Quantification and cultivation of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) from various urban water environments: A comprehensive analysis of precondition methods and sample characteristics.

Substantial evidence suggests that all types of water, such as drinking water, wastewater, surface water, and groundwater, can be potential sources of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection. Thus, it is critical to thoroughly investigate all possible preconditioning methods to enhance the recovery of H. pylori, improve the reproducibility of subsequent detection, and optimize the suitability for various water types and different detection purposes. In this study, we proposed and evaluated five distinct preconditioning methods for treating water samples collected from multiple urban water environments, aiming to maximize the quantitative qPCR readouts and achieve effective selective cultivation. According to the experimental results, when using the qPCR technique to examine WWTP influent, effluent, septic tank, and wetland water samples, the significance of having a preliminary cleaning step becomes more evident as it can profoundly influence qPCR detection results. In contrast, the simple, straightforward membrane filtration method could perform best when isolating and culturing H. pylori from all water samples. Upon examining the cultivation and qPCR results obtained from groundwater samples, the presence of infectious H. pylori (potentially other pathogens) in aquifers must represent a pressing environmental emergency demanding immediate attention. Furthermore, we believe groundwater can be used as a medium to reflect the H. pylori prevalence in a highly populated community due to its straightforward analytical matrix, consistent detection performance, and minimal interferences from human activities, temperature, precipitation, and other environmental fluctuations.

Long-range hydrophobic force enhanced interfacial photocatalysis for the submerged surface anti-biofouling.

Developing anti-biofouling and anti-biofilm techniques is of great importance for protecting water-contact surfaces. In this study, we developed a novel double-layer system consisting of a bottom immobilized TiO2 nanoflower arrays (TNFs) unit and an upper superhydrophobic (SHB) coating along with the assistance of nanobubbles (NBs), which can significantly elevate the interfacial oxygen level by establishing the long-range hydrophobic force between NBs and SHB and effectively maximize the photocatalytic reaction brought by the bottom TNFs. The developed NBs-SHB/TNFs system demonstrated the highest bulk chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction efficiency at approximately 80% and achieved significant E. coli and Chlorella sp. inhibition efficiencies of 5.38 and 1.99 logs. Meanwhile, the system showed a sevenfold higher resistance to biofilm formation when testing in a wastewater matrix using a wildly collected biofilm seeding solution. These findings provide insights for implementing nanobubble-integrated techniques for submerged surface protection.

Long-term wastewater-based surveillance and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug use trends in a U.S. Northeast rural town.

Herein we discuss the findings of a two-year wastewater-based drug use surveillance from September 2018 to August 2020 and present objective evidence on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug use in a rural community. 24-h composite wastewater samples were collected twice each month from a university town in Northeastern United States and were analyzed for ten priority opioids and stimulants: morphine, codeine, hydrocodone, methadone, fentanyl cocaine, methamphetamine, amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-ethylamphetamine (MDEA). All target drugs were detected at 100 % frequency in wastewater samples. On a mass basis, the average estimated per capita drug consumption were highest for cocaine, morphine, and amphetamine, and lowest for MDMA, MDEA, and hydrocodone. Furthermore, the estimated per capita consumption of fentanyl was higher than previous reports from rural and university settings in the U.S. Generally, drug consumption was higher during the spring semesters, with year-on-year semester increases also noted over the 2-y study period. Except for methadone and cocaine, the estimated average per capita consumption of drugs increased over the pandemic period, with the highest increase noted for MDMA (286 % increase compared to baseline, p = 0.016). Estimated average consumption of methadone and cocaine decreased slightly by 6 % and 7 %, respectively. These results demonstrate the utility and strength of wastewater-based approaches in capturing long-term and evolving trends in drug use within communities. Our study findings reflect the regionwide problem with opioid-related overdoses and increasing stimulant prescription rates. Our findings also provide objective data and insights for health policymakers on the effects of the pandemic period on community drug use in a rural U.S. town.

Lymphatic metastasis-associated circRNA‒miRNA‒mRNA network for exploring the pathogenesis and therapeutic target of triple negative breast cancer based on whole-transcriptome sequencing analysis: an experimental verification study.

BACKGROUND: The metastatic mechanisms of axillary lymph nodes (ALNs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) remain unclear. We aimed to identify the potential circRNA regulatory network in ALN metastasis. METHODS: We performed whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS) to determine the expression profiles of RNAs and screen out differentially expressed messenger RNAs (DEMs), microRNAs (DEMis), and circRNAs (DECs) between ALN-positive and ALN-negative TNBC patients. Functional enrichment analysis and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis were utilized to unearth the potential regulatory mechanisms of the DEMs. A competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network was constructed using computational biology. The expression levels of DECs in cell lines were confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT‒PCR). RESULTS: Following WTS and differential expression analysis, 739 DEMs, 110 DEMis, and 206 DECs were identified between ALN-positive and ALN-negative TNBC patients. Functional analysis indicated that the DEMs mainly functioned in carcinogenesis and tumor progression-related pathways. ceRNA networks containing eight circRNAs, six miRNAs, and eighteen mRNAs were developed. In the ceRNA network, two mRNAs (RAB3D and EDARADD) that were significantly associated with better overall survival and one mRNA (GSR) that predicted favorable recurrence-free survival in TNBC patients were chosen for further analysis. Then, a survival-related ceRNA network containing two DECs (hsa_circ_0061260 and hsa_circ_0060876), two DEMis (hsa-miR-5000-3p and hsa-miR-4792), and three mRNAs (GSR, RAB3D, and EDARADD) was identified. Then, two candidate DECs were validated by real-time PCR. CONCLUSION: Our research constructed a ceRNA network that provides novel insights into the molecular mechanism of ALN metastasis and potential therapeutic targets in TNBC.

Maintaining Breastfeeding During the Treatment of Breast Abscesses Is Not Contraindicated.

Background: World Health Organization guidelines recommend maintaining breastfeeding if a woman develops breast abscess, because of benefits to her recovery and the infant's health. However, clinical staff recommend weaning to promote faster recovery from the abscess. The purpose of this study was to determine whether maintaining breastfeeding after development of a breast abscess has any influence on the resolution of the breast abscess. Methods: The records of 212 patients who were breastfeeding and developed breast abscess treated at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center from January 2018 to December 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: those who maintained breastfeeding (study group) and those who stopped breastfeeding (control group). Results: There were 139 patients in study group and 73 patients in the control group. Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. The time to cure in the study group and in the control group was 7.20 ± 2.21 days and 7.01 ± 2.39 days, respectively (t = 0.579, p = 0.563). Common complications were milk fistula and galactocele, and the frequency of both was similar between the two groups (milk fistula: 7.9% versus 8.2%, respectively; χ2 = 0.006, p = 0.938; galactocele: 8.6% versus 9.6%, respectively; χ2 = 0.054, p = 0.817). There was no significant difference in the recurrence rates between the two groups (5.0% versus 2.7%; χ2 = 0.184, p = 0.668). Conclusion: Maintaining breastfeeding during treatment of breast abscess does not affect the outcome of treatment provided, on condition that the abscess is treated appropriately.

Pyroptosis-related molecular classification and immune microenvironment infiltration in breast cancer: A novel therapeutic target.

The underlying role of pyroptosis in breast cancer (BC) remains unknown. Herein, we investigated the correlations of 33 pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) with immune checkpoints and immune cell infiltrations in BC patients based on The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort (n = 996) and Gene Expression Omnibus cohort (n = 3,262). Enrichment analysis revealed that these PRGs mainly functioned in pyroptosis, inflammasomes and regulation of autophagy pathway. Four prognostic independent PRGs (CASP9, TIRAP, GSDMC and IL18) were identified. Then, cluster 1/2 was recognized using consensus clustering for these four PRGs. Patients from cluster 1 had a favourable prognosis and diverse immune cell infiltrations. A nomogram was developed based on age, TNM stage, tumour subtype and pyroptosis score. Patients with the high-risk group exhibited worse 5-year OS, and the result was consistent in the external cohort. Additionally, high-risk group patients were associated with downregulated immune checkpoint expression. Further analysis suggested that the high-risk group patients were associated with a higher IC50 of paclitaxel, doxorubicin, cisplatin, methotrexate and vinorelbine. In summarizing, the pyroptosis score-based nomogram might serve as an independent prognostic predictor and could guide medication for chemotherapy. Additionally, it may bring novel insight into the regulation of tumour immune microenvironment in BC and help to achieve precision immunotherapy.

Effects of sewer biofilm on the degradation of drugs in sewage: A microcosm study.

A thorough understanding of the in-sewer stability of chemical biomarkers is critical in applying wastewater-based surveillance of community drug use. In this study, we examined the effects of sewer biofilm on the degradation of commonly abused drugs, namely, morphine, fentanyl, cocaine, and amphetamine, in wastewater using 48-h batch degradation tests. The experiments were designed to distinguish among abiotic, biochemical, and physical degradation processes, and used mature biofilm obtained from an actual sewer line. Parallel microcosm tests were conducted using wastewater with and without suspended biofilm. Results indicate that first order kinetics describe the degradation of the drugs in both wastewater and wastewater-biofilm microcosms. Amphetamine was most stable in all microcosms, with a maximum removal of only 34% after 48 h. Abiotic chemical transformation played a major role in the degradation of morphine (kab = 0.018 h-1), fentanyl (kab = 0.022 h-1) and cocaine (kab = 0.049 h-1) in wastewater. Fentanyl removal from wastewater was also influenced by the presence of biofilm (kf = 0.015 h-1). This study is the first to report on the effect of sewer biofilm on fentanyl degradation, and highlights the need to account for in-sewer drug stability in wastewater-based drug use estimation, particularly for chemicals with high affinity for organics.

Primary concentration - The critical step in implementing the wastewater based epidemiology for the COVID-19 pandemic: A mini-review.

The recent outbreak of a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has posed a significant global public health threat and caused dramatic social and economic disruptions. A new research direction is attracting a significant amount of attention in the academic community of environmental sciences and engineering, in which rapid community-level monitoring could be achieved by applying the methodology of wastewater based epidemiology (WBE). Given the fact that the development of a mass balance on the total number of viral RNA copies in wastewater samples and the infected stool specimens is the heart of WBE, the result of the quantitative RNA detection in wastewater has to be highly sensitive, accurate, and reliable. Thus, applying effective concentration methods before the subsequent RNA extraction and RT-qPCR detection is a must-have procedure for the WBE. This review provides new insights into the primary concentration methods that have been adopted by the eighteen recently reported COVID-19 wastewater detection studies, along with a brief discussion of the mechanisms of the most commonly used virus concentration methods, including the PEG-based separation, electrostatically charged membrane filtration, and ultrafiltration. In the end, two easy and well-proven concentration strategies are recommended as below, aiming to maximize the practical significance and operational effectiveness of the SARS-CoV-2 virus concentration from wastewater samples.

Prognostic Value of Modified IHC4 Score in Patients with Estrogen Receptor-Positive Metastatic Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate whether an immunohistochemical prognostic model (IHC4 score) can predict the prognosis and the chemotherapy benefit in patients with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth receptor 2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a method to calculate the modified IHC4 (mIHC4) scores based on routine pathological reports and compared them with the original IHC4 scores that were much more difficult to calculate. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to study the prognostic factors of progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The predictive value of mIHC4 score was also investigated. RESULTS: The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital data set included 315 patients with newly diagnosed ER+ MBC with a median follow-up of 25.6 months. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that higher mIHC4 scores in metastatic lesions, but not the ones in primary tumors, were significantly associated with worse PFS and OS. The prognostic value of mIHC4 scores for PFS was validated using an independent Chinese Society of Clinical Oncology- Breast Cancer (CSCO-BC) data set. More importantly, subpopulation treatment effect pattern plot analysis showed that first-line endocrine therapy achieved better PFS and OS than chemotherapy in low-risk patients with ER+/HER2- MBC, whereas first-line chemotherapy was associated with improved PFS and OS compared with endocrine therapy in high-risk ones. The predictive value of mIHC4 score for PFS in selecting first-line endocrine therapy versus chemotherapy was also confirmed in the CSCO-BC data set. CONCLUSION: mIHC4 scores in metastatic lesions are prognostic for the PFS and OS in patients with ER+ MBC. Low or high mIHC4 score may indicate the survival benefit in choosing first-line endocrine therapy or chemotherapy in patients with ER+/HER2- MBC, respectively. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The modified IHC4 (mIHC4) score is easy to implement and able to predict patients with advanced and/or metastatic breast cancer. In addition, with the help of the mIHC4 score, physicians might be able to recommend chemotherapy or endocrine therapy as the first-line treatment for patients with high and low risk as predicted by the mIHC4 score.

Abscess Drainage with or Without Antibiotics in Lactational Breast Abscess: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Lactational breast abscess, a complication from lactational mastitis, is a common cause of breastfeeding discontinuation. No consensus has been reached regarding the necessity of antibiotics in this disease. The purpose of this trial is to determine if surgical drainage is non-inferior to drainage together with a standard course of antibiotics, in the treatment of lactational breast abscess. METHODS: Breastfeeding females with breast abscess from 18 to 50 years old are eligible for study inclusion. An expected number of 306 patients will be randomly allocated in parallel to the intervention arm (simple drainage without antibiotics) or the control arm (abscess drainage with standard 5-day-course of antibiotics). The primary outcomes include the time to resolution of breast abscess and disease recurrence rate. Secondary outcomes of interests are 3-day-improvement proportion, rate of continuing breastfeeding, treatment failure rate, procedural-related complications, and length of hospital stay. An expected non-inferiority margin for the difference in the primary outcome of interest is set at 1 day, on the basis of a one-sided 97.5% confidence interval. DISCUSSION: This trial will provide first-hand evidence on whether simple abscess drainage is non-inferior to drainage together with a standard course of antibiotics, in lactational mothers with breast abscess. The indication of antibiotic prophylaxis could be revised if non-inferiority is set up, and guidelines for lactational breast abscess require amendments correspondingly. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, and the trial registration number is ChiCTR1900024008.

Treatment train approaches for the remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): A critical review.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have recently drawn great attention due to their ubiquitous presence in aquatic environments and potential toxicity to human health and the environment. A number of recent studies have demonstrated that "passive" removal approaches, such as adsorption, filtration, and reverse osmosis or "active" degradation technologies, such as enhanced photolysis, electrochemical oxidation, and sonochemical destruction, are all able to individually conduct remedial measures for PFAS contamination at some level. However, drawbacks, specifically high energy consumption, low cost-efficiency, and extreme operating conditions, are commonly observed from these studies which significantly suppress the future for commercialization of these innovative technologies. Since 2015, a new trend of PFAS remediation has emerged that uses multiple synergetic technologies simultaneously (known as treatment train processes) to effectively achieve in-situ remediation of PFAS. This paper provides new insight of the recently reported treatment train studies selected from approximately 150 different publications with regards to the remediation of PFAS and discusses their innovative designs, remediation performances, present limits, and possible improvements. Based on a comprehensive review of the current treatment train studies, this review work proposes a new design that consists of three individual technologies, namely, nanofiltration, electrochemical anodic oxidation, and electro-Fenton degradation, to maximize economic and environmental benefits of PFAS remedial measures.

Transplantation for infantile nephronophthisis with loss-of-function mutation in NPHP3: Lesson from a case.

The choice of KT only or CLKT for infantile NPHP with mild liver fibrosis is understudied. A 5-year-old girl was transferred to our center for KT due to ESRD. Her primary disease was infantile NPHP with compound heterozygous NPHP3 mutations: c.458A>C(p.Q153P)/missense mutation and c.2032A>T(p. K678X)/nonsense mutation. The patient had elevated liver enzymes and biopsy-proven liver fibrosis. As liver synthesis was acceptable, only KT was performed. However, liver fibrosis progressed at 1.5 years after transplantation, manifested with portal hypertension and hypersplenism. Common causes for portal hypertension were excluded, and the progression was attributed to NPHP. AMR attacked allograft at about 2 years post-transplant. To solve both the liver and the kidney problems, CLKT was performed. Her liver and kidney function recovered initially, but she unfortunately died of pneumonia and subsequent intracranial hemorrhage two weeks later. Nonsense mutation in NPHP3 gene may be correlated with rapid progression of liver disease in infantile NPHP. More studies are required to determine the role of CLKT in these cases; however, combined transplantation may improve long-term graft and patient survival.