Visible-light-driven photoreforming of poly(ethylene terephthalate) plastics via carbon nitride porous microtubes.

It is highly desirable but challenging to realize efficient photoreforming of plastic waste over metal-free semiconductors. Here, we synthesized metal-free carbon nitride porous microtube (CNxPM) photocatalysts by carrying out a pyrolysis of the supramolecular assembly formed by the self-assembly of L-arginine (L-Arg) and melamine, the modification of L-Arg rationally engineering the microstructure and electronic structure of the CNxPM system for efficient visible-light-driven photoreforming of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to hydrogen (H2) and high-value chemicals. In particular, the amount of formate converted from PET substrate under visible light was highest in metal-free semiconductors without any co-catalyst reported so far, presenting the first example of visible-light-driven photoreforming of PET over a completely metal-free single-component semiconductor without any co-catalyst.

The Application of Probe-Based Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy as a Diagnostic Tool in Choledochoscopic Gallbladder-Preserving Surgery.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Choledochoscopic gallbladder-preserving surgery (CGPS) has the advantage of treating benign gallbladder diseases on the premise of gallbladder preservation. However, it has no reliable preoperative diagnosis if the gallbladder is benign. Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) can obtain real-time and clear endoscopic images at the cell level in vivo. It is widely used in the diagnosis of digestive system diseases, but not in gallbladder diseases yet. We applied these two technologies in a complementary way into the diagnosis of gallbladder diseases and thereby lifted the reliability of CGPS. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the total 28 patients with the indication of CGPS with intraoperative pCLE scan referred to the Second Affiliated Hospital of Baotou Medical College between October 2019 and July 2020. The intraoperative pCLE results were compared with the postoperative pathology in various gallbladder diseases. RESULTS: We compared the intraoperative pCLE diagnosis with the postoperative pathological diagnosis and found a complete match without exception in both sensitivity and specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our investigation, pCLE can provide the same accuracy as the traditional pathology in the diagnosis of gallbladder diseases with the additional advantages like noninvasive, real time, and instancy. This study serves to validate the correlation between CLE and histology. It holds a broad prospect in the application of pCLE as an intraoperative diagnosis in CGPS.

Pt Atoms/Clusters on Ni-phytate-sensitized Carbon Nitride for Enhanced NIR-light-driven Overall Water Splitting beyond 800†nm.

Near-infrared (NIR) light-driven overall water splitting beyond 800 nm remains a high-priority target yet great challenge. Here we report that efficient utilization of photogenerated electrons in a photosensitized system prepared by site-selective photodeposition of platinum single atoms/clusters (Pt-SACs) on Ni-phytate (PA-Ni)-sensitized polymeric carbon nitride (PCN). The optimal catalyst presents simultaneous hydrogen (H2 ) and oxygen (O2 ) evolution with an H2 evolution amount of 1.4 µmol at λ>800 nm for 24 hours, which its activity was approximately 140 times higher than that of a system without Pt-SAC modification (PA-Ni1.1 @PCN). This work represents the first NIR-light responsive photosensitized system for overall water splitting, and may open an avenue for precisely manipulating cocatalyst positions at the atomic level to improve NIR-light-driven overall water splitting via photosensitization.

Machine Learning Models for Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease Using Multiple Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features.

Purpose: This study aimed to develop machine learning models for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD) using multiple structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features and validate their performance. Methods: Brain structural MRI scans of 60 patients with PD and 56 normal controls (NCs) were enrolled as development dataset and 69 patients with PD and 71 NCs from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) dataset as independent test dataset. First, multiple structural MRI features were extracted from cerebellar, subcortical, and cortical regions of the brain. Then, the Pearson's correlation test and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were used to select the most discriminating features. Finally, using logistic regression (LR) classifier with the 5-fold cross-validation scheme in the development dataset, the cerebellar, subcortical, cortical, and a combined model based on all features were constructed separately. The diagnostic performance and clinical net benefit of each model were evaluated with the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and the decision curve analysis (DCA) in both datasets. Results: After feature selection, 5 cerebellar (absolute value of left lobule crus II cortical thickness (CT) and right lobule IV volume, relative value of right lobule VIIIA CT and lobule VI/VIIIA gray matter volume), 3 subcortical (asymmetry index of caudate volume, relative value of left caudate volume, and absolute value of right lateral ventricle), and 4 cortical features (local gyrification index of right anterior circular insular sulcus and anterior agranular insula complex, local fractal dimension of right middle insular area, and CT of left supplementary and cingulate eye field) were selected as the most distinguishing features. The area under the curve (AUC) values of the cerebellar, subcortical, cortical, and combined models were 0.679, 0.555, 0.767, and 0.781, respectively, for the development dataset and 0.646, 0.632, 0.690, and 0.756, respectively, for the independent test dataset, respectively. The combined model showed higher performance than the other models (Delong's test, all p-values < 0.05). All models showed good calibration, and the DCA demonstrated that the combined model has a higher net benefit than other models. Conclusion: The combined model showed favorable diagnostic performance and clinical net benefit and had the potential to be used as a non-invasive method for the diagnosis of PD.

Bacillus subtilis strain BS06 protects soybean roots from Fusarium oxysporum infection.

Soybean, as a major oil crop, is one of the most widely planted crops in the world. Fusarium oxysporum causes soybean root rot, leading to great economic losses to soybean planting every year globally. Chemical fungicide for controlling soybean F. oxysporum diseases may cause environmental problems and has human health risks. Biological control methods avoid these shortcomings; however, few studies have focused on biocontrol of soybean diseases caused by F. oxysporum. Aiming at this problem, we obtained biocontrol bacteria against soybean F. oxysporum by plate confrontation method. The type of the strain with the highest biocontrol activity was identified by molecular biological methods, and then its biocontrol effects were verified through greenhouse experiments. One of our isolated strain named BS06 strain had the highest activity, which was identified as Bacillus subtilis. Our study showed that BS06 strain could effectively control soybean F. oxysporum disease and significantly reduce F. oxysporum to infect soybean roots. Compared with control and carbendazim treatments, BS06 treatment had higher root biomass, plant height, leaf chlorophyll content, stem base diameter and control efficiency. Our results indicated that BS06 could effectively protect soybean root (BS06 strain might produce substances to inhibit F. oxysporum), which was potentially useful for soybean planting.

Patterns of Sulcal depth and cortical thickness in Parkinson's disease.

Previous voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and cortical thickness (CT) studies on Parkinson's disease (PD) have mainly reported the gray matter size reduction, whereas the shape of cortical surface can also change in PD patients. For the first time, we analyzed sulcal depth (SD) patterns in PD patients by using whole brain region of interest (ROI)-based approach. In a cross-sectional study, high-resolution brain structural MRI images were collected from 60 PD patients without dementia and 56 age-and sex-matched healthy controls (HC). SD and CT were estimated using the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and statistically compared between groups on whole brain ROI-based level using statistical parametric mapping 12 (SPM12). Additionally, correlations between regional brain changes and clinical variables were also examined. Compared to HC, PD patients showed lower SD in widespread regions, including temporal (the bilateral transverse temporal, the left inferior temporal, the right middle temporal and the right superior temporal), insular (the left insula), frontal (the left pars triangularis, the left pars opercularis and the left precentral), parietal (the bilateral superior parietal) and occipital (the right cuneus) regions. For CT, only the left pars opercularis showed lower CT in PD patients compared to HC. No regions showed higher SD or CT in PD patients compared to HC. In PD patients, a significant positive correlation was found between SD of the left pars opercularis and MMSE scores, such that lower MMSE scores were related to lower SD of the left pars opercularis. Our results of widespread lower SD, but relatively localized lower CT, indicate that SD seems to be more sensitive to brain changes than CT and may be mainly affected by white matter damage. Hence, SD may be a more promising indicator to investigate the surface shape changes in PD patients. The significant positive correlation between SD of the left pars opercularis and MMSE scores suggests that SD may be prognostic of future cognitive decline.

Phosphorus is more effective than nitrogen in restoring plant communities of heavy metals polluted soils.

Heavy metal pollution is widespread, and has an increasing trend in some countries and regions. It can be easily accumulated in plants, leading to plant species loss and affecting plant community composition. Artificial restoration can conserve plant diversity in contaminated soils and accelerate the recovery of polluted ecosystems. The application of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is inexpensive and convenient, which can increase the resistance of plants to adversity and promote the growth of plants in heavy metal polluted soils. In order to examine the effect of N and P nutrition on the conservation of plant community, we conducted a comparison experiment in greenhouse using soil with low N and P concentration, and set five treatments: C (soil with no heavy metals and fertilizer addition), H (soil with heavy metals addition but with no fertilizer), HN (soil with heavy metals and N addition), HP treatment(soil with heavy metals and P addition), HNP treatment (soil with heavy metals, N and P addition). Our results showed that heavy metal pollution reduced plant species by 300%, and significantly decreased plant diversity (P < 0.05). N addition increased the richness of plant species and increased the dominance of Euphorbia peplus, but had no significant effect on plant diversity and community structure, while reduced the evenness of plant species. P addition of HP and HNP treatments restored plant species richness and increased plant diversity under heavy metal pollution. The plant community structures of these two treatments were more similar to that of group C. Compared with N addition, P addition had a better performance to restoring the species composition and relative dominance of plant communities. Our results provided a guidance for the restoration of plant communities and the conservation of plant species in low N and P concentration soils with the context of heavy metal pollution.

Cortical complexity and gyrification patterns in Parkinson's disease.

This study aimed to investigate the cortical complexity and gyrification patterns in Parkinson's disease (PD) using local fractional dimension (LFD) and local gyrification index (LGI), respectively. In a cross-sectional study, LFD and LGI in 60 PD patients without dementia and 56 healthy controls (HC) were investigated using brain structural MRI data. LFD and LGI were estimated using the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and statistically analyzed between groups on a vertex level using statistical parametric mapping 12 (SPM12). Additionally, correlations between structural changes and clinical indices were further examined. PD patients showed widespread LFD reductions mainly in the left pre- and postcentral cortex, the left superior frontal cortex, the left caudal middle frontal cortex, the bilaterally superior parietal cortex and the right superior temporal cortex compared to HC. For LGI, there was no significant difference between PD and HC. In PD patients group, a significant negative correlation was found between LFD of the left postcentral cortex and duration of illness (DOI). Our results of widespread LFD reductions, but not LGI, indicate that LFD may provide a more sensitive diagnostic biomarker and encode specific information of PD. The significant negative correlation between LFD of the left postcentral cortex and DOI suggests that LFD may be a biomarker to monitor disease progression in PD.

Abnormal Topological Organization of Sulcal Depth-Based Structural Covariance Networks in Parkinson's Disease.

Recent research on Parkinson's disease (PD) has demonstrated the topological abnormalities of structural covariance networks (SCNs) using various morphometric features from structural magnetic resonance images (sMRI). However, the sulcal depth (SD)-based SCNs have not been investigated. In this study, we used SD to investigate the topological alterations of SCNs in 60 PD patients and 56 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC). SCNs were constructed by thresholding SD correlation matrices of 68 regions and analyzed using graph theoretical approaches. Compared with HC, PD patients showed increased normalized clustering coefficient and normalized path length, as well as a reorganization of degree-based and betweenness-based hubs (i.e., less frontal hubs). Moreover, the degree distribution analysis showed more high-degree nodes in PD patients. In addition, we also found the increased assortativity and reduced robustness under a random attack in PD patients compared to HC. Taken together, these findings indicated an abnormal topological organization of SD-based SCNs in PD patients, which may contribute in understanding the pathophysiology of PD at the network level.

Synthesis, radioprotective activity and pharmacokinetics characteristic of a new stable nitronyl nitroxyl radical-NIT2011.

A new stable nitronyl nitroxyl radical NIT2011 was synthesized and characterized. The radioprotective effect and pharmacokinetics profiles of NIT2011 were investigated. The results showed that when irradiation exposure dose was 6.5 Gy gama radiation, the survival rate in the irradiation-only group was 20% on 30th day. The survival rate was 70%, 80%, and 90% on 30th day when mice were pretreated with 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 mmol/kg NIT2011, respectively. The pretreatment of NIT2011 increased number of spleen colonies, the numbers of bone marrow cells and protein level in bone marrow cells. Pretreatment with NIT2011 prior to radiation exposure increased the plasma SOD (superoxide dismutase) activity. 24 h after irradiation exposure, level of plasma MDA (malondialdehyde) in irradiation-only mice was 14.8 ± 2.8 nmol/mL, level of plasma MDA in NIT2011 (1 mmol/kg) pretreated mice was 9.8 ± 2.0 nmol/mL. Three days after irradiation exposure, the micronucleus ratio in irradiation-only mice is 40.2 ± 3.6, the micronucleus ratio in NIT2011 (1 mmol/kg) pretreated mice was 11.7 ± 1.2. NIT2011 was easily absorbed in mice after it was oral administrated. Compared with the intraperitoneal injection, the relative oral bioavailability of the NIT2011 was 27.5% in mice. The LD50 of NIT2011 was 1510 mg/kg in mice by oral administration. Thus, NIT2011 has potential in being developed as an oral dosage form, safe and effective radioprotective agent.

[Association of CCR5, CCR2 and SDF1 gene polymorphisms with HIV-1 infection in Chinese population: a meta-analysis].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association of CCR5δ32, CCR2-64I and SDFl-3 A gene polymorphisms with HIV-1-infection in Chinese population. METHODS: A meta-analysis was performed to identify case-control studies of CCR5δ32, CCR2-64I and SDFl-3 A polymorphisms from the literatures. RESULTS: Fourteen studies of CCR5δ32 were found, involving a total of 1607 cases and 1632 controls. Compared with the wild-type homozygote wt/wt, the pooled odds ratios (95%CI) of wt/mt, mt/mt, and wt/mt+mt/mt genotypes of CCR5δ32 gene polymorphisms were 1.156 (0.808, 1.654), 0.997 (0.198, 5.022), and 1.149 (0.808, 1.634), respectively. Twelve studies of CCR2-64I were identified, including 1415 cases and 1239 controls. Compared with the wild-type homozygote wt/wt, the pooled odds ratios (95%CI) of wt/mt, mt/mt, and wt/mt+mt/mt genotypes of CCR2-64I gene polymorphisms were 1.005 (0.844, 1.197), 1.191 (0.808, 1.754), and 1.028 (0.870, 1.214), respectively. Ten studies of SDFl-3 A were found, involving 1179 cases and 1003 controls. Compared with the wild-type homozygote wt/wt, the pooled odds ratios (95%CI) of wt/mt, mt/mt, and wt/mt + mt/mt genotypes of SDF1-3 A gene polymorphisms were 1.010 (0.830, 1.228), 1.188 (0.860, 1.643), and 1.038 (0.861, 1.250). CONCLUSION: CCR5δ32, CCR2-64I and SDFl-3 A gene polymorphisms do not show strong correlations to HIV-1-infection in Chinese population. These 3 genes may not have protective effect against HIV-1 infection in Chinese population, suggesting the susceptibility of Chinese population to the infection.

[Prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Laribacter hongkongensis and enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli isolated from patients with diarrhea in Guangzhou].

OBJECTIVE: To survey the prevalence of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) and Laribacter hongkongensis (LH) and their drug resistance in diarrhea patients in Guangzhou. METHODS: We detected 646 fecal cases collected between Sep 2008 and Oct 2009 from the out-patient and emergency departments in a hospital. EC enriched culture medium was used for enrichment. MAC- and CMAC-specific culture media were used to isolate ETEC and LH from the specimens. The biochemical agents API20NE and API20E were employed for biochemical identification, and PCR was used for genetic identification. K-B disk diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. RESULTS: No LH was detected in the total 646 patients, and 38 patients were positive for ETEC, with a detection rate of 6%. Antibiotics resistance test showed that 38 strains of ETEC had a high resistance rate to penicillin, tetracycline and sulfa, but remained sensitive to cephalosporins. CONCLUSIONS: LH may have a low prevalence in Guangzhou. The incidence of diarrhea caused by ETEC tends to decrease as compared with that a decade ago, and further multi-center survey is needed for confirmation. Consumption of aquatic products may be one of the major risk factors for ETEC infection. Cephalosporins can be used for ETEC-induced diarrhea.