Omics-based approaches for discovering active ingredients and regulating gut microbiota of Actinidia arguta exosome-like nanoparticles.

Exosome-like nanoparticles (ELNs) are novel naturally occurring plant ultrastructures and contain unique bioactive components. However, the potential applications and biological functions of plant ELNs, especially in the context of health promotion and disease prevention, remain largely unexplored. This study aimed to explore the biological activities and functional mechanisms of Actinidia arguta-derived exosome-like nanoparticles (AAELNs). We reported the development of AAELNs, which possess particle sizes of 157.8 nm and a negative surface charge of -23.07 mV, uptaking by RAW264.7 cells, and reduction of oxidative stress by decreasing the activity of GSH-Px and T-SOD and increasing the content of MDA. Through the use of high-throughput sequencing technology, 12 known miRNA families and 23 additional miRNAs were identified in AAELNs, GO and KEGG term enrichment analysis revealed the potential of AAELNs-miRNAs in modulating neural-relevant behaviors. Additionally, LC-MS/MS analysis detected a total of 32 major lipid classes, 430 lipid subclasses, and 1345 proteins in AAELNs. Furthermore, in vivo fluorescence disappearance and in vitro fermentation experiments demonstrated that AAELNs were able to enter the colon and improve the microbial structure. These findings suggest that AAELNs could serve as nanoshuttles in food, potentially offering health-enhancing properties.

Characteristics and risk factors for invasive fungal infection in hospitalized patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure: a retrospective cohort study from 2010 to 2023.

Background and aim: The global burden of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) is emerging in immunologic deficiency status from various disease. Patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF) are prone to IFI and their conditions are commonly exacerbated by IFI. However, little is known about the characteristics and risk factors for IFI in hospitalized ACHBLF patients. Methods: A total of 243 hospitalized ACHBLF patients were retrospectively enrolled from January 2010 to July 2023. We performed restricted cubic spline analysis to determine the non-linear associations between independent variables and IFI. The risk factors for IFI were identified using logistic regression and the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) algorithm. The effect values of the risk factors were determined by the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. Results: There were 24 ACHBLF patients (9.84%) who developed IFI on average 17.5 (13.50, 23.00) days after admission. The serum creatinine level showed a non-linear association with the possibility of IFI. Multiple logistic regression revealed that length of hospitalization (OR = 1.05, 95% CI: 1.02-1.08, P = 0.002) and neutrophilic granulocyte percentage (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.00-1.09, P = 0.042) were independent risk factors for IFI. The XGBoost algorithm showed that the use of antibiotics (SHAP value = 0.446), length of hospitalization (SHAP value = 0.406) and log (qHBV DNA) (SHAP value = 0.206) were the top three independent risk factors for IFI. Furthermore, interaction analysis revealed no multiplicative effects between the use of antibiotics and the use of glucocorticoids (P = 0.990). Conclusion: IFI is a rare complication that leads to high mortality in hospitalized ACHBLF patients, and a high neutrophilic granulocyte percentage and length of hospitalization are independent risk factors for the occurrence of IFI.

Assembly processes of rhizosphere and phyllosphere bacterial communities in constructed wetlands created via transformation of rice paddies.

Constructed wetlands are an efficient and cost-effective method of restoring degraded wetlands, in which the microorganisms present make a significant contribution to the ecosystem. In this study, we comprehensively investigated the patterns of diversity and assembly processes of 7 types of constructed wetlands at the rhizosphere and phyllosphere levels. The results showed that the rhizosphere communities of the constructed wetlands exhibited a more balanced structure than that of paddy fields, and 5 types of constructed wetland demonstrated higher potential diversity than that of paddy fields. However, the opposite trend was observed for the phyllosphere communities. Analysis of mean nearest taxon difference indicated that both deterministic and stochastic processes affected the establishment of the rhizosphere and phyllosphere communities, and stochastic processes may have had a larger effect. An iCAMP model showed that dispersal limitation was the most important factor (67% relative contribution) in the rhizosphere community, while drift was the most important (47% relative contribution) in the phyllosphere community. Mantel tests suggested that sucrase, average height, top height, total biomass, belowground biomass, maximum water-holding capacity, and capillary porosity were significantly correlated with processes in the rhizosphere community, whereas factors such as the deterministic process, average height, top height, and SOC were significantly correlated with deterministic processes in the phyllosphere community. Our results can assist in the evaluation of artificial restorations, and can provide understanding of the ecological processes of microbial communities, as well as new insights into the manipulation of microorganisms in polluted wetland ecosystems.

Sporisorium reilianum polysaccharides improve DSS-induced ulcerative colitis by regulating intestinal barrier function and metabolites.

This study investigated the regulatory effects of Sporisorium reilianum polysaccharides (SRPS) on metabolism and the intestinal barrier in mice with colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). SRPS were resistant to the digestion of saliva, gastric juices, and intestinal fluid. SRPS significantly reduced the disease activity index and inhibited DSS-induced colon shortening. The expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the colon was normal (P < 0.05). Acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, and isovaleric acid contents increased. Moreover, 64 biomarker metabolites were affected, including 42 abnormal decreases and 22 abnormal increases caused by DSS, which targeted amino acid biosynthesis; tryptophan metabolism; protein digestion and absorption; aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis; and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism. In addition, SRPS reduced goblet cell loss and increased mucin secretion. The short-chain fatty acid receptor GPR41 was activated, and zonula occludens-1 and occludin expression levels were upregulated. Epithelial cell apoptosis was inhibited by increased Bcl-2 and decreased Bax expression NLRP3, ASC, and caspase-1 protein levels decreased. Intestinal barrier damage improved, and colon inflammation was reduced. Thus, our preliminary findings reveal that SRPS regulates metabolism and has the potential to protect the intestinal barrier in ulcerative colitis mice.

Aptamers targeting SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein exhibit potential anti pan-coronavirus activity.

Emerging and recurrent infectious diseases caused by human coronaviruses (HCoVs) continue to pose a significant threat to global public health security. In light of this ongoing threat, the development of a broad-spectrum drug to combat HCoVs is an urgently priority. Herein, we report a series of anti-pan-coronavirus ssDNA aptamers screened using Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX). These aptamers have nanomolar affinity with the nucleocapsid protein (NP) of Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and also show excellent binding efficiency to the N proteins of both SARS, MERS, HCoV-OC43 and -NL63 with affinity KD values of 1.31 to 135.36 nM. Such aptamer-based therapeutics exhibited potent antiviral activity against both the authentic SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain and the Omicron variant (BA.5) with EC50 values at 2.00 nM and 41.08 nM, respectively. The protein docking analysis also evidenced that these aptamers exhibit strong affinities for N proteins of pan-coronavirus and other HCoVs (-229E and -HKU1). In conclusion, we have identified six aptamers with a high pan-coronavirus antiviral activity, which could potentially serve as an effective strategy for preventing infections by unknown coronaviruses and addressing the ongoing global health threat.

A 3D hierarchical TiO2/CaIn2S4/C3N4arrays photoanode with dual-heterojunction for enhanced photoelectrochemical performance.

A novel 3D hierarchical TiO2/CaIn2S4/C3N4arrays with dual heterojunctions photoanode is constructed by stepwise deposition of CaIn2S4nanosheets and ultrathin C3N4onto the well-aligned TiO2nanorods arrays. Integrating the merit of the superior ability of CaIn2S4and C3N4to harvest visible light, dual type-Ⅱ heterojunction band structure and one-dimensional ordered nanostructures, the TiO2/CaIn2S4/C3N4photoanode exhibits simultaneous significant improvements in visible-light harvesting, charge separation and electron transfer capability. At 1.23 V (versus reversible hydrogen electrode) under AM 1.5 G irradiation, the TiO2/CaIn2S475/C3N4photoanode exhibits a photocurrent density of 4.5 mA cm-2, which is 5.2 and 51.1-fold higher than that of TiO2/CaIn2S475 and pristine TiO2photoanode, respectively. Moreover, the applied bias photo-to-current efficiency (ABPE) of the TiO2/CaIn2S475/C3N4photoanode reaches 3.5% at 0.36 V (versus reversible hydrogen electrode). These results are helpful for fabricating more efficient heterostructure photoelectrodes.

Novel Association of KLRC4-KLRK1 Gene Polymorphisms with Susceptibility and Progression of Antithyroid Drug-Induced Agranulocytosis.

OBJECTIVE: Antithyroid drug (ATD)-induced agranulocytosis (TIA) is the most serious adverse effect during ATD treatment of Graves' disease (GD). Previously, the MICA gene was reported to be associated with TIA. MICA protein is an important ligand for the NKG2D protein, which is encoded by the KLRK1 gene and KLRC4-KLRK1 read-through transcription. This study further investigated the association between KLRC4-KLRK1 gene polymorphisms and susceptibility to TIA. METHODS: Twenty-eight candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on KLRC4-KLRK1 read-through transcription were evaluated by the iPLEX MassARRAY system in 209 GD control patients and 38 TIA cases. RESULTS: A significant association of rs2734565 polymorphism with TIA was found (p=0.02, OR=1.80, 95% CI=1.09-2.96). The haplotype C-A-A-C-G, including rs2734565-C, was associated with a significantly higher risk of TIA (p=4.79E-09, OR=8.361, 95% CI=3.737-18.707). In addition, the interval time from hyperthyroidism to agranulocytosis onset was shorter in patients carrying the rs2734565-C allele than in non-carrying groups (45.00 (14.00-6570.00) d vs. 1080.00 (30.00-3600.00) d, p=0.046), and the interval from ATD treatment to agranulocytosis onset was also shorter in patients carrying rs2734565-C allele (29.00 (13.00-75.00) d vs. 57.50 (21.00-240.00) d, p=0.023). CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that the KLRC4-KLRK1 gene polymorphism is associated with susceptibility and progression of ATD-induced agranulocytosis. Patients carrying the rs2734565-C allele had a higher susceptibility and faster onset time of TIA.

Clinical impact and in vitro characterization of ADNP variants in pediatric patients.

BACKGROUND: Helsmoortel-Van der Aa syndrome (HVDAS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by variants in the activity-dependent neuroprotector homeobox (ADNP) gene; hence, it is also called ADNP syndrome. ADNP is a multitasking protein with the function as a transcription factor, playing a critical role in brain development. Furthermore, ADNP variants have been identified as one of the most common single-gene causes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability. METHODS: We assembled a cohort of 15 Chinese pediatric patients, identified 13 variants in the coding region of ADNP gene, and evaluated their clinical phenotypes. Additionally, we constructed the corresponding ADNP variants and performed western blotting and immunofluorescence analysis to examine their protein expression and subcellular localization in human HEK293T and SH-SY5Y cells. RESULTS: Our study conducted a thorough characterization of the clinical manifestations in 15 children with ADNP variants, and revealed a broad spectrum of symptoms including global developmental delay, intellectual disability, ASD, facial abnormalities, and other features. In vitro studies were carried out to check the expression of ADNP with identified variants. Two cases presented missense variants, while the remainder exhibited nonsense or frameshift variants, leading to truncated mutants in in vitro overexpression systems. Both overexpressed wildtype ADNP and all the different mutants were found to be confined to the nuclei in HEK293T cells; however, the distinctive pattern of nuclear bodies formed by the wildtype ADNP was either partially or entirely disrupted by the mutant proteins. Moreover, two variants of p.Y719* on the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of ADNP disrupted the nuclear expression pattern, predominantly manifesting in the cytoplasm in SH-SY5Y cells. LIMITATIONS: Our study was limited by a relatively small sample size and the absence of a longitudinal framework to monitor the progression of patient conditions over time. Additionally, we lacked in vivo evidence to further indicate the causal implications of the identified ADNP variants. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reported the first cohort of HVDAS patients in the Chinese population and provided systematic clinical presentations and laboratory examinations. Furthermore, we identified multiple genetic variants and validated them in vitro. Our findings offered valuable insights into the diverse genetic variants associated with HVDAS.

Functional keystone taxa promote N and P removal of the constructed wetland to mitigate agricultural nonpoint source pollution.

Characterized by irregular spatial and temporal variations of pollutant loading and complex occurrence mechanisms, agricultural nonpoint source pollution (ANPSP) has always been a great challenge in field restoration worldwide. Returning farmlands to wetlands (RFWs) as an ecological restoration mode among various constructed wetlands was selected to manage ANPSP in this study. Triarrhena lutarioriparia, Nelumbo nucifera and Zizania latifolia monocultures were designed and the water pollutants was monitored. N. nucifera and Z. latifolia could reach the highest TN (53.28 %) and TP (53.22 %) removal efficiency, respectively. By 16s high-throughput sequencing of rhizosphere bacteria, 45 functional species were the main contributors for efficient N and P removal, and 38 functional keystone taxa (FKT) were found with significant ecological niche roles and metabolic functions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the microbial driving N and P removal mechanism in response to ANPSP treated by field scale RFWs.

Room-temperature ferromagnetic CoSe2nanoplates synthesized by chemical vapor deposition.

Among novel two-dimensional materials, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with 3dmagnetic elements have been extensively researched owing to their unique magnetic, electric, and photoelectric properties. As an important member of TMDs, CoSe2is an interesting material with controversial magnetic properties, hitherto there are few reports related to the magnetism of CoSe2materials. Here, we report the synthesis of CoSe2nanoplates on Al2O3substrates by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The CVD-grown CoSe2nanoplates exhibit three typical morphologies (regular hexagonal, hexagonal, and pentagonal shapes) and their lateral sizes and thickness of CoSe2nanoplates can reach up to hundreds of microns and several hundred nanometers, respectively. The electric-transport measurement shows a metallic feature of CoSe2nanoplates. Furthermore, the slanted hysteresis loop and nonzero remnant magnetization of the CoSe2nanoplates confirm the ferromagnetism in the temperature range of 5-400 K. This work provides a novel platform for designing CoSe2-based spintronic devices and studying related magnetic mechanisms.

Understory vegetation diversity patterns of Platycladus orientalis and Pinus elliottii communities in Central and Southern China.

As a vital component of arbor forests, understory vegetation serves as an essential buffer zone for storing carbon due to its strong capacity for community regeneration. This study aimed to identify the diversity pattern and construction mechanism of Platycladus orientalis and Pinus elliottii understory vegetation based on large-scale sample surveys. The Bayesian Information Criterion value of species abundance distribution (SAD) indicated that the Zipf and Zipf-Mandelbrot models were the best-fitting models. The SAD and gambin fitting results suggested that the Pi. elliottii community had a more balanced structure, with most species being relatively abundant. The multiple regression tree model detected four and six indicator species in P. orientalis and Pi. elliottii communities, respectively. The α-diversity index increased with a rise in altitude and showed a wavy curve with latitude. Linear regression between the ß diversity and environmental and geographic distance indicated that the P. orientalis and Pi. elliottii understory communities tended to be dominated by different ecological processes. The partition of ß diversity indicated that both communities were dominated by turnover processes, which were caused by environmental classification or spatial constraints. This study helped to understand the diversity maintenance in the P. orientalis and Pi. elliottii understory vegetation communities, and will benefit for diversity restoration and conservation of pure conifer forests.

Screening of Genes Co-Associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Infectious Sudden Death in Infancy and Bioinformatics Analysis of Their Regulatory Networks.

OBJECTIVES: The common differentially expressed mRNAs in brain, heart and liver tissues of deceased sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and infectious sudden death in infancy (ISDI) confirmed by autopsy was screened by bioinformatics to explore the common molecular markers and pathogenesis of SIDS and ISDI. METHODS: The datasets of GSE70422 and GSE136992 were downloaded, the limma of R software was used to screen differentially expressed mRNA in different tissue samples of SIDS and ISDI decedents for overlapping analysis. The clusterProfiler of R software was used to conduct gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by STRING database, while the hub gene was screened by cytoHubba plug-in. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, there were 19 significant differentially expressed genes in the tissue samples of SIDS and ISDI decedents, among which 16 in the heart tissue and 3 in the liver tissue, and the astrotactin 1 (ASTN1) gene expression difference in the heart tissue was most significant. The PPI network identified Ras homolog family member A (RHOA), integrin subunit alpha 1 (ITGA1), and H2B clustered histone 5 (H2BC5) were hub genes. The analysis of GO and KEGG showed that differentially expressed genes were enriched in the molecular pathways of actin cytoskeleton regulation, focal adhesion and response to mycophenolic acid. CONCLUSIONS: ASTN1, RHOA and ITGA1 may participate in the development of SIDS and ISDI. The enrichment of differentially expressed genes in immune and inflammatory pathways suggests a common molecular regulatory mechanism between SIDS and ISDI. These findings are expected to provide new biomarkers for molecular anatomy and forensic identification of SIDS and ISDI.

Ultrafast MUTC photodiodes over 200†GHz with high saturation power.

Novel back-illuminated modified uni-traveling-carrier photodiodes (MUTC-PDs) with wide bandwidth and high saturation power are demonstrated. The effect of cliff layer doping on the electric field distribution is investigated to achieve fast carrier transport. MUTC-PDs with miniaturized device diameter and low contact resistance are fabricated to improve the RC-limited bandwidth. Meanwhile, inductive peaking is implemented to further extend the bandwidth. PDs with 3-µm and 3.6-µm-diameter exhibit a ultrawide bandwidth of 230 GHz and 200 GHz, together with -4.94 dBm and -2.14 dBm saturation power at 220 GHz and 200 GHz, respectively.

Exploring binding modes of the selected inhibitors to SND1 by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women. Previous studies have indicated that disrupting the interaction between Metadherin (MTDH) and Staphylococcal nuclease domain containing 1 (SND1) can inhibit breast cancer development. Understanding the binding mode of small molecule inhibitors with SND1 is of great significance for designing drugs targeting the MTDH-SND1 complex. In this study, we conducted all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in solution and performed binding energy calculations to gain insights into the binding mechanism of small molecules to SND1. The binding site of SND1 for small molecules is relatively rigid, and the binding of the small molecule and the mutation of key residues have little effect on the conformation of the binding site. SND1 binds more tightly to C26-A6 than to C26-A2, as C26-A2 undergoes a 180° directional change during the simulation process. The key residue mutations have a direct effect on the position and orientation of small molecule in the binding site. The key residues make primary contributions to the binding energy through van der Waals interaction and nonpolar solvation energy, although the contribution from nonpolar solvation is relatively minor. The key residue mutations also affect the formation of hydrogen bonds and ultimately the stability of the small molecule-SND1 complex.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Shunting at Arbitrary Feature Levels via Spatial Disentanglement: Toward Selective Image Translation.

The past few years have witnessed considerable efforts devoted to translating images from one domain to another, mainly aiming at editing global style. Here, we focus on a more general case, selective image translation (SLIT), under an unsupervised setting. SLIT essentially operates through a shunt mechanism that involves learning gates to manipulate only the contents of interest (CoIs), which can be either local or global, while leaving the irrelevant parts unchanged. Existing methods typically rely on a flawed implicit assumption that CoIs are separable at arbitrary levels, ignoring the entangled nature of DNN representations. This leads to unwanted changes and learning inefficiency. In this work, we revisit SLIT from an information-theoretical perspective and introduce a novel framework, which equips two opposite forces to disentangle the visual features. One force encourages independence between spatial locations on the features, while the other force unites multiple locations to form a "block" that jointly characterizes an instance or attribute that a single location may not independently characterize. Importantly, this disentanglement paradigm can be applied to visual features of any layer, enabling shunting at arbitrary feature levels, which is a significant advantage not explored in existing works. Our approach has undergone extensive evaluation and analysis, confirming its effectiveness in significantly outperforming the state-of-the-art baselines.

Enhancement growth, water use efficiency and economic benefit for maize by drip irrigation in Northwest China.

The application of drip irrigation has been paid more and more attention, but there was lack of systematic comparative analysis between drip irrigation and conventional border irrigation method for maize, currently. A 7-year field study from 2015 to 2021 evaluated the effects of drip irrigation (DI, 540 mm) or conventional border irrigation method (BI, 720 mm) on maize growth, water use efficiency (WUE) as well as profitability. The results showed the plant height, leaf area index, yield, WUE and economic benefit of maize with DI had significantly higher than BI. The dry matter translocation, the dry matter transfer efficiency and contribution of dry matter translocation to grain with DI showed significant increase of 27.44%, 13.97% and 7.85% compared to BI, respectively. In comparison to conventional border irrigation, the yield of drip irrigation increased by 14.39%, as well as WUE and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) increased by 53.77% and 57.89%. The net return and economic benefit of drip irrigation was 1998.87 and 756.58 USD$ hm-1 higher than that of BI. Drip irrigation increased net return and benefit/cost ratio by 60.90% and 22.88% compared with BI. These results demonstrate that the drip irrigation can effectively improve the growth, yield, WUE and economic benefit of maize in northwest China. Therefore, drip irrigation can be used for maize cultivation to increase crop yield and WUE in northwest China, which has cut down on irrigation water about 180 mm.

Digital mapping of soil organic carbon density in China using an ensemble model.

The soil organic carbon stock (SOCS) is considered as one of the largest carbon reservoirs in terrestrial ecosystems, and small changes in soil can cause significant changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration. Understanding organic carbon accumulation in soils is crucial if China is to meet its dual carbon target. In this study, the soil organic carbon density (SOCD) in China was digitally mapped using an ensemble machine learning (ML) model. First, based on SOCD data obtained at depths of 0-20 cm from 4356 sampling points (15 environmental covariates), we compared the performance of four ML models, namely random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), support vector machine (SVM), and artificial neural network (ANN) models, in terms of coefficient of determination (R2), mean absolute error (MAE), and root mean square error (RMSE) values. Then, we ensembled four models using Voting Regressor and the principle of stacking. The results showed that ensemble model (EM) accuracy was high (RMSE = 1.29, R2 = 0.85, MAE = 0.81), so that it could be a good choice for future research. Finally, the EM was used to predict the spatial distribution of SOCD in China, which ranged from 0.63 to 13.79 kg C/m2 (average = 4.09 (±1.90) kg C/m2). The SOC storage amount in surface soil (0-20 cm) was 39.40 Pg C. This study developed a novel, ensemble ML model for SOC prediction, and improved our understanding of the spatial distribution of SOC in China.

Gender differences in symptom structure of adolescent problematic internet use: A network analysis.

BACKGROUND: Gender differences in problematic Internet use (PIU) have long been discussed. However, whether and how female and male adolescents differ in central symptoms and symptom associations are not fully understood. METHODS: As a national survey in the Chinese mainland, 4884 adolescents (51.6% females; Mage = 13.83 ± 2.41) participated in the present study. This study applies network analysis to identify central symptoms of PIU networks in female and male adolescents and compares whether and how global and local connectivity of PIU networks differ by gender. RESULTS: Female and male network structures of PIU were different and global strength was stronger in males than females, indicating a higher risk of chronicity of PIU among male adolescents. Specifically, "Reluctant to turn off Internet" exerted the largest effect on both genders. "Increase time online to achieve satisfaction" and "Feel depressed once not online for a while" were particularly critical to female and male adolescents, respectively. Moreover, females scored higher centralities in social withdrawal symptoms and males did so in interpersonal conflicts owing to PIU. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide novel insights into gender differential risks and features of adolescent PIU. Differences in the core symptoms of PIU suggest that gender-specific interventions focusing on core symptoms might effectively relieve PIU and maximize treatment effects.

[Prediction of PAHs Content in Soil Around Gas Stations in Beijing Based on BP Neural Network].

With the rapid development of urbanization in China, the number of gas stations in cities is increasing. The composition of oil products in gas stations is complex and diverse, and a series of pollutants will be generated in the process of oil diffusion. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) produced by gas stations can pollute the nearby soil and affect human health. In this study, soil samples (0-20 cm) near 117 gas stations in Beijing were collected, and the contents of seven PAHs were analyzed. Based on the BP neural network model, the contents of PAHs in soil of Beijing gas stations in 2025 and 2030 were predicted. The results showed that the total concentrations of the seven PAHs were 0.01-3.53 mg·kg-1. The concentrations of PAHs were lower than the soil environmental quality risk control standard for soil contamination of development land (Trial) GB 36600-2018. At the same time, the toxic equivalent concentrations (TEQ) of the above seven PAHs were lower than the standard value (1 mg·kg-1) of the World Health Organization (WHO), which they indicate a lower risk to human health. The prediction results showed that the rapid development of urbanization had a positive correlation with the increase in soil PAHs content. By 2030, the content of PAHs in Beijing gas station soil will continue to grow. The predicted concentrations of PAHs in the soil of Beijing gas stations in 2025 and 2030 were 0.085-4.077 mg·kg-1and 0.132-4.412 mg·kg-1, respectively. The contents of seven PAHs were lower than the soil pollution risk screening value of GB 36600-2018; however, the concentration of PAHs increased over time.The contents of PAHs in Chaoyang, Fengtai, and Haidian were relatively higher, which requires further attention.

Shrink polymer based electrochemical sensor for point-of-care detection of prostate-specific antigen.

There is a growing but unmet need for point-of-care detection of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) in body fluid which may facilitate early diagnosis and therapy of prostate cancer in a cost-effective and user-friendly way. Low sensitivity and narrow detection range limits applications of point-of-care testing in practice. Here, an immunosensor is first presented based on shrink polymer and integrated into a miniaturized electrochemical platform for detecting PSA in clinical samples. The sensing electrode was prepared by sputtering a gold film on shrink polymer, followed by heating to shrink the electrode to a small size with wrinkles from nano-scale to micro-scale. These wrinkles can be directly regulated by the thickness of the gold film with high specific areas for enhancement of antigen-antibody binding (3.9 times). A distinct difference between electrochemical active surface area (EASA) and response to PSA of shrink electrodes was observed and discussed. The electrode was treated with air plasma and modified with self-assembled graphene to further enhance the sensor's sensitivity (10.4 times). The shrink sensor with gold 200 nm thick integrated into the portable system was validated by a label-free immunoassay for detection of PSA in 20 µL serum within 35 mins. It exhibited a limit of detection of 0.38 fg/mL, the lowest among label-free PSA sensors, and a wide linear response from 10 fg/mL to 1000 ng/mL. Moreover, the sensor demonstrated reliable assay results in clinical serums, comparable to the commercial chemiluminescence instrument, confirming its feasibility for clinical diagnosis.