Urea promoted soil microbial community and reduced the residual ciprofloxacin in soil and its uptake by Chinese flowering cabbage.

Antibiotics in agricultural soil can be accumulated in crops and might pose a potential risk to human health. Nevertheless, there is a lack of knowledge about the impact of nitrogen fertilizers on the dissipation and uptake of antibiotics in soils. Therefore, our aim in this study is to investigate the effects of urea fertilizer on the residues of ciprofloxacin and its uptake by Chinese flowering cabbage (Brassica parachinensis L.) as affected by the associated changes on the soil microbial community. A pot experiment has been conducted using spiked soil with 20 mg ciprofloxacin /kg soil and fertilized with urea at dosages equal to 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8 t/ha. Application urea especially at 0.4 t/ha decreased the residue of ciprofloxacin in the soil and its uptake by the roots and its translocation to the shoots of Chinese flowering cabbage. The translocation factors (TFs) for ciprofloxacin were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) only at the treatment of 0.4 t/ha, while no significant difference of bio-concentration factors (BCFs). The average well color development (AWCD) values, Shannon diversity, and richness index were higher in the fertilized than the un-fertilized soils, and all such indicators were greater at the treatment of 0.4 t/ha than at 0.2 and 0.8 t/ha. The carbon substrate utilization of phenolic acids at the treatments of 0.4 t/ha were greater than with other levels of urea fertilizer. In conclusion, moderate urea addition significantly increased soil microbial activity and abundance, which in turn promoted the ciprofloxacin dissipation in soil and plant tissue. The present study provides an economical and operational strategy for the remediation of ciprofloxacin contaminated soils.

Systematic analyses of AISNPs screening and classification algorithms based on genome-wide data for forensic biogeographic ancestry inference.

Identifying the biogeographic ancestral origin of biological sample left at a crime scene can provide important evidence for judicial case, as well as clue for narrowing down suspect. Ancestry informative single nucleotide polymorphism (AISNP) has become one of the most important genetic markers in recent years for screening ancestry information loci and analyzing the population genetic background and structure due to their high number and wide distributions in the human genome. In this study, based on data from 26 populations in the 1000 Genomes Project Phase 3, a Random Forest classification model was constructed with one-vs-rest classification strategy for embedded feature selection in order to obtain a panel with a small number of efficient AISNPs. The research aim was to clarify differentiations of population genetic structures among continents and subregions of East Asia. ADMIXTURE results showed that based on the 58 AISNPs selected by the machine learning algorithm, the 26 populations involved in the study could be categorized into six intercontinental ancestry components: North East Asia, South East Asia, Africa, Europe, South Asia, and America. The 24 continental-specific AISNPs and 34 East Asian-specific AISNPs were finally obtained, and used to construct the ancestry prediction model using XGBoost algorithm, resulting in the Matthews correlation coefficients of 0.94 and 0.89, and accuracies of 0.94 and 0.92, respectively. The machine learning models that we constructed using population-specific AISNPs were able to accurately predict the ancestral origins of continental and intra-East Asian populations. To summarize, screening a set of high-perform AISNPs to infer biogeographical ancestral information using embedded feature selection has potential application in creating a layered inference system that accurately differentiates from intercontinental populations to local subpopulations.

Perspective and Experience of Patients with Aplastic Anemia on Medication Adherence.

Background: Drug treatment is critical for patients with aplastic anemia, and medication adherence directly impacts the therapeutic effect. Poor medication adherence is common among patients with chronic diseases. However, knowledge of the perceptions and experiences of patients with aplastic anemia regarding taking prescribed medicines is limited. Objective: To gain insights into the perceptions and experiences of patients with aplastic anemia regarding taking prescribed medicines. Methods: A descriptive qualitative design was used. Fifteen patients with aplastic anemia were recruited from the hematology department. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data were analyzed using the thematic analysis method and conceptualized using the Health Belief Model. Results: Five themes emerged: the perceived threat of aplastic anemia, perceived benefits and barriers of taking prescribed medicines, cues to action, self-efficacy, and modifying factors. While patients' knowledge was limited, they acknowledged the threat of aplastic anemia and the necessity of drug treatments, but they also encountered some barriers in practice. The desire for health and healthcare providers' opinions were the main clues to medication adherence. The expectation of the future and the sense of self-competency made participants adopt good behavior. Discussions: This study provided new perspectives on the medication adherence of patients with aplastic anemia, which may be valuable in clinical work and research. Further interventions should be developed for intentional and unintentional non-compliance. Future research can start with developing professional assessment tools addressing the influence of cognition and emotion on compliance.

Wood identification of Cyclobalanopsis (Endl.) Oerst based on microscopic features and CTGAN-enhanced explainable machine learning models.

Introduction: Accurate and fast identification of wood at the species level is critical for protecting and conserving tree species resources. The current identification methods are inefficient, costly, and complex. Methods: A wood species identification model based on wood anatomy and using the Cyclobalanopsis genus wood cell geometric dataset was proposed. The model was enhanced by the CTGAN deep learning algorithm and used a simulated cell geometric feature dataset. The machine learning models BPNN and SVM were trained respectively for recognition of three Cyclobalanopsis species with simulated vessel cells and simulated wood fiber cells. Results: The SVM model and BPNN model achieved recognition accuracy of 96.4% and 99.6%, respectively, on the real dataset, using the CTGAN-generated vessel dataset. The BPNN model and SVM model achieved recognition accuracy of 75.5% and 77.9% on real dataset, respectively, using the CTGAN-generated wood fiber dataset. Discussion: The machine learning model trained based on the enhanced cell geometric feature data by CTGAN achieved good recognition of Cyclobalanopsis, with the SVM model having a higher prediction accuracy than BPNN. The machine learning models were interpreted based on LIME to explore how they identify tree species based on wood cell geometric features. This proposed model can be used for efficient and cost-effective identification of wood species in industrial applications.

Single-nucleus RNA sequencing and deep tissue proteomics reveal distinct tumour microenvironment in stage-I and II cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer (CC) is the 3rd most common cancer in women and the 4th leading cause of deaths in gynaecological malignancies, yet the exact progression of CC is inconclusive, mainly due to the high complexity of the changing tumour microenvironment (TME) at different stages of tumorigenesis. Importantly, a detailed comparative single-nucleus transcriptomic analysis of tumour microenvironment (TME) of CC patients at different stages is lacking. METHODS: In this study, a total of 42,928 and 29,200 nuclei isolated from the tumour tissues of stage-I and II CC patients and subjected to single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) analysis. The cell heterogeneity and functions were comparatively investigated using bioinformatic tools. In addition, label-free quantitative mass spectrometry based proteomic analysis was carried out. The proteome profiles of stage-I and II CC patients were compared, and an integrative analysis with the snRNA-seq was performed. RESULTS: Compared with the stage-I CC (CCI) patients, the immune response relevant signalling pathways were largely suppressed in various immune cells of the stage-II CC (CCII) patients, yet the signalling associated with cell and tissue development was enriched, as well as metabolism for energy production suggested by the upregulation of genes associated with mitochondria. This was consistent with the quantitative proteomic analysis that showed the dominance of proteins promoting cell growth and intercellular matrix development in the TME of CCII group. The interferon-α and γ responses appeared the most activated pathways in many cell populations of the CCI patients. Several collagens, such as COL12A1, COL5A1, COL4A1 and COL4A2, were found significantly upregulated in the CCII group, suggesting their roles in diagnosing CC progression. A novel transcript AC244205.1 was detected as the most upregulated gene in CCII patients, and its possible mechanistic role in CC may be investigated further. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides important resources for decoding the progression of CC and set the foundation for developing novel approaches for diagnosing CC and tackling the immunosuppressive TME.

Adaptation of bacterial community in maize rhizosphere for enhancing dissipation of phthalic acid esters in agricultural soil.

Rhizospheric degradation is a green and in situ strategy to accelerate dissipation of organic pollutants in soils. However, the mechanism on microbial degradation of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in rhizosphere is still unclear. Here, the bacterial community and function genes in bulk and rhizospheric soils of maize (Zea mays L.) exposed to gradient concentrations of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were analyzed with 16 S rRNA, metagenomic sequencing and quantitative PCR (qPCR). Maize rhizosphere significantly increased the dissipation of DEHP by 4.02-11.5% in comparison with bulk soils. Bacterial community in rhizosphere exhibited more intensive response and shaped its beneficial structure and functions to DEHP stress than that in bulk soils. Both rhizospheric and pollution effects enriched more PAE-degrading bacteria (e.g., Bacillus and Rhizobium) and function genes in rhizosphere than in bulk soil, which played important roles in degradation of PAEs in rhizosphere. The PAE-degrading bacteria (including genera Sphingomonas, Sphingopyxis and Lysobacter) identified as keystone species participated in DEHP biodegradation. Identification of PAE intermediates and metagenomic reconstruction of PAE degradation pathways demonstrated that PAE-degrading bacteria degraded PAEs through cooperation with PAE-degrading and non-PAE-degrading bacteria. This study provides a comprehensive knowledge for the microbial mechanism on the superior dissipation of PAEs in rhizosphere.

Apolipoprotein-A is a potential prognostic biomarker for severe aplastic anemia patients treated with ATG-based immunosuppressive therapy: a single-center retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: Anti-thymoglobulin (ATG)-based immunosuppressive treatment (IST) is the standard first-line management for patients with severe AA/very severe AA (SAA/VSAA) and is not suitable for allogeneic stem cell transplantation. The response predictor was not fully investigated. OBJECTIVE: The present study attempted to explore other characteristics, such as serum lipid changes, during ATG-based IST and analyzed their significance in predicting IST response and survival. METHODS: A total of 61 newly diagnosed SAA/VSAA patients who received ATG-based IST were enrolled from January 2011 to June 2019. The blood lipid levels, immunoglobulins, and peripheral T lymphocytes were retrospectively collected, and their correlations with IST response, estimated 8.5-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were analyzed. RESULTS: The overall response (OR)/complete remission (CR) at 3, 6, and 9 months was 24.6%/6.6%, 52.5%/14.8%, and 65.6%/23.0%, respectively. Based on the 9-month response effect, patients were divided into IST-response (IST-R) and IST-nonresponse (IST-NR) groups. The subgroup baseline characteristics showed that the disease severity grade, absolute neutrophil granulocyte count (ANC), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and apolipoprotein-A (Apo-A) differed between the IST-R and IST-NR groups. Patients with lower Apo-A (< 1.205 g/L) level pretreatment had a better event-free survival (EFS), and a moderate negative correlation was established between the pretreatment Apo-A and 9-month response (P = 0.004). In addition, the T-cell subset and immunoglobulin analyses showed that the responsive patients had a low serum IgA level, which decreased further after therapy. Additionally, a moderate negative correlation was established between the 3-month IgA and 9-month response (P = 0.006). CONCLUSION: Serum Apo-A is a prognostic biomarker for newly diagnosed < 60-year-old SAA/VSAA patients who received ATG-based IST (registered at chictr.org.cn as # ChiCTR2100052979).

Preclinical Pharmacokinetics, Biodistribution, and Acute Toxicity Evaluation of Caerin 1.9 Peptide in Sprague Dawley Rats.

Caerin 1.9 is a natural peptide derived from the skin secretions of the Australian tree frog (Litoria) with broad-spectrum antimicrobial and anticancer bioactivity. It improves the efficacy of a therapeutic vaccine and immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy when injected intratumorally and inhibits TC-1 tumor growth when applied topically through intact skin in a TC-1 murine tumor model. This paper investigated the pharmaceutical kinetic profile, the tissue distribution, and the acute safety investigation of Caerin 1.9 peptide in Sprague Dawley (SD) rats. The results showed that subcutaneous injection of Caerin 1.9 at 100 mg/kg is safe and does not cause mortality or organ malfunction in the recipient rats. For the consecutive injection of F3 at 10 mg/kg, the peak concentration (C max) of F3 displayed at 1 hr after injection in male rats was 591 ng/mL, the average drug retention time was 0.807 hr, T 1/2 was 4.58 hr, and AUC0-last was 1890 h × ng/mL. In female rats, C max was 256 ng/mL, with an average drug retention time of 2.96 hr, T 1/2 of 1.33 hr, and AUC0-last of 740 h × ng/mL. The results showed that the concentration of Caerin 1.9 in the peripheral blood peaked at 1 hour. As injected concentration increased, T 1/2 extended, and C max, AUC0-last, and volume of distribution at a steady state all increased. After 14 days of repeated subcutaneous injection at 10.0 mg/kg, no accumulation of Caerin 1.9 in plasma was observed. The results of tissue distribution showed that the Caerin 1.9 is below the LC-MS/MS detection threshold at a minimum concentration of 40 ng/g. In conclusion, Caerin 1.9 is well tolerated in rats and could be used with current immunotherapies for better management of solid tumors and genital warts.

Effect of fulvic acid co-precipitation on biosynthesis of Fe(III) hydroxysulfate and its adsorption of lead.

Iron (III) co-precipitation with dissolved organic matter (DOM) is pervasive in many natural environments. However, the effects of DOM on the formation of Fe(III) hydroxysulfate (FHS) and its environmental implications are poorly understood. In this study, fulvic acid (FA) was used as a model DOM compound, and experiments were devised to investigate the effects of FA on the formation of FHS. In addition, the Pb(II) adsorption capabilities of FHSs biosynthesized under various FA dosages, including kinetics and sorption isotherm experiments, were conducted. These experiments showed that co-precipitation of FA promoted the formation of Fe-FA composites, FA-doped schwertmannite, and small particles of jarosite. Co-precipitates are more enriched in carboxyl (-COOH) functional groups due to their preferential binding with FHS. The adsorption kinetics, isotherms and mechanisms of Pb onto the biosynthesized FHSs were then comprehensively characterized and modeled. Though the specific surface area decreased with increasing FA loading, the introduction of FA into FHSs increased Pb(II) adsorption, with the highest concentration of FA addition improving the removal capacity of Pb(II) to 91.54%. Kinetics studies and intra-particle diffusion models indicated that the adsorption of Pb(II) onto the FHSs was correlated with the number of active sites, and two adsorption steps: surface adsorption and the diffusion of Pb(II) in channels inside the biosynthesized FHSs, are suggested. The adsorption mechanism was attributed to cation exchange between Pb(II) and -OH and -COOH functional groups, and the co-precipitated FA provided additional sites for Pb(II) adsorption by FHS.

Topical Application of Temperature-Sensitive Gel Containing Caerin 1.1 and 1.9 Peptides on TC-1 Tumour-Bearing Mice Induced High-Level Immune Response in the Tumour Microenvironment.

The development of topical cream drugs that increase the immune activation of tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes against tumour and chronic viral infection-associated lesions is of great immunotherapeutic significance. This study demonstrates that the topical application of a temperature-sensitive gel containing caerin 1.1 and 1.9 peptides reduces nearly 50% of the tumour weight of HPV16 E6/E7-transformed TC-1 tumour-bearing mice via improving the tumour microenvironment. Confocal microscopy confirms the time-dependent penetration of caerin 1.9 through the epidermal layer of the ear skin structure of mice. Single-cell transcriptomic analysis shows that the caerin 1.1/1.9 gel expands the populations with high immune activation level and largely stimulates the pro-inflammatory activity of NK and dendritic cells. Closely associated with INFα response, Cebpb seems to play a key role in altering the function of all Arg1hi macrophages in the caerin group. In addition, the caerin gel treatment recruits almost two-fold more activated CD8+ T cells to the TME, relative to the untreated tumour, which shows a synergistic effect derived from the regulation of S1pr1, Ccr7, Ms4a4b and Gimap family expression. The TMT10plex-labelling proteomic quantification further demonstrates the activation of interferon-alpha/beta secretion and response to cytokine stimulus by the caerin gel, while the protein contents of several key regulators were elevated by more than 30%, such as Cd5l, Gzma, Ifit1, Irf9 and Stat1. Computational integration of the proteome with the single-cell transcriptome consistently suggested greater activation of NK and T cells with the topical application of caerin peptide gel.

Particulate plastics-plant interaction in soil and its implications: A review.

Particulate plastics (<5 mm), including macroplastics (1 µm to 5 mm), microplastics (100 nm to 1 µm) and nanoplastics (<100 nm), have become a global environmental problem due to their widespread occurrence, distribution and ecosystem risk. Although numerous studies on particulate plastics have been conducted in aquatic systems, investigations in the soil ecosystem are lacking. Soil is the main storage place of particulate plastics, conferring significant impacts on plant growth and development. The impact of particulate plastics on plants is directly related to the safety of agricultural products. This review comprehensively examines the pollution characteristics and exposure pathways of particulate plastics in agricultural soils, highlighting plastic uptake process, and mechanisms in plants, and effects of particulate plastics, biodegradable particulate plastics and combined pollution of plastics with other environmental pollutants on plant performances. This review identifies a number of future research prospects including the development of accurate quantitative methods for plastic analysis in soil and plant samples, understanding the environmental behaviors of conventional and biodegradable particulate plastics in the presence and absence of other environmental pollutants, unravelling the fate of particulate plastics in plants, phyto-toxicity and molecular regulatory mechanisms of particultate plastics, and developing best management practices for the production of safe agricultural products in plastic-contaminated soils.

Perceptions and experiences of risk management by managers of residential aged care facilities: a qualitative study from Hunan Province, China.

BACKGROUND: With adverse events and injuries recurring in residential aged care facilities (RACFs), older adults' safety in residential age care settings has attracted extensive attention from governments, researchers, and healthcare providers. Risk management is of utmost importance in reducing risks and improving the quality of care for older adults in long-term care. Although previous studies have made great efforts to explore risk management methods and technologies in RACFs, little is known about how managers identify and respond to risks in practice. PURPOSE: This qualitative study aimed to elucidate the perceptions and experiences of managers involved in risk management in RACFs in China. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: This study used a phenomenological research design. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 managers across 11 RACFs in Changsha City, Hunan Province, China. Data were analysed using Colaizzi's seven steps and NVivo 12 plus software. RESULTS: "Facilitation of an error-free culture" emerged as a central theme of managers' perceptions of risk management. Four sub-themes were revealed, namely "creating an age-friendly physical environment," "paying close attention to frail older adults," "improving the competence of nursing staff," and "building effective management programs." CONCLUSION: Facilitation of an error-free culture was of prime importance in risk management. Managers' experiences can help RACFs to better manage risks, as well as provide new perspectives and approaches for RACFs to improve the quality and outcomes of care. This study developed initiatives for improving resident safety in RACFs and may foster interest in the developing these initiatives.

Intratumoral injection of caerin 1.1 and 1.9 peptides increases the efficacy of vaccinated TC-1 tumor-bearing mice with PD-1 blockade by modulating macrophage heterogeneity and the activation of CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment.

OBJECTIVES: Developing a vaccine formula that alters the tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes to be more immune active against a tumor is key to the improvement of clinical responses to immunotherapy. Here, we demonstrate that, in conjunction with E7 antigen-specific immunotherapy, and IL-10 and PD-1 blockade, intratumoral administration of caerin 1.1/1.9 peptides improves TC-1 tumor microenvironment (TME) to be more immune active than injection of a control peptide. METHODS: We compared the survival time of vaccinated TC-1 tumor-bearing mice with PD-1 and IL-10 blockade, in combination with a further injection of caerin 1.1/1.9 or control peptides. The tumor-infiltrating haematopoietic cells were examined by flow cytometry. Single-cell transcriptomics and proteomics were used to quantify changes in cellular activity across different cell types within the TME. RESULTS: The injection of caerin 1.1/1.9 increased the efficacy of vaccinated TC-1 tumor-bearing mice with anti-PD-1 treatment and largely expanded the populations of macrophages and NK cells with higher immune activation level, while reducing immunosuppressive macrophages. More activated CD8+ T cells were induced with higher populations of memory and effector-memory CD8+ T subsets. Computational integration of the proteome with the single-cell transcriptome supported activation of Stat1-modulated apoptosis and significant reduction in immune-suppressive B-cell function following caerin 1.1 and 1.9 treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Caerin 1.1/1.9-containing treatment results in improved antitumor responses. Harnessing the novel candidate genes preferentially enriched in the immune active cell populations may allow further exploration of distinct macrophages, T cells and their functions in TC-1 tumors.

Caerin 1.1 and 1.9 Peptides from Australian Tree Frog Inhibit Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Growth in a Murine Skin Infection Model.

The host defense peptide caerin 1.9 was originally isolated from skin secretions of an Australian tree frog and inhibits the growth of a wide range of bacteria in vitro. In this study, we demonstrated that caerin 1.9 shows high bioactivity against several bacteria strains, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and Streptococcus haemolyticus in vitro. Importantly, unlike the antibiotic Tazocin, caerin 1.9 does not induce bacterial resistance after 30 rounds of in vitro culture. Moreover, caerin 1.1, another peptide of the caerin family, has an additive antibacterial effect when used together with caerin 1.9. Furthermore, caerin 1.1 and 1.9 prepared in the form of a temperature-sensitive gel inhibit MRSA growth in a skin bacterial infection model of two murine strains. These results indicate that caerin 1.1 and 1.9 peptides could be considered an alternative for conventional antibiotics. IMPORTANCE Antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause severe problems in the clinic. We show in our paper that two short peptides isolated from an Australian frog and prepared in the form of a gel are able to inhibit the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in mice, and, unlike antibiotics, these peptides do not lead to the development of peptide-resistant bacteria strains.

Prior nasal delivery of antagomiR-122 prevents radiation-induced brain injury.

Radiation-induced brain injury is a major adverse event in head and neck tumor treatment, influencing the quality of life for the more than 50% of patients who undergo radiation therapy and experience long-term survival. However, no effective treatments are available for these patients, and preventative drugs and effective drug-delivery methods must be developed. Based on our results, miR-122-5p was upregulated in the mouse radiation-induced brain injury (RBI) model and patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who received radiation therapy. Intranasal administration of a single antagomiR-122-5p dose before irradiation effectively alleviated radiation-induced cognitive impairment, neuronal injury, and neuroinflammation in the mouse RBI model. Results further indicated that miR-122-5p inhibition in microglia reduced the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and enhanced the phagocytic function to protect against radiation-induced neuronal injury in cell models. Further, we profiled transcriptome data and verified that Tensin 1 (TNS1) may be the target of miR-122-5p in RBI. In summary, our results reveal a distinct role for miR-122-5p in regulating neuroinflammation in RBI, indicating that a non-invasive strategy for intranasal miR-122-5p administration may be an attractive therapeutic target in RBI, providing new insights for clinical trials. Further systematic safety assessment, optimization of drug administration, and clarity of mechanism will accelerate the process into clinical practice.

Interactions between methanotrophs and ammonia oxidizers modulate the response of in situ methane emissions to simulated climate change and its legacy in an acidic soil.

Methane (CH4) is one of the most important greenhouse gases which can be formed by methanogens and oxidized by methanotrophs, as well as ammonia oxidizers. Agricultural soils can be both a source and sink for atmospheric CH4. However, it is unclear how climate change, will affect CH4 emissions and the underlying functional guilds. In this field study, we determined the impact of simulated climate change (a warmer and drier condition) and its legacy effect on CH4 emissions and the methanogenic and methanotrophic communities, as well as their relationships with ammonia oxidizers in an acidic soil with urea application. The climate change conditions were simulated in a greenhouse, and the legacy effect was simulated by removing the greenhouse after twelve months. Simulated climate change significantly decreased the in situ CH4 emissions in the urea-treated soils while the legacy effect significantly decreased the in situ CH4 emissions in the control plots, but had very little effect in the urea-treated soils. This indicates that the impact of simulated climate change and its legacy on CH4 emissions was significantly modified by nitrogen fertilization. Methanotrophs were more sensitive than methanogens in response to simulated climate change and its legacy effect, especially in the urea treated soil. Significant negative correlations were observed between the abundances of ammonia oxidizers and methanotrophs. Additionally, results of partial least path modeling (PLS-PM) indicated that the interactions of methanogens and methanotrophs with ammonia oxidizing archaea (AOA) had significant positive relationships with in situ CH4 emissions under the simulated climate change condition. Our work highlights the important role of AOA for CH4 emissions under climate change conditions. Further research is needed to better understand this effect in other ecosystems.

Numb ameliorates necrosis and inflammation in acute kidney injury induced by cisplatin.

Cisplatin induces acute renal failure in humans and mice.Tubular apoptosis, necrosis and inflammation are the primary pathogenesis of cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury(AKI). We previously reported that the depletion of Numb from proximal tubules exacerbates tubular cells apoptosis in cisplatin-induced AKI, however, the role of Numb in tubular necrosis and renal inflammation in cisplatin-induced AKI remains unclear. A mouse model of AKI was produced by cisplatin intraperitoneally injection in mice from proximal tubule-specific depletion of Numb (PT-Nb-KO) and their wild-type littermates (PT-Nb-WT) respectively. Renal Numb expression was determined by Western blotting. Renal morphological damage was examined by hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E staining). Tubular necrosis was evaluated by histological study and the protein level of renal Mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL) which is a molecular marker of necrosis. Leukocyte infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokines was determined by immunostaining and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) respectively.The protein level of Numb was dramatically decreased in kidneys of PT-Nb-KO mice compared with PT-Nb-WT mice. After cisplatin injection, a significant increase of tubular injury score and the protein level of renal MLKL were detected in PT-Nb-KO mice compared with those in PT-Nb-WT. In addition, the number of F4/80-positve and CD3-positive cells, markers for macrophages and neutraphils respectively, showed significantly increased in kidneys from PT-Nb-KO mice compared with those in PT-Nb-WT mice. Consistently, the gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines including TNF-α and MCP-1 in the kidneys was higher in PT-Nb-KO mice than those in PT-Nb-WT mice. Numb play additional protective role in cisplatin-induced AKI through ameliorating tubular necrosis and renal inflammation besides attenuating cisplatin-induced tubular apoptosis.

Visible light photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline with porous Ag/graphite carbon nitride plasmonic composite: Degradation pathways and mechanism.

Ag/g-C3N4 plasmonic photocatalysts with porous structure (Ag/PCN) were successfully synthesized via a thermal exfoliation strategy and photo-reduction method. Owing to the combined merits of porous structure and surface plasmon resonance effect of silver nanoparticles, the Ag/PCN catalysts exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for the degradation of antibiotic agents. With the optimal Ag loading, the Ag/PCN-2 catalyst exhibited the optimal catalytic activity for TC degradation under visible light, which shows about 11.8 times enhancement in the photocatalytic removal efficiency as compared to pure g-C3N4, respectively. This phenomenon can be attributed to the increased specific surface area, broadened visible light absorption and improved charge separation. The radical quenching results confirmed that h+ and O2- radicals were the major active species during removal of TC. The degradation of TC is increased with the increment of Ag/PCN-2 catalysts, and the optimum catalyst was found to be 1.67 g/L. The hindering effect of selected of anions (Cl-, CO3-, H2PO4-) was found to follow the order H2PO4- > CO3- > Cl-. Ag/PCN-2 sample also possessed high stability after six cycles of reuses. Furthermore, the possible degradation pathways of TC and photocatalytic mechanism over Ag/PCN-2 were proposed in detail.

Targeting interleukin-10 signalling for cancer immunotherapy, a promising and complicated task.

Interleukin 10 (IL-10) belongs to IL-10 family cytokines that are critical for maintaining the integrity of epithelial tissues, protecting pathogenic infection, and preventing excessive immune responses to damage self. Temporal IL-10 signaling blockade enhances vaccine-induced tumor regression by CD8 + T cells. IL-10, especially pegylated IL-10, mediates tumor regression by expanding tumor-infiltrating CD8 + T cells. Moreover, targeting IL-10 enhances immune checkpoint inhibitor mediated tumor regression. In the current paper, we will review recent advances in this area and discuss the complexity of IL-10 manipulation for cancer therapy.

Effects of rice straw biochar on sorption and desorption of di-n-butyl phthalate in different soil particle-size fractions.

Sorption of organic contaminants by biochar greatly affects their bioavailability and fate in soils. Nevertheless, very little information is available regarding the effects of biochar on sorption and desorption of organic contaminants in different soil particle-size fractions. In this study, di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), a prevalent organic contaminant in agricultural soils, was taken as a model contaminant. The effects of biochar on DBP sorption and desorption in six particle-size fractions (i.e., coarse sand, fine sand, coarse silt, fine silt, clay, and humic acid fractions) of paddy soil were investigated using batch sorption-desorption experiments. A straw-derived biochar with high specific surface area (116 m2/g) and high content of organic matter (OM) rich in aromatic carbon (67%) was prepared. Addition of this biochar (1% and 5%) significantly promoted the sorption and retention of DBP in all the paddy soil particle-size fractions at environmentally relevant DBP concentrations (2-12 mg/L) with 1.2-132-fold increase of the Kd values. With increasing addition rates of biochar, DBP retention by the biochar enhanced. The biochar's effectiveness was remarkably influenced by the physicochemical properties of the soil particle-size fractions, especially, the OM contents and pore size showed the most striking effects. A parameter (rkd) reflecting the biochar's effectiveness showed negative and positive correlations with OM contents and pore size of the soil particle-size fractions, respectively. Accordingly, strong effect of the biochar was found in the soil fractions with low OM contents and high pore size. The findings of this study gave insight into the effects and influencing factors of biochar on sorption and desorption of organic contaminants in soils at scale of various particle-size factions.