Search

Magnetic covalent organic frameworks (MCOFs) materials were synthesized in deep eutectic solvents (DESs) instead of traditional toxic organic solvents under ambient conditions. The reaction time could be reduced to about 3 h, which was more than 12 h for the traditional synthesis method. Materials characterization indicated that the MCOFs materials with Tp and BD as monomer synthesized in ChCl-urea based DESs (i.e. Urea-MTpBD) showed good magnetic property and higher specific surface area. The Urea-MTpBD materials were used as a magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) sorbent for the enrichment and determination of 16 pyrethroid pesticides (PYs), coupled with GC-MS/MS technology. The effective enrichment of PYs with Urea-MTpBD materials was achieved, which was due to the synergistic effects of π-π stacking and hydrophobic interactions. The limits of detection (LODs) of 16 PYs with the developed method ranged from 2.15 to 5.67 ng/mL, while the recovery was between 70.99 % and 109.09 % with excellent intra-day and inter-day precisions (RSD intra ≤ 5.78 %, RSD inter ≤ 9.13 %). The developed method was applied successfully to determine 16 PYs in tobacco, fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the Urea-MTpBD materials could be reused three times, which showed not only highly efficient, but also economical and sustainable. • A MSPE-GC-MS/MS method was developed for pyrethroid pesticides determination. • The magnetic COFs synthesized in DESs was used as adsorbent of MSPE. • The synthesis time was reduced to 3 h, better than traditional method. • The magnetic COFs could be reused, showing it to be economical and sustainable. • LOD values of 16 pyrethroid pesticides were ranged from 2.15 to 5.67 ng/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) is a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent that possesses cleaning and bactericidal properties, but impact of BAC on wellbeing of aquatic organisms remains uncertain. Consequently, in this current study, we have examined the immunotoxic potential of BAC in zebrafish embryos, thus marking it as the pioneering effort in this field. According to the findings, zebrafish embryos exposed to BAC exhibited a decline in yolk area that varied with the concentration, along with a significant decrease in the count of neutrophils, macrophages, red blood cells, and thymus T-cells. We observed significantly up-regulated expression of immune-related signaling genes such as cxcl-c1c , il-8 , tir4 and inf-γ , but expression of nf-κb was downregulated. In addition, we observed a marked reduction in the number of hematopoietic stem cells in zebrafish larvae after BAC exposure, which could be the result of oxidative stress-mediated apoptosis. We found that compared with the control group, the number of red blood cells in juvenile zebrafish in BAC-exposure group was significantly down-regulated, which could be attributed to hematopoietic stem cell defect. Astaxanthin restored immune cells and hematopoietic stem cells after BAC exposure, whereas Inhibitor of Wnt Response-1(IWR-1) restored neutrophils after BAC exposure. The research findings demonstrated that exposure to BAC displayed harmful effects on the development and immune system of zebrafish embryos. These effects might be associated with alterations in reactive oxygen species(ROS) levels and activation of the Wnt signaling pathway caused by BAC. [Display omitted] • Benzalkonium decreased the number of innate and adaptive immune cells. • Benzalkonium decreased the number of thematopoietic stem cell. • Benzalkonium affects immune cells in zebrafish through the reactive oxygen species. • Benzalkonium affects immune cells in zebrafish through the WNT signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is linked to lymphoma and epithelioma but lacks drugs specifically targeting EBV-positive tumors. Bam HI A Rightward Transcript (BART) miRNAs are expressed in all EBV-positive tumors, suppressing both lytic infection and host cell apoptosis. We identified suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), an inhibitor of histone deacetylase enzymes, as an agent that suppresses BART promoter activity and transcription of BART miRNAs. SAHA treatment demonstrated a more pronounced inhibition of cell proliferation in EBV-positive cells compared to EBV-negative cells, affecting both p53 wild-type and mutant gastric epithelial cells. SAHA treatment enhanced lytic infection in wild-type EBV-infected cells, while also enhancing cell death in BZLF1-deficient EBV-infected cells. It reduced BART gene expression by 85% and increased the expression of proapoptotic factors targeted by BART miRNAs. These findings suggest that SAHA not only induces lytic infection but also leads to cell death by suppressing BART miRNA transcription and promoting the apoptotic program. The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) gives rise to tumors from latently infected cells. Among the approximately 10 latent EBV genes, BART miRNAs are consistently expressed regardless of the type of latency. BART miRNAs constitute a cluster of 40 miRNAs located in the BamHI-A rightward transcripts (BART) region of the genome. These BART miRNAs are known to play roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis induction, immune evasion, and so on. Our research focused on the BART promoter, which commonly controls the expression of every BART miRNA. We discovered that SAHA can inhibit BART promoter activity. Treatment of EBV-positive gastric epithelial cells with SAHA led to both lytic infection and apoptotic cell death. Interestingly, even in cells infected with EBV lacking the BZLF1 gene, which doesn't induce lytic infection, SAHA treatment induced cell death in virus-infected cells. Therefore, by targeting the expression of BART miRNAs, we might develop novel drugs to combat EBV infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Algae blooms frequently occur in the coastal areas of China, and pose numbers of adverse effects to marine environment. Nitzschia closterium is one of the algal species associated with algae blooms and was selected as the target algae of this work. This study was the first attempt to investigate the effect of carbon source restriction on the growth of N. closterium during marine phytoplankton blooms. Experiments were implemented in the CO 2 -restricted (include three nutritional conditions) and CO 2 -unrestricted systems, respectively. The stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) and fatty acids (FAs) profiles were measured. Here we hypothesized that the deficient carbon source could lead to the changes of stable isotope ratios and FAs profiles in the N. closterium. The results showed that the δ13C of N. closterium enriched under the CO 2 restriction during the culture time (the isotopic difference greater than 27.8‰), whereas depleted under CO 2 -unrestricted system. Furthermore, within the CO 2 restriction, δ15N showed the enrichment trend with increasing culture time under the nitrogen deficiency conditions, where leveled off under the nitrogen non-deficiency conditions. A total of 12 FAs in N. closterium were detected. Within CO 2 restriction, FA 20:5n-3c was the predominant congener in all the three conditions. In addition, FA 16:1n-7c was highest in nitrogen deficient, while FA 16:3 was highest in phosphorus deficient condition. Consequently, the deficient carbon sources leaded to inhibit the FA (14:0, 16:0, 16:1n-7c, 16:3, 18:0, 18:3n-3c) synthesis. Overall, the present study provided the new approach to investigate the forming mechanisms of marine phytoplankton blooms by using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions as well as FAs profiles. Highlights • δ13C of N. closterium enriched under the CO 2 restriction during the culture time. • Nitrogen deficiency led enrichment in δ15N of N. closterium within CO 2 restriction. • CO 2 restriction decreased percentages of FAs 16:0, 16:1n-7c, 16:3, 18:0 and 18:3n-3c. • Nitrogen deficiency increased percentages of FAs 16:1n-7c, 18:0 and 18:3n-3c. • Phosphorus deficiency decreased percentages of FAs 16:0, 18:1n-9c, 18:3n-3c and 24:0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although ascomycetes occupy a vaster niche in soil than the well-studied basidiomycetes, they have received limited attention in studies related to bioremediation. In this study, the degradation of carbaryl by Xylaria sp. was studied in different culture conditions and its possible metabolic pathway was elucidated. In liquid culture, 99% of the added carbaryl was eliminated when cytochrome P450 (CYP450) was active, which was similar to the degradation rate of Pleurotus ostreatus , a fungus with strong bioremediation ability. Mn2+ is beneficial to the degradation of carbaryl. Compared to the 72.17% degradation rate in sterile soil, 59.0% carbaryl was eliminated in non-sterile soil, which suggested that Xylaria sp. BNL1 can resist microorganismal infection. Furthermore, the intracellular fractions containing laccase, CYP450, and carbaryl esterase efficiently degraded carbaryl. The presence of carbaryl metabolites suggested that Xylaria sp. BNL1 initiated its attack on carbaryl via carbaryl esterase to release α-naphthol, which was further degraded to 1,4-naphthoquinone and benzoic acid by CYP450 and laccase. Thus, our study highlights the potential of using Xylaria sp. for bioremediation. Graphical abstract fx1 Highlights • Xylaria sp. BNL1 showed better carbaryl degradation efficiency than Pleurotus ostreatus in liquid culture. • Xylaria sp. BNL1 promoted carbaryl degradation in non-sterile soil. • Carbaryl degradation by Xylaria sp. BNL1 involved laccase, CYP450, and esterase activities. • Carbaryl metabolism by Xylaria sp. BNL1 differed from that by bacteria. • The ascomycete Xylaria sp. BNL1 has potential for use in bioremediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catalase, which catalyzes the decomposition of H 2 O 2 to H 2 O and O 2 , is widely used to reduce H 2 O 2 in industrial applications, such as in food processing, textile dyeing and wastewater treatment. In this study, the catalase (KatA) from Bacillus subtilis was cloned and expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris X-33. The effect of the promoter in the expression plasmid on the activity level of the secreted KatA protein was also studied. First, the gene encoding KatA was cloned and inserted into a plasmid containing an inducible alcohol oxidase 1 promoter (pAOX1) or a constitutive glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase promoter (pGAP). The recombinant plasmids were validated by colony PCR and sequencing and then linearized and transformed into the yeast P. pastoris X-33 for expression. With the promoter pAOX1, the maximum yield of KatA in the culture medium reached 338.8 ± 9.6 U/mL in 2 days of shake flask cultivation, which was approximately 2.1-fold greater than the maximum yield obtained with the promoter pGAP. The expressed KatA was then purified from the culture medium by anion exchange chromatography, and its specific activity was determined to be 14826.58 U/mg. Finally, the purified KatA exhibited optimum activity at 25 °C and pH 11.0. Its K m for hydrogen peroxide was 10.9 ± 0.5 mM, and its k cat / K m was 5788.1 ± 25.6 s−1 mM−1. Through the work presented in this article, we have therefore demonstrated efficient expression and purification of KatA in P. pastoris , which might be advantageous for scaling up the production of KatA for use in a variety of biotechnological applications. • Extracellular production of B. subtilis catalase KatA in P. pastoris was achieved. • The promoter pAOX1 was more efficient than the promoter pGAP in producing the recombinant KatA in P. pastoris X-33. • The purified KatA enzyme exhibited optimal activity at 25 °C and pH 11.0, as well as good catalytic efficiency. • The findings demonstrated that P. pastoris is a suitable host for efficient expression of recombinant KatA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gait is considered as a promising biometric feature due to its support for long-distance and non-contact recognition. Most existing skeleton-based gait recognition methods deliver the same topology of skeleton graph for each frame and treat them equally in the process of temporal feature extraction and fusion, which undoubtedly limits the expressive capability of the model. In this paper, we propose a frame-level refinement network to adaptively learn specific topology in different frames and capture long-range dependencies between frames through transformer self-attention. Specifically, we design a frame-level topology refinement graph convolution (FTR-GC) to dynamically model different correlations between joints for each frame. In addition, we introduce transformer self-attention at the frame level, which can learn inter-frame long-range relations between the same joint. Finally, an attention-based frame-level feature aggregation module (FFAM) is presented to produce discriminative global features of input gait sequences. Experiments on the popular public dataset CASIA-B and OUMVLP-Pose show that our method notably surpasses state-of-the-art model-based methods, verifying the effectiveness of the proposed modules. • FTR-GC adaptively refines the frame-specific topological structure of skeleton graph. • Transformer self-attention is introduced to capture long-range inter-frame dependencies. • Attention-based FFAM encodes frame-level features into a single discriminative vector. • The proposed model outperforms other state-of-the-art model-based methods on CASIA-B and OUMVLP-Pose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liver disease (LD), defined as ≥ 2-fold elevation of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) or alanine aminotransferase (ALT), was examined in a longitudinal study of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Among 435 patients, 90 (20.7%) had LD with a greater prevalence in males (15/39; 38.5%) than females (75/396; 18.9%; p = 0.01). SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI) was greater in LD patients (7.8 ± 0.7) relative to those without (5.8 ± 0.3; p = 0.0025). Anti-smooth muscle antibodies, anti-DNA antibodies, hypocomplementemia, proteinuria, leucopenia, thrombocytopenia, and anti-phospholipid syndrome were increased in LD. An absence of LD was noted in patients receiving rapamycin relative to azathioprine, cyclosporine A, or cyclophosphamide. An absence of LD was also noted in patients treated with N-acetylcysteine. LFTs were normalized and SLEDAI was diminished with increased prednisone use in 76/90 LD patients over 12.1 ± 2.6 months. Thus, LD is attributed to autoimmunity and disease activity, it responds to prednisone, and it is potentially preventable by rapamycin or N-acetylcysteine treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Many herbal medicines and dietary supplements sold as aids to improve memory or treat neurodegenerative diseases or have other favorable effects on the CNS contain a catechol or similar 1,2-dihydroxy aromatic moiety in their structure. As an approach to isolate and examine the neuroprotective properties of catechols, a simple catechol 4-t-Butylcatechol (TBC) has been used as a model. In this study, we investigated the effects of TBC on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglial-induced neurotoxicity by using the in vitro model of coculture murine microglial-like cell line HAPI with the neuronal-like human neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y. We also examined the effects of TBC on 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced neurotoxicity in human dopaminergic neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. TBC at concentrations from 0.1–10 μM had no toxic effect on HAPI cells and SH-SY5Y cells, and it inhibited LPS (100 ng/ml)-induced increases of superoxide, intracellular ROS, gp91Phox, iNOS and a decrease of HO-1 in HAPI cells. Under coculture condition, TBC significantly reduced LPS-activated microglia-induced dopaminergic SH-SY5Y cells death. Moreover, TBC (0.1–10 μM) inhibited 6-OHDA-induced increases of intracellular ROS, iNOS, nNOS, and a decrease of mitochondria membrane potential, and cell death in SH-SY5Y cells. However, the neurotoxic effects of TBC (100 μM) on SH-SY5Y cells were also observed including the decrease in mitochondria membrane potential and the increase in COX-2 expression and cell death. TBC-induced SH-SY5Y cell death was attenuated by pretreatment with NS-398, a selective COX-2 inhibitor. In conclusion, this study suggests that TBC might possess protective effects on inflammation- and oxidative stress-related neurodegenerative disorders. However, the high concentration of TBC might be toxic, at least in part, for increasing COX-2 expression. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

[Display omitted] • Mn-doping NiS 2 of (Ni 1-x Mn x)-S nanosheets are innovatively proposed as the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution materials. • The optimal (Ni 4/6 Mn 2/6)-S nanosheets perform an ultrahigh hydrogen evolution rate of 24.86 mmol g-1 h−1 than pure NiS 2 and MnS. • The negative shift of the conduction band (CB) provides a high thermodynamic driving force for hydrogen catalytic reactions. Two-dimensional transition metal disulfides are excellent photocatalytic materials, which can be significantly improved by optimizing the composition and structure. Herein, Mn-doping NiS 2 of (Ni 1-x Mn x)-S with various Ni/Mn molar ratios is proposed via a facile and low-cost solvothermal method. The optimal (Ni 4/6 Mn 2/6)-S exhibits pinecone-like morphology composed of tiny nanosheets with enlarged active sites, which facilitates the separation of photoinduced electrons and holes, improves the electron transfer ability and conductivity, and enlarges the active sites compared with pure NiS 2 and MnS. Also, the negative shift of the conduction band derived from Mott-Schottky plots and the empirical formula provides a high thermodynamic driving force for hydrogen catalytic reaction. (Ni 4/6 Mn 2/6)-S performs an ultrahigh hydrogen evolution rate of 24.86 mmol g−1 h−1 under UV–visible light irradiation, which is 1.5 times higher than pure NiS 2 (16.92 mmol g−1 h−1) and 2.3 times higher than pure MnS (10.69 mmol g−1 h−1). The outstanding repeatability of 86.7% retention and apparent quantum yield of 46.9% are also achieved. Therefore, this work offers a novel bimetallic sulfide of (Ni 1-x Mn x)-S to improve the conversion efficiency of solar energy to chemical energy for photocatalytic hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbiosis of marine algae is inevitable in the marine environment, and species may occur interaction on the growth. In this study, the macroalgae Ulva pertusa and marine microalgae Heterosigma akashiwo were selected as target species to study the interaction mechanism between them. After the 8 days of co-cultivation, the inhibition on growth was observed for both of U. pertusa and H. akashiwo. Eight fatty acids in U. pertusa was detected, with the significant decrease in contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) especially for C18:2, C18:3n-3 and C18:3n-6. Twelve fatty acids in H. akashiwo was detected, with the significant change for PUFAs. PUFA concentrations in the co-culture group were less than those in the mono-culture. Meanwhile the principal component analysis was conducted to insight into the interaction between U. pertusa and H. akashiwo by fatty acids content and carbon stable isotope ratio of fatty acids (δ13C FAs). Fatty acid content could not distinguish mono and co-culture. However, δ13C FAs could distinguish not only the culture time of algae, but also the living environment of algae. In addition, this study combined fatty acids content and δ13C FAs to explore the release of fatty acids by algae into the seawater. The C18:3n-3 was identified as the allelochemical released by U. pertusa to inhibit the growth of H. akashiwo. The ratio of δ13C FAs in seawater decreased. This study provides a theoretical basis for the symbiosis of marine algae, and a new method of compound-specific stable carbon isotopes was used to better explore the metabolism of fatty acids in algae. ga1 • U. Pertusa and H. akashiwo were inhibited growth by each other. • The PUFAs of U. Pertusa and H. akashiwo were significantly decreased in co-culture. • The δ13C FAs could a better indicator to distinguish the influence of external stress on algae. • The δ13C FAs secreted by algae into seawater were more negative than the δ13C FAs in algae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effect of water accommodated fractions (WAF) of #180 fuel oil on fixed carbon and nitrogen in microalgae was studied by stable isotopes. Platymonas helgolandi ca , Heterosigma akashiwo and Nitzschia closterium were exposed to five WAF concentrations for 96 h. The δ 13C value of microalgae was significantly lower than that of the control group, indicated that carbon was limited in the WAF concentrations. The δ 13C value of microalgae appeared peak valley at 48 h in control group, corresponding to the enhanced capacity in carbon fixation during microalgae photosynthesis. The physiological acclimation capacity of microalgae was revealed by the occurrence time when the δ13C value was in peak valley, and thus the physiological acclimation capacity of microalgae decreased in the order of Nitzschia closterium > Heterosigma akashiwo > Platymonas helgolandica. Principal component analysis (PCA) were applied to the δ13C value in order to verify the "hormesis" phenomenon in microalgae. The δ13C value could discriminate between stimulatory effects at low doses and inhibitory effects at high doses. In addition, the present study also investigated the effect of the nitrogen on microalgae growth. Because microalgae could still absorb the NO 3 –N and release of NO 2 –N and NH 4 –N in present study, the nitrogen cycle in microalgae was in the equilibrium status. The δ 15N value in microalgae exhibited no obvious change with the increasing of WAF concentrations at the same time. However, due to the enrichment of nitrogen, the δ 15N value first increased gradually with the time and finally was stable. Overall, the fractionation of carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes illustrated that the effect of carbon on the growth of microalgae was more prominent than nitrogen. Stable isotopes was used to investigate the influence of WAF on fixed carbon and nitrogen in microalgae growth, providing a fundamental theoretical guidance for risk assessment of marine ecological environment. • Toxic effects of oil spill on microalgae were explored by using δ 13C and δ 15N. • Algae δ 13C indicated that carbon was limited in the WAF concentrations. • Algae δ 13C verify the "hormesis" phenomenon. • The NO 3 –N of three microalgae decreased with time under the different WAF. • The algae δ 15N illustrated the nitrogen cycle was in the equilibrium status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The herbal tea made from the leaves and stems of Cyclocarya paliurus is thought to be more flavorful than those made from the leaves only. However, evidence supporting this view is not available yet. 53 VOCs and 54 non-VOCs were identified via HS-SPME-GC-MS and UPLC-Q-TOF/MS, respectively, which were found to vary dramatically in three groups of samples (combination of stems and leaves, separated leaves, and separated stems). 11 VOCs and 18 non-VOCs potential markers are responsible for the change of metabolic effects through the biosynthesis of flavonoids, the synthesis of terpenoids, and the oxidation of fatty acids and carotenoids. In response, the stems were effective to enhance fatty odors, the initial astringency and bitterness and the aftertaste of sweetness of the leaves. Stems are conducive to increasing total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity of Cyclocarya paliurus herbal extract because of the increase in polyphenols. In addition, the stems have the potential to be used as raw materials for nerolidol and polyphenols extraction. This study has been the first to determine the contribution of stem to the flavor of Cyclocarya paliurus herbal tea and these results provide the theoretical basis for making Cyclocarya paliurus herbal tea with stems. [Display omitted] • An untargeted metabolomics approach was applied to C. paliurus herbal tea. • The first study to determine the contribution of stems to C. paliurus herbal tea. • 29 characteristic metabolites were obtained by using OPLS-DA analysis. • Metabolic pathways of VOCs and non-VOCs in C. paliurus herbal tea were studied. • The stems of C. paliurus are rich in flavonoids and nerolidol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] General strategies leading to 2D assemblies promise a significant step forward in the development of supramolecular materials with diversity and superiority. Considering molecular packing parameter indicates a connection between molecular geometry and aggregate morphology, we predict the introduction of ionic surfactants as assembly crosslinker would be endowed to develop a methodology of 2D supramolecular assembles. In this work, by introducing ionic surfactants such as sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), the molecular packing parameter P in bolaamphiphile (A2G) system was increased, which successfully manipulated the transformation of the 3D vesicles into 2D membranes. This 2D membranes further showed excellent light and enzyme response, and thus 2D to 3D morphological conversion can be rationally controlled via UV/Vis light irradiation and alternate addition of β-CD and α-amylase. Significantly, the 2D feature revealed not only a remarkable fluorescence enhancement to luminescent molecules but also the ability to effectively remove pollutants from water through filtration. We report a general and facile strategy for the construction of 2D supramolecular membranes, initiated by introducing ionic surfactants as assembly crosslinker to increase P. In the existence of stimulus response factors, 2D↔3D morphological conversion can be further controlled in a flexible manner, which opens up a new paradigm leading to interconvertible supramolecular materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A Multi-Task GNN Framework is proposed for diseases similarity measurement. • A few-shot learning method is implemented in the proposed framework. • The framework solves the problem of insufficient labelled similar disease data. Similar diseases are usually caused by molecular origins or similar phenotypes. Confirming the relationship between diseases can help researchers gain a deep insight of the pathogenic mechanisms of emerging complex diseases, and improve the corresponding diagnoses and treatment. Therefore, similar diseases are considerably important in biology and pathology. However, the insufficient number of labelled similar disease pairs cannot support the optimal training of the models. In this paper, we propose a Multi-Task Graph Neural Network (MTGNN) framework to measure disease similarity by few-shot learning. To tackle the problem of insufficient number of labelled similar disease pairs, we design the multi-task optimization strategy to train the graph neural network for disease similarity task (lack of labelled training data) by introducing link prediction task (sufficient labelled training data). The similarity between diseases can then be obtained by measuring the distance between disease embeddings in high-dimensional space learning from the double tasks. The experiment results evaluate the performance of MTGNN and illustrate its advantages over previous methods on few labeled training dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ethyl acetate (EA) is an ordinary organic compound in fruits, wine and cosmetics, and used as a solvent frequently. With the recent observation in our experiment, we suspected that EA could affect immune function, in particular macrophage activity. In this paper, we tested EA’s protect effect against death in Lipopolysaccharide/D-galactosamine (LPS/D-GalN)-induced endotoxic shock model in mice. And also found EA decreased the LPS-induced mRNA expression of mediators of inflammation including cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), inducible NOS (iNOS), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF α) in RAW264.7 cells. Consequently, EA decreased the production of, TNF α and the inflammatory agent nitric oxide (NO) in RAW264.7 cells treated with LPS. Other pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1h and IL-6 were similarly decreased by EA treatment of RAW264.7 cells. The potential mechanism may associate with NF-κB activity as we shown. Taken together, these results suggest that EA has anti-inflammatory properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Struvite precipitated from wastewaters is an important fertilizer. However, struvite derived from wastewater usually contains toxic Pb, which can bring contamination to soil and even plants. Thus, understanding the incorporation mechanisms of Pb2+ during struvite precipitation is critical to its safe application. Here the influence of Pb concentration on struvite precipitation was assessed. When the initial Pb concentrations were at the range of 0.1–1 mg/L, the formation of pitting and roughening on struvite crystal surfaces was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), indicating a surface interaction between Pb and struvite. Combined with X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), the results confirmed that the formed Pb-enriched layer with Pb–OH and Pb-PO 4 bonds was absorbed on struvite surface during precipitation. When Pb concentrations were increased to 10–100 mg/L, the precipitation of dominating Pb phase, crystalline Pb 10 (PO 4) 6 (OH) 2 , was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Combined with XPS, the amorphous Pb hydroxide/phosphate and Mg phosphate were also detected in struvite solids. Our findings revealed that at low concentrations (0.1–1 mg/L), Pb can affect the mineral surface by surface absorption, whereas Pb precipitated as separated phase(s) (e.g. Pb 10 (PO 4) 6 (OH) 2 , Pb hydroxide and/or phosphate) at high Pb concentrations (10–100 mg/L). Thus, the initial Pb2+ concentrations in wastewater will dictate final struvite contents and Pb-bearing phases in recovered solids. • > 99% of Pb was incorporated into struvite solids at 0.1–100 mg/L of Pb. • Pb bound with PO 4 and OH adsorbs on struvite surface at 0.1–1 mg/L of Pb. • Pb precipitated as Pb 10 (PO 4) 6 (OH) 2 and Pb hydroxide/phosphate at 10–100 mg/L of Pb. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the data arrival ratio and the transmission delay and considering that the capacity for determining malicious nodes and energy are limited, a security disjoint routing-based verified message (SDRVM) scheme is proposed. The main contributions of SDRVM are as follows: (a) two connected dominating sets (a data CDS and a v-message CDS) are created for disseminating data and verified messages (v-messages), respectively, based on the remaining energy of nodes. (b) Nodes record the ID information in data packets with a specified probability, namely, the marking probability, which is adjusted according to the remaining energy of the nodes. (c) The duty cycle of the nodes is adjusted, and the energy of the nodes is divided into three levels. In the data CDS, the duty cycle of the sensor nodes is the longest and the duty cycle of the nodes that do not belong to either of the CDSs is the shortest. (d) If the energy of the sensor nodes is sufficient, data packets are transmitted several times and the v-messages that are stored in the nodes are transmitted to the destination nodes. The proposed scheme has been evaluated using different parameters where the results obtained prove its effectiveness in comparison to the existing solutions. • A data and verified message disjoint routing (DMDR) scheme is proposed. • The DMDR scheme has lower delay, higher data arrival ratio and network security. • We provide theoretical and simulation results to confirm the performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The World Health Organization (WHO)'s cervical cancer screening guidelines for limited-resource settings recommend sequential screening followed by same-day treatment under a “screen-and-treat” approach. We aimed to (1) assess feasibility and clinical outcomes of screening HIV-positive and HIV-negative Cameroonian women by pairing visual inspection with acetic acid and Lugol's iodine enhanced by digital cervicography (VIA/VILI-DC) with careHPV, a high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) nucleic acid test designed for low-resource settings; and (2) determine persistence of HR-HPV infection after one-year follow-up to inform optimal screening, treatment, and follow-up algorithms. Methods We co-tested 913 previously unscreened women aged ≥ 30 years and applied WHO-recommended treatment for all VIA/VILI-DC-positive women. Baseline prevalence of HR-HPV and HIV were 24% and 42%, respectively. Results On initial screen, 44 (5%) women were VIA/VILI-DC-positive, of whom 22 had HR-HPV infection, indicating 50% of women screened false-positive and would have been triaged for unnecessary same-day treatment. VIA/VILI-DC-positive women with HIV infection were three times more likely to be HR-HPV-positive than HIV-negative women (65% vs. 20%). All women positive for either VIA/VILI-DC or HR-HPV (n = 245) were invited for repeat co-testing after one year, of which 136 (56%) returned for follow-up. Of 122 women who were HR-HPV-positive on initial screen, 60 (49%) re-tested negative, of whom 6 had received treatment after initial screen, indicating that 44% of initially HR-HPV-positive women spontaneously cleared infection after one year without treatment. Women with HIV were more likely to remain HR-HPV-positive on follow-up than HIV-negative women (61% vs. 22%, p < 0.001). Treatment was offered to all VIA/VILI-DC positive women on initial screen, and to all women screening VIA/VILI-DC or HR-HPV positive on follow-up. Conclusions We found careHPV co-testing with VIA/VILI-DC to be feasible and valuable in identifying false-positives, but careHPV screening-to-result time was too long to inform same-day treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]