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Many studies have reported high arsenic concentrations in the groundwater and soil of the Jianghan Plain (JHP), an important rice production base in China. However, no comprehensive study on the occurrence and risk of As in groundwater-soil-rice systems in this region has been conducted. In this study, As concentrations in groundwater, soil, rice straw, and rice grain samples were analyzed. Arsenic concentrations were found to range from BDL to 42.88 μg/L (median 0.34 μg/L) in phreatic water, BDL to 41.77 μg/L (median 8.64 μg/L) in soil pore water, 10.20 to 21.90 mg/kg (mean 16.52 mg/kg) in soil, 0.204 to 2.860 mg/kg (mean 0.847 mg/kg) in rice straw, and 0.131 to 0.951 mg/kg (mean 0.449 mg/kg) in rice grain. Arsenic uptake by rice from soils was evaluated according to bioavailable As defined by chemical extraction and diffusive gradients in thin films. The results indicated that owing to the low content of highly mobile As fractions, the less mobile As fraction (mainly bound with amorphous Fe/Al (hydr)oxides) also contributed to bioavailable As, suggesting that amorphous Fe/Al bound As should be considered in analyzing bioavailable As. In terms of the geoaccumulation index and the Chinese paddy soil standard (GB15618-2018) limit (25 mg/kg), As pollution in water and soils in the study area is at a low level and can be considered relatively safe. However, the target hazard quotients and cancer risk assessment indicated that As pollution is at a dangerous level with potential human health risk. According to the bioconcentration factor, the bioavailability of soil is higher in JHP compared with other rice-growing areas owing to the unique hydrogeological conditions and irrigation using groundwater with high As content. Rice planting areas in JHP should be set as far away from large rivers as possible, and groundwater with high As concentrations must be pre-treated prior to irrigation.

Background: Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha-induced protein 8-like 2 (TIPE2 or TNFAIP8L2) is a newly discovered negative immune regulator. Studies have shown that TIPE2 causes significant malignant biological effects and is differentially expressed in various malignant tumors. However, the expression and roles of TIPE2 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) are largely unknown. Materials and Methods: The expression of TIPE2 in PDAC tissues was assessed by immunohistochemistry, qPCR and western blot analysis and related clinicopathological parameters including survival time were analyzed. After overexpression of TIPE2, cell proliferation and apoptosis analysis were conducted, and the associated underlying molecular mechanism was also explored. Results: In the present study, TIPE2 was upregulated in early PDAC tissues, and TIPE2 expression decreased as the tumor progressed (P

Background Despite the rise in the use of immune checkpoint blockade drugs (ICBs) in recent years, there are no ICB drugs that are currently approved or under large-scale clinical trials for glioblastoma (GBM). T-cells, which mainly mediate adaptive immunity, are an important part of the tumor immune microenvironment. The activation of T-cells in tumors plays a key role in evaluating the sensitivity of patients to immunotherapy. Therefore, we applied bioinformatics approaches to construct a T-cell activation related risk score to study the effect of the activation of T-cells on the prognosis and ICB response of patients with GBM. Materials and Methods This study collected TCGA, CGGA, and GSE16011 glioma cohorts, as well as the IMvigor210 immunotherapy dataset, with complete mRNA expression profiles and clinical information. GraphPad Prism 8 and R 3.6.3 were used for bioinformatics analysis and plotting. Results The activation of T-cells in patients with GBM is characterized by obvious heterogeneity. We established a T-cell activation-related risk score based on five univariate Cox regression prognostic genes (CD276, IL15, SLC11A1, TNFSF4, and TREML2) in GBM. The risk score was an independent risk factor for poor prognosis. The overall survival time of patients in the high-risk group was significantly lower than in the low-risk group. Moreover, the high-risk score was accompanied by a stronger immune response and a more complex tumor immune microenvironment. “Hot tumors” were mainly enriched in the high-risk group, and high-risk group patients highly expressed inhibitory immune checkpoints (PD1, PD-L1, TIM3 etc.). By combining the risk and priming scores we obtained the immunotherapy score, which was shown to be a good evaluation index for sensitivity to GBM immunotherapy. Conclusions As an independent risk factor for poor prognosis, the T-cell activation-related risk score, combined with other clinical characteristics, could efficiently evaluate the survival of patients with GBM. The immunotherapy score obtained by combining the risk and priming scores could evaluate the ICB response of patients with GBM, providing treatment opportunities.

High levels of ammonium from anthropogenic sources threaten the quality of surface waters and groundwaters in some areas worldwide, but elevated ammonium levels of natural sources also have been identified. High levels of ammonium have been detected in both surface water and shallow groundwater of the Jianghan Plain, an alluvial plain of the Yangtze River. This study used N isotopes coupled with ancillary chemistry to identify ammonium in this region. Ammonium in the Tongshun River (up to 10.25 mg L−1) showed a sharp accumulation in the upstream and gradual attenuation in the downstream. The δ15N values of ammonium in the TSR were high and ranged narrowly from +12.5 to +15.4‰, suggesting an anthropogenic source that was septic effluent from industrial waste discharge. Sorption and nitrification were likely to respectively serve as the principal processes contributing to ammonium attenuation in different reaches of the downstream TSR. In shallow groundwater, high levels of ammonium (up to 14.10 mg L−1) occurred in a reducing environment. The narrow δ15N variation with low values (+2.3 to +4.5‰) in the lower aquifer suggested a natural source that was organic N mineralization. The δ15N values in the shallow aquitard exhibited a wide range from −1.8 to +9.4‰, owing to various sources. Two types of water in the shallow aquitard could be identified: (1) type-1 water with relatively longer residence time was similar to those in the aquifer where ammonium was mainly sourced from organic N mineralization; (2) type-2 water with shorter residence time was jointly affected by surface input, chemical attenuation and mineralization of organic N. The aquitard prevents prompt ammonium exchange between the surface and aquifer, and the shallower part of the aquitard provides a sufficient reaction time and an active reaction rate for ammonium removal.

Junctions are an important structure that allows charge separation in solar cells and photocatalysts. Here, we studied the charge transfer at an anatase/rutile TiO 2 phase junction using time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. Visible (~500 nm) and near-infrared (NIR, ~830 nm) emissions were monitored to give insight into the photoinduced charges of anatase and rutile in the junction, respectively. New fast photoluminescence decay components appeared in the visible emission of rutile-phase dominated TiO 2 and in the NIR emission of many mixed phase TiO 2 samples. The fast decays confirmed that the charge separation occurred at the phase junction. The visible emission intensity from the mixed phase TiO 2 increased, revealing that charge transfer from rutile to anatase was the main pathway. The charge separation slowed the microsecond time scale photoluminescence decay rate for charge carriers in both anatase and rutile. However, the millisecond decay of the charge carriers in anatase TiO 2 was accelerated, while there was almost no change in the charge carrier dynamics of rutile TiO 2 . Thus, charge separation at the anatase/rutile phase junction caused an increase in the charge carrier concentration on a microsecond time scale, because of slower electron-hole recombination. The enhanced photocatalytic activity previously observed at anatase/rutile phase junctions is likely caused by the improved charge carrier dynamics we report here. These findings may contribute to the development of improved photocatalytic materials.

Background: To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) in the treatment of burns and to provide evidence-based medical information for clinicians to choose the appropriate treatment measures for burns. Methods: Seven databases, including PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, the Wanfang Database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure Internet, and the Chongqing Chongqing Weipu Chinese Science and Technology Journal Full-text Database (VIP), were searched by computer. Randomized controlled trials on bFGF in the treatment of burns were collected, and the search was conducted by using a combination of subject terms (MeSH) and free words. The search time limit was from the establishment of each database until January 2019. Two researchers independently screened the literature and extracted the data. According to the evaluation criteria recommended in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 5.3.0, they conducted a rigorous bias risk assessment for the included studies, and Stata 12.0 software was used for meta-analysis. Results: System evaluation and meta-analysis were carried out strictly in accordance with the requirements of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 5.3.0 on meta-analysis and provided a high-quality evaluation of the efficacy and safety of bFGF in the treatment of burns. Conclusion: This study provided conclusions from evidence-based medicine and a scientific basis for the efficacy and safety of bFGF in the clinical treatment of burns. Ethics and dissemination: This study was not a clinical trial and therefore did not require ethical approval. The results of this study will be published in an SCI academic journal related to this study in the form of a public publication. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42019124778.

Muddy sediments are abundant in pore water and capable of preserving a large amount of chemicals, such as arsenic. Muddy sediments would transform into aquicludes or aquitards during long-term compaction and burial. It remains unclear whether the release of arsenic from muddy sediments poses a potential contamination risk to groundwater in the adjacent aquifer. An indoor compaction simulation experiment was conducted, coupled with an investigation on vertical geochemical profiles of muddy sediments in one actual borehole. In this experiment, aqueous arsenic in released pore water ranged from 17.5 to 21.3 μg L-1 and the accumulated content of the released arsenic was 17.576 μg during the compaction. As(iii) was the main As species in released pore water and had good correlations with Fe2+ and Mn. The analysis of the solid phase showed a remarkable depletion of Fe-Mn oxide bound arsenic during the compaction. In the profiles of the actual borehole, the contents of Fe-Mn oxide bound arsenic also exhibited a gradual decreasing trend from shallow to deep. Based on both the indoor experiment and the field profile, it can be concluded that the reductive dissolution of Fe-Mn oxides took place in arsenic-rich muddy sediments and Fe-Mn oxide-bound arsenic transformed into soluble arsenic, then soluble arsenic was released into the adjacent aquifer along with the pore water in the long-term compaction and burial.

Rationale: Primary testicular natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma is an extremely rare and highly aggressive lymphoid malignancy. At present, only 20 cases have been reported. Patient concerns: A 32-year-old Chinese man complained of discomfort and swelling of his right testicle for 3 months. Physical examination revealed a 10 × 10 × 9.5 cm mass on the right side of the scrotum area. Diagnoses: Pathologic evaluation showed effacement of normal testicular parenchymal architecture by small-to-medium-sized lymphoid cells with irregular nuclear profiles, and immunohistochemical studies positively expressed CD2, CD56, cytoplasmic CD3, granzyme B, perforin, and TIA-1. Therefore, the patient was diagnosed with primary testicular NK/T-cell lymphoma. Interventions: The patient underwent CHOP (cyclophosphamide (CTX), pirarubicin (THP-ADM), vincristine (VCR), and prednisolone (PDN)) chemotherapy. Outcomes: The patient relapsed 5 months after his initial presentation and died after an infection and gastrointestinal bleed. Lessons: Clinicopathological assessment of this rare case highlights the clinical and pathological features required to diagnose testicular NK/T-cell lymphoma. In addition, it highlights the dismal survival of these patients. We hope it may serve as a reference aiding prompt clinical diagnosis, which can hopefully improve the survival and quality of life of these patients.

Rationale: The palatine tonsil is an important component of Waldeyer's ring and a site commonly involved by lymphoma. Interestingly, although it is a site of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), primary MALT lymphoma of the palatine tonsil is rare, especially with prominent plasmacytic differentiation. Patient concerns: A 59-year-old woman presented to the hospital with a 1-month history of odynophagia. The patient had no fever or pruritus during this period and she declared no family history of hematolymphoid malignancy. Diagnosis: Histopathological examination demonstrated effacement of tonsil architecture; normal follicles were replaced by plasmacytoid tumor cells and small lymphocytes. The tumor cells expanded the marginal zone and infiltrated interfollicular regions, as well as scattered residual follicles. Immunostaining showed tumor cells positive for cluster of differentiation (CD)20, CD79a, paired box-5, Mum 1, and B cell lymphoma (Bcl)-2, and negative for CD5, CD 23, cyclin D1, Bcl-6, and CD10. Staining for κ and λ showed prominent light chain restriction. The tumor was classified as tonsil MALT lymphoma with prominent plasmacytic differentiation. Interventions: After the patient was diagnosed with MALT lymphoma with prominent plasmacytic differentiation, she underwent complete surgical resection and radiotherapy. Outcomes: There was no recurrence evident at 6-months follow-up. Lessons: Primary tonsil MALT lymphoma with prominent plasmacytic differentiation is very rare and difficult to distinguish from other B-cell lymphomas with plasmacytoid morphology, such as follicular lymphoma, lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma. Accurate diagnosis of this entity is important in guiding therapy so as to avoid overtreatment.

In situ transmission infrared spectroscopy was used to study the role of pt cocatalyst in pt/tio2 using co as a probe molecule. an 11 cm(-1) redshift of co adsorbed on pt/tio2 was observed under irradiation in the absence of changes in the co coverage or sample temperature. in contrast, no co shift was detected on pt/al2o3. this indicates that the redshift of the co adsorption peak is due to the photogenerated electron transfer from tio2 to pt, and this accounts for the increased photocatalytic activity by the loaded pt cocatalyst. (c) 2014, dalian institute of chemical physics, chinese academy of sciences. published by elsevier b.v. all rights reserved.

The kinetics of photogenerated electrons in SrTiO3(La,Cr) pretreated with either H2 or O2 were studied using time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. The X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectra showed that the Cr cations in the sample reduced with H2 were all in Cr3+, whereas those oxidized with O2 were in mixed of Cr3+ and Cr6+. Electrons excited with 355 and 532 nm light pulses showed the absorption of mid-IR light, and this was traced as a function of the time delay in a microsecond domain. The time-resolved results revealed that the decay rate of the photoinduced electrons with Cr3+ was slower than that with Cr6+, implying that trivalent Cr contributed more to retarding recombination of photoinduced electrons and holes, and enhanced photocatalytic H2 production activity.

In order to solve the problem that vehicle diagnostic system is of bad uniformity and versatility, which due to the different vehicle diagnostic system communication protocols developed by the different vehicle OEMs according to their own needs, this paper proposes a design method of vehicle CAN bus diagnostic communication module based on AUTOSAR standard. This module follow the AUTOSAR standard and it can be implemented in accordance with the international standard ISO 15765. The results of the test show that when this module is applied to some car dashboard, it can satisfy the needs of the vehicle diagnostic communication system, and it is of good standardization, versatility and portability.

Background Based on the prodrug principle, aspirin and eugenol, as starting precursors, were esterified to synthesize aspirin eugenol ester (AEE). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antithrombotic effect of AEE in an animal disease model. In order to compare the therapeutic effects of AEE and its precursors, aspirin, eugenol and a combination of aspirin and eugenol were designed at the same molar quantities as the AEE medium dose in the control group. Methods After oral administration of AEE (dosed at 18, 36 and 72 mg/kg) for seven days, rats were treated with k-carrageenan to induce tail thrombosis. Following the same method, aspirin (20 mg/kg), eugenol (18 mg/kg) and 0.5 % CMC-Na (30 mg/kg) were administered as control drug. Different drug effects on platelet aggregation, hemorheology, TXB2/6-keto-PGF1α ratio and blood biochemistry were studied. Results AEE significantly inhibited ADP and AA-induced platelet aggregation in vivo. AEE also significantly reduced blood and plasma viscosity. Moreover, AEE down-regulated TXB2 and up-regulated 6-keto-PGF1α, normalizing the TXB2/6-keto-PGF1α ratio and blood biochemical profile. In comparison with aspirin and eugenol, AEE produced more positive therapeutic effects than its precursors under the same molar quantity. Conclusion It may be concluded that AEE was a good candidate for new antithrombotic and antiplatelet medicine. Additionally, this study may help to understand how AEE works on antithrombosis in different ways.

When Alpha met Beta: a tuneable α-β surface phase junction on Ga(2)O(3) can significantly improve photocatalytic overall water splitting into H(2) and O(2) over individual α-Ga(2)O(3) or β-Ga(2)O(3) surface phases. This enhanced photocatalytic performance is mainly attributed to the efficient charge separation and transfer across the α-β phase junction.

RATIONALE Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma with a dismal outcome. Most patients relapse in intracranial sites and

Rationale:Primary central nervous system histiocytic sarcoma (PCNSHS) is a rare lymphohematopoietic tumor with a histiocytic cell origin. To our knowledge, only 28 cases have been published in English and 2 cases in Chinese.Patient concerns:A 49-year-old Asian female presented to the hospita

Rationale:Chondromyxoid fibroma (CMF) is a rare benign bone neoplasm which often occurs in the lower extremities. Little is known about the radiological and histological presentation of CMF in the sellar region.Patient concerns:A 16-year-old Asian male presented to the hospital 12 months ago

Unprecedented organocatalyzed asymmetric cascade reactions have been developed for the facile synthesis of chiral spirooxindole-based isotetronic acids and 5-1h-pyrrol-2-ones. the asymmetric 1,2-addition reactions of alpha-ketoesters to isatins and imines by using an acid-base bifunctional 6'-oh cinchona alkaloid catalyst, followed by cyclization and enolization of the resulting adducts, gave chiral spiroisotetronic acids and 5-1h-pyrrol-2-ones, respectively, in excellent optical purities (up to 98% ee). ft-ir analysis supported the existence of hydrogen-bonding interaction between the 6'-oh group of the cinchona catalyst and an isatin carbonyl group, an interaction that might be crucial for catalyst activity and stereocontrol.

Rationale Primary thyroid-like low-grade nasopharyngeal papillary adenocarcinoma (TL-LGNPPA) is an extremely rare malignant nasopharyngeal tumor with features resembling papillary thyroid carcinoma including nuclear positive expression of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1). Patient concerns A 64-year-old male presented with nasal bleeding and a foreign body sensation of the nasopharynx. Laryngoscopy revealed a 2.0-cm broad-based mass with a smooth surface on the posterior wall of the nasopharynx. A biopsy was obtained. Diagnoses Histopathologic examination demonstrated tumor cells arranged in both papillary and glandular architecture. The tumor cells express nuclear immunoreactivity for TTF-1. The diagnosis of TL-LGNPPA was made. Interventions After the patient was diagnosed with TL-LGNPPA, he underwent complete surgical resection. Outcomes There was no recurrence or evidence of metastatic disease at the 12-month follow-up. Lessons TL-LGNPPA is easy to misdiagnose as metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma or other relative primary adenocarcinomas. It is important to have a broad differential diagnosis and know the key features of each entity because the prognosis and clinical treatment of each may differ.