Bioaugmentation of intertidal sludge enhancing the development of salt-tolerant aerobic granular sludge.

Three parallel bioreactors were operated with different inoculation of activated sludge (R1), intertidal sludge (ItS) (R2), and ItS-added AS (R3), respectively, to explore the effects of ItS bioaugmentation on the formation of salt-tolerant aerobic granular sludge (SAGS) and the enhancement of COD removal performance. The results showed that compared to the control (R1-2), R3 promoted a more rapid development of SAGS with a cultivation time of 25 d. Following 110-day cultivation, R3 exhibited a higher granular diameter of 1.3 mm and a higher hydrophobic aromatic protein content than that in control. Compared to the control, the salt-tolerant performance in R3 was also enhanced with the COD removal efficiency of 96.4% due to the higher sludge specific activity of 14.4 g·gVSS-1·d-1 and the salinity inhibition constant of 49.3 gL-1. Read- and genome-resolved metagenomics together indicated that a higher level of tryptophan/tyrosine synthase gene (trpBD, tyrBC) and enrichment of the key gene hosts Rhodobacteraceae, Marinicella in R3, which was about 5.4-fold and 1.4-fold of that in control, could be the driving factors of rapid development of SAGS. Furthermore, the augmented salt-tolerant potential in R3 could result from that R1 was dominated by Rhodospirillaceae, Bacteroidales, which carried more trehalose synthase gene (otsB, treS), while the dominant members Rhodobacteraceae, Marinicella in R3 were main contributors to the glycine betaine synthase gene (ectC, betB, gbsA). This study could provide deeper insights into the rapid development and improved salt-tolerant potential of SAGS via bioaugmentation of intertidal sludge, which could promote the application of hypersaline wastewater treatment.

The roles of HBV infection and host factors in ultrasound-diagnosed fatty liver: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The present study is to evaluate the roles of HBV infection, host factors and their interactions in the development of ultrasound-diagnosed fatty liver in Fujian province of China, a highly HBV endemic area. METHODOLOGY: From June 2007 to May 2008, 527 ultrasound-diagnosed fatty liver patients and 1042 controls were ultrasonically diagnosed in this hospital-based case-control study. Their demographic, anthropometric, biochemical, behavioral factors and HBV markers were compared, and factors associated with fatty liver were determined by multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Multivariate ORs and 95% confidence intervals (Cls) of fatty liver were 3.96 (2.10-7.48) for HBsAg positivity, 2.97 (1.78-4.94) for HBsAg negativity with antibodies positivity (either anti-HBe or anti-HBc or both), 1.66 (1.10-2.51) for low alcohol consumption, 7.09 (4.28- 11.75) for obesity, 3.19 (1.75-5.81) for reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), 2.17 (1.00-4.72) for elevated fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2.71 (1.72-4.27) for hypertriglyceridemia, 9.19 (4.32-19.57) for hypertension, and 2.89 (1.86-4.48) for hyperuricemia. Furthermore, synergistic interactions on the additive model were observed between HBV infection and obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, reduced HDL-C, and hyperuricemia with regard to the risk of fatty liver. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound-diagnosed fatty liver in Fujian province of China is closely associated with HBV infection, low alcohol consumption, obesity, and other features of the metabolic syndrome. In addition, HBV infection was synergistic with obesity, hypertriglyceridemia, reduced HDL-C, and hyperuricemia as far as the risk of fatty liver concerned.

Halophilic Martelella sp. AD-3 enhanced phenanthrene degradation in a bioaugmented activated sludge system through syntrophic interaction.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of common recalcitrant pollutant in industrial saline wastewater that raised significant concerns, whereas traditional activated sludge (AS) has limited tolerance to high salinity and PAHs toxicity, restricting its capacity to degrade PAHs. It is therefore urgent to develop a bioaugmented sludge (BS) system to aid in the effective degradation of these types of compounds under saline condition. In this study, a novel bioaugmentation strategy was developed by using halophilic Martelella sp. AD-3 for effectively augmented phenanthrene (PHE) degradation under 3% salinity. It was found that a 0.5∼1.5% (w/w) ratio of strain AD-3 to activated sludge was optimal for achieving high PHE degradation activity of the BS system with degradation rates reaching 2.2 mg⋅gVSS-1⋅h-1, nearly 25 times that of the AS system. Although 1-hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid (1H2N) was accumulated obviously, the mineralization of PHE was more complete in the BS system. Reads-based metagenomic coupled metatranscriptomic analysis revealed that the expression values of ndoB, encoding a dioxygenase associated with PHE ring-cleavage, was 5600-fold higher in the BS system than in the AS system. Metagenome assembly showed the members of the Corynebacterium and Alcaligenes genera were abundant in the strain AD-3 bioaugmented BS system with expression of 10.3±1.8% and 1.9±0.26%, respectively. Moreover, phdI and nahG accused for metabolism of 1H2N have been annotated in both above two genera. Degradation assays of intermediates of PHE confirmed that the activated sludge actually possessed considerable degradation capacity for downstream intermediates of PHE including 1H2N. The degradation capacity ratio of 1H2N to PHE was 87% in BS system, while it was 26% in strain AD-3. These results indicated that strain AD-3 contributed mainly in transforming PHE to 1H2N in BS system, while species in activated sludge utilized 1H2N as substrate to grow, thus establishing a syntrophic interaction with strain AD-3 and achieving the complete mineralization of PHE. Long-term continuous experiment confirmed a stable PHE removal efficiency of 93% and few 1H2N accumulation in BS SBR system. This study demonstrated an effective bioaugmented strategy for the bioremediation of saline wastewater containing PAHs.

Genetic Polymorphisms of Long Non-coding RNA Linc00312 Are Associated With Susceptibility and Predict Poor Survival of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Linc00312 is dysregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and participates in the initiation and progression of NPC. Our previous studies suggested that linc00312 was able to enhance the sensitivity of NPC cells to irradiation and NPC patients with higher expression of linc00312 was associated with better short-term curative effect and overall survival. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of lncRNAs may influence the disease course and outcome by affecting the expression, secondary structure or function of lncRNAs. However, the role of SNPs in linc00312 on the occurrence and survival of NPC remains unknown. METHODS: We recruited 684 NPC patients and 823 healthy controls to evaluate the association between linc00312 SNPs and NPC susceptibility by using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression were applied to assess the effect of linc00312 SNPs on the survival of NPC patients. The relative expression of linc00312 in NPC tissues was determined by real-time PCR. The interaction between linc00312 and mir-411-3p was explored by luciferase reporter assay. In silico prediction of the changes on linc00312 folding structure was conducted by RNAfold WebServer. RESULT: We demonstrated that rs12497104 (G > A) GA genotype carriers had a higher risk than others for suffering from NPC (GA vs GG, OR = 1.437, P = 0.003). Besides, patients with rs12497104 AA genotype showed a poorer overall survival in contrast to GG genotype (AA vs GG, HR = 2.117, P = 0.011). In addition, the heterozygous carriers of rs15734 (G > A) and rs164966 (A > G) were correlated with decreased risk of NPC (GA vs GG, OR = 0.778, P = 0.031; GA vs AA, OR = 0.781, P = 0.033, respectively). We found that the three SNPs might influence the expression of linc00312 in a genotype specific feature. The local centroid secondary structure as well as the minimum free energy of linc00312 were changed following the candidate SNPs alterations. Besides, we revealed that the G to A alteration at rs12497104 disrupted the binding between mir-411-3p and linc00312. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated genetic polymorphisms of linc00312 might serve as potential biomarkers for NPC carcinogenesis and prognosis.

[A hospital-based case-control study on influencing factors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease].

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the influencing factors of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted in patients with NAFLD and controls without NAFLD in a hospital from January to August in 2007. All data were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software. RESULTS: One-way analysis of variance found that the two groups were significantly different in cigarette smoking, alcohol and tea comsumption, movement index, speed of food intake, frequency of social engagement, kinds of edible oil, marine products, family history of NAFLD, hypertension, higher blood sugar, abnormality of blood fat, higher level of ALT, higher level of AST, hyperuricemia, obesity, decrease of high density lipoprotein (HDL), and increase of low density lipoprotein. By non-conditional logistic stepwise regression analysis, 12 of 18 factors were used to construct a model, ten of which were the risk factors and two were protective factors of NAFLD. Risk factors included obesity (OR=6.35), hypertension(OR=3.82), dyslipidemia (OR=2.95), decrease of HDL (OR=2.85), hyperglycemia (OR=2.82), increase of ALT (OR=2.80), hyperuricemia (OR=2.35), HBsAg positive (OR=1.99), family history of fatty liver (OR=1.79) and frequently intake of marine products (OR=1.58), and protective factors included tea drinking (OR=0.72) and exercise (OR=0.90). CONCLUSIONS: There are many influencing factors of NAFLD, and life styles are the key factors. Genetic background may also play some roles in NAFLD.

Acute Iloprost Inhalation Improves Right Ventricle Function in Pulmonary Artery Hypertension: A Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Study.

Background: Right ventricle (RV) function is among the most important prognostic factors for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients. Inhaled iloprost, an inhaled member of the prostacyclin family, is effective for the treatment of severe PAH and acute RV failure. However, the acute effects of iloprost on RV physiology have not been thoroughly explored in the past. Materials and Methods: This prospective study involved 69 incident PAH patients, including 23 idiopathic PAH (IPAH) patients, 26 patients with PAH associated with connective tissue disease (CTD-PAH) and 20 with PAH associated with congenital heart disease (CHD-PAH). All patients underwent both right heart catheterization and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging at baseline and 20 min after 5 µg iloprost inhalation. Results: Acute iloprost inhalation reduced PVR from 13 ± 7 to 10 ± 6 Wood U (P < 0.001), increased RV ejection fraction (RVEF) from 31 ± 11 to 35 ± 12 % (P < 0.001), increased RV stroke volume from 53 ± 21 to 57 ± 22 ml (P < 0.001) and decreased RV end-diastolic volume from 179 ± 67 to 172 ± 69 ml (P < 0.001). Acute iloprost inhalation-induced RVEF improvement was correlated with the degree of PVR reduction (P < 0.001) in IPAH patients, but not in CTD-PAH or CHD-PAH patients. Conclusion: Acute iloprost inhalation improved RVEF, RV stroke volume and decreased RV volume in IPAH and CTD-PAH patients. Iloprost-induced RVEF increase was proportional to PVR reduction in IPAH patients, but not in CTD-PAH or CHD-PAH patients.

Association of a Human FABP1 Gene Promoter Region Polymorphism with Altered Serum Triglyceride Levels.

Liver fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP), also known as fatty acid-binding protein 1 (FABP1), is a key regulator of hepatic lipid metabolism. Elevated FABP1 levels are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and metabolic syndromes. In this study, we examine the association of FABP1 gene promoter variants with serum FABP1 and lipid levels in a Chinese population. Four promoter single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FABP1 gene were genotyped in a cross-sectional survey of healthy volunteers (n = 1,182) from Fuzhou city of China. Results showed that only the rs2919872 G>A variant was significantly associated with serum TG concentration(P = 0.032).Compared with the rs2919872 G allele, rs2919872 A allele contributed significantly to reduced serum TG concentration, and this allele dramatically decreased the FABP1 promoter activity(P < 0.05). The rs2919872 A allele carriers had considerably lower serum FABP1 levels than G allele carriers (P < 0.01). In the multivariable linear regression analysis, the rs2919872 A allele was negatively associated with serum FABP1 levels (ß = -0.320, P = 0.003), while serum TG levels were positively associated with serum FABP1 levels (ß = 0.487, P = 0.014). Our data suggest that compared with the rs2919872 G allele, the rs2919872 A allele reduces the transcriptional activity of FABP1 promoter, and thereby may link FABP1 gene variation to TG level in humans.

Two genetic variants in FABP1 and susceptibility to non-alcohol fatty liver disease in a Chinese population.

Liver fatty acid-binding protein (FABP1) serves as a key regulator of hepatic lipid metabolism, and polymorphisms within the FABP1 gene have been associated with several metabolic traits. To investigate the association between FABP1 polymorphisms and the risk of non-alcohol fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in a Chinese population, the genotypes and haplotypes of FABP1 (rs2241883 T/C and rs1545224G/A) were determined in 553 patients with NAFLD and 553 healthy controls. The results showed that individuals with at least one copy of the rs2241883 C allele (TC or CC genotype) had an elevated risk for developing NAFLD (odds ratio [OR]=1.32, 95% CI: 1.01-1.71), and individuals with at least one copy of the rs1545224 A allele (GA or AA genotype) also had a significantly increased risk for NAFLD (OR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.14-2.02). Cumulative effect analysis of the two SNPs revealed that individuals with two risk genotypes were at significantly higher risk of NAFLD than those without risk genotype, and a significant trend of increased risk with increasing numbers of risk genotype was observed. Stratification analysis showed that the rs2241883 C allele carriers had higher level of LDL-C and the rs1545224 A allele carriers had higher level of FPG than those without this allele. In addition, haplotype analysis revealed that the one composed of the rs1545224 A and rs2241883 C variants was significantly associated with an increased risk for NAFLD (OR=1.34; 95% CI=1.05-1.40) compared to the GT haplotype. Taken together, the present study suggests that genetic variations within FABP1 influence susceptibility to NAFLD independently or jointly.

Genetic variants in PNPLA3 and risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in a Han Chinese population.

We investigated the possible association between genetic variants in the Patatin like phospholipase-3 (PNPLA3) gene and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in a Han Chinese population. We evaluated twelve tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (tSNPs) of the PNPLA3 gene in a frequency matched case-control study from Fuzhou city of China (553 cases, 553 controls). In the multivariate logistic regression analysis, the rs738409 GG or GC, and rs139051 TT genotypes were found to be associated with increased risk of NAFLD, and a significant trend of increased risk with increasing numbers of risk genotype was observed in the cumulative effect analysis of these single nucleotide polymorphisms. Furthermore, haplotype association analysis showed that, compared with the most common haplotype, the CAAGAATGCGTG and CGAAGGTGTCCG haplotypes conferred a statistically significant increased risk for NAFLD, while the CGGGAACCCGCG haplotype decreased the risk of NAFLD. Moreover, rs738409 C>G appeared to have a multiplicative joint effect with tea drinking (P<0.005) and an additive joint effect with obesity (Interaction contrast ratio (ICR) = 2.31, 95% CI: 0.7-8.86), hypertriglyceridemia (ICR = 3.07, 95% CI: 0.98-5.09) or hypertension (ICR = 1.74, 95% CI: 0.52-3.12). Our data suggests that PNPLA3 genetic polymorphisms might influence the susceptibility to NAFLD development independently or jointly in Han Chinese.