Increased MCHC*RDW-SD interaction values: indicators of neurological impairment in lead-poisoned children.

Background: The neurotoxic effects of lead in children can have long-lasting and profound impacts on the developing nervous system. This study aimed to identify a reliable and easily accessible biomarker to monitor neurological impairment in lead-poisoned children. Methods: We analyzed hematological data from 356 lead-poisoned children, comparing them with age and gender-matched healthy controls. Multivariate logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were employed to identify and evaluate potential biomarkers for neurological damage. Results: Significant changes in erythrocyte parameters were observed in lead-poisoned children. Upon further analysis, increased mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width-standard deviation (RDW-SD) interaction values were found to be significantly associated with neurological impairment. The MCHC*RDW-SD interaction model demonstrated an AUC of 0.76, indicating its effectiveness in reflecting neurological damage. Additionally, the MCHC*RDW-SD Interaction value showed weak or no correlation with other erythrocyte parameters, suggesting its independence as an indicator. Conclusion: Our findings propose the increased MCHC*RDW-SD interaction value as a robust and independent biomarker for detecting neurological impairment in lead-poisoned children. This underscores the potential of utilizing specific erythrocyte parameters for screening the neurotoxic effects of lead exposure in pediatric populations.

A comparative study of the dichloromethane catalytic combustion over ruthenium-based catalysts: Unveiling the roles of acid types in dissociative adsorption and by-products formation.

Herein, a comparative investigation of the Ru-based catalysts with different kinds of supports (TiO2, Al2O3, HZSM-5 SiO2/Al2O3 = 27 and 130, respectively) for catalytic combustion of dichloromethane (DCM) has been performed. The characterization results showed that the C-Cl bond of DCM was cleaved on both the Brønsted and Lewis acid sites of the catalysts. However, the Lewis acid sites were more active than the Brønsted acid sites. The relatively strong Lewis acidity of Ru/TiO2 improved the dissociative adsorption of DCM, accounting for its superior activity. The yield of toxic by-products was strongly associated with the acid types of the catalysts. The Cl species deposited on TiO2 and Al2O3 supports interacted strongly with the Lewis acid sites, thereby promoting the electrophilic chlorination reactions and yielding more polychlorinated by-products, especially highly toxic dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). However, the Cl deposits on Ru/HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 27) with abundant Brønsted acid sites, mainly existed as hydrogen-bonded Cl species, with good mobility and less propensity for chlorinating carbonaceous matter. Moreover, Ru/HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 130) yielded the highest polychlorinated by-products and PCDD/Fs because of its poor redox ability and high surface area. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the CVOCs catalytic combustion catalysts development.

Catalytic combustion of acetonitrile over CuCeOx-HZSM-5 composite catalysts with different mass ratios: The synergism between oxidation and hydrolysis reactions.

A sequence of CuCeOx-HZSM-5 composite catalysts at different Cu-Ce loading synthesized by the citric acid complex impregnation method were evaluated for the catalytic oxidation of acetonitrile. Among which, the 2CuCeOx-HZSM-5 sample exhibited the best degradation efficiency. In the temperature range of 225-350 °C, its activity and mineralization rate were approximately 100%, and the N2 selectivity remained more than 93%. The characterization results revealed that all the samples showed an existence of isolated Cu2+ species. And more Cu-Ce mixed oxides covered on HZSM-5 at an elevated Cu-Ce content, leading to the enhanced reducibility. In situ DRIFTS results showed that both oxidation and hydrolysis reaction routes proceeded during the degradation of acetonitrile over the composite catalysts. Their synergism was crucial to guarantee both high activity and N2 selectivity. The highly dispersed CuOx species ensured the superior activity of the 2CuCeOx-HZSM-5 sample. And Cu2+ exchanged HZSM-5 zeolite would be beneficial to N2 selectivity owing to the improved internal SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) reaction to reduce NOx from oxidation routes. Additionally, the mineralization rate was lowered with the formation of carbonaceous products like CH4 and CO for the catalysts at low Cu-Ce loading due to the lack of redox capacity.

Therapeutic Effect of Tanshinone IIA on Liver Fibrosis and the Possible Mechanism: A Preclinical Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Liver fibrosis is a serious human health problem, and there is a need for specific antifibrosis drugs in the clinic. Tanshinone IIA has recently been reported to have a role in the treatment of liver fibrosis. However, the evidence supporting its antifibrotic effect is not sufficient, and the underlying mechanism is not clear. We thus performed this meta-analysis of animal research to assess the therapeutic effect of tanshinone IIA on liver fibrosis and analyzed the possible associated mechanism to provide a reference for further clinical drug preparation and clinical research. METHODS: We collect related articles from the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Wanfang, VIP, and CNKI. The quality of the included studies was evaluated according to the SYRCLE risk of bias tool for animal studies. Data were analyzed using RavMan 5.3 and Stata 12.0 software. RESULTS: A total of 404 articles were retrieved from the databases. After screening, 11 articles were included in the analysis. The included studies' methodological quality was generally low, and an obvious publication bias was found. The results showed that tanshinone IIA significantly improved liver function in experimental animals and reduced the level of liver fibrosis by reducing inflammation and inhibiting immunity, antiapoptotic processes, and HSC activation. CONCLUSION: Tanshinone IIA can effectively improve liver fibrosis and liver function in animal models and is worthy of future higher quality animal studies and clinical drug trials.