Recovery of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) from water using foam fractionation with whey soy protein.

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) are persistent anthropogenic chemicals that are widely distributed in the environment and pose significant risks to human health. Foam fractionation has emerged as a promising method to recover PFOS/PFOA from water. However, PFOS/PFOA concentrations in wastewater are often inadequate to generate stable foams due to their high critical micelle concentrations and the addition of a cosurfactant is necessary. In this study, we developed whey soy protein (WSP) as a green frother and collector derived from soybean meal (SBM), which is an abundant and cost-effective agro-industrial residue. WSP exhibited excellent foaming properties across a wide pH range and demonstrated strong collection capabilities that enhanced the recovery of PFOS/PFOA. The mechanism underlying this collection ability was elucidated through various methods, revealing the involvement of electrostatic attraction, hydrophobic interaction, and hydrogen bonding. Furthermore, we designed a double plate internal to improve the enrichment of PFOS/PFOA by approximately 2.3 times while reducing water recovery. Under suitable conditions (WSP concentration: 300 mg/L, pH: 6.0, air flowrate: 300 mL/min), we achieved high recovery percentages of 94-98% and enrichment ratios of 7.5-12.8 for PFOS/PFOA concentrations ranging from 5 to 20 mg/L. This foam fractionation process holds great promise for the treatment of PFOS/PFOA and other per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Changes in Compliance With Personal Preventive Measures and Mental Health Status Among Chinese Factory Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Observational Prospective Cohort Study.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination together with good compliance with personal preventive measures may help eradicate the ongoing pandemic. This observational prospective cohort study investigated the changes in compliance with personal preventive measures, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality among factory workers within a 3-month follow-up period. A total of 663 workers were recruited by a stratified multi-stage cluster sampling in March 2020, and all of them completed a follow-up survey three months later. Multilevel logistic and linear regression models (level 1: factories; level 2: individual participants) were fitted. A significant decline was observed in consistent facemask wearing in workplace (from 98.0 to 90.3%, P < 0.001) and in other public spaces (from 97.1 to 94.4%, P = 0.02), sanitizing hands (from 70.9 to 48.0%, P < 0.001), household disinfection (from 47.7 to 37.9%, P < 0.001) and probable depression (from 14.9 to 1.5%, P < 0.001) over the follow-up period. A significant improvement in avoiding crowded places (from 69.8 to 77.4%, P = 0.002) and sleep quality (proportion of participants reporting poor sleep quality dropped from 3.9 to 1.2%, P = 0.002) was also observed. Efforts are needed to maintain compliance with personal preventive measures during the pandemic. Mental health problems were uncommon and likely to be one-off among Chinese factory workers.

DEPACT and PACMatch: A Workflow of Designing De Novo Protein Pockets to Bind Small Molecules.

Engineering of new functional proteins such as enzymes and biosensors involves the design of new protein pockets for the specific binding of small molecules. Here, we report a workflow composed of two new computational methods to execute this task. The DEPACT (Design Pocket as a Cluster based on Templates) method is a data-driven approach to design and evaluate small-molecule-binding pockets as isolated clusters, while the PACMatch method is a computational approach to match pocket residues in a cluster model to positions on given protein scaffolds. Using DEPACT and its scoring function, pocket clusters of natural-pocket-like chemical compositions and protein-ligand interaction strength can be designed. DEPACT can design pocket clusters containing water- or metal-ion-mediated protein-ligand interactions. While being able to efficiently treat relatively large pocket cluster models (e.g., of around 10 pocket residues), PACMatch outperforms previous methods in test cases of recovering the native positions of pocket residues in natural enzyme-substrate complexes.

The burden of premature ventricular contractions predicts adverse fetal and neonatal outcomes among pregnant women without structural heart disease: A prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) may increase during pregnancy, however, few studies have evaluated the relationship between PVCs and the pregnant outcomes. HYPOTHESIS: PVCs may increase the adverse fetal/neonatal outcomes in pregnant women. METHODS: Six thousand one hundred and forty-eight pregnant women were prospectively enrolled in our center between 2017 and 2019 in the study. The average PVC burden was determined by calculating the number of PVCs in total beats. Those who had a PVC burden >0.5% were divided into two groups based on the presence or absence of adverse fetal or neonatal events. The adverse outcomes were compared between the groups to assess the impact of PVCs on pregnancy. RESULTS: A total of 103 (1.68%) women with a PVC burden >0.5% were recorded. Among them, 17 adverse events (12 cases) were documented, which was significantly higher than that among women without PVCs (11.65% vs. 2.93%, p < .01). The median PVC burden among pregnant women with PVCs was 2.84% (1.02%-6.1%). Furthermore, compared with that of the women without adverse events, the median PVC burden of women with adverse fetal or neonatal outcomes was significantly higher (9.02% vs. 2.30%, p < .01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that not the LVEF, heart rate and bigeminy, but only the PVC burden was associated with adverse fetal or neonatal outcomes among pregnant women with PVCs (OR: 1.34, 95% CI [1.11-1.61], p < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Frequent PVCs have adverse effects on pregnancy, and the PVC burden might be an important factor associated with adverse fetal and neonatal outcomes among pregnant women with PVCs.

pH-Sensitive Mixed Micelles Assembled from PDEAEMA-PPEGMA and PCL-PPEGMA for Doxorubicin Delivery: Experimental and DPD Simulations Study.

To decrease critical micelle concentration (CMC), improve stability, and keep high drug-loading capacity, three pH-sensitive mixed micelles applied for anticancer drug controlled delivery were prepared by the mixture of polymers poly (N,N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-b-poly(poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PDEAEMA-PPEGMA) and polycaprolactone-b-poly (poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (PCL-PPEGMA), which were synthesized and confirmed by 1H NMR and gel permeation chromatographic (GPC). The critical micelle concentration (CMC) values of the prepared mixed micelles were low, and the micellar sizes and zeta potentials of the blank mixed micelles demonstrated good pH-responsive behavior. Combined experimental techniques with dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulation, the particle sizes, zeta potentials, drug loading content (LC), encapsulation efficiency (EE), aggregation morphologies, and doxorubicin (DOX) distribution of the mixed micelles were investigated, and the high DOX-loading capacity of the mixed micelles was found. Both in vitro DOX release profiles and DPD simulations of the DOX dynamics release process exhibited less leakage and good stability in neutral conditions and accelerated drug release behavior with a little initial burst in slightly acidic conditions. Cytotoxicity tests showed that the polymer PDEAEMA-PPEGMA and the blank mixed micelles had good biocompatibility, and DOX-loaded mixed micelles revealed certain cytotoxicity. These results suggest that the drug-loaded mixed micelles that consisted of the two polymers PDEAEMA-PPEGMA and PCL-PPEGMA can be new types of pH-responsive well-controlled release anticancer drug delivery mixed micelles.