Au-decorated Ti3C2Tx/porous carbon immunoplatform for ECM1 breast cancer biomarker detection with machine learning computation for predictive accuracy.

Electrochemical immunosensors, surpassing conventional diagnostics, exhibit significant potential for cancer biomarker detection. However, achieving a delicate balance between signal sensitivity and operational stability, especially at the heterostructure interface, is crucial for practical immunosensors. Herein, porous carbon (PC) integration with Ti3C2Tx-MXene (MX) and gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) constructs a versatile immunosensing platform for detecting extracellular matrix protein-1 (ECM1), a breast cancer-associated biomarker. The inclusion of PC provided robust structural support, enhancing electrolytic diffusion with an expansive surface area while synergistically facilitating charge transfer with Ti3C2Tx. The biosensor optimized with 1.0 mg PC demonstrates a robust electrochemical redox response to the surface-bound thionine (th) redox probe, utilizing an inhibition-based strategy for ECM1 detection. The robust antibody-antigen interactions across the PC-integrated Ti3C2Tx-Au NPs platform (MX-Au-C-1) enabled robust ECM1 detection within 0.1-7.5 nM, with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 0.012 nM. The constructed biosensor shows improved operational stability with a 98.6 % current retention over 1 h, surpassing MXene-integrated (MX-Au) and pristine Au NPs (63.2 % and 44.3 %, respectively) electrodes. Moreover, the successful adaptation of the artificial neural network (ANN) model for predictive analysis of the generated DPV data further validates the accuracy of the biosensor, promising its future application in AI-powered remote health monitoring.

A machine learning based depression screening framework using temporal domain features of the electroencephalography signals.

Depression is a serious mental health disorder affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Timely and precise recognition of depression is vital for appropriate mediation and effective treatment. Electroencephalography (EEG) has surfaced as a promising tool for inspecting the neural correlates of depression and therefore, has the potential to contribute to the diagnosis of depression effectively. This study presents an EEG-based mental depressive disorder detection mechanism using a publicly available EEG dataset called Multi-modal Open Dataset for Mental-disorder Analysis (MODMA). This study uses EEG data acquired from 55 participants using 3 electrodes in the resting-state condition. Twelve temporal domain features are extracted from the EEG data by creating a non-overlapping window of 10 seconds, which is presented to a novel feature selection mechanism. The feature selection algorithm selects the optimum chunk of attributes with the highest discriminative power to classify the mental depressive disorders patients and healthy controls. The selected EEG attributes are classified using three different classification algorithms i.e., Best- First (BF) Tree, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and AdaBoost. The highest classification accuracy of 96.36% is achieved using BF-Tree using a feature vector length of 12. The proposed mental depressive classification scheme outperforms the existing state-of-the-art depression classification schemes in terms of the number of electrodes used for EEG recording, feature vector length, and the achieved classification accuracy. The proposed framework could be used in psychiatric settings, providing valuable support to psychiatrists.

Identification of NADPH Oxidase Genes Crucial for Rice Multiple Disease Resistance and Yield Traits.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) act as a group of signaling molecules in rice functioning in regulation of development and stress responses. Respiratory burst oxidase homologues (Rbohs) are key enzymes in generation of ROS. However, the role of the nine Rboh family members was not fully understood in rice multiple disease resistance and yield traits. In this study, we constructed mutants of each Rboh genes and detected their requirement in rice multiple disease resistance and yield traits. Our results revealed that mutations of five Rboh genes (RbohA, RbohB, RbohE, RbohH, and RbohI) lead to compromised rice blast disease resistance in a disease nursery and lab conditions; mutations of five Rbohs (RbohA, RbohB, RbohC, RbohE, and RbohH) result in suppressed rice sheath blight resistance in a disease nursery and lab conditions; mutations of six Rbohs (RbohA, RbohB, RbohC, RbohE, RbohH and RbohI) lead to decreased rice leaf blight resistance in a paddy yard and ROS production induced by PAMPs and pathogen. Moreover, all Rboh genes participate in the regulation of rice yield traits, for all rboh mutants display one or more compromised yield traits, such as panicle number, grain number per panicle, seed setting rate, and grain weight, resulting in reduced yield per plant except rbohb and rbohf. Our results identified the Rboh family members involved in the regulation of rice resistance against multiple pathogens that caused the most serious diseases worldwide and provide theoretical supporting for breeding application of these Rbohs to coordinate rice disease resistance and yield traits.

Broad-spectrum resistance gene RPW8.1 balances immunity and growth via feedback regulation of WRKYs.

Arabidopsis RESISTANCE TO POWDERY MILDEW 8.1 (RPW8.1) is an important tool for engineering broad-spectrum disease resistance against multiple pathogens. Ectopic expression of RPW8.1 leads to enhanced disease resistance with cell death at leaves and compromised plant growth, implying a regulatory mechanism balancing RPW8.1-mediated resistance and growth. Here, we show that RPW8.1 constitutively enhances the expression of transcription factor WRKY51 and activates salicylic acid and ethylene signalling pathways; WRKY51 in turn suppresses RPW8.1 expression, forming a feedback regulation loop. RPW8.1 and WRKY51 are both induced by pathogen infection and pathogen-/microbe-associated molecular patterns. In ectopic expression of RPW8.1 background (R1Y4), overexpression of WRKY51 not only rescues the growth suppression and cell death caused by RPW8.1, but also suppresses RPW8.1-mediated broad-spectrum disease resistance and pattern-triggered immunity. Mechanistically, WRKY51 directly binds to and represses RPW8.1 promoter, thus limiting the expression amplitude of RPW8.1. Moreover, WRKY6, WRKY28 and WRKY41 play a role redundant to WRKY51 in the suppression of RPW8.1 expression and are constitutively upregulated in R1Y4 plants with WRKY51 being knocked out (wrky51 R1Y4) plants. Notably, WRKY51 has no significant effects on disease resistance or plant growth in wild type without RPW8.1, indicating a specific role in RPW8.1-mediated disease resistance. Altogether, our results reveal a regulatory circuit controlling the accumulation of RPW8.1 to an appropriate level to precisely balance growth and disease resistance during pathogen invasion.

Selective stepwise adsorption for enhanced removal of multi-component dissolved organic chemicals from petrochemical wastewater.

The coexistence of multi-component dissolved organic chemicals causes tremendous challenge in purifying petrochemical wastewater, and stepwise selective adsorption holds the most promise for enhanced treatments. This study is designed to enhance the removal of multiple dissolved organic chemicals by stepwise adsorption. Special attention is given to the selective removal mechanisms for the major pollutant N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), the sensitive pollutant fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) and other components. The results indicated that the combination of coal activated carbon and aluminum silica gel produced a synergistic effect and broke the limitation of removing only certain pollutants. Combined removal rates of 80.5 % for the dissolved organic carbon and 86.7 % for the biotoxicity in petrochemical wastewater were obtained with the enhanced two-step adsorption. The adsorption performance of both adsorbents remained stable even after five cycles. The selective adsorption mechanism revealed that hydrophobic organics such as DMF was adsorbed by the macropores of coal activated carbon, while the FDOM was eliminated by π-π stacking, electrostatic interaction and hydrophobic interaction. The hydrophilic organics were removed by the mesopores of aluminum silica gel, the silica hydroxyl groups and hydrophilic interaction. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the selective adsorption mechanism and enhanced stepwise removal of multiple pollutants in petrochemical wastewater, which will guide the deep treatment of complex wastewater.

A classifier model for prostate cancer diagnosis using CNNs and transfer learning with multi-parametric MRI.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major global concern, particularly for men, emphasizing the urgency of early detection to reduce mortality. As the second leading cause of cancer-related male deaths worldwide, precise and efficient diagnostic methods are crucial. Due to high and multiresolution MRI in PCa, computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) methods have emerged to assist radiologists in identifying anomalies. However, the rapid advancement of medical technology has led to the adoption of deep learning methods. These techniques enhance diagnostic efficiency, reduce observer variability, and consistently outperform traditional approaches. Resource constraints that can distinguish whether a cancer is aggressive or not is a significant problem in PCa treatment. This study aims to identify PCa using MRI images by combining deep learning and transfer learning (TL). Researchers have explored numerous CNN-based Deep Learning methods for classifying MRI images related to PCa. In this study, we have developed an approach for the classification of PCa using transfer learning on a limited number of images to achieve high performance and help radiologists instantly identify PCa. The proposed methodology adopts the EfficientNet architecture, pre-trained on the ImageNet dataset, and incorporates three branches for feature extraction from different MRI sequences. The extracted features are then combined, significantly enhancing the model's ability to distinguish MRI images accurately. Our model demonstrated remarkable results in classifying prostate cancer, achieving an accuracy rate of 88.89%. Furthermore, comparative results indicate that our approach achieve higher accuracy than both traditional hand-crafted feature techniques and existing deep learning techniques in PCa classification. The proposed methodology can learn more distinctive features in prostate images and correctly identify cancer.

Chemical association of copper and selenium in coals of Sindh by time saving single step strategy and their impact on groundwater.

The aim of the present study is to estimate the different chemical fractionations of copper (Cu) and selenium (Se) in coal samples of different coal mining areas. The Cu and Se bound to various chemical fractions of coal collected from two mining fields of Sindh, Pakistan, have been determined by BCR sequential extraction scheme (BCR-SES). The long duration of the BCR sequential scheme (51 h) was reduced by a time-saving shaking device (ultrasonic bath) termed as ultrasonic-assisted extraction (USE) depending on the same operating conditions and extracting solutions used for BCR sequential extraction scheme. The both trace elements were determined in aquifer water, sampled from different depth of both coal mining fields. In addition, the groundwater of dug well in the vicinity of coal mining areas were also analyzed for Cu and Se using reported extraction methodologies. The partitioning of Cu and Se bound with different chemical fractions of coal was successfully made by proposed USE, within 2 h as compared to long duration of BCR-SES (51 h). The Cu and Se concentrations in acid-soluble fractions of coal samples were > 10%, enhanced by USE extraction procedure than those values gained via BCR-SES (p < 0.01). About 67 to 69% of Cu were found in the first three fractions, whereas their remaining amount corresponding to 31 to 33%, respectively bound with crystalline/residual fraction, while up to 66.1 to 71.1% of total Se contents extracted in three extractable phases, followed up to 28.9 to 33.8% of it was bound with residual phase. The concentrations of Cu and Se in groundwater of different aquifers were found in decreasing order as AQ1 > AQII > AQIII; the same trend was observed for two aquifers of Lakhra coal mining, whereas the groundwater samples have two to three folds higher levels of Se than WHO limit. The Cu levels in water samples were significantly lower than the recommended limit of WHO for drinking water (p < 0.01).

Comparing Finger-stick Βeta-hydroxybutyrate with Dipstick Urine Tests in the Detection of Ketone Bodies in the Diagnosis of Children with Diabetic Ketoacidosis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the finger-stick ß-hydroxybutyrate (ß-OHB) method accuracy with dipstick urine test for the detection of ketone bodies to diagnose diabetic ketoacidosis in children. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Pediatrics, National Institute of Child Health, Karachi, from March to August 2021. METHODOLOGY: Ninety-six known or newly diagnosed diabetic patients aged 2-15 years with suboptimal glycemic control and diabetic ketoacidosis were included in the study. A urine dipstick test was utilised to evaluate the absence or presence of ketones in the urine. In point-of-care, blood ß-OHB levels were recorded. RESULTS: Among 96 children, with median age of 10 years (IQR=6-11), 11 (11.5%) children had traces of urine ketones, 7 (7.3%) had + urine ketones, 19 (19.8%) had ++ urine ketones, 26 (27.1%) had +++ ketones and 19 (19.8%) had ++++ ketones. In 66 patients (68.75%), capillary blood ketone was observed to be positive by a finger-stick ß-OHB method. The finger-stick ß-OHB method had a higher sensitivity (90.4% vs. 84.9%), specificity (100% vs. 91.3%), and accuracy (92.7% vs. 86.5%) than the dipstick urine test. CONCLUSION: Finger-stick ß-OHB method can serve as a more accurate alternative to the urinary dipstick method for the measurement of ketones and to exclude ketosis and diagnosis of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in hyperglycemic children. KEY WORDS: Diabetes mellitus, Hyperglycemia, Diabetic ketoacidosis, Point-of-care testing, Ketosis, Urine ketones, Acetoacetates.

Blocking miR530 Improves Rice Resistance, Yield, and Maturity.

MicroRNAs fine-tune plant growth and resistance against multiple biotic and abiotic stresses. The trade-off between biomass and resistance can penalize crop yield. In this study, we have shown that rice miR530 regulates blast disease resistance, yield, and growth period. While the overexpression of miR530 results in compromised blast disease resistance, reduced grain yield, and late maturity, blocking miR530 using a target mimic (MIM530) leads to enhanced resistance, increased grain yield, and early maturity. Further study revealed that the accumulation of miR530 was decreased in both leaves and panicles along with the increase of age. Such expression patterns were accordant with the enhanced resistance from seedlings to adult plants, and the grain development from panicle formation to fully-filled seeds. Divergence analysis of miR530 precursor with upstream 1,000-bp promoter sequence in 11 rice species revealed that miR530 was diverse in Oryza sativa japonica and O. sativa indica group, which was consistent with the different accumulation of miR530 in japonica accessions and indica accessions. Altogether, our results indicate that miR530 coordinates rice resistance, yield, and maturity, thus providing a potential regulatory module for breeding programs aiming to improve yield and disease resistance.

Selenium in wastewater can be adsorbed by modified natural zeolite and reused in vegetable growth.

Modified natural zeolites (MNZ) are widely used in pollutant removal, but how to address these MNZ that have adsorbed pollutants must be considered. Selenium is an essential trace element for metabolism and is also a water pollutant. Selenium is adsorbed in the water by MNZ in this study first. Then the Brassica chinensis L. was planted in the soil which contains the MNZ loaded with selenium (MNZ-Se) to explore selenium uptake. MNZ-Se release tests in water and soil were also considered. The results showed the following: (1) The maximum adsorption capacity of MNZ for selenium is 46.90 mg/g. (2) Water release experiments of MNZ-Se showed that regardless of how the pH of the aqueous solution changes, the trend of the release of selenium from MNZ-Se in aqueous solution is not affected and first decreases before stabilizing. (3) Soil release experiments of MNZ-Se showed that the selenium content in the soil increased and reached the concentration in the standard of selenium-rich soil. Addition amount and soil pH value will affect the release ratio. The release ratio of MNZ-Se in the water was higher than that in the soil. (4) With an increase in the soil MNZ-Se content, the selenium content in the soil and B. c increases. Above all, MZN can be a good medium for water pollutant removal and soil improvement.

Comparison of Machine Learning Techniques Based Brain Source Localization Using EEG Signals.

BACKGROUND: The brain is the most complex organ of the human body with millions of connections and activations. The electromagnetic signals are generated inside the brain due to a mental or physical task performed. These signals excite a bunch of neurons within a particular lobe depending upon the nature of the task performed. To localize this activity, certain machine learning (ML) techniques in conjunction with a neuroimaging technique (M/EEG, fMRI, PET) are developed. Different ML techniques are provided in the literature for brain source localization. Among them, the most common are: minimum norm estimation (MNE), low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) and Bayesian framework based multiple sparse priors (MSP). AIMS: In this research work, EEG is used as a neuroimaging technique. METHODS: EEG data is synthetically generated at SNR=5dB. Afterwards, ML techniques are applied to estimate the active sources. Each dataset is run for multiple trials (>40). The performance is analyzed using free energy and localization error as performance indicators. Furthermore, MSP is applied with a variant number of patches to observe the impact of patches on source localization. RESULTS: It is observed that with an increased number of patches, the sources are localized with more precision and accuracy as expressed in terms of free energy and localization error, respectively. CONCLUSION: The patches optimization within the Bayesian Framework produces improved results in terms of free energy and localization error.

Coal fly ash driven zeolites for the adsorptive removal of the ceftazidime drug.

The overall cost and efficiency of an adsorbent material is a major issue in deriving a sorbent into commercial markets. In this study, efforts have been directed to produce adsorption-capable zeolites from the dispensable product of coal power plants, i.e., coal fly ash (CFA). In addition, coal mining water (CW) was used as a direct hydrothermal solvent. The mine water from China's coal mines was used in this experiment to substitute tap water (TP) for synthesizing zeolite from C-type fly ashes with different crystallization temperatures (45 to 95 °C). Here, CW led to the formation of X-type and A-type zeolites of comparable size. Regarding the proper utilization of waste products, i.e., coal fly ash and mine water, the study paves a simple yet extremely cost-effective approach to synthesize workable zeolitic materials for adsorption purposes. The detailed characterization justified the use of CW as a better solvent than TP to prepare zeolites based on their better granular size and fewer carbon impurities. The prepared zeolites were later used as an adsorbent for the trace removal of ceftazidime (CAZ), taken as a model pharmaceutical pollutant. The zeolites prepared using CW realised a higher adsorption capacity of 80 mg g-1 during 20 min of agitation time. The pH, concentration, and external salt effects were also studied to achieve maximum removal efficiency. In general, the proposed approach enables the production of affordable yet efficient zeolite-based adsorbent materials without consuming any toxic and expensive reagents for practical application in environmental remediations.

Influence of Coarse Aggregates and Silica Fume on the Mechanical Properties, Durability, and Microstructure of Concrete.

Globally, concrete is the most widely used construction material. The composition of concrete plays an important role in controlling its overall performance. Concrete is composed of approximately 70%-80% aggregates, by volume. Therefore, it is mandatory to investigate the effect of aggregates on the performance of concrete. For this purpose, this study investigated the effect of three different coarse aggregates on the mechanical properties, durability, and microstructure of concrete. Concrete specimens were made using aggregates obtained from three regions with different mineralogies. The specimens were also made by replacing cement with silica fume. The specimens were analyzed in terms of compressive, flexural, and splitting tensile strengths, chloride penetration, carbonation, mercury intrusion porosimetry, and scanning electron microscopy. The results demonstrate that the specimens made with rougher coarse aggregates and silica fume had enhanced performance in comparison to those made with smoother aggregates.

Effects of Light-Burnt Dolomite Incorporation on the Setting, Strength, and Drying Shrinkage of One-Part Alkali-Activated Slag Cement.

This study investigates the potential of light-burnt dolomite (LBD) as a supplementary cementitious material with ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and Ordinary Portland cement (OPC). In this work, LBD was substituted for up to 20% of GGBFS in sodium sulfate-activated slag systems. The effects of LBD incorporation on the flow, setting time, compressive and flexural strength development, and drying shrinkage were explored with, X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analyses. LBD incorporation resulted in greater strength development of an alkali-activated slag system. The optimum LBD content for strength development was 10%, regardless of ordinary Portland cement content. In addition, LBD decreased the drying shrinkage, accelerated the hydration process, and induced hydrotalcite formation, which can be attributed to the reactive MgO inside LBD.

Prevention of Autogenous Shrinkage in High-Strength Mortars with Saturated Tea Waste Particles.

The purpose of this study was to prevent early age autogenous shrinkage in high-strength mortars with saturated tea waste particles. In general, high strength and high performance concretes are made with low water/binder ratios; hence, they are susceptible to shrink at early ages. This shrinkage occurs due to self-desiccation that leads to autogenous shrinkage. To overcome self-desiccation problems in high-strength cement composites, it is necessary to keep the composites moist for a long time. Pre-saturated porous lightweight aggregates and super absorbent polymers are the most commonly used materials in high-strength cement composites to keep them moist for a long time; however, in this study, porous tea waste particles were used to keep the cement mortars moist. Pre-saturated tea waste particles were used in two different size proportions, making up as much as 3% of the volume of the binder. Moreover, commonly used lightweight aggregate (perlite) was also used to compare the outcomes of specimens made with tea waste particles. Different parameters were observed, such as, flow of fresh mortars, autogenous shrinkage, mechanical strengths and microstructure of specimens. The addition of tea waste and perlite particles in mortars made with Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) as the only binder, showed a reduction in flow, autogenous shrinkage and mechanical strengths, as compared to mixes made with partial addition of silica fume. Although, the use of silica fume improved the mechanical strength of specimens. Moreover, the use of saturated tea waste and perlite particles also improved the microstructure of specimens at an age of 28 days. The results revealed that the saturated tea waste particles have the ability to prevent autogenous shrinkage but they reduce strength of high-strength mortars at early ages.

Growth and development of soybean under changing light environments in relay intercropping system.

BACKGROUND: Maize-soybean relay-intercropping (MSR) is a famous system of crop production in developing countries. However, maize shading under this system directly affects the light quality and intensity of soybean canopy. This is a challenging scenario in which to implement the MSR system, in terms of varieties selection, planting pattern, and crop management since the duration of crop resource utilization clearly differs. METHODS: Therefore, this experiment aimed to elucidate the effect of leaf excising treatments from maize top to fully clarify the needs and balance of light quality and intensity of intercrop-soybean under MSR in field conditions. The effects of different leaf excising treatments (T0, no removal of leaves; T2, removal of two topmost leaves; T4, removal of four topmost leaves; T6, removal of six topmost leaves from maize plants were applied at first-trifoliate stage (V1) of soybean) on photosynthetically active radiation transmittance (PART), red to far-red ratio (R:FR), morphological and photosynthetic characteristics and total biomass production at second-trifoliate stage (V2), fifth-trifoliate stage (V5), and flowering-stage (R1) of soybean were investigated through field experiments for 2-years under MSR. RESULTS: As compared to T0, treatment T6 increased the PART and R:FR ratio at soybean canopy by 77% and 37% (V2), 70% and 34% (V5), and 41% and 36% (R1), respectively. This improved light environment in T6 considerably enhanced the leaf area index, SPAD values and photosynthetic rate of soybean plants by 66%, 25% and 49% at R1, respectively than T0. Similarly, relative to control, T6 also increased the stem diameter (by 29%) but decreased the plant height (by 23%) which in turn significantly increased stem breaking strength (by 87%) by reducing the lodging rate (by 59%) of soybean plants. Overall, under T6, relay-cropped soybean produced 78% of sole soybean seed-yield, and relay-cropped maize produced 81% of sole maize seed-yield. Our findings implied that by maintaining the optimum level of PART (from 60% to 80%) and R:FR ratio (0.9 to 1.1), we can improve morphological and photosynthetic characteristics of soybean plants in MSR. Therefore, more attention should be paid to the light environment when considering the sustainability of MSR via appropriate planting pattern selection.

Effect of Saturated Tea Waste and Perlite Particles on Early Age Hydration of High-Strength Cement Mortars.

The main purpose of this work is to study the effect of saturated black tea waste and perlite on controlling the rapid heat of hydration in high-strength cement mortars at early ages. Tea waste and perlite were investigated as internal curing agents in different mixes. Mortar specimens with two different sizes of tea waste and perlite particles with 1 and 3% by volume of cement were added in different mixes to find their effect on early age hydration. The rising interior temperature, setting times, and strength parameters were evaluated. Results showed that the mix specimens that contained 3% tea waste and perlite particles significantly delayed the hydration process by minimizing internal temperature and extended setting times of different specimens. However, their usage had a slightly adverse impact on compressive and flexural strengths. It was observed that the specimens made with coarser particles of tea waste and perlite were more helpful to control early age rapid hydration than the specimens made with finer particles, whereas the specimens made with finer particles had slightly higher strengths than the specimens made with coarser particles. Hence, the coarser particles are recommended to be used in high-strength mortars to mitigate the early age rapid heat of hydration.

Mechanical Properties and Sulfate Resistance of High Volume Fly Ash Cement Mortars with Air-Cooled Slag as Fine Aggregate and Polypropylene Fibers.

The depletion of natural sand and production of the huge amount of cement in the construction industry are serious threats to the environment, which can be reduced by the utilization of by-products as cement replacement material. In this study, cement was replaced with fly ash up to 45% (by weight). In addition, the natural fine aggregate was replaced with air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregate (here referred to as "slag aggregate") at a level of 50% and 100% (by weight). Polypropylene fiber was also added, at a dosage of 0.25% of binder weight. Mortar specimens were prepared and analyzed using tests for compressive, flexure, and splitting tensile strength, as well as for microhardness, and ultrasonic pulse velocity. In addition, the specimens were exposed to sulfate solution and investigated for changes in length, mass, and compressive strength. Electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis were performed to examine the microstructure and phase changes of mortar specimens exposed to sulfate solution. The results indicate that mortar specimens made with 50% slag aggregate and 0.25 % fiber showed enhanced mechanical properties. The performance of slag aggregate mortars under sulfate attack was improved significantly.

Cadmium and Lead Hazardous Impact Assessment of Pond Fish Species.

The current study aims to assess the concentration of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in five tissues of Cirrhinus mrigala, Labeo rohita, and Catla catla collected from fishponds of Jamshoro and Larkana, Sindh, Pakistan. Meanwhile, the levels of Cd and Pb in feeding materials, water, and sediments of fishponds of both areas were also studied. The daily intake and hazardous impact assessment of Cd and Pb by muscles of three fish species of fishponds of both areas were estimated. The concentration of Cd in tissues of C. mrigala and C. catla of Larkana were higher than that in tissues of same fish species of Jamshoro whilst Pb contents in tissues of fishes of Jamshoro were high (p > 0.05). The feeding materials of fishponds of Larkana were enriched with Cd whilst Pb was high in feeding material of fishponds of Jamshoro. The estimated bioaccumulation factor, average daily intake, and hazardous quotient of Pb were high as compared to Cd in all studied fish species of fishponds of Larkana and Jamshoro. The hazardous quotient of Pb indicated that the local population of both areas might have a potential toxic risk. Graphical abstract ᅟ.

Efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided percutaneous retrograde closure of patent ductus arteriosus / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

@#Objective    To evaluate the efficacy and safety of transcatheter closure of patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) with transthoracic echocardiography (TTE). Methods    From February 2016 to November 2018, 98 patients of pure PDA were selected, including 43 patients of funnel type and 55 patients of tube type. There were 38 males and 60 females at age of 2-48 (9.8±10.4) years. All patients underwent TTE-guided retrograde closure of the PDA through the femoral artery to establish a femoral-abdominal aorta-thoracic aorta-ductus arteriosus-aorta-right ventricle trajectory.Under the guidance of TTE, a suitable closure umbrella was placed through the femoral artery. One month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months after the surgery, the patients received out-patient clinical follow-up. Results    Ninety eight patients were successfully occluded by TTE. The occluder was replaced many times in an adult PDA patient, but finally it was successfully plugged. The operation time was 33.2±5.8 min. The lumbar diameter was 12±6 mm. And the postoperative murmur disappeared. Ultrasound showed no shunt between the aorta and the pulmonary artery, and the postoperative hospital stay was 3-4 days. No shunt signal was found in 1, 3, 6, 12 months follow-up. Left atrial anteroposterior diameter (25.8±6.1 mm vs. 30.6±8.4 mm) and left ventricular end diastolic diameter (38.5±9.1 mm vs. 45.2±11.5 mm) were significantly smaller (P < 0.05). Conclusion    TTE-guided transcatheter closure of PDA via femoral artery is a safe and effective method to avoid the damage of X-ray and contrast medium. The prospect of clinical application is good.