Genetic variants of phospholipase C-γ2 alter the phenotype and function of microglia and confer differential risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Genetic association studies have demonstrated the critical involvement of the microglial immune response in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. Phospholipase C-gamma-2 (PLCG2) is selectively expressed by microglia and functions in many immune receptor signaling pathways. In AD, PLCG2 is induced uniquely in plaque-associated microglia. A genetic variant of PLCG2, PLCG2P522R, is a mild hypermorph that attenuates AD risk. Here, we identified a loss-of-function PLCG2 variant, PLCG2M28L, that confers an increased AD risk. PLCG2P522R attenuated disease in an amyloidogenic murine AD model, whereas PLCG2M28L exacerbated the plaque burden associated with altered phagocytosis and Aß clearance. The variants bidirectionally modulated disease pathology by inducing distinct transcriptional programs that identified microglial subpopulations associated with protective or detrimental phenotypes. These findings identify PLCG2M28L as a potential AD risk variant and demonstrate that PLCG2 variants can differentially orchestrate microglial responses in AD pathogenesis that can be therapeutically targeted.

Estimating global annual gross primary production based on satellite-derived phenology and maximal carbon uptake capacity.

The high uncertainty regarding global gross primary production (GPP) remains unresolved. This study explored the relationships between phenology, physiology, and annual GPP to provide viable alternatives for accurate estimation. A statistical model of integrated phenology and physiology (SMIPP) was developed using GPP data from 145 FLUXNET sites to estimate the annual GPP for various vegetation types. By employing the SMIPP model driven by satellite-derived datasets of the global carbon uptake period (CUP) and maximal carbon uptake capacity (GPPmax), the global annual GPP was estimated for the period from 2001 to 2018. The results demonstrated that the SMIPP model accurately predicted annual GPP, with relative root mean square error values ranging from 11.20 to 19.29% for forest types and 20.49-35.71% for non-forest types. However, wetlands, shrublands, and evergreen forests exhibited relatively low accuracies. The average, trend, and interannual variation of global GPP during 2001-2018 were 132.6 Pg C yr-1, 0.25 Pg C yr-2, and 1.57 Pg C yr-1, respectively. They were within the ranges estimated in other global GPP products. Sensitivity analysis revealed that GPPmax had comparable effects to CUP in high-latitude regions but significantly greater impacts at the global scale, with sensitivity coefficients of 0.85 ± 0.23 for GPPmax and 0.46 ± 0.28 for CUP. This study provides a simple and practical method for estimating global annual GPP and highlights the influence of GPPmax and CUP on global-scale annual GPP.

Impact of High-Density Lipoprotein Function, Rather Than High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Level, on Cardiovascular Disease Among Patients With Familial Hypercholesterolemia.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the function of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), rather than the HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) level, has been attracting more attention in risk prediction for coronary artery disease (CAD).Methods and Results: Patients with clinically diagnosed familial hypercholesterolemia (FH; n=108; male/female, 51/57) were assessed cross-sectionally. Serum cholesterol uptake capacity (CUC) levels were determined using our original cell-free assay. Linear regression was used to determine associations between CUC and clinical variables, including low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and the carotid plaque score. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to test factors associated with the presence of CAD. Among the 108 FH patients, 30 had CAD. CUC levels were significantly lower among patients with than without CAD (median [interquartile range] 119 [92-139] vs. 142 [121-165] arbitrary units [AU]; P=0.0004). In addition, CUC was significantly lower in patients with Achilles tendon thickness ≥9.0 mm than in those without Achilles tendon thickening (133 [110-157] vs. 142 [123-174] AU; P=0.047). Serum CUC levels were negatively correlated with the carotid plaque score (Spearman's r=0.37; P=0.00018). Serum CUC levels were significantly associated with CAD, after adjusting for other clinical variables (odds ratio=0.86, 95% CI=0.76-0.96, P=0.033), whereas HDL-C was not. CONCLUSIONS: HDL function, assessed by serum CUC level, rather than HDL-C level, adds risk stratification information among FH patients.

Coronatine promotes maize water uptake by directly binding to the aquaporin ZmPIP2;5 and enhancing its activity.

Water uptake is crucial for crop growth and development and drought stress tolerance. The water channel aquaporins (AQP) play important roles in plant water uptake. Here, we discovered that a jasmonic acid analog, coronatine (COR), enhanced maize (Zea mays) root water uptake capacity under artificial water deficiency conditions. COR treatment induced the expression of the AQP gene Plasma membrane intrinsic protein 2;5 (ZmPIP2;5). In vivo and in vitro experiments indicated that COR also directly acts on ZmPIP2;5 to improve water uptake in maize and Xenopus oocytes. The leaf water potential and hydraulic conductivity of roots growing under hyperosmotic conditions were higher in ZmPIP2;5-overexpression lines and lower in the zmpip2;5 knockout mutant, compared to wild-type plants. Based on a comparison between ZmPIP2;5 and other PIP2s, we predicted that COR may bind to the functional site in loop E of ZmPIP2;5. We confirmed this prediction by surface plasmon resonance technology and a microscale thermophoresis assay, and showed that deleting the binding motif greatly reduced COR binding. We identified the N241 residue as the COR-specific binding site, which may activate the channel of the AQP tetramer and increase water transport activity, which may facilitate water uptake under hyperosmotic stress.

Aerobic scope falls to nil at Pcrit and anaerobic ATP production increases below Pcrit in the tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus.

The critical oxygen tension of whole-animal oxygen uptake rate, or Pcrit, has historically been defined as the oxygen partial pressure (PO2) at which aerobic scope falls to zero and further declines in PO2 require substrate-level phosphorylation to meet shortfalls in aerobic ATP production, thereby time-limiting survival. Despite the inclusion of aerobic scope and anaerobic ATP production in the definition, little effort has been made to verify that Pcrit measurements, the vast majority of which are obtained using respirometry in resting animals, actually reflect the predictions of zero aerobic scope and a transition to increasing reliance on anaerobic ATP production. To test these predictions, we compared aerobic scope and levels of whole-body lactate at oxygen partial pressures (PO2s) bracketing Pcrit obtained in resting fish during progressive hypoxia in the tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus. We found that aerobic scope falls to zero at Pcrit and, in resting fish exposed to PO2s < Pcrit, whole-body lactate accumulated pointing to an increased reliance on anaerobic ATP production. These results support the interpretation of Pcrit as a key oxygen threshold at which aerobic scope falls to nil and, below Pcrit, survival is time-limited based on anaerobic metabolic capacity.

Sulbactam improves binding property and uptake capacity of glutamate transporter-1 and decreases glutamate concentration in the CA1 region of hippocampus of global brain ischemic rats.

Glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1) removes most glutamate in the synaptic cleft. Sulbactam confers neuronal protection against ischemic insults in the hippocampal CA1 region accompanied by the upregulation of GLT-1 expression in rats. The present study further investigates the effect of sulbactam on the binding property and uptake capacity of GLT-1 for glutamate, and the change in extracellular glutamate concentration in the hippocampal CA1 region of rats with global brain ischemia. The binding property and uptake capacity of GLT-1 were measured using a radioligand binding and uptake assay, respectively, with L-3H-glutamate. The extracellular glutamate concentration was detected using microdialysis and high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Neuropathological evaluation was performed based on thionin staining. It was shown that sulbactam pre-treatment changed GLT-1 binding property, including increased Bmax and decreased Kd values, increased GLT-1 uptake capacity for glutamate, and inhibited the elevation of extracellular glutamate concentration in rats with global cerebral ischemia. These effects of sulbactam were accompanied by its neuronal protection on the hippocampal CA1 neurons against delayed neuronal death resulted from ischemic insult. Furthermore, administration of GLT-1 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides, which inhibited the expression of GLT-1, blocked the aforementioned sulbactam-related effects, which suggested that GLT-1 upregulation mediated the above effect although other mechanisms independent of the upregulation of GLT-1 expression could not be excluded. It could be concluded that sulbactam improves the binding property and uptake capacity of GLT-1 for glutamate and then reduces the glutamate concentration and excitotoxicity during global cerebral ischemia, which contributes to the neuroprotection of sulbactam against brain ischemia.

Quantitative and qualitative lipid improvement with chronic hepatitis C virus eradication using direct-acting antivirals.

AIM: Direct-acting antivirals have revolutionized hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapy by providing a high sustained virological response (SVR) rate and subsequent favorable lipid increases. Proprotein convertase subtilisin-kexin like-9 (PCSK9) plays an important role in regulating quantitative lipid levels. This study examined the interactions between quantitative PCSK9 and lipid changes, as well as qualitative lipid changes in terms of lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-1 ligand containing apolipoprotein B (LAB) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol uptake capacity (HDL-CUC). METHODS: Patients with chronic HCV infection (N = 231) who achieved an SVR by direct-acting antivirals without lipid-lowering therapy were included for comparisons of PCSK9, LAB, HDL-CUC, and other clinical indices between pretreatment and SVR12 time points. RESULTS: LDL (LDL) cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels were quantitatively increased at SVR12, along with higher PCSK9 (all p < 0.0001). PCSK9 was significantly correlated with LDL cholesterol (r = 0.244, p = 0.0003) and apolipoprotein B (r = 0.222, p = 0.0009) at SVR12. Regarding qualitative LDL changes, LAB was significantly decreased and LAB/LDL cholesterol and LAB/apolipoprotein B proportions were improved at SVR12 (all p < 0.0001). In terms of qualitative HDL changes, HDL-CUC was significantly ameliorated, along with HDL-CUC/HDL cholesterol, HDL-CUC/ apolipoprotein A1, and HDL-CUC/ apolipoprotein A2 at SVR12 (all p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: HCV eradication by direct-acting antivirals may produce quantitative lipid profile changes, along with PCSK9 production recovery in addition to qualitative lipid improvement, which possibly confers the additional secondary benefits of atherosclerosis improvement and cardiovascular disease event reduction.

Serum HDL cholesterol uptake capacity in subjects from the MASHAD cohort study: Its value in determining the risk of cardiovascular endpoints.

BACKGROUND: The efficiency of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) to efflux cholesterol contributes to the reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) pathway as one of HDL's proposed functions and depends on the ability of HDL to uptake cholesterol. We aimed to investigate cholesterol uptake capacity (CUC) by a newly developed assay in samples from the MASHAD (Mashhad Stroke and Heart Atherosclerotic Disorders) cohort study. METHOD: The study population comprised 153 individuals developed CVD diagnosed by a specialist cardiologist, over 6 years of follow-up, and 350 subjects without CVD. We used a modified CUC method to evaluate the functionality of HDL in serum samples. RESULT: The CUC assay was highly reproducible with values for inter- and intra-assay variation of 13.07 and 6.65, respectively. The mean serum CUC was significantly lower in the CVD group compared to control (p = 0.01). Although, there were no significant differences in serum HDL-C between the groups and there was no significantly association with risk of progressive CVD. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that there was a significantly negative association between CUC and risk of CVD after adjustment for confounding parameters (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.38-0.87, p = 0.009). The CUC was also inversely and independently associated with the risk of CVD event using Cox proportional hazards models analysis (HR = 0.62; 95% CI = 0.41-0.94, p = 0.02). We determined the optimum cutoff value of 1.7 a.u for CUC in the population. Furthermore, the CUC value was important in determining the CVD risk stratification derived from data mining analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Reduced HDL functionality, as measured by CUC, appears to predict CVD in population sample from north-eastern Iran.

Association of ANGPTL3 polymorphisms with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol uptake capacity in patients with cardiovascular disease.

INTRODUCTION: Previous studies have shown the importance of angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3) as a modulator of lipid profiles. Cholesterol uptake capacity (CUC) is one means for assessing high-density lipoprotein (HDL) functionality. This study for the first time has investigated the relationship between genetic ANGPTL3 polymorphism and CUC in patients with cardiovascular disease. METHODS: Five hundred three subjects comprising 350 healthy subjects and 153 individuals who developed a cardiovascular disease (CVD) event during follow-up were recruited as part of the Mashhad Stroke and Heart Atherosclerotic Disorder (MASHAD) cohort study. A modified CUC method was used to determine the CUC of serum samples. Applied amplification refractory mutation system PCR was performed for ANGPTL3 variants genotyping including: rs10789117, rs1748195, and rs11207997. Sanger sequencing was applied to confirm the genotypes. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a significant relationship between the rs1748195 genotypes and HDL concentration in the CVD group (p = 0.02). Moreover, individuals with a GG genotype of the rs1748195 were associated with a lower risk of CVD (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.24-0.98, p = 0.04) compared with CC genotype in the CUC ≤ 1.7 a.u subgroup. Moreover, the CT genotype of rs11207997 was associated with a lower risk of CVD (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.41-1.3, p = 0.01) compared with CC genotype in CUC > 1.7 a.u subgroup. CONCLUSION: The results showed that the CT genotype of the rs11207997 variant was associated with a lower risk of incident CVD in patients with higher HDL functionality. As well, the rs1748195 gene variant may contribute to a reduced risk of CVD.

Selective removal of Hg(II) by chitosan derivative covalently modified with double cross-linking agents abundant in N and S atoms.

With rapid industrialization and urbanization, numerous wastewater contains elevated concentration of Hg(II), and its concentration must be reduced to the discharge limit, so as not to cause serious pollution to the environment. In this paper, a modified chitosan adsorbent material, AMT-DMTD-CS (CS = chitosan, AMT = 2-amino-5-mercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole, DMTD = 1,3,4-thiadiazole-2,5-dithiol) was prepared. FT-IR, XPS, elemental analysis, and FE-SEM confirmed that AMT and DMTD were successfully grafted covalently onto CS, with BET analysis showing a specific surface area of 105.55 m2/g for AMT-DMTD-CS. Adsorption study suggests that the optimal pH environment for AMT-DMTD-CS to adsorb Hg(II) is 4.0, and the saturated uptake capacity reaches 687.17 mg/g at 318 K, even after eight regenerations, the removal is still maintained at 80.06 %. Moreover, the adsorption behavior is in perfect agreement with the pseudo-second order kinetic model and the Langmuir isotherm model. In addition, AMT-DMTD-CS shows quite favorable selectivity for Hg(II) in a variety of co-existing metal ions. According to the FT-IR and XPS analysis of AMT-DMTD-CS-Hg(II), the synergistic complexation of -OH, -NH2, -NH, CN, CS and -SH to Hg(II) is considered as the main reason that leading to the elevated adsorption capacity.

Anti-diabetic and anti-urease inhibition potential of Amomum dealbatum Roxb. seeds through a bioassay-guided approach.

Using HPLC-PDA and HRMS analysis, five compounds p-coumaric acid, sinapic acid, quercetin, trans-ferulic and gallic acid were identified in seeds of Amomum dealbatum Roxb. The GC-MS analysis identified 1-dodecanol, phenol, 3,5-bis(1,1-dimethylethyl), Oleic Acid and 1-Heptacosanol which possess anti-diabetic properpties. A bioassay-guided technique was used to determine the degree of inhibition that A. dealbatum seeds crude methanol extract and its most active sub-fraction had against the α-glucosidase and Helicobacter pylori urease enzymes. In the Rat L6 myoblast cell line, glucose absorption through the GLUT4 transporter of most active subfraction (EASF80) was examined. According to a molecular docking investigation, these compounds strongly interacted with the GLUT4 transporter, H pylori and α-glucosidase enzyme. Sinapic acid interacted most strongly with the H. pylori urease enzyme while gallic acid interacted with both the α-glucosidase enzyme and the GLUT4 transporter. Additionally, a molecular docking simulation study was carried out to recognise the stability of the complexes.

Advancements in Biomass-Derived Activated Carbon for Sustainable Hydrogen Storage: A Comprehensive Review.

The increasing global energy demand, which is being driven by population growth and urbanization, necessitates the exploration of sustainable energy sources. While traditional energy generation predominantly relies on fossil fuels, it also contributes to alarming CO2 emissions. Hydrogen has emerged as a promising alternative energy carrier with its zero-carbon emission profile. However, effective hydrogen storage remains a challenge. When exposed to hydrogen, conventional metallic vessels, once considered to be the primary hydrogen carriers, are prone to brittleness-induced cracking. This has spurred interest in alternative storage solutions, particularly porous materials like metal-organic frameworks and activated carbon (AC). Among these, biomass-derived AC stands out for its eco-friendly nature, cost-effectiveness, and optimal adsorption properties. This review offers a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in the synthesis, characterization, and hydrogen storage capabilities of AC. The unique benefits of biomass-derived sources are highlighted, as is the pivotal role of chemical and physical activation processes. Furthermore, we identify existing challenges and propose future research directions in AC-based hydrogen storage. This compilation aims to serve as a foundation for potential innovations in sustainable hydrogen storage solutions.

Electrospun Zr-Doped CaO Sorbent for CO2 Capture.

A Zr-doped CaO sorbent for high-temperature CO2 capture was fabricated using electrospinning. The nanofiber sorbent with an average filament diameter of about 160 nm is characterized by an initial CO2 uptake capacity of 12.1 mmol/g, a specific surface area of 79 m2/g, an indentation Young's modulus of 520 MPa, and a hardness of 1.6 MPa. After 50 carbonation/decarbonation cycles, the sorbent has a decent CO2 uptake capacity of 9.7 mmol/g due to the uniform distribution of CaZrO3 in the CaO nanofibers to prevent CaO grain growth caused by CaCO3 sintering. It is revealed that the sorbent CO2 uptake capacity decreases both with an increase in the decarbonation temperature and with an increase in the CO2 concentration in the gas flow upon carbonation, where the sorbent CO2 uptake capacity is more sensitive to the decarbonation temperature than to the CO2 concentration in the gaseous stream during carbonation. It is assumed that the electrospun regenerable Zr-doped CaO sorbent is effective for removing CO2 from flue gases.

Gill surface area allometry does not constrain the body mass scaling of maximum oxygen uptake rate in the tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus.

The gill oxygen limitation hypothesis (GOLH) suggests that hypometric scaling of metabolic rate in fishes is a consequence of oxygen supply constraints imposed by the mismatched growth rates of gill surface area (a two-dimensional surface) and body mass (a three-dimensional volume). GOLH may, therefore, explain the size-dependent spatial distribution of fish in temperature- and oxygen-variable environments through size-dependent respiratory capacity, but this question is unstudied. We tested GOLH in the tidepool sculpin, Oligocottus maculosus, a species in which body mass decreases with increasing temperature- and oxygen-variability in the intertidal, a pattern consistent with GOLH. We statistically evaluated support for GOLH versus distributed control of [Formula: see text] allometry by comparing scaling coefficients for gill surface area, standard and maximum [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text],Standard and [Formula: see text],Max, respectively), ventricle mass, hematocrit, and metabolic enzyme activities in white muscle. To empirically evaluate whether there is a proximate constraint on oxygen supply capacity with increasing body mass, we measured [Formula: see text],Max across a range of Po2s from normoxia to Pcrit, calculated the regulation value (R), a measure of oxyregulatory capacity, and analyzed the R-body mass relationship. In contrast with GOLH, gill surface area scaling either matched or was more than sufficient to meet [Formula: see text] demands with increasing body mass and R did not change with body mass. Ventricle mass (b = 1.22) scaled similarly to [Formula: see text],Max (b = 1.18) suggesting a possible role for the heart in the scaling of [Formula: see text],Max. Together our results do not support GOLH as a mechanism structuring the distribution of O. maculosus and suggest distributed control of oxyregulatory capacity.

Heavy metal uptake by bryophytes and vascular plants in a manganese carbonate slag field, China.

Slag produced in mining and smelting of manganese carbonate ore potentially pollutes the environment and endangers the health of humans and other living organisms. This study investigates the uptake of six heavy metals, Cu, Pb, Mn, Zn, Cr and Cd, by bryophytes and vascular plants growing on manganese carbonate slag in the Houshangou Slag Field near Zunyi City, Guizhou Province, China. Determination of heavy metal uptake in bryophytes and vascular plants may identify species suitable as biomonitors for bioremediation of polluted lands. Eight bryophyte taxa were identified in the study area; among which, Bryum argenteum and Physcomitrium eurystomum were dominant; life forms of bryophytes were predominantly short turfs. Three monocotyledons, all Poaceae, and five dicotyledons were recorded in four families. The highest heavy metal uptake in bryophytes, Mn content by B. argenteum, was more than 25,000 mg·kg-1 . Furthermore, determination of heavy metal content in roots, leaves and fruits of six vascular plants demonstrated that each had a unique capacity for heavy metal accumulation: roots, leaves and fruits of similar plant species exhibited varying uptake capacity. Mn content in leaves was recorded in the order: B. davidii > A. tricolor > E. crus-galli > C. argentea > P. acinosa > C. album. In summary, B. argenteum, Echinochloa crus-galli and Phytolacca acinosa have strong enrichment capacity for heavy metals. These species could be used for comprehensive treatment of heavy metal pollution in electrolytic Mn slag fields, and for bioremediation of polluted areas associated with Mn mining and processing.

Surveying the elimination of hazardous heavy metal from the multi-component systems using various sorbents: a review.

In this review, several adsorbents were studied for the elimination of heavy metal ions from multi-component wastewaters. These utilized sorbents are mineral materials, microbes, waste materials, and polymers. It was attempted to probe the structure and chemistry characteristics such as surface morphology, main functional groups, participated elements, surface area, and the adsorbent charges by SEM, FTIR, EDX, and BET tests. The uptake efficiency for metal ions, reusability studies, isotherm models, and kinetic relations for recognizing the adsorbent potentials. Besides, the influential factors such as acidity, initial concentration, time, and heat degree were investigated for selecting the optimum operating conditions in each of the adsorbents. According to the results, polymers especially chitosan, have displayed a higher adsorption capacity relative to the other common adsorbents owing to the excellent surface area and more functional groups such as amine, hydroxyl, and carboxyl species. The high surface area generates the possible active sites for trapping the particles, and the more effective functional groups can complex more metal ions from the polluted water. Also, it was observed that the uptake capacity of each metal ion in the multi-component solutions was different because the ionic radii of each metal ion were different, which influence the competition of metal ions for filling the active sites. Finally, the reusability of the polymers was suitable, because they can use several cycles which proves the economic aspect of the polymers as the adsorbent.

The Nanofibrous CaO Sorbent for CO2 Capture.

The nanofibrous CaO sorbent for high-temperature CO2 capture was fabricated by the calcination of electrospun composite filaments containing calcium acetylacetonate and polyacrylonitrile as a calcium-oxide precursor and a binder polymer, respectively. The calcination was carried out in air to prevent PAN carbonization and to obtain pure CaO nanofibers. The resulting mats of CaO nanofibers with the average diameter of 130 nm were characterized by a specific surface area of 31 m2/g, a CO2-uptake capacity of 16.4 mmol/g at the carbonation temperature of 618 °C, a hardness of 1.87 MPa, and the indentation Young's modulus of 786 MPa. The low decarbonation temperature makes the fabricated sorbent promising, for example, for the calcium-looping technology of CO2 removal from the hot exhaust gases of fossil-fueled power plants.

An electroactive montmorillonite/polypyrrole ion exchange film: Ultrahigh uptake capacity and ion selectivity for rapid removal of lead ions.

Contact with trace heavy metal contaminants will also lead to extremely bad health influence on human body and aquatic life. Although various adsorbents have been synthesized for the recovery of heavy metal ions, most of them shows deficient adsorption capacity, sluggish uptake rate and low selectivity. In this study, a montmorillonite/polypyrrole (MMT/PPy) film was successfully synthesized by intercalating polymers PPy into the interlayer of MMT nanosheets for selective and rapid capture of Pb2+. The electroactive film has ultrahigh uptake capacity (1373.29 mg⋅g-1), which is much higher than most conventional Pb2+ adsorbents. Meanwhile, it had an extreme selectivity towards Pb2+ due to the MMT/PPy film can accurately identified Pb2+. Through characterization testing and data analysis, the selective and rapid uptake/release of Pb2+ should be realized through three ways: (1) negatively-charged laminates of MMT can generate electrostatic attraction to Pb2+; (2) -OH on the surface of MMT laminates can accurately identified and bonded with Pb2+ (M-O-H↔ M-O-Pb); (3) PPy doped by PSSn- and protic acid can rapidly catch Pb2+ (PPy+·PSSn-+Pb2++e-→ PPy·PSSn-·Pb2+). Therefore, such a novel MMT/PPy nanocomposite film could has evident application prospect to remove Pb2+ from various water bodies.

Surface Coverage Simulation and 3D Plotting of Main Process Parameters for Molybdenum and Vanadium Adsorption onto Ferrihydrite.

Ferrihydrite, FHY, was synthesized and characterized for morphology, mineralogy, surface area, hydrodynamic diameter and surface charge properties before molybdenum (Mo) and vanadium (V) adsorption. The potentiometric titration results showed first direct evidence that CO2 affects FHY surface sites at pH 6-9. Beside CO2, particles concentration may affect surface properties with an impact on adsorption performance. Additional new adsorption simulation results on theoretical surface coverage vs. experimental results obtained at varying particles concentration help theoreticians and experimentalists to better estimate and apply anion adsorption processes to real environments and suggest that simulation may not always be entirely reliable. Uptake capacities obtained experimentally, varying pH, particles and metals concentrations, were plotted to assess their synergetic effect and derive trends for future process optimization. Adsorption kinetics and isotherms were also considered. Experimentally derived values for maximum uptake capacities (0.43 and 1.20 mmol g-1, for Mo and V, respectively) and partitioning coefficients have applications, such as in making decisions for anions removal from wastewaters to achieve depollution efficiency or concentration required for effluents discharge and also implications in elements cycling from a geochemical perspective. In this work, the 3D plotting of the main adsorption process parameters obtained experimentally showed inter-correlations between significant process parameters that influence the adsorption process, and provides guidelines for its optimization and indicates that laboratory data can be transposed to real systems.

Climatic conditions, not above- and belowground resource availability and uptake capacity, mediate tree diversity effects on productivity and stability.

Tree species diversity promotes multiple ecosystem functions and services. However, little is known about how above- and belowground resource availability (light, nutrients, and water) and resource uptake capacity mediate tree species diversity effects on aboveground wood productivity and temporal stability of productivity in European forests and whether the effects differ between humid and arid regions. We used the data from six major European forest types along a latitudinal gradient to address those two questions. We found that neither leaf area index (a proxy for light uptake capacity), nor fine root biomass (a proxy for soil nutrient and water uptake capacity) was related to tree species richness. Leaf area index did, however, enhance productivity, but negatively affected stability. Productivity was further promoted by soil nutrient availability, while stability was enhanced by fine root biomass. We only found a positive effect of tree species richness on productivity in arid regions and a positive effect on stability in humid regions. This indicates a possible disconnection between productivity and stability regarding tree species richness effects. In other words, the mechanisms that drive the positive effects of tree species richness on productivity do not per se benefit stability simultaneously. Our findings therefore suggest that tree species richness effects are largely mediated by differences in climatic conditions rather than by differences in above- and belowground resource availability and uptake capacity at the regional scales.