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Background:Levels of urinary microvesicles, which are increased during various kidney injuries, have diagnostic potential for renal diseases. However, the significance of urinary microvesicles as a renal disease indicator is dampened by the difficulty to ascertain their cell source. Objectives:The aim of this study was to demonstrate that podocytes can release migrasomes, a unique class of microvesicle with size ranging between 400 and 2,000 nm, and the urine level of migrasomes may serve as novel non-invasive biomarker for early podocyte injury. Method:In this study, immunofluorescence labeling, electronic microscopy, nanosite, and sequential centrifugation were used to purify and analyze migrasomes. Results:Migrasomes released by podocytes differ from exosomes as they have different content and mechanism of release. Compared to podocytes, renal tubular cells secrete markedly less migrasomes. Moreover, secretion of migrasomes by human or murine podocytes was strongly augmented during podocyte injuries induced by LPS, puromycin amino nucleoside (PAN), or a high concentration of glucose (HG). LPS, PAN, or HG-induced podocyte migrasome release, however, was blocked by Rac-1 inhibitor. Strikingly, a higher level of podocyte migrasomes in urine was detected in mice with PAN-nephropathy than in control mice. In fact, increased urinary migrasome number was detected earlier than elevated proteinuria during PAN-nephropathy, suggesting that urinary migrasomes are a more sensitive podocyte injury indicator than proteinuria. Increased urinary migrasome number was also detected in diabetic nephropathy patients with proteinuria level <5.5 g/day. Conclusions:Our findings reveal that podocytes release the “injury-related” migrasomes during migration and provide urinary podocyte migrasome as a potential diagnostic marker for early podocyte injury.

Hollow carbon spheres (HCSs) with controllable morphology, stable physicochemical properties, high surface area, and large pore volume achieved without any acidic or alkaline activators, are likely to be an attractive adsorption material. Nevertheless, reports on applying HCSs for adsorption separation are relatively limited, especially for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Herein, a series of HCSs were successfully synthesized by a simple one-pot, surfactant-free method and varying ethanol/water volume ratios, compositions of silicon alkoxides (tetrapropyl orthosilicate/tetraethyl orthosilicate, TPOS/TEOS), lag time for adding resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin precursors, and system temperatures. The differences between these HCSs in terms of average particle size, internal cavity diameter, shell thickness, specific surface area, and porosity were well elucidated. HCS-11 synthesized at 10 °C had the most desirable specific surface area (2531.29 m2g−1) and total pore volume (3.527 cm3g−1) in this study, which was superior to many HCSs in the literature, and therefore was selected for subsequent benzene adsorption/desorption tests. As expected, HCS-11 exhibited a static benzene adsorption capacity of up to 21.363 mmol g−1at 293 K. In addition, the effects of different initial concentrations, gas flow rates, and ambient temperatures on dynamic benzene adsorption by HCS-11 were systematically investigated. The high adsorption capacity of HCS-11 remained stable after six consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles, indicating its good thermal regeneration capability. The excellent porosity, high cyclic adsorption capacity, and rapid desorption kinetics of HCS-11 made it promising for VOC abatement.

Catalytic oxidation of NO into NO2is a promising method for NOxemission control. The aim of this study was to develop an economic and environmental-friendly catalyst for NO catalytic oxidation. Herein a CeFeOxcomplex oxide catalyst for catalytic oxidation of NO was prepared by coprecipitation method. After that the catalytic performance of this catalyst was measured on a fixed-bed reactor. It was found that the intrinsic activity of CeFeOxwas higher than that of CeOxand FeOx. The characterization techniques of Brumauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature programmed reduction with H2(H2-TPR), temperature programmed desorption with NO+O2(NO+O2-TPD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were performed to investigate the surface area, crystal structure, redox property and NOxadsorption behavior of the catalyst samples. From the characterization results, it was concluded that the low crystallinity of CeFeOxpromoted the dispersion of active species, as a result, enhancing the redox ability and NO adsorption capacity of CeFeOxcatalyst, which is favorable to NO catalytic oxidation. Furthermore, the presence of much chemisorbed oxygen on CeFeOxcatalyst also made a great contribution to its good catalytic performance.

Leptosphaeria maculansis a serious concern for canola production worldwide. For effective disease management, knowledge of the pathogen's genetic variability and population structure is a prerequisite. In this study,whole-genome sequencing was performed for 162 of 1590 L. maculansisolates collected in the years 2007–2008 and 2012–2014 in Western Canada. DNA variants in genome-wide and specific regions including avirulence (Avr) genes were characterized. A total of 31,870 high-quality polymorphic DNA variants were used to study L. maculansgenetic diversity and population structure. Cluster analysis showed that 150 isolates were clustered into two main groups and four subgroups by DNA variants located in either Avror small secreted protein–encoding genes and into two main groups and six subgroups by genome-wide variants. The analysis of nucleotide diversity and differentiation also confirmed genetic variation within a population and among populations. Principal component analysis with genome-wide variants showed that the isolates collected in 2012–2014 were more genetically diverse than those collected in 2007–2008. Population structure analysis discovered three distinct subpopulations. Although isolates from Saskatchewan and Alberta were of similar genetic composition, Manitoba isolates were highly diverse. Genome-wide association study detected DNA variants in genes AvrLm4-7, Lema_T86300, and Lema_T86310associated with the years of collection.