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Sanding dust is the main source of dust emission during the manufacturing process of medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and particle size and shape characteristics are the fundamental properties influencing its environmental influence and handling behaviors. However, there are few deep and comprehensive researches on the morphology of MDF sanding dust. In this study, the morphological characteristics of MDF sanding dust were explored by sieve and image analyses. It was found that more than 95% of MDF sanding dust was inhalable particles smaller than 100 μm, which poses a considerable potential risk to human health and safety, especially with the presence of other chemical constituents. The particle size span of MDF dust was relatively wide though the particle surface texture was quite uniform. The particle geometric proportion represented by aspect ratio decreased markedly with the reduction of particle size. The larger particles presented typical anisotropic structure, while the smaller ones showed homogeneous appearance, indicating quite complex handling behaviors. In addition, image analysis was found to provide a better insight into the morphological characteristics of MDF sanding dust compared to sieve analysis, and could be a promising dust morphology evaluation technology.

Portulaca oleracea is an important and widely distributed medicinal and edible plant that has great economic value in the medical and food industries. We sequenced the complete chloroplast (cp) genome of P. oleracea,whichis156,533 bp in length, including a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 25,501 bp separated by a large single copy (LSC) region of 87,436 bp and a small single copy (SSC) region of 18,095 bp. The genome contains 85 protein-coding genes, 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. There are 40 repeat units and 111 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) in the genome. We also carried out complete cp genome comparison with other Caryophyllales species. The size, gene content, and structural organisation of P. oleracea are relatively conserved, but the genes ycf1 and ycf2 have larger introns. The simple sequence repeats (SSR) in the introns of ycf3, ycf1, atpB, rrn23 and ndhH have significant polymorphism. Comparisons of IR boundaries among 8 Caryophyllales species showed co...

To investigate the value of combined tests of serum Golgi protein-73, alpha-fetoprotein- L3 and Tat-interacting protein-30 in the diagnosis of hepatitis B virus related cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.The cross-sectional study was conducted at Yuebei People's Hospital, Guangdong, China, from January to October 2017, and comprised hepatitis B patients and healthy controls. Serum Golgi protein-73, alpha-fetoprotein-L3 and Tat-interacting protein-30 levels in both groups were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Alpha-fetoprotein-L3 was separated and quantified by electrochemiluminescence immunoas says and the percentage of alpha-fetoprotein-L3 to alphafetoprotein was calculated.Of the 721 subjects, 525(%) were patients and 196(%) were healthy controls. Among the patients, 271(%) had chronic hepatitis B, 161(%) had liver cirrhosis and 93(%) had hepatocellular carcinoma. Serum Golgi protein-73, alpha-fetoprotein-L3 and Tat-interacting protein-30 levels were significantly different in the hepatocellular carcinoma patients compared to controls, and those with chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis (p0.01 each). The sensitivity and specificity of the combined detection of the three serum levels for diagnosing cirrhosis were 78.26% and 86.72%. The corresponding values for diagnosing hepatocellular carcinoma were 86.02% and 92.51%.Combined detection of Golgi protein-73, alpha fetoprotein-L3 and Tat-interacting protein was found to have the potential to improve diagnostic accuracy.