The semi-pilot scale bioleaching of electroplating sludge by the moderately thermophilic acidophilic consortium was carried out for the first time. During the microbial cultivation, Leptospirillum ferriphilum CS13, Acidithiobacillus caldus S2, and Sulfobacillus acidophilus CS5 could grow rapidly in a 300 L aeration packed reactor, in which the total suspended cell concentration could fluctuate around 3 × 10 cells/mL and the community structure remained relatively stable. During the bioleaching process, the microbial stock solution could effectively leach heavy metals from electroplating sludge in a stirred reactor within a few hours.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
October 2020
Background: Cadmium and lead are hazardous pollutants.
Objective: We examined the relation between serum levels of cadmium and lead and current wheeze, current asthma, and lung function in US adults.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 13,888 adults aged 20 to 79 years in 2007-2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was considered.
Background: Honeydew is valuable food source for predators that can build predator numbers and strengthen biological control. Honeydew excreted by hemipterans often supplements the diets of their predators and parasitoids. However, dense sticky honeydew also creates a difficult foraging environment, potentially limiting predator efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Currently, there is paucity of data on the rate of vaginal deliveries and cesarean section among women in Tibet. In this study, we carried out an observational study of 7365 consecutive pregnant women in Lhasa, Tibet who gave birth at our tertiary care institution between 2012 and 2015.
Materials And Methods: In this retrospective study, we reviewed the hospital records for demographic data, obstetric history, and the number of vaginal and emergency cesarean section deliveries.
Capillary electrophoresis-systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (CE-SELEX) has proven to be an effective technique for aptamers selection. In this study, we present an online reaction based convenient single-step CE-SELEX (ssCE-SELEX) mode with human thrombin (H-Thr) as a model target. The selection progress was monitored through bulk K analysis, which showed more than a 1000-fold improvement over the initial library after two rounds of selection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFX- and gamma-ray detectors have broad applications ranging from medical imaging to security, non-proliferation, high-energy physics and astrophysics. Detectors with high energy resolution, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPear psylla, Cacopsylla chinensis (Yang & Li) are present as two seasonal morphotypes in pear orchards where they, suck phloem sap, defoliate pear trees, and cause fruit russet. Despite the importance of natural enemies in psyllid control, the interactions between predators and the two seasonal morphotypes of psyllids remain poorly documented. Here we determined the predation efficiencies of the Asian lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) on the two psyllid morphotypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo expand the applications of graphene in optoelectronic devices, B, Al, Si, Ge, As, and Sb doped graphenes (marked as B-G, Al-G, Si-G, Ge-G, As-G, and Sb-G, respectively) were synthesised. The geometric structures, population analyses, and also electronic and optical properties of these doped graphene materials were investigated employing the density functional theory (DFT) method. It was shown that the band gaps of doped graphenes were opened and their absorption spectra were red-shifted by the addition of doping atoms, and their dielectric functions and refractive indexes of low frequency were decreased compared with those of pure graphene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransient ischemia in the whole brain leads to neuronal loss/death in vulnerable brain regions. The striatum, neocortex and hippocampus selectively loose specific neurons after transient ischemia. Just 5 minutes of transient ischemia can cause pyramidal neuronal death in the hippocampal cornu ammonis (CA) 1 field at 4 days after transient ischemia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Little is known about atopic dermatitis (AD) among children in Puerto Rico.
Objective: To examine risk factors and identify approaches to better diagnose AD in Puerto Rican children.
Methods: Case-control study of AD among 540 children aged 6-14 years in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Background: Infectious and endemic diseases are a serious public health concern worldwide, and their prevention and treatment are globally controversial. This study aimed to establish an system dynamics (SD) model to analyze the factors influencing public health services provided by the Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) to implement infectious and endemic disease control in China, by establishing more effective interventions to provide public health services and thus achieving the goal of controlling infectious and endemic diseases.
Materials And Methods: An SD model was constructed using the Vensim DSS program.
Patients receiving sorafenib treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) experience different treatment efficacy. Personalized sorafenib treatment should be achieved through the identification of predictors of therapeutic response. In the current study, we found that high UGT1A9 expression indicated better prognosis for HCC patients treated with sorafenib after surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Spontaneous spinal subdural hematoma (SSDH) without an underlying pathology is a very rare condition. The treatment protocol for SSDH is early diagnosis and treatment before irreversible damage to neural tissue. However, there is no agreement on the etiopathogenesis, as well as the need for surgery to treat spontaneous SSDH.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this paper, we propose an anti-disturbance backstepping control approach with extended state observer (ESO) for tracking control of air-breathing hypersonic vehicles. Considering the large uncertainties, the external disturbances, and especially the lack of aerodynamic knowledge, several ESOs are introduced in the backstepping controller. With the total disturbance estimation ability of ESOs, almost no aerodynamic knowledge is needed for the controller design.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGiven that the biological functions of proteins may decrease or even be lost due to degradation by proteases, it is of great significance to identify potential proteases that degrade protein drugs during systemic circulation. In this work, we describe a method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to identify key proteases that degrade therapeutic proteins in blood, including endopeptidases and exopeptidases. Here, the degradation of proteins was detected by competition with standard substrates of proteases and is shown as the relative residue rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Oral Sci
March 2019
The oral microbiota is associated with oral diseases and digestive systemic diseases. Nevertheless, the causal relationship between them has not been completely elucidated, and colonisation of the gut by oral bacteria is not clear due to the limitations of existing research models. The aim of this study was to develop a human oral microbiota-associated (HOMA) mouse model and to investigate the ecological invasion into the gut.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransient global cerebral ischemia (tGCI)-induced neuronal damage is variable according to its duration and degree. There are many studies on the damage or death of pyramidal cells of the hippocampus proper (CA1-3) in rodent models of tGCI. However, studies on the death of granule cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) following tGCI have not yet been addressed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mixed halide perovskites have emerged as outstanding light absorbers for efficient solar cells. Unfortunately, it reveals inhomogeneity in these polycrystalline films due to composition separation, which leads to local lattice mismatches and emergent residual strains consequently. Thus far, the understanding of these residual strains and their effects on photovoltaic device performance is absent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA purified polysaccharide was acquired from a newly collected wild Morchella. The strain identification initially showed that the strain was Morchella sextelata. This study aimed to investigate the structural features and immunomodulating activities of the polysaccharide.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn order to improve manganese-SOD stability, three mutations were constructed via site-directed mutagenesis, and the root mean square fluctuation (RMSF) and root mean square deviation (RMSD) were used as stability assessment indexes. The amino acids of V140, E155 and E215 from wild-type mouse Mn-SOD was replaced to L140, W155 and W215, and a recombinant plasmid containing DNA segment coding wild-type and mutant Mn-SOD protein was transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 for expression. The highest enzyme activity of the mutations-MnSOD was 2050 U/mg.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The natural history of the thoracic false lumen after coil embolization for type B aortic dissection (TBAD) treated by previous thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) remains a matter of debate. The aim of this study is to assess the efficacy of coil embolization in promoting thoracic aortic remodeling of TBAD with persistent thoracic false lumen after TEVAR.
Methods: Between January 2015 and December 2016, 7 consecutive TBAD patients with persistent thoracic false lumen post-TEVAR underwent coil embolization, either isolated (3 with maximum thoracic aortic diameter <55 mm) or combined with adjunctive procedure(s) specifically for distal re-entry tears (4 with thoracic aneurysmal aortic dissection ≥55 mm in diameter).
Activation of the NACHT, leucine-rich repeat, and pyrin domains-containing protein 3 (collectively known as NLRP3) inflammasome plays a key role in host immune response, which is the first line of defense against cellular stresses and pathogen infections. However, excessive inflammasome activation damages host cells, and therefore it must be precisely controlled. Here, we discover that Cullin1 (CUL1), a key component of the Skp1-Cullin1-F-box E3 ligase, plays a critical role in controlling the NLRP3 inflammasome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCalreticulin (CRT), a highly conserved ubiquitous multifunctional protein, has immense implications in physiological, developmental, and pathological processes due to its interaction with many proteins. In this work, we utilized various capillary electrophoresis (CE) modes for CRT analysis and its interaction with IgG both qualitatively and quantitatively. The interaction was evaluated by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and affinity capillary electrophoresis (ACE) modes that took only 4-6 min for each run.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMalignant melanoma is an aggressive tumor with high fatality rates and poor prognosis, mainly due to the lack of efficient treatment methods. The present study investigated the potential antitumor effects of recombinant adenovirus p53 (rAd-p53) on human malignant melanoma. The optimal viral titer on a human malignant melanoma (A-375) cell line was determined for the rAd-p53 treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBull Environ Contam Toxicol
March 2019
Guiyu is known as one of the largest e-waste disposal and recycling sites in China, which suffers greatly from heavy metal pollution. By evaluating the concentrations and distribution of 21 metal elements with Principal Component Analyses (PCA), five principal components were identified, which accounted for 70.4% of the information of the initial data matrix, including one e-waste recycling source, two geological sources, one source of human activities and one ocean aerosol source.
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