of 2.1 L L(-1)d(-1).