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In this study, polypyrrole was prepared by in situ chemical oxidation polymerization and deposited on the surface of the PTFE membrane. The surface morphology of the membrane shown that the membrane fouling degree of the modified membrane was much lower than that of the original membrane. Besides, the contact angle value decreased from 107.20° to 72.62°, and its hydrophilicity was significantly enhanced. It took humic acid (HA) as a typical representative membrane foulants, and static and dynamic HA adsorption experiments were carried out on the membranes before and after modification. In the static adsorption experiment of HA, the adsorption capacity of an original membrane was 1.28 times that of a modified membrane. In the dynamic antifouling experiment of HA, the rejection of the modified membrane to HA was 62.99%, while that of the original membrane was only 39.82%. In addition, the experimental results showed that the modified membrane had a higher flux recovery rate, which was 1.18 times that of the original membrane. This study proves that the modified membrane has an extraordinary antifouling effect.

Sheep birth and weaning weights indicate their growth and survival. Thus, identifying molecular genetic markers for early body weight is important in sheep breeding. Pleomorphic adenoma gene 1 (PLAG1) is important for regulating birth weight and body length in mammals; however, its relationship with sheep body weight remains unknown. Here, the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of the Hu sheep PLAG1 gene was cloned, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were screened, genotype–early body weight relationships were analyzed, and the possible molecular mechanism was explored. PLAG1 3′-UTR sequences with five forms of base sequences plus poly(A) tails were detected in Hu sheep and the g.8795C>T mutation was identified. Luciferase reporter assay indicated that the g.8795C>T mutation influenced PLAG1 post-transcriptional activity. miRBase prediction showed that the g.8795C>T mutation was located in the miR-139 seed sequence binding region, and miR-139 overexpression significantly decreased both PLAG1-CC and PLAG1-TT activities. Moreover, the luciferase activity of PLAG1-CC was significantly lower than that of the PLAG1-TT, but miR-139 inhibition substantially increased both PLAG1-CC and PLAG1-TT luciferase activities, suggesting that PLAG1 is the target gene of miR-139. Thus, the g.8795C>T mutation upregulates PLAG1 expression by weakening its binding with miR-139, promoting PLAG1 expression, and increasing Hu sheep birth and weaning weights.

The psychological well-being of pregnant women following assisted reproductive has increasingly gained attention in recent years. Anxiety and depression may be associated to pregnancy outcomes. This study aims to determine whether peer support and the WeChat group platform will reduce anxiety and depression among in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) women.In the present randomized controlled study, 296 patients with confirmed clinical pregnancy following IVF-ET will be randomly assigned to receive standard intervention support or WeChat peer support on a 1:1 basis. The levels of anxiety and depression are the primary endpoints. Assessments will be performed at baseline measurements, first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester, and data will be collected.This study has been approved as ethical by the affiliated hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Reproductive Ethics Committee. Each patient will sign a written statement of informed permission. All information and biological samples will be legally protected. A peer-reviewed academic journal will publish the findings of this investigation.Given the inconvenience of visits due to the current pandemic of COVID-19, this study addresses the patient's visit needs by combining WeChat, the most widely used social software in China, with peer support, while helping improve maternal anxiety, depression, and pregnancy outcomes following IVF-ET.

In the water environment such as lakes, there is a phenomenon that the sediment and overlying water are polluted at the same time. In this study, A microbial electrochemical system with an embedded active electrode was developed for simultaneous removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediment and antibiotics in overlying water by in-situ utilization of electrons. In the closed-circuit group, the pyrene concentration in sediment decreased from 9.94 to 2.08 mg/L in 96 d, and the sulfamethoxazole concentration in water decreased from 5.12 to 1.12 mg/L in 168 h. These values were 18.71 % and 31.21 % higher, respectively, than those of the open-circuit group. The pyrene degradation pathway may be from polycyclic aromatic substances to low-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons via successive breakdown of benzene rings. Multiple metabolites produced by reduction verified that SMX or its intermediates were reductively degraded in water. On the active electrode, the relative abundances of Acetobacterium and Piscinibacter, which were genera related to SMX degradation, was promoted, while the electricity-producing genus Pseudomonas was inhibited. ccdA, pksS, torC, and acsE genes related to extracellular electron transport may accelerate electron transport. Electrons could be transferred to SMX under the influence of proteins involved in extracellular electron transport, and SMX could be degraded reductively as an electron acceptor by microbes. Generation of electrons and in-situ utilization for simultaneous removal of solid-liquid two-phase pollutants will provide mechanistic insight into pollutant biodegradation by microbial electrochemistry and promote the development of sustainable bioremediation strategies for surface water.

In recent years, soil microbial fuel cells (Soil-MFCs) have attracted attention due to their simultaneous electricity production and contaminant removal functions, but soil electron transfer resistance limits their contaminant removal effectiveness. To overcome the above-mentioned drawbacks, in this study, a dual-chamber Soil-MFC was constructed using atrazine (ATR) as the target contaminant, and the electrochemical performance of Soil-MFC and ATR removal were enhanced by semiconductor mineral addition. Analysis of atrazine was performed in soil using HPLC and GC-MS, and analysis of metallic minerals using XPS. Anodic microorganisms were determined using high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that the addition of Fe3O4 increased the maximum output voltage of the device by 2.56 times, and the degradation efficiency of atrazine in the soil to 63.35%, while the addition of MnO2 increased the internal resistance of the device and affected the current output, and these changes were closely related to the ion dissolution rate of the semiconductor minerals. In addition, the addition of both minerals significantly increased the relative abundance of both Proteobacteria and Bacteroidota, and Fe3O4 simultaneously promoted the significant enrichment of Firmicutes, indicating that the semiconductor minerals significantly enhanced the enrichment of electroactive microorganisms near the anode. The structural equation modeling indicated that the semiconductor minerals achieved efficient degradation of ATR in the soil through a synergistic mechanism of metal ion leaching and microbial community structure changes. The detection of ATR and its degradation products in soil revealed that the degradation of ATR mainly included: (1) hydrolysis of atrazine by microorganisms to generate dehydroxylated atrazine (HYA); (2) reduced to diethyl atrazine (DEA) and diisopropyl atrazine (DIA) by extracellular electron reduction and re-dechlorination and hydrolysis to HYA. Semiconductor minerals make an important contribution to promoting microbial activity and extracellular electron reduction processes. The results of this study strengthen the power production and ATR removal efficiency of the Soil-MFC system and provide important theoretical support for the on-site removal of organic pollutants and the sustainable application of converting biomass energy into electricity.

Objective The aim of this study was to compare whether pregnancy outcomes of the letrozole-induced endometrial preparation protocol in frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles differed between oligo-ovulatory and anovulatory women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).Materials and Methods In a retrospective study, women with PCOS who had undergone letrozole-induced FET at a university-affiliated fertility clinic from February 2014 to October 2020 were identified. The primary end point was live birth rate (LBR) per embryo transfer. Propensity score matching (PSM) and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to control for the relevant confounders.Results A total of 652 women with PCOS undergoing letrozole-induced FET were included in the final analysis. 363 of these women had oligo-ovulatory periods, while 289 had anovulatory periods. PSM analysis showed that LBR did not differ between groups (36.8% in oligo-ovulatory group vs. 32.8% in anovulatory group, P=0.431). Meanwhile, after PSM, the anovulatory group used extra gonadotrophin (Gn) for a longer duration (6.5±2.3 vs. 5.4±1.9, p=0.004, after PSM) and experienced a higher cycle cancellation rate (9.2% vs. 3.4%, p=0.028, after PSM) than the oligo-ovulatory group. Additionally, there were significantly lower crude odds of total pregnancy loss per positive pregnancy among oligo-ovulatory women than among anovulatory women (15.4% vs. 38.3%, p=0.001). Nevertheless, after controlling for potential confounding factors, LBR was significantly higher in anovulatory than oligo-ovulatory women [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.57, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08 to 2.29, p=0.018]. Furthermore, the pregnancy loss rate (PLR) among the oligo-ovulatory group remained lower than those among the anovulatory group [aOR 0.23, 95%CI 0.12 to 0.44, p < 0.001].Conclusions PCOS women may experience different effects on pregnancy outcomes depending on their ovulation dysfunction patterns. Despite adjustment for confounding factors, those with oligo-ovulatory PCOS who underwent letrozole-induced FET had a higher LBR and lower PLR compared with those with anovulatory PCOS. This may indicate that when oligo-ovulation is detected, PCOS patients should be intervened in time to conceive as soon as possible. Prospective studies must be conducted in the future to verify our findings.

The clinicopathological features of 32 patients (17 females and 15 males) with a median age of 8 years (range, 1.5-21 years) from Southwestern China diagnosed with hydroa vacciniforme-like lymphoproliferative disorder (HVLPD) were reviewed. At presentation, 6 patients showed only skin lesions, while 26 patients showed both skin lesions and systemic symptoms, including fever, lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly. As the disease progressed, systemic symptoms occurred in all patients. Follow-up data of 29 patients showed that 14 patients were still alive with disease with a median follow-up time of 22 months (range 3.6-71 months), and 15 patients died within a median follow-up of 6 months (range 0-60 months).

Psychological mediators underlie many entrepreneurship phenomena. Unfolding psychological mechanisms enhances our understanding of theoretical relationships in entrepreneurship. This paper first reviews the current state of entrepreneurship studies examining psychological mediators and identifies the hurdles that push researchers away from employing randomized experiments to unfold the causal relationships underlying mediation. To alleviate these hurdles, we then propose parsimonious yet rigorous experimental designs that make experiments testing psychological mediators in entrepreneurship feasible and cost efficient. In addition, when manipulating the mediator is not feasible, we theorize and identify two remedies a single experiment can use to examine the causal chain underlying mediation.

A coupled system consisting of a double-anode microbial fuel cell (MFC) unit and a biofilm electrode reactor (BER) has been applied to degrade the azo dye reactive brilliant red X-3B. In this system, the MFC effluent was used as the input of the BER. The MFC preliminarily degraded X-3B while generating electricity, and the BER obtained electrons from the MFC through the external circuit to continue degrading pollutants without the need for an external power supply. The X-3B removal efficiency was 41.93% higher in the coupled system than the control when the X-3B concentration was 3000 mg/L. The analysis of intermediate products showed that the azo bond of X-3B broke in the MFC, generating a large number of complex intermediates such as anthraquinones, which were further degraded into simple organic compounds in the BER. Meanwhile, the abundance of microbial taxa related to the degradation of refractory organics in the MFC was high, as was that of microbial taxa related to the degradation of simple organics in the BER. Furthermore, the abundance of microorganisms related to power generation in the MFC increased. These results provided an efficient strategy for improving electron utilization efficiency in the coupling system of bioelectrochemical system.

UNSTRUCTURED Abstract Purpose: To describe the clinical characteristics of Chinese patients with immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis. Experimental Design: searches were made in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CNKI. Articles (interventional and non-interventional) that reported Chinese patients with AL Amyloidosis were included in this study. The included characteristics were age, gender, λ type or κ type, body mass index (BMI), the time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis, Mayo cardiac staging, primary or secondary, organ involvement etc. Results: Sixty-seven articles reporting 5022 patients were included. The weighted average age of Chinese patients with AL amyloidosis was 57 years, and 61.2% of patients were males. 80.0%, 14.1% and 5.9% of patients were λ type, κ type and type unclear, respectively. The mean BMI was 22.82 ± 3.24 kg/m2. The time range from onset of symptoms to diagnosis was between 6 and 12 months. The proportion of patients at Mayo (2004) stage I, Ⅱ and Ⅲ was 24.6%, 34.3% and 41.1% (respectively). The proportion of patients at Mayo (2012) stage I, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ was 33.6%, 24.7%, 25.2% and 16.6% (respectively). 31.3% of patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) grade III-IV. 20.1% of patients were AL amyloidosis with concurrent multiple myeloma. 79.3% of patients were categorized as having more than one organ involvement. The involvement of the kidney, heart, skin/soft tissue and digestive system accounted for 84.3%, 62.5%, 41.5%, and 34.4% of patients, respectively. Conclusions: This scoping review suggests that most patients with AL amyloidosis were at an advanced stage when diagnosed in China. Epidemiological studies with a larger sample size are needed to comprehensively investigate the AL amyloidosis patients’ characteristics in the Chinese population.

Home and community-based services (HCBS) are critical to support our rapidly growing and aging population around the world. This paper takes initial steps to compare HCBS between the USA and Taiwan from four perspectives: funding sources, service types, challenges, and recommendations. Peer-reviewed articles and governmental reports (both English and Chinese) in the U.S.A. and Taiwan were reviewed. Analyses showed both countries mainly use tax dollars to fund HCBS. Although both countries have similar service categories, USA lack a clear organization scheme whereas Taiwan has detailed and clear services provisions. Workforce quality and shortage were common challenges for both countries, especially from culture perceptive. Recommendations for USA include expanded funding pool, better coordination between agencies, and rebalancing HCBS and institutional care with limited budget. Recommendations for Taiwan include expanded service coverage and quality to reduce disparity in rural areas, and providing more support for informal caregivers.

This study constructed sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) removal in contaminated aquaculture sediment. Starch, a waste deposited in aquaculture sediment, was employed as the co-substrate for electricity generation and PAHs removal, and the effect of starch-derived organic acids on SMFC performance was assessed. The results indicated that sufficient starch promoted PAHs removal (69.9% for naphthalene, 55.6% for acenaphthene, and 46.8% for pyrene) in dual-chamber SMFC, whereas excessive starch attenuated SMFC performance because the organic acids accumulation reduced anode pH, decreased species diversity, and changed the microbial communities. The electricity generation and PAHs removal were positively correlated (R 0.96), and both of them were related to Macellibacteroides belonging to Bacteroidetes. However, a larger single-chamber SMFC device did not obtain enhanced PAHs removal owing to the restricted "effective range" of the anode. Hence, more challenges need to be addressed to realize the practical application of SMFC.

As a branch of intercalation type niobium-based anodes for lithium-ion batteries, Nb26Mo4O77 samples are synthesized by hydrothermal and solid-state method, respectively, while the structure and lithium-ion storage characteristics are studied in depth. Nb26Mo4O77 belongs to a monoclinic phase with ordered intergrowth ReO3 structure, which is constructed by a mixture of (Nb/Mo)O6 octahedra blocks of 3 × 4 × ∞ and 4 × 4 × ∞ occurring in alternate sequence and linked by MoO4 tetrahedra, favoring to the structural stability during the rapid lithium-ion deintercalation. Compared to agglomerated Nb26Mo4O77 microparticles synthesized via solid-state process, rod-like nanoparticles synthesized by hydrothermal method with the high specific surface area and reaction reactivity exhibit an improved initial coulombic efficiency (89.3%), notable cyclability (203 mAh g−1 after 503 cycles at 0.5 C), significant intercalation pseudocapacitive contribution (82.2% at 0.9 mV s−1) and increased rate capability (107 mAh g−1 at 10 C). These results provide some new supplements for the improvement of niobium-based anodes.

Nitrate (NO3−) in wastewater is a rising global threat to ecological and health safety. A sufficient carbon source, as the electron donor, is essential in the conventional biological denitrification process. It is not appropriate to add extra carbon sources into specific water bodies in terms of material cost and secondary pollution. Thus, innovative NO3− removal technologies that are independent of carbon sources, are urgently needed. This study constructed sediment microbial fuel cells (SMFCs) for aerobic denitrification in low-organic matter wastewater and explored the key factors affecting denitrification efficiencies. The SMFC treatments removed 72–91% NO3− through two main denitrifying stages which were driven by carbon sources (COD) and generated electrons, respectively. After COD was fully consumed, denitrification efficiencies were enhanced in SMFC treatments by 24–47% using the generated electrons within 3 days. In this stage, the NO3− removal efficiencies were positively correlated with external current intensities (p < 0.05). The improved denitrification efficiencies were attributed to two enriched phyla in the SMFC cathode. The dominant genera also demonstrated the heterotrophic denitrifying capacity of the SMFC biocathode. Furthermore, electrical characteristics could be used to monitor or regulate the denitrification process in the SMFC system. In conclusion, this study presents an innovative treatment strategy that is economical and eco-friendly compared with conventional physicochemical methods.