Publications by authors named "Xie Guojun"

Anaerobic microorganisms are critical in regulating ethane in geothermal environments, where selenate and selenite are common contaminants. Although coupling ethane oxidation with selenate reduction has been demonstrated as feasible, such processes remain poorly explored in geothermal environments. This study addressed this gap by successfully enriching thermophilic anaerobic cultures capable of coupling ethane oxidation with selenate/selenite reduction, achieving selenate and selenite removal rate of 2.

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Background: Psychotic depression (PD) and schizophrenia (SCZ) share overlapping symptoms yet differ in etiology, progression, and treatment approaches. Differentiating these disorders through symptom-based diagnosis is challenging, emphasizing the need for a clearer understanding of their distinct cognitive and neural mechanisms.

Aim: This study aims to compare cognitive impairments and brain functional activities in PD and SCZ to pinpoint distinguishing characteristics of each disorder.

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Article Synopsis
  • - This study investigates the link between brain connectivity changes and genetic factors in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), comparing them to healthy controls.
  • - Results showed that MDD patients had lower global-brain functional connectivity (GFC) in specific brain areas, along with increased connectivity in the cerebellum, and a negative correlation between cerebellum connectivity and social support scores.
  • - The researchers identified genes related to GFC alterations, highlighting their roles in brain functioning, particularly in synaptic transmission, while suggesting that social support may influence brain connectivity in individuals with MDD.
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Anaerobic ammonium oxidization (Anammox) process plays a crucial role in the global nitrogen cycle and sustainable biological nitrogen removal from wastewater. Although Anammox bacteria have been detected across mesophilic and thermophilic conditions, the direct cultivation of Anammox bacteria from thermal environments has remained elusive. This impedes limiting our understanding of their physiology and ecology in high-temperature habitats.

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Background: The research findings on the topological properties of functional connectomes (TP-FCs) in patients with schizophrenia (SZPs) exhibit inconsistencies and contradictions, which can be attributed to limitations such as small sample sizes and heterogeneous data processing techniques.

Aims: To address these limitations, we conducted a large-scale study. Uniform data processing flows were employed to investigate the aberrant TP-FCs and the associations between TP-FCs and symptoms or cognitions (A-TP-SCs) in SZPs.

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Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) combined with pharmacotherapy is a promising treatment method for depression. However, its treatment mechanism needs further research.

Methods: This study recruited 38 healthy individuals (HC) and 52 patients with severe depression (MDD) and divided patients into two treatment groups: the rTMS combined antidepressant (rTMS+ADP) group and the single antidepressant (ADP) group.

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Disrupted connectivity in the default mode network (DMN) during resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) is well-documented in schizophrenia (SCZ). The amygdala, a key component in the neurobiology of SCZ, comprises distinct subregions that may exert varying effects on the disorder. This study aimed to investigate variations in functional connectivity (FC) between distinct amygdala subregions and the DMN in SCZ individuals and explore the effects of treatment on these connections.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how cerebellar-cerebral functional connectivity (CC-FC) is related to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), focusing on drug-naive patients and how the connectivity changes after a four-week treatment with paroxetine.
  • Results indicated that drug-naive OCD patients had lower CC-FC compared to healthy controls, with certain genetic profiles linked to this connectivity.
  • Improvements in CC-FC after treatment were associated with better clinical outcomes, suggesting CC-FC could serve as a potential biomarker for predicting treatment response and understanding OCD's neurobiological mechanisms.
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Ethane, the second most abundant gaseous hydrocarbon in vast anoxic environments, is an overlooked greenhouse gas. Microbial anaerobic oxidation of ethane can be driven by available electron acceptors such as sulfate and nitrate. However, despite nitrite being a more thermodynamically feasible electron acceptor than sulfate or nitrate, little is known about nitrite-driven anaerobic ethane oxidation.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers analyzed data from 42 MDD patients and 42 healthy controls, finding higher NH values in specific brain regions of MDD patients compared to healthy individuals.
  • * Although some clinical variables showed correlations with NH values, these correlations lost significance after further statistical adjustments, highlighting the need for more research on DMN's role in MDD.
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Waterborne pathogens invariably present considerable threats to public health. The quorum sensing (QS) system is instrumental in coordinating bacterial growth and metabolisms. However, the responses and regulatory mechanisms of bacteria to various disinfection technologies through quorum sensing are still unclear.

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Background: Cognitive impairment is a recognized fundamental deficit in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar II disorder (BD II), and major depressive disorder (MDD), among other psychiatric disorders. However, limited research has compared cognitive function among first-episode drug-naïve individuals with SZ, BD II, or MDD.

Methods: This study aimed to address this gap by assessing the cognitive performance of 235 participants (40 healthy controls, 58 SZ patients, 72 BD II patients, and 65 MDD patients) using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) before and after 12 weeks of treatment in SZ, BD II, and MDD patients.

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Sulfate-dependent ammonium oxidation (Sulfammox) is a critical process linking nitrogen and sulfur cycles. However, the metabolic pathway of microbes driven Sulfammox is still in suspense. The study demonstrated that ammonium was not consumed with sulfate as the sole electron acceptor during long-term enrichment, probably due to inhibition from sulfide accumulation, while ammonium was removed at ∼ 10 mg N/L/d with sulfate and nitrate as electron acceptors.

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Nitrate/nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (n-DAMO) process is a promising wastewater treatment technology, but the slow microbial growth rate greatly hinders its practical application. Although high-level nitrogen removal and excellent biomass accumulation have been achieved in n-DAMO granule process, the formation mechanism of n-DAMO granules remains unresolved. To elucidate the role of functional microbes in granulation, this study attempted to cultivate granules dominated by n-DAMO microorganisms and granules coupling n-DAMO with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox).

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Article Synopsis
  • Previous studies suggested a link between major depressive disorder (MDD) and other health issues, like gastrointestinal problems and thyroid dysfunction, but how they relate to brain connectivity in MDD patients is still unclear.
  • A study was conducted with 42 people diagnosed with MDD and 42 healthy controls, involving clinical assessments and brain scans to analyze functional connectivity abnormalities.
  • Results showed that MDD patients had lower thyroid hormone levels and displayed significant changes in brain connectivity patterns, suggesting these changes could relate to cholesterol and thyroid levels, although some findings may not be statistically significant after further analysis.
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  • This study investigates the differences in brain activity between healthy individuals and those diagnosed with schizophrenia, aiming to link these activities to symptoms and treatment outcomes.
  • 56 individuals with schizophrenia and 51 healthy controls underwent resting-state fMRI, revealing distinct patterns of brain activity before and after antipsychotic treatment.
  • The findings indicate that altered fALFF values in specific brain regions may serve as potential markers for predicting treatment effects in schizophrenia patients.
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Aerobic methanotrophs establish a symbiotic association with denitrifiers to facilitate the process of aerobic methane oxidation coupled with denitrification (AME-D). However, the symbiosis has been frequently observed in hypoxic conditions continuing to pose an enigma. The present study has firstly characterized an electrically induced symbiosis primarily governed by Methylosarcina and Hyphomicrobium for the AME-D process in a hypoxic niche caused by Comammox Nitrospira.

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'Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens' is an archaeal methanotroph with global importance that links carbon and nitrogen cycles and great potential for sustainable operation of wastewater treatment. It has been reported to mediate the anaerobic oxidation of methane through a reverse methanogenesis pathway while reducing nitrate to nitrite. Here, we demonstrate that 'Ca.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The n-DAMO process effectively reduces methane emissions and removes nitrogen in wastewater treatment, though the details of how biofilms form and transform nitrogen are not fully understood.
  • - In a study using a specialized reactor, n-DAMO biofilms successfully removed nitrate at a high rate and showed increased extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which are crucial for biofilm development.
  • - n-DAMO archaea were found to play a key role in both the production of EPS and the nitrogen transformation process, actively contributing to nitrate reduction and potentially converting ammonium to dinitrogen gas alongside n-DAMO bacteria.
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Bottlebrush polymers (BB) have emerged as compelling candidates for biosystems to face tribological challenges, including friction and wear. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of an engineered triblock BB polymer's affinity, cell toxicity, lubrication, and wear protection in both in vitro and in vivo settings, focusing on applications for conditions like osteoarthritis and dry eye syndrome. Results show that the designed polymer rapidly adheres to various surfaces (e.

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The trajectory of voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) after medical treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and its value in prediction of treatment response remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the pathophysiological mechanism of OCD, as well as biomarkers for prediction of pharmacological efficacy. Medication-free patients with OCD and healthy controls (HCs) underwent magnetic resonance imaging.

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Obesity poses a serious global public health challenge, particularly among middle-aged, and elderly college staff. This study aims to explore the associated factors of obesity by analyzing the metabolic indicators of 1756 university staff from Minzu University of China, Beijing. Venous blood samples were collected, and blood metabolic indicators were analyzed.

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Nitrate/nitrite-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane (n-DAMO) is a recently discovered process, which provides a sustainable perspective for simultaneous nitrogen removal and greenhouse gas emission (GHG) mitigation by using methane as an electron donor for denitrification. However, the engineering roadmap of the n-DAMO process is still unclear. This work constitutes a state-of-the-art review on the classical and most recently discovered metabolic mechanisms of the n-DAMO process.

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Nitrite-dependent anaerobic methane oxidizing (n-DAMO) bacteria generally convert nitrite to dinitrogen and bypass the nitrous oxide (NO) formation step. However, NO is often detected in n-DAMO bacteria dominated cultures and it remains an open question as to the microbial origin of NO in these enrichments. Using a stable nitrite consuming microbial community enriched for n-DAMO bacteria, we demonstrated that NO production was coupled to methane oxidation and the higher initial nitrite concentrations led to increased quantities of NO being formed.

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Objective: Previous studies have established significant differences in the neuroimaging characteristics between healthy controls (HCs) and patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). However, the relationship between homotopic connectivity and clinical features in patients with SCZ is not yet fully understood. Furthermore, there are currently no established neuroimaging biomarkers available for the diagnosis of SCZ or for predicting early treatment response.

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