Review of the distribution and detection methods of heavy metals in the environment.

Heavy metals can be enriched in living organisms and seriously endanger human health and the ecological environment, which has evolved into a significant global environmental problem. Based on summarizing the spatial distribution of heavy metals in the environment, this review introduces heavy metal detection technologies such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry/atomic emission spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrometry, atomic fluorescence spectrometry, and laser-induced breakdown spectrometry. It summarizes their respective advantages, characteristics, and applicability.

A systematic review on advances in diagnostics for herpes simplex keratitis.

Herpes simplex keratitis (HSK) is a significant cause of vision impairment worldwide. Currently, there are no set diagnostic criteria, and popular diagnostic methods, including clinical examination of the eye via slit lamp examination, could lead to false-negatives and misdiagnoses. Molecular testing with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) may lack concordance with clinical findings, posing a great challenge to ophthalmologists.

Boosting the Efficiency of NiO-Based Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes by Interface Engineering.

Nickel oxide (NiO) is a promising hole-transporting material for perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) because of its low cost, excellent stability, and simple fabrication process. However, the electroluminescence efficiencies of NiO-based PeLEDs are greatly limited by inefficient hole injection and exciton quenching at the NiO-perovskite interfaces. Here, a novel interfacial engineering method with sodium dodecyl sulfate-oxygen plasma (SDS-OP) is demonstrated to simultaneously overcome the aforementioned issues.

Prevalence and associated risk factors of Helicobacter pylori infection in the Wuwei cohort of north-western China.

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and risk factors and to serotype the strains in Wuwei, located in north-western China, which has a high incidence of gastric cancer.

Methods: Helicobacter pylori infection was analysed in 21 291 adults by C-urea breath test, and H. pylori antibody were detected in 9183 serum samples by latex immunoturbidimetric method.

Analyzing microalgal biofilm structures formed under different light conditions by evaluating cell-cell interactions.

Biofilm structure plays an important role in microalgae biofilm-based culture. This work aims to understand microalgal biofilm structures formed under different light conditions. Here, Scenedesmus obliquus was biofilm cultured under the light spectra of white, blue, green, and red, and the photoperiods of 5:5 s, 30:30 min, and 12:12 h (light : dark period).

Author Correction: Glis1 facilitates induction of pluripotency via an epigenome-metabolome-epigenome signalling cascade.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Interpreting Image Classifiers by Generating Discrete Masks.

Deep models are commonly treated as black-boxes and lack interpretability. Here, we propose a novel approach to interpret deep image classifiers by generating discrete masks. Our method follows the generative adversarial network formalism.

Comparative mitochondrial genomes of four species of and phylogenetic implications (Orthoptera, Melanoplinae).

In this study, the whole mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) from four species were sequenced. The complete mitochondrial genomes of , , , and are 15,857 bp, 15,818 bp, 15,843 bp, and 15,872 bp in size, respectively. The 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) begin with typical ATN codons, except for COXI in , which begins with ACC.

Breaking the Linear Scaling Relationship by Compositional and Structural Crafting of Ternary Cu-Au/Ag Nanoframes for Electrocatalytic Ethylene Production.

Electrocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide into high-value multicarbon (C ) chemical feedstocks offers a promising avenue to liberate the chemical industry from fossil-resource dependence and eventually close the anthropogenic carbon cycle but is severely impeded by the lack of high-performance catalysts. To break the linear scaling relationship of intermediate binding and minimize the kinetic barrier of CO reduction reactions, ternary Cu-Au/Ag nanoframes were fabricated to decouple the functions of CO generation and C-C coupling, whereby the former is promoted by the alloyed Ag/Au substrate and the latter is facilitated by the highly strained and positively charged Cu domains. Thus, C H production in an H-cell and a flow cell occurred with high Faradic efficiencies of 69±5 and 77±2 %, respectively, as well as good electrocatalytic stability and material durability.

Photoinduced synergistic cytotoxicity towards cancer cells Ru(II) complexes.

Ru(ii) complexes have been recognized as excellent anticancer candidates. However, the poor cell uptake of these complexes has been the major obstacle in improving their anticancer efficacy. Along with the development of the knowledge on the anticancer nature of the Ru(ii) complexes, several strategies have been designed to increase the cellular accumulation of these complexes.

Insight into role and mechanism of Li on the key aspects of biodegradable ZnLi alloys: Microstructure evolution, mechanical properties, corrosion behavior and cytotoxicity.

ZnLi based alloys have been proved as desirable candidates for biodegradable materials accounting for its high mechanical performance and great biocompatibility. However, effects of Li on microstructure and comprehensive properties of Zn alloys are seldom investigated and need to be addressed. Herein, Zn-(0.

The Microbiome-Metabolome Response in the Colon of Piglets Under the Status of Weaning Stress.

Weaning is stressful for piglets involving nutritional, physiological, and psychological challenges, leading to an increase in the secretion of cortisol, changes in gut microbiome and metabolites, whereas the underlying relationships remain unclear. To elucidate this, 14 Meishan female piglets were divided into the weaning group and the suckling group at the age of 21 days paired by litter and body weight. After 48 h of experiment, weaned piglets had lower body weight, but higher salivary cortisol level than that of their suckling litter mates ( < 0.

Metasurface Spiral Focusing Generators with Tunable Orbital Angular Momentum Based on Slab Silicon Nitride Waveguide and Vanadium Dioxide (VO).

The metasurface spiral focusing (MSF) generator has gained attention in high-speed optical communications due to its spatial orthogonality. However, previous MSF generators only can generate a single orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode for one polarized light. Here, a MSF generator with tunable OAM is proposed and it has the ability to transform linearly polarized light (LPL), circularly polarized light or Gaussian beams into vortex beams which can carry tunable OAM at near-infrared wavelength by controlling the phase transition of vanadium dioxide (VO).

Functional interrogation of a SARS-CoV-2 host protein interactome identifies unique and shared coronavirus host factors.

Unlabelled: The ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has devastated the global economy and claimed nearly one million lives, presenting an urgent global health crisis. To identify host factors required for infection by SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal coronaviruses, we designed a focused high-coverage CRISPR-Cas9 library targeting 332 members of a recently published SARS-CoV-2 protein interactome. We leveraged the compact nature of this library to systematically screen four related coronaviruses (HCoV-229E, HCoV-NL63, HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2) at two physiologically relevant temperatures (33 °C and 37 °C), allowing us to probe this interactome at a much higher resolution relative to genome scale studies.

Multispecific Platinum(IV) Complex Deters Breast Cancer via Interposing Inflammation and Immunosuppression as an Inhibitor of COX-2 and PD-L1.

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common malignancies in women and often accompanied by inflammatory processes. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) plays a vital role in the progression of BC, correlating with the expression of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1). Overexpression of PD-L1 contributes to the immune escape of cancer cells, and its blockade would stimulate anticancer immunity.

[Thromboelastography-based assessment of coagulation function in patients with chronic kidney disease and the risk factors of hypercoagulability].

Objective: To assess the changes in the coagulation profiles of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) using thromboelastography (TEG) and identify the risk factors of hypercoagulation in CKD patients.

Methods: A total of 128 patients with CKD admitted in Hunan Provincial People's Hospital between August, 2018 and May, 2019 were recruited. The results of conventional coagulation test and TEG were compared between patients with CKD and 21 healthy control adults.

Arthroscopic Superior Capsule Reconstruction and Rotator Cuff Repair to Restore Static and Dynamic Stability of the Shoulder.

Objective: Treatment of massive irreparable rotator cuff tears (RCT) has shown limited clinical success and a variety of subsequent complications. Superior capsule reconstruction (SCR) has been proved to reestablish superior stability but does not restore the dynamic force or shoulder kinematics. There are numerous reports of the short-term failure of SCR grafts at the glenoid side, which relate to the non-biological healing of grafts.

Characterization and analysis of full-length transcriptomes from two grasshoppers, Gomphocerus licenti and Mongolotettix japonicus.

Acrididae are diverse in size, body shape, behavior, ecology and life history; widely distributed; easy to collect; and important to agriculture. They represent promising model candidates for functional genomics, but their extremely large genomes have hindered this research; establishing a reference transcriptome for a species is the primary means of obtaining genetic information. Here, two Acrididae species, Gomphocerus licenti and Mongolotettix japonicus, were selected for full-length (FL) PacBio transcriptome sequencing.

Glis1 facilitates induction of pluripotency via an epigenome-metabolome-epigenome signalling cascade.

Somatic cell reprogramming provides insight into basic principles of cell fate determination, which remain poorly understood. Here we show that the transcription factor Glis1 induces multi-level epigenetic and metabolic remodelling in stem cells that facilitates the induction of pluripotency. We find that Glis1 enables reprogramming of senescent cells into pluripotent cells and improves genome stability.

Lipid nanoparticles co-loaded with miRNA-22 and methotrexate for enhanced anti-inflammatory response in rheumatoid arthritis.

Present investigation was aimed at developing methotrexate (MTX) and miR-22 mimics-loaded lipid nanoparticles for the effective treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The dual therapeutics loaded nanoparticles was prepared and subjected to in vitro and in vivo characterizations. The in vivo study was performed on adjuvant- induced arthritis model.

Ultra-high synergetic intensity for humic acid removal by coupling bubble discharge with activated carbon.

Humic acid (HA) removal research focuses on the global water treatment industry. In this work, efficient HA degradation with an ultra-high synergetic intensity is achieved by combined bubble discharge with activated carbon (AC). Adding AC to the discharge greatly improves HA removal efficiency and degradation speed; the synergetic intensity reaches 651.

Status of Gene Methylation and Polymorphism in Different Courses of Ulcerative Colitis and Their Comparison with Sporadic Colorectal Cancer.

Background: The objective of this study is to explore the common genetic and epigenetic mechanism of ulcerative colitis (UC) and sporadic colorectal cancer (SCRC) by observing genes methylation level and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of different disease courses in UC and SCRC.

Methods: Two hundred subjects were enrolled, including 40 in the healthy control (HC) group, 50 in the short disease course UC group (SUC), 52 in the long disease course UC group (LUC), and 58 in the SCRC group. Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the methylation of MINT1 and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2) gene.

A novel and fast method to prepare a Cu-supported α-SbS@CuSbS binder-free electrode for sodium-ion batteries.

Antimony sulfide (SbS) is a promising anode material for sodium-ion batteries due to its low cost and high theoretical specific capacity. However, poor stability and a complex preparation process limit its large-scale application. Herein, we prepare a binder-free composite electrode composed of amorphous (α-) SbS and copper antimony sulfide (CuSbS) through a simple closed-space sublimation (CSS) method.

From 2D to 3D: Promising Advances in Imaging Lung Structure.

The delicate structure of murine lungs poses many challenges for acquiring high-quality images that truly represent the living lung. Here, we describe several optimized procedures for obtaining and imaging murine lung tissue. Compared to traditional paraffin cross-section and optimal cutting temperature (OCT), agarose-inflated vibratome sections (aka precision-cut lung slices), combines comparable structural preservation with experimental flexibility.