Retrospective analysis of pulmonary cryptococcosis and extrapulmonary cryptococcosis in a chinese tertiary hospital.

Cryptococcosis is an invasive fungal disease with increased morbidity in China over the past two decades. Cryptococci can infect immunocompromised hosts as well as immunocompetent ones. In this study, we reviewed data of 71 inpatients with cryptococcosis at Ningbo First Hospital from May 2010 to May 2020 and compared the clinical profiles of pulmonary cryptococcosis (PC) and extrapulmonary cryptococcosis (EPC). Of 71 patients (38 males, 33 females), 70 were non-HIV. The annual inpatient population increased dramatically, especially in the PC group. PC was confirmed in 77.46% (55/71) of cases by pathology. The rest were EPC including intracranial infection (15.49%, 11/71) and cryptococcemia (7.04%, 5/71). Compared with PC, a larger proportion of EPC patients were found to have immunocompromised conditions judged by predisposing factors (p < 0.01), or detectable humoral or cellular immunodeficiency. Fever and headache were more common in EPC patients (p < 0.001). Patients with EPC had lower serum sodium level (p = 0.041), lower monocyte counts (p = 0.025) and higher C-reactive protein (p = 0.012). In our study, the sensitivity of cryptococcus antigen detection for EPC was 100% regardless of sample type, while serum lateral flow assay (LFA) tested negative in 25% (5/20) of PC. Immunocompromised hosts are more likely to suffer from EPC than PC.

Computer-Aided Design of α-L-Rhamnosidase to Increase the Synthesis Efficiency of Icariside I.

Icariside I, the glycosylation product of icaritin, is a novel effective anti-cancer agent with immunological anti-tumor activity. However, very limited natural icariside I content hinders its direct extraction from plants. Therefore, we employed a computer-aided protein design strategy to improve the catalytic efficiency and substrate specificity of the α-L-rhamnosidase from Thermotoga petrophila DSM 13995, to provide a highly-efficient preparation method. Several beneficial mutants were obtained by expanding the active cavity. The catalytic efficiencies of all mutants were improved 16-200-fold compared with the wild-type TpeRha. The double-point mutant DH was the best mutant and showed the highest catalytic efficiency (k cat /K M : 193.52 s-1 M-1) against icariin, which was a 209.76-fold increase compared with the wild-type TpeRha. Besides, the single-point mutant H570A showed higher substrate specificity than that of the wild-type TpeRha in hydrolysis of different substrates. This study provides enzyme design strategies and principles for the hydrolysis of rhamnosyl natural products.

Impact of Technology Innovation on Air Quality-An Empirical Study on New Energy Vehicles in China.

China's high economic growth has been accompanied by deteriorating air quality in recent decades. This paper aims to explore the relation between technology innovation (defined as the invention patent counts of each region) of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China and air quality. A panel fixed effect model is used to analyze this relation and the mediating effect methods are used to examine the role of the output of NEVs (defined as the annual production quantity of NEVs in each region (unit: thousand)). The results of our study show: (1) the impact of the technology innovation of NEVs on air quality is positive and statistically significant; (2) the mediating role of the output of NEVs is confirmed in the relation between NEVs innovation and air quality improvement; (3) the technology innovation of NEVs has a more notable impact on the air quality in the regions with higher vehicle and vessel tax (VVT). The present study implicates for the first time that the technology innovation of NEVs can enhance air quality with the mediating role of the output of NEVs and the moderating role of VVT.

0D/2D Heterojunctions of Ti3C2 MXene QDs/SiC as an Efficient and Robust Photocatalyst for Boosting the Visible Photocatalytic NO Pollutant Removal Ability.

In this work, a novel heterojunction catalyst was constructed by introducing Ti3C2 MXene quantum dots (QDs) into SiC. The Ti3C2 MXene QDs/SiC composite showed 74.6% efficiency in NO pollutant removal under visible light irradiation, which is 3.1 and 3.7 times higher than those of the bare Ti3C2 MXene quantum dots and SiC, respectively. The Ti3C2 MXene quantum dots existing in SiC can function as a channel for electron and hole transfer. The enhanced visible light absorption, increased superoxide radical, and strong oxidization ability endow the Ti3C2 MXene QDs/SiC composite with a superior photocatalytic performance for NOx removal. The increased superoxide radical formation and enhanced oxidization ability of Ti3C2 MXene QDs/SiC were demonstrated by theoretical calculations. The robust stability in both photocatalytic performance and crystal structures was revealed in the Ti3C2 MXene QDs/SiC composite using the cycling test, transient photocurrent response, XRD, and TG.

MIL-100(Fe)/Ti3C2 MXene as a Schottky Catalyst with Enhanced Photocatalytic Oxidation for Nitrogen Fixation Activities.

A new microporous MIL-100(Fe)/Ti3C2 MXene composite was constructed as a non-noble metal-based Schottky junction photocatalyst with improved nitrogen fixation ability. Ti3C2 MXene nanosheets exhibited excellent metal conductivity and were employed as two-dimensional support to optimize the composite's energy band structure. MIL-100(Fe) with a large specific surface area was used as an adsorbent and a photocatalytic oxidation center. The MIL-100(Fe)/Ti3C2 MXene composite not only exhibited higher thermal stability but also showed significantly increased nitrogen fixation activity under visible light. The NO conversion rate of the composite catalyst was about four and three times higher than that of the pure Ti3C2 MXene and the pure MIL-100(Fe) samples, respectively. Although adsorption plays an important role in the nitrogen fixation process, the synergistic effects of the Schottky junctions are the main cause of the enhanced photocatalytic activity. The built-in electric field can be generated to form charge-transfer channels, which help to achieve a desirable photocatalytic activity.