Biochar and nano-hydroxyapatite combined remediation of soil surrounding tailings area: Multi-metal(loid)s fixation and soybean rhizosphere soil microbial improvement.

The soil near tailings areas is relatively barren and contaminated by multi-metal(loid)s, seriously threatening the safety of crop production. Here, biochar and nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAP) were combined to improve the sterilized and unsterilized polymetallic contaminated soil, and soil incubation and soybean pot experiments were designed. Results showed that biochar and nHAP not only increased soil C, N, and P but also effectively reduced multi-metal bioavailability, wherein the combined application of the two amendments had the best effect on metal immobilization. The synergistic effect of the two amendments decreased the acid-soluble contents of Co, Cu, Fe, and Pb in rhizosphere soils up to 86.75%, 80.69%, 89.09%, and 96.70%, respectively. The ameliorant reduced the accumulation of metal(loid)s in soybean plants, and rhizosphere microorganisms inhibited the migration of soil metals to plants. Additionally, biochar and nHAP regulated the rhizosphere soil microbial community. The rhizosphere soil of the sterilization group tended to prioritize the restoration of the original dominant bacteria. As, Pb, Fe, Urease, OM, TN, and TP were the critical environmental variables affecting rhizosphere soil bacterial communities. Therefore, combining biochar and nHAP is an environmentally friendly strategy to reduce polymetallic mobility in tailings soil and crops and improve soil microbial community structure.

Analysis of the relationship between mild cognitive impairment and serum klotho protein and insulin-like growth factor-1 in the elderly.

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a mild memory or cognitive impairment. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between serum klotho (K1) protein and insulin-like growth factor-1 and mild cognitive impairment in the elderly in order to provide accurate and appropriate indicators for clinical diagnosis and treatment of MCI. METHODS: This randomized stratified study adopted a multistage cluster sampling method. 161 elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment were included as the MCI group, and 161 healthy people matched with the MCI group in gender, age and education were selected as the control group. RESULTS: The levels of serum K1 protein and insulin-like growth factor-1 in the MCI group were lower than those in the control group (P< 0.05). Both IGF-1 and K1 had predictive value for MCI (P< 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of IGF-1 for predicting MCI was 0.859 (95% CI: 0.790∼0.929), and the AUC of K1 for predicting MCI was 0.793 (95% CI: 0.694∼0.892). The value of joint prediction of the two indicators was the highest, with an AUC of 0.939 (95% CI: 0.896-0.993). CONCLUSION: High serum K1 and insulin-like growth factor-1 are the protective factors of cognitive impairment in MCI patients. Both IGF-1 and serum K1 proteins have predictive value for MCI, and the combination of the two indicators has the highest predictive value.

Nanoparticles and antibiotics stress proliferated antibiotic resistance genes in microalgae-bacteria symbiotic systems.

The comprehensive effect of exogenous pollutants on the dispersal and abundance of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) in the phycosphere, bacterial community and algae-bacteria interaction remains poorly understood. We investigated community structure and abundance of ARGs in free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA) bacteria in the phycosphere under nanoparticles (silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and hematite nanoparticles (HemNPs)) and antibiotics (tetracycline and sulfadiazine) stress using high-throughput sequencing and real-time quantitative PCR. Meanwhile, the intrinsic connection of algae-bacteria interaction was explored by transcriptome and metabolome. The results showed that the relative abundance of sulfonamide and tetracycline ARGs in PA and FL bacteria increased 103-129 % and 112-134 %, respectively, under combined stress of nanoparticles and antibiotics. Antibiotics have a greater effect on ARGs than nanoparticles at environmentally relevant concentrations. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes, as the primary potential hosts of ARGs, were the dominant phyla. Lifestyle, i.e., PA and FL, significantly determined the abundance of ARGs and bacterial communities. Moreover, algae can provide bacteria with nutrients (carbohydrates and amino acids), and can also produce antibacterial substances (fatty acids). This algal-bacterial interaction may indirectly affect the distribution and abundance of ARGs. These findings provide new insights into the distribution and dispersal of ARGs in microalgae-bacteria symbiotic systems.

Nutrient dynamics and microbial community response in macrophyte-dominated lakes: Implications for improved restoration strategies.

Although lakes dominated by macrophytes are conducive to ecological balance, this balance is easily disrupted by excessive nutrients flowing into the lake. However, knowledge of whether excessive nutrients lead to different microbial environmental vulnerabilities in the lake sediment between macrophyte-dominated areas and macrophyte-free areas is a prerequisite for the implementation of targeted protection measures. In this study, we investigated bacterial communities in sediments using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes. Our results showed that the sources of total nitrogen (TN) and organic matter (OM) were related to the macrophytes. The structure, drivers, and interspecific associations of bacterial community, which were more susceptible to increased changes in TN and OM, differed significantly between macrophyte-dominated areas and macrophyte-free areas. More precisely, the lake edge, where was occupied by macrophytes, had a higher proportion of deterministic phylogenetic turnover (88.89%) than other sites, as well as a wider ecological niche and a tighter network structure. Further, as the difference in TN increased, the main assembly processes in surface sediments changed from stochastic to deterministic. However, the majority of phyla from the lake edge showed a greater correlation with excessive nutrients, and the selection of the community by excessive nutrients was more obvious at the edge of the lake. In addition, our results demonstrated that the stability of the bacterial community in macrophyte-free areas is greater than in macrophyte-dominated areas, while an excessively high deterministic process ratio and nutrient (TN and OM) concentration significantly reduced bacterial community stability at macrophyte-dominated areas. Taken together, these results provide a better understanding of the effects of excessive nutrients derived from macrophytes on bacterial community patterns, and highlight the importance of avoiding the accumulation of TN and OM in macrophyte-dominated areas to enhance the sustainability of the ecosystem after restoration of lakes with macrophytes.

Current advances in the application of nanomedicine in bladder cancer.

Bladder cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the urinary system, however there are several shortcomings in current diagnostic and therapeutic measures. In terms of diagnosis, the diagnostic tools currently available are not sufficiently sensitive and specific, and imaging is poor, leading to misdiagnosis and missed diagnoses, which can delay treatment. In terms of treatment, current treatment options include surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, and other emerging treatments, as well as combination therapies. However, the main reasons for poor efficacy and side effects during treatment are the lack of specificity and targeting, improper dose control of drugs and photosensitizers, damage to normal cells while attacking cancer cells, and difficulty in delivering siRNA to cancer cells. Nanomedicine is an emerging approach. Among the many nanotechnologies applied in the medical field, nanocarrier-assisted drug delivery systems have attracted extensive research interest due to their great translational value. Well-designed nanoparticles can deliver agents or drugs to specific cell types within target organs through active targeting or passive targeting (enhanced permeability and retention), which allows for imaging, diagnosis, as well as treatment of cancer. This paper reviews advances in the application of various nanocarriers and their advantages and drawbacks, with a focus on their use in the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer.

The behavior, transport, and positive regulation mechanism of ZnO nanoparticles in a plant-soil-microbe environment.

ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have been widely used in several fields, and they have the potential to be a novel fertilizer to promote plant growth. For the effective use of ZnO NPs, it is necessary to understand their influence mechanisms and key interactions with the soil physical and biological environment. In this review, we summarize the fate and transport of ZnO NPs applied via soil treatment or foliar spray in plant-soil systems and discuss their positive regulation mechanisms in plants and microbes. The latest research shows that the formation, bioavailability, and location of ZnO NPs experience complicated changes during the transport in soil-plant systems and that this depends on many factors. ZnO NPs can improve plant photosynthesis, nutrient element uptake, enzyme activity, and the related gene expression as well as modulate carbon/nitrogen metabolism, secondary metabolites, and the antioxidant systems in plants. Several microbial groups related to plant growth, disease biocontrol, and nutrient cycling in soil can be altered with ZnO NP treatment. In this work, we present a systematic comparison between ZnO NP fertilizer and conventional zinc salt fertilizer. We also fill several knowledge gaps in current studies with the hope of providing guidance for future research.

Rhizosphere microbial community composition and survival strategies in oligotrophic and metal(loid) contaminated iron tailings areas.

In this study, the metal(loid) fractions in two alkaline iron tailings areas with similar physico-chemical properties and the enrichment ability of dominant plants in these areas were investigated. Additionally, high-throughput sequencing and metagenome analysis were used to examine the rhizosphere microbial community structures and their strategies and potential for carbon fixation, nitrogen metabolism, and metal(loid) resistance in mining areas. Results showed that Salsola collina, Setaria viridis, and Xanthium sibiricum have strong enrichment capacity for As, and the maximum transport factor for Mn can reach 4.01. The richness and diversity of bacteria were the highest in rhizosphere tailings, and the dominant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Ascomycota, and Thaumarchaeota. The key taxa present in rhizosphere tailings were generally metal(loid) resistant, especially Sphingomonas, Pseudomonas, Nocardioides, and Microbacterium. The reductive citrate cycle was the main carbon fixation pathway of microorganisms in tailings. Rhizosphere microorganisms have evolved a series of survival strategies and can adapt to oligotrophic and metal(loid) polluted mining environments. The results of this study provide a basis for the potential application of plant-microbial in situ remediation of alkaline tailings.

Transcriptomics and Metabolomics Revealed the Biological Response of Chlorella pyrenoidesa to Single and Repeated Exposures of AgNPs at Different Concentrations.

Increased release of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) from widely used commercial products has threatened environmental health and safety, particularly the repeated exposures to ENPs with relatively low concentration. Herein, we studied the response of Chlorella pyrenoidesa (C. pyrenoidesa) to single and repeated exposures to silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Repeated exposures to AgNPs promoted chlorophyll a and carotenoid production, and increased silver accumulation, thus enhancing the risk of AgNPs entering the food chain. Notably, the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content of the 1-AgNPs and 3-AgNPs groups were dramatically increased by 119.1% and 151.5%, respectively. We found that C. pyrenoidesa cells exposed to AgNPs had several significant alterations in metabolic process and cellular transcription. Most of the genes and metabolites are altered in a dose-dependent manner. Compared with the control group, single exposure had more differential genes and metabolites than repeated exposures. 562, 1341, 4014, 227, 483, and 2409 unigenes were differentially expressed by 1-0.5-AgNPs, 1-5-AgNPs, 1-10-AgNPs, 3-0.5-AgNPs, 3-5-AgNPs, and 3-10-AgNPs treatment groups compared with the control. Metabolomic analyses revealed that AgNPs altered the levels of sugars and amino acids, suggesting that AgNPs reprogrammed carbon/nitrogen metabolism. The changes of genes related to carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, such as citrate synthase (CS), isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH1), and malate dehydrogenase (MDH), further supported these results. These findings elucidated the mechanism of biological responses to repeated exposures to AgNPs, providing a new perspective on the risk assessment of nanomaterials.

Potentially Toxic Element Contaminations and Lead Isotopic Fingerprinting in Soils and Sediments from a Historical Gold Mining Site.

Lead (Pb) isotopes have been widely used to identify and quantify Pb contamination in the environment. Here, the Pb isotopes, as well as the current contamination levels of Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cd, As, and Hg, were investigated in soil and sediment from the historical gold mining area upstream of Miyun Reservoir, Beijing, China. The sediment had higher 206Pb/207Pb ratios (1.137 ± 0.0111) than unpolluted soil did (1.167 ± 0.0029), while the soil samples inside the mining area were much more variable (1.121 ± 0.0175). The mean concentrations (soil/sediment in mg·kg-1) of Pb (2470/42.5), Zn (181/113), Cu (199/36.7), Cr (117/68.8), Ni (40.4/28.9), Cd (0.791/0.336), As (8.52/5.10), and Hg (0.168/0.000343) characterized the soil/sediment of the studied area with mean Igeo values of the potentially toxic element (PTE) ranging from -4.71 to 9.59 for soil and from -3.39 to 2.43 for sediment. Meanwhile, principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) coupled with Pearson's correlation coefficient among PTEs indicated that the major source of the Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd contamination was likely the mining activities. Evidence from Pb isotopic fingerprinting and a binary mixing model further confirmed that Pb contamination in soil and sediment came from mixed sources that are dominated by mining activity. These results highlight the persistence of PTE contamination in the historical mining site and the usefulness of Pb isotopes combined with multivariate statistical analysis to quantify contamination from mining activities.

Deciphering the toxic effects of metals in gold mining area: Microbial community tolerance mechanism and change of antibiotic resistance genes.

Mine tailing dumps represent significant threats to ecological environments due to the presence of toxic substances. The present work investigated the relationship among microbial activity, the community, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and trace metals in soil surrounding gold mine tailings. Using microbial metabolic activity and high-throughput sequencing analysis, we found the trace metals Cd and Hg could be main factors influencing the microbial community. According to bacterial co-occurrence pattern analysis, the effects of total cadmium and total mercury on bacterial diversity are potentially mediated by influencing bacteria community in the keystone module II. Additionally, most of metal-resistant bacteria belong to Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, and the metal tolerance suggested to be linked with various functions including replication, recombination and repair, as well as inorganic ion transport and metabolism based on PICRUSt2 analysis. We also found that metals generated by mining activity may trigger the co-selection of antibiotic resistance in the phyla Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria due to co-resistance or cross resistance. Additionally, PLS-PM analysis revealed that metals could indirectly affect ARGs by influencing bacterial diversity in gold mining areas.

Molecular characteristics of leonardite humic acid and the effect of its fractionations on sulfamethoxazole photodegradation.

The widespread occurrence of synthetic antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX)- poses a potential risk to aquatic ecosystems where dissolved organic matter (DOM) may affect its photolysis. In this study, the elimination of SMX by solar photolysis was investigated in the presence of leonardite humic acid (LHA) and its fractions. Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass (FT-ICR-MS) spectra showed that LHA has high aromaticity. van Krevelen diagrams demonstrated highly unsaturated and phenolic compounds. The photolytic degradation of SMX was impeded by all DOM, mainly due to the competition of photons and scavenging or quenching of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The evaluation of isolated fractions of LHA suggested that fractions with MW < 3500, 14000-25,000 and > 100,000 had the greatest negative effects on sulfamethoxazole photodegradation; their inhibitory activities could reach up to 56.2%, 52.9% and 50.5%, respectively. The characterization of DOM at the molecular level will provide further insights into the assessment of photolysis for antibiotic elimination in natural waters where DOM exists ubiquitously.

Leaching behavior of metals from iron tailings under varying pH and low-molecular-weight organic acids.

The migration of metals (e.g., Fe, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, and Zn) in both of iron tailings under different pH leachates was studied by laboratory static leaching experiments. The results indicated that Fe showed the highest leaching concentration at an initial pH of 2, reaching 16.19 and 51.72 mg L-1 in the Qian'anling (Q0) and Majuanzi (M0) iron tailings, respectively. Metal ions manifested a strong pH dependence. In addition, the leaching behavior of Cd, Cr, Fe, and Cu for the two tailings was also evaluated under leaching by three low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs). The results indicated the leaching of Cd and Fe followed the order of citric acid > malic acid > oxalic acid and that the leaching order for Cr and Cu was citric acid > oxalic acid > malic acid. The concentration of Fe was low in 5 mM oxalic acid leaching for 20 days because of the hydrolysis precipitation of iron ions and the complexation with organic ligand. The crystal lattice on the tailings was significantly damaged after leaching. The CO32- peak appeared in M0 with different treatments, and the proportion of COO- fitting peak areas increased markedly after leaching with LMWOAs.

Integrating high-throughput sequencing and metagenome analysis to reveal the characteristic and resistance mechanism of microbial community in metal contaminated sediments.

Some metallic tailings from closed mines were scattered in upstream of the Miyun Reservoir, Beijing, threatening the ecological environment of rivers due to trace metals. The Liuli River, one of the main rivers affected, was investigated as a typical model in this work. In this study, we selected eight sites to assess interactions among the various geochemical factors especially between trace metals and sediment microbiota. Random forest predicted that low concentrations of Cu, Cd, Cr and Ni (lower than 61.8 mg/kg, 3.2 mg/kg, 173.2 mg/kg and 34.1 mg/kg, respectively) were able to enhance community diversity but generally, trace metals contamination impaired microbial diversity. Environmental factor correlation analysis showed that As, pH and available P were the major factors that shifted the distribution of the microbial communities. Metagenome sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria harbored the vast majority of heavy metal resistance genes followed by Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes. Metal tolerance of Proteobacteria were achieved by exportation of metals by the corresponding transporters, by pumps and ion channels, or by their reduction via redox reactions. In addition, Proteobacteria harbored a greater ability to repair DNA damage via DNA recombination.

Mechanism of methylphosphonic acid photo-degradation based on phosphate oxygen isotopes and density functional theory.

Methylphosphonic acid (MPn) is an intermediate in the synthesis of the phosphorus-containing nerve agents, such as sarin and VX, and a biosynthesis product of marine microbes with ramifications to global climate change and eutrophication. Here, we applied the multi-labeled water isotope probing (MLWIP) approach to investigate the C-P bond cleavage mechanism of MPn under UV irradiation and density functional theory (DFT) to simulate the photo-oxidation reaction process involving reactive oxygen species (ROS). The results contrasted with those of the addition of the ROS-quenching compounds, 2-propanol and NaN3. The degradation kinetics results indicated that the extent of MPn degradation was more under alkaline conditions and that the degradation process was more rapid at the initial stage of the reaction. The phosphate oxygen isotope data confirmed that one exogenous oxygen atom was incorporated into the product orthophosphate (PO4) following the C-P bond cleavage, and the oxygen isotopic composition of this free PO4 was found to vary with pH. The combined results of the ROS-quenching experiments and DFT indicate that the C-P bond was cleaved by OH-/˙OH and not by other reactive oxygen species. Based on these results, we have established a mechanistic model for the photolysis of MPn, which provides new insights into the fate of MPn and other phosphonate/organophosphate compounds in the environment.

Environmental behavior and associated plant accumulation of silver nanoparticles in the presence of dissolved humic and fulvic acid.

This work investigated the role of natural organic matter (NOM) in the environmental processes of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) and the uptake and accumulation of AgNP in wheat. Different NOMs (Suwannee River humic acids [SRHA], fulvic acid [FA]) and Ag elements (Ag(0) and Ag+) were incubated in a hydroponic media for 15 days. The results showed that the NOM (10 mg C L-1) altered the dissolution, stabilization, uptake and accumulation of AgNP. The dissolution of AgNP declined in the presence of NOM. Compared with FA, the dissolved Ag+ decreased much more from 0.30 mg L-1 to 0.10 mg L-1 in the presence of SRHA. The fluorescence quenching results indicated that SRHA exhibited stronger binding to Ag+ than that of FA, and the quenching constants Ksv were 0.1309 (SRHA) and 0.0074 (FA), respectively. CO, CH, COC, and MeOH were involved in the interaction between NOM and AgNP. The NOM decreased the accumulated content of Ag in wheat. Hence, NOM alleviated the inhibition of AgNP to wheat growth. SRHA reduced the Ag content of wheat roots approximately 3-fold. These results clearly indicated the importance of NOM on altering the behavior, fate and toxicity of AgNP in an environment.