A Modified Model for Quantitative Heavy Metal Source Apportionment and Pollution Pathway Identification.

Current source apportionment models have successfully identified emission sources and quantified their contributions. However, when being utilized for heavy metal source apportion in soil, their accuracy needs to be improved, regarding migration patterns. Therefore, this work intended to improve the pre-existing principal component analysis and multiple linear regression with distance (PCA-MLRD) model to effectively locate pollution pathways (traffic emissions, irrigation water, atmospheric depositions, etc.) and achieve a more precise quantification. The dataset of soil heavy metals was collected from a typical area in the Chang-Zhu-Tan region, Hunan, China in 2021. The identification of the contribution of soil parent material was accomplished through enrichment factors and crustal reference elements. Meanwhile, the anthropogenic emission was identified with principal component analysis and GeoDetector. GeoDetector was used to accurately point to the pollution source from a spatial differentiation perspective. Subsequently, the pollution pathways linked to the identified sources were determined. Non-metal manufacturing factories were found to be significant anthropogenic sources of local soil contamination, mainly through rivers and atmospheric deposition. Furthermore, the influence of irrigation water on heavy metals showed a more pronounced effect within a distance of 1000 m, became weaker after that, and then gradually disappeared. This model may offer improved technical guidance for practical production and the management of soil heavy metal contamination.

Effects of atmospheric deposition on heavy metal contamination in paddy field systems under different functional areas in ChangZhuTan, Hunan Province, China.

In recent decades, the problem of heavy metal contamination in rice paddies has attracted widespread attention. However, most studies on heavy metal contamination in paddy fields are biased towards soil and/or rice plants, without taking atmospheric deposition into account. In this study, atmospheric deposition, paddy soil, and rice samples were collected from three functional areas (area proximity to factories, along the roadside, and suburban) in ChangZhuTan, Hunan Province. The pollution characterization, translocation, and health risk of heavy metals were reassessed. The findings revealed that Cd and As contamination in the study area's soils was more severe, with point exceedance rates reaching 70 % and 35.9 %, respectively. The highest concentrations of As, Ni, Cd, and Pb in atmospheric deposition were found along the roadside, with 1.42 µg/m2/day, 3.21 µg/m2/day, 0.34 µg/m2/day, and 8.28 µg/m2/day, respectively. In area proximity to factories, As and Ni in atmospheric deposition showed to be lowest, whereas Cd and Pb concentrations showed lowest in suburban areas. Furthermore, the accumulation of Cd and Pb in rice grains in regions proximity to factories was significantly higher than in other regions. The human health risk assessment indicated the health risk caused by rice intake in areas proximity to factories was the highest and requires attention, which was mainly due to Cd accumulation, with HQ value reached 3.19. Correlation tests indicate that atmospheric deposition has a positive effect on heavy metal enrichment in rice grains. Further Random Forest analysis revealed that the transport of heavy metals from atmospheric deposition to leaves and shells were important influencing factors for As, Cd, Ni and Mg accumulation in rice grain. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the effects of atmospheric deposition on the accumulation of heavy metals in paddy fields in order to maintain the production safety of crops.

Heavy metal content and health risk assessment of atmospheric particles in China: A meta-analysis.

In recent decades, China has devoted significant attention to the heavy metals pollution in particulate matter. However, the majority of studies have only focused on the field monitoring in relatively remote areas, which may not be representative of air quality across the country. This study reevaluated the characteristics, temporal and spatial changes, and health concerns associated with heavy metal pollution in atmospheric particulates on a national scale by coupling Meta-analysis and Monte Carlo simulation analysis. In terms of spatial distribution, the heavy metals pollution levels in the northern coast and northeastern regions are relatively high, whereas it is low along the middle Yellow River, middle Yangtze River, as well as Southwest. With the exception of Cu, the distribution of all elements in PM2.5 steadily decreased over time Moreover, PM10 and PM2.5 performed similar where Cd and Ni both first increased followed by a decline while, Cr displayed a decrease before it showed an increment. And since the implementation of prevention and control policies about the atmospheric release, the focus of industrial emission has gradually shifted from energy production and processing to living products manufacturing. Moreover, the carcinogenic risk was shown to be Cr > As, Pb > Ni, Cd, while the non-carcinogenic risk was as follows: As, Ni > Cr, Cd. Among all contaminants, Cd, As, and Cr in PM2.5 and PM10 exceeded the WHO standard in the cities with worst air quality. It was observed that As posed the largest non-carcinogenic risk to adults while, Cr caused the most carcinogenic risk to adults and children, where the carcinogenic risk of children remains higher than that of adults. Therefore, the findings of this study may offer data support to the China's heavy metal pollution standards in airborne particles and offer theoretical data support for pollution management.

Foliar uptake, accumulation, and distribution of cadmium in rice (Oryza sativa L.) at different stages in wet deposition conditions.

Atmospheric deposition of cadmium (Cd) in rice (Oryza sativa L.) has become a major global concern. Foliar uptake allows vegetables to accumulate heavy metals from the atmosphere, but this has rarely been studied in rice. Therefore, this study investigated the Cd accumulation in rice growing at different exposure periods (the tillering, booting, heading, and maturity stages) under a wet deposition of CdCl2·2.5H2O solution through pot experiments. The Cd concentrations in leaves, roots, husk, brown rice, and leaf structures were analyzed to explore foliar uptake, accumulation, and distribution of Cd in rice tissues at different growth stages. The results showed that wet deposited Cd can be absorbed on the rice leaf surface and remains on the leaves for a long time. The sequence of Cd accumulation in rice tissues was: leaves > brown rice > husk > roots, with leaves accounting for greater than 71.78% of the total accumulation. The accumulation of wet deposited Cd in leaves, husk, and brown rice had large temporal variations between the four typical stages. There was no significant variations in Cd content in roots between different growth stages. Correspondingly, the foliar uptake of Cd was rarely transported from the leaves via the phloem to roots. Conversely, the foliar uptake of Cd was transported upwards to grains. The accumulation of Cd fluctuated with each growth stage, initially increasing and then decreasing at the heading stage and finally reaching a peak at the maturity stage. The highest total accumulation of Cd in both the high and low wet deposition conditions occurred at maturity, resulting in 15.53 and 11.23 µg plant-1, respectively. These results provide theoretical support for further research into identifying efficient foliar control measures to reduce Cd accumulation and maintain food safety.

Screening of Leafy Vegetable Varieties with Low Lead and Cadmium Accumulation Based on Foliar Uptake.

Leafy vegetables cultivated in kitchen gardens and suburban areas often accumulate excessive amounts of heavy metals and pose a threat to human health. For this reason, plenty of studies have focused on low accumulation variety screening. However, identifying specific leafy vegetable varieties according to the foliar uptake of air pollution remains to be explored (despite foliar uptake being an important pathway for heavy-metal accumulation). Therefore, in this study, the lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) contents, leaf morphology, and particle matter contents were analyzed in a micro-area experiment using 20 common vegetables. The results show that the Pb content in leaves ranged from 0.70 to 3.86 mg kg-1, and the Cd content ranged from 0.21 to 0.99 mg kg-1. Atmospheric particles were clearly scattered on the leaf surface, and the particles were smaller than the stomata. Considering the Pb and Cd contents in the leaves and roots, stomata width-to-length ratio, leaf area size, enrichment factor, and translocation factor, Yidianhongxiancai, Qingxiancai, Baiyuanyexiancai, Nanjingjiangengbai and Sijixiaobaicai were recommended for planting in kitchen gardens and suburban areas as they have low accumulation characteristics. Identifying the influencing factors in the accumulation of heavy metals in vegetables through foliar uptake is important to help plant physiologists/environmentalists/policy makers to select suitable varieties for planting in air-polluted areas and thus reduce their threat to human health.

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition of glioma cells promotes tissue factor expression via the miR200a/ZEB1 axis.

Glioma is the most common brain tumor and the main cause of death from primary brain tumors. Due to the limitations of current diagnostic and treatment methods, the prognosis of high-grade glioma is not optimistic and is prone to venous thrombosis. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a vital step for glioma cells to obtain a highly migratory and invasive cell phenotype. Tissue factor (TF) is the downstream target of several carcinogenic pathways. According to reports, the TF gene is highly methylated and down-regulated in IDH1 mutant gliomas with good prognosis. We aimed to investigate the impact of EMT on the expression of TF in glioma cells, as well as the corresponding mechanism. Our data indicated that the expression level of TF in glioma tissues increased, and was positively correlated with the WHO classification of glioma. After inducing EMT in glioma cells in vitro, TF expression increased significantly, indicating that EMT in glioma cells can promote TF expression. Further studies have shown that the expression level of ZEB1 is positively correlated with the WHO classification of glioma tissues and the expression level of TF in glioma tissues. This study proved that EMT promotes the expression of TF in glioma cells through the miR-200a/ZEB1 axis. In summary, these results indicated that EMT can promote the expression of TF in glioma cells via the miR-200a/ZEB1 axis. For gliomas, TF is related to EMT and has the potential to become an effective target against EMT and thrombotic events.

Value of thromboelastography combined with anticoagulant detection in patients over 60 years of age with cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cerebrovascular disease (CBVD) are common diseases in middle-aged and elderly people with high morbidity, mortality and disability rates. Individualized assessment and treatment are helpful to improve the quality of life and prognosis of patients. Thrombelastography (TEG) is a method to evaluate the coagulation function of patient with whole blood. In this study, we investigated the correlation between TEG indicators and traditional indicators of coagulation, and evaluated the diagnostic value of TEG combined with indicators of coagulation in elderly patients with CVD and CBVD. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the thrombelastographic indices and traditional indicators of coagulation in 285 cases of elderly patients with CBVD or CVD. All measures were performed by the Department of Clinical Laboratory in the Second Hospital of Jilin University between January 2016 and December 2018. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), and APTT were increased in the CBVD group. K value, MPV, and the MPV/PLT ratio were higher, but fibrinogen levels and the PT were lower in the CVD group than in the control group. In the CVD and CBVD groups, the R value was positively correlated with APTT, the K value was negatively correlated with fibrinogen, α angle was positively correlated with fibrinogen, and the MA was positively correlated with the platelet count and fibrinogen, but negatively correlated with MPV/PLT. The FDP was significantly higher, whereas the D-dimer/FDP ratio was lower in the CBVD group than in the CVD group. CONCLUSIONS: The combined detection of TEG and traditional indicators is more effective than detection using only routine indices in the assessment of the coagulation status of elderly patients with CVD or CBVD. The MPV/PLT and D-dimer/FDP ratios can be used as indices of anticoagulant function.

The significance of coagulation and fibrinolysis-related parameters in predicting postoperative venous thrombosis in patients with breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: To explore the expression level of coagulation and fibrinolysis-related indexes in the plasma of breast cancer patients after surgery, and explore their predictive value for deep venous thrombosis (DVT). METHODS: From May 2016 to May 2019, 63 patients with lower extremity DVT after radical mastectomy in our hospital were selected as the thrombus group, and 69 patients without venous thrombosis after radical mastectomy were selected as the control group. The levels of D-dimer (D-D) and fibrinolytic product (FDP) were measured by latex enhanced immunoturbidimetry, Fibrinogen (FIB) levels were measured using the von Clauss method, thrombin antithrombin complex (TAT) and thrombomodulin (TM) levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and the evaluation value of coagulation markers on tumor thrombosis was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) curve analysis. RESULTS: There were significant differences in blood pressure, platelet count (PLT) level, diabetes history, and tumor metastasis between the two groups (P<0.05). The levels of PT, D-D, FDP, TAT, and TM in the thrombus group were significantly higher than those in control group (P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of D-D, FDP, and TAT were 0.790, 0.881, and 0.672, respectively and there was a marked difference among the indexes (P<0.05). The AUC of FDP was the largest, and the sensitivity and diagnostic value of FDP were the highest. CONCLUSIONS: The plasma levels of FDP, D-D, TAT, and TM in breast cancer patients with DVT after radical mastectomy were significantly increased, which is related to imbalanced coagulation and fibrinolysis functioning in patients. FDP had the highest predictive value for DVT after radical mastectomy.

Nitidine chloride suppresses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and stem cell-like properties in glioblastoma by regulating JAK2/STAT3 signaling.

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and common intracranial malignant tumor, and the prognosis is still poor after various treatments. Based on the poor prognosis of glioma, new drugs that suppress the rapid progression and aggressive growth of glioma are urgently needed. It has been reported that nitidine chloride (NC) can inhibit tumor growth and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), and EMT is associated with cancer stem cell properties. The present study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of NC on the EMT process and stem cell-like properties in glioma cells. The results showed that the migration and invasion abilities in U87 and LN18 glioma cells were significantly increased after the induction of EMT and these effects were inhibited by NC in a concentration-dependent manner. NC treatment decreased the expression of EMT markers in glioma cells and self-renewal capacity of glioma stem-like cells. We demonstrated that these effects of NC were achieved via JAK2/STAT3 signaling. Taken together, these results indicate that NC inhibits the EMT process and glioma stem-like properties via JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway, suggesting that NC may be a potential anti-glioma drug.

Are circulating autoantibodies to ABCC3 transporter a potential biomarker for lung cancer?

PURPOSE: The present study was undertaken to test circulating autoantibody to ATP-binding cassette C3 (ABCC3) transporter in order to confirm whether anti-ABCC3 antibody could serve as a biomarker for early diagnosis of lung cancer. METHODS: This study recruited 275 patients (178 males and 97 females) with non-small cell lung cancer (either squamous carcinoma or adenocarcinoma) and 226 control subjects (134 males and 92 females) well matched in age and smoking history. Anti-ABCC3 IgA and IgG were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) approach that was developed in house with the human leukocyte antigen class II (HLA-II) restricted antigens. RESULTS: Mann-Whitney U test showed that the IgG antibody level was significantly higher in female patients with adenocarcinoma than female controls (Z = -4.34, P < 0.001) and that the IgA antibody level was significantly higher in male patients with squamous carcinoma than male controls (Z = -3.12, P = 0.002). Pearson's Chi-square (χ(2)) test showed that female patients with adenocarcinoma had a significantly higher positive rate for IgG autoantibody than female controls (χ ( 2 ) = 8.73, P = 0.003). The ELISA sensitivity against a specificity of >95 % was 18.1 % for IgG assay in female patients and 18.0 % for IgA assay in male patients. The inter-assay deviation was 10.6 % for IgG assay and 14.5 % for IgA assay. CONCLUSIONS: Circulating autoantibodies to ABCC3 transporter may be a potential biomarker that can be added to a panel of existing biomarkers for early diagnosis and prognosis of lung cancer although the gender differences should be taken into account.