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Purpose: To assess the safety, efficacy, and long-term clinical outcomes of primary tailored phacoemulsification (phaco) combined with goniosynechialysis (GSL; phaco-GSL) in refractory acute primary angle closure (APAC) eyes with uncontrolled high intraocular pressure (IOP). Methods: This retrospective case series comprised 51 eyes of 42 consecutive patients with refractory APAC and high IOP who were treated using primary tailored phaco-GSL at 3 hospitals in China, from 2014 to 2021. Preoperative and postoperative IOP, corrected distant visual acuity (CDVA), corneal endothelial cell density (CECD), intraoperative and postoperative complications were recorded. The safety, efficacy and subsequent long-term clinical outcomes were analyzed. Results: The mean CDVA (LogMAR) was improved from 1.67±0.94 preoperatively to 0.23±0.26 postoperatively (P 2 in 33 eyes and inaccessible in 18 eyes due to severe corneal edema; at the final follow-up, the mean CECD of all patients was 1823.50±533.40 cells/mm2 (P 51 eyes, additional tailored procedures performed were corneal indentation in 42 eyes, epithelial debridement in 9 eyes, giant epithelial bullae view in 4 eyes, pars-plana fluid aspiration in 3 eyes, and secondary intraocular lens implantation in 7 eyes. The IOP of all eyes was well controlled eventually and 47 eyes (92.16%) were successfully treated by phaco-GSL alone. No significant intraoperative or postoperative complications were observed. Conclusions: Primary tailored phaco-GSL is a safe and effective surgical management strategy for patients with refractory APAC and high IOP.

The storage of large amount of power production waste occupies huge land resource; moreover, the stored or discarded waste may pollute the water environment through changing the water pH, releasing the trace and toxic elements even radioactive elements, and so on by leachate. Therefore, the recycling and disposal of power production waste are important and necessary. This paper reviews the research literatures published in 2019 on power generation waste from coal-fired and nuclear power plants, mainly including the recycling of fly ash and flue gas desulfurization gypsum in construction industry and environmental application, the recovery and immobilization of different metals from coal combustion products and selective catalytic reduction catalysts, and the treatment and disposal of radioactive elements from nuclear power plants. Practioner points Coal-fired power plant waste can be applied for material preparation and wastewater purification. Valued and toxic metals are normally recovered or removed from spent selective catalytic reduction catalyst. Recovery and removal of radioactive elements is essential for nuclear power plant wastes disposal.

Food waste was used to produce ethanol by yeast fermentation and volatile fatty acids (VFAs) by hydrolytic acidogenesis for chain elongation. Effectiveness of mole ratio of ethanol in yeast fermentation effluent (YFE) to VFAs in hydrolytic acidification effluent (HAE) on chain elongation was examined. The ideal YFE to HAE ratio for chain elongation was 2:1, the highest n-caproate production was 169.76 mg COD/g vS and the food waste utilization was 65.43 %. Electron transfer and carbon distribution did not completely correspond to n-caproate production, suggesting timely product extraction. The abundance of Romboutsia and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_12 increased as chain elongation progressed, which was critical for the chain elongation to n-caproate. The food waste shunting ratio of yeast fermentation to hydrolytic acidogenesis was 6:5, and 572.6 CNY can be created through chain elongation from shunting fermentation of 1 t food waste. This study proposed a new approach for efficient producing n-caproate from food waste.

Purpose To compare binocular anterior segment structures in Chinese patients with dark iris and unilateral Fuchs’ uveitis syndrome (FUS). Methods This was a cross-sectional study including 34 phakic eyes (17 patients) with unilateral FUS. Anterior segment parameters were measured by rotating Scheimpflug imaging camera, noncontact specular microscopy, and anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Results Corneal volume was higher in FUS eyes compared to unaffected eyes (p p p p p p Conclusion In Chinese patients with unilateral FUS, loss of endothelial cells, wider iridocorneal angle, thicker cornea, higher corneal densitometry of midstromal and posterior layer, and smoother iris were observed in affected eyes compared to contralateral eyes. These data can help to elucidate anterior segment characteristics of unilateral FUS in this population.

Anaerobic fermentation of corn straw with rumen microorganisms as inoculum to produce volatile fatty acids (VFAs) is important for biomass valorization. In this study, dynamic variation in bacterial and fungal community composition, carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) and key functional genes related with VFA production was explored via metagenomic sequencing. Rumen microorganisms efficiently hydrolyzed and acidified corn straw, and VFA concentration reached 8.99 g/L in 72 h. Bacterial and fungal community significantly changed, but the core genera kept stable. Low pH and VFA accumulation were the main factors affecting bacterial and fungal communities. The positive correlations between bacteria were more complex than those between fungi. Most CAZyme abundance significantly decreased after 72 h fermentation, and functional gene abundance participating in VFA generation also decreased. This study provided new insights into dynamic variation of bacteria and fungi during anaerobic ruminal fermentation in vitro, promoting the application of rumen microorganisms in practice.

This review focuses on the research literature published in 2018 relating to thermal effects in wastewater and solid waste treatment. This review is divided into the following sections: treatment of wastewater and sludge, removal and recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus, reduction and recovery of heavy metals, membrane technology, and treatment and disposal of solid wastes. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Thermal effect plays an important role in the treatment of wastewater and sewage sludge. Recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater and sewage sludge offers an excellent feedstock for soil amendment. Increase of treatment temperature facilitates removal and recovery of heavy metals from water and soil environment.

Single pretreatment of sewage sludge, either physical, chemical or biological, has its own drawbacks in term of poor sanitization, energy intensity and high operational and capital cost. To tackle these drawbacks, combined high pressure homogenization (HPH) and free nitrous acid (FNA) pretreatment for sludge solubilization and further biodegradation in anaerobic digestion was investigated. Synergistic effect of combined HPH (40 MPa) and FNA (2.49 mg/L) pretreatment (HPH-FNA) for improving anaerobic digestion was evaluated, and its effect on archaeal and bacterial community structure was analyzed. Compared with single HPH and FNA pretreatments, HPH-FNA pretreatment efficiently solubilized wasted activated sludge (WAS), subsequently improved anaerobic digestion. Cumulative biogas production from sewage sludge pretreated with HPH-FNA was 154%, 108% and 284% more than that with single pretreatment of FNA, HPH and raw sludge, respectively. In addition, volumetric biogas production of combined pretreatment system (815 ml) was more than the sum from single pretreatment (710 ml). Methane content in biogas for raw sludge, FNA, HPH and HPH-FNA pretreated sludge was 45%, 51%, 55% and 65%, respectively. Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis revealed that HPH-FNA pretreatment promoted bacterial growth of phyla Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Synergistetes and archaeal genera Methanospirillum and Methanosaeta. Overall, combined HPH-FNA pretreatment of sewage sludge, prior to anaerobic digestion, is an environmentally-friendly and potentially economic technology.

Nutrients carried in upstream rivers to lakes are the main cause of eutrophication. Building near-natural estuarine wetlands between rivers and lakes is an effective way to remove pollutants and restore the ecology of estuarine areas. However, for the existing estuarine wetland ecological restoration projects, there is a lack of corresponding evaluation methods and index systems to make a comprehensive assessment of their restoration effects. By summarizing a large amount of literature and doing field research, an index system was constructed by combining the characteristics of the near-natural estuarine wetlands themselves. It covered environmental benefits, technical management and maintenance, and socio-economic functions, and contained 3 systems, 7 criteria, and 16 indicators. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the weights of each indicator. The top 5 indicators in order of importance were habitat diversity, total phosphorus (TP), coverage of aquatic plants, ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), and adaptation to the surrounding landscape. The above evaluation system was used for the comprehensive evaluation of the water purification project in the Fuhe estuarine wetland, Hebei Province, as an example. The results showed that the comprehensive score of the Fuhe estuarine wetland at this stage was 4.1492, and the evaluation grade was excellent. The effect of water purification and ecological restoration was good, and the selected technology was suitable and stable in operation. It had a greater positive impact on the surrounding economy and society and can be promoted and applied. The research results were important for clarifying the advantages and defects of the project and developing efficient and advanced restoration technologies.

BACKGROUND: The mechanism of high-myopic cataract (HMC) is not fully understood yet. The ultrastructure of anterior lens capsule (aLC) and lens epithelial cells (LECs) may provide some clues to this issue.METHODS: Capsulorhexis samples from 10 eyes with HMC and 10 eyes with age-related cataract (ARC) were analyzed for morphologic characteristics using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).RESULTS: Several common pathologic disorders of LECs, including pleomorphic cellular structure, extensive intracellular vacuoles, swollen organelles, degeneration and necrotic lesions, could be observed in both HMC group and ARC group, to a similar extent. Specimens of HMC group disclosed remarkable extracellular spaces, interdigitation of LECs as well as protuberances of aLC towards LECs. CONCLUSIONS: The ultrastructure of aLC and LECs in HMC demonstrated some specific pathologic disorders in comparison with ARC, which might play a role in the formation of cataract in high myopes.

Microplastics exist widely in water environment. The microplastic distribution in sediments can better reflect the long-term microplastic pollution, especially the vertical distribution. However, the vertical microplastic distribution in sediments is diverse and unclear. This paper is the first study on vertical microplastic distribution in estuary sediment of Fuhe River, the main upstream river flowing to Baiyangdian Wetland in the northern China. The typical feature of Fuhe River is that the effluent of municipal wastewater treatment plants is its main water source. Microplastics in 15 sampling sites and different depths (0–50 cm) were examined. Results showed that the microplastic content decreased with the increase of sediment depth, and the highest content was 1049 ± 462 items/kg in the topmost sediment layer (0–5 cm). The particle size of microplastics was smaller in deeper sediment layers. The proportion of colored microplastics in deeper sediment layers was larger than that in shallower layers. Polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) were the main plastic polymer types in all sediment samples. The spatial distribution characteristics of microplastics in sediments were closely related to human activities, and the microplastic content was higher in the areas with more intense human activities. This study is helpful to understand the detailed distribution characteristics of microplastics in typical rivers in the northern China, and can provide guidance for reducing microplastic pollution.

The estuarine wetland buffer zone of the Fuhe river plays an important role in terms of improving water quality of Baiyangdian lake. In this study, the water purification effect and microbial community composition of an estuarine wetland buffer zone during a low-temperature period were investigated (March, 2021). The results indicated that the pre-sedimentation ecological pond (Pep), the subsurface flow wetland (Sfw), and the aquatic plant pond (App) exhibited good removal effects on total phosphorus (TP) and NH3-N. In contrast, the removal effects on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) was unsatisfied. Various phosphorus removal bacteria were detected in the water samples from the Pep and the Sfw, such as Arthrobacter, Flavobacterium, and Planococcus. These findings indicated the water purification performance and the microbial community composition in an estuarine wetland buffer zone during a low-temperature period.

Water shortage severely restricts vegetation restoration of mining area in the northwest China. Moderate treatment of reclaimed water is essential for improving the local ecological environment. In this study, relevant water quality standards issued by the states and research results were comprehensively considered to propose a reclaimed water quality standard suitable for vegetation restoration of mining area. The available domestic sewage and mine water was moderately treated by hybrid biological reactor system and nanofiltration membrane system, respectively. The effluent quality meet the requirement of reclaimed water quality standards in this study. This study provides theoretical support for vegetation restoration of mining area.

As a national key protection and restoration project, ecological restoration of Baiyangdian Wetland has an important significance for environmental management. As the research area in Zaozhadian wetland, the purification effect of warm season and cold season aquatic plants was studied under different overflying water qualities. It provides a theoretical and experimental basis for the ecological environment restoration and management of wetlands. The results showed that the warm season and cold season aquatic plants all played important roles on the nitrogen and phosphorus removal and maintained the stable water environmental from the nutrient release from soil. The warm season plant-mixed Myriophyllum spicatum and Ceratophyllum demersum and the cold season plant-Potamogeton crispus L. can be reasonably configurated for the wetland restoration.

Rumen liquid is excellent to effectively degrade lignocellulose. In this study, the suitable rice straw load during anaerobic fermentation of rice straw with rumen liquid as inoculum was explored to improve volatile fatty acid (VFA) production. At 10.0% rice straw load, the highest VFA concentration reached 10821.4 mg/L, and acetic acid and propionic acid were the main components. In 10.0% rice straw load system, high concentration of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) was also observed, and the enzymatic activities at 48 h were higher than those at other rice straw loads. At 10.0% rice straw load, lower diversity and richness of rumen bacteria were found than those at other rice straw loads. Bacteroides, Prevotella, and Ruminococcus were the main rumen bacteria during rice straw degradation, and the rumen bacteria might secret effective lignocellulolytic enzymes to enhance the hydrolysis and acidogenesis of rice straw. The determination of suitable rice straw load will be beneficial to the application of rumen liquid as inoculum in actual production.

Properly increasing mobility of heavy metals could promote phytoremediation of contaminated soil. Fe

This review paper focuses on the researches published in 2019 in the field of thermal effects in wastewater and solid waste treatment. The content of this review paper includes five parts: wastewater and sludge treatment, nutrient removal and recovery, membrane technology, heavy metal removal and immobilization, and organic waste utilization. © 2020 Water Environment Federation PRACTITIONER POINTS: Thermal effect plays an important role in treatment of wastewater and sewage sludge. Recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater and sewage sludge reduces environmental pollution and offers new products. Temperature improves removal and recovery of heavy metals and organic wastes.

Wetlands play an important role in sustaining ecosystems on the earth, which regulate water resources, adjust local climate and produce food for human beings, etc. However, wetlands are facing huge challenges due to human activities and other natural evolution, such as area shrinkage, function weakening and biodiversity decrease, and so on, therefore, some wetlands need to be urgently restored. In this study, the main technology components of close-to-natural restoration of wetlands were summarized. The ecological water requirement and water resource allocation can be optimized for the water balance between social, economy and ecology, which is a key prerequisite for maintaining wetland ecosystem. The pollution of wetland sediments and soils can be assessed by various indicators to provide the scientific basis for natural restoration of wetland base, and suitable strategies should be taken according to the actual conditions of wetland bases. The hydrological connectivity in wetlands and with related water system can be numerically simulated to make the optimal plan for improvement of hydrological connectivity. The ecological restoration of wetlands with the synergetic function of plants, animals and microorganisms was summarized, to improve the quality of wetland water environment and maintain the ecosystem stability. Based on the wetland close-to-natural restoration strategies, a brief ecological restoration plan for a typical wetland, Zaozhadian Wetland, near Xiong'an New Area in the north China was proposed from water resource guarantee, base pollution management, hydrological connectivity improvement and biological restoration. The close-to-natural restoration shows more effective, sustainable and long-lasting and thus a practical prospect.

This work studied the effect of total solid (TS) of sewage sludge on VFA production and composition in anaerobic fermentation. Results revealed that VFA concentration reached the highest of 10.16 g/L and the ratio of acetic acid, propionic acid and n-butyric acid was 5:2:2 with the 8% TS sewage sludge. In subsequent chain elongation with sludge fermentation liquid, n-caproic acid concentration reached 43.45 mmol/L. The microbial community analysis indicated that relative abundance of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_12 for n-caproic acid production was high (52.41%). The chain elongation with sludge fermentation liquid had more pathways to produce n-caproic acid, and the chain elongation reactions were thermodynamically possible. The mixed VFAs and high concentration of n-butyric acid benefitted n-caproic acid production. Carbon balance revealed that the VFA composition of sludge fermentation liquid was beneficial to the chain elongation. This study will contribute to wasted sludge minimization and high-value material production.

A new genus and species of rhagionids with a long proboscis, Elliprhagio macrosiphonius gen. et sp. nov., is described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation in Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China, which is considered to be the earliest hematophagous rhagionid described hitherto according to the typically piercing and sucking mouthparts. All previously documented rhagionids from northeastern China are reviewed a key to genera of Rhagionidae from Daohugou is provided for the first time. The genus Daohugorhagio Zhang, 2013 is considered as a new synonym of Trichorhagio Zhang, 2013.

Rumen liquid can effectively degrade lignocellulosic biomass, in which rumen microorganisms play an important role. In this study, transformation of bacterial community structure in rumen liquid anaerobic digestion of rice straw was explored. Results showed that rice straw was efficiently hydrolyzed and acidified, and the degradation efficiency of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin reached 46.2%, 60.4%, and 12.9%, respectively. The concentration of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) reached 12.9 and 8.04 g L−1. The high-throughput sequencing results showed that structure of rumen bacterial community significantly changed in anaerobic digestion. The Shannon diversity index showed that rumen bacterial diversity decreased by 32.8% on the 5th day of anaerobic digestion. The relative abundance of Prevotella and Fibrobacter significantly increased, while Ruminococcus significantly decreased at the genus level. The Spearman correlation heatmap showed that pH and VFA were the critical factors affecting the rumen bacterial community structure. The function prediction found that rumen bacteria mainly functioned in carbohydrate transport and metabolism, which might contain a large number of lignocellulose degrading enzyme genes. These studies are conducive to the better application of rumen microorganisms in the degradation of lignocellulosic biomass.

Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the most abundant renewable resources, and their transformation into bioenergy is an effective approach to alleviate energy shortage and recycle organic wastes. This review summarized the rumen microorganisms and related enzymes, and rumen digestion strategies and mechanisms for improvement of anaerobic rumen digestion in engineering application. Main related literatures were searched on sciencedirect and web of science, systematically summarized, compared and analyzed. Rumen microorganisms accomplish the hydrolysis, acidogenisis and methanogenesis of lignocellulosic biomass, which mainly depends on the synergy of microorganisms and enzymes. Rumen bacteria are the main players and anaerobic fungi play an indispensable role in the hydrolysis and acidogenesis of lignocelluloses. The interaction of different microorganisms promotes the efficiency of lignocelluloses conversion to renewable energy in rumen digestion system, especially protozoa and methanogens. Rumen microorganisms secrete the cellulases, hemicellulases and ligninases, which have their own unique structure and action mode and synergistically promote the lignocellulose degradation. Anaerobic digestion reactor cannot be simply designed through simulating the rumen structure and environment, while the simulation of rumen digestion strategies according to the physicochemical properties and microbial community is more important. The substrate structure and additives significantly improve the rumen digestion of lignocellulosic biomass as a potential design strategy. Finally, the current challenges, future works, and prospects on biological conversion of lignocellulose to bioenergy with rumen microorganisms are outlined.

Properly increasing mobility of heavy metals could promote phytoremediation of contaminated soil. Fe1-xS/biochar was successfully prepared from sawdust with loading pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS) at a pyrolysis temperature of 550 °C. Thiobacillus were successfully adsorbed and enriched on the surface of Fe1-xS/biochar. Microbial growth for 36 d supported by bio-oxidization of Fe1-xS decreased the system pH from 4.32 to 3.50, increased the ORP from 298 to 487 mV, and the Fe3+ release reached 25.48 mg/g, enhancing the oxidation and leaching of soil Pb. Finally, Fe1-xS/biochar and Thiobacillus were simultaneously applied into Pb-contaminated soil for 60 d, the soil pH decreased from 7.83 to 6.72, and the exchangeable fraction of soil Pb increased from 22.86% to 37.19%. Ryegrass planting for 60 d in Pb-contaminated soil with Fe1-xS/biochar and Thiobacillus showed that the Pb content in shoot and root of ryegrass increased by 55.65% and 73.43%, respectively, confirming an obvious increase of phytoavailability of soil Pb. The relative abundance of Thiobacillus in remediated soil significantly increased from 0.06% to 34.55% due to the addition of Fe1-xS/biochar and Thiobacillus. This study provides a novel approach for regulating the Pb phytoavailability for phytoremediation of Pb-contaminated soil.

Rapid development of livestock industry produces large amount of livestock manure rich in nutrients, organic matters, antibiotics, and heavy metals, thus imposes great harms to human and environment, if the manure is not suitably treated. Biological removal and recovery of nutrients from manure as agriculture fertilizer is attractive due to low cost and simple operation. This review offers an overview of recent development in biological nutrient removal and recovery from livestock manure. Livestock manure is divided into solid manure and liquid manure. Composting and anaerobic digestion of solid manure are fully discussed and important parameters are investigated. Then various processes of nutrient removal and recovery from liquid manure are summarized. Brief economic sustainability and eco-environmental effects are carried out. Finally, current challenges and future prospects in this field are analyzed.

The storage of large amount of power production waste occupies huge land resource; moreover, the stored or discarded waste may pollute the water environment through changing the water pH, releasing the trace and toxic elements even radioactive elements, and so on by leachate. Therefore, the recycling and disposal of power production waste are important and necessary. This paper reviews the research literatures published in 2019 on power generation waste from coal-fired and nuclear power plants, mainly including the recycling of fly ash and flue gas desulfurization gypsum in construction industry and environmental application, the recovery and immobilization of different metals from coal combustion products and selective catalytic reduction catalysts, and the treatment and disposal of radioactive elements from nuclear power plants. Practioner points Coal-fired power plant waste can be applied for material preparation and wastewater purification. Valued and toxic metals are normally recovered or removed from spent selective catalytic reduction catalyst. Recovery and removal of radioactive elements is essential for nuclear power plant wastes disposal.

In-situ remediation of heavy metal-contaminated farmland mainly focuses on acidic soil, however, weak-alkaline farmland widely exists in north China. Meanwhile, fertilization is usually ignored, but it may influence remediation efficiency as well as grain production. In this paper, field experiments were carried out to investigate in-situ simultaneous remediation and fertilization of Cd-contaminated weak-alkaline soil by microbial agent mixed with fulvic acid (MFA), wheat straw biochar, sepiolite and their mixture. Results showed that addition of these conditioners decreased the soil available Cd by 39.86%–71.33% and the wheat Cd by 41.94%–87.10%. The decrease order of soil available Cd followed sepiolite > mixture > biochar > MFA, while the decrease order of wheat Cd was mixture > sepiolite > biochar > MFA. With addition of mixture, the wheat Cd reduced to 0.08 mg/kg, lower than the Cd limit of 0.1 mg/kg in Contaminant Limit in Food of National Food Safety Standards (GB2762-2017), and the highest wheat yield reached 7590 kg/hm2. The MFA had significant effects on improvement of soil organic matters, nutrients and rhizosphere microbes; the biochar was prominent in improving soil organic matters, inhibiting wheat Cd and soil available Cd; the sepiolite had obvious advantages in reducing wheat Cd and soil available Cd; and the mixture had a more balanced effect on soil remediation and fertilization. Correlation study showed that soil available Cd significantly affected the uptake of Cd by wheat, and wheat yield was significantly positively correlated with soil organic matters, available N. Therefore, reducing soil available Cd, increasing soil organic matters and nutrients are the keys to simultaneous remediation and fertilization of Cd-contaminated weak-alkaline soil for wheat production.

Using commercially available natural amino acids (L-Val, L-Leu, L-Phe) as chiral precursors, a series of N-substituted imidazole derivatives containing chiral groups was synthesized from the condensation reaction of amino acids, formaldehyde, glyoxal, and ammonia. Through esterification, reduction, chlorination, and subsequent substitution by thiols, chiral thioethers containing imidazole rings were synthesized, and the synthetic conditions were optimized. All the intermediates and the final products were characterized by NMR, ESI MS, HR MS, and IR.