ABSTRACT
Airborne bacteria are an influential component of the Earth's microbiomes, but their community structure and biogeographic distribution patterns have yet to be understood. We analyzed the bacterial communities of 370 air particulate samples collected from 63 sites around the world and constructed an airborne bacterial reference catalog with more than 27 million nonredundant 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequences. We present their biogeographic pattern and decipher the interlacing of the microbiome co-occurrence network with surface environments of the Earth. While the total abundance of global airborne bacteria in the troposphere (1.72 × 1024 cells) is 1 to 3 orders of magnitude lower than that of other habitats, the number of bacterial taxa (i.e., richness) in the atmosphere (4.71 × 108 to 3.08 × 109) is comparable to that in the hydrosphere, and its maximum occurs in midlatitude regions, as is also observed in other ecosystems. The airborne bacterial community harbors a unique set of dominant taxa (24 species); however, its structure appears to be more easily perturbed, due to the more prominent role of stochastic processes in shaping community assembly. This is corroborated by the major contribution of surface microbiomes to airborne bacteria (averaging 46.3%), while atmospheric conditions such as meteorological factors and air quality also play a role. Particularly in urban areas, human impacts weaken the relative importance of plant sources of airborne bacteria and elevate the occurrence of potential pathogens from anthropogenic sources. These findings serve as a key reference for predicting planetary microbiome responses and the health impacts of inhalable microbiomes with future changes in the environment.
Subject(s)
Air Microbiology , Microbiota , Anthropogenic Effects , Bacteria/genetics , Humans , Microbiota/genetics , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/geneticsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The pathogenic mechanisms of syphilis and the host defense mechanisms against syphilis remain poorly understood. Exploration of the susceptibility factors of syphilis may provide crucial clues for unraveling its underlying mechanisms. METHODS: A two-sample Mendelian Randomization framework was utilized, and the inverse-variance weighted method was used as the main analysis. All data was sourced from Genome-wide association studies datasets from 2015 to 2022 in Europe, and all participants were of European descent. Only summary-level statistics were used. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the heterogeneity and pleiotropy of the datasets. RESULTS: Our study established 18 exposure factors (12 risk factors and 6 protective factors) for syphilis susceptibility. Twelve factors encompassing body mass index, waist circumference, darker natural skin, cooked vegetable intake, processed meat intake, diabetes mellitus, glucose regulation disorders, gout, autoimmune diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, diverticulitis, and longer menstrual cycles were found to increase susceptibility to syphilis. In contrast, 6 factors including easier skin tanning, blonde natural hair color, irritability, higher neuroticism scores, extended sleep duration, and delayed age at first sexual intercourse were connected to a reduced risk of syphilis infection (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study identified 18 influencing factors of syphilis susceptibility. These findings offered novel insights for further probing into the underlying pathogenic mechanisms of syphilis and underscored the importance of multifaceted prevention strategies against syphilis.
Subject(s)
Genetic Predisposition to Disease , Genome-Wide Association Study , Mendelian Randomization Analysis , Syphilis , Humans , Syphilis/epidemiology , Risk Factors , Europe/epidemiology , Female , MaleABSTRACT
Microbially induced corrosion (MIC) on concrete represents a serious issue impairing the lifespan of coastal/marine infrastructure. However, currently developed concrete corrosion protection strategies have limitations in wide applications. Here, a biomineralization method was proposed to form a biomineralized film on concrete surfaces for corrosion inhibition. Laboratory seawater corrosion experiments were conducted under different conditions [e.g., chemical corrosion (CC), MIC, and biomineralization for corrosion inhibition]. A combination of chemical and mechanical property measurements of concrete (e.g., sulfate concentrations, permeability, mass, and strength) and a genotypic-based investigation of formed concrete biofilms was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the biomineralization approach on corrosion inhibition. The results show that MIC resulted in much higher corrosion rates than CC. However, the biomineralization treatment effectively inhibited corrosion because the biomineralized film decreased the total and relative abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and acted as a protective layer to control the diffusion of sulfate and isolate the concrete from the corrosive SRB communities, which helps extend the lifespan of concrete structures. Moreover, this technique had no negative impact on the native marine microbial communities. Our study contributes to the potential application of biomineralization for corrosion inhibition to achieve long-term sustainability for major marine concrete structures.
Subject(s)
Bacteria , Biomineralization , Corrosion , Biofilms , SulfatesABSTRACT
With the rapid depletion of phosphate rocks and increasing agricultural demand, establishing a phosphorus (P) flow "loop" rather than a one-way trajectory between cropland and urban areas was imperative. Recovering P from municipal wastewater stood as a viable strategy to mitigate reliance on traditional P-containing chemical fertilizer. This study analyzed the intricate relationships between the potentials of P recovery from municipal wastewater and the P demand of croplands in the populated Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. An indicator of the P vehicle transport distance was constructed and calculated to estimate the potential to recover and reuse P in agriculture, applying the simulated annealing (SA) algorithm and road networks obtained from OpenStreetMap (OSM). The results indicated that, on a regional scale, recovered P from municipal wastewater could fulfill 14.0% of the cropland P demands in the YRD, with a median P vehicle transport distance of 3.1 km/Mg of P. Notably, the P vehicle transport distance varied largely depending upon the cropland distributions, road density, and P recovery potential from municipal wastewater. The novel methodology developed here determined the optimal transportation routes for P recovery from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to cropland, which played a crucial role in refining the wastewater management strategies aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Subject(s)
Phosphorus , Rivers , Wastewater , Wastewater/chemistry , China , Rivers/chemistry , AgricultureABSTRACT
Urban ambient air contains a cocktail of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) emitted from various anthropogenic sites. However, what is largely unknown is whether the airborne ARGs exhibit site-specificity or their pathogenic hosts persistently exist in the air. Here, by retrieving 1.2 Tb metagenomic sequences (n = 136), we examined the airborne ARGs from hospitals, municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and landfills, public transit centers, and urban sites located in seven of China's megacities. As validated by the multiple machine learning-based classification and optimization, ARGs' site-specificity was found to be the most apparent in hospital air, with featured resistances to clinical-used rifamycin and (glyco)peptides, whereas the more environmentally prevalent ARGs (e.g., resistance to sulfonamide and tetracycline) were identified being more specific to the nonclinical ambient air settings. Nearly all metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that possessed the site-featured resistances were identified as pathogenic taxa, which occupied the upper-representative niches in all the neutrally distributed airborne microbial community (P < 0.01, m = 0.22-0.50, R2 = 0.41-0.86). These niche-favored putative resistant pathogens highlighted the enduring antibiotic resistance hazards in the studied urban air. These findings are critical, albeit the least appreciated until our study, to gauge the airborne dimension of resistomes' features and fates in urban atmospheric environments.
Subject(s)
Genes, Bacterial , Metagenome , Cities , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , ChinaABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The sensitivity of HIV screening assays often leads to a high rate of false-positive results, requiring retests and confirmatory tests. This study aimed to analyze the capability of signal-to-cutoff (S/CO) ratios of HIV screening assay to predict HIV infection. METHODS: A retrospective study on the HIV screening-positive population was performed at Zhongshan Hospital, Xiamen University, the correlation between HIV screening assay S/CO ratios and HIV infection was assessed, and plotted Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to establish the optimal cutoff value for predicting HIV infection. RESULTS: Out of 396,679 patients, 836 were confirmed to be HIV-infected, with an HIV prevalence of 0.21%. The median S/CO ratios in HIV infection were significantly higher than that in non-HIV infection (296.9 vs. 2.41, P < 0.001). The rate of confirmed HIV infection was increased with higher S/CO ratios in the screening assay. The ROC curve based on the HIV screening assay S/CO ratio achieved a sensitivity of 93.78% and a specificity of 93.12% with an optimal cutoff value of 14.09. The area under the ROC curve was 0.9612. Further analysis of the ROC curve indicated that the S/CO ratio thresholds yielding positive predictive values of 99%, 99.5%, and 100% for HIV infection were 26.25, 285.7, and 354.5, respectively. CONCLUSION: Using HIV screening assay S/CO ratio to predict HIV infection can largely reduce necessitating retests and confirmatory tests. Incorporating the S/CO ratio into HIV testing algorithms can have significant implications for medical and public health practices.
Subject(s)
HIV Infections , Humans , HIV Infections/diagnosis , HIV Infections/epidemiology , Sensitivity and Specificity , Retrospective Studies , ROC Curve , HIV Testing , Mass Screening/methodsABSTRACT
As the medical community puts forward higher requirements for the speed and convenience of disease diagnosis, point-of-care testing has become a hot research topic to overcome various kinds of healthcare problems. Blood test is considered to be highly sensitive and accurate in clinical diagnosis. However, conventional plasma separation system tends to be bulky and needs professional operations. Moreover, imprecise separation may cause residual biochemical substances such as blood cells to affect the detection results. In this work, to solve these problems, we designed a portable centrifugal microfluidic platform for automatic, rapid and ultraprecise blood separation. The disc consists of multichambers and multi-microchannels where a plasma reservoir and a cell reservoir are connected to each other and collinear with the center of the circle. This structure overcomes the weakness of low separation efficiency (when hematocrit increases) under the traditional blood separation structure (bifurcation structure). As a result, the proposed system achieved 99.9% plasma purity, 99.9% separation efficiency (with a blood hematocrit of 48%) and 32.5% plasma recovery rate in the 50s, which provides a strong guarantee for rapid blood diagnosis and analysis, especially in areas where medical resources are limited.
Subject(s)
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques , Microfluidics , Microfluidics/methods , Microfluidic Analytical Techniques/methods , Equipment Design , Plasma/chemistry , HematocritABSTRACT
Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are commonly detected in the atmosphere, but questions remain regarding their sources and relative contributions, bacterial hosts, and corresponding human health risks. Here, we conducted a qPCR- and metagenomics-based investigation of inhalable fine particulate matter (PM2.5) at a large wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and in the ambient air of Hong Kong, together with an in-depth analysis of published data of other potential sources in the area. PM2.5 was observed with increasing enrichment of total ARGs along the coastal-urban-WWTP gradient and clinically relevant ARGs commonly identified in urban and WWTP sites, illustrating anthropogenic impacts on the atmospheric accumulation of ARGs. With certain kinds of putative antibiotic-resistant pathogens detected in urban and WWTP PM2.5, a comparable proportion of ARGs that co-occurred with MGEs was found between the atmosphere and WWTP matrices. Despite similar emission rates of bacteria and ARGs within each WWTP matrix, about 11-13% of the bacteria and >57% of the relevant ARGs in urban and WWTP PM2.5 were attributable to WWTPs. Our study highlights the importance of WWTPs in disseminating bacteria and ARGs to the ambient air from a quantitative perspective and, thus, the need to control potential sources of inhalation exposure to protect the health of urban populations.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents , Water Purification , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Bacteria/genetics , Genes, Bacterial , Humans , Particulate Matter , Wastewater/microbiologyABSTRACT
Donepezil (DNP) is one of approved drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the potential effect of DNP on DNA is still unclear. Therefore, the interaction of DNP with calf thymus DNA (DNA) was studied in vitro using spectroscopic and molecular docking methods. Steady-state and transient fluorescence experiments showed that there was a clear binding interaction between DNP and DNA, resulting from DNP fluorescence being quenched using DNA. DNP and DNA have one binding site between them, and the binding constant (Kb ) was 0.78 × 104 L·mol-1 at 298 K. In this binding process, hydrophobic force was the main interaction force, because enthalpy change (ΔH) and entropy change (ΔS) of DNP-DNA were 67.92 kJ·mol-1 and 302.96 J·mol-1 ·K-1 , respectively. DNP bound to DNA in a groove-binding mode, which was verified using a competition displacement study and other typical spectroscopic methods. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum results showed that DNP interacted with guanine (G) and cytosine (C) bases of DNA. The molecular docking results further supported the results of spectroscopic experiments, and suggested that both Pi-Sigma force and Pi-Alkyl force were the major hydrophobic force functioning between DNP and DNA.
Subject(s)
DNA , Binding Sites , Circular Dichroism , Donepezil , Molecular Docking Simulation , Spectrometry, Fluorescence , Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet , ThermodynamicsABSTRACT
In this work, the influences of moisture intruded into the asphalt-aggregate interface have been investigated at the atomistic scale. The molecular interactions of asphalt with limestone and granite were studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and the mineral surface components of limestone and granite were detected using the hyperspectral image technique. Relative concentration and radial distribution function (RDF) were employed for the characterization of asphalt component aggregations on aggregates surface. Adhesion work and debonding energy were also evaluated to investigate interface energy variations in asphalt-aggregate systems. MD results showed that the presence of interfacial moisture modified asphalt nanostructure and affected the aggregation state and distribution characteristics of asphalt components near aggregate surface. The study also demonstrated that the external moisture that intruded into the interface of the asphalt-aggregate system can decrease the concentration distribution of the asphalt components with powerful polarity on aggregate surface, reduce the adhesion works of the asphalt-aggregate interface, and decline the water damage resistance of asphalt mixture.
Subject(s)
Construction Materials , Hydrocarbons/chemistry , Adhesiveness , Adsorption , Calcium Carbonate , Minerals , Molecular Dynamics Simulation , Nanoparticles/chemistry , Nanostructures , Nanotechnology/methods , Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons , Silicon Dioxide , Water/chemistryABSTRACT
Airborne transmission is one of the environmental dissemination pathways of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and has critical implications for human exposure through inhalation. In this study, we focused on three regions of China to reveal some unique spatiotemporal features of airborne bacteria and ARGs in fine aerosols (PM2.5): (1) greater seasonal variations in the abundance of bacteria and ARGs in temperate urban Beijing than in the subtropical urban areas of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD) regions, with regional disparities in bacterial communities; (2) geographical fingerprints of ARG profiles independent of seasonal cycles and land-use gradients within each region; (3) region-independent associations between the targeted ARGs and limited bacterial genera; (4) common correlations between ARGs and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) across regions; and (5) PM2.5 at the higher end of ARG enrichment across various environmental and human media. The spatiotemporally differentiated bacterial communities and ARG abundances, and the compositions, mobility, and potential hosts of ARGs in the atmosphere have strong implications for human inhalational exposure over spatiotemporal scales. By comparing other contributing pathways for the intake of ARGs (e.g., drinking water and food ingestion) in China and the U.S.A., we identified the region-specific importance of inhalation in China as well as country-specific exposure scenarios. Our study thus highlights the significance of inhalation as an integral part of the aggregate exposure pathways of environmentally disseminated ARGs, which, in turn, may help in the formulation of adaptive strategies to mitigate the exposure risks in China and beyond.
Subject(s)
Anti-Bacterial Agents , Genes, Bacterial , Bacteria , Beijing , China , Drug Resistance, Microbial , Humans , Particulate MatterABSTRACT
Growing literature has documented varying toxic potencies of source- or site-specific fine particulate matter (PM2.5), as opposed to the practice that treats particle toxicities as independent of composition given the incomplete understanding of the toxicity of the constituents. Quantifying component-specific contribution is the key to unlocking the geographical disparities of particle toxicity from a mixture perspective. In this study, we performed integrated mixture-toxicity experiments and modeling to quantify the contribution of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), two default culprit component groups of PM2.5 toxicity, to in vitro oxidative stress caused by wintertime PM2.5 from Beijing and Guangzhou, two megacities in China. PM2.5 from Beijing exhibited greater toxic potencies at equal mass concentrations. The targeted chemical analysis revealed higher burden of metals and PAHs per unit mass of PM2.5 in Beijing. These chemicals together explained 38 and 24% on average of PM2.5-induced reactive oxygen species in Beijing and Guangzhou, respectively, while >60% of the effects remained to be resolved in terms of contributing chemicals. PAHs contributed approximately twice the share of the PM2.5 mixture effects as metals. Fe, Cu, and Mn were the dominant metals, constituting >80% of the metal-shared proportion of the PM2.5 effects. Dibenzo[ a, l]pyrene alone explained >65% of the PAH-shared proportion of the PM2.5 toxicity effects. The significant contribution from coal combustion and vehicular emissions in Beijing suggested the major source disparities of toxicologically active PAHs between the two cities. Our study provided novel quantitative insights into the role of varying toxic component profiles in shaping the differential toxic potencies of city-specific PM2.5 pollution.
Subject(s)
Air Pollutants , Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons , Beijing , China , Cities , Environmental Monitoring , Oxidative Stress , Particulate Matter , SeasonsABSTRACT
A novel magnetic solid phase extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography method was established to analyze polyaromatic hydrocarbons in environmental water samples. The extraction conditions, including the amount of extraction agent, extraction time, pH and the surface structure of the magnetic extraction agent, were optimized. The results showed that the amount of extraction agent and extraction time significantly influenced the extraction performance. The increase in the specific surface area, the enlargement of pore size, and the reduction of particle size could enhance the extraction performance of the magnetic microsphere. The optimized magnetic extraction agent possessed a high surface area of 1311 m(2) /g, a large pore size of 6-9 nm, and a small particle size of 6-9 µm. The limit of detection for phenanthrene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene in the developed analysis method was 3.2 and 10.5 ng/L, respectively. When applied to river water samples, the spiked recovery of phenanthrene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene ranged from 89.5-98.6% and 82.9-89.1%, respectively. Phenanthrene was detected over a concentration range of 89-117 ng/L in three water samples withdrawn from the midstream of the Huai River, and benzo[g,h,i]perylene was below the detection limit.
Subject(s)
Chromatography, Gas/methods , Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods , Dust , Polybrominated Biphenyls/analysis , Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons/analysis , Solid Phase Extraction/methods , Air Pollutants/analysis , Air Pollution, Indoor/analysis , Computers , Green Chemistry Technology , Liquid Phase Microextraction/methods , Magnetics , Reproducibility of Results , Solvents , Toluene/chemistryABSTRACT
Purpose: Accurate differentiation between early and late latent syphilis stages is pivotal for patient management and treatment strategies. Nontreponemal IgM antibodies have shown potential in discriminating latent syphilis staging by differentiating syphilis activity. This study aimed to develop a predictive nomogram model for latent syphilis staging based on nontreponemal IgM antibodies. Patients and Methods: We explored the correlation between nontreponemal IgM antibodies and latent syphilis staging and developed a nomogram model to predict latent syphilis staging based on 352 latent syphilis patients. Model performance was assessed using AUC, calibration curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow χ2 statistics, C-index, Brier score, decision curve analysis, and clinical impact curve. Additionally, an external validation set was used to further assess the model's stability. Results: Nontreponemal IgM antibodies correlated with latent syphilis staging. The constructed model demonstrated a strong discriminative capability with an AUC of 0.743. The calibration curve displayed a strong fit, key statistics including Hosmer-Lemeshow χ² at 2.440 (P=0.486), a C-index score of 0.743, and a Brier score of 0.054, all suggesting favorable model calibration performance. Decision curve analysis and clinical impact curve highlighted the model's robust clinical applicability. The external validation set yielded an AUC of 0.776, Hosmer-Lemeshow χ² statistics of 2.440 (P=0.486), a C-index score of 0.767, and a Brier score of 0.054, further underscored the reliability of the model. Conclusion: The nontreponemal IgM antibody-based predicted model could equip clinicians with a valuable tool for the precise staging of latent syphilis and enhancing clinical decision-making.
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Municipal wastewater treatment plays an indispensable role in enhancing water quality by eliminating contaminants. While the process is vital, its environmental footprint, especially in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, remains underexplored. Here we offer a comprehensive assessment of GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across China. Our analyses reveal an estimated 1.54 (0.92-2.65) × 104 Gg release of GHGs (CO2-eq) in 2020, with a dominant contribution from N2O emissions and electricity consumption. We can foresee a 60-65% reduction potential in GHG emissions with promising advancements in wastewater treatment, such as cutting-edge biological techniques, intelligent wastewater strategies, and a shift towards renewable energy sources.
ABSTRACT
Background: Nontreponemal and treponemal tests for analyzing cerebrospinal fluid to confirm the existence of neurosyphilis have been widely used, so we aim to evaluate and compare their performance on the cerebrospinal fluid in the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. Methods: We conducted a systematic literature search on five databases and utilized a bivariate random-effects model to perform the quantitative synthesis. Results: Nontreponemal tests demonstrated a pooled sensitivity of 0.77 (95% CI: 0.68-0.83), a pooled specificity of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.97-1.00), and a summary AUC of 0.97 (95% CI: 0.95-0.98). The pooled sensitivity, pooled specificity, and summary AUC of treponemal tests were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.90-0.98), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.67-0.94), and 0.97 (95% CI: 0.95-0.98), respectively. The pooled specificity of all nontreponemal tests varied minimally (ranging from 0.97 to 0.99), with TRUST (0.83) having a higher pooled sensitivity than VDRL (0.77) and RPR (0.73). Among all treponemal tests, EIA has outstanding diagnostic performance with a pooled sensitivity of 0.99 and a pooled specificity of 0.98. Conclusion: Nontreponemal tests exhibited a higher pooled specificity, and treponemal tests exhibited a higher pooled sensitivity in diagnosing neurosyphilis on cerebrospinal fluid. TRUST may be a satisfactory substitute for VDRL. EIA is a prospective diagnostic tool that deserves further study in the future. Our study may be useful to clinical laboratories in selecting appropriate serological tests on the cerebrospinal fluid for the diagnosis of neurosyphilis.
Subject(s)
Neurosyphilis , Treponema pallidum , Humans , Syphilis Serodiagnosis , Prospective Studies , Neurosyphilis/cerebrospinal fluid , Neurosyphilis/diagnosis , Data ManagementABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: We aim to determine if nasal samples have equivalent detection sensitivity to nasopharyngeal swabs for RAT and evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of nasal swabs with RAT. METHODS: PubMed and Web of Science were searched for eligible studies published before August 23, 2022. A bivariate random effects model was used to perform the quantitative synthesis. RESULTS: The pooled sensitivity, pooled specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and summary AUC on nasal swabs with RAT were 0.81 (95% CI, 0.77-0.85), 1.00 (95% CI: 0.99-1.00), 0.97 (95% CI, 0.95-0.98), 298.91 (95% CI, 144.71-617.42) and 0.19 (95% CI, 0.15-0.23), respectively. WHO required RAT kits to perform with a sensitivity of 0.80 and a specificity of 0.97, nasal swabs (0.81) achieved the required sensitivity while nasopharyngeal swabs (0.75) did not. The symptomatic population yielded higher pooled sensitivity than the asymptomatic population (0.86 versus 0.71), with a pooled sensitivity of 0.90 for five days of symptom onset. CONCLUSION: Nasal sampling had a great performance and yielded a high sensitivity in detecting SARS-CoV-2 using RAT, we believe that RAT performed with nasal swabs is a good alternative for detecting SARS-CoV-2, especially early in the onset of symptoms.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , COVID-19/diagnosis , SARS-CoV-2 , Immunologic Tests , NoseABSTRACT
Although phosphorus (P) recovery and management from sewage sludge are practiced in North America and Europe, such practices are not yet to be implemented in China. Here, we evaluated the environmental sustainability opportunity and socio-economic costs of recovering P from sewage sludge by replacing the current-day treatments (CT; sludge treatment and landfill) and P chemical fertilizer application (CF) in China using life cycle assessment and life cycle costing methods. Three potential P recovery scenarios (PR1âPR3: struvite, vivianite, and treated sludge) and corresponding current-day scenarios (CT1âCT3 and CF) were considered. Results indicated that PR1 and PR2 have smaller environmental impacts than the current-day scenarios, whereas PR3 has larger impacts in most categories. PR3 has the lowest net costs (sum of internal costs and benefits, 39.1-54.7 CNY per kg P), whereas PR2 has the lowest external costs (366.8 CNY per kg P). Societal costs for production and land use of 1 kg P by P recovery from sewage sludge (e.g., â¼527 CNY for PR1) are much higher than those of P chemical fertilizers (â¼20 CNY for CF). However, considering the costs in the current-day treatments (e.g., â¼524 CNY for CT1), societal costs of P recovery scenarios are close to or slightly lower than those of current-day scenarios. Among the three P recovery scenarios, we found that recovering struvite as P fertilizer has the highest societal feasibility. This study will provide valuable information for improved sewage sludge management and will help promote the sustainable supply of P in China.
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BACKGROUND: Wide brachial pulse pressure (PP) has been associated with cardiovascular events, while its population distribution and association with body composition were poorly characterized in large populations. METHODS: We evaluated the age and sex distributions of PP and its associations with body composition using baseline data from the China Kadoorie Biobank. A total of 434â200 participants without diagnosed hypertension were included in the analysis. Wide PP was defined as PP above 65âmmHg. Body composition variables, including BMI, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), and body fat percentage (BF%), were obtained from bioelectrical impedance analysis. RESULTS: Overall, 14.3% of the participants had wide PP. Older age was consistently associated with wider PP in women but only after the andropause stage in men. The independent associations of BMI with wide PP were stronger than other body composition measures. The adjusted differences (men/women, mmHg) in PP per standard deviation (SD) increase in BMI (1.55/1.47) were higher than other body composition (BF%: 0.32/0.64, waist circumference: 0.33/0.39; WHR: 0.49/0.42). In addition, sex differences were observed. In men, the per SD difference in PP was higher for FFMI than for FMI (0.91 vs. 0.67, P â<â0.05), whereas in women, it was higher for FMI than for FFMI (1.01 vs. 0.72, P â<â0.05). CONCLUSION: Our nationwide population-based study presented the sex-specific distribution of PP over age and identified differential associations of PP with fat and fat-free mass in men and women.
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SCOPE: Diet and gut microbiota are involved in blood pressure regulations, but few studies have focused on the constipation patients. The study seeks to identify differences in gut microbiota between hypertensive and normotensive subjects in constipation patients, analyzes the relationship between dietary patterns and blood pressure, and explores mediation effects of gut microbiota. METHODS AND RESULTS: Gut microbial genera and dietary information of 186 functional constipation participants are characterized by 16S rRNA sequencing and a food frequency questionnaire. The hypertensive subjects shows lower α-diversity and ß-diversity of gut microbiota than normotensive (p < 0.05) and 17 differential microbial genera. The dried-beans intake frequency inversely correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure after multivariate adjustment (r = -0.273, p-FDR < 0.01; r = -0.251, p-FDR = 0.026, respectively). Logistic regression indicates that the individuals often consumed dried-beans have a lower hypertension risk than those never consumed [OR = 0.137, 95% CI: (0.022, 0.689), p = 0.022]. A marginal mediating effect of the genus Monoglobus is observed for the association between high-fiber dietary pattern and hypertension. CONCLUSION: In patients with functional constipation, hypertension-related gut microbial differences are identified. Dried-beans intake is inversely associated with blood pressure, and a genus may potentially mediate the association between high-fiber dietary pattern and hypertension.