Metagenomic investigation of antibiotic resistance genes and resistant bacteria contamination in pharmaceutical plant sites in China.

Pharmaceutical plant sites play a significant role in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) into the environment. It is imperative to comprehensively monitor of ARGs across various environmental media at these sites. This study focused on three pharmaceutical plants, two located in North China and one in South China. Through metagenomic approaches, we examined the composition, mobility potential, and bacterial hosts of ARGs in diverse media such as process water, groundwater, topsoil, soil cores, and pharmaceutical fermentation residues across diverse environmental matrices, including topsoil, soil cores, process water, groundwater, and pharmaceutical fermentation residues. We identified a wide array of ARGs, comprising 21 types and 740 subtypes, with process water exhibiting the highest abundance and diversity. Treatment processes varied in their efficacy in eliminating ARGs, and the clinically relevant ARGs should also be considered when evaluating wastewater treatment plant efficiency. Geographical distinctions in groundwater ARG distribution between northern and southern regions were observed. Soil samples from the three sites showed minimal impact from pharmaceutical activity, with vancomycin-resistance genes being the most prevalent. High levels of ARGs in pharmaceutical fermentation residues underscore the necessity for improved waste management practices. Metagenomic assembly revealed that plasmid-mediated ARGs were more abundant than chromosome-mediated ARGs. Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) analysis identified 166 MAGs, with 62 harboring multiple ARGs. Certain bacteria tended to carry specific types of ARGs, revealing distinct host-resistance associations. This study enhances our understanding of ARG dissemination across different environmental media within pharmaceutical plants and underscores the importance of implementing strict regulations for effluent and residue discharge to control ARG spread.

Electrochemical hydrocarboxylation of enol derivatives with CO2: access to ß-acetoxycarboxylic acids.

Electrochemical hydrocarboxylation of enol acetates with CO2 is developed. The disclosed process provides ß-acetoxycarboxylic acids in 25-66% yields, in contrast to the electrolysis of ketones, silyl enol ethers and vinyl tosylates with CO2, which leads mainly to alcohols.

Differential responses of soil bacteria, fungi and protists to root exudates and temperature.

The impact of climate warming on soil microbes has been well documented, with studies revealing its effects on diversity, community structure and network dynamics. However, the consistency of soil microbial community assembly, particularly in response to diverse plant root exudates under varying temperature conditions, remains an unresolved issue. To address this issue, we employed a growth chamber to integrate temperature and root exudates in a controlled experiment to examine the response of soil bacteria, fungi, and protists. Our findings revealed that temperature independently regulated microbial diversity, with distinct patterns observed among bacteria, fungi, and protists. Both root exudates and temperature significantly influenced microbial community composition, yet interpretations of these factors varied among prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In addition to phototrophic bacteria and protists, as well as protistan consumers, root exudates determined to varying degrees the enrichment of other microbial functional guilds at specific temperatures. The effects of temperature and root exudates on microbial co-occurrence patterns were interdependent; root exudates primarily simplified the network at low and high temperatures, while responses to temperature varied between single and mixed exudate treatments. Moreover, temperature altered the composition of keystone species within the microbial network, while root exudates led to a decrease in their number. These results emphasize the substantial impact of plant root exudates on soil microbial community responses to temperature, underscoring the necessity for future climate change research to incorporate additional environmental variables.

Multi-MXene assisted large-scale manufacturing of electrochemical biosensors based on enzyme-nanoflower enhanced electrodes for the detection of H2O2 secreted from live cancer cells.

In situ monitoring of H2O2 in cellular microenvironments plays a critical role in the early diagnosis and pretreatment of cancer, but is limited by the lack of efficient and low-cost strategies for the large-scale preparation of real-time biosensors. Herein, a universal strategy for MXene-based composite inks combined with a scalable screen-printing process is validated in large-scale manufacturing of electrochemical biosensors for in situ detection of H2O2 secreted from live cells. Compositing biocompatible carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCS) with excellent conductive MXene, a water-based ink electrode (MXene/CMCS) with tunable viscosity is efficiently printed with desirable printing accuracy. Subsequently, the MXene/CMCS@HRP electrochemical biosensor exhibits stable electrochemical performance through HRP nanoflower modification, showing rapid electron transport and high electrocatalytic capacity, and demonstrating a low limit of detection (0.29 µM) with a wide linear detection range (0.5 µM-3 mM), superior sensitivity (56.45 µA mM-1 cm-2), long-term stability and high anti-interference ability. Moreover, this electrochemical biosensor is effectively employed for in situ detection of H2O2 secreted from HeLa cells, revealing good biocompatibility and outstanding biosensing capability. This proposed strategy not only extends the possibility of low-cost biomedical devices, but also provides a promising approach for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Predicting rice productivity for ground data-sparse regions: A transferable framework and its application to North Korea.

The use of observation-dependent methods for crop productivity and food security assessment is challenging in data-sparse regions. This study presents a transferable framework and applies it to North Korea (NK) to assess rice productivity based on climate similarity, transferable machine-learning techniques, and extendable multi-source data. We initially divided the primary phenological stages of rice in the study region and extracted dynamic rice distributions based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer products and phenological observations. We compared the performances of four representative environmentally driven models (Linear Regression, back-propagation Neural Network, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest) in simulating rice productivity using an extensive dataset that included multi-angle vegetation monitoring, climate variables, and planting distribution information. The framework integrated an optimal environmentally driven model with agricultural management practices for transferability to predict rice productivity in NK over multiple years. Additionally, two crop growth scenarios (whole growth period (WGP) and seeding-heading period (SHP)) were compared to assess pre-harvest forecasting capabilities and identify dominant factors. Finally, independent datasets from the Food and Agriculture Organization, World Food Program, and Global Gridded Crop Models were used to validate the magnitude and spatial distribution of the predicted results. The results showed that phenological identification based on remote sensing can accurately capture rice growth characteristics and map rice distribution. Random Forest outperformed other models in simulating rice productivity variation, with r-squares of 0.87 and 0.83 in the WGP and SHP, respectively. The solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, maximum temperature, and evapotranspiration collectively determined approximately 40 % of the variation in yield simulated using Random Forest. Conversely, planting areas contributed over 42 % of the variation in rice production. Compared to Food and Agriculture Organization statistics, the environmentally driven framework explained 78.72 % and 76.89 % of the production variation and 69.42 % and 71.15 % of the yield variation in NK under the WGP and SHP, respectively. Moreover, the environmental management-driven framework captured over 90 % of the yield variation. The predicted spatial pattern of rice productivity exhibited significant concordance with the World Food Program and Global Gridded Crop Model reports. In summary, the proposed transferable framework for crop productivity assessment contributes to early warnings of production reduction and has the potential for scalability across various crops and data-sparse regions.

Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß) as adjuvant enhances the immune effects of Aeromonas veronii inactivated vaccine in largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides).

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) has emerged as a significant economic fish species, with a rise in Aeromonas veronii infections in farming. However, research on adjuvants for vaccines against A. veronii in largemouth bass remains scarce. In present study, recombinant largemouth bass IL-1ß (LbIL-1ß) was expressed to explore its adjuvant effect on the A. veronii inactivated vaccine. Following vaccination with recombinant LbIL-1ß (rLbIL-1ß) and the inactivated A. veronii, higher serum SOD levels and lysozyme activities were observed in largemouth bass from inactivated A. veronii + rLbIL-1ß vaccinated group. Furthermore, it was discovered that rLbIL-1ß was able to boost the serum-specific antibody levels induced by the inactivated A. veronii. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed that rLbIL-1ß also enhanced the expression of IgM, CD4, and MHC II in largemouth bass triggered by the inactivated A. veronii. After challenged with live A. veronii, the outcomes demonstrated that the relative percentage survival (RPS) for largemouth bass resulting from the inactivated A. veronii in combination with rLbIL-1ß was 76.67 %, surpassing the RPS of 60 % in the inactivated A. veronii group. Collectively, these findings indicate that rLbIL-1ß enhances the protective effect of the A. veronii inactivated vaccine on largemouth bass, showcasing potential as an adjuvant for further development.

Influence of Temperatures on Physicochemical Properties and Structural Features of Tamarind Seed Polysaccharide.

Due to the high content of impurities such as proteins in tamarind seed polysaccharide (TSP), they must be separated and purified before it can be used. TSP can disperse in cold water, but a solution can only be obtained by heating the mixture. Therefore, it is important to understand the dispersion and dissolution process of TSP at different temperatures to expand the application of TSP. In this study, pasting behavior and rheological properties as a function of temperature were characterized in comparison with potato starch (PS), and their relationship with TSP molecular features and microstructure was revealed. Pasting behavior showed that TSP had higher peak viscosity and stronger thermal stability than PS. Rheological properties exhibited that G' and G'' of TSP gradually increased with the increase in temperature, without exhibiting typical starch gelatinization behavior. The crystalline or amorphous structure of TSP and starch was disrupted under different temperature treatment conditions. The SEM results show that TSP particles directly transformed into fragments with the temperature increase, while PS granules first expanded and then broken down into fragments. Therefore, TSP and PS underwent different dispersion mechanisms during the dissolution process: As the temperature gradually increased, TSP possibly underwent a straightforward dispersion and was then dissolved in aqueous solution, while PS granules initially expanded, followed by disintegration and dispersion.

Non-Invasive Multi-Gas Detection Enabled by Cu-CuO/PEDOT Microneedle Sensor.

Metal-oxide-based gas sensors are extensively utilized across various domains due to their cost-effectiveness, facile fabrication, and compatibility with microelectronic technologies. The copper (Cu)-based multifunctional polymer-enhanced sensor (CuMPES) represents a notably tailored design for non-invasive environmental monitoring, particularly for detecting diverse gases with a low concentration. In this investigation, the Cu-CuO/PEDOT nanocomposite was synthesized via a straightforward chemical oxidation and vapor-phase polymerization. Comprehensive characterizations employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and micro Raman elucidated the composition, morphology, and crystal structure of this nanocomposite. Gas-sensing assessments of this CuMPES based on Cu-CuO/PEDOT revealed that the response current of the microneedle-type CuMPES surpassed that of the pure Cu microsensor by nearly threefold. The electrical conductivity and surface reactivity are enhanced by poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) polymerized on the CuO-coated surface, resulting in an enhanced sensor performance with an ultra-fast response/recovery of 0.3/0.5 s.

Supercritical CO2 Extraction of Terpenoids from Indocalamus latifolius Leaves: Optimization, Purification, and Antioxidant Activity.

This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of supercritical CO2 (SC-CO2) extraction in enhancing the extraction rate, purity, and antioxidant activity of Indocalamus latifolius (Keng) McClure (Poaceae) leaf terpenoids (ILLTs). Crude extracts obtained from leaves were subjected to qualitative and quantitative analyses, revealing neophytadiene, phytol, ß-sitosterol, ß-amyrone, squalene, and friedelin as the primary terpenoid constituents, identified through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Compared with steam distillation extraction (SD), simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE), ultra-high pressure-assisted n-hexane extraction (UHPE-Hex), ultra-high pressure-assisted ethanol extraction (UHPE-EtOH), ultrasound-assisted n-hexane extraction (UE-Hex), and ultrasound-assisted ethanol extraction (UE-EtOH), SC-CO2 exhibited a superior ILLT extraction rate, purity, and antioxidant activity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations of the residues further revealed more severe damage to both the residues and their cell walls after SC-CO2 extraction. Under optimal parameters (4.5 h, 26 MPa, 39 °C, and 20% ethyl alcohol), the ILLT extraction rate with SC-CO2 reached 1.44 ± 0.12 mg/g, which was significantly higher than the rates obtained by the other six methods. The subsequent separation and purification using WelFlash C18-l, BUCHI-C18, and Sephadex LH-20 led to an increase in the purity of the six terpenoid components from 12.91% to 93.34%. Furthermore, the ILLTs demonstrated cytotoxicity against HepG2 cells with an IC50 value of 148.93 ± 9.93 µg/mL. Additionally, with increasing concentrations, the ILLTs exhibited an enhanced cellular antioxidant status, as evidenced by reductions in both reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels.

Cu(II)-based complex loaded with drug paclitaxel hydrogels against thyroid cancer and optimizing novel derivatives.

This study introduces a novel approach for synthesizing a Cu(II)-based coordination polymer (CP), {[Cu(L)(4,4´-OBA)]·H2O}n (1), using a mixed ligand method. The CP was successfully prepared by reacting Cu(NO3)2·3H2O with the ligand 3,6-bis(benzimidazol-1-yl)pyridazine in the presence of 4,4´-H2OBA, demonstrating an innovative synthesis strategy. Furthermore, a novel hydrogel composed of hyaluronic acid (HA) and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) with a porous structure was developed for drug delivery purposes. This hydrogel facilitates the encapsulation of CP1, and enables the loading of paclitaxel onto the composite to form HA/CMCS-CP1@paclitaxel. In vitro cell experiments demonstrated the promising modulation of thyroid cancer biomarker genes S100A6 and ARID1A by HA/CMCS-CP1@paclitaxel. Finally, reinforcement learning simulations were employed to optimize novel metal-organic frameworks, underscoring the innovative contributions of this study.

MYC phase separation selectively modulates the transcriptome.

Dysregulation and enhanced expression of MYC transcription factors (TFs) including MYC and MYCN contribute to the majority of human cancers. For example, MYCN is amplified up to several hundredfold in high-risk neuroblastoma. The resulting overexpression of N-myc aberrantly activates genes that are not activated at low N-myc levels and drives cell proliferation. Whether increasing N-myc levels simply mediates binding to lower-affinity binding sites in the genome or fundamentally changes the activation process remains unclear. One such activation mechanism that could become important above threshold levels of N-myc is the formation of aberrant transcriptional condensates through phase separation. Phase separation has recently been linked to transcriptional regulation, but the extent to which it contributes to gene activation remains an open question. Here we characterized the phase behavior of N-myc and showed that it can form dynamic condensates that have transcriptional hallmarks. We tested the role of phase separation in N-myc-regulated transcription by using a chemogenetic tool that allowed us to compare non-phase-separated and phase-separated conditions at equivalent N-myc levels, both of which showed a strong impact on gene expression compared to no N-myc expression. Interestingly, we discovered that only a small percentage (<3%) of N-myc-regulated genes is further modulated by phase separation but that these events include the activation of key oncogenes and the repression of tumor suppressors. Indeed, phase separation increases cell proliferation, corroborating the biological effects of the transcriptional changes. However, our results also show that >97% of N-myc-regulated genes are not affected by N-myc phase separation, demonstrating that soluble complexes of TFs with the transcriptional machinery are sufficient to activate transcription.

Deficit Irrigation Effects on Cotton Growth Cycle and Preliminary Optimization of Irrigation Strategies in Arid Environment.

With the changing global climate, drought stress will pose a considerable challenge to the sustainable development of agriculture in arid regions. The objective of this study was to explore the resistance and water demand of cotton plants to water stress during the flowering and boll setting stage. The experimental plot was in Huaxing Farm of Changji city. The plots were irrigated, respectively, at 100% (as the control), 90%, 85% and 80% of the general irrigation amount in the local area. The relationship between the various measured indexes and final yield under different deficit irrigation (DI) treatments was studied. The results showed that deficit irrigation impacted the growth and development processes of cotton during the flowering and boll setting stage. There was a high negative correlation (R2 > 0.95) between the maximum leaf area index and yield. Similarly, there was a high correlation between malondialdehyde content and yield. Meanwhile, 90% of the local cotton irrigation contributed to water saving and even increasing cotton yield. Furthermore, based on the results, the study made an initial optimization to the local irrigation scheme by utilizing the DSSAT model. It was found that changing the irrigation interval to 12 days during the stage could further enhance cotton yield and conserve resources.

Zein/fucoidan-coated phytol nanoliposome: preparation, characterization, physicochemical stability, in vitro release, and antioxidant activity.

BACKGROUND: To improve phytol bioavailability, a novel method of magnetic stirring and high-pressure homogenization (HPH) combination was used to prepare zein/fucoidan-coated phytol nanoliposomes (P-NL-ZF). The characterization, the simulated in vitro digestion, and the antioxidant activity of these phytol nanoliposomes from the different processes have been studied. RESULTS: Based on the results of dynamic light scattering (DLS) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) analysis, P-NL-ZF prepared through the combination of magnetic stirring and HPH exhibited superior encapsulation efficiency at 76.19% and demonstrated exceptional physicochemical stability under a series of conditions, including storage, pH, and ionic in comparison to single method. It was further confirmed that P-NL-ZF by magnetic stirring and HPH displayed a uniform distribution and regular shape through transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis showed that electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding were the primary driving forces for the formation of composite nanoliposomes. Additionally, an in vitro digestion study revealed that multilayer composite nanoliposomes displayed significant and favorable slow-release properties (58.21%) under gastrointestinal conditions compared with traditional nanoliposomes (82.36%) and free phytol (89.73%). The assessments of chemical and cell-based antioxidant activities demonstrated that the coating of zein/fucoidan on phytol nanoliposomes resulted in enhanced effectiveness in scavenging activity of ABTS free radical and hydroxyl radical and mitigating oxidative damage to HepG2 cells. CONCLUSION: Based on our studies, the promising delivery carrier of zein/fucoidan-coated nanoliposomes is contributed to the encapsulation of hydrophobic natural products and enhancement of their biological activity. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Hydroformylation of Olefins with CO2/H2 and Hydrosilane by Copper/Cobalt Tandem Catalysis.

A Cu/Co tandem catalysis protocol was developed to conduct the hydroformylation of olefins using CO2/H2 and PMHS (polymethylhydrosiloxane) as a readily available and environmentally friendly hydride source. This methodology was performed via a two-step approach consisting of the copper-catalyzed reduction of CO2 by hydrosilane and subsequent cobalt-promoted hydroformylation with H2 and the in situ formed CO. The optimized triphos oxide ligand, which presumably facilitates the migratory insertion of CO gives moderate to excellent yields for both terminal and internal alkenes. This earth-abundant metal catalysis provides a reliable and efficient way to afford useful aldehydes in industry using silicon by-product PMHS as hydrogen source and renewable CO2 as carbonyl source.

Regulating electron transfer and orbital interaction within metalloporphyrin-MOFs for highly sensitive NO2 sensing.

The understanding of electron transfer pathways and orbital interactions between analytes and adsorption sites in gas-sensitive studies, especially at the atomic level, is currently limited. Herein, we have designed eight isoreticular catechol-metalloporphyrin scaffolds, FeTCP-M and InTCP-M (TCP = 5,10,15,20-tetrakis-catechol-porphyrin, M = Fe, Co, Ni and Zn) with adjustable charge transfer schemes in the coordination microenvironment and precise tuning of orbital interactions between analytes and adsorption sites, which can be used as models for exploring the influence of these factors on gas sensing. Our experimental findings indicate that the sensitivity and selectivity can be modulated using the type of metals in the metal-catechol chains (which regulate the electron transfer routes) and the metalloporphyrin rings (which fine-tune the orbital interactions between analytes and adsorption sites). Among the isostructures, InTCP-Co demonstrates the highest response and selectivity to NO2 under visible light irradiation, which could be attributed to the more favorable transfer pathway of charge carriers in the coordination microenvironment under visible light illumination, as well as the better electron spin state compatibility, higher orbital overlap and orbital symmetry matching between the N-2s2pz hybrid orbital of NO2 and the Co-3dz2 orbital of InTCP-Co.

PMFFNet: A hybrid network based on feature pyramid for ovarian tumor segmentation.

Ovarian cancer is a highly lethal malignancy in the field of oncology. Generally speaking, the segmentation of ovarian medical images is a necessary prerequisite for the diagnosis and treatment planning. Therefore, accurately segmenting ovarian tumors is of utmost importance. In this work, we propose a hybrid network called PMFFNet to improve the segmentation accuracy of ovarian tumors. The PMFFNet utilizes an encoder-decoder architecture. Specifically, the encoder incorporates the ViTAEv2 model to extract inter-layer multi-scale features from the feature pyramid. To address the limitation of fixed window size that hinders sufficient interaction of information, we introduce Varied-Size Window Attention (VSA) to the ViTAEv2 model to capture rich contextual information. Additionally, recognizing the significance of multi-scale features, we introduce the Multi-scale Feature Fusion Block (MFB) module. The MFB module enhances the network's capacity to learn intricate features by capturing both local and multi-scale information, thereby enabling more precise segmentation of ovarian tumors. Finally, in conjunction with our designed decoder, our model achieves outstanding performance on the MMOTU dataset. The results are highly promising, with the model achieving scores of 97.24%, 91.15%, and 87.25% in mACC, mIoU, and mDice metrics, respectively. When compared to several Unet-based and advanced models, our approach demonstrates the best segmentation performance.

Interrupted Dance of Five Heteroatoms: Reinventing Ozonolysis to Make Geminal Alkoxyhydroperoxides from C═N Bonds.

Four heteroatoms dance in the cascade of four pericyclic reactions initiated by ozonolysis of C═N bonds. Switching from imines to semicarbazones introduces the fifth heteroatom that slows this dance, delays reaching the thermodynamically favorable escape path, and allows efficient interception of carbonyl oxides (Criegee intermediates, CIs) by an external nucleophile. The new three-component reaction of alcohols, ozone, and oximes/semicarbazones greatly facilitates synthetic access to monoperoxyacetals (alkoxyhydroperoxides).

Electrochemical E-Selective Semireductive Dicarboxylation of Aryl Alkynes with CO2.

Herein, we report an electrochemical protocol for the dicarboxylation of aryl alkynes using CO2. With a graphite rod as the cathode and Al as the sacrificial anode, a series of valuable butenedioic acids are obtained in moderate to excellent yields with an E/Z ratio up to 50:1. This method features high E-selectivity, high step and atom economy, easy scalability, and a nice substrate scope, which renders it appealing for promising applications in organic synthesis and materials chemistry.