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Parameters of peripheral blood cell have been shown as the potential predictors of erectile dysfunction (ED). To investigate the clinical significance of hematological parameters for predicting the risk of rapid ejaculation, we established a rat copulatory model on the basis of ejaculation distribution theory. Blood samples from different ejaculatory groups were collected for peripheral blood cell counts and serum serotonin (5-HT) tests. Meanwhile, the relationship between hematological parameters and ejaculatory behaviors was assessed. Final analysis included 11 rapid ejaculators, 10 normal ejaculators, and 10 sluggish ejaculators whose complete data were available. The platelet (PLT) count in rapid ejaculators was significantly lower than that in normal and sluggish ejaculators, whereas the platelet distribution width (PDW) and mean platelet volume (MPV) were significantly greater in rapid ejaculators. Multivariate logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the PLT was an independent protective factor for rapid ejaculation. Meanwhile, rapid ejaculators were found to have the lowest serum 5-HT compared to normal and sluggish ejaculators (P < 0.001). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the PLT and serum 5-HT (r = 0.662, P < 0.001), indicating that the PLT could indirectly reflect the serum 5-HT concentration. In addition, we assessed the association between the PLT and ejaculatory parameters. There was a negative correlation between ejaculation frequency (EF) and the PLT (r = −0.595, P < 0.001), whereas there was a positive correlation between ejaculation latency (EL) and the PLT (r = 0.740, P < 0.001). This study indicated that the PLT might be a useful and convenient diagnostic marker for predicting the risk of rapid ejaculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Many studies have shown that the functional adaptation of immigrants to high-altitude is closely related to oxygen transport, inflammatory response and autonomic nervous system. However, it remains unclear how human attention changes in response to hypoxia-induced neurophysiological activity during high-altitude exposure. Methods: In the present study, we analyzed the relationship between hypoxic-induced neurophysiological responses and attention networks in 116 immigrants (3,680 m) using an attention network test to simultaneously record electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram in combination with specific routine blood markers. Results: Our analysis revealed that red blood cells exert an indirect influence on the three attention networks, mediated through inflammatory processes and heart rate variability. Discussion: The present study provides experimental evidence for the role of a neuroimmune pathway in determining human attention performance at high- altitude. Our findings have implications for understanding the complex interactions between physiological and neurocognitive processes in immigrants adapting to hypoxic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) impair vascular physiology in Diabetes mellitus (DM). However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Vascular large conductance calcium-activated potassium (BK) channels play important roles in coronary arterial function. Purpose: Our study aimed to investigate the regulatory role of AGEs in BK channels. Research Design: Using gavage of vehicle (V, normal saline) or aminoguanidine (A) for 8 weeks, normal and diabetic rats were divided into four groups: C+V group, DM+V group, C+A group, and DM+A group. Study Sample: Coronary arteries from different groups of rats and human coronary smooth muscle cells were used in this study. Data Collection and Analysis: Data were presented as mean ± SEM (standard error of mean). Student's t-test was used to compare data between two groups. One-way ANOVA with post-hoc LSD analysis was used to compare data between multiple groups. Results: Compared to the C+V group, vascular contraction induced by iberiotoxin (IBTX), a BK channel inhibitor, was impaired, and BK channel densities decreased in the DM+V group. However, aminoguanidine administration reduced the impairment. Protein expression of BK-β1, phosphorylation of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and protein kinase B (PKB or Akt) were down-regulated, while F-box protein 32 (FBXO32) expression increased in the DM+V group and in high glucose (HG) cultured human coronary smooth muscle cells. Treatment with aminoguanidine in vitro and in vivo could reverse the above protein expression. The effect of aminoguanidine on the improvement of BK channel function by inhibiting the generation of AGEs was reversed by adding MK2206 (Akt inhibitor) or Compound C (AMPK inhibitor) in HG conditions in vitro. Conclusions: AGEs aggravate BK channel dysfunction via the AMPK/Akt/FBXO32 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growth and expansion of Cryptomeria japonica (Thunb. ex L. f.) D. Don in karst area strongly affects plant composition of native deciduous broad-leaved forest, which seriously threat ecosystem function and service. Given the importance of soil microorganisms in regulating nutrients cycling and plant species coexistence, understanding soil microbial attributes and their relationships with soil and vegetation features in forests harboring different C. japonica abundance will help understanding the drivers of ecosystem function changes. Here we examined the diversity and composition of soil bacterial and fungal communities and their correlations with plant diversity as well as soil physicochemical properties in karst broad-leaved forests with different relative abundances of C. japonica (i.e., a high, moderate, low and no proportion level with a stem density of 1,487, 538, 156 and 0 plant/hm2, respectively) in Mid-Subtropical China. We found that soil pH decreased while soil water content (SWC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and total potassium (TK) tended to increase with the increase in C. japonica abundance. In contrast, soil available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP) and available potassium (AK) content declined by 26.1%-49.3% under the high level of C. japonica abundance. A gradual decrease in relative abundance of Acidobacteria and Chloroflexi while a pronounced increase in relative abundance of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were observed with increase of C. japonica abundance. Alternations in bacterial composition were closely related to changes in AP and AK, while the change of fungal structure was mainly related to SWC, soil organic carbon (SOC) and pH, indicating that bacterial community was sensitive to declines in soil available nutrients and fungal structure was sensitive to changes in soil physicochemical properties (i.e., pH and SWC) and organic carbon resource. Understory plants had the highest κ-diversity in forest containing moderate abundance of C. japonica, which might be related to the high bacterial diversity. Our findings suggest conservation of soil bacterial and fungal taxa that are responsible for nutrients availability and carbon sequestration is of great significance for improving the resistance of natural deciduous broad-leaved forests to the rapid spread of C. japonica in karst areas. Moreover, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Ascomycota and Basidiomycota are potential indicators for soil properties changes, which should be taken into consideration in karst forest managements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil fungi have important effects on plant performance and nutrient cycling. To understand the dynamics of the soil fungal community and their response to changes in understory plants and soil properties after afforestation, we investigated a cropland site (CL) and three Pinus tabulaeformis plantation sites with different ages (15, 30, and 45 yr) in the Ziwuling Mountains, Loess Plateau, China. Afforestation increased the soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), NO3- -N, and NH4+ -N contents but decreased the available phosphorus (AP). The biomass and diversity of plants decreased in the herb layer with plantation age, and the biomass of plants increased in the shrub layer. Compared with cropland, the soil fungal diversity indices decreased significantly after afforestation. The soil fungal communities were dominated by Ascomycetes in CL and the 15-year-old plantation, whereas Basidiomycota dominated in the 30- and 45-year-old sites. Correlation analysis showed that the understory vegetation influenced the richness indices more than the diversity indices for the soil fungal community, and herb layer plants had stronger effects on the core soil fungal communities than the shrub layer plants. Soil organic carbon, TN, AP, C:P ratio, and N:P ratio were significantly correlated with the soil fungal communities. Moreover, the C:P ratio and N:P ratio increased as the forest age increased, thereby indicating that P was a crucial influence factor that affected the development of the soil fungal community in P. tabulaeformis plantations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new sensor | transverse electric (TE) polarized excite surface plasmon resonance (SPR) fiber optic biosensor is proposed. The graphene is the plasma layer. The transfer matrix method and the finite difference time domain method are applied to conduct the numerical simulation of the four layers (fiber core/photonic crystals/graphene/sample) of fiber optic biosensor. The results show that the relationship between refractive index and resonant wavelength is linear and the sensitivity of the fiber optic biosensor reaches 1942 nm/RIU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrification activities and microbial populations of ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were investigated in 10 full-scale biological nutrient removal wastewater treatment plants in Xi'an, China. Aerobic batch tests were used to determine the nitrifying activities while fluorescence in situ hybridization was used to quantify the fractions of AOB and NOB in the activated sludge. The results showed that nitrifying bacteria accounted for 1-10% of the total population. Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira were the dominant bacteria for AOB and NOB respectively. Moreover, the average percentage of AOB was 1.27% and that of NOB was 4.02%. The numerical ratios of NOB/AOB varied between 1.72 and 5.87. The average ammonium uptake rate and nitrite uptake rate were 3.25 ± 0.52 mg (NH -N)/g(VSS) h and 4.49 ± 0.49 mg (NO -N)/g(VSS) h, respectively. Correspondingly, the activity of NOB was 1.08-2.00 times higher than that of AOB. Thus, NOB was the dominating bacteria in nitrifying communities. The year-round data of Dianzicun (W6) also expressed a similar trend. Since NOB had higher activities than that of AOB, a large nitrite oxidation pool could be formed, which guaranteed that no nitrite would be accumulated. Therefore, stable nitrification could be achieved. A conceptual model was proposed to describe the population variation of AOB and NOB in a nitrifying community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study characterized the nitrification in a reclaimed water distribution system (DS) and the population size of ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) distributed along the flow course by a series of mixed reactors. The series reactors were initially adopted to study the DS of the reclaimed water and can be used as a feasible method for a similar investigation. This method was easy to model, control, and sample the biofilm formed in the DS. The series reactors were assembled in the Qingyuan Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Company of Xi'an, where the finished water was drawn directly. A mean of 85.0% NH4+-N removal was obtained during a continuous operation of 239 days, when the influent concentration of NH4+-N was 5.21 mg/L on average. The measurement of inorganic nitrogen and nitrification rate along the flow course indicated high activities of the nitrifiers that mainly existed at the initial segment of DS, whereas the pH value and dissolved oxygen concentration decreased. The analysis of the fluorescence in situ hybridization exhibited that the population of the nitrifiers was the highest (an average of 14.33-41.75%) of all bacteria in the biofilm. The dominating species of AOB were Nitrosospira, which presented an increasing trend along the DS course. The dominant shift of NOB, from Nitrobacter to Nitrospira, along the DS may be attributed to the variance of the nutrient condition. This shift confirmed the K/r hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the diagnosis of acidification and efficient recovery of a laboratory-scale anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) which treats synthetic glucose wastewater under mesophilic conditions (35°C). The diagnosis of the ASBR showed that acidification occurred on the seventh day after adding 20 mmol/L of sodium 2-bromoethanesulfonate into the reactor. A three-step recovery strategy was employed to recover the acidified reactor efficiently and to study its restoration process. Results indicated that the acidified ASBR can be revived in approximately 50 d. The specific methanogenic activities of the sludge, which were based on the substrate of acetate, propionate, and butyrate, were restored at 0.85, 0.67, and 0.51 (gCOD-CH4)/(gVSS∙d), respectively. The fluorescent observation images revealed large amounts of Methanosarcina-like and rod-shaped methanogens distributed in the sludge flocs after reactor restoration, thus ensuring that the fermentative, acidogenic, and methanogenic processes proceeded effectively in the anaerobic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uncontrolled release of nutrients from waste sludge results in nitrogen and phosphorus overloading in wastewater treatment plants when supernatant is returned to the inlet. A controlled release, recovery and removal of nutrient from the waste sludge of a Biological Nutrient Removal system (BNR) are investigated. Results showed that the supernatant was of high mineral salt, high electrical conductivity and poor biodegradability, in addition to high nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations after the waste sludge was hydrolysed through sodium dodecyl sulphate addition. Subsequently, over 91.8% of phosphorus and 10.5% of nitrogen in the supernatants were extracted by the crystallization method under the conditions of 9.5 pH and 400 rpm. The precipitate was mainly struvite according to X-ray diffraction and morphological examination. A multistage anoxic–oxic Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) was then adopted to remove the residual carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in the supernatant. The MBBR exhibited good performance in simultaneously removing carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus under a short aeration time, which accounted for 31.25% of a cycle. Fluorescencein situhybridization analysis demonstrated that nitrifiers presented mainly in floc, although higher extracellular polymeric substance content, especially DNA, appeared in the biofilm. Thus, a combination of hydrolysis and precipitation, followed by the MBBR, can complete the nutrient release from the waste sludge of a BNR system, recovers nutrients from the hydrolysed liquor and removes nutrients from leftovers effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]