The circadian-controlled PIF8-BBX28 module regulates petal senescence in rose flowers by governing mitochondrial ROS homeostasis at night.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are unstable reactive molecules that are toxic to cells. Regulation of ROS homeostasis is crucial to protect cells from dysfunction, senescence, and death. In plant leaves, ROS are mainly generated from chloroplasts and are tightly temporally restricted by the circadian clock. However, little is known about how ROS homeostasis is regulated in nonphotosynthetic organs, such as petals. Here, we showed that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) levels exhibit typical circadian rhythmicity in rose (Rosa hybrida) petals, consistent with the measured respiratory rate. RNA-seq and functional screening identified a B-box gene, RhBBX28, whose expression was associated with H2O2 rhythms. Silencing RhBBX28 accelerated flower senescence and promoted H2O2 accumulation at night in petals, while overexpression of RhBBX28 had the opposite effects. RhBBX28 influenced the expression of various genes related to respiratory metabolism, including the TCA cycle and glycolysis, and directly repressed the expression of SUCCINATE DEHYDROGENASE 1, which plays a central role in mitochondrial ROS (mtROS) homeostasis. We also found that PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR8 (RhPIF8) could activate RhBBX28 expression to control H2O2 levels in petals and thus flower senescence. Our results indicate that the circadian-controlled RhPIF8-RhBBX28 module is a critical player that controls flower senescence by governing mtROS homeostasis in rose.

Endogenous miRNA and K+ Co-Activated Dynamic Assembly of DNA Coacervates for Intracellular miRNA Imaging and Mitochondrial Intervention.

Intracellular dynamic assembly of DNA structures may be beneficial for the development of multifunctional nanoplatforms for the regulation of cell behaviors, providing new strategies for disease diagnosis and intervention. Herein, we propose the dynamic assembly of DNA coacervates in living cells triggered by miRNA-21 and K+, which can be used for both miRNA imaging and mitochondrial intervention. The rationale is that miRNA-21 can trigger the hybridization chain reaction to generate G-quadruplex precursors, and K+ can mediate the assembly of G-quadruplex-based coacervates, allowing the colorimetric detection of miRNA-21 ranging from 10 pM to 10 µM. Moreover, the as-formed DNA coacervates can specifically target mitochondria in MCF-7 breast cancer cells using the MCF-7 cell membrane as delivery carriers, which further act as an anionic shielding to inhibit communication between mitochondria and environments, with a significant inhibitory effect on ATP production and cellular migration behaviors. This work provides an ideal multifunctional nanoplatform for rationally interfering with cellular metabolism and migration behaviors through the dynamic assembly of DNA coacervates mediated by endogenous molecules, which has a large number of potential applications in the biomedical field, especially theranostics for cancer metastasis.

Aestuariibaculum lutulentum sp. nov., a marine bacterium isolated from coastal sediment in Beihai.

A Gram-stain negative, strictly aerobic, and rod-shaped bacterium, designated as strain L182T, was isolated from coastal sediment in Beihai, Guangxi Province, PR China. Colonies of strain L182T were yellow, 2 mm in diameter, round, opaque, smooth and convex after incubation on marine ager at 30 °C for 3 days. Cells were catalase-positive but oxidase-negative. Growth of strain L182T was observed at 4-40 °C (optimum, 25 °C), pH 5.5-10.0 (optimum, pH 5.5-8.0) and with 0-6% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0.5-4.0%). The G + C content based on the genome sequence was 36.0%. The only respiratory quinone was MK-6. The main polar lipids included phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, one unidentified aminophospholipid, one unidentified glycolipids, four unidentified aminolipids and six unidentified lipids. The major fatty acids (> 10%) were iso-C15:0, iso-C15:1 G and iso-C17:0 3-OH. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain L182T and Aestuariibaculum suncheonense SC17T was 98.2%, and the similarities with other type strains of the genus Aestuariibaculum were 96.1-97.2%. The average nucleotide identity and in silicon DNA-DNA hybridization values between the strain L182T and its closely related Aestuariibaculum species were 80.8-85.2% and 22.0-29.5%. According to the above results, Aestuariibaculum lutulentum sp. nov. was proposed as a novel species. The type strain is L182T (= MCCC 1K08065T = KCTC 92530T).

Microbulbifer zhoushanensis sp. nov., Microbulbifer sediminum sp. nov. and Microbulbifer guangxiensis sp. nov., three marine bacteria isolated from a tidal flat.

Three strains, TT30T, TT37T and L3T, were isolated from tidal flat samples. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, non-motile and rod shaped. Cells of strains TT30T and TT37T were able to grow in a medium containing 1.0-15.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 3.0 and 4.0 %, respectively), and cells of strain L3T was able to grow in a medium containing 1.0-10.0 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 1.0 %). Growth of the three strains was observed at pH 6.0-10.0 and at 10-40 °C. Strains TT30T, TT37T and L3T showed the highest similarity to Microbulbifer hydrolyticus DSM 11525T (97.7 %), M. yueqingensis CGMCC 1.10658T (98.0 %) and M. elongatus DSM 6810T (97.9 %), respectively. Results of phylogenetic analyses indicated that the three isolates represented two distinct lineages within the genus Microbulbifer. The DNA G+C contents of strains TT30T, TT37T and L3T were 61.3, 60.9 and 60.2%, respectively. The average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values among strains TT30T, TT37T and L3T and the reference strains were 84.4-87.4 and 19.6-28.9 %, respectively. Differential phenotypic properties, chemotaxonomic differences, phylogenetic distinctiveness, together with the genomic data, demonstrated that strains TT30T, TT37 T and L3T represent novel species of the genus Microbulbifer, which are named Microbulbifer zhoushanensis sp. nov. (TT30T=KCTC 92167T=MCCC 1K07276T), Microbulbifer sediminum sp. nov. (TT37T=KCTC 92168T=MCCC 1K07277T) and Microbulbifer guangxiensis sp. nov. (L3T=KCTC 92165T=MCCC 1K07278T).

Reducing Aerosol Emissions by Decoupled Parameter Management during the CO2 Capture Process in a Multi-stage Circulation Absorber.

Aerosol emissions from the CO2 capture process have a significant impact in terms of solvent loss and environmental pollution. Here, we propose a novel approach with multi-stage circulation for CO2 capture and synergistic aerosol reduction, which divides the absorption section into three circulation stages and reduces aerosol emissions through decoupled operation of the three absorption sections and the management of solvent CO2 loadings. Experimental results show that with the decoupled management of the liquid-gas ratio and solvent temperature in absorption sections, the aerosol mass concentration at the outlet of the 3rd absorption section can be reduced by 25.6% to a minimum of 349.7 mg/m3 at a liquid-gas ratio of 43.2 L/m3 and a solvent temperature of 303 K. Furthermore, aerosol removal is performed by setting up a water wash section after the absorption section. The aerosol mass concentration at the outlet of the absorber is reduced to 168.6 mg/m3 with the regulation of the wash water temperature and flow rate. In addition, improvements are proposed for the combination of the utilization of recovered solvents and the co-removal of SO2. This study provides innovative insights into the design of the CO2 capture system and the reduction of aerosol emissions, which are of great significance for the mitigation of global warming and the control of environmental pollution.

Artificial intelligence of digital morphology analyzers improves the efficiency of manual leukocyte differentiation of peripheral blood.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Morphological identification of peripheral leukocytes is a complex and time-consuming task, having especially high requirements for personnel expertise. This study is to investigate the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in assisting the manual leukocyte differentiation of peripheral blood. METHODS: A total of 102 blood samples that triggered the review rules of hematology analyzers were enrolled. The peripheral blood smears were prepared and analyzed by Mindray MC-100i digital morphology analyzers. Two hundreds leukocytes were located and their cell images were collected. Two senior technologists labeled all cells to form standard answers. Afterward, the digital morphology analyzer unitized AI to pre-classify all cells. Ten junior and intermediate technologists were selected to review the cells with the AI pre-classification, yielding the AI-assisted classifications. Then the cell images were shuffled and re-classified without AI. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the leukocyte differentiation with or without AI assistance were analyzed and compared. The time required for classification by each person was recorded. RESULTS: For junior technologists, the accuracy of normal and abnormal leukocyte differentiation increased by 4.79% and 15.16% with the assistance of AI. And for intermediate technologists, the accuracy increased by 7.40% and 14.54% for normal and abnormal leukocyte differentiation, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity also significantly increased with the help of AI. In addition, the average time for each individual to classify each blood smear was shortened by 215 s with AI. CONCLUSION: AI can assist laboratory technologists in the morphological differentiation of leukocytes. In particular, it can improve the sensitivity of abnormal leukocyte differentiation and lower the risk of missing detection of abnormal WBCs.

iCancer-Pred: A tool for identifying cancer and its type using DNA methylation.

DNA methylation is an important epigenetics, which occurs in the early stages of tumor formation. And it also is of great significance to find the relationship between DNA methylation and cancer. This paper proposes a novel model, iCancer-Pred, to identify cancer and classify its types further. The datasets of DNA methylation information of 7 cancer types have been collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The coefficient of variation firstly is used to reduce the number of features, and then the elastic network is applied to select important features. Finally, a fully connected neural network is constructed with these selected features. In predicting seven types of cancers, iCancer-Pred has achieved an overall accuracy of over 97% accuracy with 5-fold cross-validation. For the convenience of the application, a user-friendly web server: http://bioinfo.jcu.edu.cn/cancer or http://121.36.221.79/cancer/ is available. And the source codes are freely available for download at https://github.com/Huerhu/iCancer-Pred.

Comprehensive Time-Course Transcriptome Reveals the Crucial Biological Pathways Involved in the Seasonal Branch Growth in Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila).

Timber, the most prevalent organic material on this planet, is the result of a secondary xylem emerging from vascular cambium. Yet, the intricate processes governing its seasonal generation are largely a mystery. To better understand the cyclic growth of vascular tissues in elm, we undertook an extensive study examining the anatomy, physiology, and genetic expressions in Ulmus pumila. We chose three robust 15-year-old elm trees for our study. The cultivars used in this study were collected from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China and nurtured in the tree farm of Shandong Normal University. Monthly samples of 2-year-old elm branches were taken from the tree from February to September. Marked seasonal shifts in elm branch vascular tissues were observed by phenotypic observation: In February, the cambium of the branch emerged from dormancy, spurring growth. By May, elms began generating secondary xylem, or latewood, recognized by its tiny pores and dense cell structure. From June to August, there was a marked increase in the thickness of the secondary xylem. Transcriptome sequencing provides a potential molecular mechanism for the thickening of elm branches and their response to stress. In February, the tree enhanced its genetic responses to cold and drought stress. The amplified expression of CDKB, CYCB, WOX4, and ARF5 in the months of February and March reinforced their essential role in the development of the vascular cambium in elm. Starting in May, the elm deployed carbohydrates as a carbon resource to synthesize the abundant cellulose and lignin necessary for the formation of the secondary wall. Major genes participating in cellulose (SUC and CESA homologs), xylan (UGD, UXS, IRX9, IRX10, and IRX14), and lignin (PAL, C4H, 4CL, HCT, C3H, COMT, and CAD) biosynthetic pathways for secondary wall formation were up-regulated by May or/and June. In conclusion, our findings provided a foundation for an in-depth exploration of the molecular processes dictating the seasonal growth of elm timber.

[Current research status and application prospect of numerical simulation in traditional Chinese medicine drying].

With the rapid development of computer technology, numerical simulation has gradually become an important method to study drying process and improve drying equipment. Using computer to simulate the drying process of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is characterized by intuitiveness, scientificity, and low cost, which serves as an auxiliary means for technical innovation in TCM drying. This paper summarizes the theories of different drying methods and the research status of numerical simulation in drying, introduces the modeling methods and software of numerical simulation, and expounds the significance of numerical simulation modeling in shortening the research and development cycle, improving drying equipment, and optimizing drying parameters. However, the current numerical simulation method for drying process has problems, such as low accuracy, lack of quantitative indicators for the control of simulation results on the process, and insufficient in-depth research on the mechanism of drug quality changes. Furthermore, this paper put forward the application prospect of numerical simulation in TCM drying, providing reference for the further study of numerical simulation in this field.

ProteomeExpert: a Docker image-based web server for exploring, modeling, visualizing and mining quantitative proteomic datasets.

SUMMARY: The rapid progresses of high-throughput sequencing technology-based omics and mass spectrometry-based proteomics, such as data-independent acquisition and its penetration to clinical studies have generated increasing number of proteomic datasets containing hundreds to thousands of samples. To analyze these quantitative proteomic datasets and other omics (e.g. transcriptomics and metabolomics) datasets more efficiently and conveniently, we present a web server-based software tool ProteomeExpert implemented in Docker, which offers various analysis tools for experimental design, data mining, interpretation and visualization of quantitative proteomic datasets. ProteomeExpert can be deployed on an operating system with Docker installed or with R language environment. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION: The Docker image of ProteomeExpert is freely available from https://hub.docker.com/r/lifeinfo/proteomeexpert. The source code of ProteomeExpert is also openly accessible at http://www.github.com/guomics-lab/ProteomeExpert/. In addition, a demo server is provided at https://proteomic.shinyapps.io/peserver/. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Co-Benefits of Pollutant Removal, Water, and Heat Recovery from Flue Gas through Phase Transition Enhanced by Corona Discharge.

Pollutant removal and resource recovery from high-humidity flue gas after desulfurization in a thermal power plant are crucial for improving air quality and saving energy. This study developed a flue gas treatment method involving phase transition enhanced by corona discharge based on laboratory research and established a field-scale unit for demonstration. The results indicate that an adequate increase in size will improve the ease of particle capture. A wet electrostatic precipitator is applied before the condensing heat exchangers to enhance the particle growth and capture processes. This results in an increase of 58% in the particle median diameter in the heat exchanger and an emission concentration below 1 mg/m3. Other pollutants, such as SO3 and Hg, can also be removed with emission concentrations of 0.13 mg/m3 and 1.10 µg/m3, respectively. Under the condensation enhancement of the method, it is possible to recover up to 3.26 t/h of water from 200 000 m3/h saturated flue gas (323 K), and the quality of the recovered water meets the standards stipulated in China. Additionally, charge-induced condensation is shown to improve heat recovery, resulting in the recovery of more than 43.34 kJ/h·m3 of heat from the flue gas. This method is expected to save 2628 t of standard coal and reduce carbon dioxide emission by 2% annually, contributing to environmental protection and global-warming mitigation.

Preventing Aerosol Emissions in a CO2 Capture System: Combining Aerosol Formation Inhibition and Wet Electrostatic Precipitation.

Aerosol emission from the CO2 capture system has raised great concern for causing solvent loss and serious environmental issues. Here, we propose a comprehensive method for reducing aerosol emissions in a CO2 capture system under the synergy of aerosol formation inhibition and wet electrostatic precipitation. The gas-solvent temperature difference plays a vital role in aerosol formation, with aerosol emissions of 740.80 mg/m3 at 50 K and 119.36 mg/m3 at 0 K. Different effects of SO2 and SO3 on aerosol formation are also found in this research; the aerosol mass concentration could reach 2341.25 mg/m3 at 20 ppm SO3 and 681.01 mg/m3 at 50 ppm SO2 with different aerosol size distributions. After the CO2 capture process, an aerosol removal efficiency of 98% can be realized by electrostatic precipitation under different CO2 concentrations. Due to the high concentration of aerosols and aerosol space charge generated by SO2 and SO3, the removal performance of the wet electrostatic precipitator decreases, resulting in a high aerosol emission concentration (up to 130.26 mg/m3). Thus, a heat exchanger is installed before the electrostatic precipitation section to enhance aerosol growth and increase aerosol removal efficiency. Under the synergy of aerosol formation inhibition and electrostatic precipitation, an aerosol removal efficiency of 99% and emission concentrations lower than 5 mg/m3 are achieved, contributing to global warming mitigation and environmental protection.

Gramella crocea sp. nov., isolated from activated sludge of a seafood processing plant.

A novel aerobic Gram-negative strain, designated as YB25T, was isolated from an activated sludge sample collected from a seafood processing plant in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China, and characterized by using a polyphasic taxonomic approach in this study. Strain YB25T was motile by gliding, and short-rod-shaped. The isolate grew at 4-37 °C (optimum 28 °C), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum pH 7.0) and 0.0-10.0% NaCl (optimum 2.0%, w/v). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene indicated that strain YB25T belonged to the genus Gramella, and showed the highest sequence similarity of 97.59% to Gramella lutea YJ019T. The DNA G + C content was 39.5%. In silico DNA-DNA hybridization (DDH) and average nucleotide identity (ANI) values between strain YB25T with most closely strains were below the threshold, which is considered to the phylogenetic definition of a novel species. Chemotaxonomic analysis indicated that the only respiratory quinone was menaquinone-6 and the major fatty acids were iso-C15:0, anteiso-C15:0, iso-C17:0 3-OH, and summed feature 9 (iso-C17:1ω9c and C16:0 10 methyl). The polar lipid profile was composed of phosphatidylethanolamine, an unidentified phospholipid, two unidentified amino lipids, three unidentified glycolipids, and four unidentified lipids. Compared with the reference strains, strain YB25T contained higher abundance of genes for carbohydrates metabolism,nitrogen metabolism, sulfur metabolism and respiration based on its genomic metabolic pathways and had been found a certain potential in the degradation of pectin. On the basis of the taxonomic evidence, strain YB25T represents a novel species of the genus Gramella, for which the name Gramella crocea sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is YB25T (= KCTC 82680 T = MCCC 1K05761T).

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Identifies Key Defense Genes and Mechanisms in Mulberry (Morus alba) Leaves against Silkworms (Bombyx mori).

As a consequence of long-term coevolution and natural selection, the leaves of mulberry (Morus alba) trees have become the best food source for silkworms (Bombyx mori). Nevertheless, the molecular and genomic basis of defense response remains largely unexplored. In the present study, we assessed changes in the transcriptome changes of mulberry in response to silkworm larval feeding at 0, 3, and 6 h. A total of 4709 (up = 2971, down = 1738) and 3009 (up = 1868, down = 1141) unigenes were identified after 3 and 6 h of silkworm infestation, respectively. MapMan enrichment analysis results show structural traits such as leaf surface wax, cell wall thickness and lignification form the first physical barrier to feeding by the silkworms. Cluster analysis revealed six unique temporal patterns of transcriptome changes. We predicted that mulberry promoted rapid changes in signaling and other regulatory processes to deal with mechanical damage, photosynthesis impairment, and other injury caused by herbivores within 3-6 h. LRR-RK coding genes (THE1, FER) was predicted participated in perception of cell wall perturbation in mulberry responding to silkworm feeding. Ca2+ signal sensors (CMLs), ROS (OST1, SOS3), RBOHD/F, CDPKs, and ABA were part of the regulatory network after silkworm feeding. Jasmonic acid (JA) signal transduction was predicted to act in silkworm feeding response, 10 JA signaling genes (such as OPR3, JAR1, and JAZ1) and 21 JA synthesis genes (such as LOX2, AOS, and ACX1) were upregulated after silkworm feeding for 3 h. Besides, genes of "alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism" and "phenylpropanoid biosynthesis" were activated in 3 h to reprogram secondary metabolism. Collectively, these findings provided valuable insights into silkworm herbivory-induced regulatory and metabolic processes in mulberry, which might help improve the coevolution of silkworm and mulberry.

Aestuariibaculum sediminum sp. nov., a marine bacterium isolated from a tidal flat in Zhoushan.

A Gram-staining-negative, non-motile, strictly aerobic bacterium, designated as strain TT11T, was isolated from a sediment sample of a tidal flat connected in Zhoushan, China. Cells of strain TT11T are spherical, halotolerant, catalase- and oxidase-positive, and produce carotenoid-like pigments. Colonies were 0.5-1.0 mm diameter, smooth, round, convex and orange-yellow after growth on marine agar at 30 °C for 24 h. Growth of the strain TT11T was observed at 10-40 °C (optimum, 35 °C), at pH 6.0-9.5 (optimum, pH 6.5), and in the presence of 0-8.0% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0.5-1.0%). The results of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that strain TT11T represents a member of the genus Aestuariibaculum and was closely related to Aestuariibaculum suncheonense SC17T (97.2%) and Aestuariibaculum marinum IP7T (96.8%). The G + C content of the genome was 34.6%. The only respiratory quinone was MK-6. The major fatty acids (> 10%) were iso-C15:0, iso-C15:1 G and iso-C17:0 3-OH. The major polar lipids contained phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphoglycolipid, four unidentified aminolipids, four unidentified lipids and two unidentified glycolipids. On the basis of these genomic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic characteristics, we propose a novel species Aestuariibaculum sediminum sp. nov. with the type strain TT11T (= KCTC 82195T = MCCC 1K04734T).

Marinomonas vulgaris sp. nov., a marine bacterium isolated from seawater in a coastal intertidal zone of Zhoushan island.

A Marinomonas-like, Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic and rod to ovoid-shaped bacterium, designated as strain A79T, was isolated from the seawater mixtures of oyster shells and brown algae in a coastal intertidal zone of Zhoushan, China. The strain was positive for oxidase and catalase. Colonies grown on marine agar for 48 h were round, milky white, smooth and moist with the diameter of 2-3 mm. Growth was observed at 15-30 °C (optimum, 25℃), pH 5.5-9.5 (optimum, pH 8.5) and with 0.5-8% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 2-2.5%). The G + C content based on the genome sequence was 46.0%. The only respiratory quinone was Q-8. The main polar lipids contained phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, unidentified glycolipids, unidentified phospholipid and three unidentified lipids. The major fatty acids (> 10%) were C16:0, Summed feature 3 (comprising C16:1 ω6c and/or C16:1 ω7c) and summed feature 8 (comprising C18:1 ω6c and/or C18:1 ω7c). The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain A79T and Marinomonas pollencensis IVIA-Po-185T was 97.4%, the similarities with other type strains of the genus Marinomonas were 93.8-96.7%. Based on the results, Marinomonas vulgaris sp. nov. was proposed as a novel species. The type strain is A79T (= MCCC 1K05799T = KCTC 82519T = JCM 34473T).

Reclassification of Parvularcula flava as Aquisalinus luteolus nom. nov. and emended description of the genus Aquisalinus.

Parvularcula flava was proposed as a novel member of genus Parvularcula in 2016. Some time earlier, Aquisalinus flavus has been proposed as a novel species of a novel genus named Aquisalinus. When comparing the 16S rRNA gene sequences of type strains P. flava NH6-79T and A. flavus D11M-2T, they showed 97.9 % sequence identity, much higher than the sequence identities 92.7-94.3 % between P. flava NH6-79T and type strains in the genus Parvularcula, indicating that the later proposed novel taxon Parvularcula flava need reclassification. The phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and genome sequences both showed that P. flava NH6-79T and A. flavus D11M-2T formed a separated branch away from strains in the genera Parvularcula, Marinicaulis and Amphiplicatus. The average amino acid identity and average nucleotide identity values of P. flava NH6-79T and A. flavus D11M-2T were 87.9 and 85.0 %, respectively, much higher than the values between P. flava NH6-79T and other closely related type strains (54.3 %-58.1 % and 68.6-70.4 %, respectively). P. flava NH6-79T and A. flavus D11M-2T also contained summed feature 8 (C18 : 1 ω6c and/or C18 : 1 ω7c) and C16 : 0 as major fatty acids, distinguishing them from other closely related taxa. Based on the results of the phylogenetic, comparative genomic and phenotypic analyses, Parvularcula flava should be reclassified as Aquisalinus luteolus nom. nov. and the description of genus Aquisalinus is emended.

Nocardioides malaquae sp. nov., a novel actinobacterium isolated from sewage sludge of a fisheries processing factory.

A Gram-stain-positive, rod-shaped, strictly aerobic bacterial strain (Y6T) was isolated from a sewage sludge sample collected from a fisheries processing factory in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, PR China. The growth range of NaCl concentration was 0-6.0 % (w/v), with an optimum at 3.0 % (w/v). The temperature range for growth was 10-42 °C, with an optimum at 37 °C. The pH range for growth was pH 7.0-10.0, with an optimum at pH 9.0. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain Y6T belonged to the genus Nocardioides and showed the highest sequence similarity of 97.8 % to Nocardioides jishulii dk3136T. The average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain Y6T and the reference strains were 76.9-81.2 % and 20.6-23.6 %, respectively. Chemotaxonomic analysis indicated that the sole respiratory quinone was MK-8(H4) and the predominant cellular fatty acids were iso-C16 : 0, 10-methyl-C17 : 0 and C18 : 1 ω9c. The polar lipid profile was composed of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, four unidentified phospholipids, three unidentified aminolipids and five unidentified lipids. The peptidoglycan was ll-2,6-diaminopimelic acid. On the basis of the phenotypic, genotypic, phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic features, strain Y6T is considered to represent a novel species, for which the name Nocardioides malaquae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is Y6T (=KCTC 49504T=MCCC 1K04765T).

Performance analysis of urine formed element analyzer EH-2090 was found to have good accuracy in detecting RBCs and WBCs when compared to manual microscopic.

Background: EH-2090 is Mindray's new-generation fully automatic urine formed element analyzer (hereinafter referred to as EH-2090). Currently, there are no studies on EH-2090, so we evaluated the analytical and clinical performance of this instrument to verify that it can meet daily clinical needs, and used manual microscopy as a reference method. Methods: The analytical performance of the EH-2090 was first evaluated for repeatability, linearity, reproducibility, and carryover. We collected urine samples from outpatient and inpatient departments of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital. Uncentrifuged urine was compared with the EH-2090 using the Fuchs-Rosenthal counting method-a quantitative reference method for microscopy-for comparative studies in terms of red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counting accuracy. Passing-Bablok regression analysis was performed for RBC and WBC counts. Two laboratory technicians performed centrifugation and manual analysis (microscopy) to evaluate its performance at detecting RBCs, WBCs, and casts, sensitivities and specificities were calculated. Results: The EH-2090's between-run reproducibility, within-day reproducibility, between-day reproducibility, and within-laboratory reproducibility for formed components of urine all met the laboratory requirements. There was a good correlation between the counting accuracy of RBCs (r=0.965, P<0.0001) and WBCs (r=0.894, P<0.0001) by the EH-2090 and the Fuchs-Rosenthal method. The positive coincidence rates of RBC and manual microscopy were 86.08% and 92.41%, respectively, and the negative coincidence rates were 88.39% and 85.81%, respectively. The positive coincidence rates before and after the WBC review were 89.33% and 92.00%, respectively, whereas the negative ones were 77.64% and 83.23%, respectively. The positive coincidence rates before and after cast review were 77.78% and 82.05%, respectively, and the negative ones were 97.09% and 93.60%, respectively. Conclusions: The EH-2090 has good analytical and clinical performance. Its RBC and WBC counting accuracy correlates well with the quantitative reference method of microscopy.

Highly efficient removal of Sr2+ from aqueous solutions using a polyacrylic acid/crown-ether/graphene oxide hydrogel composite.

With the development of nuclear power, efficiently treating nuclear wastes generated during operation has attracted extensive attention. Hydrogels are common adsorbent materials in the treatment of wastewater due to their high swelling rate and easy post-treatment. In this work, a novel polyacrylic acid/crown-ether/graphene oxide (PAA/DB18C6/GO) hydrogel composite was synthesized by a radical cross-linking copolymerization method and characterized using various analytical tools such as SEM, FT-IR, TGA and XPS. The effects of time, pH, initial Sr2+ concentration, and temperature on Sr2+ adsorption onto the PAA/DB18C6/GO were studied. The PAA/DB18C6/GO shows a high adsorption capacity of 379.35 mg g-1 at an initial Sr2+ concentration of 772 mg L-1 due to the unique structure of dibenzo-18-crown-ether-6 and high swelling. The composite has a high selectivity for Sr2+ with a removal rate of 82.4% when concentrations of Na+ and K+ were 10 times higher than that of Sr2+. The pH and temperature have no apparent impact on adsorption performance of the PAA/DB18C6/GO under the experimental conditions. The composite shows excellent reusability with more than 92% removal rate for Sr2+ after five continuous cycles. In addition, the mechanism of Sr2+ adsorption by PAA/DB18C6/GO was analyzed by fitting the adsorption data to the theoretical models and XPS data.