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The development of appropriate analytical screening techniques for pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) is the basis for studying the distribution and environmental impact of emerging contaminants (ECs). Mass spectrometry-based screening methods vary with the complexity of the target compounds. It is challenging to balance both positive and negative ion quantification with a low detection limit. To establish a set of experimental methods including extraction, chromatography-separation and mass spectrometry screening is one of the most important topics in PPCP research. This paper describes a universal and efficient qualification and quantification protocol for the simultaneous detection of 34 PPCPs in different environmental samples in a single analytical data acquisition run.Thirty-four representative PPCPs, which are widely distributed in the environment with high ecological toxicity and complex chemical structures, were selected as representative target ECs. The extraction of the target PPCPs was achieved using only one solid-phase extraction cartridge without the need to adjust the pH of samples. The enriched samples were detected by LC-MS/MS in both positive and negative ion modes simultaneously. The protocol was evaluated based on the accuracy, precision, detection limits and matrix effects.This method achieved simultaneous detection of PPCPs in both positive and negative ion modes, with a single analytical cycle of 12 min. The observed SPE recoveries were between 40% and 115%. The instrumental detection limits (IDL) varied from 0.01 to 1 pg, and the method detection limits (MDL) were between 0.002 and 3.323 ng/l in different matrices. Most of the PPCPs were subjected to matrix suppression below 30%. The method was successfully applied for quantitative analysis of the PPCPs in different environmental samples, including river samples, wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) samples and soil samples.This protocol developed a rapid and efficient detection method to simultaneous qualitative and quantitative 34 representative PPCPs in the environment. The IDL ranged from 0.01 to 1 pg and the MDL ranged from 0.002 to 3.323 ng/l in different matrices. The detection limit was one order of magnitude lower compared to previous studies. The protocol also provided a wide application range for different environmental matrices, which permitted the migration and transformation of PPCPs to be explored.

In this study, magnetically separable Fe3O4/CeO2 nanocomposite (F/CNc) was first synthesized in hydrothermal and sol-precipitation methods and characterized by techniques including SEM-EDS, XRD, BET, FT-IR and VSM. The adsorption experiments of acid black dye (AB210) onto F/CNc were carried out under the conditions of temperature (30 – 60 ℃), solution pH (1 – 11), Fe-Ce molar ratio (1:2.5 – 4) and initial dye concentrations (20 – 80 mg/L). The adsorption capacity of AB210 increased with increasing initial dye concentration and temperature, and decreased with increasing solution pH. The maximum adsorption capacity of F/CNc for AB210 reached 124.5 mg/g when Fe-Ce molar ratio was 1:3. Pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were then used to describe the kinetics of adsorption, of which the latter fitted the adsorption process well, and the adsorption process complied also with the intra-particle diffusion model. The isothermal adsorption was described using Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin models and the Langmuir model matched. FT-IR and Zeta-potential measurement proved the physical adsorption process of AB210 onto F/CNc. The saturation magnetizations of Fe3O4 nanospheres and F/CNc were measured to be 69.1 emu/g and 22.9 emu/g respectively, indicating the coating layer reduced the magnetization of Fe3O4 nanospheres, but F/CNc were still separated easily by applying a magnetic field, keeping easy separability. Being easy to recover and remaining adsorption efficiency 90 % in comparison to the original even after four adsorption cycles, demonstrate the effectiveness and practical application of F/CNc as an adsorbent.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical practice patterns in maximal medical therapy (MMT) before endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) by Chinese otolaryngologists. An anonymous web-based survey of MMT was performed. This survey assessed types of therapies, the frequency of use, duration of use, and demographic data of respondents. A total of 134 (26.8%) questionnaires were completed and returned. The majority (62.69%) of respondents would consider surgery less than 3 months after commencing MMT, 33.58% would wait 3 to 6 months. Intranasal corticosteroid sprays, saline irrigation, oral antibiotics, oral mucolytics, and oral Chinese herbals were the most commonly used therapies and listed as “often (>70%)”. Macrolides were most commonly antibiotics prescribed among the clinicians surveyed (51.49%). Intranasal corticosteroid sprays, oral antibiotics, oral mucolytics, nasal saline irrigations, and oral Chinese herbals are most commonly prescribed by the majority of Chinese otolaryngologists as MMT for CRS. Current practice patterns of MMT among Chinese otolaryngologists are not uniformly based on evidence-based guidelines.

Background: Bioabsorbable steroid-eluting sinus stents are safe and effective in maintaining the patency of the frontal sinus ostium.Aims/objectives: To assess the efficacy of steroid-eluting sinus...

This brief deals with the consensus problem in a network of agents with cooperative and antagonistic interactions subject to quantization. By employing the techniques from nonsmooth analysis, we prove that all agents can be guaranteed to asymptotically reach bipartite consensus for any logarithmic quantizer accuracy under connected and structurally balanced topology and the states of all agents asymptotically converge to zero under connected and structurally unbalanced topology. In addition, finite-time bipartite consensus is considered for single-integrator agents with binary quantized information. The simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Bioinformatics plays an important role in the prediction, discovery and analysis of food peptide functionalities. These functionalities could be desirable (bioactivities, tastant-evoking) or undesirable (toxicity and allergenicity). When compared with conventional straight ‘wet’ synthesis methods, the bioinformatics-inspired approach utilizes the predictive powers of in silico tools to forecast and study desired physicochemical features and functionalities, before experimental validations are performed. This helps save time, resources and overall development costs. In this chapter, some useful bioinformatics tools for the discovery of food-derived bioactive peptides and prediction of peptide characteristics and bioactivities are discussed.

Proteins displayed on the cell surface of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) perform diverse and important biochemical roles. Among these, the cell-envelope proteinases (CEPs) are one of the most widely studied and most exploited for biotechnological applications. CEPs are important players in the proteolytic system of LAB, because they are required by LAB to degrade proteins in the growth media into peptides and/or amino acids required for the nitrogen nutrition of LAB. The most important area of application of CEPs is therefore in protein hydrolysis, especially in dairy products. Also, the physical location of CEPs (i.e., being cell-envelope anchored) allows for relatively easy downstream processing (e.g., extraction) of CEPs. This review describes the biochemical features and organization of CEPs and how this fits them for the purpose of protein hydrolysis. It begins with a focus on the genetic organization and expression of CEPs. The catalytic behavior and cleavage specificities of CEPs from various LAB are also discussed. Following this, the extraction and purification of most CEPs reported to date is described. The industrial applications of CEPs in food technology, health promotion, as well as in the growing area of water purification are discussed. Techniques for improving the production and catalytic efficiency of CEPs are also given an important place in this review.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the sinonasal microbiome of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) and healthy subjects, and to prospectively observe the effect of surgery-centered comprehensive treatment on microbiome. METHOD: A case-control and prospective self-controlled study was conducted, recruiting the CRSwNP patients who were surgically treated, and collecting swab samples from the middle meatus. They were followed up for three months at an interval of one month. And we recruited healthy volunteers' samples as well. All specimens were analyzed by the second-generation high-throughput sequencing, collecting subjective and objective data, and analyzed the relationship between them. RESULT: ① There was no significant difference of α diversity between the two groups(Shannon index were 4.41 vs. 3.89). However, there was a dynamic change of the α diversity in the CRSwNP group, and the Shannon index for 1, 2, 3 months follow-up were 2.33, 2.89, 4.24 respectively, which showed an increase followed a descend. The β diversity showed that the MRA of cyanobacteria was higher in the CRSwNP group than the control group before the operation(P < 0.05), but significantly decreased(P < 0.05) to be close to the control group at 3 months postoperatively. ②Comparing the microbiome with clinical factors and prognosis, we found that both the Lund-Kennedy scores and the history of asthma were positively correlated with the MRA of pseudomonas(r=0.397, P=0.012; r=0.420, P=0.008). Campylobacter was negatively correlated with improvement of SNOT-22 scores(r=-0.63, P=0.038), and enterococcus was negatively correlated with improvement of Lund-Kennedy scores(r=-0.77, P=0.005). CONCLUSION: The surgery-centered comprehensive treatment played an important role in the reconstruction of sinonasal microbiome. Pseudomonas may aggravate sinusitis and increase the risk of combined asthma. Campylobacter and enterococcus may affect the prognosis of surgery.

In this brief, we consider the consensus problem of hybrid multiagent systems. First, the hybrid multiagent system is proposed, which is composed of continuous-time and discrete-time dynamic agents. Then, three kinds of consensus protocols are presented for the hybrid multiagent system. The analysis tool developed in this brief is based on the matrix theory and graph theory. With different restrictions of the sampling period, some necessary and sufficient conditions are established for solving the consensus of the hybrid multiagent system. The consensus states are also obtained under different protocols. Finally, simulation examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of our theoretical results.

Competition is ubiquitous in nature. This paper studies competition phenomena of multi-agent systems consisting of three groups of agents. In order to achieve maximal influence, the first and the second groups send information to the third group, which leads to competition. First, we formulate this competition as a noncooperative game in which the first and the second groups are two players. Players decide agents who send and receive information. Consequently, the interaction topology of the system is generated from players’ strategies. Therefore, we define the interaction topology decided by Nash equilibrium of the game as the equilibrium topology of the system. Second, the necessary condition is established for equilibrium topology. For the case that the third group's interaction graph is a tree or has a center vertex, interchangeable Nash equilibrium solutions are obtained. Moreover, due to competition, the agents of the third group might reach consensus under the equilibrium topology. Finally, when the third group's interaction graph is bidirected, the necessary and sufficient condition is given for the equilibrium topology. The equilibrium topology is also presented for the scenario where the third group's interaction graph is a bidirected circulant graph.

Background An orbital cystic lesion is a common orbital disease and has classically been approached via external incision. The introduction of endoscopic surgery has revolutionized the management of sinus and skull base disorders. Similarly, endoscopic techniques have been increasingly used to access intraorbital lesions with excellent outcomes, especially in pediatric patients. Objective We described, in detail, the surgical technique of the endoscopic approach to treat a pediatric orbital cyst. Results The cyst was completely resected, and the patient quickly recovered without any complication. Conclusion The transnasal endoscopic surgical approach can be safe and effective for pediatric patients with orbital lesions. Use of this approach is based on the surgeon's experience and progressive instrumentation.

Background The aim of this work was to present our single-center experience on orbital cavernous hemangiomas managed using an endonasal endoscopic approach. Methods The study design used was one-institutional retrospective review. Twenty-three cases of orbital cavernous hemangioma were analyzed and followed up. Results There were 10 males and 13 females, with an average age of 46.1 years, included in our study. Seven cases were extraconal, 16 cases were intraconal, and in 10 of the patients the optic nerve was involved and compressed. Total resection of the tumor was achieved in 16 cases; of the remaining 7 cases, partial tumor resection and orbital decompression were conducted, orbital decompression was conducted in 2 cases, and orbital decompression and optic nerve decompression were conducted in 3 cases. Visual acuity in 9 patients improved significantly, as 16 of the 20 patients with a preoperative visual field defect had a smaller defect after surgery. Conclusion This study adds to the literature showing that endoscopic transnasal surgery is likely a reasonable option for patients with the orbital cavernous hemangiomas medial of the optic nerve. With greater experience, skilled surgical technique, and careful operation, better clinical efficacy can be achieved.