MoS2-mediated active hydrogen modulation to boost Fe2+ regeneration in solar-driven electro-Fenton process.

The sluggish kinetics of Fe2+ regeneration seriously hinders the performance of Fenton process. However, the conventional Fenton system excessively stifle hydrogen-producing reactions, ignoring the significance of active hydrogen (H*) in Fe3+ reduction. Herein, a strategy of H* modulation is developed by decorating molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) on a graphite felt (GF) cathode to boost Fe2+ regeneration in solar-driven electro-Fenton (SEF) process. With MoS2 regulation, moderately dispersed MoS2 on GF can serve as a bifunctional cathode, where the H* and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) are simultaneously generated through H+ reduction and O2 reduction, respectively. The in-situ generated H2O2 can trigger Fenton reactions with Fe2+, while the H* with robust reducing potential can significantly expedite Fe3+ reduction, consequently enhancing the HO• production. Both DFT calculations and EPR experiments confirm that H* can be activated via MoS2 decoration. The results show that Fe2+ concentration in the MoS2 @GF-SEF system remains at 15.74 mg/L (56.21%) after 6 h, which is 17.89 times that of the GF-SEF system. Moreover, the HO• content and organics degradation rate in the MoS2 @GF-SEF are 3.61 and 5.30 times those of the GF-SEF, respectively. This study provides a practical cathode strategy of H* modulation to enhance HO• production and electro-Fenton process. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: Boosting Fe2+ regeneration is of great value for the Electro-Fenton process. Herein, report a strategy to achieve this goal based on a MoS2 @GF cathode. Remarkably, the MoS2 @GF system exhibits exceptional efficiency for both various refractory organic compounds with environmentally hazardous effects and sterilization aspects, which can also work over a wide range of pH values (3-11). Specially, this system is driven only by solar energy. These characteristics make the electro-Fenton system more suitable for practical wastewater treatment.

Host-Guest Doping Modulated Afterglow Emission of Fluoroquinolones for Their Separation-Free Detection and Discrimination.

Detection and discrimination of fluoroquinolones (FQs) are crucial for food safety but remain a formidable challenge due to their minor differences in molecular structures and the serious interferences from food matrices. Herein, we propose an afterglow assay for the detection and discrimination of FQs through modulating their room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) properties by a host-guest doping strategy. FQs were doped into the boric acid host, forming boronic anhydride structures and hydrogen bonds, which prompted the RTP and TADF performance of FQs by stabilizing their excited states, preventing triplet exciton quenching, and reducing the energy gap between singlet and triplet states. The FQs can be quantitatively detected through monitoring the afterglow intensity of host-guest systems, as low as 0.25 µg/mL. The differences in the afterglow intensity and emission lifetime allowed accurate discrimination of 11 types of FQs through pattern recognition methods. Aided by the delayed signal detection model of afterglow emission, the background signal and the interferences from food matrices were effectively eliminated, which endow the detection and discrimination of mixed FQs in commercial meat samples, without multiple-step separation processes.

Patient Perception of Physician Attire Before and After the COVID-19 Global Pandemic Began.

Introduction: This study evaluated patient preference of physician attire both before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic began. The primary outcome was patient preference of physician attire in 2017 compared to 2022 survey cohorts. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study performed at a single-site academic institution in the United States using patient survey materials. In total, 339 patients were included in the study, 161 from 2017 and 178 from 2022. Key Points: There was a statistically significant decrease in patient preference for formal attire in the clinical settings of primary care, hospital, and overall. Male patient preference for formal attire declined in primary care, emergency room, and overall; whereas female patient preference for formal attire declined in the hospital setting. For all genders, the odds ratio was statistically significantly lower in the settings of primary care clinic, hospital, and overall clinical settings. Conclusions: Patient preference for physicians wearing formal attire has decreased significantly since the COVID-19 global pandemic began.

New-onset delirium during hospitalization in older adults: incidence and risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: Delirium is a clinical diagnosis that can occur frequently in hospitalized patients. A retrospective study was completed to identify the incidence of patients aged greater than 65 developing delirium during hospitalization. METHODS: This study was conducted at a single tertiary care teaching hospital. Charts of discharged patients from November to December 2018 were evaluated and patients less than age 65 or with delirium present on admission were excluded. The search terms altered, delirium, encephalopathy, and confusion were used to identify patients who developed delirium during the hospitalization. Characteristics of the patients with delirium were also collected. RESULTS: The incidence of new-onset delirium in patients over age 65 during hospitalization was 10%. Patients who developed delirium during their hospital stay were found to have a higher risk of mortality (p = 0.0028) and severity of illness (p = 0.014). A strong correlation between the length of stay (LOS) and incidence of delirium was also noted. CONCLUSION: The strong correlation between a longer LOS and a higher incidence of delirium should guide the development of new innovative strategies to shorten the LOS and thus reduce the risk of delirium, in high-risk older hospitalized patients.

Acute Adverse Effects Related to Consumption of Nonnutritive and Low-Calorie Sweeteners.

Nonnutritive sweeteners (NNSs) and low-calorie sweeteners (LCSs) are commonly used as sugar substitutes. Many popular media Web sites caution against the use of these sweeteners because of their potential adverse effects such as inflammation; however, there are limited supporting data. A Medline search of articles published between 2010 and 2020 was conducted, resulting in 833 articles, of which 12 relevant studies were included in this review. Acute adverse effects associated with the consumption of NNSs and LCSs are rare. A few studies cite reports of acute adverse effects, including mild gastrointestinal disturbance, headaches, lightheadedness, hypersensitivity reactions, impaired spatial orientation, depression, and pain. Little scientific evidence has been reported in the literature since 2010 to support these warning statements to consumers about acute adverse effects to NNSs and LCSs.

Dermatology Residency Applicant Self-Reported Stressors and Coping Mechanisms by Sex, Race, and Geographic Region during the 2020-2021 Application Cycle.

OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to identify self-reported stressors and coping mechanisms during the 2020-2021 application cycle by dermatology residency applicants. We hypothesized that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) would be the most reported stressor. METHODS: During the 2020-2021 application season, the Mayo Clinic Florida Dermatology residency program sent a supplemental application to each applicant requesting that they describe a challenging life situation and how they handled it. Comparisons of self-reported stressors and self-expressed coping mechanisms according to sex, race, and geographic region were performed. RESULTS: The most common stressors reported were academic (18.4%), family crisis (17.7%), and COVID-19 (10.5%). The most frequent coping mechanisms expressed were perseverance (22.3%), seeking community (13.7%), and resilience (11.5%). The coping mechanism of diligence was observed more often in females than in males (2.8% vs 0.0%, P = 0.045). First in medicine was more often observed in Black or African American students (12.5% vs 0%, P = 0.001), immigrant experience was more often observed in Black or African American and Hispanic students (16.7% and 11.8% vs 3.1%, P = 0.021), and natural disaster was reported more often in Hispanic students (26.5% vs 0.5%, P < 0.001) as compared with White applicants. By geography, applicants in the northeastern United States were more likely to report the COVID-19 pandemic as a stressor (19.5%, P = 0.049), and the natural disaster stressor was more often reported by applicants from outside the continental United States (45.5%, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Stressors reported by dermatology applicants in the 2020-2021 cycle included academic, family crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The type of stressor reported varied by race/ethnicity and geographic location of the applicant.

Meta-analysis of the effect of nitrification inhibitors on the abundance and community structure of N2O-related functional genes in agricultural soils.

Application of nitrification inhibitors (NIs) in agricultural systems is an important strategy to enhance fertilizer nitrogen use efficiency and mitigate soil nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. Here, we conducted a global meta-analysis of 88 published studies to assess the response of N2O-related functional gene and transcript abundances, and community structure to NIs application. Application of NIs significantly reduced the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria ammonia monooxygenase (AOB amoA) genes, AOB amoA transcript and nitrite reductase (nirS and nirK) genes. The effectiveness of NIs on reducing the AOB amoA abundance was influenced by N form, soil texture, soil pH and the experimental type (field vs. laboratory). Specifically, NIs were more effective when a mixed inorganic and organic N source was applied to a medium-textured soils. The NIs effectiveness increased with increasing soil pH. The response of AOB amoA abundance to NIs application was not affected by NI type, N rate, soil moisture, soil temperature and soil organic carbon (SOC). The inhibitory effect of NIs on nirS abundance increased with increasing soil temperature. NIs decreased soil nitrifying enzyme activity (NEA) and denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) by 34.5 % and 27.0 %, respectively, leading to an overall 63.6 % reduction of N2O emissions. Soil NEA correlated positively with the abundance and community structure of AOB amoA but not with AOA amoA. Decrease in DEA with NIs application coincided with the decreasing nirS and nirK abundances. This global-scale assessment demonstrates that the effectiveness of NIs in reducing N2O emissions was attributed to the inhibiting effects on AOB amoA, nirS and nirK genes. Our findings highlight that NIs' inhibition effects on bacterial ammonia-oxidizing community and the encode enzymes in transformation of nitrite to nitric oxide are the main mechanisms for mitigation of N fertilizer-induced N2O emissions.

Virtual Academic Asynchronous Mentoring (VAAM) for Faculty Physicians: An Innovative Mentorship.

INTRODUCTION: Successful mentorship programs in academic medicine correlate with increased achievement in scholarly activities, leadership, and academic advancement for faculty members, as well as reduced burnout. Despite these benefits, the traditional mentorship model may be underutilized due to challenges of time constraints and alignment in goals. Furthermore, women and underrepresented in medicine (UriM) physicians are less likely to have mentorship, perpetuating the gap in the diversity of academic faculty in leadership and career advancement. To address this, we created an innovative mentorship model for busy academic faculty physicians using a virtual academic asynchronous mentoring video platform.  Methods: A series of videos were created by interviewing 10 identified mentors (four male, six female) from various medical specialties at a national academic institution. The mentors included nine physician faculty with the academic rank of Associate Professor or full Professor and one Research Administrator. Key learning points shared by mentors included topics on academic advancement, mentorship development, leadership development, and research resources. RESULTS: Between March 2020 and September 2023, the Virtual Academic Asynchronous Mentoring (VAAM) Video Series garnered 182 unique viewers, received 2,107 visits, and accumulated 1,871 total minutes of viewing time. All viewers were surveyed, with an 11% survey response rate received. Fifty-two percent of survey respondents reported that the video content was excellent and 43% reported very good. Seventy-six percent of respondents thought the video series had the potential to enhance their professional development and academic productivity. CONCLUSION: The VAAM Video Platform offers a novel approach to academic mentoring for faculty physicians which eliminates limitations of traditional mentorship models in a convenient and cost-effective way. VAAM offers an egalitarian starting point for all junior faculty who have not yet established a mentoring relationship to seek information and resources on academic advancement and career development.

Label-Free Small Extracellular Vesicles Capturing Strategy for Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Typing Based on a Natural Polyphenol-Metal Three-Dimensional Network.

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) have been increasingly recognized as circulating biomarkers and prognosticators for disease diagnosis. However, the clinical applications of sEVs are seriously limited by the lack of a robust and easy scale-up isolation technique. Herein, the feasibility of a polyphenol-metal three-dimensional (3D) network for label-free sEV isolation was explored. As a proof-of-concept, with tannic acid (TA) as the polyphenolic ligand and Fe(III) as the coordinated metal, the TA-Fe(III) 3D network coating mesoporous silica beads (SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6) was designed and fabricated via a coordination-driven layer-by-layer self-assembly approach. The successful fabrication of SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6 was validated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. With the low-cost TA (as low as US$ 0.18/g) as the probe, SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6 achieved universal capture toward sEVs in different cells and plasma samples. The capture efficiency reached 85.4 ± 1.5%, which is comparable to the antibody-based capture techniques and significantly higher than the ultracentrifugation (UC) method. The purity of sEVs isolated by SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6 from the H1299 cell culture supernatant was measured as (1.07 ± 0.14) × 1011 particles/µg, which is 3.1 times higher than that via the UC method. Another important superiority of SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6 is the facile self-assembly approach, which can harvest a yield of up to grams, allowing simultaneous processing of more than 500 plasma samples. The SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6-based strategy was further successfully employed to distinguish nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with an accuracy of 87.1%. The developed SiO2@BSA@Fe-TA6 is a label-free, universal, low cost, and easy scale-up technique for sEV-based liquid biopsy in lung cancer diagnosis and typing.

Implementation of Hospital-to-Home Model for Nutritional Nursing Management of Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease Using Artificial Intelligence Algorithm Combined with CT Internet.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the application value of "Internet + hospital-to-home (H2H)" nutritional care model using the improved wavelet transform algorithm based on computed tomography (CT) images in the nutritional care management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3-5. A total of 120 patients with CKD were the research objects and they were randomly divided into two groups. The normal nutritional nursing model was used for nursing of patients in the control group, and the "Internet + H2H″ model was used for the observation group (H2H group), with 60 cases in each group. The nursing effect was evaluated using 320-slice volume CT low-dose perfusion imaging images, anthropometry, laboratory biochemical tests, and other survey scores. The results showed that compared with the mean filter denoising (MFD) algorithm and the orthogonal wavelet denoising (OWD) algorithm, the mean square error (MSE) and signal noise ratio (SNR) values of the IWT algorithm were better (40.0781 vs 45.2891, 59.2123)/(20.0122 vs 18.2311, 15.7812) (P < 0.05). The arm muscle circumference (MAC) (239.77 ± 18.24 vs 243.94 ± 18.72 mm) and triceps skindold (TSF) value (8.87 ± 2.74 vs 10.04 ± 2.90 mm) of the patients in the H2H group were greatly improved after the nursing (P < 0.05). For biochemical indicators, serum albumin (ALB) (35.22 ± 4.98 vs 45.32 ± 4.21) g/L, prealbumin (PAB) (289.94 ± 72.99 vs 341.79 ± 74.45) mg/L, hemoglobin (Hb) (97.62 ± 24.87 vs 110.65 ± 28.83) g/L, and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (15.74 ± 9.87 vs 11.06 ± 5.69) mmol/L of patients in H2H group were improved (P < 0.05). After nursing, the nutritional screening score of the H2H group was obviously improved (83.33% (before) vs 50% (after)), the total score of health quality assessment (114.89 ± 5.23) in the H2H group was much higher than that of the control group (87.22 ± 14.89), and the satisfaction on the nursing model was higher in the H2H group (100% vs 71.67%) (P < 0.05). The renal cortex BF before and after nursing was significantly different between the two groups of patients (P < 0.05), and the BE of the H2H group was significantly higher than that of the control group after treatment ((335.12 ± 52.74) mL·100 g-1·min-1 vs (289.90 ± 53.91) mL·100 g-1·min-1) (P < 0.05). In summary, the "Internet + H2H″ nutritional nursing model was more individualized, which can better improve the physical quality of patients with stages 3-5 of CKD, improve the psychological state of patients, and further enhance the prognosis of the disease. In addition, the IWT algorithm showed better effects in the processing of the image of 320-slice volume CT low-dose perfusion imaging, and it was worthy of clinical application.

There's Danger in the Drops: Systemic Effects of Ophthalmic Drops Used to Treat Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a common eye disorder and an irreversible cause of blindness worldwide. There are several treatment options for this condition, with the traditional first-line treatment being ophthalmologic drops. Although administered topically, it is associated with inadvertent systemic absorption leading to a potential for both local and systemic side effects. We discuss the case of a 71-year-old male who presented with a complaint of recurring episodes of distressing sensations including lightheadedness, dyspnea, chest pressure, and faintness. His past medical history included congestive heart failure, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, Barrett's esophagus, and glaucoma. Upon a thorough review of the patient's medications, it was discovered that he had recently been started on timolol ophthalmic drops. The patient then noted that his symptoms had begun after he started using the eye drops. After we recommended that the patient hold the use of the eye drops, these episodes stopped. When prescribing topical ophthalmologic drops, providers must educate patients on common systemic side effects of such drugs.

A Review of Oral Therapies for the Treatment of Skin Hyperpigmentation.

This review article examines evidence supporting the use of oral therapies in treating idiopathic, actinic, and metabolically induced skin hyperpigmentation. A thorough review of the literature regarding oral treatments for hyperpigmentation was systematically conducted through PubMed. Keywords used in the primary search include "Hyperpigmentation," "Melanosis" or "Melasma," "Lightening," "Oral," and "Therapeutics." The search was limited to the English language, and no timeframe restrictions were implemented. Numerous orally administered therapies have been proposed for the treatment of skin hyperpigmentation. There is an abundant body of literature demonstrating the efficacy of orally administered tranexamic acid, glutathione, isotretinoin, and proanthocyanidin. It is reasonable to expect that the most effective oral therapies will address known underlying causes of hyperpigmentation such as thyroid disease, diabetes, and hormonal imbalance. Improvement due to oral therapy of otherwise unresponsive skin hyperpigmentation or hyperpigmentation of unknown cause is less predictable. This review is limited by the strength of evidence contained within the available studies. Clinical studies investigating the treatments discussed within this article are limited in number, at times lack blinding in the study design, and are based on small sample sizes. Based on existing research, the most promising oral remedies for hyperpigmentation appear to be tranexamic acid, glutathione, isotretinoin, and proanthocyanidin. Additional studies to better establish safety and efficacy are necessary.

Polymerized phosphonium ionic liquid functionalized silica microspheres as mixed-mode stationary phase for liquid chromatographic separation of phospholipids.

There is a large and growing demand for the vigorous development of new high performance liquid chromatography stationary phases in order to solve complex phospholipids separation. Herein, phosphonium-based ionic liquid trioctyl(allyl)phosphonium bromide ([P888Allyl]Br) was first synthesized with trioctylphosphine and allyl bromide. With [P888Allyl]Br as the polymerizable monomer, polymerized phosphonium ionic liquid functionalized silica microsphere (PIL@SiO2) was further synthetized via click chemistry reaction. Significantly, based on the inherent amphiphilic nature of the introduced [P888Allyl]Br, the packed PIL@SiO2 column displayed hydrophilic/hydrophobic mixed-mode retention mechanisms. The PIL@SiO2 column can achieve separation of nucleic acid bases and nucleosides, sulfonamides, amides and anilines with excellent selectivity in a shorter separation time. The column efficiency reached 109,700 N/m for 2-iodoacetamide. One of the important characteristics of the PIL@SiO2 column is that both phospholipid classes and species can be efficiently separated via the same column, outperforming that of the commercial amino column. Furthermore, the application potential of the PIL@SiO2 column was further verified via separation of phospholipids extracted from soy lecithin. The proposed PIL@SiO2 column provides a promising candidate for separation of complex phospholipid samples.

Preventive Effect of Lycopene in Dextran Sulfate Sodium-Induced Ulcerative Colitis Mice through the Regulation of TLR4/TRIF/NF-κB Signaling Pathway and Tight Junctions.

The preventive effect and molecular mechanism of lycopene (LP) in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice were evaluated. Compared to the DSS group, the LP prevention groups not only significantly inhibited the DSS-induced weight loss, decreased the disease activity index (DAI) score, increased the colon length, and improved inflammation in the colon but also significantly increased the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD),catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and glutathione (GSH) in the colon and reduced inflammatory cytokine, myeloperoxidase (MPO), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Notably, when compared to the DSS group, the protein expression levels of TLR4, TRIF, and p-NF-κB p65 in the mice colon tissue were downregulated and those of tight junction-related proteins were upregulated in the LP + DSS group, with the most significant effect observed in the 10 mg/kg LP + DSS group. These results confirmed that the upregulation of tight junction-related protein expression after blocking the TLR4/TRIF/NF-κB signaling pathway may be one of the mechanisms through which LP prevents UC.

Puerarin induces platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer cell apoptosis by targeting SIRT1.

OBJECTIVE: Previous investigations indicated the anticancer activity of puerarin. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect and molecular mechanisms of puerarin in chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer cells. METHODS: We examined the effects of puerarin in platinum-resistant epithelial ovarian cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. We also analyzed the molecular mechanism underlying Wnt/ß-catenin inhibition and sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) regulation following puerarin treatment. RESULTS: Our study demonstrated that puerarin effectively inhibited cell growth in vitro and in vivo by increasing apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells. More importantly, puerarin sensitized cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cells to chemotherapy. Puerarin treatment decreased SIRT1 expression, which attenuated the nuclear accumulation of ß-catenin to inhibit Wnt/ß-catenin signaling. In addition, SIRT1 overexpression diminished the effects of puerarin treatment on cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cells. Further analysis supported SIRT1/ß-catenin expression as a candidate biomarker for the disease progression of epithelial ovarian cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Puerarin increased the apoptosis of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer cells. The mechanism is partly related to the downregulation of SIRT1 and subsequent inhibition of Wnt/ß-catenin signaling.

Discharge Summary Completion Timeliness and the Association of 30-Day Readmission.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to review the association between timeliness to completion of a discharge summary to 30-day readmission to the hospital. METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review of 109 patients discharged from Mayo Clinic Hospital. RESULTS: Twenty-four of these patients were readmitted within 30 days. The time to completion of discharge summary was categorized for these readmissions to <72 hours: 15 (20%), between 72 hours and 7 days: 2 (11.1%), and >7 days: 7 (43.7%). There was no statistical significance for readmission for discharge summaries completed between 72 hours and 7 days compared with <72 hours (P = 0.44). There was statistical significance correlating readmission within 30 days to the discharge summary completed >7 days compared with <72 hours (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: This study found that discharge summaries completed >7 days have an increased association with 30-day readmission rate.

Skin cancer in non-white liver transplant recipients: Mayo Clinic experience.

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on the development of skin cancer and the associated risk factors for non-White liver transplant (LT) recipients. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence of newly diagnosed skin cancer postoperatively and to identify the risk factors for the development of skin cancer in non-White LT recipients. METHODS: We conducted an initial retrospective chart review of non-White LT patients who received a transplant at our center between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2013. RESULTS: Of the 96 patients in the study cohort, 32% were Black, 17% were Asian, 15% were White Hispanic, and 10% were Black Hispanic. One patient had a history of nonmelanoma skin cancer before transplant. No skin cancers were diagnosed during follow-up (median, 1.3 years; range, 17 days to 8.6 years). CONCLUSION: Our center's experience is consistent with the literature and suggests that the incidence of newly diagnosed skin cancer in non-White liver transplant recipients is low. Longer follow-up may provide additional insights into the specific risk factors for the posttransplant development of skin cancer.

Carbon tubes from biomass with prominent adsorption performance for paraquat.

Paraquat (PQ) pollution has become an increasing seriously threat to the ecological environment. Thus, it is vital to study novel adsorption materials capable of removing PQ. Modified carbon tubes (MCT-600) were prepared by carbonizing the seed hair fibers of Metaplexis japonica at 600 °C and further modifying with nitric acid. The MCT-600 was found to possess a regular morphology, a good graphitization degree and an abundance of carboxyl functional groups. Moreover, this materil exhibits excellent adsorption performance for paraquat (PQ), such as a fast adsorption rate (adsorption equilibrium within 20 min), large adsorption capacity (218.61 mg g-1) and good regeneration ability (reused more than 5 times). The adsorption process for PQ onto MCT-600 was found to be well matched to a Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Owing to its unique surface properties, green raw material source and simple preparation process, MCT-600 shows potential as an outstanding candidate for PQ removal from water.

Effect of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease combined with ventilator-associated pneumonia on patient outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The purpose of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to uncover whether chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as a co-morbidity influences outcomes of patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) compared to VAP alone and whether the development of VAP in patients with COPD is associated with poor outcome in comparison to COPD alone. An electronic search of the PubMed, Embase, Scopus, BioMed Central, CENTRAL and Google scholar databases for all types of studies assessing the influence of COPD on outcomes of patients with VAP and vice versa was performed. A total of 7 studies were included. Of these, 3 studies assessed the impact of COPD on outcomes of patients with VAP. Meta-analysis indicated that the presence of COPD significantly increased the mortality of patients with VAP [risk ratio (RR): 1.37, 95% CI: 1.14-1.65, I2=3%, P=0.007]. The analysis failed to demonstrate any significant effect of COPD on the duration of mechanical ventilation in patients with VAP [mean difference (MD): 2.37, 95% CI: -5.77 to 10.50, I2=38%, P=0.57]. However, the duration of the intensive care unit (ICU) stay was significantly longer in patients with COPD and VAP as compared with that of patients with VAP without COPD (MD: 5.53, 95% CI: 0.73-10.33, I2=0%, P=0.02). A total of 4 studies assessed the impact of VAP on outcomes of patients with COPD. Meta-analysis indicated that the presence of VAP significantly increased mortality of patients with COPD (RR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.08-2.12, I2=71%, P=0.02). Pooled analysis indicated that the presence of VAP in patients with COPD significantly increased the duration of mechanical ventilation (MD: 13.73, 95% CI: 7.86-19.61, I2=92%, P<0.00001) and the duration of the ICU stay as compared to patients with COPD but without VAP (MD: 17.36, 95% CI: 9.55-25.17, I2=90%, P<0.0001). To conclude, within the limitations of the study, the present results indicated that the combination of COPD and VAP significantly increased patient mortality and the duration of ICU stay. The development of VAP in patients with COPD also significantly increased the duration of mechanical ventilation. Further case-matched studies are required to assess the influence of the severity of COPD in combination with VAP on patient outcomes.

Surface chemistry modified upconversion nanoparticles as fluorescent sensor array for discrimination of foodborne pathogenic bacteria.

BACKGROUND: The identification of foodborne pathogenic bacteria types plays a crucial role in food safety and public health. In consideration of long culturing times, tedious operations and the desired specific recognition elements in conventional methods, the alternative fluorescent sensor arrays can offer a high-effective approach in bacterial identification by using multiple cross-reactive receptors. Herein, we achieve this goal by constructing an upconversion fluorescent sensor array based on anti-stokes luminogens featuring a series of functional lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) with phenylboronic acid, phosphate groups, or imidazole ionic liquid. The prevalent spotlight effect of microorganism and the electrostatic interaction between UCNPs and bacteria endow such sensor array an excellent discrimination property. RESULTS: Seven common foodborne pathogenic bacteria including two Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes) and five Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Salmonella, Cronobacter sakazakii, Shigella flexneri and Vibrio parahaemolyticus) are precisely identified with 100% accuracy via linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Furthermore, blends of bacteria have been identified accurately. Bacteria in real samples (tap water, milk and beef) have been effectively discriminated with 92.1% accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Current fluorescence sensor array is a powerful tool for high-throughput bacteria identification, which overcomes the time-consuming bacteria culture and heavy dependence of specific recognition elements. The high efficiency of whole bacterial cell detection and the discrimination capability of life and death bacteria can brighten the application of fluorescence sensor array.