[Water Quality Change Trend and Risk Analysis of Wuhan Hanjiang River Water Source].

Hanjiang River is closely related to the middle route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Water Diversion Project from the Hanjiang River to the Wei River, and the Water Diversion Project in Northern Hubei. The Wuhan Hanjiang River water source is one of the important drinking water sources in China; its water quality safety is significant to living and production for millions of residents in Wuhan. Based on data from 2004 to 2021, the water quality variation trend and risk of Wuhan Hanjiang River water source were studied. The results showed that a certain gap existed between the concentrations of some pollutants such as total phosphorus, permanganate index, ammonia nitrogen, and correspondent water quality target, especially for the total phosphorus. The growth of algae in the water source was marginally limited by the concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, and silicon. When other factors remained unchanged, diatoms tended to grow rapidly when the water temperature was appropriate (6-12℃). The quality of water upstream had a great impact on the water quality of the Hanjiang water source. There may have been pollutants entering into the reach during the West Lake Water Plant and Zongguan Water Plant. There were differences in the temporal and spatial variation trend of concentrations between permanganate index, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and ammonia nitrogen. Significant changes in the ratio of nitrogen and phosphorus in the water body will affect the population structure and quantity of planktonic algae and ultimately affect the safety of water quality. The water body in the water source area was generally in the state of medium nutrition to mild eutrophication, and middle eutrophication may have occurred in a few periods. In recent years, the nutritional level of the water source has been on the decline. It is necessary to make an in-depth investigation on the source, quantity, and change trend of pollutants in water sources in order to eliminate potential risks.

Inhibition of GABAAR or Application of Lactobacillus casei Zhang Alleviates Ulcerative Colitis in Mice: GABAAR as a Potential Target for Intestinal Epithelial Renewal and Repair.

Emerging evidence indicates that the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABAAR) and Lactobacillus casei Zhang regulate colitis in a variety of ways, such as by participating in host immune and inflammatory responses, altering the gut microbiota, and influencing intestinal barrier function. However, not much is known about the mechanisms by which GABAAR and L. casei affect colon epithelial cell renewal and the interaction between GABAAR and L. casei during this process. To elucidate this, we established a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced model and measured the mouse body weights, colon length, the disease activity index (DAI), and histological scores. Our results indicated that inhibition of GABAAR alleviated the DSS-induced colitis symptoms, resulting in less weight loss and more intact colon tissue. Moreover, treatment with bicuculline (Bic, a GABAAR inhibitor) increased the levels of PCNA, ß-catenin, and TCF4 in mice with colitis. Interestingly, open field test performances showed that inhibition of GABAAR also attenuated colitis-related anxiety-like behavior. By 16S RNA gene sequencing analysis, we showed that inhibition of GABAAR partially reversed the gut dysbacteriosis of DSS-induced mice and increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria. Additionally, L. casei Zhang supplementation inhibited the expression of GABAAR in mice with colitis, promoted the proliferation and renewal of colon epithelial cells, and alleviated anxiety-like behavior and intestinal microflora disorder in mice. Thus, GABAAR plays a key role in the beneficial effects of L. casei on DSS-induced colitis in mice.

Acetylshikonin induces autophagy-dependent apoptosis through the key LKB1-AMPK and PI3K/Akt-regulated mTOR signalling pathways in HL-60 cells.

Acetylshikonin (ASK) is a natural naphthoquinone derivative of traditional Chinese medicine Lithospermum erythrorhyzon. It has been reported that ASK has bactericidal, anti-inflammatory and antitumour effects. However, whether ASK induces apoptosis and autophagy in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) cells and the underlying mechanism are still unclear. Here, we explored the roles of apoptosis and autophagy in ASK-induced cell death and the potential molecular mechanisms in human AML HL-60 cells. The results demonstrated that ASK remarkably inhibited the cell proliferation, viability and induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells through the mitochondrial pathway, and ASK promoted cell cycle arrest in the S-phase. In addition, the increased formation of autophagosomes, the turnover from light chain 3B (LC3B) I to LC3B II and decrease of P62 suggested the induction of autophagy by ASK. Furthermore, ASK significantly decreased PI3K, phospho-Akt and p-p70S6K expression, while enhanced phospho-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and phospho-liver kinase B1(LKB1) expression. The suppression of ASK-induced the conversion from LC3B I to LC3B II caused by the application of inhibitors of AMPK (compound C) demonstrated that ASK-induced autophagy depends on the LKB1/AMPK pathway. These data suggested that the autophagy induced by ASK were dependent on the activation of LKB1/AMPK signalling and suppression of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathways. The cleavage of the apoptosis-related markers caspase-3 and caspase-9 and the activity of caspase-3 induced by ASK were markedly reduced by inhibitor of AMPK (compound C), an autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) and another autophagy inhibitor chloroquine (CQ). Taken together, our data reveal that ASK-induced HL-60 cell apoptosis is dependent on the activation of autophagy via the LKB1/AMPK and PI3K/Akt-regulated mTOR signalling pathways.

Local Hyperthermia Versus Cryotherapy for Treatment of Plantar Warts: A Prospective Multi-centre Non-randomized Concurrent Controlled Clinical Trial.

Cryotherapy is one of the most common treatments for warts; however, pain during treatment and relatively high recurrence rates limit its use. Local hyperthermia has also been used successfully in the treatment of plantar warts. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical effectiveness of local hyperthermia vs cryotherapy for the treatment of plantar warts. This multi- centre, open, 2-arm, non-randomized concurrent controlled trial included 1,027 patients, who received either cryotherapy or local hyperthermia treatment. Three months after treatment, local hyperthermia and cryotherapy achieved complete clearance rates of 50.9% and 54.3%, respectively. Recurrence rates were 0.8% and 12%, respectively. Pain scores during local hyperthermia were significantly lower than for cryotherapy. Both local hyperthermia and cryotherapy demonstrated similar efficacy for clearance of plantar warts; while local hyperthermia had a lower recurrence rate and lower pain sensation during treatment.

Interaction between ß-lactam antibiotic and phosphorus-accumulating organisms.

ß-Lactam antibiotics have been widely used in clinic due to strong antibacterial activity with mild adverse side effects and have been detected in the environment. In the enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process, phosphorus-accumulating organisms (PAOs) play a major role. In this study, amoxicillin, aztreonam, and cefoperazone are the selected antibiotics that applied in investigating the interaction mechanism of ß-lactam antibiotics and PAO. The effects of ß-lactam antibiotics on PAOs were analyzed comprehensively from the aspects of antibiotic impacts on phosphorus removal rate, intracellular polymer, their toxicity to PAOs, and PAO impacts on the fate of ß-lactam antibiotics. It was found that the phosphorus removal rate of PAO increased by 19.21% and 15.75%, respectively at 10 mg/L amoxicillin and aztreonam, while cefoperazone had certain inhibition effect on phosphorus removal efficiency. Quantitative analysis shows that in the aerobic stage, three kinds of ß-lactam antibiotics could promote the synthesis of polyphosphates (poly-P). The degradation rates of three antibiotics were as follows: amoxicillin > aztreonam > cefoperazone. The fate characteristics of antibiotics provide a theoretical basis for environmental risk assessment. The toxic effects of three antibiotics were as follows: cefoperazone > aztreonam > amoxicillin according to the bacteriostatic test. It provided a scientific theoretical basis for systematically evaluating the biological toxicity of antibiotic pollutants.

Siderophore Production by Rhizosphere Biological Control Bacteria Brevibacillus brevis GZDF3 of Pinellia ternata and Its Antifungal Effects on Candida albicans.

Brevibacillus brevis GZDF3 is a gram-positive, plant growth-promoting rhizosphere bacterium (PGPR) isolated from the rhizosphere soil of Pinellia ternata (an important herb in traditional Chinese medicine). The GZDF3 strain produces certain active compounds, such as siderophores, which are the final metabolite products of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) and independent non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NIS) activity. With the present study, we attempted to investigate the siderophore production characteristics and conditions of Bacillus sp. GZDF3. The antibacterial activity of the siderophores on pathogenic fungi was also investigated. Optimal conditions for the synthesis of siderophores were determined by single factor method, using sucrose 15 g/l, asparagine 2 g/l, 32°C, and 48 h. The optimized sucrose asparagine medium significantly increased the production of siderophores, from 27.09% to 54.99%. Moreover, the effects of different kinds of metal ions on siderophore production were explored here. We found that Fe3+ and Cu2+ significantly inhibited the synthesis of siderophores. The preliminary separation and purification of siderophores by immobilized-metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) provides strong antibacterial activity against Candida albicans. The synergistic effect of siderophores and amphotericin B was also demonstrated. Our results have shown that the GZDF3 strain could produce a large amount of siderophores with strong antagonistic activity, which is helpful in the development of new biological control agents.

Reduced graphene oxide gated mesoporous silica nanoparticles as a versatile chemo-photothermal therapy system through pH controllable release.

Synergistic therapy has become a potential treatment in the battle against disease. In this work, we developed a novel versatile folate targeted system for cancer cells with the combination of chemotherapy and phototherapy by using mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) as a drug loading carrier, in which reduced graphene oxide (rGO) gated the MSNs by pH responsive detachment. That is, rGO herein acts not only for gating control of the drug release but also for near-infrared photothermal therapy. With this drug loading system, high photothermal conversion efficiency and excellent doxorubicin (DOX) loading capacity have been achieved, making the DOX loaded MSN@rGO-FA (DOX@MSN@rGO-FA) nanocomposites able to kill 68% of HEp-2 cells in synergistic therapy, as compared with 54% in photothermal therapy and 33% in chemotherapy, respectively, illustrating that a synergistic therapy strategy using this newly developed versatile drug loading system is much more efficient as evaluated in vitro.

Kibdelomycin is a potent and selective agent against toxigenic Clostridium difficile.

Clostridium difficile is the causative agent of C. difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD), with increased risk in elderly populations. Kibdelomycin, a novel natural-product inhibitor of type II topoisomerase enzymes, was evaluated for activity against C. difficile and gastrointestinal anaerobic organisms. Toxigenic C. difficile isolates (n=168) from U.S. hospitals and anaerobic Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms (n=598) from Chicago-area hospitals were tested. Kibdelomycin showed potent activity against toxigenic C. difficile (MIC90=0.25 µg/ml) and most Gram-positive aerobic organisms but had little activity against Bacteroides species (MIC50>32 µg/ml; n=270). Potent anti-C. difficile activity was also observed in the hamster model of C. difficile colitis. Dosing at 1.6 mg/kg (twice-daily oral dose) resulted in protection from a lethal infection and a 2-log reduction in C. difficile cecal counts. A 6.25-mg/kg twice-daily oral dose completely eliminated detectable C. difficile counts in cecal contents. A single 6.25-mg/kg oral dose showed that cecal contents were exposed to the drug at >2 µM (eightfold higher than the MIC), with no significant plasma exposure. These findings support further exploration of kibdelomycin for development of an anti-C. difficile agent.

Synergistic adsorption of As(V) from aqueous solution onto mesoporous silica decorated orderly with Al2O3 and Fe2O3 nanoparticles.

An improved incipient wetness process was developed to decorate mesoporous silica, in which Al was preloaded onto mesoporous SBA15 followed by decoration of Fe2O3 nanoparticles. This decoration process exploited the homogeneous dispersivity of Al in silica framework and overcome the problem of aggregation of Fe2O3 nanoparticles, which in turn resulted in a synergistic adsorption of As(V) much higher than that of either metal oxide alone. It was found that the prepared adsorbent had mesoporous structure, large specific surface area, and high pore volume according to TEM, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, and XRD analysis. Adsorption kinetics was elucidated by pseudo-second-order kinetic equation and abided by a three-stage intraparticle diffusion mode. Langmuir and Freundlich models were applied to fit the adsorption isotherm. It was proved that Fe@Al-SBA15 is a more efficient and effective adsorbent for As(V) than single metal oxide impregnated mesoporous materials, yet it maintains a desirable life cycle.

Study on molecular structural characteristics of tea polysaccharide.

Tea polysaccharide (TPS) is attracting more attention gradually due to its particular biological properties. However, molecular characteristics of TPS are unclear since appropriate method is still absent. So, study on the molecular characteristics of TPS was carried out by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), multi-angle laser light scattering (MALLS) and viscosimetry. The results showed that the molar masses of TPS ranged from 2.287 x 10(5) to 2.762 x 10(5)gmol(-1), the RMS radii distributed from 132.1 to 145.9 nm, and M(w)/M(n) is 1.028. The Mark-Houwink equation was established as [eta]=0.5423 M(w)(0.5379), and the intrinsic viscosity and molecular chain parameters were as follows: [eta]=1.007 dL g(-1), k(H)=0.845, k(K)=0.387, alpha=0.5379, K=0.5423. In addition, based on the slope of the RMS radius versus molar mass conformational plot being 0.24+/-0.00, we suggest that the molecular morphology of TPS is a homogeneous and spherical polymer with branch in solution.