Spatiotemporal variations and the ecological risks of organophosphate esters in Laizhou Bay waters between 2019 and 2021: Implying the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Organophosphate esters (OPEs) are a group of synthetic chemicals used in numerous consumer products such as plastics and furniture. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic significantly slowed anthropogenic activities and reduced the emissions of pollutants. Meanwhile, the mismanagement of large quantities of disposable plastic facemasks intensified the problems of plastic pollution and leachable pollutants in coastal waters. In this study, the joint effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on the occurrence of 12 targeted OPEs in the waters of Laizhou Bay (LZB) were investigated. The results showed that the median total OPE concentrations were 725, 363, and 109 ng L-1 in the sewage treatment plant effluent, river water, and bay water in 2021, decreased significantly (p < 0.05) by 67%, 68%, and 70%, respectively, compared with those before the COVID-19 outbreak. The release potential of targeted OPEs from disposable surgical masks in the LZB area was ∼0.24 kg yr-1, which was insufficient to increase the OPE concentration in the LZB waters. The concentrations of most individual OPEs significantly decreased in LZB waters from 2019 to 2021, except for TBOEP and TNBP. Spatially, a lower concentration of OPEs was found in the Yellow River estuary area in 2021 compared with that before the COVID-19 pandemic due to the high content of suspended particulate matter in the YR. A higher total OPE concentration was observed along the northeastern coast of LZB, mainly owing to the construction of an artificial island since 2020. The ecological risks of the OPE mixture in LZB waters were lower than those before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, TCEP, TNBP, and BDP should receive continuous attention because of their potential ecological risks to aquatic organisms.

Identification of a novel coronavirus causing severe pneumonia in human: a descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Human infections with zoonotic coronaviruses (CoVs), including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV, have raised great public health concern globally. Here, we report a novel bat-origin CoV causing severe and fatal pneumonia in humans. METHODS: We collected clinical data and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) specimens from five patients with severe pneumonia from Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, Hubei province, China. Nucleic acids of the BAL were extracted and subjected to next-generation sequencing. Virus isolation was carried out, and maximum-likelihood phylogenetic trees were constructed. RESULTS: Five patients hospitalized from December 18 to December 29, 2019 presented with fever, cough, and dyspnea accompanied by complications of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Chest radiography revealed diffuse opacities and consolidation. One of these patients died. Sequence results revealed the presence of a previously unknown ß-CoV strain in all five patients, with 99.8% to 99.9% nucleotide identities among the isolates. These isolates showed 79.0% nucleotide identity with the sequence of SARS-CoV (GenBank NC_004718) and 51.8% identity with the sequence of MERS-CoV (GenBank NC_019843). The virus is phylogenetically closest to a bat SARS-like CoV (SL-ZC45, GenBank MG772933) with 87.6% to 87.7% nucleotide identity, but is in a separate clade. Moreover, these viruses have a single intact open reading frame gene 8, as a further indicator of bat-origin CoVs. However, the amino acid sequence of the tentative receptor-binding domain resembles that of SARS-CoV, indicating that these viruses might use the same receptor. CONCLUSION: A novel bat-borne CoV was identified that is associated with severe and fatal respiratory disease in humans.

Serum 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine Is a Potential Indicator for the Severity and Prognosis in Patients with Community-Acquired Pneumonia: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Previous studies have demonstrated that 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) exerted key roles in various pulmonary diseases, but the evidence for its role in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) was lacking. The goal of this research was to evaluate the correlations of serum 8-OHdG with the severity and prognosis among patients with CAP through a prospective cohort study. A total of 239 patients with CAP and 239 healthy participants were enrolled. Fasting blood samples were collected. 8-OHdG and inflammatory cytokines were measured by ELISA. On admission, serum 8-OHdG was significantly increased in patients with CAP compared with control subjects. Besides, serum 8-OHdG was incrementally increased in line with CAP severity scores. Pearson correlative analysis found that serum 8-OHdG was correlated with clinical characteristics and inflammatory cytokines in patients with CAP. Linear and logistic regression analysis showed that serum 8-OHdG was positively associated with CAP severity scores. Furthermore, the prognostic outcomes were tracked. Higher serum 8-OHdG on admission increased the risks for intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, vasoactive agent usage, death, and longer hospital stay among patients with CAP. Serum 8-OHdG combination with confusion, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and age ≥65 y or pneumonia severity index had stronger predictive powers for death than single 8-OHdG, CAP severity scores, or several inflammatory cytokines in patients with CAP. These results indicated that serum 8-OHdG is positively associated with the severity and poor prognosis in patients with CAP, demonstrating that 8-OHdG may be involved in the pathophysiology process of CAP.

Developing a Screening Procedure During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Process and Challenges Faced by a Low-Incidence Area.

Purpose: To summarize the imaging results of COVID-19 pneumonia and develop a computerized tomography (CT) screening procedure for patients at our institution with malignant tumors. Methods: Following epidemiological investigation, 1,429 patients preparing to undergo anti-tumor-treatment underwent CT scans between February 17 and April 16, 2020. When CT findings showed suspected COVID-19 pneumonia after the supervisor radiologist and the thoracic experience radiologist had double-read the initial CT images, radiologists would report the result to our hospital infection control staff. Further necessary examinations, including the RT-PCR test, in the assigned hospital was strongly recommended for patients with positive CT results. The CT examination room would perform sterilization for 30 min to 1 h. If the negative results of any suspected COVID-19 pneumonia CT findings were identified, the radiologists would upload the results to our Hospital Information Systems and inform clinicians within 2 h. Results: Fifty (0.35%, 50/1,429) suspected pneumonia cases, including 29 males and 21 females (median age: 59.5 years old; age range 27-79 years), were identified. A total of 34.0% (17/50) of the patients had a history of lung cancer and 54.0 (27/50) underwent chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Forty-six patients (92.0%) had prior CT scans, and 35 patients (76.1%) with suspected pneumonia were newly seen (median interval time: 62 days). Sub-pleura small patchy or strip-like lesions most likely due to fibrosis or hypostatic pneumonia and cluster of nodular lesions were the two main signs of suspected cases on CT images (34, 68.0%). Twenty-seven patients (54.0%) had, at least once, follow-up CT scan (median interval time: 18.0 days). Only one patient had an increase in size (interval time: 8 days), the immediately RT-PCR test result was negative. Conclusion: CT may be useful as a screening tool for COVID-19 based on imaging features. But the differential diagnosis between COVID-19 and other pulmonary infection and/or non-infectious disease is very difficult due to its overlapping imaging features.The confirmed diagnosis of the COVID-19 infection should be based on the etiologic eventually. The cancer patients at a low-incidence area would continue treatment by screening carefully before admission.

Insights into the spatiotemporal occurrence and mixture risk assessment of household and personal care products in the waters from rivers to Laizhou Bay, southern Bohai Sea.

Household and personal care products (HPCPs) are a kind of contaminants closely related to daily life, capturing worldwide concern. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt focusing on the spatiotemporal occurrence and mixture risk of HPCPs in the waters from rivers to Laizhou Bay. Nine HPCPs were quantitated in 216 water samples gathered from Laizhou Bay and its adjacent rivers in 2018, 2019, and 2021 to reveal the spatiotemporal occurrence and mixture ecological risks in Laizhou Bay. Eight HPCPs were detected with detection frequencies ranging from 74% to 100%. The total concentrations were in the ranges 105-721 ng L-1 in river water and 51.3-332 ng L-1 in seawater. The HPCPs were dominated by p-hydroxybenzoic and triclosan, which together contributed over 75% of the total HPCPs. The average level of the total HPCP concentration in the summer of 2018 (96.1 ng L-1) was slightly exceed that in the spring of 2019 (91.6 ng L-1), which is associated with the higher usage of HPCPs and enhanced tourism during summer. However, the highest total concentrations were found in spring of 2021 (124 ng L-1 in average), which was attribute to a higher level of methylparaben, a predominant paraben used as preservatives in commercial pharmaceuticals of China. Influenced by riverine inputs and ocean currents, higher HPCP concentrations in Laizhou Bay were found nearby the estuary of Yellow River and the southern part of the bay. Triclosan should be given constant concern considering its medium to high risks (RQ > 0.1) in nearly 80% of the water samples. The cumulative risk assessment in two approaches revealed that HPCP mixtures generally elicit medium or high risk to three main aquatic taxa. Considering the worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, the levels and risks of multiple HPCPs in natural waters requires constant attention in future studies.

Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles to the Rescue of Renal Injury.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are rising in global prevalence and cause significant morbidity for patients. Current treatments are limited to slowing instead of stabilising or reversing disease progression. In this review, we describe mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their constituents, extracellular vesicles (EVs) as being a novel therapeutic for CKD. MSC-derived EVs (MSC-EVs) are membrane-enclosed particles, including exosomes, which carry genetic information that mimics the phenotype of their cell of origin. MSC-EVs deliver their cargo of mRNA, miRNA, cytokines, and growth factors to target cells as a form of paracrine communication. This genetically reprograms pathophysiological pathways, which are upregulated in renal failure. Since the method of exosome preparation significantly affects the quality and function of MSC-exosomes, this review compares the methodologies for isolating exosomes from MSCs and their role in tissue regeneration. More specifically, it summarises the therapeutic efficacy of MSC-EVs in 60 preclinical animal models of AKI and CKD and the cargo of biomolecules they deliver. MSC-EVs promote tubular proliferation and angiogenesis, and inhibit apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, and fibrosis, to alleviate AKI and CKD. By reprogramming these pathophysiological pathways, MSC-EVs can slow or even reverse the progression of AKI to CKD, and therefore offer potential to transform clinical practice.

[Variation Characteristics and Source Analysis of Carbonaceous Aerosols in Winter in Jiashan].

Organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and PM2.5 concentration data obtained from Shanxi Super Station in Jiashan County of Jiaxing City, in the winter of 2018 and 2019, were analyzed to determine the variation and potential source areas of carbonaceous aerosols. The results show that OC concentrations in the winter of 2018 and 2019 were 6.90 µg·m-3 and 5.63 µg·m-3, respectively, while EC concentrations were 2.47 µg·m-3 and 1.57 µg·m-3, respectively. The concentrations of OC and EC in the winter of 2019 were lower than those in the winter of 2018, by approximately 18.4% and 36.4%, respectively. In 2018 and 2019, the concentrations of secondary organic carbon (SOC), calculated using the minimum R-squared (MRS) method, were 1.49 µg·m-3 and 1.97 µg·m-3, respectively, and the concentrations of primary organic carbon (POC) were 5.41 µg·m-3 and 3.66 µg·m-3, respectively. The proportion of POC in OC showed a downward trend, from 96.0% in December 2018 to 64.9% in February 2020, indicating a decrease of 31.1 percentage points. SOC showed an upward trend, increasing by 31.1 percentage points from 4.0% in December 2018 to 35.1% in February 2020. It is worth noting that with the increase in PM2.5 concentration, the concentration of OC and EC increased by 474.7% and 408.2%, respectively, although the proportion of OC in PM2.5 decreased from 18.8% to 12.3%. and the percentage of OC decreased from 5.8% to 3.3%. The contribution of POC to PM2.5 did not fluctuate, and only decreased significantly above 150 µg·m-3, while the contribution of SOC to PM2.5 first decreased and then increased. In Jiaxing, the potential sources of OC and EC were mainly southern Jiangsu, southeastern Anhui, local Jiaxing, and northern Zhejiang. In the winter of the contribution concentrations of OC and EC in the main potential source regions were approximately 2 µg·m-3 and 6 µg·m-3 lower, respectively, than in winter 2018. The range of high values in the potential source regions also decreased in 2019. Before the COVID-19 epidemic, it was affected by both motor vehicle exhaust emissions and coal burning. During the Spring Festival and home isolation, due to traffic control and other reasons, motor vehicle emissions were reduced, which leaving coal burning as the main contributor.