Potential electron acceptors for ammonium oxidation in wastewater treatment system under anoxic condition: A review.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation has been considered as an environmental-friendly and energy-efficient biological nitrogen removal (BNR) technology. Recently, new reaction pathway for ammonium oxidation under anaerobic condition had been discovered. In addition to nitrite, iron trivalent, sulfate, manganese and electrons from electrode might be potential electron acceptors for ammonium oxidation, which can be coupled to traditional BNR process for wastewater treatment. In this paper, the pathway and mechanism for ammonium oxidation with various electron acceptors under anaerobic condition is studied comprehensively, and the research progress of potentially functional microbes is summarized. The potential application of various electron acceptors for ammonium oxidation in wastewater is addressed, and the N2O emission during nitrogen removal is also discussed, which was important greenhouse gas for global climate change. The problems remained unclear for ammonium oxidation by multi-electron acceptors and potential interactions are also discussed in this review.

Mechanisms underlying the combination effect of arsenite and high-fat diet on aggravating liver injury in mice.

Arsenic (As) is a highly toxic metalloid that can be found in insufficiently purified drinking water and exerts adverse effects on the physiology of living organisms that can negatively affect human health after subchronic exposure, causing several diseases, such as liver damage. A high-fat diet, which is increasing in frequency worldwide, can aggravate hepatic pathology. However, the mechanisms behind liver injury caused by the combinatory effects of As exposure and a high-fat diet remain unclear. In this study, we investigated such underlying mechanisms by focusing on three different aspects: As biotransformation, pathological liver damage, and differential expression of signaling pathway components. We employed mice that were fed a regular diet or a high-fat diet and exposed them to a range of arsenite concentrations (As(III), 0.05-50 mg/L) for 12 weeks. Our results showed that a high-fat diet increased the absorption of As into the liver and enhanced liver toxicity, which became progressively more severe as the As concentration increased. Co-exposure to a high-fat diet and As(III) activated PI3K/AKT and PPAR signaling as well as fatty acid metabolism pathways. In addition, the expression of proteins related to lipid cell function, lipid metabolism, and the regulation of body weight was also affected. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms that contribute to liver injury from subchronic combinatory exposure to As and a high-fat diet and showcases the importance of a healthy lifestyle, which may be of particular benefit to people living in areas with high As(III) concentrations, as a means to reduce or prevent aggravated liver damage.

Estimation of potential wildfire behavior characteristics to assess wildfire danger in southwest China using deep learning schemes.

Accurate estimation of potential wildfire behavior characteristics (PWBC) can improve wildfire danger assessment. However, wildfire behavior has been estimated by most fire spread models with immeasurable uncertainties and difficulties in large-scale applications. In this study, a PWBC estimation model (named PWBC-QR-BiLSTM) was proposed by coupling the Bi-directional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) and quantile regression (QR) methods. Multi-source data, including fuel, weather, topography, infrastructure, and landscape variables, were input into the PWBC-QR-BiLSTM model to estimate the potential rate of spread (ROS) and fire radiative power (FRP) over western Sichuan of China, and then to estimate the probability density of ROS and FRP. Daily ROS and FRP were extracted from the Global Fire Atlas and the MOD14A1/MYD14A1 product. The optimal PWBC-QR-BiLSTM model was determined using the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm Ⅱ (NAGA-Ⅱ). Results showed that the PWBC-QR-BiLSTM performed well in estimating potential ROS and FRP with high accuracy (ROS: R2 > 0.7 and MAPE<30%, FRP: R2 > 0.8 and MAPE<25%). The modal PWBC values extracted from the estimated probability density were closer to the observed values, which can be regarded as a good indicator for wildfire danger assessment. The variable importance analysis also verified that fuel and infrastructure variables played an important role in driving wildfire behavior. This study suggests the potential of utilizing artificial intelligence to estimate PWBC and its probability density to improve the guidance on wildfire management.

Nomogram for predicting the risk of preterm birth in women undergoing in vitro fertilization cycles.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to develop a nomogram for predicting the risk of preterm birth in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycles. METHODS: A retrospective study of 4266 live birth cycles collected from January 2016 to October 2021 at the Center for Reproductive Medicine, First Hospital of Jilin University was performed. The sample size was sufficient based on the minimal ten events per variable (EPV) rule. The primary outcome of this study was preterm birth. The cycles were divided into the preterm birth group (n = 827) and the full-term delivery group (n = 3439). A nomogram was established based on the multivariate logistic regression analysis results. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to assess the prediction accuracy of the nomogram model. The calibration curve was used to measure the calibration of the nomogram. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that female obesity or overweight (OR = 1.366, 95% CI: 1.111-1.679; OR = 1.537, 95% CI: 1.030-2.292), antral follicle count (AFC) of more than 24 (OR = 1.378, 95% CI: 1.035-1.836), multiple pregnancies (OR = 6.748, 95% CI: 5.559-8.190), gestational hypertension (OR = 9.662, 95% CI: 6.632-14.078) and gestational diabetes (OR = 4.650, 95% CI: 2.289-9.445) were the independent risk factors for preterm birth in IVF patients. The area under curve (AUC) under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve in the prediction model was 0.781(95%CI: 0.763-0.799). The calibration curve of the nomogram showed that the prediction model had a good calibration. CONCLUSIONS: We used five risk factors to conduct a nomogram to predict preterm birth rates for patients undergoing IVF cycles. This nomogram can provide a visual assessment of the risk of preterm birth for clinical consultation.

Real-Time Forest Fire Detection by Ensemble Lightweight YOLOX-L and Defogging Method.

Forest fires can destroy forest and inflict great damage to the ecosystem. Fortunately, forest fire detection with video has achieved remarkable results in enabling timely and accurate fire warnings. However, the traditional forest fire detection method relies heavily on artificially designed features; CNN-based methods require a large number of parameters. In addition, forest fire detection is easily disturbed by fog. To solve these issues, a lightweight YOLOX-L and defogging algorithm-based forest fire detection method, GXLD, is proposed. GXLD uses the dark channel prior to defog the image to obtain a fog-free image. After the lightweight improvement of YOLOX-L by GhostNet, depth separable convolution, and SENet, we obtain the YOLOX-L-Light and use it to detect the forest fire in the fog-free image. To evaluate the performance of YOLOX-L-Light and GXLD, mean average precision (mAP) was used to evaluate the detection accuracy, and network parameters were used to evaluate the lightweight effect. Experiments on our forest fire dataset show that the number of the parameters of YOLOX-L-Light decreased by 92.6%, and the mAP increased by 1.96%. The mAP of GXLD is 87.47%, which is 2.46% higher than that of YOLOX-L; and the average fps of GXLD is 26.33 when the input image size is 1280 × 720. Even in a foggy environment, the GXLD can detect a forest fire in real time with a high accuracy, target confidence, and target integrity. This research proposes a lightweight forest fire detection method (GXLD) with fog removal. Therefore, GXLD can detect a forest fire with a high accuracy in real time. The proposed GXLD has the advantages of defogging, a high target confidence, and a high target integrity, which makes it more suitable for the development of a modern forest fire video detection system.

Research progress of metal organic frameworks and their derivatives for adsorption of anions in water: A review.

Anion pollution in water has become a problem that cannot be ignored. The anion concentration should be controlled below the national emission standard to meet the demand for clean water. Among the methods for removing excess anions in water, the adsorption method has a unique removal performance, and the core of the adsorption method is the adsorbent. In recent years, the emerging metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have the advantages of adjustable porosity, high specific surface area, diverse functions, and easy modification. They are very competitive in the field of adsorption of liquid anions. This article focuses on the adsorption of fluoride, arsenate, chromate, radioactive anions (ReO4-, TcO4-, SeO42-/SeO32-), phosphate ion, chloride ion, and other anions by MOFs and their derivatives. The preparation methods of MOFs are introduced in turn, the application of different types of metal-based MOFs to adsorb various anions were discussed in categories with their crystal structure and functional groups. The influence on the adsorption of anions is analyzed, including the more common and special adsorption mechanisms, adsorption kinetics and thermodynamics, and regeneration performance are briefly described. Finally, the current situation of MOFs adsorption of anions is summarized, and the outlook for future development is summarized to provide my own opinions for the practical application of MOFs.

Cu-doped CaFeO3 perovskite oxide as oxygen reduction catalyst in air cathode microbial fuel cells.

Cathode electrocatalyst is quite critical to realize the application of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Perovskite oxides have been considered as potential MFCs cathode catalysts to replace Pt/C. Herein, Cu-doped perovskite oxide with a stable porous structure and excellent conductivity was successfully prepared through a sol-gel method. Due to the incorporation of Cu, CaFe0.9Cu0.1O3 has more micropores and a larger surface area, which are more conducive to contact with oxygen. Doping Cu resulted in more Fe3+ in B-site and thus enhanced its binding capability to oxygen molecules. The data from electrochemical test demonstrated that the as-prepared catalyst has good conductivity, high stability, and excellent ORR properties. Compared with Pt/C catalyst, CaFe0.9Cu0.1O3 exhibits a lower overpotential, which had an onset potential of 0.195 V and a half-wave potential of -0.224 V, respectively. CaFe0.9Cu0.1O3 displays an outstanding four-electron pathway for ORR mechanism and demonstrates superiors corrosion resistance and stability. The MFC with CaFe0.9Cu0.1O3 has a greater maximum power density (1090 mW m-3) rather than that of Pt/C cathode (970 mW m-3). This work demonstrated CaFe0.9Cu0.1O3 is an economic and efficient cathodic catalyst for MFCs.

Incidence and risk factors for early pregnancy loss in women with first pregnancy undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the incidence and influencing factors for early pregnancy loss (EPL) in infertility patients with first pregnancy undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) embryo transfer cycles in Jilin province, China. METHODS: A retrospective study of 2709 first pregnancy embryo transfer cycles collected from January 2016 to January 2021 was performed. The cycles were divided into the EPL group (n = 411) and the live birth group (n = 2298) according to the cycle outcomes. RESULTS: The EPL rate of the first-time pregnancies for infertility patients undergoing fresh/frozen-thaw embryo transfer cycle was 14.1%. Female patients aged 40 and older had increased odds of EPL compared to those under 35 (OR = 3.97, 95%CI: 2.80-7.55). Female patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or greater were more likely to have EPLs than those in the normal BMI range (OR = 1.32, 95%CI: 1.03-1.70). The odds of EPL after frozen-thaw embryo transfer were higher than those after fresh embryo transfer (OR = 1.59, 95%CI: 1.11-2.27). A thin endometrium on the day of embryo transfer increased the odds of EPL (OR = 1.84, 95%CI: 1.01-3.33). Transferring more than two embryos had lower odds of EPL than single-embryo transfer (OR = 0.67, 95%CI: 0.50-0.90). Compared with other infertility diagnoses, tubal factor alone was associated with lower odds of EPL (OR = 0.72, 95%CI: 0.53-0.98). CONCLUSIONS: The risk factors for EPL were age 40 and older, obesity, frozen-thaw cycle, thin endometrium, and non-isolated tubal factor.

Progress in Electrohydrodynamic Atomization Preparation of Energetic Materials with Controlled Microstructures.

Constructing ingenious microstructures, such as core-shell, laminate, microcapsule and porous microstructures, is an efficient strategy for tuning the combustion behaviors and thermal stability of energetic materials (EMs). Electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA), which includes electrospray and electrospinning, is a facile and versatile technique that can be used to process bulk materials into particles, fibers, films and three-dimensional (3D) structures with nanoscale feature sizes. However, the application of EHDA in preparing EMs is still in its initial development. This review summarizes the progress of research on EMs prepared by EHDA over the last decade. The morphology and internal structure of the produced materials can be easily altered by varying the operation and precursor parameters. The prepared EMs composed of zero-dimensional (0D) particles, one-dimensional (1D) fibers and two-dimensional (2D) films possess precise microstructures with large surface areas, uniformly dispersed components and narrow size distributions and show superior energy release rates and combustion performances. We also explore the reasons why the fabrication of 3D EM structures by EHDA is still lacking. Finally, we discuss development challenges that impede this field from moving out of the laboratory and into practical application.

Clinical Application of Chromosomal Microarray Analysis in Pregnant Women with Advanced Maternal Age and Fetuses with Ultrasonographic Soft Markers.

BACKGROUND In pregnant women with advanced maternal age (AMA) and fetuses with ultrasonographic (USG) soft markers it is always challenging to decide whether to implement chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) or not. It is unclear whether CMA should be used in the fetuses with isolated USG soft markers, and there is still a lack of extensive sample research. MATERIAL AND METHODS We enrolled 1521 cases in our research and divided them into 3 groups as follows: pregnant women with isolated AMA (group 1, n=633), pregnant women whose fetuses had isolated USG soft markers (group 2, n=750), and pregnant women with AMA whose fetuses had isolated USG soft markers (group 3, n=138). All pregnant women underwent prenatal ultrasound and amniocentesis, and fetal cells in the amniotic fluid were used for genetic analysis of CMA. All participants signed a written informed consent prior to CMA. RESULTS Abnormal findings were detected by CMA in 330 (21.70%) fetuses, including 37 (2.43%) clinically significant copy number variations (CNVs), 52 (3.42%) benign or likely benign CNVs, and 240 (15.78%) variants of unknown significance. The frequency of clinically significant CNVs in group 1 and group 2 were significantly lower than that in group 3 (2.37% and 2.0% vs 5.07%, P<0.01). More than a half (59.46%, 22/37) of the pregnant women decided to continue their pregnancy despite having a fetus diagnosed with clinically significant CNV. CONCLUSIONS CMA can increase the diagnostic yield of fetal chromosomal abnormality for pregnant women with isolated AMA or/and their fetuses had isolated USG soft markers.

Ultrasonographic findings and prenatal diagnosis of complete trisomy 17p syndrome: A case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Trisomy of the short arm of chromosome 17 is a rare genomic disorder. The clinical features of complete trisomy 17p syndrome have been described. Most cases of this syndrome have been found in infants and children, but only a few cases were found by ultrasound in the prenatal period. METHODS: We report a case of complete trisomy 17p syndrome, which was inherited from paternal balanced translocation t(15;17)(q11.2;q11.2). A pregnant woman underwent an ultrasound examination at 24 weeks of gestation. Amniotic fluid was collected by amniocentesis. Cytogenetic and single nucleotide polymorphism array analyses were performed. We further reviewed the relationship between duplication regions and the clinical phenotype. RESULTS: Ultrasonographic evaluation showed intrauterine growth retardation and a right choroid plexus cyst, but the gallbladder was not observed. The fetal karyotype was 46,XX,der(17)t(15;17)(q11.2;q11.2)pat. The father's karyotype was 46,XY,t(15;17)(q11.2;q11.2). The single nucleotide polymorphism array results showed arr[GRCh37] 17p13.3q11.1(525-25309337)×3, which indicated a 25.309-Mb duplication. CONCLUSION: Complete trisomy 17p syndrome shows severe malformations. Intrauterine growth retardation is the most typical manifestation of this syndrome as shown by ultrasonography in the second trimester of pregnancy. The genotype-phenotype relationships of complete trisomy 17p syndrome are not completely consistent. To further determine these relationships, additional cases are necessary to provide more information from ultrasonographic findings during pregnancy.

Molecular cytogenetic studies of a male carrier with a unique (Y;14) translocation: Case report.

BACKGROUND: Chromosome translocation is a genetic factor associated with male infertility. However, cases of Y chromosome/autosome translocation are rare. Individuals with translocation between the Y chromosome and an autosome have a variety of different clinical phenotypes. There is a need for further study of molecular cytogenetic feature of those with Y chromosome translocation. METHODS: We reported that an apparently healthy 31-year-old man, 168 cm tall and weighing 65 kg, had a 2-year history of primary infertility after marriage. Clinical diagnostic techniques included semen analysis, hormone measurements, cytogenetic analysis, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and high-throughput multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification semiconductor sequencing. Detailed genetic counseling was provided to the patient. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment combined with preimplantation genetic diagnosis was chosen with the aim of achieving a successful pregnancy. RESULTS: Semen analysis revealed cryptozoospermia. Hormone levels were within the normal limits. Sequencing results indicated the presence of the sex-determining region on Yp, and AZFa, AZFb, and AZFc regions on Yq. The patient's karyotype was 45,X,psu,dic(Y;14)(p11.3;q11.2), which was confirmed by cytogenetic analysis and FISH. CONCLUSION: This study reports a case of cryptozoospermia in a male patient with a Y;14 chromosomal translocation. When clinical karyotyping has revealed potential Y chromosome abnormality, FISH or molecular detection should be further performed to facilitate identification of the chromosomal breakpoint.

Y chromosome structural variation in infertile men detected by targeted next-generation sequencing.

PURPOSE: To provide a validated method to identify copy number variation (CNV) in regions of the Y chromosome of infertile men by next-generation sequencing (NGS). METHODS: Semen analysis was used to determine the quality of semen and diagnose infertility. Deletion of the azoospermia factor (AZF) region in the Y chromosome was detected by a routine sequence-tagged-site PCR (STS-PCR) method. We then used the NGS method to detect CNV in the AZF region, including deletions and duplications. RESULTS: A total of 326 samples from male infertility patients, family members, and sperm donors were studied between January 2011 and May 2017. AZF microdeletions were detected in 120 patients by STS-PCR, and these results were consistent with the results from NGS. In addition, of the 160 patients and male family members who had no microdeletions detected by STS-PCR, 51 cases were found to exhibit Y chromosome structural variations by the NGS method (31.88%, 51/160). No microdeletions were found in 46 donors by STS-PCR, but the NGS method revealed 11 of these donors (23.91%, 11/46) carried structural variations, which were mainly in the AZFc region, including partial deletions and duplications. CONCLUSION: The established NGS method can replace the conventional STS-PCR method to detect Y chromosome microdeletions. The NGS method can detect CNV, such as partial deletion or duplication, and provide details of the abnormal range and size of variations.

Enhanced reduction of sulfate and chromium under sulfate-reducing condition by synergism between extracellular polymeric substances and graphene oxide.

Microbial reduction of sulfate and metal were simultaneously enhanced in the presence of graphene oxide (GO)-like nanomaterials, however, the mechanism remained unclear. In this study, bio-reduction of Cr was compared between free-living bacterium BY7 and immobilized BY7 (BY-rGO) on reduced GO particles. The role of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and rGO material on reduction of sulfate and Cr was investigated. Cr(VI) was reduced to Cr(III) and elemental Cr by BY-rGO particles up to 51% and 28%, respectively. EPS produced by the bacterium BY7 mainly consisted of proteins, polysaccharides, nucleic acids and humic substances. Concentration of EPS was sharply increased (about 54%) with the addition of graphene oxide, while the composition of EPS components was strongly affected by the exposure to Cr. By removing surface EPS without breaking the cells, reduction activities of sulfate and chromium by both BY-rGO particles and free-living BY7 cells were decreased. In contrast, reduction of sulfate and Cr by the free-living BY7 cells was enhanced with external addition of extracted EPS. Based on electrochemical analysis, the reduction peak indicating enhanced electron transfer was lost after removing EPS. Moreover, the contribution of each EPS fractions on sulfate and Cr reduction followed an order of polysaccharides > proteins > humic substances. Therefore, microbial sulfate and Cr reduction processes in the presence of BY-rGO particles were enhanced by the increasing amounts of EPS, which likely mediated electron transfer during sulfate and Cr reduction, and relieved bacteria from metal toxicity. Nevertheless, the presence of rGO was crucially important for elemental Cr production under sulfate-reducing condition, which might contribute to lowering electric potential or reducing activation energy for Cr(III) reduction. This work provided direct evidences for enhancing sulfate and Cr reduction activities by supplement of EPS as an additive to increase treatment efficiency in environmental bioremediation.

Associated factors of secondary sex ratio of offspring in assisted reproductive technology: a cross-sectional study in Jilin Province, China.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the secondary sex ratio (SSR) of offspring in assisted reproduction technology (ART) in Jilin Province, China, and to analyse the influencing factors associated with SSR. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of 3833 babies including singletons and twins born to 2990 couples treated by ART between May 2011 and December 2018 was performed. RESULTS: The main outcomes of this study were that the SSR of ART babies in Jilin Province was 50.64% and the SSR was associated with fertilization methods (p < 0.05). Comparing to in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) (OR = 0.808, 95%CI: 0.681-0.958) decreased the percentage of male babies. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the SSR of ART births in Jilin Province was lower than the normal level and ICSI had a significant effect on SSR. Though we need more samples to study in the future, we still need to think about the impact of ICSI on SSR in ART.

Prenatal diagnosis of a de novo tetrasomy 15q24.3-25.3: Case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Terminal duplication on chromosome 15q is a rare chromosomal variation. Affected individuals show similar features such as growth dysplasia or the development of frontal bossing, body deformities, facial abnormalities, and genitourinary or cardiovascular disorders. However, it is not yet clear whether such 15q repeats lead to identifiable patterns of clinical abnormalities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the prenatal diagnostic results and clinical manifestations of a fetus with 15q duplication and to summarize the literature. METHODS: The case was a fetus at 28 weeks of gestation. The risk of Down syndrome from second-trimester screening was 1/140. Prenatal ultrasound and amniocentesis were performed, and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) was used for genetic analysis. RESULTS: The fetus had abnormal clinical features, including intracardiac echogenic focus in the left ventricle, an aberrant right subclavian artery, and growth delay. The fetal chromosomal karyotype was 46,XX,15q?,12q?,21pstk+, and CMA revealed a 10.163 Mb duplication at 15q24.3-q25.3. The couple chose to terminate the pregnancy after careful consideration. CONCLUSIONS: The combination and rational application of cytogenetics technology and molecular genetics technology such as CMA will open up the field of clinical application and provide useful genetic counseling for parents of fetuses carrying such chromosomal duplications.

Identification of KISS1R gene mutations in disorders of non-obstructive azoospermia in the northeast population of China.

BACKGROUND: Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), a serious phenotype of male spermatogenesis failure, is a multifactorial disease which is regulated by genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Some gene structural variants have been demonstrated to be related to NOA. Loss-of-function mutations of KISS1R cause normosmic idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) which result in azoospermia at the pre-testicular level. The objective of this research was to investigate genetic variants of KISS1R in NOA patients. METHODS: The entire coding region of 52 spermatogenesis-associated genes (KISS1R included) was sequenced from 200 NOA patients. Mutation screening was performed to identify genetic variations of these genes by targeted exome sequencing. Sequencing data analysis was carried out by a series of bioinformatics tools. Candidate variants confirmation was performed by Sanger sequencing. Functional analysis of candidate variants was evaluated using SIFT and PolyPhen-2. RESULTS: Three heterozygous missense variants in KISS1R were identified in three patients, respectively. No deleterious variations in other candidate genes were found in the three patients. Two of these three variants, p.A211T and p.G186E, had been reported in the ExAC and dbSNP database, respectively, while the other variant p.A301D was novel. These variants were all predicted to be likely pathogenic by in silico analysis. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed three heterozygous missense variants in KISS1R which expanded the mutation spectrum of KISS1R in infertile men with NOA in the northeast of China.

Heterostructured Bi2O2CO3/rGO/PDA photocatalysts with superior activity for organic pollutant degradation: Structural characterization, reaction mechanism and economic assessment.

Compared with conventional methods for organic pollutant degradation, photocatalysis is a promising treatment technology with broad application prospects. Bi2O2CO3 is often used for organic pollutants degradation but greatly restricted by having drawbacks of large band gap and high electron-hole recombination rate. Herein, heterostructured Bi2O2CO3 (BOC)/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/polydopamine (PDA) (BGP) photocatalysts were first designed through a green chemical method. By incorporating rGO and PDA in BOC, the kinetic constant of BGP to catalytically degrade methyl orange (MO) was significantly increased; over fourfold elevated rather than that of BOC (kapp/BOC = 0.0019, kapp/BGP = 0.0089) due to the high electron transfer capability of rGO and superior adhesive force and semiconducting properties of PDA. DRS and photoelectrochemical results confirmed the improvement of the light absorption range and charge transfer capability because of the synergistic effect of rGO and PDA. Results of trapping experiment and ESR unraveled the catalytic mechanism that both holes (h+) and superoxide radicals (•O2-) were the main oxidative species for MO degradation. Economic assessment results demonstrated that Bi2O2CO3/rGO/PDA heterojunctions have great potentials in the field of organic wastewater purification. This study developed a low-cost and highly efficient BGP material and provided a deep understanding of the structure-performance relationships of materials for organic pollutant degradation.

Two-Generation Transmission of Trisomy 18p: Prenatal Diagnosis in a Woman with Mild Intellectual Disability.

Trisomy 18p is a rarely observed chromosomal aberration. Only 31 cases have previously been described in the literature. Trisomy 18p is associated with mild to moderate phenotypic anomalies and intellectual disability. Here, we report on a pregnant woman in whom noninvasive prenatal testing indicated a high risk of fetal trisomy 18. Prenatal diagnosis and karyotyping of the parents were performed and demonstrated that both the mother and the fetus had a derivative chromosome 15 with a segment of unknown origin. Chromosomal microarray analysis and FISH revealed a 14.9-Mb duplication of 18p and detected 3 centromeres of chromosome 18. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting trisomy 18p due to an unbalanced translocation of 18p onto chromosome 15q showing 2-generation transmission. The results suggest that trisomy 18p can be considered a euchromatic variant.

Prenatal detection of interstitial 18p11.31-p11.22 microduplications: Phenotypic diversity and literature review.

INTRODUCTION: Pure duplication of chromosome 18p is rare, with clinical phenotypes ranging from normal or slight abnormalities to various degrees of mental retardation. It remains difficult to establish a clear genotype-phenotype correlation. METHODS: Chromosomal karyotyping analysis was performed on cultured amniotic fluid cells from three cases. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array analysis was carried out using the Illumina Human CytoSNP-12 BeadChip. We also carried out a review of the literature regarding 18p11 microduplication. RESULTS: G-banding analysis showed that the three cases had normal karyotypes. SNP array results showed 0.48- to 1.6-Mb microduplications of 18p11.31-p11.22 (chr18: 6995739-8713088) in these cases, encompassing different degrees of LAMA1 duplication. Follow-up analysis showed that the parents of both cases 1 and 2 chose termination of pregnancy. Case 3 presented with normal growth and physical development. Currently, there is not enough evidence supporting the pathogenicity of LAMA1 triplosensitivity. CONCLUSION: We described three prenatal cases with 18p11.31-p11.22 microduplications involving part of the LAMA1 locus. There might be phenotypic diversity associated with 18p11.31-p11.22 microduplications. To avoid unnecessary abortions for pregnancies such as these, comprehensive genetic counseling should be offered.