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Growing evidence has indicated the association of clinical antibiotic use with abnormal blood lipid levels; however, no epidemiological study has examined the relationship of antibiotic exposure, probably derived from food chains, with blood lipid levels. This study investigated the relationships of urinary antibiotic levels with blood lipid levels and dyslipidemias in the older population. Baseline data of 960 participants from the Cohort of Elderly Health and Environment Controllable Factors were used in the present study. High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was performed to detect antibiotic residues in the urine samples of the participants. Our findings revealed that each 1 μg/g increase in enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin levels was associated with an increase of 0.084 (95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.030, 0.139) and 0.049 (95 % CI : 0.012, 0.086) in triglyceride levels, respectively. Enrofloxacin was associated with an increased risk of hypertriglyceridemia. Each 1 μg/g increase in the enrofloxacin level corresponded to an increase of 0.052 (95 % CI : 0.006, 0.098) in the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level. Furthermore, florfenicol exposure increased the risks of both hyperbetalipoproteinemia and hypoalphalipoproteinemia. By contrast, each 1 μg/g increase in sulfaclozine and doxycycline levels was associated with a − 0.062 (95 % CI : −0.111, −0.020), and − 0.083 (95 % CI : −0.160, −0.007) decrease in total cholesterol levels, respectively. Sulfaclozine was closely related to a decreased risk of hypercholesterolemia. Stratification analysis revealed specific differences in the correlation between antibiotic exposure and lipid levels based on the waist circumference (WC) values of the participants. Except for sulfaclozine and doxycycline, other antibiotics exerted adverse effects on lipid levels and increased dyslipidemia prevalence. The older participants with higher WC values were vulnerable to antibiotic exposure. Therefore, an appropriate understanding of the epidemiological attributes of antibiotic residues is indispensable to prevent abdominal obesity in the older population. [Display omitted] • Doxycycline exposure was negatively correlated with TG levels. • Doxycycline exposure was linked to a reduced risk of hypertriglyceridemia. • Macrolide exposure was related to hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia. • WC discrepancy intervened the associations between antibiotics and blood lipids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental and epidemiological studies have linked antibiotics use to gut dysbiosis-mediated risk of chronic metabolic diseases. However, whether adiposity is linked to antibiotic exposure in elderly remains inadequately understood. To investigate the association between internal exposure of antibiotics and adiposity in elderly by using a biomonitoring method. We included 990 participants (≥ 60 years) from the baseline survey of the Cohort of Elderly Health and Environment Controllable Factors in Lu'an city, China, from June to September 2016. Forty-five antibiotics and two metabolites in urine were monitored through liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Creatinine-corrected urinary concentrations were used to assess antibiotic exposure levels. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and body fat percentage (BFP) were used as indicators of adiposity. Multiple linear regression and binary logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the association of antibiotic concentrations with obesity-related indices. Subsequently, a gender-stratified analysis was performed. Of the included elderly, 50.7% were defined as having overweight/ obesity, 59.8% as having central preobesity/obesity, and 37.5% as having slightly high/high BFP. Linear regression analysis revealed that a 1-unit increase in the logarithmic transformation of norfloxacin concentrations was related with an increase of 0.29 kg/m2 (95% CI: 0.02–0.04), 0.99 cm (95% CI：0.24–1.75), and 0.69% (95% CI：0.21–1.17) in BMI, WC, and BFP, respectively. Compared with the control group, exposure to doxycycline (tertile 2: odds ratio, 2.06 [95% CI: 1.12–3.76]) and norfloxacin (tertile 2: 2.13 [1.05–4.29]; tertile 3: 2.07 [1.03–4.17]) had BMI-based overweight/obesity risk. Additionally, ciprofloxacin (tertile 2: 2.06 [1.12–3.76]), norfloxacin (tertile 3: 2.95 [1.34–6.49]), and florfenicol (tertile 3: 1.84 [1.07–3.14]) were related to WC-based central preobesity/obesity risk. Norfloxacin (tertile 3: 2.54 [1.23–5.24]) was positively associated with a slightly high/high BFP risk. Gender-stratified analysis demonstrated an increased adiposity risk in women compared with men. Our research provided an evidence that exposure to specific types of antibiotics (tetracyclines and fluoroquinolones) probably from the food chain contributed to obesity in elderly. Prospective cohort studies with larger sample size are warrented to explore the causation. • The elderly were widely exposed to antibiotics from various sources. • Some veterinary antibiotics were associated with adiposity risk in the elderly. • The significant associations differed by gender, and mainly existed in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber quality is a major breeding goal in cotton, but phenotypically direct selection is often hindered. In this study, we identified fiber quality and yield related loci using GWAS based on 2.97 million SNPs obtained from 10.65× resequencing data of 1081 accessions. The results showed that 585 novel fiber loci, including two novel stable SNP peaks associated with fiber length on chromosomes At12 and Dt05 and one novel genome regions linked with fiber strength on chromosome Dt12 were identified. Furthermore, by means of gene expression analysis, GhM_A12G0090 , GhM_D05G1692 , GhM_D12G3135 were identified and GhM_D11G2208 function was identified in Arabidopsis. Additionally, 14 consistent and stable superior haplotypes were identified, and 25 accessions were detected as possessing these 14 superior haplotype in breeding. This study providing fundamental insight relevant to identification of genes associated with fiber quality and yield will enhance future efforts toward improvement of upland cotton. • A total of 909 novel fiber and yield loci were detected via WGRS with 10.65× coverage depth in 1,081 cotton accessions. • Three novel stable SNP peaks associated with FL and FS were found. • GhM_D11G2208 can promote cell elongation based up leaf trichome and dark-grown hypocotyls in Arabidopsis. • 14 consistent and stable superior haplotypes were detected based on 915 SNPs in Dt11 region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence of interactive effect of the toxic metal (TM) mixture and apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 gene on cognitive impairment in older adults is scarce. We aimed to explore whether the associations of single TMs and their mixture with cognitive impairment depend on APOE ε4 in Chinese community-dwelling older people. A total of 1148 older adults from a subset of the baseline survey of a cohort study were included. Blood arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), strontium (Sr), and vanadium (V) were detected by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. APOE gene (rs429358, rs7412) polymorphisms were analyzed by the Polymerase Chain Reaction instrument. Mixed effects logistic regression was applied to estimate the relationships of single TMs and APOE genotype with cognitive impairment. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models were performed to examine joint impacts of the TM mixture, as well as the interaction of the TM mixture with APOE ε4 genotype on cognitive impairment. Pb displayed a significant linear association with an increased odds of cognitive impairment after adjustment for covariates (P trend = 0.045). While APOE genotype did not show a significant correlation with cognitive impairment. WQS showed that the TM mixture was associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment by 31.0% (OR= 1.31, 95% CI: 0.92, 1.87) while no significance was found. BKMR exhibited a significant linear association between the TM mixture and cognitive impairment. Moreover, both WQS and BKMR indicated that Pb contributed the most to cognitive impairment within the mixture. Significant interactions of Pb or the TM mixture and APOE genotype on cognitive impairment were observed, contributing to 38.1% and 38.2% of total effects, respectively. APOE ε4 allele amplifies the associations of single Pb or the TM mixture with cognitive impairment. These findings may help to develop precision prevention. [Display omitted] • The TM mixture showed a positive association with cognitive impairment, in which Pb was the most contributor in the mixture. • APOE ε4 genotype amplified the associations of Pb and the TM mixture with cognitive impairment in older adults. • Attributable proportions due to interaction effects of Pb and the mixture with APOE ε4 were 38.1% and 38.2%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel Mn(II)/Co(II)-based 3D metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), namely {[Mn 2 (L)(tib)(H 2 O)]·3DMA·4H 2 O} n (1), {[Co 2 (L)(bipd) 2 ]·3H 2 O} n (2) and {[Co(L) 0.5 (bimb)]·3H 2 O·0.5O 2 } n (3) (H 4 L ​= ​5,5'-(1,4-xylylenediamino) diisophthalic acid, tib ​= ​1,3,5-tris(1-imidazolyl)benzene, bipd ​= ​3,5-bis(1-imidazoly)pyridine, and bimb ​= ​1,4-bis(lmidazol)-butane), have been successfully synthesized using the mixed-ligand as functionalized organic linker. The structural characterization revealed that both MOFs 1 and 2 exhibited an unprecedented 4-nodal 3D framework that enriching crystal engineering, while MOF 3 featured a 2-nodal three-interpenetrating bbf topology framework with a Schläfli symbol of (64·82)(66) 2. The title MOFs have been exploited as photocatalysts for degradation of methylene blue (MB), methyl violet (MV) and malachite green (MG). The photocatalytic results demonstrated that MOFs 2 and 3 exhibited efficient photocatalytic abilities to degrade the three aromatic dyes under UV irradiation. The possible catalytic mechanism was also explored and discussed in detail. Moreover, the variable-temperature magnetic analyses indicated that MOFs 1 – 3 exhibited weak antiferromagnetic behavior between Mn(II)/Co(II) ions. [Display omitted] • Three novel Mn(II)/Co(II)-based 3D MOFs under solvothermal or hydrothermal condition in one-step, for the first time, were synthesized. • The MOFs 2 and 3 act as efficient heterogeneous photocatalyst for degradation of three aromatic dyes. • The possible catalytic mechanism was explored and discussed in detail. • MOFs 1 – 3 exhibit antiferromagnetic coupling between neighboring central ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four novel Co(II)-MOFs based on the 3,3′-azodibenzoic acid (H 2 L), namely [CoL (bimb) 0.5 ] n (1), {[CoL (bimmb)]·DMF} n (2), [CoL (bimmb) 0.5 ] n (3), and [CoL (bbibp)] n (4) (bimb = 1,4-bisimidazole, bimmb = 4-bis(imidazole-1-ylmethyl)benzene, bbibp = 4,4′-bis(benzoimidazo-1-yl)biphenyl and DMF = N, N′-dimethylformamide) have been synthesized under solvothermal conditions and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectra, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), thermogravimetric (TG) analysis and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis shows that complex 1 and complex 3 possesses the same structure as uninodal 6-connected 3D (three-dimensional) pcu topology framework with the point symbol (412.63), whereas complex 2 possesses an uninodal 3-connected hcb topology framework with the point symbol (63) and complex 4 displays a 4-connected sql topology framework with the point symbol of (44.62). In addition, the photocatalytic degradation properties of the four complexes have been investigated. Significantly, complex 4 is the best photocatalyst for the degradation of three organic dyes (MV/MB/RhB). Complex 2 is the good photocatalyst for the degradation of two organic dyes (RhB/MB). Complex 3 is the good photocatalyst for the degradation of two organic dyes (MV/MB) and complex 1 is the good photocatalyst for the degradation of only one organic dyes (MV). Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As VLSI technology advances towards nanoscale devices, interconnect delay is becoming increasingly important, and could be effectively reduced using buffer insertion. The widely-used buffer insertion technique in industry is to insert a set of buffers on the chip, which may overlap some gates, and then greedily move the buffers to the nearest available buffer holes. The moving distance of inserted buffers largely affects the wirelength which may result in the increase of the interconnect delay. This necessitates efficient algorithms to minimize the moving distance of buffers for effective buffer insertion to obtain high-performance VLSI designs. This paper proposes an efficient, perturbation constrained buffer planning algorithm to maximize the candidate buffer holes with regarding to the feature of CPS based buffering design framework. Instead of directly moving buffers to the existing available buffer holes, the proposed algorithm changes the original placement by moving some gates tinily to provide more flexibility for buffer insertion. The integer linear programming based technique is designed for the physical design flow which allows small moving range of gates. Parallel technique is utilized to solve the ILP problems efficiently when the scale of chip is increasing. Experimental results have shown that the proposed algorithm achieves at most 41.49 % increase in the available buffer holes when compared to the algorithm with no gate movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel Co (II) MOFs based on 5-(4-(imidazolyl-1-yl)phenyl) isophthalic acid (H 2 L), namely [Co(L)(tib)(H 2 O) 2 ] n (CP 1) and [Co(L)(bip) 0.5 ] n (CP 2) (tib ​= ​1,3,5-tirs (1-imidazolyl) benzene, bip ​= ​3,5-bis(1-imidazolyl) pyridine ether) have been synthesized under solvothermal conditions and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, single crystal X-ray diffraction. The photodegradation studies demonstrate that CPs 1 – 2 show high-efficiency degradation of MV (Methyl violet), and the mechanism studies demonstrate that the main active species are ⋅OH radicals. Meanwhile, electrochemistry studies demonstrate that CPs 1 – 2 can catalyze water oxidation under alkaline conditions, and CPs 1 – 2 only need the overpotential of 348 ​mV–760 mV to deliver the current density of 1 ​mA ​cm−2. Two novel Co (II) MOFs (CP 1 and CP 2) have been synthesized by H 2 L, tib, and bip. The photodegradation studies demonstrate that CPs 1-2 show high-efficiency degradation of MV. Simultaneously, electrochemistry studies show that CPs 1-2 could catalyze water oxidation with relatively low overpotential. [Display omitted] • Two novel Co-based MOFs were synthesized by solvothermal method. • Exhibit efficient photocatalytic degradation abilities towards MV/MB in aqueous solution. • Only need the overpotential of 348 ​mV–760 mV to deliver the current density of 1 ​mA ​cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microplastics (MPs), a growing class of emerging pollutants in the environment, have attracted widespread attention due to their adsorption properties. Recent research on MPs has mainly concentrated on seawater, and little work has been conducted on freshwater. Investigating and predicting the adsorption behavior of organic pollutants by MPs are necessary in freshwater. In this study, the adsorption behavior of 13 organic chemicals by polyethylene (PE) and chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) MPs was determined under freshwater conditions. Results shows the majority of the organic chemicals exhibit no distinctive differences in their adsorption on two MPs. However, the adsorption of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and chlorobenzene on CPE is obviously stronger than that on PE, and the result is a counter for two pesticides. Quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) analysis was performed for the prediction of adsorption capacity. A QSAR model with acceptable performance (R 2 = 0.8586) was built to predict the adsorptive affinity (expressed as log K d) of organic compounds on the PE MPs via multivariable linear regression (MLR) on forty-nine determined and collected data. The octanol/water partition coefficient (log K ow) and excess molar refractive index (E) play dominant roles in the model. A QSAR model with satisfactory performance (R 2 = 0.9302) was also established for log K d values from CPE MPs in freshwater by using 13 adsorption data determined. The log K ow and most negative charge on Cl atom (Q - max,cl) play decisive roles in the adsorption. The findings can provide a scientific basis for the risk assessment of waters contaminated by MPs and organic pollutants. • The adsorption of organics on microplastics was investigated in freshwater. • The adsorption affinity of 13 organic compounds on PE and CPE was compared. • QSAR models were established to predict the adsorption affinity. • The structural factors of compounds ascribing to adsorption were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three novel Zn(II)-based coordination polymers (Zn-CPs), namely {[Zn(1,3,5-tib) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ·2(NO 3)} n (1), [Zn(1,3,5-tib)(4,4′-saba)] n (2), and {[Zn(1,3-bit)(4,4′-cpmb)]·0.5(1,3-bit)} n (3), have been hydrothermally synthesized and successfully characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction (1,3,5-tib ​= ​1,3,5-tris(1-imidazolyl)benzene), 4,4′-Hsaba ​= ​4-(4-sulfoacid)-benzoic acid, 1,3-bit ​= ​1,3-bis(l-imidazoly)toluene, and 4,4′-H 2 cpmb ​= ​4-(4-carboxylphenylmethylthio)benzoic acid). Structural analysis reveals that complex 1 manifests a 2D planar structure with an unprecedented (2,4)-c topological network. Complex 2 and complex 3 display a 3-c fes and 6-fold classical Ia interpenetrated dia framework with 4-c (66) sqc6 topology framework, respectively. Among the three complexes, CPs 1 and 2 demonstrate excellent performance for Azo organic dyes' adsorption, for which the selectivity and kinetics have been comprehensively studied. CPs 3 shows great luminescent intensity in aqueous solution. It is further applied as a fluorescence sensor to detect Fe3+ cation, Cr 2 O 7 2− anion, and tetracycline antibiotic. Three Zn(II) coordination polymers (Zn-CPs), {[Zn(1,3,5-tib) 2 (H 2 O) 2 ·2(NO 3)} n (1), [Zn(1,3,5-tib)(4,4′-saba)] n (2), and {[Zn(1,3-bit)(4,4′-cpmb)]·0.5(1,3-bit)} n (3), have been hydrothermally prepared. While 1 – 2 could be applied as a CR dye adsorbent, and 3 could be as a potential sensing material for detection of Fe3+, Cr 2 O 7 2−, and TC. Image 1 • Three new Zn (II) coordination polymers (Zn-CPs) have been hydrothermally prepared and characterized. • Complexes 1 – 2 could selectively removal CR dye molecule from aqueous solution. • Complex 3 could be used to detect Fe3+, Cr 2 O 7 2−, and TC with high selectivity, anti-interference, and repeat-ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]