Indigenized Characterization Factors for Health Damage Due to Ambient PM in Life Cycle Impact Assessment in China.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a broadly used method for quantifying environmental impacts, and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is an important step as well as a major source of uncertainties in LCA. Characterization factors (CFs) are pivotal elements in LCIA models. In China, the health loss due to ambient PM is an important aspect of LCIA results, which, however, is generally assessed by adopting CFs developed by global models and there remains a need to integrate localized considerations and the latest information for more precise applications in China.

Metadherin orchestrates PKA and PKM2 to activate β-catenin signaling in podocytes during proteinuric chronic kidney disease.

Podocyte damage is the major cause of glomerular injury and proteinuria in multiple chronic kidney diseases. Metadherin (MTDH) is involved in podocyte apoptosis and promotes renal tubular injury in mouse models of diabetic nephropathy and renal fibrosis; however, its role in podocyte injury and proteinuria needs further exploration. Here, we show that MTDH was induced in the glomerular podocytes of patients with proteinuric chronic kidney disease and correlated with proteinuria.

Sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation process effects on tire wear particles aging and ecotoxicity.

Tire wear particles (TWPs) are widely distributed in natural water and pose as major pollutants in aquatic environments. In this study, heat-activated persulfate (HPT) and ultraviolet-activated persulfate treatments (UPT) were employed to investigate the influence of sulfate radical (SO•)-based advanced oxidation process (SAOPs) on TWP physicochemical properties and to clarify their ecotoxic effects in laboratory-level studies. Results showed that the specific surface areas of TWPs increased after UPT but decreased after HPT.

Brahma-related gene 1 acts as a profibrotic mediator and targeting it by micheliolide ameliorates peritoneal fibrosis.

Background: Progressive peritoneal fibrosis is a worldwide public health concern impacting patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD), yet there is no effective treatment. Our previous study revealed that a novel compound, micheliolide (MCL) inhibited peritoneal fibrosis in mice. However, its mechanism remains unclear.

Renal Fibrosis Is Alleviated through Targeted Inhibition of IL-11-Induced Renal Tubular Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.

Renal fibrosis is a pathologic process that leads to irreversible renal failure without effective treatment. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a key role in this process. The current study found that aberrant expression of IL-11 is critically involved in tubular EMT.

N-methylpiperazine-diepoxyovatodiolide ameliorates peritoneal fibrosis via suppressing TGF-β/Smad and JAK/STAT signaling pathway.

Peritoneal fibrosis (PF) is the main cause of peritoneal ultrafiltration failure in patients undergoing long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD). Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the key pathogenesis of PF. However, currently, no specific treatments are available to suppress PF.

Synergistic mechanism and degradation kinetics for atrazine elimination by integrated N-ZnO/g-CN/solar light/oxidant.

In this study, an N-ZnO/g-CN (g-N-Z) Z-scheme photocatalyst was constructed using hydrothermal and high-temperature calcination. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and other tests were employed to characterise the catalytic material. The results showed that after N-ZnO modification, the separation efficiency of the photoinduced charge pairs and the utilisation of sunlight in the composites were improved.

Degradation of iopamidol by UV/NaClO: Roles of reactive species, degradation mechanism, and toxicology.

The degradation of iopamidol (IPM) was investigated using a UV/NaClO system. The reactive species (HO·, ClO·, ozone, Cl·, and Cl·) in the system were identified, and the changing trends of the percentage contributions of these reactive species to IPM removal under various conditions were systematically evaluated. The results showed that ClO· and HO· played the most significant roles in the apparent pseudo-first-order rate constants of IPM degradation (k, min) in the control experiment, and their percentage contributions to k were 41.

CuO@carbon nanofiber as an efficient peroxymonosulfate catalyst for mitigation of organic matter fouling in the ultrafiltration process.

Persulfate oxidation has been increasingly integrated with membrane separation for water purification, whereas the oxidizing ability of persulfate is relatively limited, and appropriate activation methods are urgently required. In this work, a novel catalyst of carbon nanofiber (CNF) supported CuO (CuO@CNF) was synthesized for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation. The micro-morphology showed that CuO nanoparticles were well dispersed on the CNF support, which solved the agglomeration problem of nanoparticles and improved the catalytic ability.

Coordinated effects of energy transition on air pollution mitigation and CO emission control in China.

China has made progress in energy transition to improve air quality, but still confronts challenges including further ambient PM reduction, O pollution mitigation, and CO emission control. To explore the coordinated effects of energy transition on air quality and carbon emission in the near term in China, we designed 4 scenarios in 2025 based on different projections of energy transition progress with varying end-of-pipe control level, in each of which we calculated emissions of major air pollutants and CO, and simulated ambient PM and O concentrations. Results show that energy transition has disparate effects on emission reduction of different air pollutants and sectors, which largely depends on their current end-of-pipe control levels.

Effect of peroxydisulfate oxidation catalyzed with ordered mesoporous carbons on controlling ultrafiltration membrane fouling by algal organic matter.

As typical ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) materials, CMK-3 and CMK-8 were proposed for catalyzing peroxydisulfate (PDS), and the OMCs/PDS process was combined with membrane filtration to remove algal extracellular organic matter and mitigate membrane fouling. The CMK-3/PDS process achieved substantial reduction of dissolved organic carbon and UV, followed by CMK-8/PDS. The degradation behavior of fluorescent organics demonstrated the superior performance of OMCs/PDS, while the decomposition of high molecular weight (MW) compounds and generation of lower MW organics were observed.

Synergistic process using calcium peroxide and ferrous iron for enhanced ultrafiltration of Microcystis aeruginosa-laden water.

Algal blooms and eutrophication in natural surface water not only pose a threat to human health, but also adversely affect the water purification process. Ultrafiltration (UF) has been proved to be effective for the retention of algal cells, but its further application is still restricted by the relatively limited removal of algal organics and membrane fouling. To enhance the UF performance, a synergistic process using calcium peroxide and ferrous sulfate (CaO/FeSO) was proposed for the treatment of Microcystis aeruginosa-laden water.

Coupling sodium percarbonate (SPC) oxidation and coagulation for membrane fouling mitigation in algae-laden water treatment.

To alleviate algal fouling in membrane water treatment processes, conventional technologies such as coagulation with poly aluminum chloride (PACl) has been widely adopted by many drinking water treatment plants. However, coagulation alone exhibited relatively weak removal effect for algal pollutants, and the coagulant residues due to the excess dosage also raised concerns. Thus, a novel process of coupling sodium percarbonate (SPC) oxidation and PACl coagulation was proposed, integrated with membrane filtration for algae-laden water treatment.

The role of PAC adsorption-catalytic oxidation in the ultrafiltration performance for treating natural water: Efficiency improvement, fouling mitigation and mechanisms.

Powdered activated carbon (PAC) has turned out to be an efficient adsorbent in drinking water treatment, whereas its application integrated with membrane filtration is still controversial because of the combined fouling effect between organic pollutants and PAC. To this end, an integrated process of combining PAC adsorption-catalytic oxidation and membrane filtration was proposed for natural surface water treatment. The synergistic effect of PAC and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) was confirmed through the generation of reactive oxidation species, and both radical oxidative pathways (OH, SO and O) and nonradical (O and PMS) pathways involved in the process.

Brahma-related gene-1 promotes tubular senescence and renal fibrosis through Wnt/β-catenin/autophagy axis.

Although accelerated cellular senescence is closely related to the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and renal fibrosis, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Here, we reported that tubular aberrant expression of Brahma-related gene 1 (BRG1), an enzymatic subunit of the SWItch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable complex, is critically involved in tubular senescence and renal fibrosis. BRG1 was significantly up-regulated in the kidneys, predominantly in tubular epithelial cells, of both CKD patients and unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) mice.

A comparative study of EOF and NMF analysis on downward trend of AOD over China from 2011 to 2019.

In recent decades China has experienced high-level PM pollution and then visible air quality improvement. To understand the air quality change from the perspective of aerosol optical depth (AOD), we adopted two statistical methods of Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) and Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) to AOD retrieved by MODIS over China and surrounding areas. Results showed that EOF and NMF identified the important factors influencing AOD over China from different angles: natural dusts controlled the seasonal variation with contribution of 42.

circRNA_010383 Acts as a Sponge for miR-135a, and Its Downregulated Expression Contributes to Renal Fibrosis in Diabetic Nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), a vascular complication of diabetes, is the leading cause of death in patients with diabetes. The contribution of aberrantly expressed circular RNAs (circRNAs) to DN in vivo is poorly understood. Integrated comparative circRNA microarray profiling was used to examine the expression of circRNAs in diabetic kidney of / mice.

Klotho retards renal fibrosis through targeting mitochondrial dysfunction and cellular senescence in renal tubular cells.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has a high prevalence worldwide and is an intricate issue to whole medical society. Renal fibrosis is the common pathological feature for various kinds of CKD. As an anti-aging protein, Klotho is predominantly expressed in renal tubular epithelial cells.

circRNA_010383 Acts as a Sponge for miR-135a and its Downregulated Expression Contributes to Renal Fibrosis in Diabetic Nephropathy.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), a vascular complication of diabetes mellitus, is the leading cause of death in diabetic patients. The contribution of aberrantly expressed circRNAs to diabetic nephropathy is poorly understood. Integrated comparative circRNA microarray profiling was used to examine the expression of circRNAs in diabetic kidney of db/db mice.

Micheliolide Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Inflammation by Modulating the mROS/NF-B/NLRP3 Axis in Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells.

Chronic kidney disease is a common disease closely related to renal tubular inflammation and oxidative stress, and no effective treatment is available. Activation of the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is an important factor in renal inflammation, but the mechanism remains unclear. Micheliolide (MCL), which is derived from parthenolide, is a new compound with antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects and has multiple roles in tumors and inflammatory diseases.

FOXO3a accumulation and activation accelerate oxidative stress-induced podocyte injury.

Podocyte injury is the primary cause of glomerular injury in diabetic nephropathy (DN). Advanced oxidation protein products (AOPPs), the triggers and markers of oxidative stress in DN, have been linked to podocyte damage. However, the underlying mechanism is not yet clear.

Ferrous-activated sodium percarbonate pre-oxidation for membrane fouling control during ultrafiltration of algae-laden water.

Membrane technology has been shown to be promising for the treatment of algae-laden water, but membrane fouling is still an obstacle influencing the purification efficiency and effluent quality. To mitigate ultrafiltration membrane fouling during Microcystis aeruginosa-laden water treatment, a strategy of sodium percarbonate pre-oxidation activated with ferrous ion (Fe/SPC) was put forward in this study. Due to the synergistic effect of Fe and SPC, this process was significantly more efficient with the terminal specific flux increased from 0.