Effect of first-stage aeration on treatment of domestic sewage in different hybrid constructed wetlands.

Two sets of hybrid constructed wetlands (HCWs) with the first-stage aeration were used to treat actual domestic sewage in this paper, where the effects of three important factors of aeration mode, hydraulic loading rates (HLR), and aeration volume on the removal of pollutants in both HCWs were studied in contrasts. In addition, the pollutant removal efficiency, the contribution of plants, and the characteristics of biofilm in both HCWs were explored. The results of 250-day experiment showed that the TN removal capacity of HCW combining vertical flow CW with horizontal flow CW (VF-HF) was better than HCW's converse combination (HF-VF) in treatingsewage, while the removal efficiency of COD and NH4+-N were similar, and the concentrations of TN and COD in the effluent of VF-HF could successfully meet the National discharge requirements. Compared with the continuous aeration, the intermittent aeration only had a little effect on the removal of COD and NH4+-N, but could improve TN removal performance in both HCWs. Meanwhile, increasing the aeration volume was beneficial to remove NH4+-N but not TN in HCWs. In addition, although the pollutant removal performances in both HCWs were impacted, the removal capacity of TN in VF-HF was only affected a little, when HLR was increased by 50%. The contribution of plants' uptake accounted for about 10% to nitrogen removal and 20% to phosphorus removal in both HCWs. The biomass at the filler surface near the plant rhizosphere was greater than that in the non-rhizosphere zones, and the impact of plant rhizosphere on the nitrification activity of biofilm was significantly greater than that on denitrification activity in both HCWs.

Development and validation of radiomics model built by incorporating machine learning for identifying liver fibrosis and early-stage cirrhosis.

BACKGROUND: Liver fibrosis (LF) continues to develop and eventually progresses to cirrhosis. However, LF and early-stage cirrhosis (ESC) can be reversed in some cases, while advanced cirrhosis is almost impossible to cure. Advances in quantitative imaging techniques have made it possible to replace the gold standard biopsy method with non-invasive imaging, such as radiomics. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop a radiomics model to identify LF and ESC. METHODS: Patients with LF (n = 108) and ESC (n = 116) were enrolled in this study. As a control, patients with healthy livers were involved in the study (n = 145). Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) data sets with three b-values (0, 400, and 800 s/mm) of enrolled cases were collected in this study. Then, radiomics features were extracted from manually delineated volumes of interest. Two modeling strategies were performed after univariate analysis and feature selection. Finally, an optimal model was determined by the receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: The optimal models were built in plan 1. For model 1 in plan 1, the AUCs of the training and validation cohorts were 0.973 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.946-1.000) and 0.948 (95% CI 0.903-0.993), respectively. For model 2 in plan 1, the AUCs of the training and validation cohorts were 0.944, 95% CI 0.905 to 0.983, and 0.968, 95% CI 0.940 to 0.996, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Radiomics analysis of DWI images allows for accurate identification of LF and ESC, and the non-invasive biomarkers extracted from the functional DWI images can serve as a better alternative to biopsy.

Survey of human major parasitic diseases in Shixing County from 2002 to 2016 / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

Objective To analyze the results of 3 investigations(2002-2004,2008-2009,and 2016)of major parasitic dis-eases in Shixing County,so as to provide the evidence for formulating further control strategies. Methods With the stratified clus-ter sampling method,5 administrative villages were investigated. A total of 200 residents aged above 3 years were sampled in each village to investigate the eggs of soil-transmitted nematodes with Kato-Katz technique,and the swab method was applied for detecting the eggs of Enterobius vermicularis in children aged 3-9 years. χ2 test was used for statistical analysis. Results To-tally 3857 individuals were surveyed for intestinal parasites,and 5 species of parasites were found and the total infection rates were 28.37%,4.32%and 0.50%in the 3 investigations respectively,and there were statistically significant differences between any two investigations(χ2=287.64,327.60 and 31.89 respectively,and all P<0.01). The infection rates of Ascaris lumbricoi-des,hookworm,Trichuris trichiura and Clonorchis sinensis significantly decreased in the third investigation compared with those in the first investigation(χ2 =424.55,55.45,43.40 and 26.12 respectively,all P<0.01). However,there was no significant difference between the E. vermicularis infection rates of the first investigation and the third investigation(χ2=0.16,P>0.05). Conclusions Compared with the status in the first investigation,the infection rates of A. lumbricoides,hookworm,T. trichiura and C. sinensis are significantly decreased by 90%or more in the third investigation. However,the children's infection rate of E. vermicularis is still very high. Therefore,we should focus on the comprehensive control measures of E. vermicularis infection while formulating further control strategies of parasitic diseases.