Sequential carbonization of pig manure biogas residue into engineered biochar for diethyl phthalate removal toward environmental sustainability.

Manure biogas residue has attracted increasing attention in waste recycling but faces substantial challenges because of its low carbon content, high ash content, and high heavy metal content. A novel sequential carbonization approach was proposed for recycling biogas residue; this approach consisted of pre-pyrolysis, activation with Ca(OH)2, and then activation with KOH. Pig manure-derived biogas residue was upcycled into engineered biochar (EB) with a high yield (26 %) and showed excellent performance in removing a typical plasticizer, diethyl phthalate (DEP). The proportion of carbon content greatly increased from 18 % (biogas residue) to 67 % (EB); however, the ash content decreased from 50 % (biogas residue) to 24 % (EB). The concentration of heavy metals decreased, and Zn had the largest decrease from 713 mg kg-1 to 61 mg kg-1 (p < 0.001). The sorption of DEP onto EB was rapid and reached equilibrium within 20 h. The developed specific surface area of EB was 1247 m2/g and provided abundant sorption sites for DEP; additionally, the sorption quantity reached 309 mg/g. The sorption capacity was dominated by surface adsorption. The oxygen-containing functional groups, graphene structure, porous structure, and hydrophobicity of EB contributed to the pore filling, hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking, and partitioning processes. Furthermore, the EB showed excellent practical application potential and great cycling stability. A sequential carbonization strategy was proposed to upcycle manure biogas residue into the EB for DEP removal; moreover, this strategy can aid in the attainment of environmental sustainability, including sustainable waste management and environmental pollution mitigation.

[Spatial and Temporal Evolution Characteristics of Carbon Emission from Land Use and Influencing Factors in Gansu Province].

Land ecosystems are the largest carbon sink in the world, and land use change is one of the main factors leading to regional carbon emissions. By studying the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and influencing factors of land use carbon emissions in Gansu Province from 2000 to 2020, this research aimed to provide a scientific basis and reference for promoting low-carbon land use and low-carbon economic development in Gansu Province. Using land use data and the greenhouse gas emission coefficient method, the study analyzed the growth trend of land use carbon emissions at the city-regional scale in Gansu Province, and the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics at the provincial scale, and identified the controlling factors through principal component analysis. The results showed that： ① From 2000 to 2020, land use carbon emissions in Gansu Province showed an overall increasing trend, from 24.289 3 million tons to 57.739 6 million tons. The first stage from 2000 to 2014 was a significant increase period, whereas the second stage from 2014 to 2020 was a stable and slightly decreasing period. Construction land was the main carbon source, and the carbon intensity continued to increase. ② Spatially, there was an "east high, west low" pattern, with carbon emissions in the eastern part of the province significantly higher than those in the western part. ③ Based on emission characteristics, Gansu Province could be divided into five types of carbon emission zones： slow growth, relatively slow growth, moderate growth, relatively fast growth, and rapid growth. ④ The main reasons for the continuous increase in land use carbon emissions in Gansu Province were economic development level, degree of land use, and energy consumption.

Genus-wide analysis of Trichoderma antagonism toward Pythium and Globisporangium plant pathogens and the contribution of cellulases to the antagonism.

Parasitism is an important lifestyle in the Trichoderma genus but has not been studied in a genus-wide way toward Pythium and Globisporangium hosts. Our approach screened a genus-wide set of 30 Trichoderma species in dual culture assays with two soil-borne Pythium and three Globisporangium plant-parasitic species and used exo-proteomic analyses, with the aim to correlate Trichoderma antagonism with potential strategies for attacking Pythium and Globisporangium. The Trichoderma spp. showed a wide range of antagonism from strong to weak, but the same Trichoderma strain showed similar levels toward all the Pythium and Globisporangium species. The Trichoderma enzymes from strong (Trichoderma asperellum, Trichoderma atroviride, and Trichoderma virens), moderate (Trichoderma cf. guizhouense and Trichoderma reesei), and weak (Trichoderma parepimyces) antagonists were induced by the autoclaved mycelia of one of the screened Pythium species, Pythium myriotylum. The variable proportions of putative cellulases, proteases, and redox enzymes suggested diverse as well as shared strategies amongst the antagonists. There was a partial positive correlation between antagonism from microscopy and the cellulase activity induced by autoclaved P. myriotylum mycelia in different Trichoderma species. The deletion of the cellulase transcriptional activator XYR1 in T. reesei led to lower antagonism toward Pythium and Globisporangium. The antagonism of Pythium and Globisporangium appears to be a generic property of Trichoderma as most of the Trichoderma species were at least moderately antagonistic. While a role for cellulases in the antagonism was uncovered, cellulases did not appear to make a major contribution to T. reesei antagonism, and other factors are also likely contributing.IMPORTANCETrichoderma is an important genus widely distributed in nature with broad ecological impacts and applications in the biocontrol of plant diseases. The Pythium and Globisporangium genera of fungus-like water molds include many important soil-borne plant pathogens that cause various diseases. Most of the Trichoderma species showed at least a moderate ability to compete with or antagonize the Pythium and Globisporangium hosts, and microscopy showed examples of parasitism (a slow type of killing) and predation (a fast type of killing). Hydrolytic enzymes such as cellulases and proteases produced by Trichoderma likely contribute to the antagonism. A mutant deficient in cellulase activity had reduced antagonism. Interestingly, Pythium and Globisporangium species contain cellulose in their cell walls (unlike true fungi such as Trichoderma), and the cellulolytic ability of Trichoderma appears beneficial for antagonism of water molds.

Insights on the Contradiction between the Affinity and Capacity of Ferrihydrite toward As(III) and As(V): Surface Reaction Revisited.

Ferrihydrite is omnipresent in nature, and its adsorption of As(III/V) decides the migration of arsenic. Although As(III) is commonly recognized as the more mobile species of inorganic arsenic, it sometimes exhibits less mobility in ferrihydrite systems, which calls for further insights. In this study, we elucidated the adsorption behavior and mechanisms of As(III/V) on ferrihydrite under different loading levels (molar ratio As/Fe = 0-0.38), solution pH (3-10), and coexisting ions [P(V) and Ca(II)] based on batch adsorption experiments, surface complexation modeling, density functional theory calculations, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Our results show that As(III) exhibits weaker adsorption affinity but a larger capacity compared with that of As(V). On ferrihydrite, As(III) and As(V) are adsorbed mainly as bidentate mononuclear complexes at type-a sites [≡Fe(OH-0.5)2] and bidentate binuclear complexes at type-b sites (2≡FeOH-0.5), respectively. As the dosage increases, As(III) further forms mononuclear monodentate complexes at both surface sites, resulting in a higher site utilization efficiency, while As(V) does not due to repulsive electrostatic interaction. The difference in surface species of As(III/V) also leads to complex responses when coexisting with high concentrations of P(V) and Ca(II). This study helps us to understand environmental behavior of As(III/V) and develop remediation strategy in As(III/V) contaminated systems.

Analysis of risk factors and development of a nomogram prediction model for renal tubular acidosis in primary Sjogren syndrome patients.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk factors of renal tubular acidosis (RTA) in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) and create a personalized nomogram for predicting pSS-RTA patients. METHOD: Data from 99 pSS patients who underwent inpatient treatment at our hospital from January 2012 to January 2024 were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Bootstrap resampling technique, single-factor, and multi-factor logistic regression analyses were used to explore the risk factors for pSS-RTA. A nomogram was developed based on the results of the multivariate logistic model. The model was evaluated through receiver operating characteristic curve, C-index, calibration curve, and decision curve analysis. In addition, we graded the severity of pSS-RTA patients and used univariate analysis to assess the relationship between pSS-RTA severity and risk factors. RESULTS: A multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that concurrent thyroid disease, long symptom duration, subjective dry mouth, and positive RF were independent risk factors for pSS-RTA patients. Based on them, a personalized nomogram predictive model was established. With a p-value of 0.657 from the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, the model demonstrated a good fit. The AUC values in the training and validation groups were 0.912 and 0.896, indicating a strong discriminative power of the nomogram. The calibration curves for the training and validation groups closely followed the diagonal line with a slope of 1, confirming the model's reliable predictive ability. Furthermore, the decision curve analysis showed that the nomogram model had a net benefit in predicting pSS-RTA, emphasizing its clinical value.This study did not find an association between the severity of pSS-RTA and risk factors. DISCUSSION: We developed a nomogram to predict RTA occurrence in pSS patients, and it is believed to provide a foundation for early identification and intervention for high-risk pSS patients.

Cadmium in Market Pork Kidneys: A Study on Cadmium Bioavailability and the Health Effects Based on Mouse Models.

Edible offal of farmed animals can accumulate cadmium (Cd). However, no studies have investigated Cd bioavailability and its health effects. Here, based on mouse models, market pork kidney samples exhibited high Cd relative bioavailability of 74.5 ± 11.2% (n = 26), close to 83.8 ± 7.80% in Cd-rice (n = 5). This was mainly due to high vitamin D3 content in pork kidney, causing 1.7-2.3-fold up-regulated expression of duodenal Ca transporter genes in mice fed pork kidney compared to mice fed Cd-rice, favoring Cd intestinal absorption via Ca transporters. However, although pork kidney was high in Cd bioavailability, subchronic low-dose (5% in diet) consumption of two pork kidney samples having 0.48 and 0.97 µg Cd g-1 dw over 35 d did not lead to significant Cd accumulation in the tissue of mice fed Cd-free rice but instead remarkably decreased Cd accumulation in the tissue of mice fed Cd-rice (0.48 µg Cd g-1) by ∼50% and increased abundance of gut probiotics (Faecalibaculum and Lactobacillus). Overall, this study contributed to our understanding of the bioavailability and health effects associated with Cd in edible offal, providing mechanistic insights into pork kidney consumption safety based on Cd bioavailability.

Heparanase accelerates the angiogenesis and inhibits the ferroptosis of p53-mutant non-small cell cancers in VEGF-dependent manner.

The aim of this study is to explore the effects and specific mechanisms of heparanase on angiogenesis and iron deficiency anemia in TP53 mutant cancer. For this purpose, we conducted in vitro cell experiments and in vivo animal experiments respectively. In this study, we first analyzed the differential expression of heparanase in TP53 wild-type and mutant cells, and analyzed its effects on iron removal and angiogenesis in two types of CALU-1 and NCI-H358 cells. Secondly, we validated whether the mechanism of action of heparanase on TP53 mutant cells for iron removal and angiogenesis is related to VEGF. We applied the iron removal agonist erastin and VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab in both in vitro and in vivo experiments to validate the relationship between heparanase and VEGF in the mechanisms of iron removal and angiogenesis. The experimental results show that heparanase is highly expressed in TP53 mutated cancer cells, and has anti-ferroptosis and pro-angiogenic effects. Our experiment also confirmed that the effect of heparanase on TP53 mutant cancer's iron removal and angiogenesis is related to VEGF. In short, heparanase is highly expressed in p53 mutated lung cancer, and the mechanism of ferroptosis tolerance to TP53 mutated cancer is related to VEGF.

Long-term Application of Agricultural Amendments Regulate Hydroxyl Radicals Production during Oxygenation of Paddy Soils.

Hydroxyl radicals (•OH) play a significant role in contaminant transformation and element cycling during redox fluctuations in paddy soil. However, these important processes might be affected by widely used agricultural amendments, such as urea, pig manure, and biochar, which have rarely been explored, especially regarding their impact on soil aggregates and associated biogeochemical processes. Herein, based on five years of fertilization experiments in the field, we found that agricultural amendments, especially coapplication of fertilizers and biochar, significantly increased soil organic carbon contents and the abundances of iron (Fe)-reducing bacteria. They also substantially altered the fraction of soil aggregates, which consequently enhanced the electron-donating capacity and the formation of active Fe(II) species (i.e., 0.5 M HCl-Fe(II)) in soil aggregates (0-2 mm), especially in small aggregates (0-3 µm). The highest contents of active Fe(II) species in small aggregates were mainly responsible for the highest •OH production (increased by 1.7-2.4-fold) and naphthalene attenuation in paddy soil with coapplication of fertilizers and biochar. Overall, this study offers new insights into the effects of agricultural amendments on regulating •OH formation in paddy soil and proposes feasible strategies for soil remediation in agricultural fields, especially in soils with frequent occurrences of redox fluctuations.

Spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture caused by drainage and its effects on cadmium variation in rice grain within individual fields.

Paddy drainage is the critical period for rice grain to accumulate cadmium (Cd), however, its roles on spatial heterogeneity of grain Cd within individual fields are still unknown. Herein, field plot experiments were conducted to study the spatial variations of rice Cd under continuous and intermittent (drainage at the tillering or grain-filling or both stages) flooding conditions. The spatial heterogeneity of soil moisture and key factors involved in Cd mobilization during drainages were further investigated to explain grain Cd variation. Rice grain Cd levels under continuous flooding ranged from 0.16 to 0.22 mg kg-1 among nine sampling sites within an individual field. Tillering drainage slightly increased grain Cd levels (0.19-0.31 mg kg-1) with little change in spatial variation. However, grain-filling drainage greatly increased grain Cd range to 0.33-0.95 mg kg-1, with a huge spatial variation observed among replicated sites. During two drainage periods, soil moisture decreased variously in different monitoring sites; greater variation (mean values ranged from 0.14 to 0.27 m3 m-3) was observed during grain-filling drainage. Accordingly, 2.9-3.3-fold variation in soil Eh and 0.55-0.67-unit variation in soil pH were observed among those sites. In the soil with low moisture, ferrous fractions such as ferrous sulfide (FeS) were prone to be oxidized to ferric fractions; meanwhile, the followed generation of hydroxyl radicals involved in Cd remobilization was enhanced. Consequently, soil dissolved Cd changed from 2.97 to 8.92 µg L-1 among different sampling sites during grain-filling drainage; thus, large variation was observed in grain Cd levels. The findings suggest that grain-filling drainage is the main process controlling spatial variation of grain Cd, which should be paid more attention in paddy Cd evaluation.

Critical roles of low-molecular-weight organic acid in enhancing hydroxyl radical production by ferrous oxidation on γ-Al2O3 mineral surface.

Recognizing the pervasive presence of alumina minerals and low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) in the environment, this study addressed the gap in the interaction mechanisms within the ternary system involving these two components and Fe(II). Specifically, the impacts of LMWOAs on hydroxyl radicals (•OH) production and iron species transformation during Fe(II) oxidation on γ-Al2O3 mineral surface were examined. Results demonstrated that adding 0.5 mM oxalate (OA) or citrate (CA) to the γ-Al2O3/Fe(II) system (28.1 µM) significantly enhanced •OH production by 1.9-fold (51.9 µM) and 1.3-fold (36.2 µM), respectively, whereas succinate (SA) exhibited limited effect (30.7 µM). Raising OA concentration to 5 mM further promoted •OH yield to 125.0 µM after 24 h. Deeper analysis revealed that CA facilitated the dissolution of adsorbed Fe(II) and its subsequent oxygenation by O2 through both one- and two-electron transfer mechanisms, whereas OA enhanced the adsorption of dissolved Fe(II) and more efficient two-electron transfer for H2O2 production. Additionally, LMWOAs presence favored the formation of iron minerals with poor crystallinity like ferrihydrite and lepidocrocite rather than well-crystallized forms such as goethite. The distinct impacts of various LMWOAs on Fe(II) oxidation and •OH generation underscore their unique roles in the redox processes at mineral surface, consequently modulating the environmental fate of prototypical pollutants like phenol.

Prediction of PFAS bioaccumulation in different plant tissues with machine learning models based on molecular fingerprints.

Due to the wastewater irrigation or biosolid application, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been widely detected in agriculture soil and hence crops or vegetables. Consumption of contaminated crops and vegetables is considered as an important route of human exposure to PFASs. Machine learning (ML) models have been developed to predict PFAS uptake by plants with majority focus on roots. However, ML models for predicting accumulation of PFASs in above ground edible tissues have yet to be investigated. In this study, 811 data points covering 22 PFASs represented by molecular fingerprints and 5 plant categories (namely the root class, leaf class, cereals, legumes, and fruits) were used for model development. The Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGB) model demonstrated the most favorable performance to predict the bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) in all the 4 plant tissues (namely root, leaf, stem, and fruit) achieving coefficients of determination R2 as 0.82-0.93. Feature importance analysis showed that the top influential factors for BAFs varied among different plant tissues, indicating that model developed for root concentration prediction may not be feasible for above ground parts. The XGB model's performance was further demonstrated by comparing with data from pot experiments measuring BAFs of 12 PFASs in lettuce. The correlation between predicted and measured results was favorable for BAFs in both lettuce roots and leaves with R2 values of 0.76 and 0.81. This study developed a robust approach to comprehensively understand the uptake of PFASs in both plant roots and above ground parts, offering key insights into PFAS risk assessment and food safety.

Effect of Genotype on Cadmium and Trace Element Accumulation in Wheat from Weakly Alkaline Cadmium-contaminated Soil.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination of farmland soils leads to Cd accumulation in crops and reduced micronutrient uptake, posing grave risks to food safety. Herein, we investigated the enrichment and transportation patterns of Cd and trace elements in different parts of six wheat genotypes grown in weakly alkaline Cd-contaminated soils via pot experiments. The results revealed that the wheat grain variety with high Cd accumulation (Ningmai13) demonstrated a 1.94-fold increase compared to the variety with low accumulation (Yanong0428). The transfer factor of Cd from wheat straw to grain ranged from 0.319 to 0.761, while the transfer factor of Cd from root to straw ranged from 0.167 to 0.461. Furthermore, the concentrations of other metals in wheat grains followed the order of Zn > Mn > Fe > Cu. There was a significant positive correlation between Cd and Mn in grains, indicating a potential synergistic effect. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the regulation of micronutrient intake to modulate Cd uptake in wheat.

Analysis of blood microbiota in patients with adult-onset Still's disease and sepsis by metagenomic next-generation sequencing.

Aims/Background Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) shares similar clinical symptoms with sepsis. Thus, differentiating between AOSD and sepsis presents a great challenge while making diagnosis. This study aimed to analyse the changes in blood microbiota related to AOSD and sepsis using metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS), identify potential biomarkers that distinguish AOSD from sepsis, and explore the diagnostic value of mNGS in differentiation between these two pathological conditions. Methods Clinical data of four AOSD patients and four sepsis patients treated in the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University between October 2021 and February 2022 were collected. The mNGS diagnostic records of these patients were analysed for microbial correlations in terms of species taxonomic structure and beta diversity by comparing blood microbiota between AOSD and sepsis. The biomarkers with the strongest capability in distinguishing the subgroups were screened using a random forest algorithm. Results There was no statistically significant differences between AOSD patients and sepsis controls in terms of gender and age (p > 0.05). A total of 91 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained. At the level of phylum, Proteobacteria, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were present in high abundances in both groups (79.76%, 14.18% and 3.30% vs 54.03%, 32.77% and 5.81%). At the genus level, the abundances of Parainfluenzae, Aspergillus and Ralstonia were the top three highest in the AOSD group (73.88%, 10.92% and 5.48%), while Ralstonia, Aspergillus and Malassezia were ranked as the top three in the sepsis group in term of abundance (48.69%, 27.36% and 5.52%). In beta-diversity analysis, there were advances shown in visual principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) and non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) between the AOSD group and sepsis group (p < 0.05), with little significant differences in the analysis of similarities (Anosim) (p > 0.05). Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) showed that Mucoromycota, Saccharomycetes, Moraxellales, Mucorales, Xanthomonadales, Saccharomycetales, Acinetobacter, Stenotrophomonas, Yarrowia, Apophysomyces, Acinetobacter johnson, Yarrowia lipolytica, Apophysomyces variabilis and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia were more enriched in sepsis group (p < 0.05). The top five variables with the strongest capability in distinguishing between AOSD and sepsis were Acinetobacter johnsonii, Apophysomyces variabilis, Propionibacterium acnes, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Yarrowia lipolytica. Conclusion The blood microorganisms in AOSD were different from sepsis, and mNGS was potential to distinguish between AOSD and sepsis.

Microplastic co-exposure elevates cadmium accumulation in mouse tissue after rice consumption: Mechanisms and health implications.

Rice cadmium (Cd) and microplastics are prevalent contaminants, posing a co-exposure threat to humans by means of dietary intake. To assess whether co-exposure of microplastics affects the bioavailability of rice Cd, mice were exposed to Cd-contaminated rice with microplastic co-exposure. We found that polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), and polyamide (PA) microplastic co-exposure via diet consumption (2 µg g-1) caused 1.17-1.38-fold higher Cd accumulation in tissue of mice fed by Cd-rice. For mice with co-exposure of PE microplastics, the higher rice-Cd bioavailability corresponded to colonization of Lactobacillus reuteri (38.9 % vs 17.5 %) in the gut compared to control mice, which caused higher production of gut metabolites particularly peptides, likely causing a 'side effect' of elevating Cd solubility in the intestinal lumen. In addition, abundance of sphingosine 1-phosphate in the gut of mice was reduced under PE microplastic exposure, which may reduce intracellular calcium ions (Ca2+) in enterocytes and form a weaker competition in pumping of intracellular Ca2+ and Cd2+ across the basolateral membrane of enterocytes, leading to higher Cd2+ transport efficiency. The results suggest elevated Cd exposure risk from rice consumption with microplastic co-exposure at environmentally relevant low concentrations.

Prediction of As and Cd dissolution in various soils under flooding condition.

Although the mobility of arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd) in soils during the flooding-drainage process has been intensively studied, predicting their dissolution among various soils still remains a challenge. After comprehensively monitoring multiple parameters related to As and Cd dissolution in 8 soils for a 60-day anaerobic incubation, the redundancy analysis (RDA) and structural equation model (SEM) were employed to identify the key factors and influencing pathways controlling the dynamic release of As and Cd. Results showed that pH alone explained 90.5 % Cd dissolution, while the dissolved-Fe(II) and 5 M-HCl extractable Fe(II) jointly only explained 50.6 % As dissolution. After data normalization, the ratio of Fe(II) to 5 M-HCl extracted total Fe (i.e. FetotII/Fetot) significantly improved the correlation to R2 = 0.824 (p < 0.001) with a fixed slope of 0.393 among the 8 soils. Our results highlight the crucial role played by the reduction degree of total iron contents in determining both the reduction and dissolution of As during flooding. In contrast, dissolved-Fe(II) was too vulnerable to soil properties to be a stable indicator of As dissolution. Therefore, we propose to replace the dissolved-Fe(II) with this novel ratio as the key index to quantitatively assess the kinetic change of As solubility potential across various soils under flooding conditions.

Common metabolism and transcription responses of low-cadmium-accumulative wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars sprayed with nano-selenium.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in soils threatens food security, while cultivating low-Cd-accumulative varieties, coupled with agro-nanotechnology, offers a potential solution to reduce Cd accumulation in crops. Herein, foliar application of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) was performed on seedlings of two low-Cd-accumulative wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) varieties grown in soil spiked with Cd at 3 mg/kg. Results showed that foliar application of SeNPs at 0.16 mg/plant (SeNPs-M) significantly decreased the Cd content in leaves of XN-979 and JM-22 by 46.4 and 40.8 %, and alleviated oxidative damage. The wheat leaves treated with SeNPs-M underwent significant metabolic and transcriptional reprogramming. On one hand, four specialized antioxidant metabolites such as L-Tyrosine, beta-N-acetylglucosamine, D-arabitol, and monolaurin in response to SeNPs in JM-22 and XN-979 is the one reason for the decrease of Cd in wheat leaves. Moreover, alleviation of stress-related kinases, hormones, and transcription factors through oxidative post-translational modification, subsequently regulates the expression of defense genes via Se-enhanced glutathione peroxidase. These findings indicate that combining low-Cd-accumulative cultivars with SeNPs spraying is an effective strategy to reduce Cd content in wheat and promote sustainable agricultural development.

One panel with four single nucleotide polymorphisms for Chinese children with asthma: Integrating public data and whole exome sequencing.

BACKGROUND: Polymorphisms in susceptibility genes are a major risk factor for the development of asthma. Understanding these genetic variants helps elucidate asthma's pathogenesis, predict its onset, expedite antiasthma medication development, and achieve precise targeted individualized treatment. This study developed a test kit based on susceptibility genes for predicting asthma in Chinese children. METHODS: The present study constructed a VariantPro Targeted Library Preparation System with 72 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci associated with asthma from the ClinVar, OMIM, and SNPedia databases. These SNP loci were detected in the peripheral blood of 499 children with asthma and 500 healthy children. Significant differences were discovered for seven SNP loci. Simultaneously, whole exome sequencing of 46 children with asthma and 50 healthy children identified eight SNP loci with significant differences. The 15 SNP loci identified from Chinese children with asthma were validated in an independent population of 97 children with asthma and 93 healthy children by conducting multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-next-generation sequencing genotyping. RESULTS: Four loci (rs12422149, rs7216389, rs4065275, and rs41453444) were identified, and a single-tube multifluorescent qPCR (real-time quantitative PCR) test kit was developed using these four SNP loci. The kit was tested on 269 children with asthma and 724 children with bronchopneumonia. CONCLUSIONS: We identified four loci as susceptibility genes and developed a quantitative PCR test kit for predicting asthma development in Chinese children.

Secofumitremorgins C and D, a pair of atropisomers from saltern-derived fungus Aspergillus fumigatus GXIMD00544.

A pair of atropisomers secofumitremorgins C (1a) and D (1b), together with fifteen known alkaloids (2-16), were isolated from a saltern-derived fungus Aspergillus fumigatus GXIMD00544. The structures of atropisomers 1a and 1b were elucidated by the detailed spectroscopic data, chemical reaction and quantum chemical calculations. Compounds 1 and 8 displayed antifungal spore germination effects against plant pathogenic fungus associated with sugarcane Fusarium sp. with inhibitory rates of 53% and 77% at the concentration of 100 µM, repectively. Atropisomers 1 also exhibited antifouling potential against Balanus amphitrite larval settlement with an inhibitory rate of 96% at the concentration of 100 µM.