Temporal Trends of Legacy and Emerging PFASs from 2011 to 2021 in Agricultural Soils of Eastern China: Impacts of the Stockholm Convention.

The spatial variation and temporal trends of legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) from 2011 to 2021 in agricultural soils of Eastern China, which is one of the largest PFAS production and consumption regions in the world, were evaluated. We found that PFOS concentration decreased by 28.2% during this period. Given that agricultural soils are sinks for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), our results suggest that the implementation of the Stockholm Convention and its indirect effects, combined with a voluntary phaseout, are effective for controlling PFOS pollution in agricultural soils in China. In addition, our results show that 19 out of 28 PFASs were detected in >40% of the samples, with concentrations being 17.6-1950 pg/g with a median of 373 pg/g. Further, legacy PFASs were major components, accounting for 63.8% of total PFASs. Based on the source appointment of PFASs via the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model, the contribution ratio of consumer product industries has steadily increased from 6.10 to 26.2%, while both legacy and novel fluoropolymer industries have declined from 24.2 to 1.50 and 19.1 to 5.40%, further confirming the effectiveness of the Convention.

Promotion of Bladder Cancer Cell Metastasis by 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole via Its Activation of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Transcription: Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Cell-Based Assays, and Machine Learning-Driven Prediction.

2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) is an industrial chemical widely used for rubber products, corrosion inhibitors, and polymer materials with multiple environmental and exposure pathways. A growing body of evidence suggests its potential bladder cancer (BC) risk as a public health concern; however, the molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. Herein, we demonstrate the activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) by MBT and reveal key events in carcinogenesis associated with BC. MBT alters conformational changes of AhR ligand binding domain (LBD) as revealed by 500 ns molecular dynamics simulations and activates AhR transcription with upregulation of AhR-target genes CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 to approximately 1.5-fold. MBT upregulates the expression of MMP1, the cancer cell metastasis biomarker, to 3.2-fold and promotes BC cell invasion through an AhR-mediated manner. MBT is further revealed to induce differentially expressed genes (DEGs) most enriched in cancer pathways by transcriptome profiling. The exposure of MBT at environmentally relevant concentrations induces BC risk via AhR signaling disruption, transcriptome aberration, and malignant cell metastasis. A machine learning-based model with an AUC value of 0.881 is constructed to successfully predict 31 MBT analogues. Overall, we provide molecular insight into the BC risk of MBT and develop an effective tool for rapid screening of AhR agonists.

Techniques to characterize dynamics in biomaterials microenvironments: XPCS and microrheology of alginate/PEO-PPO-PEO hydrogels.

Many recent studies have highlighted the timescale for stress relaxation of biomaterials on the microscale as an important factor in regulating a number of cell-material interactions, including cell spreading, proliferation, and differentiation. Relevant timescales on the order of 0.1-100 s have been suggested by several studies. While such timescales are accessible through conventional mechanical rheology, several biomaterials have heterogeneous structures, and stress relaxation mechanisms of the bulk material may not correspond to that experienced in the cellular microenvironment. Here we employ X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) to explore the temperature-dependent dynamics, relaxation time, and microrheology of multicomponent hydrogels comprising of commercial poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) triblock copolymer F127 and alginate. Previous studies on this system have shown thermoreversible behavior in the bulk oscillatory shear rheology. At physiological temperatures, bulk rheology of these samples shows behavior characteristic of a soft solid, with G' > G'' and no crossover between G' and G'' over the measurable frequency range, indicating a relaxation time >125 s. By contrast, XPCS-based microrheology shows viscoelastic behavior at low frequencies, and XPCS-derived correlation functions show relaxation times ranging from 10-45 s on smaller length scales. Thus, we are able to use XPCS to effectively probe the viscoelasticity and relaxation behavior within the material microenvironments.

PEG-L-CHOP treatment is safe and effective in adult extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma with a low rate of clinical hypersensitivity.

BACKGROUND: The combination of chemotherapy and L-asparaginase (L-ASP) treatment significantly increased survival rate in an adult patient with extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL). However, hypersensitivity reactions of L-ASP in some patients limited its application. Polyethylene glycol-conjugated asparaginase (PEG-ASP) has a lower immunogenicity and longer circulating half-life than unconjugated L-ASP, and has been reported to be effective and well-tolerated in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cyclophosphamide, hydroxydaunorubicin (doxorubicin), oncovin (vincristine), and prednisolone (CHOP) is the most common chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. In this report, we sought to study the efficacy and safety of PEG-L- CHOP in NKTCL in adult Chinese patients. METHODS: Our study is a prospective, multi-center, open-label clinical trial. Patients with newly diagnosed adult NKTCL and an ECOG performance status of 0 to 2 were eligible for enrollment. Treatment included six cycles of PEG-L-CHOP regimen. Radiotherapy was scheduled after 2-4 cycles of PEG-L-CHOP regimen, depending on the stage and primary anatomic site. RESULTS: We enrolled a total of 33 eligible patients. All 33 patients completed 170 cycles of chemotherapy combined with radical radiotherapy. The overall response rate was 96.9% (32/33) with 75.8% (25/33) achieving complete responses and 21.2% (7/33) achieving partial responses. The overall survival (OS) at 1, 2, 3-year were 100, 90.61 and 80.54%, respectively. The major adverse effects were bone marrow suppression, reduction of fibrinogen level, liver dysfunction, and digestive tract toxicities. No allergic reaction and no treatment-related mortality or severe complications were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: PEG-L-CHOP chemotherapy in combination radiotherapy is safe and durably effective treatment for adult extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma with fewer allergic reactions. This study was approved by the Peking University Beijing Cancer Hospital Ethics Review Committee (reference number: 2011101104). The clinical trial registration number ChiCTR1800016940 was registered on July 07, 2018 at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( http://www.chictr.org.cn/index.aspx ). The clinical trial was registered retrospectively.

Acid-Labile Degradation of Injectable Fiber Fragments to Release Bioreducible Micelles for Targeted Cancer Therapy.

Cancer chemotherapy is confronted with difficulties enhancing the tumor accumulation, improving the bioavailability, and relieving the adverse effect of chemotherapeutic agents. To address the challenges, this study proposes a feasible strategy to realize a sustained release of drug-loaded micelles from fiber fragments after intratumoral injection. Camptothecin (CPT) is grafted on hyaluronic acid (HA) via 3,3'-dithiodipropionic acid to obtain reduction-sensitive promicelle polymers (PMCPT), which are conjugated with poly(d,l-lactide) via 2-propionic-3-methylmaleic anhydride (CDM) to obtain acid-labile copolymers for the preparation of injectable fiber fragments. Fiber fragments show remarkable acid-sensitive degradation, and the released PMCPT are spontaneously self-assembled into micelles, followed by subsequent HA-mediated internalization into tumor cells and reduction-sensitive release of drugs in the cytosol. Compared to fresh micelles prepared by ultrasonication, the micelles released via the degradation of fiber fragments display similar behaviors, such as the size and morphology, glutathione-sensitive drug release, cellular uptake efficiency, and cytotoxicity. Taking advantage of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect of tetraphenylethene (TPE), the micelle release, cellular uptake, and tumor accumulation have been elucidated from the self-assembly induced fluorescence light-up in vitro and after intratumoral injection. Compared to the intratumoral injection of free micelles, sustained micelle release from fiber fragments resulted in significantly higher antitumor efficacy with respect to the inhibition of tumor growths, prolonging of animal survivals, and induction of cell apoptosis in tumor tissues. Thus, the micelle-releasing fiber fragments integrated with double targeting capabilities and double stimuli responsiveness have demonstrated a superior capacity to sustainably deliver chemotherapeutic agents directly within tumor cells.

Fe-N-Graphene Wrapped Al2O3/Pentlandite from Microalgae: High Fenton Catalytic Efficiency from Enhanced Fe3+ Reduction.

Efficient cycling of Fe3+/Fe2+ is a key step for the Fenton reaction. In this exploration, from microalgae, we have prepared a novel Fe-N-graphene wrapped Al2O3/pentlandite composite which showed high Fenton catalytic ability through accelerating of Fe3+ reduction. The catalyst exhibits high activity, good reusability along with stability, and wide adaptation for the organics degradation under neutral pH. High TON and H2O2 utilization efficiency have also reached by this catalyst. Characterization results disclose a unique structure that the layered Fe-N-graphene structure tightly covers on Al2O3/pentlandite particles. Mechanistic evidence suggests that the accelerated Fe3+/Fe2+ redox cycle originates from the enhanced electron transfer by the synergistic effect of Fe, Ni and Al in the catalyst, and it causes the low H2O2 consumption and high •OH generation rate. Moreover, organic radicals formed in the Fenton process also participate in the Fe3+ reduction, and this process may be accelerated by the N doped graphene through a quick electron transfer. These findings stimulate an approach with great potential to further extend the synthetic power and versatility of Fenton catalysis through N doped graphene in catalysts.

Safety and efficacy of bevacizumab combined with R-CHOP regimen in seven Chinese patients with untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

BACKGROUND: Rituximab plus CHOP (R-CHOP) significantly improved the outcome of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), a common sub-type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But 40% - 50% of DLBCL patients cannot be cured by this regimen. Some clinical trials showed that bevacizumab might be useful in the treatment of DLBCL. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of bevacizumab combined with the R-CHOP (A-R-CHOP) regimen in Chinese patients with previously untreated DLBCL. METHODS: Patients with previously untreated DLBCL received A-R-CHOP regimen therapy. All patients with complete response (CR)/ unconfirmed complete response(CRu) after 8 cycles of A-R-CHOP received the bevacizumab maintenance therapy once every 3 weeks. The remained bulky disease was treated with radiotherapy. RESULTS: Seven Chinese patients were treated. All of them had bulky diseases. One patient had progressive disease after 4 cycles of A-R-CHOP therapy. The rest six patients completed 8 cycles of A-R-CHOP treatment. All of these six patients reached CR/CRu (5 CR, 1 CRu). Bevacizumab maintenance therapy was given to 4 CR patients. All 7 patients experienced Grade 3/4 hematologic adverse events; additionally, one had Grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity and one had Grade 1 epistaxis. During bevacizumab maintenance therapy, one patient had Grade 1 gingival bleeding, another experienced Grade 1 proteinuria and then Grade 3 congestive heart failure 4 months after completion of maintenance therapy. At the end of July 2013, the patient who had progressive disease after 4 cycles of A-R-CHOP died of progressive disease, the other six remained CR response. CONCLUSIONS: The A-R-CHOP regimen is effective for untreated DLBCL, but may cause bevacizumab-specific toxicities, which should be monitored.

Fifty-year pollution history of microplastics and influencing factors in offshore sediments: A case study of Ningbo, China.

Sediment cores are optimal mediums for investigating the historical presence of offshore microplastics (MPs). In this study, two sediment cores were collected at varying water depths, i.e., XS2 (10 m) and XS3 (20 m), from the Xiangshan offshore (XSO) in Ningbo. We focused on the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of MPs within two sediment cores and explored the response differences of MPs abundance to natural factors and human activities. The results showed that the MPs abundance in sediments has gradually increased since the late 1960s, but with interannual fluctuations. MPs abundance in XS2 and XS3 were 1133-8700 and 633-11433 items/kg dry weight, respectively. The predominant polymers were PA, PU, PET and ACR, with fragmented particles being the most prevalent shape of MPs. The MPs abundance in XS2 and XS3 had a similar response to natural factors, mainly including (i) MPs abundance significantly correlated with the sediment load of the Qiantang River (p < 0.01), indicating that sediment load might be an important factor affecting the MPs abundance and that MPs transported by rivers had characteristics of near-source sedimentation; (ii) typhoons had the effect of weakening the MPs abundance; and (iii) geological activities might be potential contributing factors to variations in MPs' abundance in deep sediments. Correlation analyses demonstrated that MPs in XSO was the result of multiple sources, stemming from plastic production, sewage discharge, marine fisheries and shipping activities. Notably, XS3 exhibited higher sensitivity to human activities compared to XS2, owing to differences in sampling locations. This study underscores the significance of employing two sediment cores, rather than a single core, as it provides a more comprehensive insight into the overarching trends and disparities in the historical pollution of MPs. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the history of offshore MPs pollution, shedding new light on this critical environmental issue.

Soil erosion is a major drive for nano & micro-plastics to enter riverine systems from cultivated land.

Nano and micro-plastics (NMPs, particles diameter <5 mm), as emerging contaminants, have become a major concern in the aquatic environment because of their adverse consequences to aquatic life and potentially human health. Implementing mitigation strategies requires quantifying NMPs mass emissions and understanding their sources and transport pathways from land to riverine systems. Herein, to access NMPs mass input from agricultural soil to riverine system via water-driven soil erosion, we have collected soil samples from 120 cultivated land in nine drainage basins across China in 2021 and quantified the residues of six common types of plastic, including polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polycarbonate (PC), and polystyrene (PS). NMPs (Σ6plastics) were detected in all samples at concentrations between 3.6 and 816.6 µg/g dry weight (median, 63.3 µg/g) by thermal desorption/pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Then, based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model, we estimated that about 22,700 tonnes of NMPs may enter the Chinese riverine system in 2020 due to agricultural water-driven soil erosion, which occurs primarily from May to September. Our result suggested that over 90% of the riverine NMPs related to agricultural soil erosion in China are attributed to 36.5% of the country's total cultivated land, mainly distributed in the Yangtze River Basin, Southwest Basin, and Pearl River Basin. The migration of NMPs due to water-driven soil erosion cannot be ignored, and erosion management strategies may contribute to alleviating plastic pollution issues in aquatic systems.

Treatment of Sinus Graft Infection After Sinus Floor Elevation: A Series of Four Case Reports.

This report of cases aims to share our treatment experiences in 4 sinus graft infection cases after sinus floor elevation and simultaneous implant placement. The preoperative and postoperative intraoral and radiographic photographs were collected and used to assess the treatment outcomes. The sinus cavity status, bone augmentation results, and implant stability were used as measurements to determine the treatment effectiveness. Four patients received partial graft removal as their surgical treatment for sinus graft infection combined with antibiotic therapy, with or without immediate secondary grafting. After early intervention, antibiotic therapy, and partial debridement of the infected sinus grafts, radiographic and clinical outcomes indicate successful resolution of the graft infection and stable bone graft levels around the implants. The keys to the successful management of the sinus graft infection were: early detection of the infection; early intervention, including partial debridement of the infected graft particles; and antibiotic therapy.

Secular trends of dental caries and association with nutritional status: a retrospective analysis of 16,199 Chinese students from three successive national surveys from 2010 to 2019.

Introduction: The prevalence of dental caries (DC) among students in developing countries has increased at an alarming rate, and nutritional status has been shown to be associated with DC in children and adolescents with inconsistent conclusions. We aimed to understand the trends of DC prevalence in students aged 7, 9, 12, and 14 years and to explore the relationship between DC prevalence and nutritional status. Methods: We recruited 16,199 students aged 7, 9, 12, and 14 years in China by multi-stage, stratified, random sampling methods from 2010 to 2019. Permanent caries were measured using the Decay, Loss, and Filling (DMF) index and prevalence rate. Deciduous caries were measured using the decay, loss, and filling (dmf) index and prevalence rate. Nutritional status was assessed using body mass index (BMI) and hemoglobin levels. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between nutritional status and the DC prevalence in children and adolescents, incorporating information concerning family-related factors. Results: The results indicated that DC prevalence increased from 39.75% in 2010 to 53.21% in 2019 in Henan province, with deciduous teeth and permanent teeth being 45.96 and 27.18%, respectively, in 2019. The total caries rate decreased with age (p < 0.05), and the caries rate of girls was higher than that of boys in 2019 (55.75% vs. 50.67%) (p < 0.001). The prevalence of dental caries among primary and secondary school students in areas with medium economic aggregate was the highest, followed by cities with the best economic development level, and cities with low economic levels have a lower prevalence of dental caries. The dental caries prevalence was negatively correlated with body mass index. In the fully adjusted model, underweight children had a higher caries prevalence (OR = 1.10, 95%CI: 0.86-1.41). Children with anemia had a higher prevalence of dental caries (OR = 1.18, 95%CI: 0.98-1.42). Conclusion: The DC prevalence of students in Henan Province was high, with a tendency to increase. Females, young individuals, and those with a higher economic level showed a positive correlation with the prevalence of caries. In the process of economic development, particular attention should be paid to early childhood caries prevention. Nutritional status should be taken seriously among children and adolescents, and the oral health system should be improved to keep pace with economic development.

Enrichment of steroid hormones in water with porous and hydrophobic polymer-based SPE followed by HPLC-UV determination.

There have been great concerns about the persistence of steroid hormones in surface water. Since the concentrations of these compounds in water samples are usually at a trace level, the efficient enrichment of steroid hormones is vital for further analysis. In this work, a porous and hydrophobic polymer was synthesized and characterized. The composition of solvent used as porogen in the synthetic process was shown to have an effect on the morphology of the polymer, which was successfully used as an SPE sorbent for simultaneously enriching steroid hormones in surface water samples. The recoveries of the steroid hormones on the custom-made polymer ranged from 93.4 to 106.2%, whereas those on commercialized ENVI-18, LC-18, and Oasis HLB ranged from 54.8 to 104.9, 66 to 93.6, and 77.2 to 106%, respectively. Five types of steroid hormones were simultaneously measured using HPLC-UV after they were enriched by the custom-made sorbent. Based on these findings, the SPE-HPLC method was developed. The LODs of this method for estriol, estradiol, estrone, androstenedione, progesterone were 0.07, 0.43, 0.61, 0.27, and 0.42 µg/L, respectively, while precision and reproducibility RSDs were <6.40 and 7.49%, respectively.

Vision-based estimation of MDS-UPDRS scores for quantifying Parkinson's disease tremor severity.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative movement disorder among older individuals. As one of the typical symptoms of PD, tremor is a critical reference in the PD assessment. A widely accepted clinical approach to assessing tremors in PD is based on part III of the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). However, expert assessment of tremor is a time-consuming and laborious process that poses considerable challenges to the medical evaluation of PD. In this paper, we proposed a novel model, Global Temporal-difference Shift Network (GTSN), to estimate the MDS-UPDRS score of PD tremors based on video. The PD tremor videos were scored according to the majority vote of multiple raters. We used Eulerian Video Magnification (EVM) pre-processing to enhance the representations of subtle PD tremors in the videos. To make the model better focus on the tremors in the video, we proposed a special temporal difference module, which stacks the current optical flow to the result of inter-frame difference. The prediction scores were obtained from the Residual Networks (ResNet) embedded with a novel module, the Global Shift Module (GSM), which allowed the features of the current segment to include the global segment features. We carried out independent experiments using PD tremor videos of different body parts based on the scoring content of the MDS-UPDRS. On a fairly large dataset, our method achieved an accuracy of 90.6% for hands with rest tremors, 85.9% for tremors in the leg, and 89.0% for the jaw. An accuracy of 84.9% was obtained for postural tremors. Our study demonstrated the effectiveness of computer-assisted assessment for PD tremors based on video analysis. The latest version of the code is available at https://github.com/199507284711/PD-GTSN.

Chemotherapy with a Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin-Containing Regimen in Newly Diagnosed Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients.

Anthracycline-related cardiotoxicity is an important dose-limiting toxicity for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) treatment. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) for HL treatment. Patients with newly diagnosed HL treated with at least two cycles of PLD-containing chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. The dosing and scheduling of the PLD-containing regimen (the PBVD regimen) were as follows: PLD 25 mg/m2, vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 (maximum dose of 2 mg), bleomycin 10 mg/m2, and dacarbazine 375 mg/m2 at days l and 15, repeated every 28 days. Forty-six HL patients were analyzed. The median age was 41.5 years (range 12-77 years), with a male/female ratio of 0.9:1. Fourteen (30%) patients had an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status score > 1, and 32 (70%) had a history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or related risk factors. The median chemotherapy cycle number with the PBVD regimen was 6 (range, 2-8). The overall response rate (ORR) was 91% for the whole cohort; 35 (76%) patients achieved complete remission (CR), and 7 (15%) achieved partial remission. The efficacy of the PBVD regimen was similar in patients with or without CVD or related risk factors (ORR 93% vs. 91%, P = 1.00; CR 86% vs. 72%, P = 0.46). With a median follow-up of 28.5 months, the 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 70% and 82%, respectively, for the whole cohort. The differences in the PFS and OS rates between the groups with or without CVD or related risk factors were not significant. Cardiotoxicity was observed in 6 (13%) patients. All adverse events were grades 1-2. The PBVD regimen is an effective chemotherapy option with tolerable toxicity, and it could be a substitute in HL patients who cannot be treated with conventional doxorubicin, especially those with CVD or related risk factors.

Development of film-based passive samplers for in situ monitoring of trace levels of pyrethroids in sediment.

Residues of pyrethroid insecticides tend to accumulate in bed sediments due to their strong hydrophobicity. Rather than the total or bulk sediment concentration, it is the freely dissolved concentration (Cfree) that drives toxicity to benthic invertebrates. In this study we developed thin film-based samplers for in situ ambient monitoring of pyrethroids at trace levels in sediment. Out of five common polymer materials, polyethylene (PE) and silicone rubber (SR), were identified to offer superior enrichment for pyrethroids from sediment. To circumvent the slow equilibrium process, 13C-permethrin and bifenthrin-d5 were preloaded onto the films as performance reference compounds (PRCs). The PRC-preloaded film samplers were deployed at five sites in Southern California under field conditions for 7 d and retrieved for analysis. The sediment porewater Cfree of eight pyrethroids derived from PRC-PE films ranged from 173 to 903 ng/L, accounting for 18.2-36.1% of the corresponding total porewater concentrations. The PRC-SR film samplers yielded Cfree values closely mimicking those from the PRC-PE samplers, cross-validating the two sampling devices. Additionally, a significant positive association was found between the observed mortality from toxicity tests using Hyalella azteca and the Cfree of bifenthrin (r = 0.628, p = 0.02). A significant linear correlation (R2 = 0.99) between Cfree derived from in situ monitoring and that of ex situ measurement under equilibrium conditions was also observed. Results from this study demonstrated that the film-based samplers may be used for in situ ambient monitoring to detect biologically relevant contamination of pyrethroids in bed sediments, which may contribute to improved risk assessment for this class of widely used insecticides.

[Expression of type III collagen mRNA in rat periodontal ligamemt in response to different occlusal force].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the altered expression level of type III collagen mRNA in the periodontal ligament of rat molar in response to changes in occlusal force. METHODS: A model of the rat experimental occlusal trauma was established, in which the occlusal surface on the upper first molar of (250+/-20) g male SD rats was approximately 1 mm elevated unilaterally. Another model was establishde, in which the upper first molar was extracted to remove occlusal force against the lower first molar. The rats were perfusion-fixed at 12 h and on the 3rd, 7th, 14th and 30th day after treatment. The prepared sagittal sections were processed to study the expression of type III collagen mRNA in rat periondontal ligament by in situ hynbridization. RESULTS: Following the bite-raising,the number and the desity of the positive cells of type III collagen mRNA in the periodontal ligament of the lower first molar increased gradually. The expression of type III collagen mRNA was the strongest on the 7th day (124.03 +/- 14.82). Comparde to the normal rats,the expression level of type III collagen mRNA in the periodontal ligament of the lower first molar significantly decreased on the 14th day (63.07 +/- 5.69). When occlusal force was removed the expression level of type III collagen mRNA in the periodontal ligament of the lower first molar showed a rapid decrease. Subsequently, a gradual increase was recognized. Compared to the normal animal,a more significant increase (154.39 +/- 17.61) was detected on the 7th day after occlusal force was removed. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that type III collagen may play important roles in the process of periodontium remodeling against different occlusal force.

Status of phthalate esters contamination in agricultural soils across China and associated health risks.

The extensive utilization of phthalate-containing products has lead to ubiquitous contamination of phthalate esters (PAEs) in various matrices. However, comprehensive knowledge of their pollution in Chinese farmland and associated risks is still limited. In this study, 15 PAEs were determined in soils from agricultural fields throughout the Mainland China. The concentrations of Σ15PAEs were in the range of 75.0-6369 µg kg(-1). Three provinces (i.e., Fujian, Guangdong and Xinjiang, China) showed the highest loadings of PAEs. Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was found as the most abundant component and contributed 71.5% to the ∑15PAEs. The major source of PAEs in arable soils was associated with the application of agricultural plastic films, followed by the activities for soil fertility. Furthermore, the non-cancer and carcinogenic risks of target PAEs were estimated. The hazard indexes (HIs) of PAEs in all samples were below 1 and the carcinogenic risk levels were all within 10(-4). Results from this study will provide valuable information for Chinese agricultural soil management and risk avoidance.

[Short-term outcome of the acellular dermal matrix in dental implant surgical sites].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical short-term results of the acellular dermal matrix for guided bone regeneration. METHODS: Sixty-four patients with bone defect in anterior maxillary area (average bone width: 3 mm) were included. Ridge-splitting technique with simultaneous placement of implants and artificial bone material implantation was performed in 21 patients (non-membrane group). Forty-three patients received the same procedure but with acellular dermal matrix covering the surgical sites (membrane group). The patients were followed up for three months and the new bone formation was checked in clinic and by X-ray. RESULTS: Three months after operation, the membrane group showed good osseointegration and high bone density over the implant cover screws. In the second operation, the membranes became thinner and the new bone fully covered the implant in the membrane group. The labial bone exhibited slight absorption and labial surface of 7 implants in 7 patients was exposed in non-membrane group. The width and the height of the ridge in the second operation were greater in membrane group than in non-membrane group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The acellular dermal matrix can effectively resist the growth of soft tissue to allow bone regeneration around the implant.

Synthesis and in vitro cytotoxicity of novel lipophilic (diamine)platinum(II) complexes of salicylate derivatives.

Novel lipophilic (diamine)platinum(II) complexes of salicylate derivatives as the leaving groups were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FAB(+)-MS, FT-IR, and (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Most of the resulting platinum complexes had high solubility in organic solvents such as ethanol, acetone, and ether, and had right partition coefficient suited to be encapsulated in liposomes. The pertinent complexes were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity against A549 human lung carcinoma and SGC-7901 human gastric carcinoma cell lines. They showed better cytotoxic activity than carboplatin and oxaliplatin.

Separation and aquatic toxicity of enantiomers of the organophosphorus insecticide trichloronate.

Many of the organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) currently used are chiral and therefore consist of mixture of enantiomers. Despite the fact that the biological processes of chiral pesticides are enantioselective, the acute aquatic toxicity of chiral OPs with respect to enantioselectivity has so far received limited research. In this study, the enantiomeric separation and acute aquatic toxicity of trichloronate were investigated. Baseline enantioseparation of trichloronate was successfully achieved using high-performance liquid chromatography on a Chiralcel OJ column, with a mobile phase of n-hexane/n-heptane/ethanol (90/5/5, v/v/v) at the flow rate of 1.0 ml min(-1) and room temperature. The resolved enantiomers were characterized for their optical rotation and by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. Significant differences were found between the enantiomers in acute aquatic toxicity to Ceriodaphnia dubia and Daphnia magna. The (-)-trichloronate was 8-11 times more toxic to the test organisms than its (+)-form, while the racemate showed intermediate toxicity. These results suggest that assessment of the environmental safety of chiral OPs should take stereospecificity into consideration.