Nano Carbon Tracing-based Treatment of Breast Cancer Lymphadenectomy and Nursing Intervention of Postoperative Lymphedema.

to investigate the tracing and therapeutic effects of carbon nanoparticles epirubicin (CNP-EPI) on axillary lymphadenectomy for breast cancer and postoperative lymphedema nursing intervention, a total of 60 breast cancer patients in Harbin Medical University Cancer Hospital were selected as the study subjects and randomly divided into group A (n=30) and group B (n=30). They were subcutaneously injected with 1 mL of CNP-EPI 1 day before surgery and 3 days before surgery, respectively, and underwent axillary lymph node dissection. Lymphedema nursing intervention and routine care were implemented in groups A and B, respectively. After adsorption of 2 mL of 6 mg/mL epirubicin by 1 mL carbon nanoparticles, epirubicin could be slowly released with a cumulative release rate of 64.7 %. The black staining rate was 80.2 % (341/425) in group A and 57.7 % (217/376) in group B, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The black staining rate in metastatic lymph nodes was 73.1 % (23/52) in group A and 65.9 % (27/41) in group B (P > 0.05). The incidence rate of edema at 1, 3, and 6 months after operation in group A was significantly lower than that in group B (P < 0.05). Carbon nanoparticles have strong adsorption properties and slow drug release ability; subcutaneous injection of CNP-EPI axillary lymph nodes around the areola 1 day before surgery has a better lymphatic tracing effect; lymphedema nursing intervention can effectively reduce the incidence of prognostic lymphedema.

Water resource potential for large-scale sweet sorghum production as bioenergy feedstock in Northern China.

This study investigated the water resource potential for bioenergy production from sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.)) in Northern China according to the distribution of water resources, climate conditions and the total water consumption of bioenergy based on sweet sorghum, which consisted of blue water, green water and grey water. At a case study site in Inner Mongolia, simulation with a plant phenological model was used to determine whether sweet sorghum could reach the harvestable stage for sugar juice production. The blue water in the agricultural phase was estimated according to the potential crop evapotranspiration (ETc), the drought sensitivity of sweet sorghum in different stages and the precipitation during the growing season. The results showed that the irrigation water was significantly different among the districts, ranging from 730 to 5500 m3/ha and 2060 to 6680 m3/ha for early-maturing and late-maturing varieties, respectively. To avoid the water pressure level to be exacerbated and the severe reallocation of water resources resulting in negative effects on other sectors, the maximal annual water withdrawal was set to not surpass the upper threshold of water stress level of 40%. That makes the maximum area for the production of sweet sorghum cannot exceed 1.95 × 104 ha, representing only 0.24% of the total marginal land area in Inner Mongolia. However, the economic benefits of bioenergy production from sweet sorghum would be negative due to the high labour input. Therefore, not only the availability of marginal land, the climate conditions and local water resources but also the improvement of mechanisation and agricultural production techniques should be considered to attain the sustainable development of bioenergy production and address global energy and environmental crises.

Biogenic transport of glyphosate in the presence of LDPE microplastics: A mesocosm experiment.

The accumulation of plastic debris and herbicide residues has become a huge challenge and poses many potential risks to environmental health and soil quality. In the present study, we investigated the transport of glyphosate and its main metabolite, aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) via earthworms in the presence of different concentrations of light density polyethylene microplastics in the litter layer during a 14-day mesocosm experiment. The results showed earthworm gallery weight was negatively affected by the combination of glyphosate and microplastics. Glyphosate and AMPA concentrated in the first centimetre of the top soil layer and the downward transport of glyphosate and AMPA was only detected in the earthworm burrows, ranging from 0.04 to 4.25 µg g-1 for glyphosate and from 0.01 (less than limit of detection) to 0.76 µg g-1 for AMPA. The transport rate of glyphosate (including AMPA) from the litter layer into earthworm burrows ranged from 6.6 ±â€¯4.6% to 18.3 ±â€¯2.4%, depending on synergetic effects of microplastics and glyphosate application. The findings imply that earthworm activities strongly influence pollutant movement into the soil, which potentially affects soil ecosystems. Further studies focused on the fate of pollutants in the microenvironment of earthworm burrows are needed.