[Investigation on profile self-perception of lower anterior facial height by patients seeking orthodontic treatment].

PURPOSE: To investigate the profile self-perception of lower anterior facial height(LAFH) by patients seeking orthodontic treatment, and explore the influencial factors. METHODS: Profile photographs of two Chinese adults (one female and one male with normal profiles) were digitized to create two baseline templates. Changes in middle anterior facial height / lower anterior facial height ratio were made on the templates by altering lower anterior facial height from 0.5 to 1.5 in 0.1 increments. An electronic questionnaire survey was conducted among patients who met the sample criteria. They were asked to choose one from various photos that most resembled their own profile. Then profile photos of patients were taken and measured. Differences between self-perception profile and actual profile were compared using paired t test. Statistical analysis was employed for comparison between different age, genders, profile concerns, education backgrounds, orthodontic histories, marital status and facial types with SPSS 17.0 software package. RESULTS: Two hundred and twenty-six subjects (average age 19.2±6.0 years; 79 men, 147 women) were interviewed in this survey. The ratio of self-perception profile by the patients was lower than actual. Difference was significant between patients' actual profile and self-perception profile(P<0.01).Among the seven factors，profile concerns（P<0.01） and orthodontic history (P=0.002) were significantly correlated with profile self-perception of lower anterior facial height by the patients． CONCLUSIONS: There is a cognitive bias in profile self-perception of lower anterior facial height by patients seeking orthodontic treatment. The patients' self-perception of lower anterior facial height is influenced by profile concerns and orthodontic history, not by age, sex, education backgrounds, marital status and facial types.

[Molecular Research of Acid-Generating Microbial Communities in Abandoned Ores in the Waste Dump of an Iron Mine in Anhui Province].

The waste dump of an iron mine in Anhui Province has been abandoned for several decades. Pyrite in the exposed waste ores is oxidized by acidophiles and large amounts of metal ions and H2SO4 are released, resulting in the formation of an acid mine drainage (AMD) lake since 1970s. Besides the lake, there are also some small-scale AMD adjacent to the newly deposited waste ore. In order to study the acid generation potential of the waste ore and the related microbial communities, soil samples were taken from beside the AMD lake (1LL) and small-scale AMD (5J, 5Y, 6-1, 6-2, 6-3) and the physicochemical properties and microbial community of these samples were analyzed. The results reveal that all of samples were highly acidic and the pH of the 1LL sample was 2.77, while the other samples were even more acidic, at less than 2.6. The electrical conductivity (EC) (0.32 mS·cm-1) of the 1LL sample was obviously lower than the other samples (2.25-7.08 mS·cm-1), which indicates that the newly deposited waste ore contains higher ion concentrations. The Fe2+ concentration of the 1LL sample was only 0.80 mg·kg-1 but the other five samples were as high as 2.91-33.40 mg·kg-1. This suggests that most of the Fe2+ in the 1LL sample has been converted to Fe3+ after long-term oxidization. High-throughput sequencing results showed that most acidophiles in 1LL sample were Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi but the microbes in the remaining five samples were γ-Proteobacteria, Firmicutes and Nitrospira. The iron-sulfur oxidizing bacteria, such as Sulfobacillus, Leptospirillum, Acidithiobacillus, were scarce in the 1LL sample, while they highly abundant in the other five samples, which proves that the acid-generation process of the newly deposited waste ore is strong. However, the reduced iron and sulfur in the 1LL sample has nearly been depleted. Statistical analysis shows that the microbial composition of the 1LL sample is significantly different to that of the five newly deposited samples, illustrating that microbial community composition is remarkably influenced by physicochemical conditions.

[Microbial diversity and ammonia-oxidizing microorganism of a soil sample near an acid mine drainage lake].

The main physicochemical parameters of the soil sample which was collected near an acid mine drainage reservoir in Anhui province was analyzed. The microbial diversity and community structure was studied through the construction of bacteria and archaea 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and ammonia monooxygenase gene clone library of archaea. The functional groups which were responsible for the process of ammonia oxidation were also discussed. The results indicated that the soil sample had extreme low pH value (pH < 3) and high ions concentration, which was influenced by the acid mine drainage (AMD). All the 16S rRNA gene sequences of bacteria clone library fell into 11 phyla, and Acidobacteria played the most significant role in the ecosystem followed by Verrucomicrobia. A great number of acidophilic bacteria existed in the soil sample, such as Candidatus Koribacter versatilis and Holophaga sp.. The archaea clone library consisted of 2 phyla (Thaumarchaeota and Euryarchaeota). The abundance of Thaumarchaeota was remarkably higher than Euryarchaeota. The ammonia oxidation in the soil environment was probably driven by ammonia-oxidizing archaea, and new species of ammonia-oxidizing archaea existed in the soil sample.

[Microeukaryotic biodiversity in the waste ore samples surrounding an acid mine drainage lake].

The abandoned mineral samples were collected in an acid mine drainage area in Anhui Province. Molecular ecological methods were used to construct 18S rDNA clone libraries after analyzing the main physicochemical parameters, and then the microeukaryotic diversity and community structure in the acid mine drainage area were studied. The results showed that the region was strongly acidic (pH <3), and the concentrations of Fe, SO2-(4), P, NO-(3) -N showed the same trend, all higher in the bare waste ore samples PD and 1 M than in the vegetation covered samples LW and XC. Four eukaryotic phyla were detected in the abandoned mineral samples: Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Glomeromycota and Arthropoda. Glomeromycota can form an absolute symbiotic relationship with the plant, and it was a key factor for early plant to adapt the terrestrial environment. The biodiversity of the vegetation covered samples LW and XC, which contained Glomeromycota, was much higher than that of the bare abandoned rock samples PD and 1 M. Moreover, many sequences in the libraries were closely related to some isolated strains, which are tolerant to low pH and heavy metals, such as Penicillium purpurogenum, Chaetothyriales sp. and Staninwardia suttonii.

[Degradation kinetics of naphthalene by anaerobic sludge and analysis of the bacterial biodiversity].

For efficient biological treatment of naphthalene in the industrial wastewater, activated anaerobic sludge was collected from a wastewater treatment plant of petroleum industry, and domesticated with naphthalene, naphthalene and lactate as electron donors, respectively. When the removal efficiency of naphthalene reached more than 90% in a domestication cycle, degradation kinetics were investigated in batch reactions with naphthalene, naphthalene and lactate as electron donors, respectively. Meanwhile, the microbial DNA was extracted from the sludge with high naphthalene removal efficiency, the 16S rDNA clone library was built up, and the bacterial community was analyzed. The results indicated that the degradation rate of naphthalene in reaction with naphthalene as the sole electron donor was much lower than that with naphthalene and lactate as electron donors. In both domestication modes, the naphthalene concentration and the time followed the first order reaction kinetics model and the kinetic constant K were 3.5 x 10(-3) h(-1) and 16 x 10(-3) h(-1), respectively. In addition, phylogenetic analysis indicated that the bacterial communities in naphthalene and lactate co-metabolism sludge were mainly composed of Deltaproteobacteria, Thermotogae, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi and Unclassified bacteria. Deltaproteobacteria was the main phylum in the sludge. In mature anaerobic activated sludge, Desulfobulbus sp. and Kosmotoga accounted for 24.2% and 21.0%, respectively. Smithella, Syntrophobacter and Levilinea were also found in the bioreactor. The study of the bacteria diversity in the anaerobic sludge is conducive to the optimization of reaction conditions for efficient removal of naphthalene.

[Experimental study of autotrophic denitrification bacteria through bioaugmentation of activated sludge from municipal wastewater plant].

Activated sludge of municipal wastewater treatment plant was domesticated by sulfur as the electron donor under autotrophic. The sludge activity was determined by measuring growth rate of sludge. The removal efficiency of nitrate and sulfate production efficiency were analyzed by continuously measuring the concentration of NO3(-)-N and SO4(2-). When the removal efficiency of nitrate was more than 90%, 16S rRNA genetic libraries were built up to compare their microbial biodiversity. The growth rate of sludge is 0.177 g/(L x d). The relation between concentration of nitrate and time meets first order reaction kinetics. The bacteria in the sludge affiliated with Beta-Proteobacteria, Deta-Proteobacteria, Gamma-Proteobacteria and Unclassified bacteria. Beta-Proteobacteria is the main phylum in the sludge. Bacteria related to Thiobacillus denitrificans from denitrifying bioreactor perform 48.65%. In addition, the bacteria of Denitratisoma sp., Curvibacter sp., Thermomonas sp., Geobacter sp. are existed in the sludge. The study of autotrophic denitrifying bacteria diversity is conducive to optimization of reaction conditions and efficient removal of nitrate.

[Diversity and bacteria community structure of activated carbon used in advanced drinking water treatment].

Two granular activated carbon (GAC) samples with 1.5 a and 5 a age were collected, Bacterial genome DNA was extracted for the 16S rDNA gene amplification, and then a bacterial 16S rDNA gene clone library was constructed. After the phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences, bacterial diversity and community structure of two activated carbon biofilm sample were studied. The results showed the bacteria in GAC with 5 a age could be divided into 11 groups, which were as follows alpha-Proteobacteria (26.5%), beta-Proteobacteria (16.3%), delta-Proteobacteria (16.3%), Planctomycetes (12.2%), Gemmatimonadetes (6.1%), Acidobacteria (4.1%), Nitrospira (2.0%), gamma-Proteobacteria (2.0%), Bacteroidetes (2.0%), Actinobacteria (2.0%), Unclassified Bacteria (10.2%). The bacteria in GAC with 1.5 a age could be divided into 10 groups, which were as follows alpha-Proteobacteria (21.6%), Planctomycetes( 10.8%), Bacteroidetes (10.8%), beta-Proteobacteria (9.0%), Acidobacteria (9.0%), Nitrospira (7.2%), detla-Proteobacteria (7.2%), Unclassified Proteobacteria (5.4%), Gemmatimonadetes (3.6%), Unclassified Bacteria (14.4%). The results revealed a variety of bacterial divisions on the studied GAC biofilm. Proteobacteria had the highest share in the two total clones, and alpha- and beta-Proteobacteria were on a dominant position. A relatively high proportion of delta-Proteobacteria was observed in the biofilm of GAC with 5 a age, and Nitrospira was in a minor proportion. However, a totally converse condition appeared in GAC with 1.5 a age. Two pathogenic bacteria, Afipia and Chryseobacterium, were detected in analyzed GACs, which implies a potential microbial risk in water supply.

[Performance of nitrogen and phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater of different C/N ratios using intelligent controlled systems sequencing batch biofilm reactor ( SBBR)].

The laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to treat synthetic municipal wastewater at different C/N ratios, using a developed intelligent controller sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR), which formed alternative aerobic-anoxic environment. The performance of nitrogen and phosphorus removal was investigated under different conditions (T = 25 degrees C +/- 1 degrees C, V(aeration) = 150 L/h, COD = 300 mg/L, TP = 5 mg/L, TN = 30 mg/L, t(operation) = 15 d; TN = 60 mg/L, t(operation) = 20 d; TN = 90 mg/L, t(operation) = 20 d). The average removal efficiency of COD reaches 85.2%, 91.1% and 97.7%, the average removal efficiency of TP achieves 94.1%, 95.9%, 96.7% ,the average removal efficiency of NH4(+) -N reaches 95.8%, 99.2%, 80.0%, and the average removal efficiency of TN are 90.7%, 81.1%, 58.3%, respectively. With the decrease of C/N ratios, the removal efficiency of N decreases significantly, while the removal efficiency of COD and TP increase slightly. In intelligent controlled SBBR, simultaneous nitrification and denitrification and shortened simultaneous nitrification and denitrification occur, meanwhile, the denitrification of the system strengthens with the increasing of C/N ratios. After the influent finished, intelligent controlled SBBR starts to operate in aerobic-anoxic environment. The efficiency of phosphorus removal is high, moreover, the theory of phosphorus removal is different from the conventional theory of release anaerobic and uptake aerobic phosphorus.

[Oxidation of trichloroethylene in water with permanganate].

In order to investigate the removal ability of chlorinated hydrocarbons, the most widely existent pollutant trichloroethylene(TCE) was chosen as the aim pollutant, and the self-made permanganate solution was chosen as oxidant. When the oxidant concentration was 0.276 g x L(-1), the removal rate of TCE reached 100% at 30 degrees C within 30 min. The removal of TCE with permanganate followed the pseudo-first order kinetics with the reaction rate constant K(obs) was 0.1429 min(-1) and the half-life t1/2 was 4.85 min. The reaction rate constant of TCE was increased with increase of KMnO4 concentration and temperature, and almost not affected by pH and ionic strength.

[Bacterial biodiversity in the groundwater contaminated by oil].

An oil-contaminated groundwater sample was collected at an abandoned petrochemical factory.Bacterial genome DNA was extracted for the 16S rDNA gene amplification,and then a bacterial 16S rDNA gene clone library was constructed. After the phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences, bacterial diversity and community structure of the groundwater were studied. The results showed the bacteria in the groundwater could be divided into 10 groups, which were as follows: gamma-Proteobacteria (49.1%), alpha-Proteobacteria (12.9%), beta-Proteobacteria (11.1%), Bacteroidetes (9.2%), Verrucomicrobia (6.7%), Acidobacteria (2.5%), delta-Proteobacteria (1.2%), Actinobacteria (1.2%), Planctomycetes (0.6%), unidentified bacteria (5.5%). Gamma-Proteobacteria was predominant in the ecosystem (near 50% of total clones), and especially Pseudomonas accounted for 35.6% of all bacteria. Many clones also affiliated with other degrading bacteria,such as Sphingomornas, Rhodococcus, Brevundimonas. Furthermore, a lot of 16S rDNA sequences in the clone library had high similarity to the ones originated from similar polluted environments, such as soil and groundwater contaminated with chlorinated hydrocarbon, soil and groundwater contaminated with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, soil contaminated with PCBs, antibiotics production wastewater and activated sludge, which proved that there were lots of degrading bacteria population in the oil-contaminated water.

[Sulfide removal from wastewater by nanoscale iron].

Influencing factors, adsorption isotherm, adsorption kinetics and preliminary discussion on the mechanism of sulfide adsorption by nanoscale iron prepared in laboratory were studied using manual simulation sulfide wastewater. Experimental results indicate that the removal efficiency of S2- increases with increasing iron dosage and decreases with increasing initial S2- concentration and pH values. The removal efficiency of S2- is 100% when initial concentration is less than 100 mg x L(-1) and are 87.34%, 65.80% and 44.61% at pH 2, 7 and 13. The temperature at 25 degrees C favors the maximum adsorption of S2- with 19.17 mg x g(-1) of equilibrium adsorption quantity and the adsorption capacity decreas at higher or lower temperature. The adsorption data fit well to the Langmuir equation and the Freundlich equation. The sulfide adsorption follows the pseudo second order equation with the maximum initial sorption rate(h) is 1.575 3 mg x (g x mg)(-1) at 25 degrees C and the adsorption rate constant increases with the increasing of temperature. The activation energy(Ea) is 8.22 kJ x mol(-1). The mechanism of sulfide removal is being sorbed onto the iron nanoparticles via formation of surface compleses, FeOSH and iron sulfides (FeS, FeS2, FeSn).

[Dechlorination mechanisms of chlorinated hydrocarbons by supported nanoscale Pd/Fe].

Some volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons such as VC, 1,1-DCE, TCE, PCE, gamma-HCH, were dechlorinated by synthesized supported nanoscale Pd/Fe. The dechlorination reactions of PCE, TCE, 1,1-DCE, VC, gamma-HCH follow the pseudo-frist order kinetics equations with the k(obs) of 2.79 h(-1), 2.35 h(-1), 1.12 h(-1), 2.14 h(-1) and 4.02 h(-1) respectively. Little or no medial products were detected and the main end products were C2H6 and C2H4 during the dechlorination of VC, 1,1-DCE, TCE, PCE. The total carbon ratio of C2H6 and C2H4 were 70% and 10% respectively during the dechlorination of TCE. The supported nanoscale Pd/Fe particles after exposed to air for 24 h were used for 8 cycle experiments and the results indicate that the particles have favorable stability. The reactivity has no obvious decrease after 200 hours' successive dechlorination experiments of gamma-HCH which indicates that the particles represent good durability. The reaction activation energy of all the chlorinated hydrocarbons are bigger than 29 kJ x mol(-1) which shows that the surface-chemical reaction rather than diffusion is the rate-limiting step in the metal-mediated dechlorination process. A consistence between the experimental data and simulated curves indicates that the muti-step reaction pathways proposed offer a better explanation of the reaction mechanisms than sequential hydrogenolysis reactions in the transformation of chlorinated hydrocarbons by supported nanoscale Pd/Fe.

A novel acidophile community populating waste ore deposits at an acid mine drainage site.

Waste ore samples (pH 3.0) were collected at an acid mine drainage (AMD) site in Anhui, China. The present acidophilic microbial community in the waste ore was studied with 16S rRNA gene clone library and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Eighteen different clones were identified and affiliated with Actinobacteria, low G + C Gram-positives, Thermomicrobia, Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, candidate division TM7, and Planctomycetes. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed a diversity of acidophiles in the samples that were mostly novel. It is unexpected that the moderately thermophilic acidophiles were abundant in the acidic ecosystem and may play a great role in the generation of AMD. The result of DGGE was consistent with that of clone library analysis. These findings help in the better understanding of the generation mechanism of AMD and in developing a more efficient method to control AMD.

[Biodiversity of acidophiles in the sediment at an acid mine drainage site].

A sediment sample was collected at an acid mine drainage site in Anhui. The acidophiles composition and community structure in the sediment was studied with 16S rDNA clone library and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The results indicated that the acidophiles in the sediment were novel compared with the data in GenBank. The acidophiles affiliated with Acidobacteria, beta/gamma-Proteobacteria, delta-Proteobacteria, Nitrospira, Candidate Division TM7, low G + C Gram-positive. delta-Proteobacteria were major group in this acidic ecosystem. The research of aicdophiles community in sediment can help us develop high efficient method to treat acid mine drainage (AMD).

Predication of Fhhh potential in PTA wastewater treatment.

Ebis is the intelligent environmental biotechnological informatics software developed for judging the effectiveness of the microorganism strain in the industrial wastewater treatment system(IWTS) at the optimal status. The parameter, as the objective function for the judgment, is the minimum reactor volume(Vmin) calculated by Ebis for microorganism required in wastewater treatment. The rationality and the universality of Ebis were demonstrated in the domestic sewage treatment system(DSTS) with the data published in USA and China at first,then Fhhh strain's potential for treating the purified terephthalic acid(PTA) was proved. It suggests that Ebis would be useful and universal for predicating the technique effectiveness in both DSTS and IWTS.

Analysis of parental strain DNA fragments existing in GEMs-Fhhh.

There were 6 target DNA fragments of the three parental strains existing in the cell of GEMs (genetically engineered microorganism strain) Fhhh measured in this research by PCR(polymerase chain reaction). The determination showed that GEMs Fhhh contained all the 6 target DNA fragments, mnp1, mnp2, lip1, lip2, FLO1 and 16S rDNA, and had the molecular genetic stability. Meanwhile the PCR production of each parental strain could only had its target DNA fragments and was different from each other. It may illustrate that the technique of the inter-kingdom protoplast fusion for the construction of GEMs Fhhh through the process of intercellular gene recombination could be used as a reliable bioengineering technique to create the specific functional stain for the pollution control.