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Background The programmed cell death-1/programmed cell death-1 ligand ( PD-1/ PD- L1) pathway plays a crucial role in tumor evasion. This study evaluated the association between circulating PD-L1 expression and clinical characteristics in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer ( NSCLC). Methods A total of 109 advanced NSCLC and 65 healthy patients from the Beijng Cancer Hospital were enrolled in the study. Circulating PD- L1 expression was tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The associations between the level of PD- L1 expression and clinicopathologic features and prognosis were statistically analyzed. Results The expression of PD- L1 in advanced NSCLC patients was significantly upregulated compared with the healthy control ( P < 0.001). The expression of PD-L1 was significantly correlated with abdominal organ metastasis ( P = 0.004). A high PD- L1 expression had a worse prognosis than a low expression in patients (18.7 vs. 26.8 month, P < 0.001). Conclusions PD- L1 was elevated in advanced NSCLC patients and may play an important role in tumor immune evasion and patient prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The physicochemical stress-induced bioprocess is an efficient strategy for enhancement of the production of microbial metabolites, but multiple physicochemical stresses have not applied in poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ- PGA) production. RESULTS The effects of multiple physicochemical stresses on the production and synthetase genes transcription of γ- PGA were investigated in Bacillus licheniformis WX-02. Under heat stress stimulated at 50 °C, osmotic stress induced by 3% KCl, and alkaline stress mediated by pH 8.5, γ- PGA yields increased by 66%, 106% and 133%, respectively, and the transcription levels of γ- PGA synthetase gene PgsC were improved 3.1-fold, 3.6-fold and 5.4-fold compared with the control. Heat and osmotic stress also induced the up-regulation of another γ- PGA synthetase gene of PgsB with 1.4-fold and 4.3-fold increase, respectively. By combined application of heat and pH stress, the maximum γ- PGA yield reached 29.34 g L−1, 185% higher than the control. CONCLUSION This study provided a novel strategy to enhance γ- PGA yield by physicochemical stresses treatment, and the possible mechanism was also determined. The stress-mediated strategy can be easily applied in γ- PGA production at large scale. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND The poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ- PGA) hydrolase of PgdS affects the molecular weight and yield of γ- PGA in Bacillus subtilis, while the effects of PgdS on the γ- PGA synthesis in Bacillus licheniformis have not been investigated. RESULTS By heterologous expression in Escherichia coli, the PgdS was characterized. The purified PgdS had an optimal γ- PGA degradation activity from pH 5.5 to 6.5, with an appropriate reaction temperature from 37 °C to 45 °C. The enzyme activity could be enhanced by Zn2+, Mn2+, Ca2+ and SDS, while inhibited by Hg2+ or Cu2+. By enhanced expression of pgdS gene in vivo, the enzyme activity, protein concentration and gene transcriptional level of PgdS were improved, and γ- PGA molecular weight decreased from 1000-1200 kDa to 600-800 kDa. Moreover, the γ- PGA yield reached 20.16 g L-1, increased by 54% than the native strain (13.11 g L−1). Gene transcript levels of glutamate transporters and poly-γ-glutamate synthetase were confirmed to be improved, which might be the reason for the increased γ- PGA production. CONCLUSION Enhanced expression of pgdS gene in B. licheniformis WX-02 helped to reduce the molecular weight and improve the yield of γ- PGA. This study provided a novel strategy to regulate the molecular weight and yield of γ- PGA. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Dabry's sturgeon (Acipenser dabryanus), as a living fossil, is considered a critically endangered aquatic animal in China. To date, the immune system of this species remains largely unknown, with limited available sequence information. In addition, increasing incidence of bacterial pathogenic diseases has been reported. Hence, the present study aimed to characterize comprehensively transcriptome profile of the head kidney from Dabry's sturgeon infected with Aeromonas hydrophila using Illumina platform. Over 42 million high-quality reads were obtained and de novo assembled into a final set of 195240 unique transcript fragments (unigenes), with an average length of 564 bp. Approximately 41702 unigenes were annotated in the NR NCBI database. Dabry's sturgeon unigenes had the highest number of hits with 14365 (34.45%) to Lepisosteus oculatus. The 195240 unigenes were assigned to three Gene Ontology (GO) categories: biological process, cellular component, and molecular function. Among them, 27770 unigenes were clustered into 26 Eukaryotic Orthologous Group (KOG) functional categories, and 36031 unigenes were mapped to 335 known Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. After A. hydrophila administration, 1728 differentially expressed unigenes were identified, including 980 upregulated and 748 downregulated unigenes. Further KEGG enrichment analysis of these unigenes identified 16 immune-related pathways, including the Toll-like receptor signaling pathway, chemokine signaling pathway, complement and coagulation pathway, RIG-I-like receptor signaling pathway, and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. 20 DEGs were selected and their expression patterns are largely consistent with the transcriptome profile analysis, which clearly validated the reliability of the DEGs in transcriptome analysis. This work revealed novel gene expression patterns of Dabry's sturgeon host defense and contributes to a better understanding of the immune system and defense mechanisms of Dabry's sturgeon in response to bacterial infection. The results provide valuable references for studies in sturgeons that lack complete genomic sequences, and could also be helpful for the analyzing evolution among cartilaginous and teleost fish. Highlights • The head kidneys transcriptome of Dabry's sturgeon were constructed using Illumina XTen platform. • Totally, 195240 unigenes were obtained from the transcriptome. • Toll-like signaling pathway, Chemokine signaling pathway, RIG-I-like and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways were analyzed. • A total of 1728 differentially expressed unigenes were identified, including 980 upregulated and 748 downregulated unigenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Methanotrophs can oxidize CH 4 , but also metabolize sulfur compounds. • DMS-S is mainly oxidized to SO 4 2- in landfill cover soil. • High DMS can inhibit CH 4 oxidation, decrease the abundance of pmoA and mmoX. • Methylobacter and Crenothrix may play a crucial role in metabolizing CH 4 and DMS. Landfill cover soil is the environmental interface between landfills and the atmosphere and plays an important role in mitigating CH 4 emission from landfills. Here, stable isotope probing microcosms with CH 4 or CH 4 and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) were carried out to characterize activity and community structure of methanotrophs in landfill cover soils under DMS stress. The CH 4 oxidation activity in the landfill cover soils was not obviously influenced at the DMS concentration of 0.05%, while it was inhibited at the DMS concentrations of 0.1% and 0.2%. DMS-S was mainly oxidized to sulfate (SO 4 2-) in the landfill cover soils. In the landfill cover soils, DMS could inhibit the expression of bacteria and decrease the abundances of pmoA and mmoX genes, while it could prompt the expression of pmoA and mmoX genes. γ- Proteobacteria methanotrophs including Methylocaldum , Methylobacter, Crenothrix and unclassified Methylococcaceae and α- Proteobacteria methanotrophs Methylocystis dominated in assimilating CH 4 in the landfill cover soils. Of them, Methylobacter and Crenothrix had strong tolerance to DMS or DMS could promote the growth and activity of Methylobacter and Crenothrix , while Methylocaldum had weak tolerance to DMS and showed an inhibitory effect. Metagenomic analyses showed that methanotrophs had the genes of methanethiol oxidation and could metabolize CH 4 and methanethiol simultaneously in the landfill cover soils. These findings suggested that methanotrophs might metabolize sulfur compounds in the landfill cover soils, which may provide the potential application in engineering for co-removal of CH 4 and sulfur compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Eco-tank system of 10 m was designed to simulate the natural river. It consisted of five tanks sequentially connected containing microbes, biofilm carriers and four species of floating aquatic plants. The purification performance of the system for N,N -dimethylformamide (DMF) polluted river water was evaluated by operating in continuous mode. DMF was completely removed in Tanks 1 and 2 at influent DMF concentrations between 75.42 and 161.05 mg L −1 . The NH 4 + -N concentration increased in Tank 1, followed by a gradual decrease in Tanks 2–5. Removal of NH 4 + -N was enhanced by aeration. The average effluent NH 4 + -N concentration of Tank 5 decreased to a minimum of 0.89 mg L −1 , corresponding to a decrease of 84.8% when compared with that before aeration. TN concentration did not decrease significantly as expected after inoculation with denitrifying bacteria. The average effluent TN concentration of the system was determined to be 4.58 mg L −1 , still unable to satisfy the Class V standard for surface water environmental quality. The results of this study demonstrated that the Eco-tank system is an efficient process in removing DMF, TOC, and NH 4 + -N from DMF polluted river water. However, if possible, alternative technologies should be adopted for controlling the effluent TN concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the rapidly increasing nitrous oxide emission from excessive nitrogen fertilizer input is a pressing demand for reducing greenhouse gas in cleaner agricultural production. The purpose of this work is to assess the nitrous oxide emission from the intensively fertilized bamboo plantations to better understand the mitigation potential of fertilizer management, and to develop an approach for advancing the site-specific emission factors considering influences of climate and soil conditions. Based on the commonly adopted fertilization practices, the biogeochemical model DeNitrification–DeComposition was adjusted and validated to estimate and analyze nitrous oxide emission under four typical fertilizer management scenarios, namely fertilizer input reduction, split fertilization, deeper placement, and slow-release fertilizers. The simulation results show that the tested fertilizer management practices present great potential for reducing nitrous oxide emissions whereas mitigation effect of each adaptation depends on the site-specific conditions. In the cases of China, fertilizer reduction and adaptation with slow-release fertilizers application are shown to be the most cost-beneficial fertilization options for nitrous oxide mitigation in humid and arid regions, respectively. The highest mitigation achievable ranged from 60.3% (humid coast) to 92.9% (arid inland) compared to the current practice with excessive fertilization. If these adapted fertilization practices are implemented at the national scale, approximately 8.02–11.38 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalents per year of nitrous oxide emission could be reduced in 2030, which is 4.0%–5.7% of the total nitrous oxide emission from China's upland cropping system. The results indicate the critical importance of site-specific fertilizer management on reducing nitrous oxide emission in bamboo production. By considering the site-specific conditions, the overall biogeochemical modelling approach could serve as a more effective tool than the commonly used emission factors to quantify emission and screen fertilizer management options in cleaner agricultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) is an enveloped retrovirus with a single-stranded RNA genome, belonging to the genus Alpharetrovirus within the family Retroviridae. The disease (Avian leukosis, AL) caused by ALV is mainly characterized by tumor development and immunosuppression in chickens, which increases susceptibility to other pathogens and leads to significant economic losses in the Chinese poultry industry. The government and poultry industry have made lots of efforts to eradicate ALV, but the threat of which remains not vanished. This review provides a summary of the updated understanding of ALV in China, which mainly focuses on genetic and molecular biology, epidemiology, and diagnostic methods. Additionally, promising antiviral agents and ALV eradication strategies performed in China are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Continuous aeration can accelerate N 2 O emission from landfills. • Proportion of N 2 O-N to TN loss ranged from 0.02% to 0.75% in bioreactor landfills. • nirS -type denitrifying bacteria predominated in the landfilled waste. • Luteimonas, Pseudomonas and Thauera were the main denitrifying bacteria. • Waste stabilization and nitrogen compounds affect denitrifying bacterial community. Landfills are important emission sources of atmospheric N 2 O, especially bioreactor landfills with leachate recirculation. In this study, N 2 O emissions were characterized in four bioreactor landfills with different ventilation methods, including intermittent (2-h aeration per 12 h or 4 h/d in continuous) and continuous aeration (20 h/d), in comparison to a traditional landfill without aeration. During the experiment, the N 2 O emissions from the landfill reactors with intermittent aeration were 7.48 and 7.15 mg, accounting for only 20.8% and 19.9% of those with continuous aeration, respectively. Continuous aeration was more favorable for the biodegradation of organic matter than intermittent aeration in the landfilled waste and leachate. Intermittent and continuous aeration could both effectively remove total nitrogen (TN) and NH 4 +-N with removal efficiencies above 64% in the leachate. In the experimental landfill reactors with gas–water joint regulation, the proportion of N 2 O-N to TN loss ranged from 0.02% to 0.75%. Luteimonas, Pseudomonas, Thauera, Pusillimonas and Comamonas were the dominant denitrifying bacteria in the landfill reactors. The denitrifying bacterial community in the landfilled waste was closely related to its degree of stabilization and nitrogenous compound concentrations in the landfilled waste and leachate. The NO 3 –-N and NO 2 –-N concentrations of leachate were the most important environmental factors affecting the succession of nirS -type and nirK -type denitrifying microbial communities in the landfilled waste. These findings indicated that intermittent aeration was an economical and effective way to accelerate the stabilization of landfilled waste and reduce the pollutants in leachate and N 2 O emissions during landfill mining and reclamation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The combination of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor and chemotherapy has been clinically confirmed to be beneficial as the first-line treatment of patients with advanced NSCLC. This study aimed to assess the effect of nivolumab + docetaxel versus nivolumab monotherapy in patients with NSCLC after the failure of platinum doublet chemotherapy. Materials and methods: The efficacy and toxicity of nivolumab + docetaxel combination therapy versus nivolumab monotherapy were compared in this retrospective study. Primary endpoint of the study was progression-free survival (PFS), and the secondary endpoints were objective response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), and toxicity. Results: Between November 2017 and December 2019, 77 patients were included in this study, with 58 patients in the nivolumab group and 19 in the nivolumab + docetaxel group. The median follow-up was 18 months, and the PFS was 8 months for patients receiving nivolumab + docetaxel and 2 months for those receiving nivolumab alone (p = 0.001), respectively. Nivolumab + docetaxel showed superior OS compared with nivolumab, with the median OS unreached versus 7 months (p = 0.011). Among patients without EGFR/ALK variation, compared to nivolumab monotherapy, nivolumab + docetaxel showed better PFS (p = 0.04) and OS (p = 0.05). There was no significant difference in grade 3–4 adverse events (AEs) between the two groups (p = 0.253). Conclusions: The combination of nivolumab and docetaxel demonstrated a meaningful improvement in progression-free survival and overall survival compared to nivolumab monotherapy, in patients with NSCLC after the failure of platinum doublet chemotherapy, irrespective of EGFR/ALK variation status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To understand the potential of cultivating Botryococcus braunii with flue gas (normally containing high CO2) for biofuel production, growth characteristics of B. braunii 765 with 2–20% CO2 aeration were investigated. The results showed that the strain could grow well without any obvious inhibition under all tested CO2 concentrations with an aeration rate of 0.2vvm, even without any culture pH adjustment (ranged from 6.0 to 8.0). The maximum biomass among all conditions was 2.31gL−1 on 25th day at 20% CO2. Hydrocarbon content and algal colony size increased with the increase of CO2 concentration. A negative correlation between algal biomass and culture total phosphorus was observed (from −0.828 to −0.911, P <0.01). Additionally, 2% sodium hypochlorite solution was used for photobioreactor sterilization to cultivate B. braunii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloidal phosphorus (P) is an important P form in agricultural runoff and can threaten water quality. However, up to date, there are few effective approaches to mitigate colloidal P pollution. This study investigated the effect of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation on medium-colloidal (MC; 220 nm–450 nm) and fine-colloidal (FC; 3 kDa–220 nm) P in agricultural runoff. Under 24 h of UV irradiation, as the most abundant colloidal P fraction, concentration of total P (TP) in FC consistently decreased by 81.0%, while TP concentration in MC first increased by 74.4% after 3 h and then decreased with irradiation time. At the same time, particulate TP (>450 nm) concentration was found to be increased from 0 to 14.7 μM. However, there were no obvious variations in TP concentrations in FC and MC fractions under dark conditions. In FC fraction, with the decrease of TP, the corresponding concentrations of iron (Fe), aluminum (Al), silicon (Si) declined synchronously, and ferric iron/ferrous iron (Fe(III)/Fe(II)) ratio and organic matter (OM) concentration were reduced as well. These results suggested that P in FC fraction was gradually transformed into particulate P during photoreduction of Fe(III) and photodegradation of OM under UV irradiation. Our study helps to understand the mechanism of the phototransformation of colloidal P, and propose an UV irradiation-based approach to remove colloidal P in agricultural runoff. [Display omitted] • Colloidal P in agricultural runoff was UV-sensitive. • Fine-colloidal P was transformed into particulate P under UV irradiation. • Fine-colloidal P was photoremoved during phototransformation of OM and Fe(III). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The reuse of water in agriculture has become more common in water management worldwide. However, there is very limited information about nutrient retention in water reclamation management. In this study, an improved low impact development (LID) practice was constructed to investigate the synergistic effects of three substrates amendment on nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) retention under two irrigation modules: spray and drip irrigation. The orthogonal combination of the three substrates was controlled during four leaching events, with polyacrylamide (PAM), peat soil, and straw biochar application rates of 1, 2, and 4 g kg−1; 5, 10, and 20 g kg−1; and 10, 20, and 40 g kg−1, respectively. Results showed that the optimum treatments for N and P were 2 g kg−1 of PAM; 2 g kg−1 of PAM, 10 g kg−1 of peat soil, and 40 g kg−1 of straw biochar, respectively. The highest amounts of N and P retention under spray and drip irrigation were 83.12 mg N kg−1 and 50.09 mg N·kg−1, and 11.88 mg P·kg−1 and 7.47 mg P·kg−1, respectively. The analysis of variance indicated that PAM, biochar, and peat soil affected the retention of leachate, N, and P differently. PAM application could not only improve the water, N, P retention capacity of soil, but also significantly increase the content of ＞2 mm water-stable soil aggregate (WSA) (p ＜0.05), and there is an advisable linear relation between N, P retention and the content of ＞2 mm WSA (R 2 = 0.79, 0.67, respectively). Overall, this study concludes that a combined application of PAM and biochar could reduce P loss and increase the ＞2 mm WSA under leaching condition. Highlights • An improved low impact development system packed with different substrates can retain leachate nitrogen and phosphorus. • PAM application rate at 2 g·kg−1 of soil achieved the maximum amount of nitrogen and phosphorus retention from LID systems. • PAM combined with biochar can reduce phosphorus loss and enhance the water retention capacity of soil from LID systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As a typical non-uniform beam with complex varying cross-section and large curvature, free vibration analysis of flexure hinges in the state-of-the-art compliant mechanisms is challenging due to their complicated and even unsolvable governing differential equation. Investigation on the free vibration analysis of non-uniform beams was attractive in the past but still with a few types of specific beams or approximate solutions. The contribution of this paper is to formulate the dynamic stiffness matrix for generic non-uniform beams and applied for the first time to the free vibration analysis of flexure hinges. Firstly, the vibration solution of general non-uniform Timoshenko beam is derived by using a recursive integral in power series of circular frequency but not the traditional way in the well-known method of Frobenious. Then, the dynamic stiffness matrix of non-uniform Timoshenko beam is derived based on the variational principle. At last, the new method is applied for the free vibration analysis of flexure hinges and flexure-based compliant mechanisms. Several case studies demonstrate the advantage of the proposed approach in terms of high accuracy, generality and high efficiency (only one element is needed). The obtained results are useful for dynamic design of flexure hinges and can serve as a benchmark to examine the accuracy of other numerical solutions. Due to the closed form and universality of the proposed method, it is also of benefit for free vibration analysis of other non-uniform beams with all kinds of varying cross-section or functionally graded beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colloidal phosphorus (P coll ) in soil solutions and subsurface drainage has attracted increasing attention as an additional mobile form of P. A column study was conducted to investigate the effect of biogas slurry (BS) on P coll leaching in paddy topsoil (0–20 cm) at rate of 0; 225 m 3  ha −1 (55 kg N ha −1 , 17 kg P ha −1 ); 673 m 3  ha −1 (165 kg N ha −1 , 52 kg P ha −1 ); 1350 m 3  ha −1 (330 kg N ha −1 , 104 kg P ha −1 ) of BS. The colloids particles were separated by microfiltration and ultra-centrifugation processes. Dissolved phosphorus (DP) in leachate ranged from 0.04 to 0.09 mg P L −1 and contributed between 56 and 76% to the total P leaching. P coll in leachate ranged from 0.002 to 0.03 mg P L −1 in leachate and contributed between 3 and 26% to TP leaching. Results clearly showed that BS increased P coll leaching at medium (673 m 3  ha −1 : 165 kg N ha −1 , 52 kg P ha −1 ) and high application rate of BS (1350 m 3  ha −1 : 330 kg N ha −1 , 104 kg P ha −1 ). In contrast, the smallest tested BS application of 225 m 3  ha −1 (55 kg N ha −1 , 17 kg P ha −1 ) did not affect P coll concentrations in leachates. Significant positive correlations was found between P coll and colloidal aluminum (Al coll ), colloidal calcium (Ca coll ), total organic carbon (TOC coll ), and with pH, indicating that Al/Ca minerals - organic matter may play a major role as carriers for P coll leaching and these processes were pH-dependent. This study confirms that high level of BS application could result in the mobilization of P coll from paddy topsoil by leaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, environmental pollution by heavy metals is a global problem. Therefore, it is crucial to develop effective detection techniques to determine the levels of heavy metal contamination in various mediums. Voltammetry is a highly sensitive electrochemical method used for the in situ detection of heavy metal ions. This study investigates the current trends related to electrode modification, developments in materials, and optimization of the experimental parameters. We discuss the sensing performance of four kinds of nanomaterials capable of inorganic modification (metal nanoparticles, metal oxides, carbonaceous nanomaterials, and their nanocomposites). The impact of several important factors, such as the deposition potential and time, buffer solution types, and pH on the sensitivity, reproducibility, stability, and anti-interference ability of the detection process, especially with regard to the co-detection of several heavy metal ions, was reviewed. We noted that in addition to the application of voltammetry to water-related issues, it is suitable for rapid and simple identification and analyses of heavy metals in polluted soil and other mediums. Thus, it is important to conduct additional research on the application of voltammetry to this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-compensation can promote sustainable food waste management alternatives. However, a comprehensive quantification method is not yet available. This study proposed a method to quantify the eco-compensation for food waste management through environmental and economic life cycle cost-benefit analysis. This method was tested with four food waste management alternatives in Suzhou, China, including B iological D rying + A erobic C omposting (BDAC), A naerobic F ermentation (AF), A naerobic F ermentation + D igestate C omposting (AFDC), and IN cineration (IN). According to the method, the environmental benefits (net positive externalities) and the economic loss (net negative internalities) could provide references to the government and the food waste producers (polluters), respectively, as eco-compensations for food waste disposal plants. The results suggest that AFDC (with higher energy and material recovery level) was the most environmentally and economically viable food waste management alternative. The AFDC exhibited the highest net environmental benefits (CNY t−1) of 844, followed by BDAC (596), IN (449), and AF (356). The net economic profit (CNY t−1) without subsidy of AFDC (55) was the highest, followed by IN (−5), AF (−27), and BDAC (−422). The total values of eco-compensations by the government and the polluters were 564, 101, 0, and 57 CNY t−1 for BDAC, AF, AFDC, and IN, respectively. The proposed methods for food waste disposal management can promote the effective and efficient use of government funds for the sustainable development of the food waste management sector. [Display omitted] • The proposed eco-compensation quantification method for food waste disposal is tested. • The method incorprates internalities and externalities into the eco-compensation. • The method distinguishes the payments from food waste producers and the government. • Food waste recycling reduces environmental burdens through product replacement. • Food waste recycling with more energy and material recoveries shows higher sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice straw was used as a carbon source in a denitrifying bioreactor, for the removal of nutrients from agricultural drainage. Nutrient removal efficiency was evaluated by: (a) nutrient loading rates (low, medium, and high); (b) hydraulic retention time, and (c) comparison with another carbon source (woodchip). The results show that concentrations of nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 − -N), ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 + -N), total nitrogen (TN), and orthophosphate phosphorus (PO 4 3− -P) in the rice-straw bioreactor effluents were reduced by 53%, 25%, 40%, and 35%, respectively, compared with influents at the medium nutrient loading rate (NO 3 − -N: 10–15 mg N L −1 , NH 4 + -N: 10–15 mg N L −1 , PO 4 3− -P: 1.0–1.5 mg P L −1 ) and long hydraulic retention time (HRT, 24 h), with a corresponding denitrification rate (DR) of 0.40 mg N L −1 h −1 . Moreover, the rice-straw bioreactor showed significantly higher ( p < 0.05) nutrient removal efficiency than the woodchip bioreactor at the medium nutrient loading rate and 24 h HRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ammonia oxidation is performed by both ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Few studies compared the adaptability of AOA and AOB for oxygenated/hypoxic alternant conditions in water-level-fluctuating zones. Here, using qPCR and 454 high-throughput sequencing of functional amoA genes of AOA and AOB, we examined the changes of abundances, diversities, and community structures of AOA and AOB in periodically flooded soils compared to the non-flooded soils in Three Gorges Reservoir. The increased AOA operational taxonomic unit (OTU) numbers and the higher ratios of abundance (AOA:AOB) in the periodically flooded soils suggested AOA have better adaptability for oxygenated/hypoxic alternant conditions in the water-level-fluctuating zones in the Three Gorges Reservoir and probably responsible for the ammonia oxidation there. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) showed that oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) had the most significant effect on the community distribution of AOA ( p < 0.01). Pearson analysis also indicated that ORP was the most important factor influencing the abundances and diversities of ammonia-oxidizing microbes. ORP was significantly negatively correlated with AOA OTU numbers ( p < 0.05), ratio of OTU numbers (AOA:AOB) ( p < 0.01), and ratio of amoA gene abundances (AOA:AOB) ( p < 0.05). ORP was also significantly positively correlated with AOB abundance ( p < 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lakes are important methane (CH 4) sources to the atmosphere, especially eutrophic lakes with cyanobacterial blooms accompanied by volatile sulfur compound (VSC) emissions. CH 4 oxidation is a key strategy to mitigate CH 4 emission from lakes. In this study, we characterized the fate of CH 4 -derived carbon and active microbial communities in lake sediments with CS 2 used as a typical VSC, based on the investigation of CH 4 and VSC fluxes from Meiliang Bay in Lake Taihu. Stable isotope probing microcosm incubation showed that the efficiency of CH 4 -derived carbon incorporated into organic matter was 21.1% in the sediment with CS 2 existence, which was lower than that without CS 2 (27.3%). SO 4 2--S was the main product of CS 2 oxidation under aerobic condition, accounting for 59.3–62.7% of the input CS 2 –S. CS 2 and CH 4 coexistence led to a decrease of methanotroph and methylotroph abundances and stimulated the production of extracellular polymeric substances. CS 2 and its metabolites including total sulfur, SO 4 2− and acid volatile sulfur acted as the main drivers influencing the active microbial community structure in the sediments. Compared with α- proteobacteria methanotrophs , γ- proteobacteria methanotrophs Methylomicrobium, Methylomonas, Crenothrix and Methylosarcina were more dominant in the sediments. CH 4 -derived carbon mainly flowed into methylotrophs in the first stage. With CH 4 consumption, more CH 4 -derived carbon flowed into non-methylotrophs. CS 2 could prompt more CH 4 -derived carbon flowing into non-methanotrophs and non-methylotrophs, such as sulfur-metabolizing bacteria. These findings can help elucidate the influence of VSCs on microorganisms and provide insights to carbon fluxes from eutrophic lake systems. • H 2 S emissions have a strong linear correlation with CH 4 fluxes from Meiliang Bay. • H 2 S and CS 2 were the two detected VSC fluxes from Meiliang Bay. • CS 2 can increase sediment CE CO2-C and decrease sediment CCE. • SO 4 2 - -S is the main product of CS 2 oxidation under aerobic condition. • CS 2 prompts CH 4 -derived carbon flowing into nonmethylotrophs [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hyperaccumulating mechanism concerning heavy metal activation or passivation and plant response triggered by fulvic acid (FA) and humic acid (HA) recruitments are investigated herein. We carefully examine the Cd activation effect by various FA and HA, tracing from pig, goat, and duck manure composts to straw compost and commercial materials (i.e., PC, GC, DC, SC, and CM), as well as their roles in plant growth promotion and Cd uptake. Our results indicate that due to the decrease of soil pH and their multiple functional groups, the contents of available Cd (AE–Cd) increased by 4.3–4.8% and 3.6–6.3% when all FA and HA sources were applied for 30 days. A 13.1–19.9% increase in AE–Cd was observed when CFA, DFA, and PFA were applied for five days, and a 9.5% increment was found when PHA was applied for 10 days. In the pot experiment, the Cd accumulation in plants increased by 2.78 and 2.17 folds with PFA and PHA applications, respectively, compared to the blank control group. This result can be attributed to the stimulative effects of the simultaneous Sedum alfredii growth and Cd phytoavailability. Notably, the Cd accumulation increased by 2.26 times with the SFA amendment due to the predominant stimulation effect to the phytoavailable Cd rather than plant growth. However, slight inhibitory effects were observed upon plant growth or Cd uptake, which led to the reduction of the Cd accumulation with DHA, SHA, and CHA employments. Consistently, the corresponding soil Cd removal efficiencies were 43.5% and 34.6% with PFA and PHA, respectively, which hold abundant O- and N-containing groups. Our research aims to gain insights into the ternary interaction in the presence of heavy metal, humic substances, and S. alfredii to simultaneously accelerate Cd activation and hyperaccumulation. • FA and HA activated rather than passivated soil Cd indeed. • Cd-hyperaccumulation was enhanced by PFA and PHA with plentiful O-containing and N-containing groups. • A considerable phytoavailable Cd not plant growth was accelerated with SFA. • Indistinct effects contributed to a reduction of Cd accumulation with DHA, SHA and CHA. • The soil Cd removal efficient reached 43.5% and 34.6% with PFA and PHA, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] ASLW without sterilization and pH adjustment was used for alga cultivation. [•] The alga maintained competitive advantage during the cultivation period. [•] Much higher algal dry biomass and hydrocarbon content were achieved in ASLW. [•] Removal efficiencies of TN and TP in ASLW were 40.8% and 93.3%. [•] Combination of algae biofuels production with wastewater treatment was proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An increasing removal efficiency of Cr from site soil with HA catholyte achieved to 51.7% • The electric field strength was enhanced with KCl, CA and HA catholytes. • The migration of Cr was dependent on the distribution of voltage drops across soil sections. • The higher voltage drops were controlled by the water content and electrical conductivity in pore water. • HA as exogenous buffer media restrained Ca and S elements release. • The voltage was efficiently consumed on productive Cr recovery in EK-HA. The evolution of potential gradient across different soil sections that were responsible for divergence of Cr migration in electrokinetic (EK) remediation need further investigate. Here, the redistribution of Cr and voltage was conducted out under four kinds of catholytes applying a constant potential. The results showed that the total removal efficiency of dissolved Cr from soil matrix achieved 51.7% with humic acid (HA) catholyte, compared to 40.4, 36.5 and 31.9% with KCl, citric aicd (CA) and H 2 O catholytes, respectively. The voltage drops on soil cells were enhanced with assisted catholytes, in which facilitating the migration capacity of Cr out of soil in a faster way. The voltage shifted to cathode electrode with a significant value of above 17 V over 12 d due to polarization in EK-H 2 O, which may become the limiting factor for driving the Cr migration. The voltage located in the last two soil slices that controlled by electric conductivity of pore water made a large proportion of 4.3–5.2 V (1.08–1.4 V cm−1) in EK-CA, which was consistent with the highest Cr removal efficiency of 64.3–85.6%. Whilst the voltage concentrated in the first soil slice and central slices related to water holding capacity reached 3.3–5.6 V (0.83–1.40 V cm−1) in EK-HA, contributing to a remarkably increasing Cr removal efficiency of 49.3–58.7%. In addition, HA can restrain the transformation and migration of Ca and S ions. Furthermore, higher migration potential for Cr indicated the voltage were efficiently consumed on Cr depletion in EK-HA. These suggested that HA was optional catholyte for site with the utmost Cr recovery and lower energy loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammalian CCL20, or macrophage inflammatory protein-3α, can function as a homeostatic and inflammatory chemokine. In relation to the latter, it is responsible for the chemoattraction of lymphocytes and dendritic cells to mucosal immune sites under inflammatory and pathological conditions. CK1, CK8A and CK8B are rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) CC chemokines that were reported previously to be phylogenetically related to mammalian CCL20. In the current study, an additional seven CCL20_L paralogues in rainbow trout are reported, that are divided into three subgroups and have been designated here as: CCL20_L1a (also referred to as CK1), CCL20_L1b1-2, CCL20_L2a (CK8A), CCL20_L2b (CK8B), CCL20_L3a, and CCL20_L3b1-4. Multiple CCL20_L genes were also identified in other salmonids that arose from both whole genome duplication and local gene duplication. Phylogenetic tree, homology and synteny analysis support that CCL20_L1-3 found in salmonids are also present in most teleosts arose from the 3 R whole genome duplication and in some species, local gene duplication. Like mammalian CCL20, rainbow trout CCL20_L molecules possess a high positive net charge with a pI of 9.34–10.16, that is reported to be important for antimicrobial activity. Rainbow trout CCL20_L paralogues are differentially expressed and in general highly expressed in mucosal tissues, such as gills, thymus and intestine. The expression levels of rainbow trout CCL20_L paralogues are increased during development and following PAMP/cytokine stimulation. For example, in RTS-11 cells CCL20_L3b1 and CCL20_L3b2 are highly up-regulated by LPS, Poly I:C, recombinant(r) IFNa and rIL-1β. Trout CCL20_L paralogues are also increased after Yersinia ruckeri infection or Poly I:C stimulation in vivo , with CCL20_L3b1 and CCL20_L3b2 again highly up-regulated. Overall, this is the first report of the complete CCL20 chemokine subfamily in rainbow trout, and the analysis of their expression and modulation in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that teleosts possess divergent CCL20_L molecules that may have important roles in anti-viral/anti-bacterial defence and in mucosal immunity. • Ten CCL20_L genes are present in rainbow trout that can be classified into three groups CCL20_L1-3. • CCL20_L1-3 genes are present in most teleosts, with lineage/species-specific expansion. • The expansion of CCL20_L genes was via whole genome duplication and local gene duplication. • Trout CCL20_L genes are differentially expressed and in general highly expressed in mucosal tissues. • Trout CCL20_L genes are increased during development and following immune stimulation in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemokines direct cell migration in development and immune defense, and bridge between innate and adaptive immune responses. The chemokine gene family has been rapidly evolving and has undergone species/lineage-specific expansion. Mammals possess inflammatory CXC chemokines CXCL1-8/15 and CXCL9-11 sub-groups, and homeostatic CXCL12-14, 16–17. Orthologues of mammalian CXCL12-14, three chemokines related to CXCL1-8/15 (CXCL8_L1-3), two chemokines related to CXC9-11 (CXCL11_L1-2), and five fish-specific chemokines (CXCL_F1-5) have been described in teleosts. In this study, we reported three novel CXC chemokines in Asian swamp eel Monopterus albus, a commercially important freshwater fish species in China. Two of them belong to the fish-specific CXCL_F2 group, named CXCL_F2a/b, that share 89.5% amino acid identity. The other (CXCL11_L3) belongs to a third CXCL11_L related to the mammalian CXCL9-11 subfamily found only in percomorph fish species, and is the only CXCL9-11 related molecules in this lineage. Mammalian CXCL9-11 attract Th1 cells, and block the migration of Th2 cells in an immune response. This study suggests that all major lineages of teleosts have a CXCL9-11 related chemokine that will aid future functional investigation of CXCL11_L in fish. Cxcl_f2a is highly expressed constitutively in the skin of swamp eels that may attract immune cells to protect the skin in the absence of scales. Cxcl11_l3 and cxcl_f2b are highly expressed in immune tissues/organs and are up-regulated by the viral mimic poly I:C, but not bacterial infection in vivo , suggesting their role in anti-viral defense. The two cxcl_f2 paralogues are differentially expressed and modulated, indicating sub- and/or neo-functionalization. • CXCL11_L3 represents a third CXCL9-11 related chemokine in percomorph fish species. • Cxcl_f2a and cxcl_f2b are differentially expressed and modulated in vivo. • Cxcl11_l3 and cxcl_f2b are induced by poly I:C suggesting a role in anti-viral defence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• No-till coupled with straw return increased soil ortho-P and P availability. • No-till coupled with straw return facilitated to accumulate P monoester in the paddy soil. • No-till coupled with straw return increased the proportions of Ca-P and Fe-P in the paddy soil. Conservation tillage is well known to reduce the loss of soil phosphorus (P). However, the effects of different conservation practices on soil P speciation are still unclear. To delineate these effects, two field experiments were conducted during 2-year rice-fallow seasons with four treatments: conventional tillage/straw harvest (CTH), conventional tillage/straw return (CTR), no-till/straw harvest (NTH), and no-till/straw return (NTR). A combination of Liquid-state 31P-NMR and P K-edge XANES was used to investigate the variations in P species present in two paddy soils. Liquid-state 31P-NMR results showed that P monoesters significantly increased under NTR, and after the 2-year rice-fallow practice, the proportion of P monoesters relative to total P in the different treatments ranked as: NTR (23.25%) > NTH (22.18%) > CTR (20.29%) > CTH (19.79%) and NTR (8.61%) > NTH (8.49%) > CTR (8.31%) > CTH (8.03%) in a loam and a clay loam soil, respectively. Orthophosphate (ortho-P) also increased over time, but with no differences among treatments for the two soil types at the end of the experiment. P K-edge XANES spectra further revealed that the relative proportions of iron oxide-bound P (Fe-P i) and calcium dihydrogen phosphate (Ca-P i) were highest in the NTR treatment, higher by 27.6% and 11.1% in a loam soil and by 10.4% and 12.7% in a clay loam soil than that in the first rice season. However, the relative proportion of aluminum oxide-bound P (Al-P i) was lower by 38.6% and 40.7% in the loam and the clay loam soil, respectively. Our results suggested that no-till coupled with straw return can significantly increase the soil pool of organic P, and that this treatment was beneficial to the conversion of inorganic P species to labile forms in rice paddy soils. This study highlights the transformational relationship between different P species in conservation tillage systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current standard second-line treatment is immune checkpoint inhibitors monotherapy for nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. The objective of this phase 2 study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nivolumab plus docetaxel compared with nivolumab monotherapy for second-line therapy in immunotherapy-naive patients with advanced NSCLC. Progression-free survival (PFS) was the primary endpoint of this phase 2 study. Patients were randomized to receive nivolumab plus docetaxel or nivolumab monotherapy. From July 2019 to June 2022, a total of 22 patients were recruited, with significantly longer median PFS observed in the nivolumab plus docetaxel group (4.0 months) compared to the nivolumab group (2.0 months), P  = 0.0019. The study was closed in June 2022 due to slow recruitment. The objective response rate was 10.0% [95% confidence interval (CI), 0-28.6] in the nivolumab group and 25% (95% CI, 0.5-49.5) in the nivolumab + docetaxel group ( P  = 0.346). Disease control was significantly higher in the nivolumab plus docetaxel arm (40.0% versus 83.3%, P  = 0.035). There was also an improvement in overall survival (OS) in the nivolumab + docetaxel arm, but this was not statistically significant (10.0 months versus 7.2 months, P  = 0.129). The addition of docetaxel to nivolumab was well-tolerated, with adverse events more common in the combination group. Despite the small sample size, the results suggest that the addition of docetaxel to nivolumab may be a promising treatment option for NSCLC patients progressing on platinum-based chemotherapy, with trends towards improved OS observed., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Fabrication of biodegradable shape memory polymer with remotely controllable shape actuation is of great significance in the biomedical field but remains challenging. Herein, we present a simple strategy to fabricate a monolayer-based stretchable and mechanically robust polycaprolactone/polydopamine elastomer via efficient thiol-ene click chemistry. The resultant elastomers exhibit desirable photothermal transfer efficiency and can enable rapid temperature increase over the melting temperature of polymeric matrix, and quantitative results demonstrate that the crosslinked film exhibited excellent shape memory properties with shape fixity (R f ) and shape recovery ratios (R r ) approaching 92.3 % and 95.6 %, respectively. Combined with photo stimuli, anisotropic polymer chain relaxation of the prestretched film can generate asymmetric contractions and eventually give rise to ut out-of-plane bending actuations upon photo stimulation, meanwhile, numerical simulation reveals the interaction mechanism of light with film. Beyond this, we further demonstrate that the bending angle is correlated with the parameters of prestretch strain, film thickness as well as irradiation time, and the maximum value can reach 158° with prestretch strain of 200 % and film thickness of 0.3 mm. In particular, the bent structures could be reversibly deformed into plane state via photo-directed corresponding opposite surfaces. Remarkably, the in vitro degradation properties of the elastomers on PBS-T buffer solutions demonstrated that the degradation was composed of induction stage and acceleration stage. This work will pave way for designing biodegradable light-induced shape memory materials toward biomedical device fields and so on., 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 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the efficacy and safety of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) or plus with chemotherapy in older patients., Methods: We enrolled 110 older patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC ≥75 years) who received either chemotherapy alone (chemo), ICI plus chemotherapy (ICI + chemo), or ICI alone and ICI plus other therapies, which included anti-angiogenesis drugs or other novel ICI (ICIs). Patient characteristics, treatment response, survival, and toxicity were evaluated., Results: In total population, the ICIs group has the highest disease control rate (DCR 75%). There were no significant differences in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) among older patients between ICI + chemo and ICIs groups (PFS: 5.3 months vs. 5.5 months, p  = 0.70, OS: 10.7 months vs. 20.3 months, p = 0.995). Meanwhile, we observed ICIs had a longer PFS and OS than chemo group (PFS: 3.9 months vs. 5.5 months, p  = 0.01, OS: 10.9 months vs. 20.3 months, p = 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed that patients with programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) ≥ 1% had a distinct longer trend toward OS in ICIs group compared to ICI + chemo group (22.4 months vs. 10.7 months, p  = 0.605), even though there was no significant difference. In terms of safety, ICIs was more tolerable and had a lower discontinuation rate than ICI + chemo group., Conclusion: In the real world, ICI + chemo is more likely to be discontinued due to adverse effects and does not significantly improve patient survival compared with ICIs treatment in total population and subgroup. Therefore, ICI alone or ICIs plus other therapies, such as anti-angiogenesis drugs or other novel ICI (ICIs) could be recommended for older cases with PD-L1 positive NSCLC., Competing Interests: 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., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Three-arm star polymethacrylates with dual-phase (solution and solid-state) fluorescent emission have been synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using a triphenylamine-derived organboron complex (TAPA-BKI-3Br) as initiator. The as-synthesized three-arm star polymethacrylates exhibited bright emission in both solution and the solid states due to the highly twisted structure and intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect of TAPA-BKI core, as well as the steric effect and restriction of intramolecular motions from the polymer arms. And the polymer chains have an important influence on the photophysical behavior of the as-synthesized three-arm star polymethacrylates in the aggregated state., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Eutrophication can stimulate the emissions of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) accompanied by variations in environmental variables in lakes. However, the effects of eutrophication on VSC emissions from lake sediments as well as the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, depth gradient sediments at different eutrophication levels and seasons were collected from Lake Taihu to investigate the response of sulfur biotransformation in the sediments to eutrophication based on the analysis of environmental variables, microbial activity, abundance and community structure. H 2 S and CS 2 were the main VSCs produced from the lake sediments, with the production rates of 2.3-7.9 and 1.2-3.9 ng g -1  h -1 in August, respectively, which were higher than those in March, mainly due to the increasing activity and abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) at high temperatures. The VSC production rates from the sediments increased with lake eutrophication level. Higher VSC production rates were detected in surface sediments in eutrophic regions but in deep sediments in oligotrophic regions. Sulfuricurvum, Thiobacillus and Sulfuricella were the main sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) in the sediments, while Desulfatiglans and Desulfobacca were the predominant SRB. Organic matter, Fe 3+ , NO 3 - -N and total sulfur had significant influences on the microbial communities in the sediments. Partial least squares path modelling showed that the trophic level index could stimulate VSC emissions from lake sediments by influencing the activities and abundances of SOB and SRB. These findings indicated that sediments contributed substantially to VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes, especially surface sediments, and sediment dredging might be an effective way to mitigate VSC emissions from eutrophic lakes., 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 © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Lung Adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a major component of lung cancer. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) has emerged as a new target for some tumor treatments., Methods: The expression and clinical data of LUAD samples were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, followed by acquiring ERS-related genes (ERSGs) from the GeneCards database. Differentially expressed endoplasmic reticulum stress-related genes (DE-ERSGs) were screened and used to construct a risk model by Cox regression analysis. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) curves and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to determine the risk validity of the model. Moreover, enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the high- and low- risk groups was conducted to investigate the functions related to the risk model. Furthermore, the differences in ERS status, vascular-related genes, tumor mutation burden (TMB), immunotherapy response, chemotherapy drug sensitivity and other indicators between the high- and low- risk groups were studied. Finally, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to validate the mRNA expression levels of prognostic model genes., Results: A total of 81 DE-ERSGs were identified in the TCGA-LUAD dataset, and a risk model, including HSPD1, PCSK9, GRIA1, MAOB, COL1A1, and CAV1, was constructed by Cox regression analysis. K-M and ROC analyses showed that the high-risk group had a low survival, and the Area Under Curve (AUC) of ROC curves of 1-, 3- and 5-years overall survival was all greater than 0.6. In addition, functional enrichment analysis suggested that the risk model was related to collagen and extracellular matrix. Furthermore, differential analysis showed vascular-related genes FLT1, TMB, neoantigen, PD-L1 protein (CD274), Tumor Immune Dysfunction and Exclusion (TIDE), and T cell exclusion score were significantly different between the high- and low-risk groups. Finally, qRT-PCR results showed that the mRNA expression levels of 6 prognostic genes were consistent with the analysis., Conclusion: A novel ERS-related risk model, including HSPD1, PCSK9, GRIA1, MAOB, COL1A1, and CAV1, was developed and validated, which provided a theoretical basis and reference value for ERS-related fields in the study and treatment of LUAD., (© 2023. The Author(s).)