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Abstract Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presents a global health challenge due to its low five-year survival rates, underscoring the need for novel therapeutic strategies. Our research explored the synergistic mechanisms of syrosingopine and UK-5099 in treating NSCLC. In vitro experiments showed that the combination of syrosingopine and UK-5099 significantly synergized to suppress NSCLC proliferation. Further experiments revealed that this combination induced cell cycle arrest and promoted apoptosis in NSCLC cells. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the combination of syrosingopine and UK-5099 markedly inhibited tumor growth. Mechanistic studies revealed that this drug combination promoted mitochondrial damage by inducing lactate accumulation and oxidative stress. Additionally, the combination triggered an integrated stress response (ISR) through the activation of heme-regulated inhibitor kinase (HRI). Importantly, our findings suggested that the synergistic suppression of NSCLC by syrosingopine and UK-5099 was dependent on ISR activation. In summary, our study proposed a promising therapeutic approach that involved the combination of Syrosingopine and UK-5099 to activate ISR, significantly hindering NSCLC growth and proliferation.

In view of the poisonous nature of Cr(VI), it is of great significance to explore an effective and environmentally friendly method to remove Cr(VI). The potential synergistic effects of Cr(VI) reduction by iron-rich biochar and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) were systematically explored in this study. Significantly, in association with PA, the biochar produced by pyrolyzing iron-rich sludge at 300 °C (Fe-300) was more efficient at reducing Cr(VI) than that pyrolyzed at 800 °C (Fe-800), and the performance was always better than biochar or PA alone. For instance, upon an incubation for 20 days, the Cr(VI) removal efficiencies in the groups Cr + Fe-300 + PA, Cr + Fe-800 + PA, Cr + Fe-300, Cr + Fe-800 and Cr + PA were 80%, 19%, 51%, 0% and 35%, respectively. Through further analyses of phosphorus (P) and iron species as well as the cell extraction components of PA, the high Cr(VI) efficiency in Fe-300 + PA was mainly attributed to two aspects: (1) more P (mainly in the form of ortho phosphorus) was released from Fe-300 by PA compared to that from Fe-800, and the released P may react with Fe(II), Fe(III), Cr(VI) and Cr(III) ions to form precipitation; (2) cytoplasmic and periplasmic proteins as well as membrane proteins extracted from PA further helped to reduce Cr(VI). A novel approach for reducing Cr(VI) may be proposed by using the potential synergistic effects of iron-rich biochar and PA from this study.

Arsenic-alkali residue (AAR) from antimony smelting is highly hazardous due to its ready leachability of As, seeking for proper disposal such as stabilization treatment. However, As stabilization in AAR would be challenging due to the high content of coexisting soluble carbonate. This study conducted the stabilization treatments of AAR by ferrous sulfate and lime, respectively, and revealed the significant influence of coexisting carbonate. It was found that ferrous sulfate was more efficient than lime, which required only one-tenth of dosages of lime to reduce the As leaching concentration from 915 mg/L to a level below 2.5 mg/L to meet the Chinese regulatory limit. The combining qualitative and quantitative analyses based on XRD, SEM–EDS, and thermodynamic modeling suggested that the formation of insoluble arsenate minerals, ferrous arsenate or calcium arsenate, was the predominant mechanism for As stabilization in the two treatment systems, and their efficiency difference was primarily attributed to the coexisting carbonate, which had a slight effect on ferrous arsenate but severely obstructed calcium arsenate formation. Moreover, the examination of As leaching concentrations in 1-year-cured samples indicated that the long-term stability of ferrous sulfate treatment was far superior to that of lime treatment. This study provides ferrous salts as a promising and green scheme for stabilization treatment of AAR as well as other similar As-bearing solid wastes with coexisting soluble carbonate. Keywords: Arsenic-alkali residue, Arsenic stabilization, Ferrous sulfate, Lime, Arsenate minerals, Coexisting soluble carbonate

The prediction of toxicological interactions and hormesis of chemical mixtures is important because organisms are mostly exposed to numerous contaminants and typically to low dose of these mixtures, and it is still a challenge. Although many models have been developed to predict the mixture toxicities such as concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA), they cannot solve these challenges perfectly. This study has developed an improved inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation for prediction of the mixture toxicities. IDW uses the mixture and the single compound as scatter points in space, and the space can be constructed by the concentration axes of various components in the mixture system. Some known mixtures (or the single compound) closest to the unknown mixture are selected as interpolation nodes. To be more accurate in calculation, a new normalization method for concentration has been proposed through dividing the concentration of the mixture and the single compound by the respective EC50 values. Sixteen binary mixture systems are selected for leave-one-out cross-validation and three binary mixture systems are selected for external validation. The results show that the accuracy of IDW is ≥95% for three types of mixtures including no hormetic component, one hormetic component (show no toxicological interaction), and two hormetic components. The IDW also show higher prediction accuracy than that of CA and IA. The IDW developed in this study can be used to predict the toxicity of various mixture systems, thus providing predictive information for chemical mixtures risk assessment. Keywords: Combined toxicity, Euclidean distance, Multi-component, Normalization, Cross validation

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are remarkable "green energy" devices that exploit microbes to generate electricity from organic compounds. MFC devices currently being used and studied do not generate sufficient power to support widespread and cost-effective applications. Hence, research has focused on strategies to enhance the power output of the MFC devices, including exploring more electrochemically active microbes to expand the few already known electricigen families. However, most of the MFC devices are not compatible with high throughput screening for finding microbes with higher electricity generation capabilities. Here, we describe the development of a microfabricated MFC array, a compact and user-friendly platform for the identification and characterization of electrochemically active microbes. The MFC array consists of 24 integrated anode and cathode chambers, which function as 24 independent miniature MFCs and support direct and parallel comparisons of microbial electrochemical activities. The electricity generation profiles of spatially distinct MFC chambers on the array loaded with Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 differed by less than 8%. A screen of environmental microbes using the array identified an isolate that was related to Shewanella putrefaciens IR-1 and Shewanella sp. MR-7, and displayed 2.3-fold higher power output than the S. oneidensis MR-1 reference strain. Therefore, the utility of the MFC array was demonstrated.

A green and effective strategy to prepare a novel lotus root-like three-dimensional (3D) bismuth/biomass derived activated carbon (Bi@BAC) composite was developed for simultaneous electrochemical sensing of PbCd2++ and CdCd2+++. The BAC supports herein were prepared from naturally-abundant Platanus seeds chemically activation by KOH, with dense and uniform bismuth micro/nanosized particles successfully anchored on the carbon substrate through microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment and subsequent carbothermal reduction process. Simultaneous electrochemical detection of PbCd2++ and CdCd2+++ using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) was performed with the novel composite modified carbon paste electrode (CPE). Under optimized experimental conditions, the Bi@BAC/CPE demonstrated good linear response for both two target metal ions in the concentration range of 0.5 to 50 μg L-1, with limits of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) of 0.13 and 0.08 μg L-1 for PbCd2++ and CdCd2+++, respectively. Moreover, the modified electrode displayed high resistance to interference, long-term stability and good reproducibility. The Bi@BAC/CPE also demonstrated satisfactory recovery level for the detection of target metal ions in real water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leady oxide samples with various Fe contents were recovered from simulated spent lead paste with the addition of various dosages of iron oxides as simulated Fe impurities via hydrometallurgical process with sodium citrate-acetic acid solution. More than 75 wt% of the Fe element in simulated spent lead paste remained in the recovered leady oxide. The recovered leady oxide samples were used to prepare positive plates in order to illuminate the effect of Fe impurities on the phase composition of positive material. When the Fe content in recovered leady oxide was > 223 mg kg-1, the generation of 4PbO·PbSO4 (4BS) during curing procedure was inhibited. The specific surface area, a-PbO2 content, and hydrated PbO2 content of positive active mass (PAM) after formation procedure decreased with the increase of Fe content. As a result, larger PbSO4 crystals formed in Fe-containing PAMs after cell discharge, which hindered the transfer of H2SO4 electrolyte and destroyed the interconnected PbO2 skeleton. The negative effect of Fe impurities on cell cycle performance was observed when the PAM was manufactured from the leady oxide containing only 49 mg kg-1 Fe element, with the cell capacity decreased from 2.2 to 1.0 Ah after only 230 charge-discharge cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A liquid–gas two-phase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to simulate flow field and gas hold-up in a pilot-scale oxidation ditch (OD). The volume of fluid (VOF) model and the mass flow inlet boundary condition for gas injection were introduced in this model. The simulated values of the flow velocities and the gas hold-up were verified by experimental measurements in the pilot-scale OD. The results showed that the gas hold-up at test-site 3, immediately downstream of the surface aerator, was the highest among all three test-sites. Most of the gas existed in the upper portion of the ditch and was close to the inner side of the channel. Based on the liquid–gas two-phase CFD model, three operating conditions with different setting height ratios of the submerged impellers were simulated. The simulated results suggested that the setting heights of the submerged impellers have significant impacts on the flow velocity distribution. Lowering the setting height could increase the flow velocity in the pilot-scale OD. An optimal setting height ratio of 0.273 was proposed, which would be beneficial for minimizing sludge sedimentation, especially near the inner side of the curve bend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lead-carbon batteries could provide better performance on high-rate partial-state-of-charge (HRPSoC) cycles than lead-acid batteries (LABs), making them promising for the new-generation of hybrid electric vehicles. The addition of carbon allotropes to the negative active material (NAM) could induce a significant improvement to the battery performance. Herein, an environmentally friendly strategy is demonstrated to prepare lead oxide and carbon (PbO@C) composite by pyrolyzing the lead citrate precursor derived from the spent lead paste of LABs. When the PbO@C composite is used as an additive to the NAM of lead-carbon batteries, the utilization efficiency of the NAM is improved from 56.9% to 72.5%, and the cycle life of the cell in HRPSoC is tremendously extended by four times compared with the control one. The enhancement in battery performance is attributed to the hydrophilic carbon in the composite, which acts as a 3D electroosmotic pump facilitating electrolyte diffusion, and hindering the tendency to excess sulfation during the HRPSoC operation. This proposed research provides a sustainable and scalable strategy to recycle the discarded/spent LABs into high-performance lead-carbon batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tetrabasic lead sulfate (4BS) additive, a high-value product, is synthesized directly from the starting materials of the spent lead paste in recycled lead-acid battery via a hydrometallurgical route. The synthesized 4BS products with two different particle size distributions are referred to as the Sintered 4BS and Ball-milled 4BS, with the mean diameter of 10, and 1 μm, respectively. The Ball-milled 4BS additive with smaller particle size can promote a denser and more integrated skeleton microstructure in the positive active materials (PAMs) after the formation process, compared with the Sintered 4BS additives. And C/20 and 1C initial discharge capacities of testing batteries with the Ball-milled 4BS additives are better than those with the Sintered 4BS additives. Moreover, both synthesized 4BS additives can improve the capacity retention characteristics of the testing batteries during charge/discharge cycles. The Ball-milled 4BS additive at a dosage of 0.5-1 wt% in PAMs is proposed. The feasibility of recovery of valuable 4BS product directly from the spent lead paste is proved, which paves a green recycling route for hazardous wastes comprising lead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is urgent to develop recycled ionic liquids (ILs) as green solvents for sustainable biomass pretreatment. The goal of this study is to explore the availability and performance of reusing 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([amim]Cl) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([bmim]OAc) for pretreatment, structural evolution, and enzymatic hydrolysis of eucalyptus. Cellulose enzymatic digestibility slightly decreased with the increased number of pretreatment recycles. The hydrolysis efficiencies of eucalyptus pretreated via 4th recycled ILs were 54.3% for [amim]Cl and 72.8% for [bmim]OAc, which were 5.0 and 6.7-folds higher than that of untreated eucalyptus. Deteriorations of ILs were observed by the relatively lower sugar conversion and lignin removal from eucalyptus after 4th reuse. No appreciable changes in fundamental framework and thermal stability of [amim]Cl were observed even after successive pretreatments, whereas the anionic structure of [bmim]OAc was destroyed or replaced. This study suggested that the biomass pretreatment with recycled ILs was a potential alternative for low-cost biorefinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability and innovation of a novel leachate treatment technology is a matter of vital significance. Bio-electrochemical-driven wastewater and leachate treatment methods, particularly MFC, and their improvements have attracted scientists' attention recently. This study developed a new MFC system, which consisted of an anodic chamber, a cathode chamber with fixed biofilm carriers and a low-cost sheet of carbon felt between them as a membrane-like separator. The study was conducted to evaluate the capacity of MFC coupled with integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS), to enhance the efficiency of the treatment and the amount of energy produced. Three MFC systems with different cathode processes were compared, namely, conventional activated sludge (MFC-AS), MFC-!FAS, and microalgae coupled MFC-IFAS (MFC-IFAS/MA). The experimental results revealed that MFC-IFAS/MA produced higher power density and nitrogen removal than the other two systems. The average removals of COD, NHON, and total nitrogen (TN) were, 69.9%,84.2% and 60.5% for MFC-AS, 84.3%,79.2% and 71.6% for MFC-[FAS; and 82.0%,90.3% and 88.6% for MFC-IFAS/MA. MFC-IFAS/MA demonstrated its superior electrochemical behaviors and nitrogen removal and this behavior was referring to the dual effect of fixed-biofilm and microalgae assimilation. This study investigated for the first time the symbiosis between microalgae and IFAS in an MFC reactor, which may open a new prospect for MFC application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]