Reusable flexible poly(vinyl alcohol)/chitosan-based polymer carbon dots composite film for acid blue 93 dye adsorption.

The design and synthesis of water-insoluble chitosan-based polymer carbon dots [P(CS-g-CA)CDs] are described. A polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan-based polymer carbon dot [PVA/P(CS-g-CA)CDs] composite film was prepared using a simple casting method to be used in dye adsorption. The composite film was characterized using FT-IR, XPS, transparency, contact angle, and mechanical properties tests, which showed the successful incorporation of P(CS-g-CA)CDs into the film and also revealed that hydrogen bonding improved the mechanical properties of the PVA film. Furthermore, the composite film displayed substantially enhanced hydrophobicity, making it suitable for use in aqueous environments. In addition, the composite film exhibited stable adsorption of acid blue 93 (AB93) at pH 2-9, with an enhanced adsorption capacity of 433.24 mg/g. The adsorption obeyed Langmuir law with an efficiency of more than 89% even after five cycles. Therefore, the PVA/P(CS-g-CA)CDs film is a promising material for the treatment of organic dye-polluted wastewater.

Phytochrome B enhances seed germination tolerance to high temperature by reducing S-nitrosylation of HFR1.

Light and ambient high temperature (HT) have opposite effects on seed germination. Light induces seed germination through activating the photoreceptor phytochrome B (phyB), resulting in the stabilization of the transcription factor HFR1, which in turn sequesters the suppressor PIF1. HT suppresses seed germination and triggers protein S-nitrosylation. Here, we find that HT suppresses seed germination by inducing the S-nitrosylation of HFR1 at C164, resulting in its degradation, the release of PIF1, and the activation of PIF1-targeted SOMNUS (SOM) expression to alter gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) metabolism. Active phyB (phyBY276H ) antagonizes HFR1 S-nitrosylation and degradation by increasing S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) activity. In line with this, substituting cysteine-164 of HFR1 with serine (HFR1C164S ) abolishes the S-nitrosylation of HFR1 and decreases the HT-induced degradation of HFR1. Taken together, our study suggests that HT and phyB antagonistically modulate the S-nitrosylation level of HFR1 to coordinate seed germination, and provides the possibility to enhance seed thermotolerance through gene-editing of HFR1.

Carbon dots crosslinked chitosan/cellulose sponge capture of methyl blue by an adsorption process.

For environmental protection, organic dyes and solvents of industrial wastewater must be eliminated. Here, a citric acid-based carbon dots (CA-CDs) crosslinked chitosan/microcrystalline cellulose (CS/MCC/CA-CDs) sponge was synthesized to study its adsorption performance for methyl blue (MB) dye. The morphology of the sponge was a tangled fibre with a bundle formed by hydrogen bonds between CA-CDs and the CS/MCC composite matrix. The abundant amount of tangled fibre bundle units can offer plentiful active adsorption sites to collect the dye molecules. The adsorption capacity of the CS/MCC/CA-CDs sponge toward MB was 306.8 mg/g at pH 10 and a temperature of 298 K. In addition, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model was matched with the adsorption kinetic experimental data, and the adsorption isotherm data can be described by the Langmuir models. This study proposed that the CS/MCC/CA-CDs sponge adsorbent creates tremendous potential application value in wastewater treatment due to its fast kinetics, high adsorption capacity, simple preparation, and eco-friendly properties.

An Interdisciplinary Nutrition Support Team Improves Clinical and Hospitalized Outcomes of Esophageal Cancer Patients with Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of malnutrition is very high in patients with cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not a nutrition support team (NST) could benefit esophageal cancer patients undergoing chemoradiotherapy (CRT). METHODS: Between June 2012 and April 2014, 50 esophageal cancer patients undergoing concurrent CRT were randomly assigned into two groups: The NST group and the control group. The nutritional statuses of 25 patients in the NST group were managed by the NST. The other 25 patients in the control group underwent the supervision of radiotherapy practitioners. At the end of the CRT, nutritional status, the incidence of complications, and completion rate of radiotherapy were evaluated. Besides, the length of hospital stay (LOS) and the in-patient cost were also compared between these two groups. RESULTS: At the completion of CRF, the nutritional status in the NST group were much better than those in the control group, as evidenced by prealbumin (ALB), transferrin, and ALB parameters (P = 0.001, 0.000, and 0.000, respectively). The complication incidences, including bone marrow suppression (20% vs. 48%, P = 0.037) and complications related infections (12% vs. 44%, P = 0.012), in the NST group were lower and significantly different from the control group. In addition, only one patient in the NST group did not complete the planned radiotherapy while 6 patients in the control group had interrupted or delayed radiotherapy (96% vs. 76%, P = 0.103). Furthermore, the average LOS was decreased by 4.5 days (P = 0.001) and in-patient cost was reduced to 1.26 ± 0.75 thousand US dollars person-times (P > 0.05) in the NST group. CONCLUSIONS: A NST could provide positive effects in esophageal cancer patients during concurrent CRT on maintaining their nutrition status and improving the compliance of CRF. Moreover, the NST could be helpful on reducing LOS and in-patient costs.

Bioavailability of organochlorine compounds in aqueous suspensions of fullerene: evaluated with medaka (Oryzias latipes) and negligible depletion solid-phase microextraction.

The wide application of engineered nanomaterials, such as fullerene (C(60)), will inevitably lead to their release into the aqueous environment, which may alter the bioavailability of organic compounds to aquatic organisms. Negligible depletion solid-phase microextraction (nd-SPME) together with medaka (Oryzias latipes) bioaccumulation were used to study the effects of aqueous suspensions of fullerene (nC(60)) on the bioavailability of eight organochlorine compounds (OCCs) (logK(OW) 3.76-6.96). Freely dissolved concentrations of OCCs decreased by 11.5-88.4% at addition of 5mgL(-1)nC(60) as indicated by reduced equilibrium concentrations in the SPME fiber coating, the highest reduction being observed for the most hydrophobic OCCs. Medaka bioaccumulation study demonstrated that at the kinetic uptake regime, nC(60) significantly decreased the bioaccumulation of the high hydrophobic OCCs (logK(OW)>6), but slightly enhanced the bioaccumulation of the less hydrophobic OCCs (logK(OW)<6). The OCC concentrations in medaka (C(fish)) at the kinetic uptake regime linearly correlated with that in nd-SPME fiber (C(fiber)) without nC(60) (p=0.007-0.013, R(2)=0.666-0.723), but this correlation deteriorated with the presence of nC(60) (p=0.073-0.081, R(2)=0.423-0.440). These results suggest that in nC(60) the uptake mechanism of OCCs to medaka is different from that to nd-SPME fiber. While only the freely dissolved OCCs are available to nd-SPME fiber, both the freely dissolved and the nC(60) associated OCCs contributed to the accumulation of OCCs to medaka.

[Changes of T-helper 1 and T-helper 2 ratio in peripheral blood and decidua in hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of immune response induced by different T-helper 1 and T-helper 2 (Th1 and Th2) ratio in peripheral blood and decidua from patients with hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy in the pathogenesis of the disease. METHODS: Peripheral blood and decidua from 12 non-pregnant women (no deciduas) (normal women group), 12 healthy pregnant women (healthy pregnant women group), 10 patients with gestational hypertension (gestational hypertension group), 25 patients with pre-eclampsia (PE) (including 10 patients with mild pre-eclampsia and 15 patients with severe pre-eclampsia) (pre-eclampsia group). Th1/Th2 ratio in peripheral blood and decidua was determined by flow-cytometrically. RESULTS: The ratio of Th1/Th2 in peripheral blood with normal women group is 10.5 +/- 1.5, the ratios of Th1/Th2 in peripheral blood and deciduas with healthy pregnant women group are 9.5 +/- 2.9 and 7.6 +/- 4.6 respectively, those with gestational hypertension group are 12.1 +/- 3.4 and 13.1 +/- 5.6 respectively, those with pre-eclampsia group are 16.8 +/- 3.8 and 26.7 +/- 9.4 respectively. The ratios of Th1/Th2 in peripheral blood and deciduas with pre-eclampsia group are much higher than those with other groups, when they are compared with each other, there are statistical difference (P < 0.05). And the ratio of Th1/Th2 with pre-eclampsia in deciduas is much higher than that in peripheral blood, comparing these two aspects, there is statistical difference (P < 0.001). The changes of Th1/Th2 ratio in gestational hypertension group is an intermediate between healthy pregnant group and pre-eclampsia group. CONCLUSIONS: Hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy is a syndrome of Th1/Th2 cell balance disturbances in vivo. Over-expression of Th1 cells and imbalance of Th1/Th2 might lead to hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy.