Dense Amorphous Passivation Layer Formed on Aluminum Alloy Surfaces by Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Oxygen-Rich Doping.

Aluminum (Al) alloy surfaces are prone to serious corrosion in humid and salt-laden environments, which promotes the development of numerous protective approaches. Although the amorphous state is more conducive to improve corrosion resistance compared with the crystalline state, it still faces coating design problems like insufficient adhesive strength and flaking-off tendency. Here, we propose a strategy of femtosecond laser-assisted oxygen-rich doping to in situ create a dense high-quality passivation layer on Al alloy surfaces. With respect to the femtosecond laser processing in traditional air ambience, the material surface modifications within the oxygen-rich environment demonstrate some distinctiveness. For the ridge area of the laser ablation grooves, the oxidation surface is separated into two layers: the outer region presents a loose and porous appearance similar to the observations in the air ambience, while the inner region exhibits complete and homogeneous oxidation, especially associated with the continuous distribution of the amorphous substance, in sharp contrast to the nanoscale discrete amorphous formation in the air case. Simultaneously, the high degree of material oxidization with the amorphous phase is also developed on the wallside area of the groove valleys, which is much different from the incomplete oxidation in the air ambience. As a result, the measured corrosion current decreases by 49 times to a value of Icorr = 1.19 × 10-10 A/cm2 relative to the laser treatment in the air environment. Such a method offers the prospect for elevating the anticorrosion performance of metal surfaces.

Genetic variants in epoxyeicosatrienoic acid processing and degradation pathways are associated with gestational diabetes mellitus.

AIM: To explore the genetic effects of CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2J2, and EPHX2, the key genes involved in epoxyeicosatrienoic acid processing and degradation pathways in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and metabolic traits in Chinese pregnant women. METHODS: A total of 2548 unrelated pregnant women were included, of which 938 had GDM and 1610 were considered as controls. Common variants were genotyped using the Infinium Asian Screening Array. Association studies of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with GDM and related traits were performed using logistic regression and multivariable linear regression analyses. A genetic risk score (GRS) model based on 12 independent target SNPs associated with GDM was constructed. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, adjusting for potential confounders including age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, history of polycystic ovarian syndrome, history of GDM, and family history of diabetes, with GRS entered both as a continuous variable and categorized groups. The relationship between GRS and quantitative traits was also evaluated. RESULTS: The 12 SNPs in CYP2C8, CYP2C9, CYP2J2, and EPHX2 were significantly associated with GDM after adjusting for covariates (all P < 0.05). The GRS generated from these SNPs significantly correlated with GDM. Furthermore, a significant interaction between CYP2J2 and CYP2C8 in GDM (PInteraction = 0.014, ORInteraction= 0.61, 95%CI 0.41-0.90) was observed. CONCLUSION: We found significant associations between GDM susceptibility and 12 SNPs of the four genes involved in epoxyeicosatrienoic acid processing and degradation pathways in a Chinese population. Subjects with a higher GRS showed higher GDM susceptibility with higher fasting plasma glucose and area under the curve of glucose and poorer ß-cell function.

A novel nomogram for predicting the prolonged length of stay in post-anesthesia care unit after elective operation.

BACKGROUND: Prolonged length of stay in post-anesthesia care unit (PLOS in PACU) is a combination of risk factors and complications that can compromise quality of care and operating room efficiency. Our study aimed to develop a nomogram to predict PLOS in PACU of patients undergoing elective surgery. METHODS: Data from 24017 patients were collected. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) was used to screen variables. A logistic regression model was built on variables determined by a combined method of forward selection and backward elimination. Nomogram was designed with the model. The nomogram performance was evaluated with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for discrimination, calibration plot for consistency between predictions and actuality, and decision curve analysis (DCA) for clinical application value. RESULTS: A nomogram was established based on the selected ten variables, including age, BMI < 21 kg/m2, American society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA), surgery type, chill, delirium, pain, naloxone, operation duration and blood transfusion. The C-index value was 0.773 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.765 - 0.781] in the development set and 0.757 (95% CI = 0.744-0.770) in the validation set. The AUC was > 0.75 for the prediction of PLOS in PACU. The calibration curves revealed high consistencies between the predicted and actual probability. The DCA showed that if the threshold probability is over 10% , using the models to predict PLOS in PACU and implement intervention adds more benefit. CONCLUSIONS: This study presented a nomogram to facilitate individualized prediction of PLOS in PACU for patients undergoing elective surgery.

Neural Network Based Classification of Breast Cancer Histopathological Image from Intraoperative Rapid Frozen Sections.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide. Despite the rapid developments in diagnostic techniques and medical sciences, pathologic diagnosis is still recognized as the gold standard for disease diagnose. Pathologic diagnosis is a time-consuming task performed for pathologists, needing profound professional knowledge and long-term accumulated diagnostic experience. Therefore, the development of automatic and precise histopathological image classification is essential for medical diagnosis. In this study, an improved VGG network was used to classify the breast cancer histopathological image from intraoperative rapid frozen sections. We adopt a transformed loss function by adding a penalty to cross-entropy in our training stage, which improved the accuracy on test data by 4.39%. Laplacian-4 was used for the enhancement of images, which contributes to the improvement of the accuracy. The accuracy of the proposed model on training data and test data reached 88.70% and 82.27%, respectively, which outperforms the original model by 9.39% of accuracy in test data. The process time was less than 0.25 s per image on average. Meanwhile, the heat maps of predictions were given to show the evidential regions in histopathological images, which could drive improvements in the accuracy, speed, and clinical value of pathological diagnoses. In addition to helping with the actual diagnosis, this technology may be a benefit to pathologists, surgeons, and patients. It might prove to be a helpful tool for pathologists in the future.

Efficacy and safety of CAR19/22 T-cell cocktail therapy in patients with refractory/relapsed B-cell malignancies.

Antigen-escape relapse has emerged as a major challenge for long-term disease control after CD19-directed therapies, to which dual-targeting of CD19 and CD22 has been proposed as a potential solution. From March 2016 through January 2018, we conducted a pilot study in 89 patients who had refractory/relapsed B-cell malignancies, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of sequential infusion of anti-CD19 and anti-CD22, a cocktail of 2 single-specific, third-generation chimeric antigen receptor-engineered (CAR19/22) T cells. Among the 51 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the minimal residual disease-negative response rate was 96.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 86.3-99.5). With a median follow-up of 16.7 months (range, 1.3-33.3), the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 13.6 months (95% CI, 6.5 to not reached [NR]), and the median overall survival (OS) was 31.0 months (95% CI, 10.6-NR). Among the 38 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, the overall response rate was 72.2% (95% CI, 54.8-85.8), with a complete response rate of 50.0% (95% CI, 32.9-67.1). With a median follow-up of 14.4 months (range, 0.4-27.4), the median PFS was 9.9 months (95% CI, 3.3-NR), and the median OS was 18.0 months (95% CI, 6.1-NR). Antigen-loss relapse occurred in 1 patient during follow-up. High-grade cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity occurred in 22.4% and 1.12% patients, respectively. In all except 1, these effects were reversible. Our results indicated that sequential infusion of CAR19/22 T cell was safe and efficacious and may have reduced the rate of antigen-escape relapse in B-cell malignancies. This trial was registered at www.chictr.org.cn as #ChiCTR-OPN-16008526.

The effect of haptoglobin genotype on the association of asymmetric dimethylarginine and DDAH 1 polymorphism with diabetic macroangiopathy.

BACKGROUND: Dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) 1 maintains the bioavailability of nitric oxide by degrading asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA). Here, we aimed to investigate the effect of haptoglobin (Hp) genotype on the association of ADMA and DDAH 1 polymorphism with diabetic macroangiopathy. METHODS: In stage 1, 90 Chinese participants with type 2 diabetes were enrolled to measure a panel of targeted metabolites, including ADMA, using tandem mass spectrometry (BIOCRATES AbsoluteIDQ™ p180 kit). In stage 2, an independent cohort of 2965 Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes was recruited to analyze the effect of Hp genotype on the association between DDAH 1 rs233109 and diabetic macroangiopathy. Hp genotypes were detected using a validated assay based on the TaqMan method. DDAH 1 rs233109 was genotyped by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy using the MassARRAY platform. RESULTS: In stage 1, serum ADMA levels correlated with common Hp genotypes (ß ± SE = - 0.049 ± 0.023, P = 0.035), but not with diabetic macroangiopathy (P = 0.316). In stage 2, the distribution of DDAH 1 rs233109 genotype frequencies was 15% (CC), 47% (TC), and 38% (TT), which was in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P = 0.948). A significant Hp genotype by rs 233109 genotype interaction effect on diabetic macroangiopathy was found (P = 0.017). After adjusting for confounders, patients homozygous for rs233109 CC were more likely to develop diabetic macroangiopathy than those carrying TT homozygotes in the Hp 2-2 subgroup [odds ratio = 1.750 (95% confidence interval, 1.101-2.783), P = 0.018]. CONCLUSION: Hp genotype affects the association between DDAH 1 rs233109 and diabetic macroangiopathy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Tumour stroma ratio is a potential predictor for 5-year disease-free survival in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The tumour-stroma ratio (TSR) is identified as a promising prognostic parameter for breast cancer, but the cutoff TSR value is mostly assessed by visual assessment, which lacks objective measurement. The aims of this study were to optimize the cutoff TSR value, and evaluate its prognosis value in patients with breast cancer both as continuous and categorical variables. METHODS: Major clinicopathological and follow-up data were collected for a series of patients with breast cancer. Tissue microarray images stained with cytokeratin immunohistochemistry were evaluated by automated quantitative image analysis algorithms to assess TSR. The potential cutoff point for TSR was optimized using maximally selected rank statistics. The association between TSR and 5-year disease-free survival (5-DFS) was assessed by Cox regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test were used to assess the significance in survival analysis. RESULTS: The optimal cut-off TSR value was 33.5%. Using this cut-off point, categorical variable analysis found that low TSR (i.e., high stroma, TSR ≤ 33.5%) predicts poor outcomes for 5-DFS (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.81-4.40, P = 0.000). When TSR was considered as a continuous parameter, results showed that increased stroma content was associated with worse 5-DFS (HR = 1.71, 95% CI = 1.34-2.18, P = 0.000). Similar results were also obtained in three molecular subtypes in continuous and categorical variable analyses. Moreover, in the Kaplan-Meier analysis, log-rank test showed that low TSR displayed a worse 5-DFS than high TSR (P = 0.000). Similar results were also obtained in patients with triple-negative breast cancer, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer, and luminal-HER2-negative breast cancer. CONCLUSION: TSR is an independent predictor for 5-DFS in breast cancer with worse survival outcomes in low TSR. The prognostic value of TSR was also observed in other three molecular subtypes.

Curcumin Attenuates the PERK-eIF2α Signaling to Relieve Acrylamide-Induced Neurotoxicity in SH­SY5Y Neuroblastoma Cells.

Curcumin is a natural polyphenolic compound with neuroprotective and antioxidant properties. Acrylamide (ACR) is a by-product of food processing that produces neurotoxicity in humans and animals. The pancreatic endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK)-eukaryotic initiation factor-2α (eIF2α) signaling is involved in the occurrence of neurotoxicities. This study is aimed to investigate the protective effect of curcumin on ACR-induced cytotoxicity and explore the role of PERK-eIF2α signaling in this process. ACR exposure at 2.5 mM for 24 h caused oxidative stress as revealed by the distinct increase in cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level, and a significant decrease in glutathione (GSH) content. ACR induced phosphorylated tau aggregation, phosphorylated cAMP response elements binding protein (CREB) reduction, and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio up-regulation in SH-SY5Y cells. ACR also activated the PERK-eIF2α signaling in SH-SY5Y cells and triggered the activation of glycogen synthase kinase-3ß (GSK-3ß), up-regulated activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4) and C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP). Curcumin pretreatment significantly attenuated ACR-induced neuronal toxicity as revealed by the ameliorated cell viability, mitigated intracellular ROS and MDA level, and elevated GSH content. Moreover, curcumin pretreatment inhibited PERK-dependent eIF2α phosphorylation, further suppressed GSK-3ß and ATF4 function, and abolished abnormal tau phosphorylation, P-CREB reduction, and CHOP-induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells. These results provided empirical evidence between curcumin and PERK-eIF2α signaling in ACR-induced neurotoxicity.

Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with mass spectrometry: an advanced bioanalytical technique for clinical metabolomics studies.

The detection of human-derived metabolites as potential diagnostic biomarkers of genetic disorders, metabolic diseases, systemic diseases, and infectious diseases has been much studied in recent years, especially as technical capabilities improve, and statistical procedures are increasingly able to tease critical chemical attributes from complex data sets. Given the complex distribution of human biological matrices, the characterization and/or identification of these chemical entities is technically challenging, and is often confounded by incomplete chromatographic resolution or insufficient discriminatory power of the mass spectrometry (MS) domain. Recently, comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC) has evolved into a mature higher separation order technique that offers unprecedented resolving power, which in turn can greatly advantage clinical metabolomics studies via the expansion of metabolite coverage. In this contribution, the current state of knowledge in the development of GC×GC coupled to MS as a high-resolution bioanalytical technique for the analysis of clinical metabolites is reviewed. Selected recent applications (years 2012 to 2021) that emphasize improved GC×GC-MS strategies for clinical human metabolites' detection, identification, and quantitative analysis are described. In addition, we share our perspectives on current challenges and potential future directions of GC×GC in clinical applications.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals and the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the relationship between endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), poly-brominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), phthalates (PAEs), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: Relevant studies from their inception to November 2021 were identified by searching EMBASE, PubMed, and Web of Science. The cohort and case-control studies that reported effect size with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of EDC exposure and GDM were selected. The heterogeneity among the included studies was quantified by I2 statistic. Publication bias was evaluated through the Begg and Egger tests. RESULTS: Twenty-five articles with a total of 23,796 participants were found. Results indicated that exposure to PCBs has a significant influence on the incidence of GDM (OR = 1.14; 95% CI = 1.00--1.31; n = 8). The risk of GDM was found to be associated with PBDE exposure (OR = 1.32; 95% CI = 1.15-1.53; n = 4). PAEs and PFASs exposure were also positively associated with the risk of GDM, with summary ORs of 1.10 (95% CI = 1.03-1.16; n = 7 for PAEs) and 1.09 (95% CI = 1.02-1.16; n = 11 for PFASs), respectively. When only cohort studies were considered, the summary OR between PCBs exposure and the risk of GDM was 0.99 (95% CI = 0.91-1.09; n = 5). Meanwhile, the summary ORs from cohort studies for PBDEs, PAEs, and PFASs exposure were 1.12 (95% CI = 1.00-1.26; n = 2), 1.08 (95% CI = 1.02-1.15; n = 5), and 1.06 (95% CI = 1.00-1.12; n = 8), respectively. The Beggs and Egger tests did not show publication bias, and the sensitivity analyses did not change the results in this meta-analysis. CONCLUSION: These results support that exposure to certain EDCs, including PCBs, PBDEs, PAEs, and PFAS, increase the risk of GDM. Further large-sample epidemiologic researches and mechanistic studies are needed to verify the potential relationship and biological mechanisms. These results are of public health significance because the daily EDC exposure is expected to increase the risk of GDM development.

[Analysis of a child with severe combined immunodeficiency due to variants of DCLRE1C gene].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic etiology of a child with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). METHODS: Whole exome sequencing (WES) and copy number variation (CNV) analysis were carried out to screen potential variants in the proband. Suspected variants were validated by Sanger sequencing and qPCR. RESULTS: WES showed that the proband harbored compound heterozygous variants of the DCLRE1C gene, namely deletion of exons 1-3 and c.322G>A (p.Val108Met) in exon 5. The exon 1-3 deletion was derived from his father and was known to be pathogenic, while the c.322G>A was derived from his mother and was unreported previously. CONCLUSION: The compound heterozygous variants of the DCLRE1C gene probably underlay the SCID in this child.

[Analysis of gene variant in an infant with succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the genetic basis for a child with succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency. METHODS: Peripheral blood samples of the proband and his parents were collected and subjected to Sanger sequencing. High-throughput sequencing was used to verify the gene variants. Bioinformatic software was used to analyze the pathogenicity of the variant sites. RESULTS: Sanger sequencing showed that the proband carried a homozygous c.1529C>T (p.S510F) variant of the ALDH5A1 gene, for which his mother was a carrier. The same variant was not detected in his father. However, high-throughput sequencing revealed that the child and his father both had a deletion of ALDH5A1 gene fragment (chr6: 24 403 265-24 566 986). CONCLUSION: The c.1529C>T variant of the ALDH5A1 gene and deletion of ALDH5A1 gene fragment probably underlay the disease in the child. High-throughput sequencing can detect site variation as well as deletion of gene fragment, which has enabled genetic diagnosis and counseling for the family.

Antibiotics along an alpine river and in the receiving lake with a catchment dominated by grazing husbandry.

The livestock breeding industries face overuse of antibiotics, which has been intensively studied in recent years. However, the occurrence and fate of antibiotics as well as their potential threats to the aquatic environments in alpine and arid regions remain unclear. This study investigated the relationship of the occurrence and concentrations of antibiotics between the Kaidu River and Bosten Lake in a typical alpine basin in China. Hot spots with antibiotic pollution source were explored. The antibiotic concentrations in river water and suspended sediment (SPS) were 2.20-99.4 ng/L and 1.03-176 ng/g. The dominant antibiotics were tetracyclines, sulphacetamide, and ofloxacin in river water and sulfonamides, clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and ofloxacin in SPS. The apparent differences in pollution sources and landscapes in different reaches led to the obvious spatial patterns of antibiotics in the Kaidu River. Higher partition coefficient of antibiotic between SPS and water phases for sulfonamides than tetracyclines was because that tetracyclines strongly responded to clay contents while sulfonamides significantly responded to organic carbon contents in SPS. There were significant differences in detected antibiotic categories between the river and the lake. Fluoroquinolones (especially ciprofloxacin and enrofloxacin) were detected in the lake while sulphacetamide was only detected in the river. Therefore, the surrounding husbandry and aquaculture around the Bosten Lake was an important antibiotic pollution source in addition to inputs from the Kaidu River. This research suggested that alpine lakes could be an important sink of antibiotics in alpine dry regions, and thus impose greater threats to the aquatic ecosystem.

End-to-End Depression Recognition Based on a One-Dimensional Convolution Neural Network Model Using Two-Lead ECG Signal.

Purpose: Depression is a common mental illness worldwide and has become an important public health problem. The current clinical diagnosis of depression mainly relies on the doctor's experience and subjective diagnosis, which results in the low diagnostic efficiency and insufficient objectivity of diagnostic results. Therefore, establishing a physiological and psychological model for computer-aided diagnosis is an urgent task. In order to solve the above problems, this article uses a convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify depression based on electrocardiogram (ECG). Methods: Our method uses the raw ECG signal as the input of one-dimensional CNN, and uses the automatic feature processing layer of CNN to learn and distinguish signal features without additional feature extraction and feature selection steps. In order to obtain the optimal model, ECG segments of different durations (3 s, 4 s, 5 s and 6 s) and CNNs with different layers were used for comparison. In order to obtain modeling data, the resting ECG of 37 depression patients and 37 healthy controls were collected. In the proposed network, larger convolution kernels are used to better focus on overall changes. In addition, this article focuses on the inter-patient data classification standard, where the training and test sets come from different patient data. Results: Through comprehensive comparison, the 5 s ECG segment and 5-layer CNN are recommended in related applications. The proposed approach achieves high classification performance with accuracy of 93.96%, sensitivity of 89.43%, specificity of 98.49%, positive productivity of 98.34%. Conclusion: The experimental results indicate that the end-to-end deep learning approach can identify depression from ECG signals, and possess high diagnostic performance. It also shows that ECG is a potential biomarker in the diagnosis of depression.

The relationship between exposure to general anesthetic agents and the risk of developing an impulse control disorder.

Most studies examining the effect of extended exposure to general anesthetic agents (GAAs) have demonstrated that extended exposure induces both structural and functional changes in the central nervous system. These changes are frequently accompanied by neurobehavioral changes that include impulse control disorders that are generally characterized by deficits in behavioral inhibition and executive function. In this review, we will.

Mortality Risk After Radioiodine Therapy for Hyperthyroidism: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Radioiodine has been increasingly used to treat hyperthyroidism for many years. Although widely regarded as an effective therapy, radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism has been suspected to be associated with the risk of mortality. This study aimed to quantify the mortality outcomes in patients who were treated for hyperthyroidism with radioiodine. METHODS: Systematic search and meta-analysis were performed to determine the risk of mortality in patients treated with radioiodine for hyperthyroidism. Relevant studies were searched through August 2020 and selected in accordance with the inclusion criteria. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies were identified. The summary odds ratios (ORs) showed an increased risk of all-cause mortality in patients who were treated with radioiodine for hyperthyroidism (OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.07-1.35). The risk of death attributed to all forms of circulatory, respiratory, and endocrine and metabolic diseases was significantly increased, with summary ORs of 1.23 (95% CI, 1.12-1.35), 1.43 (95% CI, 1.17-1.75), and 2.38 (95% CI, 1.85-3.06), respectively. The summary ORs revealed no significant association between radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism and the risk of cancer mortality (OR = 1.03; 95% CI, 0.98-1.09). Radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism was not associated with the risk of mortality from breast, respiratory system, gastrointestinal, and genitourinary cancers. CONCLUSION: Radioiodine treatment for hyperthyroidism is associated with the risk of all-cause mortality but not cancer mortality. Future research needs to address the causes of hyperthyroidism, effects of radioiodine therapy, and potential effects of confounding to identify causality.

Molybdenum contamination dispersion from mining site to a reservoir.

This study was conducted to assess heavy metals in the overlying water and sediments of Luhun Reservoir, Henan Province, China, which is positioned downstream from a molybdenum (Mo) mining area. The pollution indexes indicated that deposition of all metals may have been affected by the mining area. The single element pollution factor (Pi) of Mo was the highest among all heavy metals, with a mean value of 2.05. However, the sediments were subject to long-term accumulation of metals, particularly Mo, Cd, Pb, and Zn, which originated from anthropogenic sources. The mean individual element potential ecological risk index values for Cd were above 385, while the mean value comprehensive potential ecological risk index was 465, which indicates a high ecological risk. Moreover, the enriched heavy metals had different spatial distributions in the Luhun Reservoir sediments. Finally, Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the Pb was mainly affected by different anthropogenic sources and had no relationship with other metals, which suggests that the influence of mining area on heavy metal concentrations in the reservoir is difficult to disentangle.

Spatial and temporal distribution of Mo in the overlying water of a reservoir downstream from mining area.

This study aimed to evaluate the spatial and temporal variations of molybdenum (Mo) in the downstream water body of a Mo mine during three hydrologic periods (wet, dry and medium seasons). The physical properties in Luhun Reservoir reflected seasonal variations in different hydrological periods. The redox potential (ORP) and dissolved oxygen (DO) increased in the dry season. The concomitant decrease in temperature (T), conductivity (COND) and total dissolved solids (TDS) were lowest in the wet season. The pH value did not change significantly during the three hydrologic periods. The distribution of Mo in the dry season was high in upstream and low in downstream areas, which was significantly different from that of the wet and medium seasons. The total Mo concentration in wet (150.1 µg/L) and medium season (148.2 µg/L) was higher than that in the dry season, but the TDS (288.3 mg/L) and the percentage dissolved Mo (81.3%) in overlying water was lowest in the wet season. There was no significant relationship between the dissolved Mo and the total Mo with TDS. In the dry season, the mean total Mo concentration was 116.3 µg/L, which was higher than the standard limit value (70 µg/L) for drinking water (US EPA-United States Environmental Protection Agency recommended value 40 µg/L). Non-point source pollution is the main characteristic of mining area pollution, which was closely related to rainfall. Thus, the Luhun Reservoir contains substantial Mo pollution, which was a significant concern given that it is used as a source of drinking and irrigation water.

Chronic acrylamide exposure induced glia cell activation, NLRP3 infl-ammasome upregulation and cognitive impairment.

Acrylamide (ACR), a potential neurotoxin, is present in diet and drinking water. Dietary exposure contributes to cognitive impairment, but relevant mechanism information is limited. Neuroinflammation plays important roles in neurodegenerative disorders. This study aimed to explore whether chronic acrylamide exposure induced neuronal lesions, microglial activation, NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated neuroinflammation and cognitive impairment. For this purpose, 36 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups (n = 12/group) and maintained on treated drinking water providing dosages of 0, 0.5, or 5 mg/kg/day ACR for 12 months. Chronic exposure to ACR caused gait abnormality and cognitive dysfunction, which was associated with neuronal lesions, decrease in synapse associated proteins including synapsin I (SYN1), synaptophysin (SYP) and postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD95), neurogenesis suppression as shown by reduced brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and doublecortin (DCX) in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. ACR stimulated glial proliferation and microglial activation by increasing GFAP+, Iba-1+, Iba-1+CD68+ positive cells. ACR markedly upregulated the protein levels of NLRP3 inflammasome constituents NLRP3, caspase-1 and increased pro-IL-1ß and IL-1ß. ACR elevated the protein P62 to suppress NLPR3 inflammasome cleavage. Inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α, IL-6 and Cox-2 were also significantly increased after NF-κB pathway activation, which aggravated neuronal lesions and caused memory deficits. This work helped to propose the possible mechanism of chronic exposure of ACR-induced neurotoxicity.

Efficient visible-light-driven photocatalytic hydrogen production over a direct Z-scheme system of TaON/Cd0.5Zn0.5S with a NiS cocatalyst.

In this work, a series of samples of Cd0.5Zn0.5S (ZCS) nanoparticles decorated with porous TaON were successfully prepared as a direct Z-scheme system. The photocatalytic evolution of H2 with a high efficiency was explored using NiS decorated with TaON sensitized ZCS nanocomposites (NiS-TaON/ZCS) and Na2SO3/Na2S as sacrificial reagents. The results showed that 0.5 wt% NiS deposited on the surface of 4 wt% TaON-ZCS nanocomposites could reach the highest photocatalytic H2 evolution rate of 34.8 mmol h-1 g-1 with a maximum quantum yield of about 25.5% under 420 nm monochromatic light. The activity of the TaON-ZCS photocatalyst for photocatalytic H2 evolution is higher than that of either pure ZCS or TaON. This high photocatalytic performance is ascribed firstly to the hierarchical structure of the coupled semiconductor system and secondly to the efficient transfer and separation of photogenerated charge carriers with NiS as a cocatalyst, which could serve as an electron collector.