Mendelian randomization analysis reveals causal relationship between depression, antidepressants and benign paroxysmal vertigo.

Benign paroxysmal vertigo (BPV) is a common cause of dizziness, and some patients are comorbid with psychiatric disorders such as depression, requiring intervention with antidepressants. However, the causal association between BPV, depression and antidepressants has not been clearly established. We used two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) to analyze the causal association between BPV, depression, and antidepressants.

Magnesium Oxide-Supported Single Atoms with Fine-Modulated Steric Location for Polymerization Transfer Removal of Water Pollutants.

Organic pollutants removal via a polymerization transfer (PT) pathway based on the use of single-atom catalysts (SACs) promises efficient water purification with minimal energy/chemical inputs. However, the precise engineering of such catalytic systems toward PT decontamination is still challenging, and the conventional SACs are plagued by low structural stability of carbon material support. Here, we adopted magnesium oxide (MgO) as a structurally stable alternative for loading single copper (Cu) atoms to drive peroxymonosulfate-based Fenton-like reactions.

Nanoconfinement steers nonradical pathway transition in single atom fenton-like catalysis for improving oxidant utilization.

The introduction of single-atom catalysts (SACs) into Fenton-like oxidation promises ultrafast water pollutant elimination, but the limited access to pollutants and oxidant by surface catalytic sites and the intensive oxidant consumption still severely restrict the decontamination performance. While nanoconfinement of SACs allows drastically enhanced decontamination reaction kinetics, the detailed regulatory mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we unveil that, apart from local enrichment of reactants, the catalytic pathway shift is also an important cause for the reactivity enhancement of nanoconfined SACs.

No genetic causality between obesity and benign paroxysmal vertigo: A two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Objective: We applied Mendelian randomization to explore the causal relationship between obesity and benign paroxysmal vertigo (BPV).

Methods: We chose two types of obesity diseases. Obesity due to excessive calories and other or unspecified obesity from the FinnGen database.

Biological upcycling of nickel and sulfate as electrocatalyst from electroplating wastewater.

Upcycling nickel (Ni) to useful catalyst is an appealing route to realize low-carbon treatment of electroplating wastewater and simultaneously recovering Ni resource, but has been restricted by the needs for costly membranes or consumption of large amount of chemicals in the existing upcycling processes. Herein, a biological upcycling route for synchronous recovery of Ni and sulfate as electrocatalysts, with certain amount of ferric salt (Fe) added to tune the product composition, is proposed. Efficient biosynthesis of bio-NiFeS nanoparticles from electroplating wastewater was achieved by harnessing the sulfate reduction and metal detoxification ability of Desulfovibrio vulgaris.

Coagulation/co-catalytic membrane integrated system for fouling-resistant and efficient water purification.

Low-pressure catalytic membranes allow efficient rejection of particulates and simultaneously removing organics pollutant in water, but the accumulation of dissolved organic matters (DOM) on membrane surface, which cover the catalytic sites and cause membrane fouling, challenges their stable operation in practical wastewater treatment. Here we propose a ferric salt-based coagulation/co-catalytic membrane integrated system that can effectively mitigate the detrimental effects of DOM. Ferric salt (Fe) serving both as a DOM coagulant to lower the membrane fouling and as a co-catalyst with the membrane-embedded MoS nanosheets to drive perxymonosulfate (PMS) activation and pollutant degradation.

Crystallinity engineering for overcoming the activity-stability tradeoff of spinel oxide in Fenton-like catalysis.

A precise modulation of heterogeneous catalysts in structural and surface properties promises the development of more sustainable advanced oxidation water purification technologies. However, while catalysts with superior decontamination activity and selectivity are already achievable, maintaining a long-term service life of such materials remains challenging. Here, we propose a crystallinity engineering strategy to break the activity-stability tradeoff of metal oxides in Fenton-like catalysis.

In situ Observation of Structural Evolution and Phase Engineering of Amorphous Materials during Crystal Nucleation.

The nucleation pathway determines the structures and thus properties of formed nanomaterials, which is governed by the free energy of the intermediate phase during nucleation. The amorphous structure, as one of the intermediate phases during nucleation, plays an important role in modulating the nucleation pathway. However, the process and mechanism of crystal nucleation from amorphous structures still need to be fully investigated.

Electron delocalization triggers nonradical Fenton-like catalysis over spinel oxides.

Nonradical Fenton-like catalysis offers opportunities to overcome the low efficiency and secondary pollution limitations of existing advanced oxidation decontamination technologies, but realizing this on transition metal spinel oxide catalysts remains challenging due to insufficient understanding of their catalytic mechanisms. Here, we explore the origins of catalytic selectivity of Fe-Mn spinel oxide and identify electron delocalization of the surface metal active site as the key driver of its nonradical catalysis. Through fine-tuning the crystal geometry to trigger Fe-Mn superexchange interaction at the spinel octahedra, ZnFeMnO with high-degree electron delocalization of the Mn-O unit was created to enable near 100% nonradical activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) at unprecedented utilization efficiency.

Simultaneous nanocatalytic surface activation of pollutants and oxidants for highly efficient water decontamination.

Removal of organic micropollutants from water through advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) is hampered by the excessive input of energy and/or chemicals as well as the large amounts of residuals resulting from incomplete mineralization. Herein, we report a new water purification paradigm, the direct oxidative transfer process (DOTP), which enables complete, highly efficient decontamination at very low dosage of oxidants. DOTP differs fundamentally from AOPs and adsorption in its pollutant removal behavior and mechanisms.

Reusing Sulfur-Poisoned Palladium Waste as a Highly Active, Nonradical Fenton-like Catalyst for Selective Degradation of Phenolic Pollutants.

Recycling of deactivated palladium (Pd)-based catalysts can not only lower the economic cost of their industrial use but also save the cost for waste disposal. Considering that the sulfur-poisoned Pd (PdS) with a strong Pd-S bond is difficult to regenerate, here, we propose a direct reuse of such waste materials as an efficient catalyst for decontamination via Fenton-like processes. Among the PdS materials with different poisoning degrees, PdS stood out as the most active catalyst for peroxymonosulfate activation, exhibiting pollutant-degradation performance rivaling the Pd and Co benchmarks.

Simultaneous Detection of Anions and Carbohydrates in Cyanobacteria by Two-Dimensional Ion Chromatography.

Background: The simultaneous analysis of several anions and carbohydrates by one-dimensional chromatography with a single detector is often complicated by the presence of overlapping peaks. To overcome this problem, analytes are usually analyzed separately making analysis long and tedious.

Objective: A method combining two-dimensional ion chromatography (2D-IC) and valve switching was developed for the simultaneous determination of anions (F-, Cl-, NO2-, SO42-, NO3-, and PO43-) and carbohydrates (glycerin, glucosyl glycerol, trehalose, mannose, glucose, galactose, fructose, ribose, and sucrose) in cyanobacteria.

Mn-O Covalency Governs the Intrinsic Activity of Co-Mn Spinel Oxides for Boosted Peroxymonosulfate Activation.

Transition metal (TM)-based bimetallic spinel oxides can efficiently activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) presumably attributed to enhanced electron transfer between TMs, but the existing model cannot fully explain the efficient TM redox cycling. Here, we discover a critical role of TM-O covalency in governing the intrinsic catalytic activity of Co Mn O spinel oxides. Experimental and theoretical analysis reveals that the Co sites significantly raises the Mn valence and enlarges Mn-O covalency in octahedral configuration, thereby lowering the charge transfer energy to favor Mn -PMS interaction.

Sulfate-Functionalized Nickel Hydroxide Nanobelts for Sustained Oxygen Evolution.

Nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH))-based electrocatalysts are promising for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to their low cost, but their activity and durability still need substantial improvement to meet practical application. Here, we report a sulfate-functionalized Ni(OH) nanobelt (S-Ni(OH)) electrocatalyst, which exhibited self-enhanced OER activity due to its self-renewed surface during anodic oxidation. The S-Ni(OH) was in situ grown on the nickel foam (NF) surface in potassium peroxydisulfate solution through one-step hydrothermal treatment.

Self-Supported, Sulfate-Functionalized Nickel Hydroxide Nanoplates with Enhanced Wettability and Conductivity for Use in High-Performance Supercapacitors.

Nickel hydroxide is promising for use in supercapacitor applications because of its low cost and tunable electrochemical properties, but its performance is usually restricted by insufficient conductivity and surface reactivity. In this work, sulfate-functionalized Ni(OH) (SNO) nanoplates were grown in situ on nickel foam (NF) by a green and facile one-step hydrothermal treatment of NF without the need for an external Ni source or surfactant addition. The resulting material showed a 9.

[Advance on the pathogenicity and immunological application of bacterial flagella--a review].

Being a surface structure of bacteria, flagella have been thought to simply act as the locomotive organelles for a long time. In recent years, as increasing information gathered from studies on the pathogenicity of flagella, we found flagella could contribute to invasion and adhesion to the host cells, playing an important role in the biofilm formation and being correlated with bacterial virulence secretion system. Binding of flagellin and toll-like receptor 5 may stimulate signaling pathway, resulting in the pro-inflammatory response.

Escherichia coli type III secretion system 2: a new kind of T3SS?

Type III secretion systems (T3SSs) are employed by Gram-negative bacteria to deliver effector proteins into the cytoplasm of infected host cells. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli use a T3SS to deliver effector proteins that result in the creation of the attaching and effacing lesions. The genome sequence of the Escherichia coli pathotype O157:H7 revealed the existence of a gene cluster encoding components of a second type III secretion system, the E.

Flagellin and F4 fimbriae have opposite effects on biofilm formation and quorum sensing in F4ac+ enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

Bacteria that form biofilms are often highly resistant to antibiotics and are capable of evading the host immune system. To evaluate the role of flagellin and F4 fimbriae on biofilm formation by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), we deleted the fliC (encoding the major flagellin protein) and/or the faeG (encoding the major subunit of F4 fimbriae) genes from ETEC C83902. Biofilm formation was reduced in the fliC mutant but increased in the faeG mutant, as compared with the wild-type strain.

Contribution of flagellin subunit FliC to piglet epithelial cells invasion by F18ab E. coli.

Flagellar structures contribute to the virulence of multiple gastrointestinal pathogens either as the effectors of motility, as adhesins, or as a secretion apparatus for virulence factors. Escherichia coli F18ab variant strains are associated with edema disease (ED) in pig industries worldwide. These strains use flagella to increase the efficiency of epithelial cell invasion.

Both flagella and F4 fimbriae from F4ac+ enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli contribute to attachment to IPEC-J2 cells in vitro.

The role of flagella in the pathogenesis of F4ac+ Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) mediated neonatal and post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) is not currently understood. We targeted the reference C83902 ETEC strain (O8:H19:F4ac+ LT+ STa+ STb+), to construct isogenic mutants in the fliC (encoding the major flagellin protein), motA (encoding the flagella motor), and faeG (encoding the major subunit of F4 fimbriae) genes. Both the ΔfliC and ΔfaeG mutants had a reduced ability to adhere to porcine intestinal epithelial IPEC-J2 cells.

Crystal structure, spectra properties and comparative studies on a 2-pyrazoline derivative.

A 2-pyrazoline derivation of 1-phenyl-3-(4-methylphenyl)-5-(3,4-dimethyl phenyl)-2-pyrazoline has been characterized by X-ray single crystal diffraction, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. For the title compound, density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the structure and natural population atomic charge analysis have been performed at B3LYP/6-311G** level of theory. By using TD-DFT method, electron spectra of the title compound have been predicted, which suggest the B3LYP/6-311G** method can approximately simulate the electron spectra for the system presented here.

Bis(2-amino-pyridinium) 5,5'-disulfanediylbis(1,3,4-thia-diazole-2-thiol-ate) monohydrate.

In the crystal of the title compound, 2C(5)H(7)N(2) (+)·C(4)N(4)S(6) (2-)·H(2)O, inter-molecular N-H⋯S and N-H⋯N hydrogen bonds link four cations and two dianions into a centrosymmetric cluster. The crystal packing is further consolidated by π-π inter-actions between the five- and six-membered rings of neighbouring clusters [centroid-centroid distances = 3.692 (3), 3.

An ionic liquid supported CeO2 nanoshuttles-carbon nanotubes composite as a platform for impedance DNA hybridization sensing.

A novel nanocomposite membrane, comprising of nanosized shuttle-shaped cerium oxide (CeO(2)), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and hydrophobic room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (BMIMPF(6)), was developed on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for electrochemical sensing of the immobilization and hybridization of DNA. The properties of the CeO(2)-SWNTs-BMIMPF(6)/GCE, the characteristics of the immobilization and hybridization of DNA were studied by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-) as the redox indicator. The synergistic effect of nano-CeO(2), SWNTs and RTIL could dramatically enhance the sensitivity of DNA hybridization recognition.

Controlled synthesis of mesoporous SiO2/Ni3Si2O5(OH)4 core-shell microspheres with tunable chamber structures via a self-template method.

Mesoporous SiO2/Ni3Si2O5(OH)4 core-shell microspheres with tunable chamber structures have been synthesized by the reaction between Ni(Ac)2.4H2O and SiO2 microspheres via a simple self-template approach.

Environmentally friendly chemical route to vanadium oxide single-crystalline nanobelts as a cathode material for lithium-ion batteries.

Orthorhombic V(2)O(5) single-crystalline nanobelts with widths of 100-300 nm, thicknesses of 30-40 nm, and lengths up to tens of micrometers have been synthesized on a large scale in a hydrogen peroxide aqueous solution by an environmentally friendly chemical route. Such nanobelts grow along the direction of [010]. The influence of the reaction time on the crystal structures and morphologies of the resulting products are investigated.