Frequent Misdiagnosis of Scabies as Eczema in China: A Descriptive Study of 23 Cases.

Objective: To outline the clinical manifestations observed in patients with scabies misdiagnosed as generalized eczema, analyse the factors contributing to these misdiagnoses and explore potential reasons for the resurgence of scabies. Patients and Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed to investigate the patients with scabies misdiagnosed as generalized eczema. Results: We included 23 patients, with twelve (52.17%) being male and eleven (47.83%) female. The illness duration ranged from 0.5 to 7 months. Among all patients, 12 (52.17%) were residents of nursing homes, 5 (21.74%) were staff members of these facilities, 4 (17.39%) were caregivers of long-term hospitalized relatives, 1 (4.35%) was a construction worker, and 1 (4.35%) had a history of tourism. The rash predominantly affected the trunk and extremities, 12 patients (52.17%) are each involved the perineum and fingers webbings. The presentations included erythema, papules, and nodules. The main complaint of all patients was nocturnal itch. Under direct microscopy, 5 patients (21.74%) tested positive for scabies mites, and 3 (13.04%) showed histopathological features consistent with scabies. All patients were initially misdiagnosed with generalized eczema. Conclusion: Over half of all patients diagnosed with scabies either resided or worked in long-term care facilities. The lack of awareness of scabies among medical staff in long-term care facilities readily led to frequent misdiagnosis. Comprehensive measures should be implemented urgently to strengthen disease management.

Rates of pulmonary vein reconnection at repeat ablation for recurrent atrial fibrillation and its impact on outcomes among females and males.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have demonstrated that females have a higher risk of arrhythmia recurrence after pulmonary vein (PV) isolation for atrial fibrillation (AF). There are limited data on sex-based differences in PV reconnection rates at repeat ablation. We aimed to investigate sex-based differences in electrophysiological findings and atrial arrhythmia recurrence after repeat AF ablation METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of 161 consecutive patients (32% female, age 65 ± 10 years) who underwent repeat AF ablation after index PV isolation between 2010 and 2022. Demographics, procedural characteristics and follow-up data were collected. Recurrent atrial tachycardia (AT)/AF was defined as any atrial arrhythmia ≥30 s in duration. RESULTS: Compared to males, females tended to be older and had a significantly higher prevalence of prior valve surgery (10 vs. 2%; P = .03). At repeat ablation, PV reconnection was found in 119 (74%) patients. Males were more likely to have PV reconnection at repeat ablation compared to females (81 vs. 59%; P = .004). Excluding repeat PV isolation, there were no significant differences in adjunctive ablation strategies performed at repeat ablation between females and males. During follow-up, there were no significant differences in freedom from AT/AF recurrence between females and males after repeat ablation (63 vs. 59% at 2 years, respectively; P = .48). CONCLUSIONS: After initial PV isolation, significantly fewer females have evidence of PV reconnection at the time of repeat ablation for recurrent AF. Despite this difference, long-term freedom from AT/AF was similar between females and males after repeat ablation.

Melatonin protects oogenesis from hypobaric hypoxia-induced fertility damage in mice.

Environmental hypoxia adversely affects reproductive health in humans and animals at high altitudes. Therefore, how to alleviate the follicle development disorder caused by hypoxia exposure and to improve the competence of fertility in plateau non-habituated female animals are important problems to be solved urgently. In this study, a hypobaric hypoxic chamber was used for 4 weeks to simulate hypoxic conditions in female mice, and the effects of hypoxia on follicle development, proliferation and apoptosis of granulosa cells, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in MII oocyte and 2-cell rate were evaluated. At the same time, the alleviating effect of melatonin on hypoxic exposure-induced oogenesis damage was evaluated by feeding appropriate amounts of melatonin daily under hypoxia for 4 weeks. The results showed that hypoxia exposure significantly increased the proportion of antral follicles in the ovary, the number of proliferation and apoptosis granulosa cells in the follicle, and the level of ROS in MII oocytes, eventually led to the decline of oocyte quality. However, these defects were alleviated when melatonin was fed under hypoxia conditions. Together, these findings suggest that hypoxia exposure impaired follicular development and reduced oocyte quality, and that melatonin supplementation alleviated the fertility reduction induced by hypoxia exposure.

Synergistic control potential of flue gas pollutants under Ultra-Low emission standards in waste incineration plants.

As the dominant waste disposal process, incineration is regarded as the main incentive for the "not-in-my-backyard" syndrome, and faces an inescapable pressures of ultra-low emissions (ULE). Establishing precise response relationships between emission factors (EFs) and full-process influencing factors can provide guidance for the synergistic mitigation of flue gas pollutants (FGPs). In this work, the multi-dimensional EFs of FGPs were identified by initially integrating FGPs concentration monitoring data of existing 1,226 processing lines in China, technologies applied and operational experience (OE), local economic and political characteristics. Significant regional imbalance performance was observed, which EFs in the coastal regions were 3.55-92.39 % lower than those of the inland areas. NOx, SO2, HCl were identified as critical components requiring further reduction under the ULE standards, with exceedance rates recorded at 73.07 %, 38.90 %, and 56.69 %, respectively. An indicative value of 20 mg/m3 for PM is recommended for the control of heavy metals of Cd + Tl and Sb + As + Pb + Cr + Co + Cu + Mn + Ni based on the correlation coefficients of r = 0.28 (p < 0.001) and r = 0.20 (p = 0.002), respectively. Waste composition and OE were quantified as the main contributors of EFs' disparities by the tree-branching controlled variable approach established in this study. Predictive models for FGPs control process and corresponding EFs were constructed. EFs of nine FGPs in 2030 would decrease by 0.97-65.42 %, due to more complex purification processes employed to meet ULE's limitations, such as the application of five-stage processes growing from 45.60 % to 58.28 %. While regional imbalance in EFs-SO2 and EFs-HCl were extended with increases from 25.83 % to 33.07 % and 9.91 % to 32.32 %, respectively, due to the consistent disparities of OE and growing heterogeneity of control policies. Enhancing interregional empirical exchanges, reducing the regional market monopolies, and formulating technical guidelines would be beneficial to synergize the reduction of FGPs emissions and alleviate regional imbalance.

Mechanical strength changes of combustible municipal solid waste components during their early pyrolysis stage and mechanism analysis.

Implementation of municipal solid waste (MSW) source segregation leads to a more convenient recycle of combustible MSW components. Textiles, plastics and papers are commonly available combustible components in MSW. Their shredding is conducive to resources recovery. But these components usually have high tensile strengths and are difficult to shred. To understand their mechanical strength changes in their early pyrolysis stage will help to address this problem. In this study, a universal electronic testing machine was used to determine the breaking strengths of the materials including cotton towel, polyethylene glycol terephthalate (PET), ivory board (IB), kraft paper (KP) and wool scarf in the temperature range of 30-250°C under N2 atmosphere, and the mechanisms of their strength changes were explored. The reaction force field molecular dynamics (ReaxFF-MD) simulation was used to explain the decomposition behaviours of different sugar groups of hemicellulose in cotton and paper and the change of van der Waals energy of wool during their early pyrolysis stages. The results showed that breaking strengths of all the combustible MSW components reduced as the temperature increased. The breaking strength of PET was found to have the highest descent rate with increasing temperature, then the descent rates of wool and cotton came as the second and third, respectively. Compared with cotton, the breaking strengths of KP and IB decreased more slowly. As the temperature increased, the breaking strength of cotton reduced mainly due to the decomposition of the glucuronic acid in hemicellulose, and the reduction was characterized by CO2 release. The breaking strength reduction of PET was caused by its molecular chain being relaxed. The breaking strength reduction of wool was firstly caused by the decrease in the van der Waals energy between its molecules, and then caused by molecular chain breaking. In addition, in order to understand the influence of material size on the breaking strength change during thermal treatment, the breaking strengths of cotton yarn bundles were correlated with their yarn number and temperature. This study lays the foundation for understanding changes in mechanical strengths of combustible MSW components during their early pyrolysis stage.

Numerical simulation of heat transfer properties of large-sized biomass particles during pyrolysis process.

During the pyrolysis process of large particles, the conduction between particles cannot be ignored. In the present work, a numerical simulation model for the pyrolysis of biomass particles was established, which takes into account the conduction within the particles. Based on this model, the temperature distribution inside the particle during the pyrolysis process was determined and the effects of particle size, moisture content, and gas velocity on heat transfer characteristics were analyzed. The results showed that the temperatures at different positions of the particles along the inflow direction were quite different, and the maximum temperature difference inside the particles was about 146.7 K for a particle diameter of 10 mm and a velocity of 0.2 m/s. During the pyrolysis process of biomass particles, there were two peaks of Nusselt number. The increase of moisture content prolonged the pyrolysis time. The pyrolysis. time of particles with moisture content of 15 % was about 1.5 times longer than that of dry particles when the particle diameter was 10 mm. Increasing the particle size decreased the difference between the two peaks and increased the time interval between the two peaks. Increasing the gas velocity can improve the heat transfer, but the effect of too high gas velocity on improving the heat transfer is limited. The present study is of great importance for a detailed understanding of the pyrolysis process of biomass particles.

Effects of fermentation chamber temperature on microbes and quality of cigar wrapper tobacco leaves.

The natural fermentation of cigar tobacco leaves usually utilizes natural temperature and humidity for fermentation. Cigars produced in China are often fermented in winter, and the low environmental temperatures can lead to slow heating of the tobacco stack, affecting the cigar tobacco leaves quality. This study aimed to determine the minimum chamber temperature required to initiate the process of fermentation for cigar tobacco leaves and to explore the impact of temperature on the microbial community of tobacco leaves. Here, the cigar variety "Dexue 1" were subjected to stacking fermentation under three temperature parameters (20 ℃, 27 ℃, 34 ℃). With an increase in environmental temperature, the temperature inside the stack of cigar leaves increased significantly, the protein, total sugar, starch, and total alkaloid content in fermented tobacco leaves decreased, and the aroma components and amino acid content increased. Microbial richness and community diversity associated with fermented tobacco were highest at chamber temperatures of above 27 ℃. The relative abundance of Chryseobacterium and Rhodococcus was significantly negatively correlated with protein, alkaloids, total sugar, and starch, and positively correlated with amino acids and aroma components. Chryseobacterium and Rhodococcus may be responsible for the degradation of macromolecular substances and the conversion of favorable aromatic substances, thus improving the tobacco leaves quality. This study demonstrated that increasing the fermentation chamber temperature above 27 ℃ was conductive to raising the inner-stack temperature, increased microbial diversity and aromatic quality, reduced the strength and irritation, and extremely enhanced the overall quality of fermented cigar tobacco leaves. KEY POINTS: • The environmental temperature of the fermentation chamber has a significant impact on the quality of tobacco • Temperature > 27 ℃ can initiate the process of cigar tobacco leaves fermentation and increase inner-stack temperature and microbial diversity and abundance • Chryseobacterium and Rhodococcus may be related to the degradation of macromolecular substances and the transformation of aromatic substances, thereby improving the quality of tobacco leaves.

Synergistic effects of multitype carbon doping and oxygen vacancies in TiO2/CNTs composite fabricated via nonthermal plasma for formaldehyde removal.

Formaldehyde as one of the typical indoor pollutants has long been concerned as it can pose a threat to human health. TiO2/CNTs composite with oxygen vacancies and multitype carbon doping (C-TiO2/CNTs) was fabricated using nonthermal plasma for the photocatalytic degradation of formaldehyde. The maximum degradation rate of formaldehyde was 93% and 83% via the new catalyst (with 5% CNTs content) under solar and visible light, respectively. The characterization of the catalyst confirmed the in-situ multitype carbon doping and oxygen vacancies: interstitial carbon doping and oxygen vacancies could dramatically reduce the bandgap and contribute to the improved absorption capability of formaldehyde and electrons. Interfacial carbon doping in the form of C-O-Ti bonds provided a migration channel, whereby photogenerated electrons could efficiently transfer from CNTs to TiO2 and then quench the holes left in the VB of TiO2. Therefore, the multitype carbon doping and oxygen vacancies can expand the light response as well as promote the separation of photo-generated electron/hole pairs. EPR results and experiment section indicated that O2·- plays the most significant role in formaldehyde removal due to the reverse transfer of the electrons. This work advances the understanding of photo-degradation of TiO2/CNTs composite and provides a new route for the abatement of formaldehyde.

Organic carbon source excites extracellular polymeric substances to boost Fe0-mediated autotrophic denitrification in mixotrophic system.

Fe0-mediated autotrophic denitrification (ADN) can be suppressed by iron oxide coverage resulting from Fe0 corrosion. The mixotrophic denitrification (MDN) coupling Fe0-mediated ADN with heterotrophic denitrification (HDN) can circumvent the weakening of Fe0-mediated ADN over operation time. But the interaction between HDN and Fe0-mediated ADN for nitrogen removal of secondary effluent with deficient bioavailable organics remains unclear. When the influent COD/NO3--N ratio increased from 0.0 to 1.8-2.1, the TN removal efficiency was promoted significantly. The increased carbon source did not inhibit ADN, but promoted ADN and HDN synchronously. The formation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was also facilitated concomitantly. Protein (PN) and humic acid (HA) in EPS increased significantly, which capable of accelerating electron transfer of denitrification. Due to that the electron transfer of HDN occurs intracellularly, the EPS with the capacity of accelerating electron transfer had a negligible influence on HDN. But for Fe0-mediated ADN, the increased EPS as well as corresponding PN and HA facilitated TN and NO3--N removal significantly, while accelerated the electron release originating from Fe0 corrosion. The bioorganic-Fe complexes were generated on Fe0 surface after used, meaning that the soluble EPS and soluble microbial products (SMP) participated in the electron transfer of Fe0-mediated ADN. The coexistence of HDN and ADN denitrifiers demonstrated the synchronous enhancement of HDN and ADN by the external carbon source. From the perspective of EPS and related SMP, the insight of enhancing Fe0-mediated ADN by external carbon source is beneficial to implement high-efficiency MDN for organics-deficient secondary wastewater.

Industry relationships among authors of U.S. Clinical Practice Guidelines in cardiology from 2014 to 2020.

Clinical practice guidelines and Scientific statements are influential publications that define the standard of care for many diseases. However, little is known about industry payments and financial conflict-of-interest among authors of such publications in cardiology. We identified guidelines published between 2014 and 2020 by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in order to assess the payment status of CPG authors using the Open Payment Program (OPP) database.

Natural Occurrence of Alternaria Toxins in Citrus-Based Products Collected from China in 2021.

A total of 181 citrus-based products, including dried fruits, canned fruits, and fruit juices, collected from China and from abroad in 2021 were analyzed for the four Alternaria toxins (ALTs): alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), tentoxin (TEN), and tenuazonic acid (TeA) via ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-MS). Although the concentrations of the four ALTs varied by product and geographically, TeA was the predominant toxin followed by AOH, AME, and TEN. Products made in China showed higher levels of ALTs than those made abroad. Maximum levels of TeA, AOH, and AME in analyzed domestic samples were 4.9-fold, 1.3-fold, and 1.2-fold, respectively, higher than those in imported products. Furthermore, 83.4% (151/181) of the analyzed citrus-based products were contaminated with at least two or more ALTs. There were significant positive correlations between AOH and AME, AME and TeA, and TeA and TEN in all analyzed samples. More importantly, the solid and the condensed liquid products had higher concentrations of ALTs than the semi-solid product samples, as well as tangerines, pummelos, and grapefruits compared to the other kinds of citrus-based products. In conclusion, co-contamination with ALTs in commercially available Chinese citrus-based products was universal. Extensive and systematic surveillance of ALTs in citrus-based products, both domestic and imported, is required to obtain more scientific data for the determination of the maximum allowable concentrations of ALTs in China.

Primary Cutaneous Aspergillosis Due to Aspergillus fumigatus in an Immunocompetent Patient with Diabetes Mellitus After Tattooing: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

Background: Aspergillosis is an uncommon fungal infection in which primary cutaneous sites are very rare, and most cases occur in patients with immunocompromised status. Although primary cutaneous aspergillosis is usually encountered in immunocompromised patients, it also occurs in immunocompetent individuals. Case Presentation: We report a case of primary cutaneous aspergillosis in a 46-year-old immunocompetent woman with diabetes mellitus after tattooing. She presented with erythematous papules, papulopustules and a plaque on the right lower limb of more than two years duration which had failed to respond to antihistamine treatment. Histological examination of a skin biopsy sample showed oval spores in the corneous layer, a slightly thickened epidermis, and infiltrating lymphocytes and neutrophils around the blood vessels in the superficial dermis. Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated and identified in cultures. Clinical and biological examinations did not reveal any systemic localization of aspergillosis, ruling out a hypothesis of blood dissemination. Lesions resolved completely after systemic antifungal treatment with itraconazole. Conclusion: Clinical lesions of primary cutaneous aspergillosis are nonspecific and usually present as a variety of lesions, including macules, papules, nodules, plaques, purpura, blood blisters, and pustules. The nonspecific features and variety of lesions can lead to misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. Direct microscopy, microbiological culture, and histopathological examination are helpful for diagnosing primary cutaneous aspergillosis. Moreover, the physicians should be aware of the possibility of Aspergillus infection in tattooed cases.

A Novel Photocatalytic Functional Coating Applied to the Degradation of Xylene in Coating Solvents under Solar Irradiation.

A novel photocatalytic functional coating was prepared with g-C3N4/TiO2 composites as the photocatalytic active component modified by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), and it showed an efficient catalytic performance under solar light irradiation. The degradation of xylene released from fluorocarbon coating solvents by the g-C3N4/TiO2 composite coatings was investigated under simulated solar irradiation. The degradation efficiency of the coating mixed with DBD-modified 10%-g-C3N4/TiO2 showed a stable, long-lasting, and significantly higher activity compared to the coatings mixed with the unmodified catalyst. Ninety-eight percent of the xylene released from fluorocarbon coating solvents was successfully removed under solar light irradiation in 2 h. The properties of the catalyst samples before and after modification were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and other characterization techniques. The results suggested that DBD-modified g-C3N4/TiO2 showed an improved capture ability and utilization efficiency of solar light with reduced band gap and lower complexation rate of electron-hole pairs. The prepared photocatalytic coating offers an environmentally friendly approach to purify the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released from solvent-based coatings.

Tuning Ionic Liquid-Based Catalysts for CO2 Conversion into Quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture and utilization (CCU) are two kinds of strategies to reduce the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which is emitted from the burning of fossil fuels and leads to the greenhouse effect. With the unique properties of ionic liquids (ILs), such as low vapor pressures, tunable structures, high solubilities, and high thermal and chemical stabilities, they could be used as solvents and catalysts for CO2 capture and conversion into value-added chemicals. In this critical review, we mainly focus our attention on the tuning IL-based catalysts for CO2 conversion into quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones from o-aminobenzonitriles during this decade (2012~2022). Due to the importance of basicity and nucleophilicity of catalysts, kinds of ILs with basic anions such as [OH], carboxylates, aprotic heterocyclic anions, etc., for conversion CO2 and o-aminobenzonitriles into quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones via different catalytic mechanisms, including amino preferential activation, CO2 preferential activation, and simultaneous amino and CO2 activation, are investigated systematically. Finally, future directions and prospects for CO2 conversion by IL-based catalysts are outlined. This review is benefit for academic researchers to obtain an overall understanding of the synthesis of quinazoline-2,4(1H,3H)-diones from CO2 and o-aminobenzonitriles by IL-based catalysts. This work will also open a door to develop novel IL-based catalysts for the conversion of other acid gases such as SO2 and H2S.

Metabolic phenotype analysis of Trichophyton rubrum after laser irradiation.

BACKGROUND: Biological phenotypes are important characteristics of microorganisms, and often reflect their genotype and genotype changes. Traditionally, Trichophyton rubrum (T. rubrum) phenotypes were detected using carbon source assimilation tests, during which the types of tested substances are limited. In addition, the operation is complicated, and only one substance can be tested at once. To observe the changes of the metabolic phenotype of T. rubrum after laser irradiation, a high-throughput phenotype microarray system was used to analyze the metabolism of different carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur source substrates in a Biolog metabolic phenotyping system. RESULTS: The strain of T. rubrum used in this study can effectively utilize 33 carbon, 20 nitrogen, 16 phosphorus, and 13 sulfur source substrates prior to laser irradiation. After laser irradiation, the strain was able to utilize 10 carbon, 12 nitrogen, 12 phosphorus, and 8 sulfur source substrates. The degree of utilization was significantly decreased compared with the control. Both groups efficiently utilized saccharides and organic acids as carbon sources as well as some amino acids as nitrogen sources for growth. The number of substrates utilized by T. rubrum after laser irradiation were significantly reduced, especially carbon substrates. Some substrates utilization degree in the laser treated group was higher than control, such as D-glucosamine, L-glutamine, D-2-Phospho-Glyceric Acid, D-glucosamine-6-phosphate, and D-methionine. CONCLUSION: Laser irradiation of T. rubrum may lead to changes in the metabolic substrate and metabolic pathway, thus weakening the activity of the strain.

MSW pyrolysis volatiles' reforming by incineration fly ash for both pyrolysis products upgrading and fly ash stabilization.

The effective disposal of municipal solid wastes (MSW) and its incineration-derived fly ash (IFA), which contains large amounts of heavy metals (HMs) and chlorine (Cl), is an urgent task. In this study, IFA was used to reform MSW pyrolysis volatiles within 500-800 °C. The changes of reformed pyrolysis products, the migration characteristics of HMs and Cl between IFA and pyrolysis products were investigated. The results indicated that the O- and Cl-containing compounds in pyrolysis oil tended to decrease, light hydrocarbons and its calorific value increased accordingly after reforming; more CH4 and H2 gases were produced concurrently. The increase in reforming temperature enhanced these trends. The IFA absorbed Cl from volatiles during reforming, which reduced HCl in the gas product. The toxicity equivalent (TEQ) of PCDD/Fs in IFA decreased dramatically from 0.47 µg/kg to 0.0055 µg/kg after reforming at 500 °C, and it decreased with increasing reforming temperature. Some of the HMs' concentrations in the used IFAs increased, but their leaching capacity all decreased significantly at 800 °C except for Cr. The used IFA at 800 °C (IFA-800) corresponded to the lowest HMs leaching concentrations and could meet the landfill requirements; while the used IFA at 500 °C (IFA-500) corresponded to the maximum carbon deposition of 14.63 wt%, providing the energy source for its melting. Therefore 800 °C was recommended for harmless disposal of IFA, and 500 °C was better for a further melting of IFA., The contamination of pyrolysis liquid caused by inorganic Cl-containing compounds at 500 and 800 °C with much lower levels than the original. This study showed the hazardous properties of IFA can be dampened after interacting with MSW pyrolysis volatiles within the tested temperature range, and provided a good chance for the simultaneous disposal of IFA and recovery of high-quality MSW pyrolysis products.

Development and application of a miniature mass spectrometer with continuous sub-atmospheric pressure interface and integrated ionization source.

For the miniature mass spectrometer (MS) with a continuous atmospheric pressure interface (CAPI), the gas in the multi-stage chambers directly affects the performance of the instrument. In this study, a sealed ionization chamber is designed to couple with a conventional mini CAPI-MS. In this configuration, the gas environment in the first ionization chamber can be flexibly changed to regulate the gas conditions throughout the entire instrument. By studying the effect of gas pressure on the performance of the instrument, we found that the instrument shows some unique advantages when the first ionization chamber is under sub-atmospheric pressure (SAP) conditions, such as reducing the load of the vacuum pump by 40%, achieving pump-free injection for gas and liquid samples, and improving the resolution by a factor of 2 without loss of detection sensitivity. Therefore, we propose a new integrated interface called continuous sub-atmospheric pressure interface (CSAPI) for building a miniature ion trap mass spectrometer. The CSAPI specially integrates sample introduction, gas/ions interface, and ionizations, including electrospray ionization (ESI) and secondary electrospray ionization (SESI), making this system more convenient for non-professional handlers to rapidly identify or monitor target analytes in gaseous- and solution-phase samples. We also use this system to study gas composition to further improve performance, being able to achieve a 5-fold sensitivity and 2-fold resolution improvement. At last, some custom applications of the current CSAPI-MS platform are explored and demonstrated, including real-time monitoring of chemical reactions in solution and long-distance sampling and analysis of dried Chinese herbs. In conclusion, this study provides a new approach to constructing a complete, versatile and practical miniature MS instrument.

Carbon sequestration for high-quality sludge-based carbon preparation via K/Na bi-molten salts pyrolysis.

Pyrolysis carbonization of sewage sludge is employed to achieve carbon sequestration and access carbon resources, while the quality of the obtained sludge-based carbon (SBC) is poor due to high ash contents and volatile organic matter. Here, carbonization in KOH/Na2CO3 (K/Na) bi-molten salts was developed for SBC preparation, improvement of carbon exploitation from biomass, and to reduce the contents of ash and volatile organic matter. The results showed that the surface area and pore volume of SBC under optimized conditions reached 1631 m2 g-1 and 1.312 cm3 g-1 at 700 °C, respectively, with a K/Na bi-molten salts/sludge ratio of 2:1 (K:Na = 5:5). Moreover, over fivefold the higher surface area and 43.61% amount of carbon element could be obtained, with a decrease in the mass loss rate for sludge pyrolysis of 25%. The mechanism behind the higher surface area of the SBC was identified and divided into three stages: intense dehydration and dehydrogenation caused by molten salt-enhanced polycondensation of protein and polysaccharide (200-400 °C), strongly reduced carbon-oxygen structure after deoxygenation reactions (400-600 °C), aromatization and cyclization of long-chain fatty acids triggered by deamidation of tar catalyzed by molten salts (600-900 °C). Eventually, 14.63% carbon was sequestered for the high-surface-area SBC prepared by K/Na bi-molten salts system.

Growth inhibition of Trichophyton rubrum by laser irradiation: exploring further experimental aspects in an in vitro evaluation study.

BACKGROUND: According to the results of the clinical trials, laser therapy is effective for the treatment of onychomycosis, but the in vitro findings are inconsistent among studies. This study aimed to explore the experimental conditions of laser for the inhibition of Trichophyton rubrum growth in vitro. A 1064-nm neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser was used to irradiate colonies using a small (6-mm diameter) or large (13-mm diameter) area, and using 300, 408, or 600 J/cm2. The surface temperature of the colony was measured after irradiation and every 2 min. The growth area was calculated until the 7th or 10th day of incubation daily. RESULTS: For the small area group, at 300 J/cm2, the immediate surface temperature was 25.2 ± 0.2°C, but without effect on growth (P = 0.516). At 408 J/cm2, the immediate surface temperature was 32.0 ± 0.4°C; growth was inhibited for 7 days (P < 0.001). At 600 J/cm2, the immediate surface temperature was 38.1 ± 0.4°C; the growth was completely stopped for at least 10 days (P < 0.001). For the large area group, the temperature patterns were similar to those of the small area group, but the highest temperature was lower than in the small area groups, and no growth inhibition effect was observed (all P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: When the irradiation area is small, a 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser at 408 or 600 J/cm2 can be effective in suppressing T. rubrum growth in vitro.