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The contamination of antibiotics in aqueous environment causes increasing concerns recently. Light-assisted activation of peroxydisulfate (PDS) has been demonstrated as an efficient technology for removal of contamination in water. Herein, a hollow sphere of CuWO4 (h-CuWO4) was employed as a visible light-activated photocatalyst for the activation of PDS, and following with high removal efficiency (98%) of antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX). Under visible light irradiation, the degradation rate on hollow structures system is nearly 2 times higher than the traditional solid CuWO4 spheres. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism and detailed pathway of SMX degradation were proposed based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC–MS). This work provides a new feasible way for advanced oxidation processes to remove antibiotics SMX in heterogeneous system, and open up new application possibilities of CuWO4-based materials.

Solar photocatalysis is a clean and sustainable approach for removing atmospheric NO, but suffers from unsatisfactory removal efficiency. Efficient charge separation and surface reaction are critical factors ensuring the efficiency of solar energy conversion by photocatalysts. To achieve efficient charge steering and an enhanced surface reaction, we synthesized a bicomponent photocatalyst consisting of multivalent Ag species embedded in defect-rich twin-brush ZnO (Ag/TB-ZnO) with strong metal-support interaction (SMSI). The optimum Ag/TB-ZnO with silver loading of 2.0 wt.% achieved NO oxidation efficiency of 71.0% under a GHSV of 1,200,000 mL h−1 g−1, and NO3− selectivity of 94.8%. Outstanding stability of up to 4 h was demonstrated. This superior performance was attributed to the enhanced efficacy of charge separation and surface reaction by the SMSI effect, surface plasmon resonance effect of metallic Ag and the efficient activation of oxygen species through vacancy-rich TB-ZnO.

// Nan Li 1 , Xue Liu 1 , Fushan Zhai 1 , Bing Liu 1 , Xiaohui Cao 1 , Shuyan Li 1 , Minxian Zhang 1 and Ming Liu 1 1 Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China Correspondence to: Ming Liu, email: 13313012920@163.com Keywords: concurrent chemoradiotherapy, acute bone marrow suppression, dose-volume parameters, rectal cancer, pelvic bone marrow Received: July 13, 2017 Accepted: August 27, 2017 Published: October 06, 2017 ABSTRACT Concurrent chemoradiotherapy is one of the main treatments for rectal cancer. Bone marrow suppression is one of the critical factors that affect the progress of radiotherapy. We aimed to explore the association of incidence of acute bone marrow suppression with dose-volume parameters of pelvic bone marrow among rectal cancer patients with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. We retrospectively analyzed 50 rectal cancer patients for multivariate logistic regression analyses. Three subdomains of pelvic bone marrow (PBM), bilateral ilium (IBM), lower pelvis (LPBM), and lumbosacral spine (LSBM) were assigned. The radiation dose-volume parameters from the three subdomains and the whole pelvis were evaluated. Compared to Grade 0-1 leukopenia patients, ≥Grade 2 leukopenia patients exhibited significantly higher levels of IBM V 20 , V 25 , V 35 , mean dose (Dmean), LPBM V 20 , V 25 , V 30 , LSBM V 15 , PBM V 15 , V 20 , and PTV. The PBM V 20 of ≥Grade 2 neutropenia patients was significantly higher than that of Grade 0-1 neutropenia patients. Multivariate analysis have demonstrated that IBM V 20 and LSBM V 15 were the independent factors affecting ≥ Grade 2 leukopenia. There is a correlation between low dose-volume parameters with acute bone marrow suppression. IBM V 20 , LSBM V 15 and PBM V 20 can be employed as the predictors of acute bone marrow suppression.

China made remarkable progress in rural poverty alleviation. A major policy instrument is the County Level Poverty Alleviation Program, which has vast policy support but is also criticized for targeting errors, misuse of funds, and making poverty both shameful and attractive. Whether this program, or the country’s economic growth in general, is the main force in poverty reduction is the question addressed in this article, analyzing data for the 592 poor counties. The response to the economic growth–policy alleviation conundrum is that a push for social wellbeing and empowerment is needed together with economic growth to achieve major poverty improvements.