Nitrogen-doped metal-organic framework derived porous carbon/polymer membrane for the simultaneous extraction of four benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers in environmental water.

Benzotriazole ultraviolet stabilizers (BUVSs) that are added to pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have raised global concerns because of their high toxicity. An efficient method to monitor its pollution level is urgently imperative. Here, a nitrogen-doped metal-organic framework (MOF) derived porous carbon (UiO-66-NH2/DC) was prepared and integrated into polyvinylidene fluoride mixed matrix membrane (PVDF MMM) as an adsorbent for the first time. The hydrophobic UiO-66-NH2/DC with a pore size of 162 Å exhibited outstanding extraction performance for BUVSs, which solves the problem of difficult enrichment of large-size and hydrophobic targets. Notably, the density functional theory simulation was employed to reveal the structure of the derived carbon material and explored the recognition and enrichment mechanism (synergy of π-π conjugation, hydrogen bond, coordination, hydrophobic interaction and mesoporous channel) of BUVSs by UiO-66-NH2/DC-PVDF MMM. And then, an influential method based on dispersive membrane extraction (DME) coupled with ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the simultaneous analysis of four BUVSs in environmental water samples. The validated method benefited from the high sensitivity (the limits of detection within 0.25-1.40 ng/L), accuracy (recoveries of 71.9-102.8% for wastewater) and rapidity (50 min to enrich 9 samples). This study expands the application prospects of porous carbon derived from MOF for sample pretreatment of pollutants in water.

Detection of 3D Arterial Centerline Extraction in Spiral CT Coronary Angiography.

This paper presents an in-depth study and analysis of the 3D arterial centerline in spiral CT coronary angiography, and constructs its detection and extraction technique. The first time, the distance transform is used to complete the boundary search of the original figure; the second time, the distance transform is used to calculate the value of the distance transform of all voxels, and according to the value of the distance transform, unnecessary voxels are deleted, to complete the initial contraction of the vascular region and reduce the computational consumption in the next process; then, the nonwitnessed voxels are used to construct the maximum inner joint sphere model and find the skeletal voxels that can reflect the shape of the original figure. Finally, the skeletal lines were optimized on these initially extracted skeletal voxels using a dichotomous-like principle to obtain the final coronary artery centerline. Through the evaluation of the experimental results, the algorithm can extract the coronary centerline more accurately. In this paper, the segmentation method is evaluated on the test set data by two kinds of indexes: one is the index of segmentation result evaluation, including dice coefficient, accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity; the other is the index of clinical diagnosis result evaluation, which is to refine the segmentation result for vessel diameter detection. The results obtained in this paper were compared with the physicians' labeling results. In terms of network performance, the Dice coefficient obtained in this paper was 0.89, the accuracy was 98.36%, the sensitivity was 93.36%, and the specificity was 98.76%, which reflected certain advantages in comparison with the advanced methods proposed by previous authors. In terms of clinical evaluation indexes, by performing skeleton line extraction and diameter calculation on the results obtained by the segmentation method proposed in this paper, the absolute error obtained after comparing with the diameter of the labeled image was 0.382 and the relative error was 0.112, which indicates that the segmentation method in this paper can recover the vessel contour more accurately. Then, the results of coronary artery centerline extraction with and without fine branch elimination were evaluated, which proved that the coronary artery centerline has higher accuracy after fine branch elimination. The algorithm is also used to extract the centerline of the complete coronary artery tree, and the results prove that the algorithm has better results for the centerline extraction of the complete coronary vascular tree.

[Determination of seven phenoxy acid herbicides in water by dispersive solid phase extraction-ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry based on cationic metal-organic framework mixed matrix membrane].

Phenoxy acid herbicides are widely used because of their excellent efficiency and low cost. However, owing to their strong polarity and water solubility, these herbicides do not degrade easily in a water environment and persist for a long time in water bodies. These herbicides readily enter water bodies via surface runoff, infiltration, and other migration routes, thus affecting water quality safety. Therefore, it is of great significance to establish a sensitive and simple method for the quantitative analysis of phenoxy acid herbicides in environmental water. Given the low concentration of such contaminants in environmental water, appropriate detection methods are important. Ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) has high sensitivity and accuracy, thus being well suited for the phenoxy acid herbicides analysis. Sample preparation techniques are also important for the extraction and enrichment of contaminants in environmental water. Dispersive solid phase extraction (DSPE) has attracted considerable attention owing to its low cost, ease of operation, and low solvent consumption. In general, the selectivity and efficiency of solid phase extraction are largely dependent on the characteristics of the solid adsorbent materials. Ionic metal-organic frameworks (iMOFs) have excellent ion-exchange properties and show selective absorptivity to ionic compounds. In this work, a metal-organic framework (MOF) MIL-101-NH2 was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method. Then, a cationic MOF mixed matrix membrane (MMM) was fabricated by soaking the MOFs in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) solution and further functionalization with quaternary amine groups. A method was developed for the determination of seven phenoxy acid herbicides in water by UPLC-MS/MS based on DSPE. The prepared material was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy to determine its functional groups and morphology. The results showed that there were quaternary amine groups in the material, and that the functionalization did not have any obvious effect on the chemical and crystal structures of MIL-101-NH2. The prepared MIL-101-$NMe_{3}^{+}$-PVDF MMM was used as an adsorbent for DSPE to enrich the seven phenoxy acid herbicides in water. It is well known that the key factors influencing extraction efficiency are the adsorption and elution conditions. To establish the optimum extraction conditions, the influence of some important factors, including the adsorbent amount, sample pH, extraction time, elution solvent, elution volume, and elution time, was investigated in detail. Gradient elution was carried out with 0.01% formic acid aqueous solution and acetonitrile as the mobile phase. The target analytes were separated on an ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 µm), and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was conducted in the negative electrospray ionization mode. The external standard method was used for quantitative analysis. The established method was verified in terms of the linear ranges, limits of detection (LODs), limits of quantification (LOQs), recoveries, and precision. Under the optimal conditions, the seven phenoxy acid herbicides showed good linear relationships in their respective concentration ranges, and the correlation coefficients were all higher than 0.997. The LODs and LOQs were 0.00010-0.00090 µg/L and 0.00033-0.00300 µg/L, respectively. The recoveries were tested at three spiked levels of 0.005, 0.05, and 0.2 µg/L. The average recoveries of the seven compounds were in the range of 80% to 102%. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations were within 1.4% to 9.4% and 4.2% to 12.6%, respectively. The established method was applied to the analysis of the phenoxy acid herbicides in tap water and reservoir water. Three levels of spiked samples were adopted to investigate the accuracy of the method. The results demonstrated that our method is applicable to the detection of trace phenoxy acid herbicides in water samples. In summary, this method has the advantages of simplicity, rapidity, and sensitivity, and it is suitable for the detection of the seven phenoxy acid herbicides in environmental water.

Comprehensive Analysis of Pertinent Genes and Pathways in Atrial Fibrillation.

PURPOSE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent arrhythmia in clinical practice. The pathogenesis of AF is not yet clear. Therefore, exploring the molecular information of AF displays much importance for AF therapy. METHODS: The GSE2240 data were acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The R limma software package was used to screen DEGs. Based on the Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) databases, we conducted the functions and pathway enrichment analyses. Then, the STRING and Cytoscape software were employed to build Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) network and screen for hub genes. Finally, we used the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) experiment to explore the effect of hub gene knockdown on the proliferation of AF cells. RESULT: 906 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 542 significantly upregulated genes and 364 significantly downregulated genes, were screened in AF. The genes of AF were mainly enriched in vascular endothelial growth factor-activated receptor activity, alanine, regulation of histone deacetylase activity, and HCM. The PPI network constructed of significantly upregulated DEGs contained 404 nodes and 514 edges. Five hub genes, ASPM, DTL, STAT3, ANLN, and CDCA5, were identified through the PPI network. The PPI network constructed by significantly downregulated genes contained 327 nodes and 301 edges. Four hub genes, CDC42, CREB1, AR, and SP1, were identified through this PPI network. The results of CCK-8 experiments proved that knocking down the expression of CDCA5 gene could inhibit the proliferation of H9C2 cells. CONCLUSION: Bioinformatics analyses revealed the hub genes and key pathways of AF. These genes and pathways provide information for studying the pathogenesis, treatment, and prognosis of AF and have the potential to become biomarkers in AF treatment.

Complete sequence and gene organization of the mitochondrial genome of Siamensis Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis).

The complete sequence of mitochondrial genome of Siamensis Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) is determined by using PCR amplification, clone and primer-walking sequencing methods. The genome is 16836 bp in size, containing 13 protein-coding, 2 ribosomal and 22 transfer RNA genes. The mtDNA genome of Siamensis Crocodile is similar to most vertebrates in gene component, order, orientation, tRNA structure, low percentage of guanine and high percentage of thymine. The nonstandard stop codes (T) in two protein genes (Cox III and Cyt b) are more than those of most vertebrates. Transfer RNA genes range in length from 61 to 76 nucleotides, and their planar structure present characteristic clover leaf, except for tRNA-Ser (AGY) because of lacking the "DHU" arm.

The complete mitochondrial genome of salt-water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) and phylogeny of crocodilians.

The nucleotide sequence of the complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecule of the salt-water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) was determined in this article. The molecule is 16,917 base pairs (bp) in length, and codes for 22 tRNAs, 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs, as well as a control region (D-loop), as is characteristic for mitochondrial genomes of other metazoans. The gene order conforms to that of other crocodilians sequenced, but the arrangement of some tRNA genes differs from other vertebrates. It shows that the gene order of crocodilians is remarkably conserved. In this study, the relationships among crocodilians were examined in the phylogenetic analysis based on the control conserved regions of 17 crocodilians. The results suggest that the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) joins the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) on a common branch, and then constitutes a sister group to traditional Crocodylidae. Thus, the result supports that G. gangeticus belongs to Crocodylidae. The analyses also suggest that the African slender-snouted crocodile (Crocodylus cataphractus) can be treated as an isolated genus, and constitutes a sister group to Crocodylus.