The impact of benzoic acid and lactic acid on the treatment efficiency and microbial community in the sulfur autotrophic denitrification process.

Nitrate poses a potential threat to aquatic ecosystems. This study focuses on the sulfur autotrophic denitrification mechanism in the process of water culture wastewater treatment, which has been successfully applied to the degradation of nitrogen in water culture farm effluents. However, the coexistence of organic acids in the treatment process is a common environmental challenge, significantly affecting the activity of denitrifying bacteria. This paper aims to explore the effects of adding benzoic acid and lactic acid on denitrification performance, organic acid removal rate, and microbial population abundance in sulfur autotrophic denitrification systems under optimal operating conditions, sulfur deficiency, and high hydraulic load. In experiments with 50 mg·L-1 of benzoic acid or lactic acid alone, the results show that benzoic acid and lactic acid have a stimulating effect on denitrification activity, with the stimulating effect significantly greater than the inhibitory effect. Under optimal operating conditions, the average denitrification rate of the system remained above 99%; under S/N = 1.5 conditions, the average denitrification rate increased from 88.34% to 91.93% and 85.91%; under HRT = 6 h conditions, the average denitrification rate increased from 75.25% to 97.79% and 96.58%. In addition, the addition of organic acids led to a decrease in microbial population abundance. At the phylum level, Proteobacteria has always been the dominant bacterial genus, and its relative abundance significantly increased after the addition of benzoic acid, from 40.2% to 61.5% and 62.4%. At the genus level, Thiobacillus, Sulfurimonas, Chryseobacterium, and Thermomonas maintained high population abundances under different conditions. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Employing autotrophic denitrification process for treating high-nitrate wastewater. Utilizing organic acids as external carbon sources. Denitrifying bacteria demonstrate high utilization efficiency towards organic acids. Organic acids promote denitrification more than they inhibit it. The promotion is manifested in the enhancement of activity and microbial abundance.

An individual's skin stiffness predicts their tactile discrimination of compliance.

Individual differences in tactile acuity have been correlated with age, gender and finger size, whereas the role of the skin's stiffness has been underexplored. Using an approach to image the 3-D deformation of the skin surface during contact with transparent elastic objects, we evaluate a cohort of 40 young participants, who present a diverse range of finger size, skin stiffness and fingerprint ridge breadth. The results indicate that skin stiffness generally correlates with finger size, although individuals with relatively softer skin can better discriminate compliant objects. Analysis of contact at the skin surface reveals that softer skin generates more prominent patterns of deformation, in particular greater rates of change in contact area, which correlate with higher rates of perceptual discrimination of compliance, regardless of finger size. Moreover, upon applying hyaluronic acid to soften individuals' skin, we observe immediate, marked and systematic changes in skin deformation and consequent improvements in perceptual acuity in differentiating compliance. Together, the combination of 3-D imaging of the skin surface, biomechanics measurements, multivariate regression and clustering, and psychophysical experiments show that subtle distinctions in skin stiffness modulate the mechanical signalling of touch and shape individual differences in perceptual acuity. KEY POINTS: Although declines in tactile acuity with ageing are a function of multiple factors, for younger people, the current working hypothesis has been that smaller fingers are better at informing perceptual discrimination because of a higher density of neural afferents. To decouple relative impacts on tactile acuity of skin properties of finger size, skin stiffness, and fingerprint ridge breadth, we combined 3-D imaging of skin surface deformation, biomechanical measurements, multivariate regression and clustering, and psychophysics. The results indicate that skin stiffness generally correlates with finger size, although it more robustly correlates with and predicts an individual's perceptual acuity. In particular, more elastic skin generates higher rates of deformation, which correlate with perceptual discrimination, shown most dramatically by softening each participant's skin with hyaluronic acid. In refining the current working hypothesis, we show the skin's stiffness strongly shapes the signalling of touch and modulates individual differences in perceptual acuity.

An individual's skin stiffness predicts their tactile acuity.

Individual differences in tactile acuity have been correlated with age, gender, and finger size, while the role of the skin's stiffness has been underexplored. Using an approach to image the 3-D deformation of the skin surface while in contact with transparent elastic objects, we evaluate a cohort of 40 young participants, who present a diverse range of finger size, skin stiffness, and fingerprint ridge breadth. The results indicate that skin stiffness generally correlates with finger size, although individuals with relatively softer skin can better discriminate compliant objects. Analysis of contact at the skin surface reveals that softer skin generates more prominent patterns of deformation, in particular greater rates of change in contact area, which correlate with higher rates of perceptual discrimination, regardless of finger size. Moreover, upon applying hyaluronic acid to soften individuals' skin, we observe immediate, marked and systematic changes in skin deformation and consequent improvements in perceptual acuity. Together, the combination of 3-D imaging of the skin surface, biomechanics measurements, multivariate regression and clustering, and psychophysical experiments show that subtle distinctions in skin stiffness modulate the mechanical signaling of touch and shape individual differences in perceptual acuity.

Highly selective fluorescent probe for detecting mercury ions in water.

Mercury ion (Hg2+) is a well-known toxic heavy metal. It has become one of the most significant environmental pollutants in the world because of its serious physiological toxicity, persistence, easy migration, and high bioconcentration. Thus, the development of methods for monitoring Hg2+ is indispensable. Herein, we have designed and synthesized a new fluorescent probe, TPH, for the detection of Hg2+ in the water environment. The TPH probe could quantitatively detect Hg2+ between 0 and 5 µM (LOD = 16 nM), with a linear range of 0-2.5 µM. In addition, the TPH probe was used to monitor Hg2+ in water samples successfully. Thus, this probe is suitable for monitoring Hg2+ in the actual water environment.

Faster Indentation Influences Skin Deformation To Reduce Tactile Discriminability of Compliant Objects.

To discriminate the compliance of soft objects, we rely upon spatiotemporal cues in the mechanical deformation of the skin. However, we have few direct observations of skin deformation over time, in particular how its response differs with indentation velocities and depths, and thereby helps inform our perceptual judgments. To help fill this gap, we develop a 3D stereo imaging method to observe contact of the skin's surface with transparent, compliant stimuli. Experiments with human-subjects, in passive touch, are conducted with stimuli varying in compliance, indentation depth, velocity, and time duration. The results indicate that contact durations greater than 0.4 s are perceptually discriminable. Moreover, compliant pairs delivered at higher velocities are more difficult to discriminate because they induce smaller differences in deformation. In a detailed quantification of the skin's surface deformation, we find that several, independent cues aid perception. In particular, the rate of change of gross contact area best correlates with discriminability, across indentation velocities and compliances. However, cues associated with skin surface curvature and bulk force are also predictive, for stimuli more and less compliant than skin, respectively. These findings and detailed measurements seek to inform the design of haptic interfaces.

Radiological and clinical outcomes of midline lumbar fusion on sagittal lumbar-pelvic parameters for degenerative lumbar diseases.

BACKGROUND: Improving the sagittal lumbar-pelvic parameters after fusion surgery is important for improving clinical outcomes. The impact of midline lumbar fusion (MIDLF) on sagittal lumbar-pelvic alignment for the management of degenerative lumbar diseases is still unknown. AIM: To analyze the effects of short-segment MIDLF and minimally invasive transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (MIS-TLIF) on sagittal lumbar-pelvic parameters. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 63 patients with degenerative lumbar diseases who underwent single-segment MIDLF or MIS-TLIF. The imaging data of patients were collected before surgery and at the final follow-up. The radiological sagittal parameters included the lumbar lordosis (LL), lower LL, L4 slope (L4S), L5 slope (L5S), L5 incidence (L5I), L1 axis and S1 distance (LASD), pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), and PI-LL mismatch (PI-LL). Additionally, the clinical outcomes, including lower back and leg pain visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry disability index (ODI) scores, were also analyzed. RESULTS: In both groups, LL and Lower LL significantly increased, while L5I and LASD significantly decreased at the final follow-up compared to that recorded prior to operation (P < 0.05). In the MIDLF group, L4S significantly decreased compared to that recorded prior to operation (P < 0.05), while the mean SS significantly increased and the PT significantly decreased compared to that recorded prior to operation (P < 0.05). In the MIS-TLIF group, SS slightly increased and the mean PT value decreased compared to that recorded prior to operation, but without a statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). However, the PI-LL in both groups was significantly reduced compared to that recorded prior to operation (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the sagittal lumbar-pelvic parameters between the two groups prior to operation and at the final follow-up (P > 0.05). In addition, the change in sagittal lumbar-pelvic parameters did not differ significantly, except for ΔLASD within the two groups (P > 0.05). The mean lower back and leg pain VAS and ODI scores in both groups were significantly improved three months after surgery and at the final follow-up. Though the mean ODI score in the MIDLF group three months after surgery was slightly higher than that in the MIS-TLIF group, there was no significant difference between the two groups at the final follow-up. CONCLUSION: Short-segment MIDLF and MIS-TLIF can equally improve sagittal lumbar parameters such as LL, Lower LL, L5I, and LASD in the treatment of lumbar degenerative diseases. However, MIDLF had a larger impact on pelvic parameters than MIS-TLIF.

Prognostic Value of Lactate Dehydrogenase in Second-Line Immunotherapy for Advanced Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Immunotherapy is recommended by the NCCN (National Comprehensive Cancer Network) guidelines as the standard second-line treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Patients with advanced ESCC can benefit from immunotherapy, but the overall survival time (OS) is still not satisfactory. Therefore, it is of great importance to select effective prognostic indicators. Methods: A retrospective follow-up study was conducted from January 2018 to January 2020 among 44 patients with advanced ESCC treated with second-line immune checkpoint inhibitors (programmed death -1 blocking agents) in our hospital. The cutoff values of baseline lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), LDH level at week 8, serum albumin, hemoglobin, neutrophils, monocytes, and platelets were obtained by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the relationship between LDH at baseline, LDH level at week 8, and LDH changes during treatment with progression-free survival (PFS) and OS time. The Cox proportional hazards model was used for univariate and multivariate analyses to determine the predictors of OS. Results: In univariate analysis, we found patients with lower baseline LDH levels (cutoff value: 200 U/L) had a better median PFS (8 months vs. 3 months; HR = 2.420, 95% CI: 1.178-4.971, p = 0.016) and OS (14 months vs. 6 months; HR = 3.637, 95% CI: 1.638-8.074, p = 0.004). The level of LDH at week 8 and the changes in LDH during treatment were not significantly associated with PFS or OS. The multivariate analyses showed that baseline LDH was an independent predictor of PFS (HR = 2.712, 95% CI: 1.147-6.409, p = 0.023) and OS (HR = 6.260, 95% CI: 2.320-16.888, p < 0.001), and the monocyte count (HR = 0.389, 95% CI: 0.162-0.934, p = 0.035) was significantly associated with OS. Conclusion: Serum LDH is a powerful independent factor for PFS and OS in advanced ESCC patients treated with anti-PD-1 therapy.

A novel CO2-based demand-controlled ventilation strategy to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the indoor environment.

Ventilation is of critical importance to containing COVID-19 contagion in indoor environments. Keeping the ventilation rate at high level is recommended by many guidelines to dilute virus-laden respiratory particles and mitigate airborne transmission risk. However, high ventilation rate will cause high energy use. Demand-controlled ventilation is a promising technology option for controlling indoor air quality in an energy-efficient manner. This paper proposes a novel CO2-based demand-controlled ventilation strategy to limit the spread of COVID-19 in indoor environments. First, the quantitative relationship is established between COVID-19 infection risk and average CO2 level. Then, a sufficient condition is proposed to ensure COVID-19 event reproduction number is less than 1 under a conservative consideration of the number of infectors. Finally, a ventilation control scheme is designed to make sure the above condition can be satisfied. Case studies of different indoor environments have been conducted on a testbed of a real ventilation system to validate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Results show that the proposed strategy can efficiently maintain the reproduction number less than 1 to limit COVID-19 contagion while saving about 30%-50% of energy compared with the fixed ventilation scheme. The proposed strategy offers more practical values compared with existing studies: it is applicable to scenarios where there are multiple infectors, and the number of infectors varies with time; it only requires CO2 sensors and does not require occupancy detection sensors. Since CO2 sensors are very mature and low-cost, the proposed strategy is suitable for mass deployment in most existing ventilation systems.

The Prognostic Role of Blood Inflammatory Biomarkers and EGFR Mutation Status in Stage IIIA/N2 Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Treated With Trimodality Therapy.

OBJECTIVES: Various blood inflammatory biomarkers were associated with treatment response and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in previous studies. In this study, we retrospectively evaluated the prognostic role of pretreatment blood inflammatory biomarkers and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation status in stage IIIA/N2 NSCLC patients with trimodality therapy. METHODS: Completely resected stage IIIA/N2 NSCLC patients with adjuvant chemotherapy and postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) were assessed in this study. Cutoff values of blood inflammatory factors were calculated by the R package SurvivalROC of R software. SPSS Statistics software was used for survival analyses. Kaplan-Meier survival curve and log-rank test were used to compare the survival difference between every two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses of predictive factors were performed by Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: The univariate analysis showed that T stage (p=0.007), EGFR mutation status (p=0.043), lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) (p=0.067), and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) (p=0.043) were significant prognostic factors of disease-free survival (DFS). In the multivariate analysis, T2 (HR=0. 885, 95% CI: 0.059-0.583, p=0.004), EGFR mutation-positive (HR=0.108, 95% CI: 0.023-0.498, p=0.004) and elevated pretreatment SII (HR=0.181, 95%CI: 0.046-0.709, p=0.014) were independently related to shorter DFS. High pretreatment neutrophil counts (HR=0.113, p=0.019) and high systemic inflammation response index (SIRI) (HR=0.123, p=0.025) were correlated with worse overall survival (OS) by the univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, only high pretreatment SIRI was an independent predictor for poorer OS (HR=0.025, 95% CI: 0.001-0.467, p=0.014). CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, we identified that high pretreatment SII and SIRI were unfavorable prognostic factors in stage IIIA/N2 NSCLC patients treated with surgery, adjuvant chemotherapy and PORT. Patients with high pretreatment SII, high pretreatment SIRI, T2, and EGFR mutation-positive may need more forceful adjuvant treatment. Further prospective studies with large-scale are needed to validate our results and identify the proper cut-off values and optimum adjuvant treatment for distinct patient population.

Individual differences impacting skin deformation and tactile discrimination with compliant elastic surfaces.

Individual differences in tactile acuity are observed within and between age cohorts. Such differences in acuity may be attributed to various sources, including aspects of nervous system, skin mechanics, finger size, cognitive and behavioral factors, etc. This work considers individual differences, within a younger cohort of participants, in discriminating compliant surfaces. These participants exhibit a range of finger size and stiffness. Interestingly, both their finger size and stiffness well predict their discriminative performance, where softer/smaller fingers outperform stiffer/larger fingers. Stereo imaging captured biomechanical cues in the skin's deformation, including contact area and penetration depth, and their change rates. In those individuals with stiffer/larger fingers, who perceptually performed worse, we observed less distinguishable contact areas and eccentricities, compared to softer/smaller fingers. These particular cues well predicted individual differences observed in perceptual discrimination. In comparison, with two other cues, curvature and penetration depth, the imaging readily distinguished the compliant surfaces irrespective of finger stiffness/size, not aligned with discrimination. In conclusion, in passive touch, we find that individuals with softer/smaller fingers were better at discriminating compliances, and that certain skin deformation cues predict individual differences in perception.

The Combination Options and Predictive Biomarkers of PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitors in Esophageal Cancer.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is one of the most common cancers with poor survival in the world. Nowadays, a generous number of clinical trials are underway on the use of immunotherapy in EC patients, especially the programmed death-1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) inhibitors. However, only a few patients could benefit from single-agent therapy. Others need combination therapies to enhance the response rate and survival. In this review, we focus on PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors and its combination options in EC patients. We also summarized the potential predictive biomarkers for PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors treatment.

Identifying 3-D spatiotemporal skin deformation cues evoked in interacting with compliant elastic surfaces.

We regularly touch soft, compliant fruits and tissues. To help us discriminate them, we rely upon cues embedded in spatial and temporal deformation of finger pad skin. However, we do not yet understand, in touching objects of various compliance, how such patterns evolve over time, and drive perception. Using a 3-D stereo imaging technique in passive touch, we develop metrics for quantifying skin deformation, across compliance, displacement, and time. The metrics map 2-D estimates of terminal contact area to 3-D metrics that represent spatial and temporal changes in penetration depth, surface curvature, and force. To do this, clouds of thousands of 3-D points are reduced in dimensionality into stacks of ellipses, to be more readily comparable between participants and trials. To evaluate the robustness of the derived 3-D metrics, human subjects experiments are performed with stimulus pairs varying in compliance and discriminability. The results indicate that metrics such as penetration depth and surface curvature can distinguish compliances earlier, at less displacement. Observed also are distinct modes of skin deformation, for contact with stiffer objects, versus softer objects that approach the skin's compliance. These observations of the skin's deformation may guide the design and control of haptic actuation.

Isolation of both Pseudozyma aphidis and Nocardia otitidiscaviarum from a mycetoma on the leg.

We describe a case of mycetoma which typified the classic presentation of the disease: a male farmer with affection of the lower limbs and a history of trauma. The patient presented with a swollen right lower limb showing multiple discharging sinuses for 25 years. Histopathologically, grains were found by HE stain, and clustered yeast-like cells were observed by PAS stain. The distinctive 'dot-in-circle' sign was found through MRI. Besides Nocardia otitidiscaviarum, Pseudozyma aphidis was isolated from deep tissue culture, and the identification of the etiologic species was ascertained by DNA sequencing. Generally speaking, Nocardia otitidiscaviarum is an infrequent cause of mycetoma, and Pseudozyma species are usually isolated from plant material rather than clinical specimens. This is the first case of mycetoma from which both Nocardia otitidiscaviarum and Pseudozyma aphidis were isolated.

Heat shock protein 110 improves the antitumor effects of the cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitope E7(49-57) in mice.

Several strategies have been used to enhance the vaccine-induced immunity of peptide vaccines and effective therapeutic benefits, including the utilization of heat shock proteins (HSP), especially the HSP70 family. HSP110 exhibits a higher binding affinity with protein and is capable of enhancing the immunogenicity of protein antigens; however, whether HSP110 can also increase the efficiency of peptide vaccine remains unclear. Here, we investigated mHSP110 as a chaperone immunoadjuvant to enhance the immune response to HPV16 oncoprotein E7-derived CTL epitope E7(49-57) in a mouse model. We developed the HSP110-E7(49-57) complex and demonstrated that mHSP110 could form complexes with peptide E7(49-57) using FITC-labeled E7(49-57) as the tracer. Inoculation of the mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex was capable of priming strong epitope-specific immune response as determined by its ability to elicit an epitope-specific splenocytes proliferation and a cytotoxic T cell response, and IFNgamma production in splenocytes. Results also showed that immunization with the mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex completely protected mice against subsequent challenge with tumor cells. More importantly, immunization of this complex also significantly inhibited the growth of established tumors and prolonged the survival time of the tumor-bearing animals. Thus, mHSP110-E7(49-57) complex vaccine represents a potentially powerful approach for use in the immunotherapy of cervical cancer associated with HPV16 infection. More importantly, the multi-epitopes derived from E7 and other E proteins can be applied to the strategy described in this study to form a multi-antigenic vaccine to induce an improved antitumor immune response to cervical cancer in the future.