ZNF219, a novel transcriptional repressor, inhibits transcription of the prototype foamy virus by interacting with the viral LTR promoter.

Prototype foamy virus (PFV) is an ancient retrovirus that infects humans with persistent latent infections and non-pathogenic consequences. Lifelong latent PFV infections can be caused by restrictive factors in the host. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying host cell regulation during PFV infection are not fully understood. The aim of the study was to investigate whether a zinc finger protein (ZFP), ZNF219, as a transcription factor, can regulate the transcriptional activity of the viral promoter. Here, using transcriptome sequencing, we found that ZNF219, is downregulated in PFV infected cells and that ZNF219 suppresses viral replication by targeting the viral 5'LTR promoter region to repress its transcription. We also found that PFV infection induced abnormal expression of miRNAs targeting the ZNF219-3'UTR to downregulate ZNF219 expression. These findings indicated that ZNF219 may be a potent antiviral factor for suppressing PFV infection, and may shed light on the mechanism of virus-host interactions.

Opportunistic screening for osteoporosis using hydroxyapatite measurements of the vertebral by thorax dual-energy spectral CT in postmenopausal females.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of opportunistic screening for osteoporosis in postmenopausal females using the dual-energy CT(DECT)-derived hydroxyapatite (HAP) concentration and CT value of L1-vertebra. 239 consecutive postmenopausal female patients were enrolled and underwent both chest DECT and Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). According to the T-score of the 1st lumbar vertebra on DXA, patients were divided into the osteoporosis group (T [Formula: see text]- 2.5, n = 112) and non-osteoporosis group (T [Formula: see text] - 2.5, n = 127). The HAP values of the 1st lumbar vertebra were measured from the coronal-view HAP(Fat)-based material decomposition(MD) images, and CT values were measured on the 75 keV monochromatic image. The cutoff values of using HAP and CT value for diagnosing osteoporosis were obtained by drawing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Both HAP and CT value of the 1st lumbar vertebra had moderate-high correlation with bone-mineral-density measurement on DXA (HAP, r = 0.614; CT value, r = 0.625; all p < 0.01). The area-under-the-curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for diagnosing osteoporosis was 0.754, 0.714, 0.693, 0.68 and 0.752 using HAP (cutoff value: 142.05 mg/cm3) and 0.766, 0.741, 0.7, 0.685 and 0.754 using CT value (cutoff value: 132HU), respectively. HAP measurements on HAP(Fat)-based MD images in DECT could provide reasonably accurate BMD quantification for diagnosing osteoporosis in postmenopausal females. DECT prescribed for lung cancer screening could also provide opportunistic screening for osteoporosis, extending the clinical application of DECT without additional radiation to patients.

Zn (II)-imidazole derived metal azolate framework as an effective adsorbent for double coated solid-phase microextraction of sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Zn (II)-imidazole derived metal azolate framework materials were synthesized via rapid solvent reaction and developed as an effective adsorbent for solid-phase microextraction of trace sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from real samples prior to their determination by HPLC. The adsorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, X-ray diffractometry, Scanning electron microscopy, Thermal gravimetric analysis and Nitrogen adsorption-desorption. An orthogonal array design (OAD) was carried out to evaluate the variables affecting extraction efficiency. Under the optimum conditions, the proposed method showed low limits of detection (LOD, 0.006-0.54 µg L-1), wide linear ranges (0.02-2000 µg L-1), and good repeatability (the relative standard deviation (RSD) is 0.11%-4.93% for single fiber and 0.42%-7.36% for fiber-to-fiber). The spiked recoveries at two levels of 20.0, 50.0 µg L-1 were in the range of 76.5%-112.0% with the RSDs less than 8.3%. Compared with commercial fibers and other reported methods, the homemade fiber displayed excellent extraction capacity. The MAF-6 coating was stable over 120 successive cycles of extraction/desorption without significant loss of extraction efficiency. The method was successfully applied for the determination of sixteen PAHs in real samples.

Mesostructured cellular foam solid-phase microextraction coating for the highly sensitive recognition of polychlorinated biphenyls in water samples.

We herein presented a mesoporous cellular foam solid-phase microextraction coating that showed highly sensitive recognition for weakly polarity polychlorinated biphenyls in water samples. The mesoporous cellular foam coater fiber was for the first time prepared by a simple sol-gel method. The main experimental parameters including extraction temperature, extraction time, desorption time, stirring rate, and ionic strength were investigated by high-efficiency orthogonal array design, a L16 (44 ) matrix was applied for the identification of optimized extraction parameters, and the optimized method was successfully applied to the analysis of environmental water sample. The novel mesoporous cellular foam coated fibers exhibited sensitive limits of detection (0.07-0.28 µg/L), wide linearity (5-3000 µg/L), and good reproducibility (3.5-8.3% for single fiber, and 4.9-8.7% for fiber-to-fiber) for polychlorinated biphenyls. The home-made coating was successfully used in the analysis of polychlorinated biphenyls in real environmental water samples. These results indicate that the synthesized mesoporous cellular foams are promising materials for adsorption and separation applications in sample pretreatment.

Determination of six benzotriazole ultraviolet filters in water and cosmetic samples by graphene sponge-based solid-phase extraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography.

An approach for fabrication of graphene sponge (GS)-based solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) is proposed, which was applied to determine the six benzotriazole UV filters in water and cosmetic samples. Several extraction conditions including type of elution solvent, the volume of elution solvent, and salt effect were optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the GS-SPE-HPLC-UV method shows a low limit of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) of 0.02-0.08 µg L-1 for standard solution, limits of quantification (LOQ, S/N = 10) of 0.07-0.26 µg L-1 for standard solution, wide linear ranges from 20.0 to 1000 µg L-1 for all compounds for standard solution, correlation coefficients (r) of more than 0.999, except for 2-(2'-hydroxy-5'-methylphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-P), and acceptable reproducibility (relative standard deviations, RSDs < 6.5% for intra-day, RSDs < 8.1% for inter-day). The satisfactory recoveries were obtained in the range 89-105% with RSDs lower than 9.8% at the three spiked levels of 20, 50, and 100 µg L-1. Every home-made GS-SPE cartridge can be reused for more than 60 cycles. The method is facile, low-cost, rapid, sensitive, and suitable for the determination of UV filters in water and cosmetics samples. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

[Determination of six ultraviolet filters in cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with solid-phase extraction based on graphene sponge].

A method for the simultaneous determination of six UV filters in cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with solid-phase extraction (SPE) based on graphene sponge (GS) was established. The samples were extracted with methanol by ultrasonic, then cleaned up by home-made SPE cartridges and eluted with acetone. The six UV filters were separated on an Agilent Zorbax SB-C18 column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 5 µm). Methanol-water (95:5, v/v) was used as mobile phase and the detection wavelength was 340 nm. The results showed that the limits of detection (LODs, S/N=3) and the limits of quantification (LOQs, S/N=10) of the six UV filters were 0.08-1.82 µg/L and 0.26-6.07 µg/L, respectively. The correlation coefficients (r) were greater than 0.999 except 2-(2'-hydroxy-5'-methyl-phenyl) benzotriazole (r>0.997). The recoveries of the six UV filters were 61.1%-119.0%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 1% (n=6) at the three spiked levels of 20, 50 and 100 µg/L. The method is simple, rapid, sensitive and repeatable, and is suitable for the determination of the UV filters in cosmetics.

Magnetic Cu-MOFs embedded within graphene oxide nanocomposites for enhanced preconcentration of benzenoid-containing insecticides.

Hybrid magnetic nanocomposites based on Cu-MOFs, graphene oxide (GO), and Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared via chemical bonding approach, which GO were used as platforms to load nanostructured Cu-MOFs and Fe3O4 NPs. The composite features both magnetic separation characteristics and high MOFs porosity, making it an excellent adsorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). The as-synthesized nanocomposites are characterized by XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM, nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. The composites are used in MSPE of six aromatic insecticides from various real samples prior to their quantification by HPLC. Amount of adsorbent, extraction times, extraction temperature, desorption times and oscillation rate are optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the method has a relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 1.9-2.7%, and good linearity (correlation coefficients higher than 0.9931). The low LOD and LOQ for six insecticides are found to be 0.30-1.58µgL-1 and 1.0-5.2µgL-1, respectively. The RSDs of within batch extraction are 1.6-9.5% and 3.9-12% for batch to batch extraction. The experimental results suggest that the nanocomposites have potential application for removal of hazardous pollutants from effluents.