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In this study, we report a facile method to prepare magnetic zeolitic imidazolate framework-7@graphene oxide (mag-ZIF-7@GO) composites with the assistance of polydopamine. Moreover, their potential for extracting fungicides from environmental water and soil samples is evaluated. Combining ZIF units and GO layers synergistically enhances the preconcentration of fungicides. A sensitive magnetic solid-phase extraction method based on mag-ZIF-7@GO coupled to LC-MS is developed to determine seven fungicides (pyrimethanil, triadimenol, flutriafol, tebuconazole, hexaconazole, diniconazole and bitertanol) as a function of optimised salt concentration, pH, extraction time, and desorption time. Under optimal conditions, the method exhibits good linearity, repeatability, and reproducibility. The limits of detection and limits of quantification for the seven fungicides are 0.58–2.38 ng/L and 1.95–7.94 ng/L, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed method is applied to determine trace fungicides in environmental water and soil samples, with recoveries of 81.8–96.7%, 87.2–96.3%, and 82.4–93.4% for pond water, river water, and soil, respectively. Therefore, this method has great potential for trace analysis of pollutants in complex environmental matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enzyme therapy for cocaine detoxification should break down both cocaine and its primary toxic metabolite, benzoylecgonine (BZE), which is also the main form of cocaine contaminant in the environment. An ideal BZE-metabolizing enzyme (BZEase) is expected to be highly efficient and selective in BZE hydrolysis. Here, BZEase4 was engineered from bacterial cocaine esterase (CocE) by our reactant state-based enzyme design theories (RED), which has a 34,977-fold improved substrate discrimination between BZE and the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), compared with wild-type CocE. Under the physiological concentrations of BZE and ACh, the reaction velocity of BZEase4 against BZE is 2.25 × 10 6 -fold higher than it against ACh, suggesting BZEase4 has extremely high substrate selectivity for BZE over ACh to minimize the potential cholinergic side-effects. This study provides additional evidence supporting the further development of BZEase4 toward a promising therapeutic for cocaine overdose, a potentially effective and eco-friendly enzymatic method for BZE degradation in the environment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Consumption of fried foods is highly prevalent in the Western dietary pattern. Western diet has been unfavorably linked with high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Heart failure (HF) as a cardiovascular disease subtype is a growing global pandemic with high morbidity and mortality. However, the causal relationship between long-term fried food consumption and incident HF remains unclear. Our population-based study revealed that frequent fried food consumption is strongly associated with 15% higher risk of HF. The causal relationship may be ascribed to the dietary acrylamide exposure in fried foods. Further cross-sectional study evidenced that acrylamide exposure is associated with an increased risk of HF. Furthermore, we discover and demonstrate that chronic acrylamide exposure may induce HF in zebrafish and mice. Mechanistically, we reveal that acrylamide induces energy metabolism disturbance in heart due to the mitochondria dysfunction and metabolic remodeling. Moreover, acrylamide exposure induces myocardial apoptosis via inhibiting NOTCH1-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT signaling. In addition, acrylamide exposure could affect heart development during early life stage, and the adverse effect of acrylamide exposure is a threat for next generation via epigenetic change evoked by DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). In this study, we reveal the adverse effects and underlying mechanism of fried foods and acrylamide as a typical food processing contaminant on HF from population-based observations to experimental validation. Collectively, these results both epidemiologically and mechanistically provide strong evidence to unravel the mechanism of acrylamide-triggered HF and highlight the significance of reducing fried food consumption for lower the risk of HF., (Copyright © 2024 Anli Wang et al.)

A method was established for determination of potential anti-osteoporosis ingredients from Liuwei Dihuang Decoction by osteoblast cell membrane chromatography/ultra-performance liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CMC/UPLC-TOF/MS). The osteoblasts were used as the source of cell membrane for the preparation of CMC stationary phase. An osteoblast CMC column (10 mm×2 mm) was prepared by coating silica gel (0.05 g) with cell membrane. The active ingredients in the aqueous extract of Liuwei Dihuang Decoction (90 g/L) were first screened by CMC. Water was used as the mobile phase, and the flow rate was 0.20 mL/min. Then, the eluates of the CMC were qualitatively analyzed by UPLC-TOF/MS using a WATERS ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (10 mm×2 mm). Acetonitrile-water was used as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.40 mL/min. This method could quickly and selectively identify 16 potential anti-osteoporotic active ingredients from Liuwei Dihuang Decoction. Due to high catalpol content in Liuwei Dihuang Decoction and its good affinity with CMC column, catapol was selected for in vivo and in vitro pharmacological examinations. It was found that catalpol (1-10 μmol/L) could significantly promote the proliferation of osteoblasts in a dose-dependent manner. It also significantly increased the area of bone staining in osteoporosis zebrafish model. The osteoblast CMC/UPLC-TOF/MS method could quickly screen the anti-osteoporosis active ingredients in complex traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, and had the advantages of simple operation, high efficiency and high sensitivity.

A magnetic carbon nanotube hybrid material was prepared using a chemical co-precipitation method. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were enclosed onto the surface of the acid multi-walled carbon nanotubes (AMWNTs), and they were identified as Fe3O4/AMWNTs composites. This hybrid materials displayed typical superparamagnetic behavior, good dispersibility, and good adsorption capacity for pyrethroid pesticides. A magnetic solid-phase microextraction (MSPE) procedure based on Fe3O4/AMWNTs composites, combined with gas chromatography, was developed for the quantification of six pyrethroid pesticides in water and honey samples. Several important parameters affecting the extraction efficiency for six pyrethroid pesticides were optimized in sequential order, including ionic strength, extraction time and desorption time. Under the optimized conditions, this method showed wide linearity ranging from 0.5 µg/L to 50 µg/L with correlation coefficients (R2) higher than 0.990. The limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 0.07 µg/L to 0.20 µg/L at a singal-to-noise ratio of 3. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranged from 3. 8% to 8. 1%. Satisfactory recoveries (> 78.4%) were obtained for the simultaneous analysis of the six pyrethroid pesticide residues in river water, fish-pond water and two honey samples. This method is sensitive and simple. It can meet the actual requirement for the analysis of trace analytes from environmental water and honey samples.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical value of tomographic (99m)Tc-octreotide acetate (hereafter, (99m)Tc-octreotide) scintigraphy in the detection of patients with suspected lung cancer in comparison with that of (18)F-FDG dual-head coincidence imaging (DHC)., Methods: Forty-four consecutive patients with suspected pulmonary neoplasms underwent tomographic (99m)Tc-octreotide scintigraphy and (18)F-FDG coincidence imaging using the same gantry. The region of interest was drawn on the entire primary lesion. The tumor-to-normal tissue tracer values for both (99m)Tc-octreotide and (18)F-FDG were determined using region of interests and expressed as T/N(r) and T/N(m), respectively. Final diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic analysis or clinical follow-up., Results: Thirty-one of the 44 patients had lung cancer-6 with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and 25 with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Thirteen of the 44 patients had benign lung lesions. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of (99m)Tc-octreotide were 100%, 75.7%, 90.1%, and 100%, respectively, and of (18)F-FDG DHC were 100%, 46.1%, 83.8%, and 100%, respectively. In the 31 patients with malignant tumors, all 38 abnormal lymph nodes in 20 patients showed abnormal high focal uptake of (18)F-FDG; only 7 patients with 10 regional lymph adenopathies showed moderate uptake of (99m)Tc-octreotide. Thirteen patients with 39 distant sites of abnormal uptake visualized (imaging stage IV) with (99m)Tc-octreotide included 2 patients with brain metastases, 6 patients with pleural invasion and multiple bone metastasis, 2 patients with contralateral internal lung metastasis and pleural invasion, and 3 patients with only multiple bone metastasis. The final diagnosis was confirmed by histopathology or clinical follow-up., Conclusion: The sensitivity of (99m)Tc-octreotide for the detection of lung cancer at the primary lesion was comparable with that of (18)F-FDG coincidence imaging. Tomographic (99m)Tc-octreotide scintigraphy had lower sensitivity for the detection of hilar and mediastinal lymph node metastasis compared with that of (18)F-FDG coincidence PET, but it had high sensitivity for the detection of remote metastatic lesions. However, because of the small population, further investigation is necessary.