In five wastewater treatment plants in Xinjiang, China: Removal processes for illicit drugs, their occurrence in receiving river waters, and ecological risk assessment.

Residues of illicit drugs are frequently detected in wastewater, but data on their removal efficiency by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and the ecological risks to the aquatic environment are lacking in this study. The research evaluates the residues, mass load, drug removal efficiency, and risk assessment of illicit drugs in WWTPs and aquatic environments (lakes) in Xinjiang, China. Initially, the concentration (incidence) and mass load of 10 selected illicit drugs were analyzed through wastewater analysis. The detected substances included methamphetamine (METH), morphine (MOR), 3,4-methylenedioxy methamphetamine (MDMA), methadone (MTD), cocaine (COC), benzoylecgonine (BE), ketamine (KET), and codeine (COD), with concentrations ranging from 0.11 ± 0.01 ng/L (methadone) to 48.26 ± 25.05 ng/L (morphine). Notably, morphine (59.74 ± 5.82 g/day) and methamphetamine (41.81 ± 4.91 g/day) contributed significantly to the WWTPs. Next, the drug removal efficiency by different sewage treatment processes was ranked as follows: Anaerobic-Oxic (A/O) combined Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) treatment process > Oxidation ditch treatment process > Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic (A2/O) treatment process > Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic combined Membrane Bio-Reactor treatment process. Finally, the research reviewed the concentration and toxicity assessments of these substances in the aquatic environment (lakes). The results indicated that Lake1 presented a medium risk level concerning the impact of illicit drugs on the aquatic environment, whereas the other lakes exhibited a low risk level. As a result, it is recommended to conduct long-term monitoring and source analysis of illicit drugs, specifically in Lake1, for further investigation. In conclusion, to enhance the understanding of the effects of illicit drugs on the environment, future research should expand the list of target analytes.

Analysis, occurrence, and consumption of substances with abuse potential in Xinjiang, China, from 2021 to 2022.

Understanding the consumption patterns of substances with abuse potential in the population is critical in combating drug crimes in the region. In recent years, wastewater-based drug monitoring has become a complementary tool worldwide. This study aimed to use this approach to understand the long-term consumption patterns of abuse potential substances in Xinjiang, China (2021-2022) and to provide more detailed and practical information on the current system. High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was employed to quantify the levels of abuse potential substances in wastewater. Subsequently, the detection rate and contribution rate of the drug concentrations were evaluated through analysis. Eleven of abuse potential substances were detected in this study. The influent concentrations ranged from (0.48 ng/L) to 133.41 ng/L, with dextrorphan having the highest concentration. The highest detection frequency rates were for morphine (82 %), dextrorphan (59 %), 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol-9-carboxylic acid (43 %), methamphetamine (36 %), and tramadol (24 %). According to a study on wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) removal efficiency, compared to the total removal efficiency in 2021, the total removal efficiency of WWTP1, WWTP3, and WWTP4 increased in 2022, while WWTP2 decreased slightly, and WWTP5 did not change significantly. Upon examination of the use of 18 selected analytes, it was determined that methadone, 3,4-methylenedioxy methamphetamine, ketamine, and cocaine were the primary substances of abuse in the Xinjiang region. This study identified significant abuse substances in Xinjiang and identified research priorities. Future studies should consider expanding the study site to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the consumption patterns of these substances in Xinjiang.

Content level and risk assessment of phthalate esters in surface water of Bosten Lake, China.

Bosten Lake is the main fishing and grazing area in Xinjiang. The pollution of phthalate esters (PAEs) in water has attracted much attention, but limited research has been conducted on PAEs in Bosten Lake. The distribution of PAEs in fifteen sampling sites of surface water in the dry and flood seasons were investigated to explore the content level of PAEs in Bosten Lake, and the risk was evaluated. Seventeen PAEs were detected by GC-MS after liquid-liquid and solid-phase purification. Results showed that the content of ∑PAEs in the water during dry and flood seasons is ND-26.226 µg/L and ND-7.179 µg/L. The content of PAEs in the water of Bosten Lake is at a medium level. DBP and DIBP are the main PAEs. The content of PAEs is related to the physicochemical properties of water, and the physicochemical properties of water in dry season have a more serious impact on PAEs. PAEs in water mainly come from domestic pollution and chemical production. The results of health risk assessment indicate that PAEs in water do not pose a carcinogenic risk or a non carcinogenic risk to human, which can meet the conditions of Bosten Lake as a fishing ground and livestock base, but the pollution of PAEs cannot be ignored.

Illicit drugs and their metabolites in urban wastewater: Analysis, occurrence and consumption in Xinjiang, China.

The use of illicit drugs has increased considerably across the world. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of illicit drugs might help determine the types and quantity of illicit drugs consumed in a region. In this study, WBE was applied to analyze illicit drugs in five representative urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Xinjiang, China. The collected samples were pretreated under optimized solid-phase extraction conditions and then analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The results revealed the presence of 9 of the 11 evaluated drugs; among them, the concentrations of these substances ranged as follows: METH (2.60-10.02 ng/L), MDMA (0.49-6.87 ng/L), MOR (4.53-44.75 ng/L), COD (2.24-8.30 ng/L), MTD (1.36-3.75 ng/L), COC (0.48 ng/L), THC (5.98-18.89 ng/L), BE (1.12-2.45 ng/L) and KET (1.50 ng/L). And an estimate of the per capita consumption revealed morphine (10.2 mg/d/1000inhabitants), cannabis (3.9 mg/d/1000inhabitants), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (3.9 mg/d/1000 inhabitants), and methamphetamine (2.2 mg/d/1000 inhabitants) as the main substances of abuse in Xinjiang, China. The results of this study might be taken as a reference for future studies on the continuous monitoring of such drugs.

Enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline by 16% Er3+-Bi2WO6 photocatalyst.

The widespread use of antibiotics in drug therapy and agriculture has seriously polluted the aquatic environment. Bismuth tungstate (Bi2WO6) is a new and efficient visible-light catalyst that is simple to prepare, non-toxic, stable, and corrosion resistant. Nonetheless, its efficiency has remained limited, and erbium (Er) mixing has been tested to address this. Here, a new Er3+-mixed Bi2WO6 photocatalyst was successfully prepared through the one-step hydrothermal method; pigments were characterized via XRD, SEM, BET, XPS, Uv-vis, PL and EIS. The results showed that the 16% Er3+-Bi2WO6 photocatalyst is a 250 nm flower-like nanosheet with a specific surface area of 67.1 m2/g and bandgap (Eg) of 2.35 eV, which provides the basis for superior performance. When the concentration of the catalyst was 0.4 g/L, 94.58% of the tetracycline (TC) solution (initial concentration of 10 mg/L) degraded within 60 min under visible light irradiation (λ ≥ 420 nm). ESR and LC-MS were used to identify the free radicals and intermediates for the degradation of TC pollutants; a photocatalytic degradation system and pathway were proposed. This solar-driven system will ultimately reduce resource consumption, providing a sustainable and energy-saving environmental decontamination strategy.

Antibiotic residues in cattle and sheep meat and human exposure assessment in southern Xinjiang, China.

In recent years, antibiotics have become widely used in animal breeding. The application of antibiotics in livestock may lead to the presence of antibiotic residues in animal-derived foods, especially meat, that may pose a threat to human health. In this study, 26 common antibiotics (eight sulfonamides, nine fluoroquinolones, four tetracyclines, and five macrolides) were screened in 88 meat samples (cattle muscles and sheep muscles, kidneys, and livers) obtained from southern Xinjiang. The antibiotics were screened via the clean-up step based on solid-phase extraction and determined through ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Moreover, their risk to human health was analyzed. Overall, 16 antibiotics were detected with a total detection rate of 95.46%. The percentage of noncompliant samples was 28.41% with an exceedance maximum residue limit of 1.14%. The illegal use rate of the antibiotic norfloxacin was 27.27%. The estimated daily exposure doses of all compounds in adults were <102.218 ng/kg bw/day even after applying the worst-case scenario approach. This result demonstrated that the antibiotic residues in the tested samples imposed negligible harm to people's health and had an acceptable level of food safety risk. However, the high detection frequencies found in this work indicated that the risk of antibiotic residues could not be ignored given the cumulative risk of antibiotics, particularly the emergence of bacterial resistance, to the human body. The need for effective strategies and publicity for the judicious use of antibiotics to safeguard residents' health is immediate.

Highly efficient photocatalytic performance of BiI/Bi2WO6 for degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride in an aqueous phase.

A series of novel BiI/Bi2WO6 nanosheets was successfully synthesized using a simple and efficient one-step hydrothermal method; the obtained specimens were subsequently characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, Raman spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and electronic impedance spectroscopy testing. The results indicated that the photocatalytic performance of the BiI/Bi2WO6 composites for the degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) from aqueous media under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm) was higher than that of pure Bi2WO6. The 0.8I-BiI/BWO composite (where 0.8 is the I : W molar ratio) presented the best photocatalytic performance of all analyzed specimens, and was able to degrade approximately 90% of the TC in 80 min. In addition, radical-capture experiments have demonstrated that superoxide anion radicals and hydroxyl radicals were the main active species for degrading organic pollutants, and a photocatalytic mechanism for the BiI/Bi2WO6 system was proposed. This study not only provides a method for the simple preparation of BiI/Bi2WO6, but could also present important implications for ecological risk management and prevention against antibiotic pollution.

Physical and chemical mechanism underlying ultrasonically enhanced hydrochloric acid leaching of non-oxidative roasting of bastnaesite.

In this study, we investigated an alternative to the conventional hydrochloric acid leaching of roasted bastnaesite. The studies suggested that the rare earth oxyfluorides in non-oxidatively roasted bastnaesite can be selectively leached only at elevated temperatures Further, the Ce(IV) in oxidatively roasted bastnaesite does not leach readily at low temperatures, and it is difficult to induce it to form a complex with F- ions in order to increase the leaching efficiency. Moreover, it is inevitably reduced to Ce(III) at elevated temperatures. Thus, the ultrasonically-assisted hydrochloric acid leaching of non-oxidatively roasted bastnaesite was studied in detail, including, the effects of several process factors and the, physical and chemical mechanisms underlying the leaching process. The results show that the leaching rate for the ultrasonically assisted process at 55°C (65% rare earth oxides) is almost the same as that for the conventional leaching process at 85°C. Based on the obtained results, it is concluded that ultrasonic cavitation plays a key role in the proposed process, resulting not only in a high shear stress, which damages the solid surface, but also in the formation of hydroxyl radicals (OH) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Standard electrode potential analysis and experimental results indicate that Ce(III) isoxidized by the hydroxyl radicals to Ce(IV), which can be leached with F- ions in the form of a complex, and that the Ce(IV) can subsequently be reduced to Ce(III) by the H2O2. This prevents the Cl- ions in the solution from being oxidized to form chlorine. These results imply that the ultrasonically-assisted process can be used for the leaching of non-oxidatively roasted bastnaesite at low temperatures in the absence of a reductant.

Synthesis of Visible-Light-Responsive Cu and N-Codoped AC/TiO2 Photocatalyst Through Microwave Irradiation.

N-Cu-activated carbon (AC)/TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by the sol-gel technique through microwave irradiation to modify the visible-light response of TiO2. Their structure, surface chemical composition, and optical absorption properties were characterized. The results showed that the codoped particles had a higher surface area and smaller particle size than pure AC/TiO2 and monodoped AC/TiO2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of N-Cu-AC/TiO2 showed that Cu atoms replaced Ti atom sites, whereas N atoms occupied the O atom sites and interstitial sites in the TiO2 lattice, which changed the electric and band-gap structures of the photocatalyst. N or Cu monodoping of AC/TiO2 reduced the energy band gap of TiO2 from 2.86 eV to 2.81 or 2.61 eV, respectively. In (N, Cu)-codoped AC/TiO2, N and Cu were incorporated into the TiO2 framework and narrowed the band gap of TiO2 to 2.47 eV, causing a large red shift and enhancing visible-light utilization efficiency. Photocatalytic activities were further examined by formaldehyde degradation under visible-light irradiation. N-Cu-AC/TiO2 was found to have the highest activity (ca. 94.4 % formaldehyde degradation efficiency) and to be easily recyclable. These results show an important and innovative method of improving AC/TiO2 activity by modifying the nonmetallic and metallic species.

[Follicular Helper T Cells and Expression of PD-1 in Mice with Myelodysplastic Syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the complete blood count, morphological changes, follicular T helper (Tfh) cells and expression of PD-1 in bone marrow and spleen of mice with myelodysplastic syndrome(MDS) and to explore their significance in pathogenesis of MDS. METHODS: The 10 male NUP98-HOXD13 transgenic mice and 10 male homologous wild-type C57BL/6J mice were used for experments. The complete blood count, morphological change of NUP98-HOXD13 transgenic mice and wild-type C57BL/6J were detected by routine methods. The level of Tfh cells and expression of PD-1 in bone marrow and spleen were measured by flow cytometry. The PD-1 mRNA of bone marrow mononuclear cells and spleen cells were analyzed by real-time PCR method. RESULTS: The counts of RBC, neutrophile and platelet in above- mentioned transgenic mice were less than that in wild type C57BL/6J mice. As compared with wild type C57BL/6J mice, the morphology of RBC and platelet in transgenic mice was some abnormal, including bi-nucleated erythrocytes, ringed mucleated neutrophil and erythroblastic islands. The count of Tfh cells in transgenic mice was less than that in wild type mice, but the expression of PD-1 was higher. The expression of BMMNC PD-1 mRNA was obviously higher than that in wild type mice. CONCLUSION: The pancytopenia and dysplasia, decrease of Tfh cells and increase of PD-1 expression have been observed in NUP98-HOXD13 transgenic mice, which may be one of important reasons for promoting malignant clone and leading to impair anti immune respones.

Improvement of a sample preparation method assisted by sodium deoxycholate for mass-spectrometry-based shotgun membrane proteomics.

In current shotgun-proteomics-based biological discovery, the identification of membrane proteins is a challenge. This is especially true for integral membrane proteins due to their highly hydrophobic nature and low abundance. Thus, much effort has been directed at sample preparation strategies such as use of detergents, chaotropes, and organic solvents. We previously described a sample preparation method for shotgun membrane proteomics, the sodium deoxycholate assisted method, which cleverly circumvents many of the challenges associated with traditional sample preparation methods. However, the method is associated with significant sample loss due to the slightly weaker extraction/solubilization ability of sodium deoxycholate when it is used at relatively low concentrations such as 1%. Hence, we present an enhanced sodium deoxycholate sample preparation strategy that first uses a high concentration of sodium deoxycholate (5%) to lyse membranes and extract/solubilize hydrophobic membrane proteins, and then dilutes the detergent to 1% for a more efficient digestion. We then applied the improved method to shotgun analysis of proteins from rat liver membrane enriched fraction. Compared with other representative sample preparation strategies including our previous sodium deoxycholate assisted method, the enhanced sodium deoxycholate method exhibited superior sensitivity, coverage, and reliability for the identification of membrane proteins particularly those with high hydrophobicity and/or multiple transmembrane domains.

Evaluation of the combinative application of SDS and sodium deoxycholate to the LC-MS-based shotgun analysis of membrane proteomes.

SDS and sodium deoxycholate (SDC) as two representative detergents have been widely used in LC-MS/MS-based shotgun analysis of membrane proteomes. However, some inherent disadvantages limit their applications such as interference with MS analysis or their weak ability to disrupt membranes. To address this, the combinative application of SDS and SDC was developed and evaluated in our study, which comprehensively used the strong ability of SDS to lyse membranes and solubilize hydrophobic membrane proteins, and the high efficiencies of an optimized acetone precipitation method and SDC in sample clean-up, protein recovery, and redissolution and digestion of precipitated proteins. The comparative study using a rat-liver-membrane-enriched sample showed that, compared with other three commonly used methods including the filter-aided sample preparation strategy, the combinative method not only increased the identified number of total proteins, membrane proteins, and integral membrane proteins by an average of 19.8, 23.9, and 24.8%, respectively, but also led to the identification of the highest number of matching peptides. All these results demonstrate that the method yielded better recovery and reliability in the identification of the proteins especially highly hydrophobic integral membrane proteins than the other three methods, and thereby has more potential in shotgun membrane proteomics.

Proteomic analysis of the inhibitory effect of epigallocatechin gallate on lipid accumulation in human HepG2 cells.

BACKGROUND: (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), the most abundant catechin found in green tea, effectively reduces body weight and tissue and blood lipid accumulation. To explore the mechanism by which EGCG inhibits cellular lipid accumulation in free fatty acid (FFA) induced HepG2 cell culture, we investigated the proteome change of FFA-induced HepG2 cells exposed to EGCG using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. RESULTS: In this study, 36 protein spots showed a significant change in intensity by more than 1.5-fold from the control group to the FFA group and from the FFA group to the FFA + EGCG group. Among them, 24 spots were excised from gels and identified by LC-MS/MS. In total, 18 proteins were successfully identified. All identified proteins were involved in lipid metabolism, glycometabolism, antioxidant defense, respiration, cytoskeleton organization, signal transduction, DNA repair, mRNA processing, iron storage, or were chaperone proteins. This indicated that these physiological processes may play roles in the mechanism of inhibition of lipid accumulation by EGCG in FFA-induced HepG2 cells. Western blotting analysis was used to verify the expression levels of differentially expressed proteins, which agree with the proteomic results. CONCLUSIONS: From the proteomic analysis, we hypothesized that EGCG reduced cellular lipid accumulation in FFA-induced HepG2 cells through the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) resulting from the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The induction of ROS may be a result of EGCG regulation of the antioxidant defense system. Activation of AMPK shifted some FFA toward oxidation, away from lipid and triglyceride storage, and suppressed hepatic gluconeogenesis. The findings of this study improve our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of inhibition of lipid accumulation by EGCG in HepG2 cells.

The effect of GJB2 and SLC26A4 gene mutations on rehabilitative outcomes in pediatric cochlear implant patients.

To analyze the treatment outcomes in pediatric cochlear implant patients with mutations in GJB2 or SLC26A4 and to determine these mutations' impact on rehabilitative outcomes. The study included 41 children who received unilateral cochlear implantations. Fifteen of these children had GJB2-related deafness, 10 had SLC26A4-related deafness, and 16 had deafness of unknown etiology. Speech perception and language development evaluations, including the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (MAIS), categories of auditory performance (CAP), speech intelligibility rating (SIR) and babbling spurt, were conducted before and after the implantation. Better results for the GJB2 group (vs. the control group) were observed regarding MAIS, CAP and SIR at 24 months after implantation (P < 0.05). The performance of GJB2 group was better than SLC26A4 group, expressed by a significant difference in the variance of CAP and SIR at 24 months postoperatively (P < 0.05). A trend towards earlier babbling spurt onset could be observed for the GJB2 group, intergroup comparison did not reveal any significant difference among the three groups (P > 0.05). The SLC26A4 group performed better than the control group at 12 and 24 months postoperatively, although without a statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). The GJB2 gene mutations had a significantly positive impact on the outcome of cochlear implantation. Patients with SLC26A4-related deafness were shown to benefit from cochlear implantation.

Shotgun analysis of membrane proteomes by an improved SDS-assisted sample preparation method coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Analysis of the membrane proteins, particularly the integral membrane proteins, is limited by the inherent membrane hydrophobicity. Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is one of the most efficient reagents used for the extraction of membrane proteins, but its presence in samples interferes with LC-MS-based proteomic analyses because it affects RP-LC separations and electrospray ionization. In this paper, we present an improved sample preparation strategy based on SDS-assisted digestion and peptide-level SDS-removal using an optimized potassium dodecyl sulfate (KDS) precipitation method (SSDP method) for shotgun analysis of the membrane proteome. This method utilizes a high concentration of SDS (1.0%) to lyse the membranes and to solubilize the hydrophobic membrane proteins, resulting in a more complete protein digestion in the diluted SDS buffer (0.1% SDS), and a high efficiency of SDS removal and peptide recovery by the optimized KDS precipitation for protein identification. The SSDP method provides evidence that proteins can be efficiently digested, and the SDS can be decreased to <0.01% allowing >95% peptide recovery. Compared to other sample preparation methods commonly used in shotgun membrane proteomics, the newly developed method not only increased the identified number of the total proteins, membrane proteins and integral membrane proteins by an average of 33.1%, 37.2% and 40.5%, respectively, but also leading to the identification of highest number of matching peptides. All the results showed that the method yielded better recovery and reliability in the identification of the proteins especially the highly hydrophobic integral membrane proteins, and thus providing a promising tool for the shotgun analysis of membrane proteome.