[Pollution Characterization and Comprehensive Water Quality Assessment of Rain-source River: A Case Study of the Longgang River in Shenzhen].

Rain-source urban rivers are an important part of the urban ecosystem. Due to the small water environment capacity and the rapid development of the regional economy and society, they are vulnerable to serious pollution. The goal of this study was to identify the main pollution characteristics of river water quality and to carry out a scientific comprehensive water quality assessment. Water samples from 12 sampling locations of the Longgang River in Shenzhen, a typical rain-source urban river, were collected from January to December in 2018. According to the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB 3838-2002), 22 water quality indicators were analyzed, and the water quality of Longgang River was comprehensively evaluated using the single-factor assessment method, comprehensive pollution index method, and principal component analysis method. The results of the single-factor assessment method showed that water quality of all sampling sites of the Longgang River met the Class V of the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB 3838-2002), and the Tiaojiao Shui and Longxi River met the Class Ⅳ and Class Ⅲ of the Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB 3838-2002), respectively. The results of the comprehensive pollution index method showed that the water quality of 12 sampling sites was clean or relatively clean. Both the results of the comprehensive pollution index and principal component comprehensive score showed that the water quality of Longxi River, Nanyue River, and Tianjiao Shui were the best among all sampling sites. There is still room for improvement in the Wutongshan River, Dakang River, Ailian River, Dingshan River, and Huangsha River, and significant consideration should be given to parameters such as nutrients (TN, TP, and NH4+-N), organic matter (COD and BOD5), fecal coliform, and anionic surfactants. The three methods were a combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation. The results of each method were not identical. Thus, it is very necessary to explore the comprehensive water quality assessment using various methods for making scientific and reasonable water pollution control strategies.

Blockade of adenosine A2A receptor alleviates cognitive dysfunction after chronic exposure to intermittent hypoxia in mice.

Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is widely known for its multiple systems damage, especially neurocognitive deficits in children. Since their discovery, adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) have been considered as key elements in signaling pathways mediating neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's, as well as cognitive function regulation. Herein, we investigated A2AR role in cognitive impairment induced by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH). Mice were exposed to CIH 7 h every day for 4 weeks, and intraperitoneally injected with A2AR agonist CGS21680 or A2AR antagonist SCH58261 half an hour before IH exposure daily. The 8-arm radial arm maze was utilized to assess spatial memory after CIH exposures.To validate findings using pharmacology, the impact of intermittent hypoxia was investigated in A2AR knockout mice. CIH-induced memory dysfunction was manifested by increased error rates in the radial arm maze test. The behavioral changes were associated with hippocampal pathology, neuronal apoptosis, and synaptic plasticity impairment. The stimulation of adenosine A2AR exacerbated memory impairment with more serious neuropathological damage, attenuated long-term potentiation (LTP), syntaxin down-regulation, and increased BDNF protein. Moreover, apoptosis-promoting protein cleaved caspase-3 was upregulated while anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 was downregulated. Consistent with these findings, A2AR inhibition with SCH58261 and A2AR deletion exhibited the opposite result. Overall, these findings suggest that A2AR plays a critical role in CIH-induced impairment of learning and memory by accelerating hippocampal neuronal apoptosis and reducing synaptic plasticity. Blockade of adenosine A2A receptor alleviates cognitive dysfunction after chronic exposure to intermittent hypoxia in mice.

[Effects of the Veterinary Antibiotic Sulfamethazine on N2O Emissions and the Associated Microbiological Mechanism in a Rice Field].

Veterinary antibiotics can enter into croplands with animal excrement and can have effects on nitrification and denitrification processes in the agricultural soils. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of sulfamethazine (SMZ) on N2O emissions, nitrification, denitrification, and related functional gene abundances within a paddy field. Five treatments were used in the experiment, namely, no fertilizer and no antibiotics applied (CK), and pig manure used as basal fertilizer plus urea applied as topdressing with the addition of 0, 5, 15, and 30 mg·kg-1 SMZ (SMZ0, SMZ5, SMZ15, and SMZ30, respectively). Soil and gas samples were collected and analyzed periodically throughout the rice growing season. The results showed that the SMZ did not change the seasonal pattern of N2O emissions. During the entire observation period, there was a significant difference in N2O fluxes between the SMZ15 and SMZ0 treatment (P<0.05), but there was no significant differences in N2O fluxes between the SMZ30, SMZ5, and SMZ0 treatment (P>0.05). Medium and high concentrations (SMZ15, SMZ30) increased the cumulative emissions of N2O at the average level, and these values were 3.47 and 4.67 times higher than that of the SMZ0 treatment, respectively; the soil NO3--N content also increased. Medium and high concentrations had a significant activation effect on the gene abundances of total soil bacteria 16S rRNA, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) amoA, and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) amoA during the nitrification process and the gene abundances of nirK, nirS, and nosZ during the denitrification process (P<0.05), while the SMZ treatment with a low concentration had a slight inhibitory effect on the abundance of each gene. The ratios of abundance copies of 16S rRNA, AOA amoA, AOB amoA, and the genes of nirK, nirS, and nosZ treated by SMZ30, SMZ15, and SMZ0 were 1.58, 1.77, 2.15, 1.38, 1.33, 1.42, and 1.24, 1.37, 1.08, 1.65, 1.11, 1.64, respectively, at the average level. The abundance ratios of the six above genes treated by SMZ5 and SMZ0 were less than one and only 0.80, 0.99, 0.92, 0.76, 0.76, and 0.77, respectively. The N2O fluxes were significantly and positively correlated with the abundances of the nirK gene (P<0.01), thus indicating that SMZ had an effect on N2O emissions by influencing the activity of denitrifying bacteria. Therefore, the pollution of farmland by veterinary antibiotics should not be ignored, and the use of antibiotics should be controlled reasonably at the source, so as to reduce the environmental and ecological risks.

[Effects of the Veterinary Antibiotic Sulfamethazine on Ammonia Volatilization from a Paddy Field Treated with Conventional Synthetic Fertilizer and Manure].

Veterinary antibiotics have been widely detected in croplands due to the application of animal excrements as fertilizer. However, their effects on ammonia (NH3) volatilization remain unclear. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of sulfamethazine on NH3 volatilization from a paddy field when conventional synthetic fertilizer or manure was applied as basal fertilizer. Five different treatments were conducted in this study: without application of fertilizers and antibiotics (CK), compound fertilizer used as basal fertilizer with and without the addition of sulfamethazine (CF+SD and CF respectively), and pig manure used as base fertilizer with and without the addition of sulfamethazine (CM+SD and CM respectively). Urea was used for topdressing in the CF, CF+SD, CM, and CM+SD treatments. The results showed that regardless of the fertilizer type applied, sulfamethazine did not affect the seasonal pattern of NH3volatilization. However, it promoted the NH3 volatilization rate in the topdressing stage significantly (P<0.01). During the observation period, the proportions of applied N lost as NH3-N in the CF+SD and CM+SD treatments were 1.65 and 2.78 times higher than those in the CF and CM treatments, respectively. The promoting effect of sulfamethazine was more obvious in the pig manure treatment than in the compound fertilizer treatment. Sulfamethazine significantly increased the soil urease activity (P<0.05). Furthermore, the NH3 volatilization rate was positively correlated with urease activity and soil ammonia nitrogen content (P<0.05). This indicates that sulfamethazine can increase the NH3 volatilization rate by changing the soil urease activity and inorganic nitrogen content. Controlling the misuse of veterinary antibiotics and environmental and ecological risks posed by the antibiotic residues in farmland excrements are urgent problems in China that need to be solved.

[Distribution Characteristics of Urea and Constitution of Dissolved Nitrogen in the Bohai Sea and the Huanghai Sea in Spring].

Based on the investigation of the Huanghai Sea and the Bohai Sea in Spring( April to May) of 2014, the concentrations of urea and inorganic nitrogen were determined respectively by diacetyl monoxime-Semicarbazide Hydrochloride method and Spectrophotometric method. The distribution of urea and the component of dissolved nitrogen were analyzed. The influencing factors of urea were also discussed. The results showed that the concentration of urea in the Bohai sea and the Huanghai sea ranged from 0.21-2.17 µmol x L(-1), and the average concentration was (0.84 ± 0.20) µmol x L(-1). Urea was an important component of the dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) and accounted for 7.90% of DON. In the investigated area, the average concentration of urea in the north Huanghai sea was the highest, and that in the south Huanghai sea was the lowest. The concentration of urea in the Huanghai sea gradually reduced from inshore to offshore. The areas with high concentrations of urea were near the coastal cities like Qingdao and Dalian where have high population density. The concentration of urea in Bohai sea gradually increased form inshore to offshore, this result indicated that the river input was not the primary source and this might be caused by adsorption of colloid flocculation.

Achieving Energy Conservation in Poisson-Boltzmann Molecular Dynamics: Accuracy and Precision with Finite-Difference Algorithms.

Violation of energy conservation in Poisson-Boltzmann molecular dynamics, due to the limited accuracy and precision of numerical methods, is a major bottleneck preventing its wide adoption in biomolecular simulations. We explored the ideas of enforcing interface conditions by the immerse interface method and of removing charge singularity to improve the finite-difference methods. Our analysis of these ideas on an analytical test system shows significant improvement in both energies and forces. Our analysis further indicates the need for more accurate force calculation, especially the boundary force calculation.