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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., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA), a natural biopolymer, is widely used in cosmetics, medicine, food, water treatment, and agriculture owing to its features of moisture sequestration, cation chelation, non-toxicity and biodegradability. Intracellular glutamic acid, the substrate of γ-PGA, is a limiting factor for high yield in γ-PGA production. Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis are both important γ-PGA producing strains, and B. subtilis synthesizes glutamic acid in vivo using the unique GOGAT/GS pathway. However, little is known about the glutamate synthesis pathway in B. licheniformis. The aim of this work was to characterize the glutamate dehydrogenase (RocG) in glutamic acid synthesis from B. licheniformis with both in vivo and in vitro experiments. By re-directing the carbon flux distribution, the rocG gene deletion mutant WX-02ΔrocG produced intracellular glutamic acid with a concentration of 90ng/log(CFU), which was only 23.7% that of the wild-type WX-02 (380ng/log(CFU)). Furthermore, the γ-PGA yield of mutant WX-02ΔrocG was 5.37g/L, a decrease of 45.3% compared to the wild type (9.82g/L). In vitro enzymatic assays of RocG showed that RocG has higher affinity for 2-oxoglutarate than glutamate, and the glutamate synthesis rate was far above degradation. This is probably the first study to reveal the glutamic acid synthesis pathway and the specific functions of RocG in B. licheniformis. The results indicate that γ-PGA production can be enhanced through improving intracellular glutamic acid synthesis., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In mammals, interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) plays an important role in the process of development and differentiation of B cells, T cells and dendritic cells. It can regulate immune pathway through IRF5, MyD88, IL21, PGC1α, and NOD2. In the present study, we investigated the expression pattern of IRF4 paralogues and these related genes for the first time in teleosts. The results showed that these genes were all expressed predominantly in known immune tissues while IRF5 was also relatively highly expressed in muscle. IRF4b, IL21, MyD88, IRF5 and NOD2 showed maternal expression in the oocyte and the higher expression of IRF4a, Mx and PGC1α before hatching might be involved in the embryonic innate defense system. Zebrafish embryonic fibroblast (ZF4) cells were infected with GCRV and SVCV. During GCRV infection, the expression of Mx was significantly up-regulated from 3 h to 24 h, reaching the highest level at 12 h (101.5-fold over the controls, P < 0.001). And the expression of IRF4a was significantly up-regulated from 3 h to 48 h, reaching the highest level at 12 h (13.75-fold over the controls, P < 0.001). While the expression of IRF4b was only slightly up-regulated at 12 h and 24 h (3.39-fold, 1.93-fold) above control levels, respectively. Whereas the expression of Mx was significantly up-regulated during SVCV infection from 1 h to 48 h, reaching the highest level at 24 h (11.49-fold over the controls, P < 0.001). IRF4a transcripts were significantly up-regulated from 6 h to 24 h, reaching the highest level at 24 h (41-fold over the controls, P < 0.01). IRF4b only showed a slightly up-regulation by SVCV at 24 h (3.2-fold over the controls, P < 0.01). IRF4a and IRF4b displayed a distinct tissue expression pattern, embryonic stages expression and inducible expression in vivo and in vitro, suggesting that IRF4 paralogues might play different roles in immune system., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

An Eco-tank system of 10m 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 161.05mg 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 0.89mg 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 4.58mg 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., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy or molecular targeted therapy remains the standard of treatment for brain metastases from non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study is to determine if the deferral of brain radiotherapy impacts patient outcomes., Methods: Between May 2003 and December 2015, a total of 198 patients with brain metastases from NSCLC who received both brain radiotherapy and systemic therapy (chemotherapy or targeted therapy) were identified. The rate of grade 3-4 adverse reactions related to chemotherapy and radiotherapy had no significant difference between two groups. 127 patients received concurrent brain radiotherapy and systemic therapy, and 71 patients received deferred brain radiotherapy after at least two cycles of chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Disease specific-graded prognostic assessment was similar in early radiotherapy group and deferred radiotherapy group., Results: Median overall survival (OS) was longer in early radiotherapy group compared to deferred radiotherapy group (17.9 months vs 12.6 months; P=0.038). Progression free survival (PFS) was also improved in patients receiving early radiotherapy compared to those receiving deferred radiotherapy (4.0 months vs 3.0 months; P<0.01). Receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy after the diagnosis of brain metastases as any line therapy improved the OS (20.0 months vs 10.7 months; P<0.01), whereas receiving TKI as first line therapy did not (17.9 months vs 15.2 months; P=0.289)., Conclusions: Our study suggests that the use of deferred brain radiotherapy may resulted in inferior OS in patients with NSCLC who develop brain metastases. A prospective multi-central randomized study is imminently needed.

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 (NO3(-)-N), ammonia nitrogen (NH4(+)-N), total nitrogen (TN), and orthophosphate phosphorus (PO4(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 (NO3(-)-N: 10-15 mg N L(-1), NH4(+)-N: 10-15 mg N L(-1), PO4(3-)-P: 1.0-1.5 mg P L(-1)) and long hydraulic retention time (HRT, 24h), 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 24h HRT., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

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).

Background and Objective: Chemotherapy is a highly efficient primary treatment for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). However, patients receiving such treatment are prone to develop drug resistance. Local treatment is palliative and thus can alleviate the local symptoms and improve quality of life, but limited evidence is available for prolonging survival. Hence, this study evaluated the role of local treatment in chemotherapy of patients with ES-SCLC., Methods: A total of 302 ES-SCLC cases were enrolled in this retrospective study. Prognostic factors were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox multivariate proportional hazards model., Results: Median progression-free survival (PFS) and median survival time (MST) of the patients were 4.4 and 10.4 months, respectively. 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 37.8%, 10.2% and 4.4%, correspondingly. The MST of the primary tumor radiotherapy plus chemotherapy group was 14.3 months, whereas that of the chemotherapy group was 8.2 months (P<0.01). The MSTs of multiple-site, single-site, and non-metastasis local treatments were 18.7, 12.3 and 8.9 months, respectively (P<0.01). The MSTs of initiative, passive, and non-metastasis local treatments were 16.0, 10.9 and 9.4 months, correspondingly (P<0.01). The MSTs of patients with prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) and those without PCI were 19.8 and 9.9 months, respectively (P<0.01). Primary tumor radiotherapy, metastasis local treatment, and PCI were independent prognostic factors for ES-SCLC., Conclusions: Primary tumor radiotherapy, metastasis local treatment, and PCI can significantly improve survival in patients with ES-SCLC.
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Ecological stoichiometry provides a powerful tool for integrating microbial biomass stoichiometry with ecosystem processes, opening far-reaching possibilities for linking microbial dynamics to soil carbon (C) metabolism in response to agricultural nutrient management. Despite its importance to crop yield, the role of phosphorus (P) with respect to ecological stoichiometry and soil C sequestration in paddy fields remains poorly understood, which limits our ability to predict nutrient-related soil C cycling. Here, we collected soil samples from a paddy field experiment after seven years of superphosphate application along a gradient of 0, 30, 60, and 90 (P-0 through P-90, respectively) kg.ha-1.yr-1 in order to evaluate the role of exogenous P on soil C sequestration through regulating microbial stoichiometry. P fertilization increased soil total organic C and labile organic C by 1-14% and 4-96%, respectively, while rice yield is a function of the activities of soil β-1,4-glucosidase (BG), acid phosphatase (AP), and the level of available soil P through a stepwise linear regression model. P input induced C limitation, as reflected by decreases in the ratios of C:P in soil and microbial biomass. An eco-enzymatic ratio indicating microbial investment in C vs. P acquisition, i.e., ln(BG): ln(AP), changed the ecological function of microbial C acquisition, and was stoichiometrically related to P input. This mechanism drove a shift in soil resource availability by increasing bacterial community richness and diversity, and stimulated soil C sequestration in the paddy field by enhancing C-degradation-related bacteria for the breakdown of plant-derived carbon sources. Therefore, the decline in the C:P stoichiometric ratio of soil microorganism biomass under P input was beneficial for soil C sequestration, which offered a "win-win" relationship for the maximum balance point between C sequestration and P availability for rice production in the face of climate change.

Background and Objective: Lung cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer death, two thirds of patients are over the age of 65. Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for about 15%-20% of all lung cancer. The objective of this study is to evaluate the survival of patients older than 65 with SCLC and analyze the independent prognostic factors in this group of patients., Methods: A retrospective study has enrolled 160 cases of lung cancer aged over 65. The prognostic factors were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and Cox multivariate proportional hazards model., Results: ① The median follow-up time was 12 (2-109) months. 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rate was 47.1%, 13.0%, 9.6% respectively, and 74.4%, 25.0%, 19.7% for limited-stage (LD), and 36.8%, 8.7%, 5.8% for extensive-stage (ED). Median survival time (MST) of all the patients was 12 months, 24 months for LD and 11 months for ED, respectively. ② Multivariate analysis suggested that performance status (PS) pre-treatment, the change of PS after treatment, stage, liver metastases and thoracic radiotherapy were the independent prognostic factors in all patients. ③ For LD-SCLC patients, PS pre-treatment, thoracic radiotherapy were the independent prognostic factors. The model of thoracic radiotherapy (concurrent chemoradiation vs sequential chemoradiation, early concurrent chemoradiation vs late concurrent chemoradiation) and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) did not show significant difference. ④ For ED-SCLC patients, sex, the change of PS after treatment, chemotherapy, liver metastases, thoracic radiotherapy, PCI were the independent prognostic factors., Conclusions: The survival time is related to PS and thoracic radiotherapy in eldly patients. Besides, it is also related to sex, chemotherapy, liver metastases and PCI for ED-SCLC.

To understand the potential of using swine lagoon wastewater to cultivate Botryococcus braunii for biofuel production, growth characteristics of B. braunii 765 cultivated in aerated swine lagoon wastewater (ASLW) without sterilization and pH adjustment were investigated. The results showed that the alga strain could maintain competitive advantage over the 26-day cultivation. The highest dry biomass of alga grown in ASLW was 0.94 mg L(-1) at day 24, which was 1.73 times that grown in BG11 medium, an artificial medium normally used for B. braunii cultivation. And the algal hydrocarbon content was 23.8%, being more than twice that in BG11 medium. Additionally, after the 26-day cultivation, about 40.8% of TN and 93.3% of TP in ASLW were removed, indicating also good environmental benefits of algal bioremediation., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Some clinical predictors can be used to evaluate the efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), including female, East-Asian, non-smoker, adenocarcinoma, skin rash, etc. The aim of this study is to explore the prognosis of advanced NSCLC patients treated with gefitinib for more than 6 months., Methods: Eighty advanced NSCLC patients treated with gefitinib for more than 6 months were collected from January, 2005 to March, 2010. The association of their clinical characteristics with median progression-free survival time (PFS) was analysed., Results: Significantly longer median PFS were found in patients with > 70 years old, earlier clinical stage (IIIb), non-bone metastasis (27 months vs 12 months; 32 months vs 12 months; 16 months vs 10 months, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in median PFS between ECOG performance status 0-1 group and 2-4 group, between more than 4 cycles of chemotherapy and 1-4 cycles, between PFS of chemotherapy > 6 months group and ≤6 months group, however, ECOG 0-1 group and more than 4 cycles of chemotherapy or PFS of chemotherapy > 6 months group seemed to have longer median PFS (15 months vs 10 months; 16 months vs 12 months; 14 months vs 12 months). Compared with no skin rash and grade 0-I rash group, the patients with rash or grade ≥II rash had longer median PFS (16 months vs 13 months, P=0.171; 19 months vs 11 months, P=0.085). The median PFS was not related with sex, smoking index, pathological types, metastatic sites except bone, treatment strategy, etc (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: For gefitinib treatment, longer median PFS is likely to be obtained in patients with > 70 years old, earlier clinical stage (IIIb), non-bone metastasis.

As the largest bread basket in Zhejiang Province, Hangjiahu area is facing more and more serious water pollution, while the N loss loading by runoff from the paddy field during its submersed period is the main cause of the pollution. Through field experiment and fixed spot observation, the model of precipitation - runoff in Yangtze delta was testified, and the results showed that the precipitation - runoff model from HE Baogen was basically accorded with the fact after considering the impact of field overflow mouth, and the error was between - 19. 9% and + 18. 0%. The model of N concentration with precipitation - runoff in paddy field during submersed period was brought forward, with the R value being 0. 948. These two models consisted of the model of N loss loading by runoff from paddy field during submersed period. Based on this model as well as the past 30 years data of fertilization and precipitation, 1: 250,000 topography map, land use map, and water system map, the N loss loading and its distribution were estimated by using GIS method, and the results showed that the N loss loading was different from place to place, with an average of 35.26 kg N x hm(-2), and accounting for 12. 69% of the applied N. The N loss loading in Anji and Yuhang with obviously more precipitation was higher than that in other places, while Haining also had a serious N loss problem because of the huge amount of applied N.