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Water quality monitoring stations are crucial for detecting excess pollutants in river sections, but identifying the causes of these exceedances can be challenging, especially in heavily polluted rivers with multiple contamination sources. To address this issue, we used the SWAT model to simulate pollution loads from various sources in the Haihe River Basin, analyzing the spatiotemporal distribution of pollutants from seven nitrogen/phosphorus sources in sub-basins. Our results show that crop production is the primary contributor to nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the Haihe River Basin, with the highest loads occurring in summer, followed by fall, spring, and winter. However, industries, atmospheric deposition, and municipal sewage treatment plants have a greater downstream impact on nitrogen/phosphorus contributions due to land use changes. The study highlights the need for targeted prevention and control policies based on the primary sources of pollution loads in different regions. • Soil and Water Assessment Tool model has strong applicability in complex watersheds. • Sources of N and P pollution are influenced by land use in the Haihe River Basin. • The spatiotemporal patterns of TN and TP loads in the Haihe River Basin are similar. • TN/TP contributions from point sources and atmospheric deposition are evident. • Stakeholder engagement and prevention at source are key to improving water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Streptococcus has emerged as an important pathogen in fish farming worldwide. In this study, we characterized a Streptococcus species from a cultured, diseased Siganus guttatus in South China. Phenotypic, chemotaxonomic, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, phylogenetic and genome comparison analysis indicated that this isolate may be considered as same species with previously reported Streptococcus sp. X13SY08 from Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii). We further predicted the virulence factor using whole genome sequence and analyzed the pathogenesis of this species by challenge tests. A total of 30 virulence factors were identified on the genome. Challenge tests of S. guttatus via intrathoracic injection of strain X16XC17 exhibited 100% cumulative mortality rates at 108 colony forming units (CFU) per fish, and 45% to 85% at 104 to 107 CFU per fish. The histopathological results showed that the spleen, kidney, liver and heart all had pathological manifestations. Additionally, a specific PCR assay was developed to detect this species. The antibiotic resistance results showed that this species was only resistant to trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole. This study describes a new species of genus Streptococcus as potential causative agent of diseased S. guttatus , and offers insights in the subsequent study of the virulence and pathogenesis associated with this pathogen. • A Streptococcus species was isolated from a cultured, diseased Siganus guttatus in South China. • It is the same species with those isolated from Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii peelii). • Challenge experiments showed that the strain was lethal to S. guttatus. • The strain was resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. • A specific PCR assay was developed to detect this species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been linked to metabolic diseases. However, the effects of PM with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 1.0 µm (PM 1 ) on metabolic diseases remain unclear. This study is aimed at assessing the associations of PM 1 with metabolic disease risk and quantifying the concentration-response (C-R) relationship of PM 1 with metabolic disease risk. A national cross-sectional study was conducted, including 12,495 middle-aged and older adults in 123 Chinese cities. The two-year average concentration of PM 1 was evaluated using satellite-based spatiotemporal models. Metabolic diseases, including abdominal obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome, were identified based on physical examination, blood standard biochemistry examination, and self-reported disease histories. Generalized linear models and C-R curves were used to evaluate the associations of PM 1 with metabolic diseases. A total of 12,495 participants were included in this study, with a prevalence of 45.73% for abdominal obesity, 20.22% for diabetes, 42.46% for hypertension, 41.01% for dyslipidemia, and 33.78% for metabolic syndrome. The mean ± standard deviation age of participants was 58.79 ± 13.14 years. In addition to dyslipidemia, exposure to PM 1 was associated with increased risks of abdominal obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Each 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 1 concentrations was associated with 39% (odds ratio (OR) = 1.39, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.33, 1.46) increase in abdominal obesity, 18% (OR = 1.18, 95%CI 1.12, 1.25) increase in diabetes, 11% (OR = 1.11, 95%CI 1.06, 1.16) increase in hypertension, and 25% (OR = 1.25, 95%CI 1.19, 1.31) in metabolic syndrome, respectively. C-R curves showed that the OR values of abdominal obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome were increased gradually with the increase of PM 1 concentrations. Subgroup analysis indicated that exposure to PM 1 was associated with increased metabolic disease risks among participants with different lifestyles and found that solid fuel users were more susceptible to PM 1 than clean fuel users. This national cross-sectional study indicated that exposure to higher PM 1 might increase abdominal obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome risk, and solid fuel use might accelerate the adverse effects of PM 1 on metabolic syndrome risk. Further longitudinal cohort studies are warranted to establish a causal inference between PM 1 exposure and metabolic disease risk., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from coking industry severely reduces air quality. Using both offline and online methods, the emissions of 124 VOCs and non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) in a typical top-charging coke oven were analyzed during the coking process (emissions form the coke oven flue gas, charging, pushing, coke dry quenching, and topside of the coke oven). The concentrations of VOCs in coke oven flue gas and exhaust gas during charging were the highest, which reached 98.2 mg/m 3 and 136.6 mg/m 3 , respectively. This was followed by the concentrations of exhaust gases sourced from the topside of the coke oven, pushing, and coke dry quenching, which were 12.0 mg/m 3 , 1.8 mg/m 3 , and 0.8 mg/m 3 , respectively. The main components of VOCs for the different exhaust emission sources were significantly different. The ozone formation potentials (OFPs) of coke oven flue gas and exhaust gas during charging were the largest, and unsaturated hydrocarbons such as alkenes and benzenes were the main source of ground-level ozone. These data can support researchers in developing adsorption, catalytic oxidation, and other technologies for the removal of VOCs generated by the coking process., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Due to the genetic feature of high diversity than other DNA markers, short tandem repeat (STR) plays key roles in forensic, anthropology, and population genetics. Newly introduced multiple STR kit is more valuable because of the greatly improved discriminatory power with the increase in the number of STR loci. The genetic polymorphic data are essential for the application and research in specific population. This study aims to investigate the genetic polymorphism of Han population residing in Yuncheng district, Shanxi Province, to evaluate the application of 23 STR loci in forensic personal identification and paternity test, and to explore the genetic relationship of Han population between Yuncheng and other populations., Methods: A total of 23 STR loci were amplified from 525 healthy unrelated individuals from the Han nationality in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province using the AGCU EX25 amplification kit. The products were detected and separated by ABI 3500 Genetic Analyzer. Alleles were genotyped by GeneMapper ID (Version 3.2) software, and corresponding frequencies and forensic parameters were calculated. We calculated the genetic distance and plotted the neighboring-joining tree with other 13 population., Results: The allele frequency of the 23 STRs ranged from 0.0010 to 0.5090. No deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium ( P >0.05) and linkage disequilibrium was observed. The cumulative discriminatory power (CPD), cumulative power of exclusion for trios (CPE trio )and cumulative Power of exclusion for duos (CPE duo ) with total 23 STRs were 1-1.305 263 374 8×10 -27 , 1-2.583 152 052 2×10 -10 and 1-1.193 637 500 4×10 -6 , respectively. Comprehensive population comparison showed that Shanxi Yuncheng Han nationality was genetically closer to populations of the same linguistic family or geographically close proximity, such as Shaanxi Weinan Han, Liaoning Han, and Ningbo Han nationality while relatively far away from different linguistic ethnic groups and geographically distant populations like Xinjiang Uygur and Guangdong Han nationality., Conclusions: These 23 STRs are highly genetic polymorphic and informative in the Han population of Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, which can provide basic data for forensic personal identification, paternity testing, and population genetic research.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the fastest-growing disease caused by numerous molecular alterations in addition to previously reported DNA mutations. There is a compelling need to identify novel transcriptomic alterations that are associated with the pathogenesis of PTC with potential diagnostic and prognostic implications. Methods: We gathered and compared 242 expression profiles between paired PTC and adjacent normal tissues and identified and validated the coding and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) associated with the extrathyroidal extension (ETE) of 655 PTC patients in two independent cohorts, followed by predicting their interactions with drugs. Co-expression, RNA interaction, Kaplan-Meier survival and multivariate Cox proportional regression analyses were performed to identify dysregulated lncRNAs and genes that correlated with clinical outcomes of PTC. Alternative splicing (AS), RNA circularization, and editing were also compared between transcriptomes to expand the repertoire of molecular alterations in PTC. Results: Numerous genes related to cellular microenvironment and steroid hormone response were associated with the ETE of PTC. Drug susceptibility predictions of the expression signature revealed two highly ranked compounds, 6-bromoindirubin-3'-oxime and lovastatin. Co-expression and RNA interaction analysis revealed the essential role of lncRNAs in PTC pathogenesis by modulating extracellular matrix and cell adhesion. Eight genes and two novel lncRNAs were identified that correlated with the aggressive nature and disease-free survival of PTC. Furthermore, this study provided the transcriptome-wide landscape of circRNAs in PTC and uncovered dissimilar expression profiles among circRNAs originating from the same host gene, suggesting the functional complexity of circRNAs in PTC carcinogenesis. The newly identified AS events in the SERPINA1 and FN1 genes may improve the sensitivity and specificity of these diagnostic biomarkers. Conclusions: Our study uncovered a comprehensive transcriptomic signature associated with the carcinogenesis and aggressive behavior of PTC, as well as presents a catalog of 10 potential biomarkers, which would facilitate PTC prognosis and development of new therapeutic strategies for this cancer., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Improvement in the clinical outcome of human cancers requires characterization of the genetic alterations underlying their pathogenesis. Large-scale genomic and transcriptomic characterization of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) in Western populations has revealed multiple oncogenic drivers which are essential for understanding pathogenic mechanisms of this disease, while, so far, the genetic landscape in Chinese patients with PTC remains uncharacterized. Here, we conducted a large-scale genetic analysis of PTCs from patients in China to determine the mutational landscape of this cancer. By performing targeted DNA amplicon and targeted RNA deep-sequencing, we elucidated the landscape of somatic genetic alterations in 355 Chinese patients with PTC. A total of 88.7% of PTCs were found to harbor at least one candidate oncogenic driver genetic alteration. Among them, around 72.4% of the cases carried BRAF mutations; 2.8% of cases harbored RAS mutations; and 13.8% of cases were characterized with in-frame gene fusions, including seven newly identified kinase gene fusions. TERT promoter mutations were likely to occur in a sub-clonal manner in our PTC cohort. The prevalence of somatic genetic alterations in PTC was significantly different between our Chinese cohort and TCGA datasets for American patients. Additionally, combined analyses of genetic alterations and clinicopathologic features demonstrated that kinase gene fusion was associated with younger age at diagnosis, larger tumor size, and lymph node metastasis in PTC. With the analyses of DNA rearrangement sites of RET gene fusions in PTC, signatures of chromosome translocations related to RET fusion events were also depicted. Collectively, our results provide fundamental insight into the pathogenesis of PTC in the Chinese population. Copyright © 2017 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (Copyright © 2017 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

As a transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-inducible gene, the expression of Krüppel-like transcription factor 11 (KLF11) is altered in several types of cancer. In the current study, through using human 9K CpG island array, KLF11 was identified as one of hypermethylated genes in RAS-transformed ovarian T29H cells. Methylation of the KLF11 promoter was also observed in ovarian cancer tissue samples accompanied by significantly reduced KLF11 gene expression. Interestingly, the expression of SMAD2, SMAD3, and SMAD7 genes was reduced in the tumour, whilst no change was found in TGF-β expression. Our data suggest a relationship between promoter DNA methylation and KLF11 gene expression in ovarian cancer tumorigenesis., (© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Meningioma is the second most common primary tumor of the central nervous system, and multiple genetic and environmental factors contribute to its etiology. Methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) is a pivotal enzyme in folate metabolism. We conducted a case-control study to investigate the association of the MTHFR gene and meningioma in a Han population in northern China., Methods: We genotyped two SNPs (C677T and A1298C) using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). In this study 317 meningioma patients were compared to 320 normal controls. Data were analyzed by SPSS 13.0 and HaploView software., Results: We found a significant difference in the frequency distribution of 677CC and 677TT between cases and control groups; another SNP exhibited no differences in any genotype between the two cohorts., Conclusion: The results revealed that variations of the MTHFR gene were associated with meningioma; this finding indicates that the MTHFR gene potentially plays an important role in the pathogenesis of meningioma in the Northern Chinese Han population., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)