Ficus hirta Vahl. alleviate LPS induced apoptosis via down-regulating of miR-411 in orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) spleen cell.

Ficus hirta Vahl. (FhV) has been shown to have antimicrobial and antiviral efficacy. To further ascertain the pharmacological properties of FhV., and to search for alternatives to antibiotics. An in vitro experiment was carried out to evaluate what influence FhV. would have on LPS-induced apoptosis. In this study, Fas, an apoptosis receptor, was cloned, which included a 5'-UTR of 39 bp, an ORF of 951 bp, a protein of 316 amino acids, and a 3'-UTR of 845 bp. EcFas was most strongly expressed in the spleen tissue of orange-spotted groupers. In addition, the apoptosis of fish spleen cells induced by LPS was concentration-dependent. Interestingly, appropriate concentrations of FhV. alleviated LPS-induced apoptosis. Inhibition of miR-411 further decreased the inhibitory effect of Fas on apoptosis, which reduced Bcl-2 expression and mitochondrial membrane potential, enhanced the protein expression of Bax and Fas. More importantly, the FhV. could activate miR-411 to improve this effect. In addition, luciferase reporter assays showed that miR-411 binds to Fas 3'-UTR to inhibit Fas expression. These findings provide evidence that FhV. alleviates LPS-induced apoptosis by activating miR-411 to inhibit Fas expression and, therefore, provided possible strategies for bacterial infections in fish.

Effects of the presence of nanoscale zero-valent iron on the degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls and total organic carbon by sediment microbial fuel cell.

The degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and total organic carbon (TOC) by sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC) with/without nanoscale zero-valent iron (NZVI) addition was investigated. It was found that the combined application led to the highest removal efficiencies of PCBs (37.55 ±â€¯1.11%) and TOC (49.72 ±â€¯1.54%) in all circumstances and produced a higher power density (108.89 mW/m2) and a corresponding lower internal resistance (264 Ω) than operation employing SMFC only. The TOC removal efficiency and the total production of electricity were linear. High-throughput sequencing of anodic microbial communities indicated that the electrode participation can increase the abundance of electrogenic bacteria (Geobacter and Pseudomonas) and the NZVI addition can reduce the oxidation reduction potential of the system and therefore enrich some bacteria (Longilinea and Desulfofustis) beneficial to the degradation of organic matter.

Kinetics of ozonation of typical sulfonamides in water.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the kinetic rate constants ozone and hydroxyl radicals towards two groups of antimicrobials -sulfadiazine (SD) and sulfamethoxazole (SMX). METHODS: The solute consumption method was used to detect the rate constants of ozone alone with sulfadiazine and sulfamethoxazole, and tertiary butanol was selected as a scavenging agent and pH was adjusted to 2.5 by adding orthophosphate buffers (OB); and the competition kinetics studying methodwith nitrobenzene as a reference was applied to measure the rate constants of hydroxyl radicals towards sulfadiazine and sulfamethoxazole, and pH was adjusted to 7.0 by adding OB. RESULTS: The rate constants of SD and SMX with ozone alone were 261 mol(-1) · dm(3) · s(-1) and 303 mol(-1) · dm3 · s(-1) by calculating in low reaction system. The rate constants of hydroxyl radicals with SD and SMX were 2.2×1010 mol(-1) · dm(3) · s(-1) and 2.7×1010 mol(-1) · dm(3) · s(-1), respectively. Moreover, the rate constants of hydroxyl radicals with SMX were found to have increased from 3.6×109 mol(-1) · dm(3) · s(-1) to 2.8×1010 mol(-1) · dm(3) · s(-1) with pH value rising from 5.0 to 7.8. CONCLUSION: SMX and SD are both refractory to ozone oxidation alone, and are liable to be degraded by hydroxyl radicals, and the rate constants of SMX with the hydroxyl radical slightly increases with pH rise.