Tunable and fast-cured hyaluronic acid hydrogel inspired on catechol architecture for enhanced adhesion property.

Hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels have been broadly used in medical applications due to their remarkable properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, super hydroscopicity, non-immunogenic effect, etc. However, the inherent weak and hydrophilic polysaccharide structure of pure hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels has limited their potential use in muco-adhesiveness, wound dressing, and 3D printing. In this research, we developed in-situ forming of catechol-modified HA hydrogels with improved mechanical properties involving blue-light curing crosslinking reaction. The effect of catechol structure on the physicochemical properties of HA hydrogels was evaluated by varying the content (0-40 %). The as-synthesized hydrogel demonstrated rapid prototyping, excellent wetting adhesiveness, and good biocompatibility. Furthermore, an optimized hydrogel precursor solution was used as a blue light-cured bio-ink with high efficiency and good precision and successfully prototyped a microstructure that mimicked the human hepatic lobule by using DLP 3D printing method. This catechol-modified HA hydrogel with tunable physicochemical and rapid prototyping properties has excellent potential in biomedical engineering.

Effects and mechanisms of bisphenols exposure on neurodegenerative diseases risk: A systemic review.

Environmental bisphenols (BPs) pose a global threat to human health because of their extensive use as additives in plastic products. BP residues are increasing in various environmental media (i.e., water, soil, and indoor dust) and biological and human samples (i.e., serum and brain). Both epidemiological and animal studies have determined an association between exposure to BPs and an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), including cognitive abnormalities and behavioral disturbances. Hence, understanding the biological responses to different BPs is essential for prevention, and treatment. This study provides an overview of the underlying pathogenic molecular mechanisms as a valuable basis for understanding neurodegenerative disease responses to BPs, including accumulation of misfolded proteins, reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine, abnormal hormone signaling, neuronal death, oxidative stress, calcium homeostasis, and inflammation. These findings provide new insights into the neurotoxic potential of BPs and ultimately contribute to a comprehensive health risk evaluation.

Comprehensive bioinformatics analysis revealed potential key genes and pathways underlying abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a permanent, asymptomatic segmental dilatation of the abdominal aorta, with a high mortality risk upon rupture. Identification of potential key genes and pathways may help to develop curative drugs for AAA. We conducted RNA-seq on abdominal aortic tissues from both AAA patients and normal individuals as a control group. Integrated bioinformatic analysis was subsequently performed to comprehensively reveal potential key genes and pathways. A total of 1148 differential expressed genes (DEGs) (631 up-regulated and 517 down-regulated) were identified in our study. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed enrichment in terms related to extracellular matrix organization, while KEGG analysis indicated enrichment in hematopoietic cell lineage and ECM-receptor interaction. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis revealed several candidate key genes, and differential expression of 6 key genes (CXCL8, CCL2, PTGS2, SELL, CCR7, and CXCL1) was validated by Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis demonstrated these genes' high discriminatory ability between AAA and normal tissues. Immunohistochemistry indicated that several key genes were highly expressed in AAA tissues. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed differential distribution patterns of these identified key genes among various cell types. 26 potential drugs linked to our key genes were found through DGIdb. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive evaluation of potential key genes and pathways in AAA, which could pave the way for the development of curative pharmacological therapies.

Unsharp Mask Guided Filtering.

The goal of this paper is guided image filtering, which emphasizes the importance of structure transfer during filtering by means of an additional guidance image. Where classical guided filters transfer structures using hand-designed functions, recent guided filters have been considerably advanced through parametric learning of deep networks. The state-of-the-art leverages deep networks to estimate the two core coefficients of the guided filter. In this work, we posit that simultaneously estimating both coefficients is suboptimal, resulting in halo artifacts and structure inconsistencies. Inspired by unsharp masking, a classical technique for edge enhancement that requires only a single coefficient, we propose a new and simplified formulation of the guided filter. Our formulation enjoys a filtering prior from a low-pass filter and enables explicit structure transfer by estimating a single coefficient. Based on our proposed formulation, we introduce a successive guided filtering network, which provides multiple filtering results from a single network, allowing for a trade-off between accuracy and efficiency. Extensive ablations, comparisons and analysis show the effectiveness and efficiency of our formulation and network, resulting in state-of-the-art results across filtering tasks like upsampling, denoising, and cross-modality filtering. Code is available at https://github.com/shizenglin/Unsharp-Mask-Guided-Filtering.

Utility Evaluation of Porcine Enteroids as PDCoV Infection Model in vitro.

Porcine deltacoronavirus (PDCoV) is a novel emerging enteric coronavirus found in pigs. Intestinal enteroids, which partially recreate the structure and function of intestinal villi-crypts, have many physiological similarities to the intestinal tissues in vivo. Enteroids exhibit advantages in studying the interactions between intestines and enteric pathogens. To create a novel infection model for PDCoV, we developed an in vitro system to generate porcine intestinal enteroids from crypts of duodenum, jejunum, and ileum of pigs. Enterocytes, enteroendocrine cells, Paneth cells, stem cells, proliferating cells, and goblet cells were found in the differentiated enteroids. Replication of PDCoV was detected in the cultured enteroids by immunofluorescence and quantitative RT-PCR. Double immunofluorescence labeling demonstrated that PDCoV was present in Sox9-positive intestinal cells and Villin1-positive enterocytes. There were multiple cellular responses shown as changes of transcription of genes related to mucosal immunity, antiviral genes, and marker genes of stem cells and other cells in the enteroids infected with PDCoV. We conclude that the 2-D enteroids derived from porcine jejunum can be used as an in vitro multicellular model for the investigation of pathogenesis and host immune responses to porcine enteric pathogens, such as PDCoV.

Prevalence of porcine circovirus type 3 in pigs in the southeastern Chinese province of Zhejiang.

BACKGROUND: Porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3) was first reported in US in 2016. The virus was also identified later in China. Prevalence of PCV3 in Zhejiang province in southeastern China is not clear though it has been reported in many parts of China. RESULTS: PCV3 infection and its co-infection with other swine viral pathogens in pig herds of Zhejiang province were retrospectively investigated by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and its sero-prevalence by indirect ELISA. PCV3 was found positive in 67.1% of the 283 clinical samples taken from 2014 to 2017 as shown by qPCR. Single infection with PCV3 accounted for only one-third of the samples, and majority were of co-infections, predominantly with PEDV (41.6%) but generally low with other swine viruses. Indirect ELISA using the PCV3 capsid protein as the coating antigen revealed an average sero-positive rate of 52.6% (40.8 to 60.8%) in 2345 serum samples from 2011 to 2017, with earliest yet high positive findings in samples taken in 2012. Of 203 serum samples, the qPCR method showed more positive findings than ELISA (81.3% vs 56.2%). With 89 serum samples negative by ELISA, vast majority (n = 81) were found positive by qPCR. There was negative correlation in levels of PCV3 DNA and anti-capsid antibody response. ORF2-based phylogenetic analysis revealed three major groups (PCV3a, PCV3b and PCV3c) of the 200 strains, 38 from this study and 162 reference strains from GenBank. Most of the strains from this study were clustered into PCV3c. Of the putative signature residues of the capsid protein (aa 24, 27, 77 and 150) relative to the three groups, only the PCV3a group strains showed a distinct pattern of residues VKSI (95% of the strains), while the other two groups did not have such a 'signature' pattern. CONCLUSIONS: Results from this study provided further evidence that the novel virus PCV3 was widely distributed in China and might have emerged in Zhejiang province before 2014, most probably back in 2012 when there was high PCV3 sero-prevalence. PCV3 might be viremic in pigs and could spread by fecal shedding.

A Rapid Fenton treatment of bio-treated dyeing and finishing wastewater at second-scale intervals: kinetics by stopped-flow technique and application in a full-scale plant.

A rapid Fenton treatment at second-scale intervals was investigated for further removal of organic compounds in the effluent of bio-treated dyeing and finishing wastewater (BDFW). The decolorization kinetics was studied using a stopped-flow spectrophotometer (SFS) at second-scale intervals. A combined first-order model was found to fit well for the decrease of both methylene blue and rhodamine B in SFS as well as SCOD (soluble chemical oxygen demand) and DOC (dissolved organic carbon) in real BDFW in batch test during Fenton oxidation. A full-scale plant with treatment capacity of 400,000 m3·d-1 was designed and has been run continuously based on the results of the stopped-flow study to treat the effluent of BDFW using Fenton oxidation in 16 pipeline reactors, each with a volume of 6.9 m3 and 24 s of reaction time since 2014. The COD, SCOD and DOC decreased from 140, 110 and 35 mg·L-1 to 77, 71 and 26 mg·L-1 respectively, which can meet the latest strict discharge limitations. The natural fluorescent substances detected in the BDFW were completely removed. The main organic pollutants in the BDFW can be significantly reduced using both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The rapid Fenton reaction applied in pipeline reactors at second intervals has several advantages over the conventional Fenton's process such as much shorter reaction time at second scale intervals, no need to build extra pH adjustment or reaction tanks, simple operation, low capital cost, etc.

Development and application of an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using recombinant S1 for serological testing of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes severe infectious diseases in all ages of swine and leads to serious economic losses. Serologic tests are widely accepted and used to detect anti-PEDV antibodies that could indicate PEDV infection or vaccination. In this study, PEDV recombinant S1 protein (rS1) was expressed with the Bac-to-Bac system and purified by nickel-affinity chromatography. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on rS1 (rS1-ELISA) was then developed and optimized by checkerboard assays with serial dilutions of antigen and serum. Serum samples from 453 domestic pigs and 42 vaccinated pigs were analyzed by the indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test and rS1-ELISA. Taking IFA as a gold standard, rS1-ELISA produced a high sensitivity (90.7%) and specificity (94.6%) by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. In addition, ROC analysis also revealed that rS1-ELISA was consistent with IFA (area under the curve 0.9583 ± 0.0082). This rS1-ELISA was then applied to antibody detection in inactivated PEDV vaccinated pigs. The antibody could be detected 2-4 weeks after the first inoculation. These results indicated that the rS1-ELISA established in this study provides a promising and reliable tool for serologic detection of anti-PEDV IgG antibodies in infected or vaccinated pigs.

Effect of route of inoculation on innate and adaptive immune responses to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus infection in suckling pigs.

The effects of route of administration on systemic and gut mucosal immune responses induced by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection in suckling pigs were investigated. Twenty-four conventional 5-day-old suckling piglets were randomly divided into four groups and were inoculated orally, intranasally (I.N.), intramuscularly (I.M.) with PEDV or DMEM (mock). Pigs were monitored daily for clinical signs and fecal viral load. Blood samples were collected at 7, 14, 21 days post infection (dpi) and subjected for the analyses of serum antibody production, T cell and natural killer (NK) cell frequencies, NK cytotoxicity and serum cytokine levels. Oral inoculation led to higher levels of PEDV-specific IgA antibodies in both serum and gut mucosal sites than did other routes of inoculation. Intranasal inoculation elicited significantly higher titers of virus-specific IgG antibodies in serum. PEDV-infected pigs regardless of inoculation routes had significantly lower NK cell frequencies than those of the control pigs at 14 dpi. The orally inoculated pigs had significantly higher CD3+CD8+ T cell frequencies as compared to I.N. or I.M. inoculated pigs at 14 dpi, while there was no significant difference among orally, I.N. or I.M. inoculated pigs and control pigs in CD3+CD4+ T cell frequencies in peripheral blood. PEDV-infected and control pigs had low, but detectable NK cell activities at 14 and 21 dpi, however, NK cell activities were barely detectable at 7 dpi whether the pigs were infected or not. Serum IL-10 levels were induced drastically in orally infected pigs at 7 dpi and then gradually declined. Serum IL-12 levels followed a similar pattern while the fold-change was much lower. In conclusion, oral inoculation may generate more comprehensive immune responses.

Pilot-scale study on catalytic ozonation of bio-treated dyeing and finishing wastewater using recycled waste iron shavings as a catalyst.

A pilot scale reactor with an effective volume of 2.93 m3 was built in-situ and run in both batch and continuous modes to investigate the removal for organic pollutants in bio-treated dyeing and finishing wastewater by heterogeneous catalytic ozonation under neutral pH with waste iron shavings as a catalyst. Experimental results showed that both running modes were able to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from 132-148 mg/L to a level below the discharge criteria (<80 mg/L) within 15-30 mins under several conditions. Specifically, significantly organic removal was observed with COD, soluble COD (sCOD) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) decreased from the initial 165, 93 and 76 mg/L to 54, 28 and 16 mg/L respectively, when treated by 10.2 g-O3/min of ozone dosage at a hydraulic retention time of 30 mins under continuous mode. 80% proteins and 85% polysaccharides were removed with a decrease in their contribution to sCOD from 69% to 43%. Mineralization as well as conversion of high molecular organic compounds was observed through Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) & Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (LC-MS) analysis, which led to a decrease of inhibitory effect from 29% to 25%, suggesting a reduction in the acute toxicity.

Fenton treatment of bio-treated fermentation-based pharmaceutical wastewater: removal and conversion of organic pollutants as well as estimation of operational costs.

The Fenton process is used as a tertiary treatment to remove organic pollutants from the effluent of bio-treated pharmaceutical wastewater (EBPW). The optimal and most appropriate Fenton conditions were determined by an orthogonal array test and single-factor experiments. The removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) was influenced by the following factors in a descending order: H2O2/Fe(II) molar ratio > H2O2 dosage > reaction time. Under the most appropriate Fenton conditions (H2O2/Fe(II) molar ratio of 1:1, H2O2 dosage of 120 mg L-1 and reaction time of 10 min), the COD and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were removed with efficiencies of 62 and 53%, respectively, which met the national discharge standard (GB 21903-2008) for the Lake Tai Basin, China. However, the Fenton treatment was inadequate for removal of N compounds, and the removal of organic nitrogen led to an increment in N-NH3 from 3.28 to 19.71 mg L-1. Proteins and polysaccharides were completely removed, and humic acids (HAs) were partly removed with an efficiency of 55%. Three-dimensional excitation/emission matrix spectra (3DEEMs) indicated complete removal of fulvic acid-like substances and 90% reduction in the florescence intensity of humic acid-like substances. Organic pollutants with molecular weights (MW) > 10 kDa were completely removed, MW 5-10 kDa were degraded into smaller MW ones, and some low molecular weight acids (MW 0.1-1 kDa) were mineralized during the Fenton process. Some species, including pharmaceutical intermediates and solvents were detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The operational costs of the Fenton's treatment were estimated to be 0.58 yuan RMB/m3 EBPW based on reagent usage and iron sludge treatment and disposal.

Microbial nitrate removal by waste iron shavings from the biological and catalytic ozonation treated dyeing and finishing wastewater.

The concentration of total nitrogen (TN) (between 40 and 60 mg/L, mainly nitrate) in the biological and catalytic ozonation treated dyeing and finishing wastewater needs to be reduced before discharge. The present study investigated the feasibility of using waste iron shavings as electron donor for nitrogen removal by biological denitrification. Two anoxic sequencing batch reactors (AnSBR) were continuously operated for more than 100 days. The results showed that the TN removal efficiency increased from 12% in the control reactor (AnSBR-C) to 20% in the reactor with waste iron shavings (AnSBR-Fe). The TN removal was mainly achieved by the reduction of nitrate by heterotrophic denitrification and autotrophic denitrification for AnSBR-Fe. The residual COD (38.4 mg/L) in the effluent of AnSBR-Fe was higher than that (22 mg/L) in the effluent of AnSBR-C, which could be due to that the bacteria preferred to use iron instead of the recalcitrant organics that present in the wastewater. Furthermore, 3DEEM, UHPLC-QTOF and GC-MS analysis were used to characterize the organics in the wastewater, and the results showed that the addition of waste iron shavings affected the degradation of organics during the biological denitrification process.

Catalytic ozonation of organic pollutants from bio-treated dyeing and finishing wastewater using recycled waste iron shavings as a catalyst: Removal and pathways.

Catalytic ozonation of organic pollutants from actual bio-treated dyeing and finishing wastewater (BDFW) with iron shavings was investigated. Catalytic ozonation effectively removed organic pollutants at initial pH values of 7.18-7.52, and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) level decreased from 142 to 70 mg·L(-1) with a discharge limitation of 80 mg·L(-1). A total of 100% and 42% of the proteins and polysaccharides, respectively, were removed with a decrease in their contribution to the soluble COD from 76% to 41%. Among the 218 organic species detected by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, 58, 77, 79 and 4 species were completely removed, partially removed, increased and newly generated, respectively. Species including textile auxiliaries and dye intermediates were detected by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The inhibitory effect decreased from 51% to 33%, suggesting a reduction in the acute toxicity. The enhanced effect was due to hydroxyl radical (OH) oxidation, co-precipitation and oxidation by other oxidants. The proteins were removed by OH oxidation (6%), by direct ozonation, co-precipitation and oxidation by other oxidants (94%). The corresponding values for polysaccharides were 21% and 21%, respectively. In addition, the iron shavings behaved well in successive runs. These results indicated that the process was favorable for engineering applications for removal of organic pollutants from BDFW.