Homogenous Oxidizing Oligomerization Coupled with Coagulation for Water Purification.

Natural manganese oxides could induce the intermolecular coupling reactions among small-molecule organics in aqueous environments, which is one of the fundamental processes contributing to natural humification. These processes could be simulated to design novel advanced oxidation technology for water purification. In this study, periodate (PI) was selected as the supplementary electron-acceptor for colloidal manganese oxides (Mn(IV)aq) to remove phenolic contaminants from water. By introducing polyferric sulfate (PFS) into the Mn(IV)aq/PI system and exploiting the flocculation potential of Mn(IV)aq, a post-coagulation process was triggered to eliminate soluble manganese after oxidation. Under acidic conditions, periodate exists in the H4IO6- form as an octahedral oxyacid capable of coordinating with Mn(IV)aq to form bidentate complexes or oligomers (Mn(IV)-PI*) as reactive oxidants. The Mn(IV)-PI* complex could induce cross-coupling process between phenolic contaminants, resulting in the formation of oligomerized products ranging from dimers to hexamers. These oligomerized products participate in the coagulation process and become stored within the nascent floc due to their catenulate nature and strong hydrophobicity. Through coordination between Mn(IV)aq and H4IO6-, residual periodate is firmly connected with manganese oxides in the floc after coagulation and could be simultaneously separated from the aqueous phase. This study achieves oxidizing oligomerization through a homogeneous process under mild conditions without additional energy input or heterogeneous catalyst preparation. Compared to traditional mineralization-driven oxidation techniques, the proposed novel cascade processes realize transformation, convergence, and separation of phenolic contaminants with high oxidant utilization efficiency for low-carbon purification.

Simultaneous regeneration of activated carbon and removal of adsorbed atrazine by ozonation process: From laboratory scale to pilot studies.

A novel treatment technique by coupling granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption and ozone regeneration was constructed for long-lasting water decontamination. The GAC adsorption showed high performance for atrazine (ATZ) removal (99.9 %), and the ozone regeneration ensured the recyclability of GAC for water purification. The regeneration process was evaluated via several paths to assist the efficient adsorption process. Employing ozone micro-nano bubbles (O3-MNBs) for regenerating GAC showed superior performance compared to traditional ozone. Meantime, inhibiting the formation of bromate (BrO3-). ATZ adsorption process suffered from the pore-filling, hydrogen bonding effect and π-π EDA interaction. The surface phenolic hydroxyl group, carboxyl group and pyridine nitrogen benefitted the triggering of ozone to generate reactive oxygen species, and regenerate the GAC surface. The superior performance of the adsorption and regeneration process was verified via a long-term running by a pilot study. It significantly improved the removal of organic micropollutants, UV254 and permanganate index. Additionally, the intermittent O3-MNBs regeneration process resulted in efficient decontamination within the pores structure of GAC, which also effectively preserved the pore structure from destruction. For actual application, the cost of water production can be saved around 0.63 kWh m-3. This work proposed new ideas and theoretical support for economic water production.

Selective oxidation of organic pollutants based on reactive oxygen species and the molecular structure: Degradation behavior and mechanism analysis.

The selective and rapid elimination of refractory organic pollutants from surface water is significant. However, the relationship of between reactive oxygen species (ROSs) and diversified pollutants molecular structures still needs to be further clarified. Here, we utilize polydopamine (PDA)-assisted coating strategy to prepare hollow 2D carbon nanosheet (ZPL-HCNS) and 2D Co3O4 nanosheet (ZPL-Co3O4) by thermolysis of PDA coated ZIF-L (ZIF-L@PDA) precursor under different gas atmosphere, which realizes the controlled generation of radicals and non-radicals. Organic pollutants including bisphenols, sulfonamides, quinolones, tetracyclines, and azo dyes are applied to assess the catalytic performance. Results show that dyes containing azo structure are more likely to be degraded by radical process, which is due to that the energy (ΔE) requirements to break the azo bond is higher than energy released from singlet oxygen to oxygen molecule and lower than that of sulfate radical to sulfate. Frontier molecular orbital theory HOMO-LUMO and Fukui function expounded the possible selectivity mechanism. In addition, the degradation pathway and biotoxicity test are carried out. This work provides a reference to illustrate the selective degradation for ROSs and molecular structure of pollutants.

A multicenter prospective study of comprehensive metagenomic and transcriptomic signatures for predicting outcomes of patients with severe community-acquired pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: Severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) results in high mortality as well as massive economic burden worldwide, yet limited knowledge of the bio-signatures related to prognosis has hindered the improvement of clinical outcomes. Pathogen, microbes and host are three vital elements in inflammations and infections. This study aims to discover the specific and sensitive biomarkers to predict outcomes of SCAP patients. METHODS: In this study, we applied a combined metagenomic and transcriptomic screening approach to clinical specimens gathered from 275 SCAP patients of a multicentre, prospective study. FINDINGS: We found that 30-day mortality might be independent of pathogen category or microbial diversity, while significant difference in host gene expression pattern presented between 30-day mortality group and the survival group. Twelve outcome-related clinical characteristics were identified in our study. The underlying host response was evaluated and enrichment of genes related to cell activation, immune modulation, inflammatory and metabolism were identified. Notably, omics data, clinical features and parameters were integrated to develop a model with six signatures for predicting 30-day mortality, showing an AUC of 0.953 (95% CI: 0.92-0.98). INTERPRETATION: In summary, our study linked clinical characteristics and underlying multi-omics bio-signatures to the differential outcomes of patients with SCAP. The establishment of a comprehensive predictive model will be helpful for future improvement of treatment strategies and prognosis with SCAP. FUNDING: National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 82161138018), Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty (shslczdzk02202), Shanghai Top-Priority Clinical Key Disciplines Construction Project (2017ZZ02014), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Emergency Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Infectious Diseases (20dz2261100).

A confined expansion pore-making strategy to transform Zn-MOF to porous carbon nanofiber for water treatment: Insight into formation and degradation mechanism.

Electrospinning MOFs nanoparticles derived porous carbon nanofibers with rational structure and design are recently as environmentally friendly and highly efficient catalytic materials for wastewater treatment. However, most of the pore-making strategies are based on precursors structural shrinkage during pyrolysis, which is a challenge to create abundant large pores and open channels. Here, a confined expansion pore-making strategy with active MOF is introduced, where energetic Zn-MOF (Zn2+/triazole) and ZIF-67 (Co2+/dimethylimidazole) are utilized as pore forming additive and precursor of active sites, respectively. The high nitrogen content gives triazole the ability to puff up and realizes N-doped during pyrolysis. Moreover, degradation mechanisms and pathways of pollutants were measured by 3D EEM, LC-MS, quenching experiments, and Fukui function. This pore-making strategy via energetic MOF local contraction and expansion provides a novel method to prepare diversiform function porous carbon materials for environmental remediation.

Integrating host transcriptomic signatures for distinguishing autoimmune encephalitis in cerebrospinal fluid by metagenomic sequencing.

BACKGROUND: The early accurate diagnoses for autoimmune encephalitis (AE) and infectious encephalitis (IE) are essential since the treatments for them are different. This study aims to discover some specific and sensitive biomarkers to distinguish AE from IE at early stage to give specific treatments for good outcomes. RESULTS: We compared the host gene expression profiles and microbial diversities of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 41 patients with IE and 18 patients with AE through meta-transcriptomic sequencing. Significant differences were found in host gene expression profiles and microbial diversities in CSF between patients with AE and patients with IE. The most significantly upregulated genes in patients with IE were enriched in pathways related with immune response such as neutrophil degranulation, antigen processing and presentation and adaptive immune system. In contrast, those upregulated genes in patients with AE were mainly involved in sensory organ development such as olfactory transduction, as well as synaptic transmission and signaling. Based on the differentially expressed genes, a classifier consisting of 5 host genes showed outstanding performance with an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.95. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a promising classifier and is the first to investigate transcriptomic signatures for differentiating AE from IE by using meta-transcriptomic next-generation sequencing technology.

Enhancement of 15% calcium oxide doped nano zero-valent iron on arsenic removal from high-arsenic acid wastewater.

Nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) has a great potential for arsenic removal, but it would form aggregates easily and consume largely by H+ in the strongly acidic solution. In this work, 15%CaO doped with nZVI (15%CaO-nZVI) was successfully synthesized from a simplified ball milling mixture combined with a hydrogen reduction method, which had a high adsorption capacity for As(V) removal from high-arsenic acid wastewater. More than 97% As(V) was removed by 15%CaO-nZVI under the optimum reaction conditions of pH 1.34, initial As(V) concentration 16.21 g/L, and molar ratio of Fe/As (nFe/nAs) 2.5:1. The effluent pH solution was weakly acidic 6.72, and the secondary arsenic removal treatment reduced the solid waste and improved arsenic grade in slag from the mass fraction of 20.02% to 29.07%. Multiple mechanisms including Ca2+ enhanced effect, adsorption, reduction, and co-precipitation coexisted for As(V) removal from high-arsenic acid wastewater. Doping of CaO might lead to improving cracking channels which was benefit for electronic transmission and the confusion of atomic distribution. The in situ weak alkaline environment generated on the surface of 15%CaO-nZVI would increase the content of γ-Fe2O3/Fe3O4, which was in favor for As(V) adsorption. In addition, H+ in the strongly acidic solution could accelerate corrosion of 15%CaO-nZVI and abundant fresh and reactive iron oxides continuously generated, which would provide plenty specific reactive site and fast charge transfer and ionic mobility for arsenic removal.

Whose Oxygen Atom Is Transferred to the Products? A Case Study of Peracetic Acid Activation via Complexed MnII for Organic Contaminant Degradation.

Identifying reactive species in advanced oxidation process (AOP) is an essential and intriguing topic that is also challenging and requires continuous efforts. In this study, we exploited a novel AOP technology involving peracetic acid (PAA) activation mediated by a MnII-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) complex, which outperformed iron- and cobalt-based PAA activation processes for rapidly degrading phenolic and aniline contaminants from water. The proposed MnII/NTA/PAA system exhibited non-radical oxidation features and could stoichiometrically oxidize sulfoxide probes to the corresponding sulfone products. More importantly, we traced the origin of O atoms from the sulfone products by 18O isotope-tracing experiments and found that PAA was the only oxygen-donor, which is different from the oxidation process mediated by high-valence manganese-oxo intermediates. According to the results of theoretical calculations, we proposed that NTA could tune the coordination circumstance of the MnII center to elongate the O-O bond of the complexed PAA. Additionally, the NTA-MnII-PAA* molecular cluster presented a lower energy gap than the MnII-PAA complex, indicating that the MnII-peroxy complex was more reactive in the presence of NTA. Thus, the NTA-MnII-PAA* complex exhibited a stronger oxidation potential than PAA, which could rapidly oxidize organic contaminants from water. Further, we generalized our findings to the CoII/PAA oxidation process and highlighted that the CoII-PAA* complex might be the overlooked reactive cobalt species. The significance of this work lies in discovering that sometimes the metal-peroxy complex could directly oxidize the contaminants without the further generation of high-valence metal-oxo intermediates and/or radical species through interspecies oxygen and/or electron transfer.

Construction of a biomimetic core-shell PDA@Lac bioreactor from intracellular laccase as a nano-confined biocatalyst for decolorization.

Enzymes immobilized on the surface of the carriers are difficult to maintain their conformation and high activity due to the influence of the external harsh environments. A biomimetic core-shell PDA@Lac bioreactor was constructed by depositing polydopamine (PDA) on the surface of the recombinant Escherichia coli with CotA laccase gene, and releasing intracellular laccase into the PDA shell using ultrasound to break the cell wall of the bacteria. The bioreactor provided a nano-confined environment for the laccase and accelerated the mass and electron transfer in the volume-confined space, with a 2.77-fold increase in Km compared with the free laccase. Since there was no barrier of the cell wall, the crystal violet dye can enter the bioreactor to participate in the enzymatic reaction. As a result, PDA@Lac achieved excellent decolorization performance even without ABTS as an electron mediator. Moreover, the cytoplasmic solution retained in the PDA shell promoted the enzyme's tolerance to pH, temperature and harsh environments. In addition to PDA encapsulation, carbonyl and -NH2 groups of PDA were bound covalently with -NH2 and -COOH on the laccase in the PDA@Lac, resulting in an extremely high laccase loading of 817.59 mg/g. Also, the relative activity of the bioreactor maintained approximately 75% after 10 cycles of reuse. In addition, the protection of the PDA shell increased the resistance of laccase to UV irradiation. This work provides a novel method of laccase immobilization for application in wastewater treatment.

Effects of extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields on the tumor cell inhibition and the possible mechanism.

Low-frequency magnetic fields exert a significant inhibitory effect on tumor growth and have been developed as a therapeutic modality. However, the effect of a low-frequency magnetic field on the interaction between cells is still poorly understood. This study aimed to preliminarily evaluate the direct effect of magnetic field ditectely on cultured cells and indirect effect mediated by cell-environment (conditioned medium). 293 T cells, Hepg2 cells, A549 cells have been cultured at 37 ± 0.18 °C in presence of an extremely low-frequency magnetic field of 20 Hz, 5-mT. The adherent tumor cells were more sensitive to magnetic field inhibition in the original environment (conditioned medium) with adherence inhibition rate for Hepg2 and A549 estimated at 18% and 30% respectively. The inhibition effect was suppressed when the suspended cells separated or clump density at a low density. The nontumor cell lines showed no inhibitory effect on exposure to a low-frequency magnetic field. The intracellular ion fluorescence (IIF) showed that the magnetic field significantly altered the membrane potential, indicating hyperpolarization of the adherent cells (ΔIIF 293 T cells: - 25%, ΔIIF Hepg2 cells: - 20% and ΔIIF A549 cells: - 13%) and depolarization of the suspended cells (ΔIIF Raji cells: + 9%). In addition, the conditioned media collected after magnetic field exposure acted on unexposed tumor cells and caused inhibition. Our findings might provide a basis for the mechanism of magnetic field interaction between cells and cell environment in the future.

Enhanced removal of aqueous Cr(VI) by the in situ iron loaded activated carbon through a facile impregnation with Fe(II) and Fe(VI) two step method: Mechanism study.

In this study, a novel in situ iron-loaded activated carbon (AFPAC) was prepared by a FeSO4/K2FeO4 impregnation and oxidation combination two-step supported on activated carbon for enhanced removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. Cr(VI) removal efficiency greatly increased by AFPAC more than 70% than that of fresh activated carbon (AC), which is due to rich iron oxides formed in situ and the synergistic effect between iron oxides and activated carbon. Cr(VI) adsorption behaviors on AFPAC under different water quality parameters were investigated. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities for Cr(VI) by AFPAC are as high as 26.24 mg/g, 28.65 mg/g, and 32.05 mg/g at 25 °C, 35 °C and 45 °C at pH 4, respectively. Density functional theory (DFT) results showed that the adsorption energy of K2Cr2O7 on the surface of FeOOH was - 2.52 eV, which was greater than that on the surface of bare AC, and more charge transfer occurred during the adsorption of K2Cr2O7 on the surface of FeOOH, greatly promoting the formation of Cr = O-Fe. Cr(VI) removal by AFPAC included electrostatic attraction, redox reaction, coordinate complexation, and co-precipitation. Cr(VI) adsorption process on AFPAC consisted of the three reaction steps: (1) AFPAC was fast protonation and Cr2O72- would electrostatically attract to the positively charged AFPAC surface. (2) Cr2O72- was reduced into Cr2O3 by the carbons bond to the oxygen functionalities on activated carbon and the redox reaction process of FeSO4 and K2FeO4. (3) The inner-sphere complexes were formed, and adsorbed on AFPAC by iron oxides and then co-precipitation.

Characteristics and mechanisms of As(III) removal by potassium ferrate coupled with Al-based coagulants: Analysis of aluminum speciation distribution and transformation.

This study was carried out to investigate the enhanced removal of arsenite (As(III)) by potassium ferrate (K2FeO4) coupled with three Al-based coagulants, which focused innovatively on the distribution and transformation of hydrolyzed aluminum species as well as the mechanism of K2FeO4 interacted with different aluminum hydrolyzed polymers during As(III) removal. Results demonstrated that As(III) removal efficiency could be substantially elevated by K2FeO4 coupled with three Al-based coagulants treatment and the optimum As(III) removal effect was occurred at pH 6 with more than 97%. K2FeO4 showed a great effect on the distribution and transformation of aluminum hydrolyzed polymers and then coupled with a variety of aluminum species produced by the hydrolysis of aluminum coagulants for arsenic removal. During enhanced coagulation, arsenic removal by AlCl3 was main through the charge neutralization of in situ Al13 and the sweep flocculation of Al(OH)3, while PACl1 mainly depended on the charge neutralization of preformed Al13 and the bridging adsorption of Al13 aggregates, whereas PACl2 mainly relied on the sweep flocculation of Al(OH)3. This study provided a new insight into the distribution and transformation of aluminum species for the mechanism of As(III) removal by K2FeO4 coupled with different Al-based coagulants.

Highly efficient removal of arsenate and arsenite with potassium ferrate: role of in situ formed ferric nanoparticle.

It is well known the capacity of potassium ferrate (Fe(VI)) for the oxidation of pollutants or co-precipitation and adsorption of hazardous species. However, little information has been paid on the adsorption and co-precipitation contribution of the Fe(VI) resultant nanoparticles, the in situ hydrolytic ferric iron oxides. Here, the removal of arsenate (As(V)) and arsenite (As(III)) by Fe(VI) was investigated, which focused on the interaction mechanisms of Fe(VI) with arsenic, especially in the contribution of the co-precipitation and adsorption of its hydrolytic ferric iron oxides. pH and Fe(VI) played significant roles on arsenic removal; over 97.8% and 98.1% of As(V) and As(III) removal were observed when Fe(VI):As(V) and Fe(VI):As(III) were 24:1 and 16:1 at pH 4, respectively. The removal of As(V) and As(III) by in situ and ex situ formed hydrolytic ferric iron oxides was examined respectively. The results revealed that As(III) was oxidized by Fe(VI) to As(V), and then was removed though co-precipitation and adsorption by the hydrolytic ferric iron oxides with the contribution content was about 1:3. For As(V), it could be removed directly by the in situ formed particles from Fe(VI) through co-precipitation and adsorption with the contribution content was about 1:1.5. By comparison, As(III) and As(V) were mainly removed through adsorption by the 30-min hydrolytic ferric iron oxides during the ex situ process. The hydrolytic ferric iron oxides size was obviously different in the process of in situ and ex situ, possessing abundant and multiple morphological structures ferric oxides, which was conducive for the efficient removal of arsenic. This study would provide a new perspective for understanding the potential of Fe(VI) treatment on arsenic control.

Correlation Analysis of the Carboxyl and Carbonyl Groups of Natural Organic Matter and the Formation Potential of Trihalomethanes and Chloral Hydrate.

Natural organic matter (NOM) has always been considered the main precursor of disinfection by-products (DBPs) during the chlorine disinfection of drinking water. This research focuses on investigating the correlation between the functional group (carboxyl and carbonyl groups) content of NOM and the formation of trichloromethane (TCM) and chloral hydrate (CH). The quantitative determination of carboxyl groups, carbonyl groups, TCM, and CH were conducted during the drinking water treatment processes with different coagulant dosages and with/without pre-oxidation by KMnO4 or NaClO. The most appropriate coagulant for the removal of conventional components was polyaluminum chloride (PAC), and the dosage was 110 mg/L. Up to 43.7% and 14.5% of the carboxyl and carbonyl groups, respectively, were removed through the coagulation and sedimentation processes, which can be enhanced by increasing PAC dosage. The filtration process further increased the removal rates of these two functional groups to 59.8% and 33.5%, respectively. The formation potential of the TCM and CH decreased as the PAC dosage increased. Pre-oxidation by KMnO4 (0.8-1.0 mg/L) effectively controlled the formation of DBPs while increasing the carboxyl and carbonyl group content. Pre-oxidation by NaClO decreased the formation of TCM rather than CH, and a suitable amount (0.5-1.0 mg/L) decreased the carboxyl and carbonyl groups. It was found that there was a good linear correlation between carboxyl groups and TCM and CH. The linear fit R2 values of the carboxyl groups to TCM and CH were 0.6644 and 0.7957, respectively. The linear fit R2 values of the carbonyl groups to TCM and CH were 0.5373 and 0.7595, respectively.

Genomic characterization of two metagenome-assembled genomes of Tropheryma whipplei from China.

Whipple's disease is a rare chronic systemic disease that affects almost any organ system of the body caused by the intracellular bacterium Tropheryma whipplei, which is found ubiquitously in the environment. Sequencing of the T. whipplei genome has revealed that it has a reduced genome (0.93 Mbp), a characteristic shared with other intracellular bacteria. Until our research started, 19 T. whipplei strains had been sequenced from cultures originated in France, Canada, and Germany. The genome of T. whipplei bacterium has not been studied in Asia yet. Here, two metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of T. whipplei from China were reconstructed through metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and genome binning. We also provided genomic insights into the geographical role and genomic features by analyzing the whole genome. The whole-genome phylogenetic tree was constructed based on single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) distance calculations and then grouped by distance similarity. The phylogenetic tree shows inconsistencies with geographic origins, thus suggesting that the variations in geographical origins cannot explain the phylogenetic relationships among the 21 T. whipplei strains. The two Chinese strains were closely related to each other, and also found to be related to strains from Germany (T. whipplei TW08/27) and France (T. whipplei Bcu26 and T. whipplei Neuro1). Furthermore, the Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) matrix also showed no association between geographic origins and genomic similarities. The pan-genome analysis revealed that T. whipplei has a closed pan-genome composed of big core-genomes and small accessory genomes, like other intracellular bacteria. By examining the genotypes of the sequenced strains, all 21 T. whipplei strains were found to be resistant to fluoroquinolones, due to the genetic mutations in genes gyrA, gyrB, parC, and parE. The 21 T. Whipplei strains shared the same virulence factors, except for the alpC gene, which existed in 7 out of the 21 T. whipplei strains. When comparing 21 entire T. whipplei pan-genomes from various nations, it was discovered that the bacterium also possessed a closed genome, which was a trait shared by intracellular pathogens.

Activation of peroxymonosulfate by palygorskite-mediated cobalt-copper-ferrite nanoparticles for bisphenol S degradation: Influencing factors, pathways and toxicity evaluation.

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based advanced oxidation process is considered a potential technology for water treatment. Here, palygorskite (PAL)-mediated cobalt-copper-ferrite nanoparticles (16%-CoCu0.4Fe1·6O4@PAL, donated as 16%-CCFO@PAL) were employed for PMS activation to remove bisphenol S (BPS). BPS degradation was greater than 99% under the optimal conditions within 25 min, on which the effects of various influencing factors were explored. The adsorption dissociation energy of PMS over 16%-CCFO@PAL was -6.27 eV, which was lower than that of the Cu-free catalyst (-6.15 eV), demonstrating the excellent catalytic ability of 16%-CCFO@PAL. The efficient catalytic ability of 16%-CCFO@PAL was also verified in real water samples. The oxidation intermediates were identified and their generations were systematically analyzed by DFT calculations. The possible degradation pathways of BPS were proposed and the toxicity of products was predicted. BPS affected the normal development of zebrafish embryos and the levels of sex hormone in adult male zebrafish, and was harmful to the tissues, such as testis, liver, and intestine of zebrafish. The 16%-CCFO@PAL/PMS process can effectively reduce the toxicity of BPS-polluted water. This study paves the way for the real application of 16%-CCFO@PAL/PMS oxidation process and provides a new perspective for the evaluation of water toxicity.

Symptom burden and emotional distress in advanced lung cancer: the moderating effects of physicians' communication skills and patients' disease understanding.

PURPOSE: The elevated physical symptom burden in advanced lung cancer can disrupt patients' emotional well-being, and current literature suggests that physicians' good communication skills might be a buffer. However, little is known about for which group of patients this buffering effect is most effective. Based on a cross-sectional study in patients with advanced lung cancer, the present study examined whether the moderating effect of physicians' communication skills on the association between physical symptoms and emotional distress would further depend on patients' perceived disease understanding. METHODS: Patients with advanced lung cancer (n = 199) completed a questionnaire including measures of physical symptoms related to lung cancer, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, perceptions of physicians' communication skills, and self-reported understanding of their disease. RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses indicated a significant three-way interaction among physical symptoms, perceptions of physicians' communication skills, and perceived disease understanding on both anxiety and depression. Specifically, physicians' good communication skills exerted a buffering effect only for patients with lower levels of disease understanding. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that improving physicians' communication skills may be especially beneficial for reducing the maladaptive emotional reactions to symptom burden for patients with limited disease understanding. When time and resources for communication are restricted, enhanced awareness and focused training may be directed at communicating with patients who possess limited knowledge about their disease.

Characteristics and disinfection by-product formation potential of dissolved organic matter in reservoir water in cold area.

The severe cold in winter with harsh natural conditions in Northeastern China seriously affect the water quality of the reservoir, showing the increased content and more complex types of organic matter, which brings severe challenges to the control of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water treatment with reservoir water as the water source. In this study, the fractions of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in source water at before ice formation period (P1), ice-age period (P2), and ice begin to melt period (P3) were separated by membrane separation technology. Subsequently, the contributions of DOM fractions with different molecular weights (MW) to DOC, UV254, and SUVA254, and their disinfection by-product formation potential (DBPFP) were evaluated. Although DOM with high MW (5-10 kDa) contributed the most to dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and UV254, but the contribution of DOM with low MW (0-1 kDa) to DBPs formation could not be ignored, especially during ice-age period. There was no significant difference in the total numbers of DOM formula belonged to low MW fraction at these three periods, mainly including lignin, followed by N-containing saturated compounds and tannins. Additionally, redundancy analysis revealed that DOC and UV254 as the predictors had good correlation with DBPFP, while SUVA254 could not be used as a single indicator to predict the generation potential of DBPs, and could be used as the prediction factors together with AImodwa parameter closely related to DBPFP. The study provided key information for controlling the DBPs formation of DOM in water, especially in the ice-age period, and provided the theoretical basis for water plant production.

Two-dimensional layered carbon-based catalytic ozonation for water purification: Rational design of catalysts and an in-depth understanding of the interfacial reaction mechanism.

This review renewed insight into the existing complex and contradictory mechanisms of catalytic ozonation by two-dimensional layered carbon-based materials (2D-LCMs) for degradation toxic refractory organics in aqueous solution. Migration and capture of active electrons are central to catalytic ozonation reactions, which was not studied or reviewed more clearly. Based on this perspective, the catalytic ozonation potential of 2D-LCMs synthesized by numerous methods is firstly contrasted to guide the design of subsequent carbon based-catalysts, and not limited to 2D-LCMs. Matching ROS to active sites is a key step in understanding the catalytic mechanism. The structure-activity relationships between reported numerous active sites and ROS evolution is then constructed. Result showed that OH could be produced by -OH, -C=O, -COOH groups, defective sites, immobilized metal atoms, doped heteroatoms and photo-induced electrons; and O2- could be produced by -OH groups and sp2-bonded carbon. The normalized model further be used to visually compare the contribution degree of various regulatory methods to performance improvement. More importantly, this review calls for 2D-LCMs-based catalytic ozonation to be studied without circumventing the issue of structural stability, which would lead to many proposals of catalysts and its involved catalytic reaction mechanism being meaningless.

Non-radical dominated degradation of bisphenol S by peroxymonosulfate activation under high salinity condition: Overlooked HOCl, formation of intermediates, and toxicity assessment.

Extensive studies revealed that Cl- could inhibit the removal of targeted pollutants under low Cl- conditions in the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) system. However, the enhanced effect of Cl- has always been overlooked under high Cl- conditions. Here, we find that high concentration of Cl- played a critical role in bisphenol S (BPS) degradation by activating PMS using 16%-CoFe2O4@PAL (16%-CFO@PAL). The removal of BPS was sharply enhanced after introducing 0.5 and 1.0 M Cl-, and the corresponding kobs increased to 0.922 min-1 and 1.103 min-1, which was 6-fold and 7-fold higher than the control (0.144 min-1), respectively. HOCl was demonstrated as the dominant species for removing BPS in 16%-CFO@PAL/PMS system under high Cl- circumstances. The typical chlorinated BPS intermediates were identified, which showed higher eco-toxicity than BPS. The chlorinated byproducts along with their toxicity could be effectively eliminated after 30 min. The possible formation mechanism of chlorinated products was further revealed by theoretical calculations. Toxicity assessment experiments showed that BPS significantly affected hormone levels of zebrafish and showed toxicity on the testis and liver of zebrafish, which could be reduced using 16%-CFO@PAL/PMS system. This study attracts attention to the overlooked HOCl in PMS-based processes under high salinity conditions.