Impact of vancomycin therapeutic drug monitoring on mortality in sepsis patients across different age groups: a propensity score-matched retrospective cohort study.

Background: Due to its potent antibacterial activity, vancomycin is widely used in the treatment of sepsis. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) can optimize personalized vancomycin dosing regimens, enhancing therapeutic efficacy and minimizing nephrotoxic risk, thereby potentially improving patient outcomes. However, it remains uncertain whether TDM affects the mortality rate among sepsis patients or whether age plays a role in this outcome.

Monitoring vancomycin blood concentrations reduces mortality risk in critically ill patients: a retrospective cohort study using the MIMIC-IV database.

Background: The incidence and mortality of severe Gram-positive cocci infections are particularly high in intensive care units (ICUs). Vancomycin remains the treatment of choice for severe infections caused by Gram-positive cocci, particularly methicillin-resistant (MRSA). Some guidelines recommend therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for critically ill patients treated with vancomycin; however, there is currently a lack of evidence to support that TDM improves the mortality rates of these patients.

The causal relationships of granulocytes and melanoma skin cancer: A univariable and multivariable Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Increasing evidence has revealed that granulocyte has a critical role in tumorigenesis and progression. In this study, Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was utilized for estimating the causal association between neutrophil percentage and melanoma skin cancer, eosinophil percentage and melanoma skin cancer, basophil percentage and melanoma skin cancer, respectively.

Methods: The Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) ids for melanoma skin cancer, neutrophil percentage, eosinophil percentage and basophil percentage were derived from Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU) Open GWAS database.

Crystal Plane Regulation Promotes the Oriented Conversion of Radicals in Heterogeneous Persulfate Catalyzed Oxidation Process.

In heterogeneous persulfate-catalyzed oxidation systems, the mechanism underlying the crystal plane effects of the catalyst on the selective conversion of reactive oxygen species (ROS) remains ambiguous. In this study, nano-CoO catalysts with varying crystallinity and exposure levels of (111) crystal planes are prepared via a hydrothermal method. Compared to low crystalline catalysts, high crystallinity catalysts predominantly expose (111) planes containing higher concentrations of Co and oxygen vacancies (Ov), resulting in an increase degradation efficiency of p-nitrobenzaldehyde (4-NBA) from 74.

The effects of genetic distance, nutrient conditions, and recognition ways on outcomes of kin recognition in .

Kin recognition might help plants decrease competitive cost and improve inclusive fitness with close genes; thus it might interact with environmental factors to affect communities. Whether and how various factors, such as the genetic distance of neighbors, environmental stressors, or the way a plant recognizes its neighbors, might modify plant growth strategies remains unclear. To answer these questions, we conducted experiments in which ramets of a clonal plant, , were grown adjacent to different genetically related neighbors (clone kin / close kin / distant kin) in different nutrient conditions (high / medium / low), or with only root exudates from pre-treatment in culture solution.

Predictability of parental ultraviolet-B environment shapes the growth strategies of clonal .

Although there is an increasing debate about ecological consequences of environmental predictability for plant phenotype and fitness, the effect of predictability of parental environments on the offspring is still indefinite. To clarify the role of environmental predictability in maternal effects and the growth strategy of clonal offspring, a greenhouse experiment was conducted with . The parental ramets were arranged in three ultraviolet-B (UV-B) conditions, representing two predictable environments (regular and enhanced UV-B) and an unpredictable environment (random UV-B), respectively.

Enhancing effects of dissolved and media surface-bound organic matter on titanium dioxide nanoparticles transport in iron oxide-coated porous media under acidic conditions.

Natural organic matter (NOM) and iron oxides have been proved to be crucial factors controlling the behaviors of nanoparticles in heterogenous environment. Here, we conducted experimental and modeling study on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs) in iron oxide-coated quartz in the presence of NOM under acidic conditions. Results showed the antagonistic effects of iron oxides and NOM on TiO NPs mobility.

Effects of foreign metal doping on the step-by-step oxidation process in M-OMS-2 catalyzed activation of PMS.

Various metal cations M (M = Mg, Ca, Zn, Cu, Fe) were doped into the tunnel of manganese octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2). Redox-inactive metal (Ca, Mg and Zn) doped OMS-2 exhibited better peroxymonosulfate (PMS) catalytic activity than redox metal-doped Cu-OMS-2 and Fe-OMS-2. Redox-inactive metals doping improves the conductivity and reducibility of the catalyst, while transition metal doping reduces the dispersion of manganese.

Density-dependence tips the change of plant-plant interactions under environmental stress.

Facilitation studies typically compare plants under differential stress levels with and without neighbors, while the density of neighbors has rarely been addressed. However, recent empirical studies indicate that facilitation may be density-dependent too and peak at intermediate neighbor densities. Here, we propose a conceptual model to incorporate density-dependence into theory about changes of plant-plant interactions under stress.

Dataset for characterization of dissolved organic matter extracted from organic wastes and their effects on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in acidic saturated porous media in the presence of monovalent electrolyte.

This dataset is related to the research article in Chemosphere, entitled 'The limited facilitating effect of dissolved organic matter extracted from organic wastes on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in acidic saturated porous media' [1]. The data summarised the characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) extracted from organic wastes and their effects on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs) in acidic saturated porous media in the presence of monovalent electrolyte. Three types of dissolved organic matter were extracted from organic materials, including swine manure, sludge, and sediment, using deionized water, and were characterized with UV-Vis, FTIR and elementary analysis.

The limited facilitating effect of dissolved organic matter extracted from organic wastes on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in acidic saturated porous media.

The complexity of natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) motivates the determination of how DOM from diverse sources affects the environmental behaviors of engineered nanoparticles. Here, three types of DOM, DOM extracted from swine manure (SWDOM), sludge (SLDOM) and sediment (SEDOM), were characterized, and their effects on the transport of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO NPs, 30 nm in diameter) were evaluated and compared with those of humic acid (HA). Characterization tests showed differences in the aromaticity and weight-average molecular weight (M) properties among the three extracted DOM solutions, and greater distinctions were found between the extracted DOM and HA.

Soil Abiotic Properties and Plant Functional Traits Mediate Associations Between Soil Microbial and Plant Communities During a Secondary Forest Succession on the Loess Plateau.

In the context of secondary forest succession, aboveground-belowground interactions are known to affect the dynamics and functional structure of plant communities. However, the links between soil microbial communities, soil abiotic properties, plant functional traits in the case of semi-arid and arid ecosystems, are unclear. In this study, we investigated the changes in soil microbial species diversity and community composition, and the corresponding effects of soil abiotic properties and plant functional traits, during a ≥150-year secondary forest succession on the Loess Plateau, which represents a typical semi-arid ecosystem in China.

Facilitation from an intraspecific perspective - stress tolerance determines facilitative effect and response in plants.

Plant-plant interactions are reciprocal and include effects on and response to neighbours. Distinct traits confer competitive effect and response ability, but how specific traits determine effect and response in facilitative interactions has not been studied experimentally. We utilized the model species Arabidopsis thaliana to test for trait dependence of facilitative interactions.

Understanding Electrocatalytic Hydrodechlorination of Chlorophenols on Palladium-Modified Cathode in Aqueous Solution.

This work aimed at investigating electrocatalytic hydrodechlorination (ECH) mechanisms of chlorophenols (CPs) on a Pd-modified cathode. Experiments on the ECH of 2,4-dichlorophenol were conducted under extreme test conditions, i.e.

Patterns of taxonomic, phylogenetic diversity during a long-term succession of forest on the Loess Plateau, China: insights into assembly process.

Quantifying the drivers underlying the distribution of biodiversity during succession is a critical issue in ecology and conservation, and also can provide insights into the mechanisms of community assembly. Ninety plots were established in the Loess Plateau region of northern Shaanxi in China. The taxonomic and phylogenetic (alpha and beta) diversity were quantified within six succession stages.

Plant functional traits suggest a change in novel ecological strategies for dominant species in the stages of forest succession.

In forest succession, the ecological strategies of the dominant species that are based on functional traits are important in the determination of both the mechanisms and the potential directions of succession. Thirty-one plots were established in the Loess Plateau region of northern Shaanxi in China. Fifteen leaf traits were measured for the 31 dominant species that represented the six stages of succession, and the traits included four that were related to morphology, seven to stoichiometry and four to physiological ecology.

Decolorization characteristics of a newly isolated salt-tolerant Bacillus sp. strain and its application for azo dye-containing wastewater in immobilized form.

Strain CICC 23870 capable of decolorization of various azo dyes under high saline conditions was isolated from saline-alkali soil. The oxygen-insensitive azoreductase in crude extracts exhibited a wide substrate adaptively in the presence of NADH as a cofactor. The decolorization process by free cells followed first-order kinetics, with a high Methyl Orange (MO) tolerance concentration up to 100 mg l(-1) estimated by Haldane model.

Exploiting topic modeling to boost metagenomic reads binning.

Background: With the rapid development of high-throughput technologies, researchers can sequence the whole metagenome of a microbial community sampled directly from the environment. The assignment of these metagenomic reads into different species or taxonomical classes is a vital step for metagenomic analysis, which is referred to as binning of metagenomic data.

Results: In this paper, we propose a new method TM-MCluster for binning metagenomic reads.

Phytotoxicity of ZnO nanoparticles and the released Zn(II) ion to corn (Zea mays L.) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) during germination.

Toxicity of engineered nanoparticles on organisms is of concern worldwide due to their extensive use and unique properties. The impacts of ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) on seed germination and root elongation of corn (Zea mays L.) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.

Nitric oxide is involved in integration of UV-B absorbing compounds among parts of clonal plants under a heterogeneous UV-B environment.

In nature, ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation is highly heterogeneous, both spatially and temporally. Plants exposed to UV-B radiation produce UV-B absorbing compounds that function as a protective filter. For clonal plants under heterogeneous UV-B radiation conditions, integration among ramets can allow irradiated ramets to benefit un-irradiated ramets by causing them to increase their UV-B absorbing compounds content.

A New Unsupervised Binning Approach for Metagenomic Sequences Based on N-grams and Automatic Feature Weighting.

The rapid development of high-throughput technologies enables researchers to sequence the whole metagenome of a microbial community sampled directly from the environment. The assignment of these sequence reads into different species or taxonomical classes is a crucial step for metagenomic analysis, which is referred to as binning of metagenomic data. Most traditional binning methods rely on known reference genomes for accurate assignment of the sequence reads, therefore cannot classify reads from unknown species without the help of close references.

A comparative evaluation on prediction methods of nucleosome positioning.

Nucleosome positioning plays an essential role in cellular processes by modulating accessibility of DNA to proteins. Many computational models have been developed to predict genome-wide nucleosome positions from DNA sequences. Comparative analysis of predicted and experimental nucleosome positioning maps facilitates understanding the regulatory mechanisms of transcription and DNA replication.

Effects of ultraviolet-B irradiance on intraspecific competition and facilitation of plants: self-thinning, size inequality, and phenotypic plasticity.

(1) The effects of facilitation on the structure and dynamics of plant populations have not been studied so widely as competition. The UV-B radiation, as a typical environmental factor causing stress, may result in direct stress and facilitation. (2) The effects of UV-B radiation on intraspecific competition and facilitation were investigated based on the following three predictions on self-thinning, size inequality, and phenotypic plasticity: i) Self-thinning is the reduction in density that results from the increase in the mean biomass of individuals in crowded populations, and is driven by competition.