Synergistic analysis of performance, functional genes, and microbial community assembly in SNDPR process under Zn(II) stress.

One of the most prevalent heavy metals found in rural sewage is Zn(II), while its effect on simultaneous nitrification, denitrification and phosphorus removal (SNDPR) remains unclear. In this work, the responses of SNDPR performance to long-term Zn(II) stress were investigated in a cross-flow honeycomb bionic carrier biofilm system. The results indicated that Zn(II) stress at 1 and 5 mg L-1 could increase nitrogen removal. Maximum ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, and phosphorus removal efficiencies of up to 88.54%, 83.19%, and 83.65% were obtained at Zn(II) concentration of 5 mg L-1. The functional genes, such as archaeal amoA, bacterial amoA, NarG, NirS, NapA, and NirK, also reached the highest value at 5 mg L-1 Zn(II), with the absolute abundances of 7.73 × 105, 1.57 × 106, 6.68 × 108, 1.05 × 109, 1.79 × 108, and 2.09 × 108 copies·g-1 dry weight, respectively. The neutral community model demonstrated that deterministic selection was responsible for the system's microbial community assembly. Additionally, response regimes with extracellular polymeric substances and cooperation among microorganisms facilitated the stability of the reactor effluent. Overall, the findings of this paper contribute to improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

[Effect of acupuncture on pattern visual evoked potential of cerebral visual impairment in children aged 3-10 years].

OBJECTIVE: To observe clinical effect of acupuncture combined with conventional visual stimulation on cerebral visual impairment (CVI) in children aged 3-10 years and influence on the pattern visual evoked potential (P-VEP). METHODS: A total of 60 cases of children aged 3-10 years with CVI were randomly divided into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. The children in the control group received conventional visual stimulation therapy, 1 month as a course of treatment. On the basis of the control group, the children in the observation group was treated with acupuncture at Baihui (GV 20), Jingming (BL 1), Taiyang (EX-HN 5), Sibai (ST 2), etc. 3 times a week, and the treatment was given 4 weeks continuously as a course. Both groups received 3 courses of treatment. The visual acuity and P-VEP improvement were compared between the two groups before and after treatment. RESULTS: After treatment, the incubation period (P100-L) of the two groups was shorter than before treatment, and the amplitude (P100-A) was higher than before treatment (P<0.05); and the degree of above changes in the observation group was lager than the control group (P<0.05). The percentage of best corrected visual acuity of 0.6-0.8 in the observation group after treatment and follow-up 1 year after treatment was higher than before treatment (P<0.05), and was higher than the control group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture combined with conventional visual stimulation can improve the incubation period (P100-L) and amplitude (P100-A) of P-VEP in children with CVI, and improve the best corrected visual acuity in children, the clinical effect is better than the conventional visual stimulation alone.