Nickel-Ion Activating Discarded COVID-19 Medical Surgical Masks for Forming Carbon–Nickel Composite Nanowires and Using as a High-Performance Lithium Battery Anode

With the prevalence of COVID-19, wearing medical surgical masks has become a requisite measure to protect against the invasion of the virus. Therefore, a huge amount of discarded medical surgical masks will be produced, which will become a potential hazard to pollute the environment and endanger the health of organisms without our awareness. Herein, a green and cost-effective way for the reasonable disposal of waste masks becomes necessary. In this work, we realized the transformation from waste medical surgical masks into high-quality carbon–nickel composite nanowires, which not only benefit the protection of the environment and ecosystem but also contribute to the realization of economic value. The obtained composite carbon-based materials demonstrate 70 S m–1 conductivity, 5.2 nm average pore diameters, 234 m2 g–1 surface areas, and proper graphitization degree. As an anode material for lithium-ion batteries, the prepared carbon composite materials demonstrate a specific capacity of 420 mA h g–1 after 800 cycles at a current density of 0.2 A g–1. It also displays good rate performance and decent cycling stability. Therefore, this study provides an approach to converting the discarded medical surgical masks into high-quality carbon nanowire anode materials to turn waste into treasure.

Biosynthesis of a water solubility-enhanced succinyl glucoside derivative of luteolin and its neuroprotective effect.

The natural flavonoids luteolin and luteoloside have anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-tumour, hypolipidemic, cholesterol lowering and neuroprotective effects, but their poor water solubility limits their application in industrial production and the pharmaceutical industry. In this study, luteolin-7-O-ß-(6″-O-succinyl)-d-glucoside, a new compound that was prepared by succinyl glycosylation of luteolin by the organic solvent tolerant bacterium Bacillus amyloliquefaciens FJ18 in an 8.0% DMSO (v/v) system, was obtained and identified. Its greater water solubility (2293 times that of luteolin and 12 232 times that of luteoloside) provides the solution to the application problems of luteolin and luteoloside. The conversion rate of luteolin (1.0 g l-1 ) was almost 100% at 24 h, while the yield of luteolin-7-O-ß-(6″-O-succinyl)-d-glucoside reached 76.2%. In experiments involving the oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation injury model of mouse hippocampal neuron cells, the cell viability was significantly improved with luteolin-7-O-ß-(6″-O-succinyl)-d-glucoside dosing, and the expressions of the anti-oxidant enzyme HO-1 in the nucleus increased, providing a neuroprotective effect for ischemic cerebral cells. The availability of biosynthetic luteolin-7-O-ß-(6″-O-succinyl)-d-glucoside, which is expected to replace luteolin and luteoloside, would effectively expand the clinical application value of luteolin derivatives.

Viral cross-class transmission results in disease of a phytopathogenic fungus.

Interspecies transmission of viruses is a well-known phenomenon in animals and plants whether via contacts or vectors. In fungi, interspecies transmission between distantly related fungi is often suspected but rarely experimentally documented and may have practical implications. A newly described double-strand RNA (dsRNA) virus found asymptomatic in the phytopathogenic fungus Leptosphaeria biglobosa of cruciferous crops was successfully transmitted to an evolutionarily distant, broad-host range pathogen Botrytis cinerea. Leptosphaeria biglobosa botybirnavirus 1 (LbBV1) was characterized in L. biglobosa strain GZJS-19. Its infection in L. biglobosa was asymptomatic, as no significant differences in radial mycelial growth and pathogenicity were observed between LbBV1-infected and LbBV1-free strains. However, cross-species transmission of LbBV1 from L. biglobosa to infection in B. cinerea resulted in the hypovirulence of the recipient B. cinerea strain t-459-V. The cross-species transmission was succeeded only by inoculation of mixed spores of L. biglobosa and B. cinerea on PDA or on stems of oilseed rape with the efficiency of 4.6% and 18.8%, respectively. To investigate viral cross-species transmission between L. biglobosa and B. cinerea in nature, RNA sequencing was carried out on L. biglobosa and B. cinerea isolates obtained from Brassica samples co-infected by these two pathogens and showed that at least two mycoviruses were detected in both fungal groups. These results indicate that cross-species transmission of mycoviruses may occur frequently in nature and result in the phenotypical changes of newly invaded phytopathogenic fungi. This study also provides new insights for using asymptomatic mycoviruses as biocontrol agent.

The strategies of perioperative management in orthopedic department during the pandemic of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has broken out and spread rapidly nationwide at the beginning of 2020, which has brought huge impacts to people and work. The current situation of prevention and control is severe and urges guidance for clinicians, especially for medical systems. In the hope of providing a reference and recommendation for the prevention and control of the COVID-19, we carried out research to improve the quality of patient care and prevention during this epidemic. METHODS: All of the staff were trained rapidly to master personal protection in our department. We reviewed the patients' discharged records who underwent surgery in our department during January 1 to March 1, 2019, and January 1 to March 1, 2020. The management of the surgery patients and flow charts were described and analyzed. Post-operation outcomes of the patients include duration, complications, surgical site infection (SSI), system infection, re-operation, and mortality. Both chi-squared test and Student's t test were performed to determine the relationship between the two periods in terms of post-operation outcomes. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics analysis revealed that demographic of the patients between the two periods is similar. We had benefited from the strict flowcharts, smart robot, and protection equipment during the perioperative managements for orthopedic patients. With the help of the strict flow charts and smart equipment, post-operation outcomes of the patients revealed that the rates of the complications and re-operation had been reduced significantly (p < 0.05), while duration of operation, SSI, and system infection had no significant difference between two periods (p > 0.05). No patient and staff caught COVID-19 infection or mortality during the epidemic. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicated that medical quality and efficiency were affected little with the help of strategies described above during the epidemic, which could be a reference tool for medical staff in routine clinical practice for admission of patients around the world. What is more, the provided strategies, which may evolve over time, could be used as empirical guidance and reference for orthopedic peers to get through the pandemic and ensure the normal operation of the hospital.