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Arsenic is a pervasive pollutant in groundwater, affecting more than 100 million people in 50 countries, including China. Toxicological analysis of As is complicated because As exists in the environment in a variety of forms and redox states. Here, a thermodynamic equilibrium model was used to calculate As speciation, investigate pathways of As accumulation and assess the risk of adverse health effects from oral ingestion of dissolved As from shallow groundwater in the Poyang Lake area (China). The accumulation of As, Fe, and NH

The interaction parameters of ionic liquids with SiO2 are derived from colloid probe atomic force microscopy force–distance data, and used directly in molecular dynamics simulations to compute the self-diffusion coefficients of confined ionic liquids.

Lipid-headgroup dehydration by DMSO, which should increase friction, is offset by both higher areal head-group density and by rigidity-enhancement of the lipid bilayers, both of which act to reduce frictional dissipation.

Trace detection based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has attracted considerable attention, and exploiting efficient strategies to stretch the limit of detection and understanding the mechanisms on molecular level are of utmost importance. In this work, we use ionic liquids (ILs) as trace additives in a protein-TiO2 system, allowing us to obtain an exceptionally low limit of detection down to 10-9 M. The enhancement factors (EFs) were determined to 2.30 × 104, 6.17 × 104, and 1.19 × 105, for the three systems: one without ILs, one with ILs in solutions, and one with ILs immobilized on the TiO2 substrate, respectively, corresponding to the molecular forces of 1.65, 1.32, and 1.16 nN quantified by the atomic force microscopy. The dissociation and following hydration of ILs, occurring in the SERS system, weakened the molecular forces but instead improved the electron transfer ability of ILs, which is the major contribution for the observed excellent detection. The weaker diffusion of the hydrated IL ions immobilized on the TiO2 substrate did provide a considerably greater EF value, compared to the ILs in the solution. This work clearly demonstrates the importance of the hydration of ions, causing an improved electron transfer ability of ILs and leading to an exceptional SERS performance in the field of trace detection. Our results should stimulate further development to use ILs in SERS and related applications in bioanalysis, medical diagnosis, and environmental science.

The increased concentration of CO2 due to continuous breathing and no discharge of human beings in the manned closed space, like spacecraft and submarines, can be a threat to health and safety. Effective removal of low concentration CO2 from the manned closed space is essential to meet the requirements of long-term space or deep-sea exploration, which is an international frontier and trend. Ionic liquids (ILs), as a widespread and green solvent, already showed its excellent performance on CO2 capture and absorption, indicating its potential application in low concentration CO2 capture. In this review, we first summarized the current methods and strategies for direct capture from low concentration CO2 in both the atmosphere and manned closed spaces. Then, the multi-scale simulation methods of CO2 capture by ionic liquids are described in detail, including screening ionic liquids by COSMO-RS methods, capture mechanism by density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulation, and absorption process by computational fluid dynamics simulation. Lastly, some typical IL-based green technologies for low concentration CO2 capture, such as functionalized ILs, co-solvent systems with ILs, and supported materials based on ILs, are introduced, and analyzed the subtle possibility in manned closed spaces. Finally, we look forward to the technology and development of low concentration CO2 capture, which can meet the needs of human survival in closed space and proposed that supported materials with ionic liquids have great advantages and infinite possibilities in the vital area.

Zero-valent-iron coated quartz sand (ZVI-S) was used to remove uranium from groundwater in this study. Batch experiments and column experiments were conducted to study the influences of ZVI-S dosage, solution pH, contact time, and initial U(VI) concentration on U(VI) removal from solution and to simulate U(VI) removal efficiency using ZVI-S with different particle sizes, hydraulic loads, and U(VI) concentrations. The results showed that the highest U(VI) removal efficiency in batch experiments and column experiments was 85.33% and 79.19%, respectively, indicating that ZVI-S is efficient and promising for uranium removal from groundwater.

For improving the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) performance of nanomaterials to achieve trace detection of proteins and complex biological systems, structural and topographical control i...

The present study considers the behavior of nitrogen compounds in the shallow groundwater-soil system as necessary for the functioning of the nitrogen cycle within agricultural landscapes and one of the first steps of the formation of groundwater chemical composition. Data were collected in 2011-2018 within the Poyang Lake area (Jiangxi Province, China), where agricultural landscapes prevail. The soil and groundwater samples were taken in different periods of an agricultural season at the beginning of the agricultural season (spring) and after harvesting (autumn). The combined geochemical data on the chemical and microbiological composition of the soils and shallow groundwater and isotopic data on dissolved nitrate allowed researchers to resolve that nitrogen enters the system in the form of organic compounds, particularly, due to the soil fertilization at the beginning of the agricultural season. Organic nitrogen compounds transform into nitrate under the influence of nitrifiers in the soil before getting the shallow aquifer, where the occurrence of denitrification is suggested. Within the Ganjiang and Xiushui interfluve, reducing conditions, together with the formation of clay minerals from the aqueous solution, may serve a geochemical barrier for the accumulation of nitrogen compounds preventing the transformation of ammonium to nitrate and providing its sorption. It also should be noted that bacterial diversity in the shallow groundwater has a strong relation with the amount of nitrate in the system, whereas in the soil, it is connected with sampling depth.

Enhancing molecular interaction is critical for improving the immobilization and stability of proteins on TiO2 surfaces. In this work, mesoporous TiO2 materials with varied pore geometries were dec...

By adjusting the ionic strengths through changing the concentration of the buffer ions, the molecular force and the interfacial behavior of cytochrome

NLRP3 plays a pathogenic role in tumorigenesis by regulating innate and acquired immunity, apoptosis, differentiation, and intestinal microbes in tumors. In different tumors, NLRP3 plays different roles, and its mechanism is complex. Our research aimed to comprehensively investigated the role of NLRP3 in pan-cancers based on multi-omics data in the TCGA database. We found the expression of NLRP3 was changed in tumors compared with paired non-tumor specimens. Most types of tumors showed increased expression of NLRP3. Among them, the overexpressed NLRP3 in liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) and ovarian cancer (OV) indicated worse overall survival (OS). Further analysis also confirmed overexpressed NLRP3 in colon cancer (COAD) indicated a high probability of microsatellite instability (MSI) and low tumor mutational burden (TMB), which indicated a better response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We also analyzed the association between NLRP3, immune infiltration, and immune checkpoints. Interestingly, overexpression of NLRP3 was closely related to high infiltration of immune cells (T cells, B cells, etc.) and overexpressed immune checkpoints (PD-1, PD-L1, LAG3, etc.). These results demonstrated NLRP3 promoted immune escape in cancers. Finally, we investigated the expression of various immune checkpoints by treating NLRP3 inhibitor MCC950 during the co-culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and LIHC cell line Hep3B. We found MCC950 significantly repressed the expression of PD-L1 and LAG3, and promoted the apoptosis rate of Hep3B. In conclusion, our research comprehensive demonstrated the role of NLRP3 in pan-cancer, especially in LIHC. We confirmed inhibition of NLRP3 promoting the immune killing effect to cancer cells by repressing the expression of immune checkpoints.

Protein adsorption is of fundamental importance for bioseparation engineering applications. In this work, a series of mesoporous TiO2 with various geometric structures and different aqueous buffer solutions were prepared as platforms to investigate the effects of the surface geometry and ionic strength on the protein adsorptive behavior. The surface geometry of the TiO2 was found to play a dominant role in the protein adsorption capacity when the ionic strength of buffer solutions is very low. With the increase in ionic strength, the effect of the geometric structure on the protein adsorption capacity reduced greatly. The change of ionic strength has the highest significant effect on the mesoporous TiO2 with large pore size compared with that with small pore size. The interaction between the protein and TiO2 measured with atomic force microscopy further demonstrated that the adhesion force induced by the surface geometry reduced with the increase in the ionic strength. These findings were used to guide the detection of the retention behavior of protein by high-performance liquid chromatography, providing a step forward toward understanding the protein adsorption for predicting and controlling the chromatographic separation of proteins.

Detecting the small amounts of proteins interacting effectively with the solid film electrodes surface still remains a challenge. To address this, in this work, a new approach was proposed by the c ...

Background: Despite the various key functions of RBPs in posttranscriptional events, the mechanism of their influence on Wilms’ tumor has not been well elucidated. Therefore, we constructed the research to identify several RBPs related to Wilmes’ tumor progression and prognosis, for the better understanding of RBPs’ role in the occurrence and development of Wilmes’ tumor, and to provide effective reference targets for new drug development.Methods: A total of 127 samples of different clinical characteristics including gender, race and stage were selected from TARGET to carry out our study. After the gene functional enrichment pathways, univariate Cox regression analysis and lasso regression analysis were performed to test the prognostic effect of the differentially-expressed genes and establish the prognostic index . Further Cox regression analyses were utilized to identify the independence of our model and to analyze the relationship between our model and clinical parameters. What’s more, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was also performed to elucidate the biological characteristics of genes involved in Wilms’ tumor. P< 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: 20 RBPs were statistically correlated with Wilms’ tumor. After the construction of a prognostic index , patients were divided into high-and low-risk scores group. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analyses showed that patients with high risk scores possessed poorer survival probability than patients with low risk scores in both training group and test group. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis explored the relationship between our prognostic model and clinical parameters and confirmed that our model was an independent predicted factor for Wilms’ tumor. Conclusion: Our study clarifies the application of RBPs in the prognosis of Wilms’ tumor. We are confident that our risk scoring model can provide ideas for the development of new targets for broad-spectrum anticancer drugs and has great potential in clinical practice.

Fintech, which means the combination of finance and technology, is becoming increasingly popular in the world. In the first section of this article, it consists the definition and classification, history, current situation, characters, application of fintech, as well as the news in fintech industry. Then, it involves an industry analysis of fintech, divided into three parts, saving, lending and paying. Finally, there is a case study of some typical fintech companies, for instance, Ping An Finance, Yirendai as well as Ant Finance.

Objective. To investigate the value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and red blood cell distribution width (RDW) in evaluating the prognosis of children with severe pneumonia (SP). Methods. A retrospective analysis of the data of 91 children with SP admitted to our hospital from March 2018 to March 2021. According to the survival status after 28 days of treatment, all children were divided into the survival group (n = 59) and the death group (n = 32). The clinical data and laboratory indicators of the patients were recorded. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors of prognosis, and the ROC curve was used to analyze the predictive value of each index. Results. The Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) score and CURB-65 score of the death group were higher than those of the survival group ( P < 0.05 ). The RDW, NLR, PLR, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, procalcitonin blood lactic acid (Lac) of the death group, were higher than those of the survival group, and LYM was lower than the survival group ( P < 0.05 ). Multivariate regression analysis showed that APACHE II score, RDW, NLR, PLR, and Lac were all independent risk factors for poor prognosis in children with SP ( P < 0.05 ). The AUC of NLR, PLR, and RDW for evaluating the prognosis of children with SP were 0.798, 0.781, and 0.777, respectively. The sensitivity was 56.25%, 90.63%, and 56.25%, respectively, and the specificity was 89.83%, 55.93%, and 91.53%, respectively. The AUC of NLR, PLR, and RDW combined to evaluate the prognosis of children with SP was 0.943. When the best cut-off value was 0.8528, the sensitivity was 93.75%, and the specificity was 91.53%. Conclusion. NLR, PLR, and RDW have certain predictive value for the prognosis of children with SP; the combination of the three indicators has a higher value in evaluating the prognosis of children with SP, which can better guide the prognostic treatment.

Abstract During the last several decades, wetlands are losing their ecological functions due to increasing anthropogenic loads. One of these functions is the ability to bind elements forming geochemical barriers. The research aimed to study the geochemical conditions of natural wetlands and flooded paddy fields (artificial wetlands) in the Ganjiang River basin to trace geochemical barriers. The research approach was based on a comprehensive analysis of water and aqueous extracts from bottom sediments and paddy soils, including chemical and mineral composition. The samples were collected in November 2019, during the dry season at the end of harvesting. Chemical analysis was performed using standard methods for natural substances: titrimetry, photometry, ionic chromatography, high-temperature oxidation, ICP-MS, and ICP-AES. The mineral composition of the soils and sediments was determined by XRD. It was found that the main physicochemical characteristics (TDS, pH, main component concentrations) of the natural wetland water correspond to the surface water of the study area, whereas the irrigation water is similar to shallow groundwater. The content of trace elements in the irrigation water is higher than in the natural wetland water. Generally, the trace element composition of the natural wetland water corresponds to the geochemical background of the study area. Analysis of the mineral and chemical composition of the paddy soils and sediments indicates the geochemical barriers that accumulate a wide range of elements. In the natural wetland, the geochemical barrier is likely associated with a decrease in oxygen content and advective transport rate in the sediments, whereas in the paddy fields, the precipitation of clay minerals in the soil profile forms the geochemical barrier related to a decrease in filtration properties and advection–diffusion transport. Graphic abstract

BackgroundRNA-binding proteins (RBPs), the ubiquitous regulators that can bind to RNA, mediate the function of RNA in the process of its maturation, translation, transport and localization [1, 2]. Despite the various key functions of RBPs in posttranscriptional events, the mechanism of their influence on Wilms’ tumor has not been well elucidated. So we construct the research to identify several RBPs related to Wilmes’ tumor progression and prognosis, for the better understanding of RBPs’ role in the occurrence and development of Wilmes’ tumor, and to provide effective reference targets for new drug development.MethodsA total of 127 samples of different clinical characteristics including gender, race and stage were selected from TCGA to carry out our study. After the gene functional enrichment pathways, univariate Cox regression analysis and lasso regression analysis were performed to test the prognostic effect of the differentially-expressed genes and establish the prognostic index . Further Cox regression analyses were utilized to identify the independence of our model and to analyze the relationship between our model and clinical parameters. What’s more, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was also performed to elucidate the biological characteristics of genes involved in Wilms’ tumor. P< 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results26 RBPs were statistically correlated with Wilms’ tumor. After the construction of a prognostic index , patients were divided into high-and low-risk scores group. Kaplan-Meier (K-M) analyses showed that patients with high risk scores possessed poorer survival probability than patients with low risk scores in both training group and test group. Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis explored the relationship between our prognostic model and clinical parameters and confirmed that our model was an independent predicted factor for Wilms’ tumor. ConclusionOur study clarifies the application of RBPs in the prognosis of Wilms’ tumor. We are confident that our risk scoring model can provide ideas for the development of new targets for broad-spectrum anticancer drugs and has great potential in clinical practice.Trial registrationretrospectively registered

Enhancing molecular interaction is critical for improving the immobilization and stability of proteins on TiO

Arsenic (As)-bearing ores of poly-metallic sulfide deposits provide water-bearing medium containing As for high-As aquifer and release As in leaching process. Two ores samples M1 and M4 were collected from two big-scale poly-metallic sulfide deposits, Dongshengmiao and Tanyaokou, with As contents of 78 and 69 μg/g, respectively. Pyrite as the major mineral in ores accounts for over 70 and 20% of all minerals in M1 and M4, respectively. The carbonate contents including dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2), smithsonite (ZnCO3), and siderite (FeCO3) in M4 are higher than in M1. As the major As speciation in M1 and M4, residual As accounts for 97.55 and 95.17% of the total detected As, respectively. Results of leaching experiment indicate that under the reducing condition in column filled with M1, As (V) can be produced by pyrite dissolution and oxidation and then reduced as As(III) which is difficult to be adsorbed onto the mineral surface but easy to migrate in aquatic solution. HFO prevents ore surface from contacting with the oxygen in leaching solution, and adsorbs As onto its surface, leading to the relatively lower concentrations of Fe and As in leachate of M4. The leaching rates of As would be are 0.46 for M1 and 0.13% for M4. According to geological survey information, the demonstrated reserves of pyrite at Tanyaokou and Dongshengmiao reach up to 86 288 000 000 and 216 915 000 000 kg, respectively. Assuming that the releasing capability of the ores in natural environment is nearly equal to that in our experiments, 6 730 000 and 15 000 000 kg of As from Tanyaokou and Dongshengmiao mine is expected to be in the risk of release. This study will provide a better understanding of the genesis of high-As groundwater in the Hetao Plain.

In this work, we successfully synthesized bicrystalline anatase/TiO2(B) nanofibre and used it as active substrate for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) applications. The bicrystalline structured TiO2 substrates provide additional charge transfer across the anatase-TiO2(B) interface and thus enhanced activity compared to the pure single crystalline phase. With an effort to further increase the sensitivity of SERS, nitrogen element was doped into bicrystalline anatase/TiO2(B) nanofibres (N-TiO2) and higher SERS enhancement was achieved. The nitrogen content was controlled by tuning the calcination temperature of titanate precursor at 500, 600 and 700 °C, respectively. The sample calcined at 600 °C (NT600) acquires the highest percentage of nitrogen element due to its open pore structure that facilitates the diffusion of nitrogen during calcination. Raman intensity depends on the amount of nitrogen doping, thus NT600 exhibited the best SERS activity. The doped nitrogen in TiO2 facilitates the charge transfer between TiO2 and probing molecules and thus suppresses the electron–hole recombination. This work provides a new perspective on the design of efficient TiO2 SERS active substrate and is expected to be valuable for adsorbate detection on semiconductor surface.

The TiO2 nanotube pattern with features down to 20nm (TN20) is highly and efficiently resistant to fibrinogen and S. aureus attachment. The ability of TN20 to resist biofouling adsorption, is due to low biofouling-surface adhesion force that determines the initial biofouling attachment, as well as the low friction coefficient that enables a complete removal of biofouling from a low-adhesive 'repelling' TN20 substrate under fluid flow. By grafting PEG molecules onto TN20, a significantly higher S. aureus cells attachment was observed, because of the stronger adhesion forces originated from the deformation of the soft PEG coatings. The complete interaction of S. aureus on structure-free dense TiO2 (DT), yields larger contact area and thus higher adhesion force than on any other TiO2 surfaces, resulting in a high coverage of bacteria. The existing high friction coefficient of S. aureus on TN80 (TiO2 with 80nm nanotubular size) and TN80-P (PEG-modified TN80), due to the much greater surface roughness, would contribute to the immobilization of biofouling on the surface under fluid flow, even though the two surfaces exhibit low adhesion forces. The analysis of adhesion and friction forces manipulated by TiO2 nanotubular topography and posted PEG patterns, advances our understanding of the mechanisms by which nanotopography patterned surfaces reduce biofouling attachment.

Understanding the interactions between porous materials and biosystems is of great important in biomedical and environmental sciences. Upon atomic force microscopy (AFM) adhesion measurement, a new experimental approach was presented here to determine the molecular interaction force between proteins and mesoporous TiO2 of various surface roughnesses. The interaction force between each protein molecule and the pure anatase TiO2 surface was characterized by fitting the adhesion and adsorption capacity per unit contact area, and it was found that the adhesion forces were approximately 0.86, 2.63, and 4.41 nN for lysozyme, myoglobin, and BSA, respectively. Moreover, we reported that the molecular interaction force was independent of the surface topography of the material but the protein type is a factor of the interaction. These experimental results on the molecular level provide helpful insights for stimulating model calculation and molecular simulation studies of protein interaction with surfaces.

In this work, we present a statistical mechanical analysis to elucidate the molecular-level factors responsible for the static and dynamic properties of polymer films. This analysis, which we term conformal sites theory, establishes that three dimensionless parameters play important roles in determining differences from bulk behavior for thin polymer films near to surfaces: a microscopic wetting parameter, αwx, defined as the ratio of polymer-substrate interaction to polymer-polymer interaction; a dimensionless film thickness, H*; and dimensionless temperature, T*. The parameter αwx introduced here provides a more fundamental measure of wetting than previous metrics, since it is defined in terms of intermolecular forces and the atomic structure of the substrate, and so is valid at the nanoscale for gas, liquid or solid films. To test this theoretical analysis, we also report atomic force microscopy measurements of the friction coefficient (μ), adhesion force (FA) and glass transition temperature (Tg) for thin films of two polymers, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS), on two planar substrates, graphite and silica. Both the friction coefficient and the glass transition temperature are found to increase as the film thickness decreases, and this increase is more pronounced for the graphite than for the silica surface. The adhesion force is also greater for the graphite surface. The larger effects encountered for the graphite surface are attributed to the fact that the microscopic wetting parameter, αwx, is larger for graphite than for silica, indicating stronger attraction of polymer chains to the graphite surface.

Jiangxi Province is one of the regions where geothermal water is widely distributed in China, with discovered 96 hot springs and over 30 thermal water boreholes. Eleven geothermal water samples were collected and analyzed for hydrochemical and isotopic characteristics to distinguish the sources of geothermal water in Jiangxi Province, SE-China. Results showed that water temperatures varied from 32.0 to 80.8 °C with an average of 53.4 °C and the dominated compositions are Na-HCO3 type. The hydrogeochemical characteristics as well as isotopic compositions suggest the meteoric origin of geothermal water with recharge altitudes in the range of 400-995 m. Mixing with cold groundwater influences the hydrochemistry of geothermal water. This study furthers the understanding of sources of geothermal water and provides a theoretical basis for better exploitation of geothermal water in the province.

Protein adsorption is of fundamental importance for bioseparation engineering applications. In this work, a series of mesoporous TiO

The hydrochemical and stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope compositional characteristics of surface and shallow groundwaters in the vicinity of HK nuclear power plant in Jiangxi Province of China. Dissolved oxygen (DO) contents of shallow groundwaters range between 1.75 to 19.40 mg/L, with variations related to well depth, groundwater level, and oxidation-reduction potential. Respective ranges of δD and δ18O (‰ VSMOW) in shallow groundwaters are -40.7 to -24.9 and -6.71 to -5.40, with average values of -31.8 and -5.87. The δD-δ18O relationship for the study area is δD = 8.3δ18O +16.8, indicating that atmospheric precipitation is the major recharge source of shallow groundwaters.