Trends and characteristics of congenital ectopia lentis in China.

AIM: To elucidate the trends and characteristics of congenital ectopia lentis (CEL) in southern China. METHODS: CEL patients from China admitted to Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) from January 2006 to December 2015 were recruited in our study. Residence, gender, hospitalization time, age at surgery, and the presence of other ocular abnormalities and system disease were statistically analyzed in different subgroups. RESULTS: Four hundred and thirty-seven hospitalizations (306 in-patients) diagnosed with CEL from a total of 283 308 hospitalizations were identified, which accounted for 0.15% of the total in-patients. Of the identified CEL in-patients, the total ratio of boys to girls was 2.22:1. Based on a subgroup analysis according to age, patients aged 12-18 years old constituted the highest proportion (31.70%) of all hospitalized CEL patients, and those 0-3 year old constituted the lowest proportion (8.82%) of the total number. The number of CEL increased from 18 to 72 and the hospital based prevalence increased from 8.60% to 18.10% from 2006 to 2015, and the average age at surgery decreased from 9 years old in 2006 to 7.6 years old in 2015. CONCLUSION: The results reveal upward trends in both the number of CEL hospitalizations and hospital based prevalence of CEL in this 10-year study period, but a reduction in the age at surgery, which may reflect the increase of public awareness of children's eye care in China.

Removal of heavy metal Cu(II) in simulated aquaculture wastewater by modified palygorskite.

Palygorskite (PAL) is a good heavy metal adsorbent due to its high surface area, low cost, and environmentally compatibility. But the natural PAL has limited its adsorption capacity and selectivity. In this study, a cost-effective and readily-generated absorbent, l-threonine-modified palygorskite (L-PAL), was used and its performance for Cu(II) removal in simulated aquaculture wastewater was evaluated. After preparation, L-PAL was characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The impacts of pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial Cu(II) concentration on the adsorption capacity of L-PAL were examined. The Cu(II) adsorption capacity on L-PAL was enhanced almost 10 times than that of raw PAL. The adsorption isotherms of Cu(II) fit the Langmuir isotherms, and the adsorption kinetics was dominated by the pseudo-second-order model. The thermodynamic parameters at four temperatures were calculated, which indicated that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. The adsorption mechanism involves complexation, chelation, electrostatic attraction, and micro-precipitation. Furthermore, L-PAL is shown to have a high regeneration capacity. These results indicate that L-PAL is a cheap and promising absorbent for Cu(II) removal and hold potential to be used for aquaculture wastewater treatment.

A new absorbent by modifying walnut shell for the removal of anionic dye: kinetic and thermodynamic studies.

A novel, low cost and easy regeneration biosorbent, chem-modified walnut shell (MWNS), was studied to investigate its potential for removal of an anionic dye, reactive brilliant red K-2BP. The MWNS was synthesized with epichlorohydrin and diethylenetriamine as etherifying agent and crosslinking agent, respectively, and its characteristics were performed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, electron dispersive spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The influences of pH (0.5-11) and adsorbent dosage (0.1-6g/L) on adsorption capacity of MWNS were evaluated. The maximum K-2BP adsorption capacities (Qm) calculated by best fitting model (Langmuir) were 568.18 mg/g at 313 K, which was almost 10 times than that of raw material. The adsorption kinetic was well confirmed with pseudo-second-order equation. Thermodynamic studies demonstrated adsorption process by MWNS was spontaneous and endothermic. Furthermore, the regeneration capability of MWNS implied MWNS was a cheap, excellent and promising biosorbent for K-2BP removal in azo dye wastewater treatment.