A passive sink-zeolite permeable reactive barrier to control NH4+-N pollution plume within groundwater: Conceptual design and numerical modeling.

Ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) is a typical inorganic pollutant in the groundwater at landfill sites, and high-concentration NH4+-N is toxic to humans and organisms. Zeolite can effectively remove NH4+-N in water by adsorption, and it is suitable to be used as a type of reactive materials for permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). A passive sink-zeolite PRB (PS-zPRB) with higher capture efficiency than a continuous permeable reactive barrier (C-PRB) was proposed. And a passive sink configuration was integrated with PRB in the PS-zPRB, this configuration enabled the high hydraulic gradient of groundwater at the treated sites to be fully utilized. In order to explore treatment efficiency for groundwater NH4+-N using the PS-zPRB, numerical modeling on decontamination of NH4+-N plumes at a landfill site was performed. The results indicated that the NH4+-N concentrations of PRB effluent gradually decreased from 21.0 mg/L to 0.5 mg/L within 5 y, and met the drinking water standards after treatment for 900 d. The decontamination efficiency index of PS-zPRB was consistently higher than 95% within 5 y, and the service life of PS-zPRB appeared over 5 y. The capture width of PS-zPRB effectively exceeded the PRB length by around 47%. Compared with C-PRB, the capture efficiency of PS-zPRB was increased by around 28%, and the reactive material of PS-zPRB was saved by approximately 23% in volume.

The Effect of the Magnesium Sulfate in Ultrasound-Guided Quadratus Lumborum Block on Postoperative Analgesia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Quadratus lumborum block (QLB) has proven to be an effective analgesic technique in various abdominal surgeries. Magnesium sulfate as an adjuvant in different nerve blocks has been reported. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of magnesium sulfate as an adjuvant to ropivacaine in an ultrasound-guided QLB for postoperative analgesia in laparoscopic gynecologic surgery. METHODS: Ninety patients belonging to American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I or II, aged between 40 and 60 years, scheduled for laparoscopic gynecologic surgery were enrolled. Patients were divided into three groups and received bilateral quadratus lumborum block: ropivacaine group (group N, 0.375% ropivacaine 40 ml + normal saline 4 ml), magnesium sulfate group (group M, 0.375% ropivacaine 40 ml + 10% magnesium sulfate 4 ml), and control group (group C, normal saline 44 ml). Visual analogue scale (VAS) at rest and during activity at 4, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h postoperatively, consumption of morphine, the time of first analgesic request, frequency of rescue analgesia, satisfaction with postoperative analgesia, and any side effects were recorded. RESULTS: VAS scores in groups M and N were significantly lower than in group C at 4 and 6 h postoperatively (P < 0.001). VAS scores were lower in group M at 12 and 24 h postoperatively compared to groups N and C (P < 0.05). The mean total morphine consumption was significantly lower in group M than in groups N and C (P < 0.001). The mean time to the first patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) bolus was significantly prolonged in group M compared to group C (P < 0.05). The satisfaction with postoperative analgesia of group M was superior to that of groups N and C (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in side effects among the three groups. CONCLUSION: Magnesium sulfate as an adjuvant to ropivacaine in ultrasound-guided QLB prolongs the duration of analgesia, decreases analgesic requirements, and improves patient satisfaction without significant side effects. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900027066.

Dexmedetomidine prevents hemorrhagic brain injury by reducing damage induced by ferroptosis in mice.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a devastating condition with significant morbidity and mortality for which few effective treatments are clinically available. After ICH, iron overload within the perihaematomal region can induce lethal reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipid peroxidation, which contribute to secondary brain injury. An iron-dependent form of non-apoptotic cell death known as ferroptosis was recently identified. Ferroptosis plays an important role in ICH pathology. It is characterized by an accumulation of iron-induced lipid ROS, which leads to intracellular oxidative stress. Dexmedetomidine (DEX), an α2-adrenergic agonist, is widely used for anesthesia, pain control, and intensive care unit sedation. DEX has numerous beneficial activities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-cell death activities. Here, we established a mouse model of ICH using collagenase VII and evaluated the effect of DEX in preventing ICH-induced brain injury. Our study showed that administering DEX reduced the damage induced by ferroptosis after ICH by regulating iron metabolism, amino acid metabolism and lipid peroxidation processes.

Developmental pattern of association fibers and their interaction with associated cortical microstructures in 0-5-month-old infants.

Association fibers connect the cortical regions and experience rapid development involving myelination and axonal growth during infancy. Yet, the spatiotemporal patterns of microstructural changes along these tracts, as well as the developmental interaction between the white matter (WM) tracts and the cortical gray matter (cGM) connected to them, are mostly unknown during infancy. In this study, we performed a diffusion MRI-based tractography and microstructure study in a cohort of 89 healthy preterm-born infants with gestational age at birth between 28.1∼36.4 weeks and postmenstrual age at scan between 39.9∼59.9 weeks. Results revealed that several C-shaped fibers, such as the arcuate fasciculus, cingulum, and uncinate fasciculus, demonstrated symmetrical along-tract profiles; and the horizontally oriented running fibers, including the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, demonstrated an anterior-posterior developmental gradient. This study characterized the along-tract profiles using fixel-based analysis and revealed that the fiber cross-section (FC) of all five association fibers demonstrated a fluctuating increase with age, while the fiber density (FD) monotonically increase with age. NODDI was utilized to analyze the microstructural development of cGM and indicated cGM connected to the anterior end of the association fibers developed faster than that of the posterior end during 0-5 months. Notably, a mediation analysis was used to explore the relation between the development of WM and associated cGM, and demonstrated a partial mediation effect of FD in WM on the development of intracellular volume (ICV) in cGM and a full mediation effect of ICV on the growth of FD in most fibers, suggesting a predominant mediation of cGM on the WM development. Furthermore, for assessing whether those results were biased by prematurity, we compared preterm- and term-born neonates with matched scan age, gender, and multiple births from the developing human connectome project (dHCP) dataset to assess the effect of preterm-birth, and the results indicated a similar developmental pattern of the association fibers and their attached cGM. These findings presented a comprehensive picture of the major association fibers during early infancy and deciphered the developmental interaction between WM and cGM in this period.

Early Development and the Functional Correlation of Brain Structural Connectivity in Preterm-Born Infants.

Exuberant axon growth and competitive pruning lead to dramatic and comprehensive changes in white matter pathways of the infant brain during the first few postnatal months, yet the development of structural configuration in early infancy has not been fully characterized. This study aimed to investigate the developmental trajectory of structural connectivity reflecting relative fiber density in 43 preterm-born infants aged 0-3 months of corrected age without any complications utilizing probabilistic tractography based on fiber orientation distribution and to explore the potential function correlation associated with the network properties based on the Chinese Communication Development of Infant at 10 months of corrected age. The findings revealed significant increases in global efficiency, local efficiency, normalized clustering coefficient, and small-worldness (p adj < 0.001 for each), while the normalized characteristic path length showed a non-significant decrease with age (p adj = 0.118). Furthermore, those findings were validated by another parcelation strategy. In addition, the early local efficiency was found to be significantly correlated with words understood at 10 months of corrected age. A unique developmental pattern of structural networks with enhancing efficiency and the small-world property was found in early infancy, which was different from those of neonates or toddlers. In addition, this study revealed a significant correlation between local efficiency and late language comprehension, which indicated that enhanced structural connectivity may lay the structural foundation for language specialization.

Dexmedetomidine Alleviates Intracerebral Hemorrhage-Induced Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Mice Through the Inhibition of TRPV4 Opening.

Post-stroke anxiety severely affects recovery in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Dexmedetomidine (Dex), a highly selective alpha 2 adrenal receptor (α2-AR) agonist, was recently found to exert an excellent protective effect against mental disorders including anxiety. The transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channel is involved in a series of diseases such as asthma, cancer, anxiety, and cardiac hypertrophy. This study examines whether Dex improved ICH-induced anxiety via the inhibition of TRPV4 channel opening. A rodent model of moderate ICH in the basal ganglia was established using autologous blood injection (20 µl). Mice were treated with Dex (25 µg/kg, intraperitoneal injection) every day for 3 days post-ICH. GSK1016790A (1 µmol/2 µl), an agonist of TRPV4, was administered via the left lateral ventricle. Thirty days post-ICH, post-stroke anxiety was evaluated by elevated plus-maze and open-field tests. Following behavioral tests, superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), astrocytic activation, and A1-and A2-type astrocytes were determined. Primary astrocytes were exposed to hemin to simulate ICH in vitro. Compared with sham-treated mice, Dex administration ameliorates ICH-induced decreases of distance and time in the open-arm, reduces distance and time in the central zone, increases astrocytic activation and A1-type astrocytes, elevates MDA content, downregulates total SOD contents, and decreases A2-type astrocytes. However, GSK1016790A partially reversed the neuroprotective effects of Dex. In addition, Dex significantly inhibited hemin-induced astrocytic activation in vitro. Dex improves ICH-induced anxiety-like behaviors in mice, and the mechanism might be associated with the inhibition of TRPV4-channel opening.

Evaluation of aqueous Cd2+ and Pb2+ removal by natural loess using spectral induced polarization and microscopic characterization.

Mining and landfill activities can cause serious soil and groundwater contamination with lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd). Loess soils are common and have been reported as effective for the removal of heavy metals. The spectral induced polarization (SIP) technique has been approved for its nondestructive ability to characterize the contaminant transport process and surface geochemical properties in porous media. In the present study, SIP was applied to monitor Pb2+ and Cd2+ removal processes using loess through column flow-through experiments. The outflow aqueous geochemical analyses indicated a better retention capability of loess for Pb2+, which was through precipitation induced by calcite dissolution and aqueous pH increment, as confirmed by SEM-EDS and XRD results. Cd retention took place mainly through ion exchange with Ca2+ and Mg2+ on the loess surface. The SIP signals showed a continuous decrement on the magnitude of imaginary conductivity during both Pb2+ and Cd2+ flow-through, which was attributed to the total surface area and decrement of polarizable surface charges. The SIP signals differentiated the interactions between loess and Pb2+/Cd2+ by displaying a peak shift to a higher frequency on the imaginary conductivity spectra during Pb2+ flow-through, which was attributed to calcite dissolution and proved by the high correlation (R2 = 0.9366) between the estimated dissolved calcite mass and the peak of imaginary conductivity. The above results suggest that loess has a great potential for field heavy metal remediation applications, and the SIP technique displays a promising capability of monitoring the remediation performance.

Gender-based differences in neuroprotective effects of hydrogen gas against intracerebral hemorrhage-induced depression.

BACKGROUND: Post-stroke depression (PSD) severely affects recovery in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Although hydrogen gas (H2) exerts excellent neuroprotective effects in patients with ICH, there are sex-based differences in H2 efficacy in several diseases. Herein, we determined whether estrogen increases susceptibility to the neuroprotective effects of H2 in males with ICH-induced depression. METHODS: A rodent model of ICH in the basal ganglia was established using autologous blood injection (30 µL). Mice were treated with 2.9% H2 for 2 h daily for 3 days post-ICH. Estrogen (1 mg/kg) was administered by subcutaneous injection daily for 3 days to male mice post-ICH. Thirty days post-ICH, PSD was evaluated by sucrose preference, forced swimming, and 3-chamber social tests. Following the completion of behavioral tests, levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), astrocytic activation, phosphorylated (p)-NF-κB-positive astrocytes, p-NF-κB, p-IKKß, IL-1ß, and IL-6 expression were determined. RESULTS: Compared with female mice, H2 administration post-ICH exhibited fewer neuroprotective effects, including decreased sucrose consumption and time spent sniffing a novel mouse, increased immobility time, downregulated total SOD content, upregulated ROS content and p-NF-κB levels, and elevated astrocyte branches, whereas estrogen enhanced the neuroprotective effects of H2 in male mice. A reduced number of p-NF-κB-positive astrocytes, downregulated expression of p-NF-κB, p-IKKß, IL-1ß, and IL-6 in the amygdala were demonstrated in ICH-males treated with estrogen plus H2. CONCLUSIONS: Estrogen was responsible for increased H2 sensitivity in male mice with ICH. The underlying mechanism may be associated with the suppression of NF-κB signaling in astrocytes.

Detecting acute bilirubin encephalopathy in neonates based on multimodal MRI with deep learning.

BACKGROUND: Differentiating acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE) from non-ABE in neonates with hyperbilirubinemia (HB) from routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is extremely challenging since both conditions demonstrate similar T1 hyperintensities. To this end, we investigated whether the integration of multimodal MRI from routine clinical scans with deep-learning approaches could improve diagnostic performance. METHODS: A total of 75 neonates with ABE and 75 neonates with HB (non-ABE) were included in the study. Each patient had three types of multimodal images taken, i.e., a T1-weighted image (T1WI), a T2-weighted image (T2WI), and an apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map. The three types of MRI contrasts and their combination were fed into two deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs), i.e., ResNet18 and DenseNet201. The performance of CNNs was compared with a traditional statistical method named logistic regression. RESULTS: We demonstrated that diagnostic methods with the multimodal data were better than any of the single-modal data. Both CNN models outperformed the logistic regression method. The best performance was achieved by DenseNet201 with the combination of three modalities of T1WI, T2WI, and ADC, with an accuracy of 0.929 ± 0.042 and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.991 ± 0.007. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that CNN models with multimodal MRI significantly improve the accuracy of diagnosing ABE. IMPACT: We proposed an efficient strategy of detecting ABE in neonates based on multimodal MRI with deep learning, which achieved an accuracy of 0.929 ± 0.042 and an AUC of 0.991 ± 0.007. We demonstrated the advantage of integrating multimodal MRI in detecting ABE in neonates with HB, using deep-learning models. Our strategy of diagnosing ABE using deep-learning techniques with multimodal MRI from routine clinical scans is potentially applicable to clinical practice.

Effects of Daily Iron Supplementation on Motor Development and Brain Connectivity in Preterm Infants: A Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Study.

Objectives: The aim of the study is to demonstrate the characteristic of motor development and MRI changes of related brain regions in preterm infants with different iron statuses and to determine whether the daily iron supplementation can promote motor development for preterm in early infancy. Methods: The 63 preterm infants were grouped into non-anemia with higher serum ferritin (NA-HF) group and anemia with lower serum ferritin (A-LF) group according to their lowest serum Hb level in the neonatal period as well as the sFer at 3 months old. Forty-nine participants underwent MRI scans and Infant Neurological International Battery (INFANIB) at their 3 months. At 6 months of corrected age, these infants received the assessment of Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS) after 2 mg/kg/day iron supplementation. Results: In total, 19 preterm infants were assigned to the NA-HF group while 44 preterm infants to the A-LF groups. The serum ferritin (sFer) level of the infants in A-LF group was lower than that in NA-HF group (44.0 ± 2.8 mg/L vs. 65.1 ± 2.8 mg/L, p < 0.05) and was with poorer scores of INFANIB (66.8 ± 0.9 vs. 64.4 ± 0.6, p < 0.05) at 3 months old. The structural connectivity between cerebellum and ipsilateral thalamus in the NA-HF group was significantly stronger than that in the A-LF group (n = 17, 109.76 ± 23.8 vs. n = 32, 70.4 ± 6.6, p < 0.05). The decreased brain structural connectivity was positively associated with the scores of PDMS (r = 0.347, p < 0.05). After 6 months of routine iron supplementation, no difference in Hb, MCV, MCHC, RDW, and sFer was detected between A-LF and NA-HF groups as well as the motor scores of PDMS-2 assessments. Conclusion: Iron status at early postnatal period of preterm infant is related to motor development and the enrichment of brain structural connectivity. The decrease in brain structural connectivity is related to the motor delay. After supplying 2 mg/kg of iron per day for 6 months, the differences in the iron status and motor ability between the A-LF and NA-HF groups were eliminated.

Evaluating iron remediation with limestone using spectral induced polarization and microscopic techniques.

Groundwater contamination with iron caused by mining and landfill activities has fueled the development of remediation strategies. Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) are commonly applied in subsurface remediation because of their high removal effect and low costs. Spectral induced polarization (SIP) technique has been approved for its nondestructive ability to monitor the geochemical processes in porous media. In this study, SIP technique was applied for monitoring iron remediation by limestone at column scale. The chemical analysis showed the pH of the porous fluid increased - attributed to the dissolution of limestone, which promoted the precipitation of iron. The precipitate phases included both γ-FeOOH and Fe2O3 based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results. The micro computed tomography (CT) technique investigated the uneven distribution of the precipitates in the column, which indicated the existence of preferential flow. SIP signals revealed the quantity of the accumulated iron precipitates, which was proved by the chemical measurement and calculation. SIP signals also derived the time evolution of both the average precipitate size and size distribution, which elucidated the processes of precipitate crystal growth and aggregation during Fe flow-through. Above results suggest that SIP holds the promise of monitoring the engineering barrier performance.

Diffusion MRI of the infant brain reveals unique asymmetry patterns during the first-half-year of development.

The human brain demonstrates anatomical and functional lateralization/asymmetry between the left and right hemispheres, and such asymmetry is known to start from the early age of life. However, how the asymmetry changes with brain development during infancy remained unknown. In this study, we aimed to systematically investigate the spatiotemporal pattern of brain asymmetry in healthy preterm-born infants during the first-half-year of development, using high angular resolution diffusion MRI. Sixty-five healthy preterm-born infants (gestational age between 25.3-36.6 weeks) were scanned with postmenstrual age (PMA) ranging from term-equivalent age (TEA) to 6-months. At the regional level, we performed a region-of-interest-based analysis by segmenting the brain into 63 symmetrical pairs of regions, based on which the laterality index was assessed and correlated with PMA. At the voxel level, we performed a fixel-based analysis of each fiber component between the native and left-right flipped data, separately in TEA-1 month, 1-3 months, and 3-6 months groups. The infant brains demonstrated extensive regions with structural asymmetry during their first half-of-year of life. A distinct central-peripheral asymmetry pattern was observed in mean diffusivity, namely, leftward lateralization in the neocortex and rightward asymmetry in the deep brain regions. Besides, the posterior brain demonstrated a higher lateralization index compared with the anterior brain in all metrics, which is congruent with the brain developmental pattern from caudal to rostral. Regionally, language processing regions showed a rightward asymmetry, while visuospatial processing regions exhibited leftward lateralization in fractional anisotropy, fibre density, and fibre cross-section measurements, and most white matter regions were lateralized to the left in these measurements. The laterality index of several regions (12 out 63) demonstrated significant developmental changes in mean diffusivity. At the fixel level, the fiber cross-section of inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus showed significant leftward asymmetry and the extent of asymmetry increased with PMA. In summary, the results revealed unique spatiotemporal patterns of macro- and micro-structural asymmetry in early life, which dynamically changed with age. These findings may contribute to the understanding of brain development during infancy.