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Bioelectrochemical dechlorination using organohalide-respiring bacteria (ORBs) is a promising technique for remediating contaminated groundwater. Generally, a longer enrichment period is required for selecting the ORB consortia to achieve bioelectrochemical dechlorination. However, the full dechloriantion is difficult to be achieved due to the absence of functional species (e.g. Dehalococcoides) in previously used enrich cultures. To overcome these challenges, bioelectrochemical dechlorination using a culture enriched with the pre-augmented Dehalococcoides was performed for the first time in this study. A two-chamber bioelectrochemical system (BES) inoculated with a pure Dehalococcoides culture and paddy soil with an applied voltage of −0.3 V (versus a standard hydrogen electrode) as the sole electron donor was used to achieve dechlorination. The ethene formation rate was 10–100 times higher than that in previous studies, indicating that inoculating the system with a pure Dehalococcoides culture and soil microorganisms gave effective full dechlorination performance. Microbial community analysis and bioelectrochemical analysis indicated that Desulfosporosinus species may have facilitated dechlorination through syntrophic interactions with Dehalococcoides. The results indicated that adding Dehalococcoides cells before operating a bioelectrochemical system is an effective way of achieving full dechlorination. • Comparable nontoxic ethene product was generated in the bioelectrochemical system as H2-fed culture. • Desulfosporosinus and Dehalococcoides s yntrophic interactions caused effective dechlorination. • Secreted redox mediators enhanced electron transfer to Dehalococcoides. • Adding paddy soil and Dehalococcoides strongly affected the cathode current density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the precise position control of the hydraulic cylinder in the hydraulic support. The aim of this paper is to develop a method of hydraulic cylinder position control based on pressure and flow coupling, which takes the coupling feedback of load and flow into account, especially in the scene of cooperative control under the condition of multiple actuators and variable load. This method solves the problems of slow movement and sliding effect of hydraulic support in the traditional time-dependent hydraulic position control, as well as better realizes the intelligent and unmanned development of the fully mechanized mining face. First, based on the flow continuity equation and Newton Euler dynamic equation, the flow and stroke control model with the input and output pressure of hydraulic cylinder is established. Then, the effectiveness and correctness of the control model are verified by the comparison between the hydraulic system simulation software, AMESim, and the experiment. Finally, a test system is built. When the system pressure is large than 10 MPa, the error between the data determined by the fitting algorithm and the actual detection data is within 5%, which verifies the effectiveness of the theory and simulation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Letter reports a highly scaled 90 nm gate length β-Ga2O3 (Ga2O3) T-gate MOSFET with a power gain cutoff frequency (fMAX) of 55 GHz. The 60 nm thin epitaxial Ga2O3 channel layer was grown by molecular beam epitaxy, while the highly doped (n++) source/drain regions were regrown using metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Maximum on current (IDS,MAX) of 160 mA/mm and trans-conductance (gm) around 36 mS/mm were measured at VDS = 10 V for LSD = 1.5 μ m device. Transconductance and on current are limited by high channel sheet resistance (Rsheet). Gate/drain breakdown voltage of 125 V was measured for LGD = 1.2 μ m. We extracted 27 GHz current gain cutoff frequency (fT) and 55 GHz fMAX for 20 V drain bias for unpassivated devices. While no current collapse was seen initially for both drain and gate lag measurements for 500 ns pulse, moderate current collapse was observed after DC, RF measurements caused by electrical stressing. We calculated a high fT. VBR product of 3.375 THz V, which is comparable to the state-of-the-art GaN HEMTs. This figure of merit suggests that Ga2O3 could be a potential candidate for X-band application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were accumulated in reactors with low inoculum. • Methane generation and VFAs degradation were promoted with biochar addition. • Carbon dioxide utilization was promoted by either inoculum or biochar addition. • Methane yields from soured reactors increased with inoculum or biochar addition. A high concentration of accumulated volatile fatty acids (VFAs) is one of the most important factors resulting in reactor failure during solid-state anaerobic digestion. In this study, the feedstock-to-inoculum (F/I) ratio (0.5, 2, 3, 4 and 6) and the recovery method after failure (biochar addition or inoculum addition) were investigated in batch solid-state anaerobic digestion fed with rice straw and pig urine. An F/I ratio of 3 was the threshold for stable operation, while the reactors failed at F/I ratios of 4 and 6 because of high accumulated VFAs concentrations (above 30 g HAc/kg). Biochar addition (10% or 20% (wet weight) of the mixture) was as effective as inoculum addition (by adjusting the F/I ratio to 2 or 3) in promoting VFAs degradation in failed reactors within a short period (<1 day). The buffering capacity of biochar was important in promoting VFAs degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusions are one of the important factors affecting the cleanliness of molten steel. The current optimization of inclusion removal methods mainly focuses on promoting inclusions to float to the slag–steel interface so that the inclusions can be absorbed and removed by the refining slag. However, the research on the floating removal of inclusions cannot be carried out directly in the ladle, so methods such as mathematical models and physical models were developed. This article uses silicone oil to simulate the slag layer; polypropylene particles; and aluminum oxide particles to simulate inclusions to establish a water model experiment. By changing the viscosity of silicone oil and the diameter of particles, the factors affecting the movement of inclusions at the slag–steel interface were explored. Based on the water model, a mathematical model of the floating behavior of inclusions at the slag–steel interface was constructed, and parameters such as particle diameter and interfacial tension in the water model experiment were studied by the mathematical model for calculation. Both the mathematical model and the water model experimental results show that after the viscosity of silicone oil increases from 0.048 Pa·s to 0.096 Pa·s, the dimensionless displacement and terminal velocity of the particles decreases. When the diameter of the same particle increases, the dimensionless displacement and terminal velocity increases. The dimensionless displacement of polypropylene particles of the same diameter is larger than that of aluminum oxide particles, and the terminal velocity is smaller than that of aluminum oxide particles. This is attributed to the better overall three-phase wettability of polypropylene particle. When the liquid level increases, the dimensionless displacement and terminal velocity of particles under the same conditions show only slight differences (less than 10%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medical image fusion mainly focuses on finding better method on combining multi-modal medical images with different characteristics, and which has been playing a significant role on clinical diagnosis and disease treatment. For the fusion of MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and CT (Computed Tomography), a novel algorithm is proposed in this paper based on LatentLRR (Latent Low Rank Representation) and gradient transfer. LatentLRR is a meaningful tool for separating out detailed information and saliency information. In order to produce saliency information fused result, image statics is used through the corresponding detailed information. For detailed information, it is separated into high frequency parts and low frequency parts by NSCT (Non-Subsampled Contourlet Transform), the former are fused by the method of scale based, and the latter are merged by local energy maxima. To obtain the reconstructed image, it needs to integrate high frequency fused parts and low frequency fused parts into one image by inverse NSCT. Finally, the final image can be given by combining the reconstructed images and saliency information fused result into one image, and for a better visual effect, optimize the final result by gradient transfer. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods on the experiments of ten pair clinical medical images MRI/CT, the proposed algorithm receives a comprehensive advantage in preserving the detailed and gradient information, not only in visual effects but also in objective evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicle detection is an important component of intelligent transportation systems and autonomous driving. However, in real-world vehicle detection scenarios, the presence of many complex and high uncertainty factors, such as illumination differences, motion blur, occlusion, weather, etc., makes accurate and real-time vehicle detection still challenging. In order to reduce the influence of these uncertainties in real scenarios and improve the accuracy and real-time performance of vehicle detection, this paper proposes a type-1 fuzzy attention (T1FA), in which fuzzy entropy is introduced to re-weight the feature map in order to reduce the uncertainty of the feature map and facilitates the detector's focus on the target center as a way to effectively improve the accuracy of vehicle detection. Furthermore, to detect vehicles with different sizes more effectively, mixed depth convolution in MetaFormer (MDFormer) is employed as a token mixer to capture multi-scale perceptual fields. And a novel YOLO detector based on fuzzy attention (YOLO-FA) is proposed. Experimental results show that T1FA can boost 3.2% AP50 on challenging vehicle detection dataset UA-DETRAC, which is better than other commonly used attention mechanisms, especially in scenarios of rain and nighttime with higher uncertainty by 4.2% and 8.1% AP50, respectively. Finally, without pretraining on extra data, YOLO-FA achieves 70.0% AP50 and 50.3% AP on UA-DETRAC, which achieves better balance between accuracy and speed compared with state-of-the-art detectors. The remarkable improvement of T1FA in different detectors and datasets also shows the considerable generalization of T1FA. • A type-1 fuzzy attention (T1FA) mechanism-based YOLO (YOLO-FA) detector is proposed. • Mixed depthwise convolution is employed as a token mixer in MetaFormer. • T1FA can boost 3.2% AP50 in UA-DETRAC by reducing the uncertainty. • YOLO-FA trained from scratch achieves 70.0% AP50 and 50.3% AP on UADETRACA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The hip joint capsule is an essential component of hip joint function and stability, and its thickness is closely associated with certain medical conditions, surgical outcomes, and rehabilitation treatments. Currently, in clinical practice, hip joint capsule thickness is predominantly measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), with limited utilization of ultrasound examinations for this purpose. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated patients who visited our Sports Medicine Department between February 2017 and March 2023 and underwent both hip joint MRI and ultrasound imaging on the same side. All patients had undergone preoperative hip joint MRI and ultrasound examinations, with the time gap between the two examinations not exceeding three months. Measurements of hip joint capsule thickness were taken on both MRI and ultrasound images for the same patients to analyze their consistency. Additionally, we measured the alpha angle, lateral center-edge angle, acetabular anteversion angle, and femoral anteversion angle of the patients' hip joints and analyzed their correlation with hip joint capsule thickness measure by ultrasound. Results: A total of 307 patients were included in this study, with hip joint capsule thickness measured by MRI and ultrasound being 5.0 ± 1.2 mm and 5.0 ± 1.5 mm, respectively. The Bland-Altman analysis demonstrates good agreement or consistency. The paired t-test resulted in a p-value of 0.708, indicating no significant statistical difference between the two methods. The correlation analysis between acetabular anteversion angle and ultrasound-measured capsule thickness yielded a p-value of 0.043, indicating acetabular anteversion angle and capsular thickness may have negative correlation. Conclusions: The measurements of joint capsule thickness obtained through ultrasound and MRI showed good consistency, suggesting that ultrasound can be used in clinical practice as a replacement for MRI in measuring hip joint capsule thickness. There was a significant correlation between acetabular anteversion angle and hip joint capsule thickness, indicating potential for further research in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the influence of micron‐sized diatomite dosage on the physical, mechanical, rheological, and creep properties of poplar wood/polypropylene (PW/PP) composites to enhance their toughness and practicality. The diatomite‐PW/PP composites were prepared using the melt extrusion method, replacing different proportions of PW with diatomite, and subsequently evaluated for their properties. The results indicate that adding diatomite enhances the density while reducing the brightness and water absorption of the composites. Scanning electron microscopy, analysis reveals a uniform distribution of diatomite in the range of 5–10 wt%, which effectively serves as a filler and reinforcing agent, consequently improving the toughness of the composite system. Specifically, the impact strength, tensile strength, and elongation at break are enhanced by 25.9%, 9.5%, and 35.7%, respectively. Furthermore, creep rheological analysis demonstrates improved processability and creep resistance in the composite system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dry anaerobic digestion is a promising technology for the recycling of agricultural waste to produce energy and fertilizer. Adding water to the substrate enables better handling and avoid inhibition caused by high total solid (TS) content in the reactor; however, it also increases leachate and operational costs. To assess the extent to which the amount of water added can be reduced, it was examined how the TS content in the reactor influenced the production of biogas. A semi-batch dry thermophilic anaerobic digester was fed with substrate (rice straw and pig manure) at a constant organic loading rate, and varied the TS contents (27%, 32%, 37%, and 42%) of the substrate by adding different amounts of water (representing 0–36% of the total substrate). During incubation, the TS content in the reactor gradually increased from 18% to 31%. Biogas production was stable and high (564 ± 13–580 ± 36 N m 3 t −1 VS), and there was no accumulation of volatile fatty acids when the TS content of the reactor was between 18% and 27%. However, the rate decreased sharply and propionate and acetate were also produced when the TS content of the reactor exceeded 28%. By applying a simple TS balance model, it was found that stable biogas production could be achieved at a substrate TS content of 32%, at which reactor TS content reached 23% at steady-state condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Letter reports a high performance β -Ga2O3 thin channel MOSFET with T gate and degenerately doped (n++) source/drain contacts regrown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition. Highly scaled T-gate with a gate length of 160–200 nm was fabricated to achieve enhanced RF performance and passivated with 200 nm silicon nitride. Peak drain current (ID,MAX) of 285 mA/mm and peak transconductance (gm) of 52 mS/mm were measured at 10 V drain bias with 23.5 Ω mm on resistance (RON). Metal/n++ contact resistance of 0.078 Ω mm was extracted from transfer length measurements. RON is possibly dominated by interface resistance between channel and highly doped n++ regrown layer. A gate-to-drain breakdown voltage of 192 V is measured for LGD = 355 nm resulting in average breakdown field (EAVG) of 5.4 MV/cm. This EAVG is the highest reported among all sub-micron gate length lateral FETs. Current gain cut off frequency (fT) of 11 GHz and record power gain cut off frequency (fMAX) of approximately 48 GHz were extracted from small signal measurements. fT is limited by DC-RF dispersion due to interface traps which needs further investigation. The fT·VBR product is 2.112 THz V for 192 V breakdown voltage. Device surpasses the switching figure of merit of Silicon and competitive with mature wide bandgap devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various substrates have been used to stimulate habitat microbes in chloroethene-contaminated groundwater, however, the specific efficiency and minimum growth of microbes have rarely been studied. This study investigated the effects of seven substrates on trichloroethene (TCE) dechlorination by augmentation of groundwater with Dehalococcoides mccartyi NIT01 and its contribution to the microbial community. Three out of eight test groups completed dechlorination of 1 mM TCE-to-ethene in varying durations; groundwater supplemented with formate (FOR) required 78 days, whereas the microcosms with lactate (LAC) and citrate (CIT) required approximately twice as long (143 days). The calculated efficiency of how much produced H 2 was used in dechlorination indicated a higher efficiency in FOR (36%) compared with LAC (1.9%) or CIT (2.9%). FOR showed lower microbial growth (3.4 × 105 copies/mL) than LAC (1.5 × 106) or CIT (4.4 × 106), and maintained a higher Shannon diversity index (5.65) than LAC (4.97) and CIT (4.30). The rapid and higher H 2 transfer efficiency with lower bacterial growth by using formate was attributed to the slightly positive Gibbs free energy identified in H 2 production requiring a H 2 -utilizer, lower carbon in the molecule, and adaptation to metabolic potential of the original groundwater microbiome. Formate is, therefore, a promising electron donor for rapid Dehalococcoides- augmented remediation with minimum bacterial growth. Sequential transferring of the FOR culture successfully maintained TCE-to-ethene dechlorination activity and enriched the members of genera Dehalococcoides (33%), Methanosphaerula (23%), Rectinema (13%), and Desulfitobacterium (5.6%). This suggests that formate is transferred to H 2 and acetate, and provided to Dehalococcoide s. [Display omitted] • Seven e− donors were assayed in Dehalococcoides -augmented groundwater. • Formate showed most rapid dechlorination of trichloroethylene to ethene. • The H 2 transferring efficiency to Dehalococcoides was estimated to 30%. • Formate could be transferred to H 2 and acetate for Dehalococcoides. • One of the bacteria producing H2 from formate was Rectinema sp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Discard Sprite and Fanta drinks were reused to construct hierarchical ZnO@SC and ZnO@FC composites. • ZnO nanoparticles are encapsulated in interconnected carbon nanosheet skeletons. • Both ZnO@SC and ZnO@FC exhibit remarkable electrochemical performance. Both the exploitation of high-performance anode materials for lithium-ions batteries (LIBs) and the recycle of discard carbonated drinks are urgent problems that need to be solved. Herein, we constructed hierarchical ZnO@SC and ZnO@FC using discard Sprite and Fanta drinks as solvent undergoing ordinal solvothermal reaction and annealing. Interconnected carbon skeletons can greatly accelerate the electroconductibility of composites and effectively prevent ZnO nanoparticle from agglomerating. Meanwhile, nanoscale design benefits to assuage the pulverization of ZnO composites caused by repetitive shrinkage/expansion during repeated charge/discharge process. When served as anode for LIBs, both ZnO@SC and ZnO@FC exhibit excellent electrochemical performance. ZnO@FC maintains high discharge capacity of 1157 mAh g−1 after 150 cycles at 0.2 A g−1 and 742 mAh g−1 after 600 cycles even at 1.0 A g−1, showing the most remarkable lithium-storage performance among as-prepared ZnO@C composites. This work opens up a new opportunity for the recycle of discarded carbonated drinks and the application of ZnO@C anode in LIBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most malignant cancers with rapid progression and poor prognosis. The use of transcriptional data can be effective in finding new biomarkers for pancreatic cancer. Many network-based methods used to identify cancer biomarkers are proposed, among which the combination of network controllability appears. However, most of the existing methods do not study RNA, rely on priori and mutations information, or can only achieve classification tasks. In this study, we propose a method combined Relational Graph Convolutional Network and Deep Q-Network called RDDriver to identify pancreatic cancer biomarkers based on multi-layer heterogeneous transcriptional regulation network. Firstly, we construct a regulation network containing long non-coding RNA, microRNA, and messenger RNA. Secondly, Relational Graph Convolutional Network is used to learn the node representation. Finally, we use the idea of Deep Q-Network to build a model, which score and prioritize each RNA with the Popov-Belevitch-Hautus criterion. We train RDDriver on three small simulated networks, and calculate the average score after applying the model parameters to the regulation networks separately. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the method, we perform experiments for comparison between RDDriver and other eight methods based on the approximate benchmark of three types cancer drivers RNAs.

Many biomolecular condensates, including transcriptional condensates, are formed in elastic mediums. In this work, we study the nonequilibrium condensate dynamics in a chromatin-like environment modeled as a heterogeneous elastic medium. We demonstrate that the ripening process in such an elastic medium exhibits a temporal power-law scaling of the average condensate radius, depending on the local stiffness distribution and different from Ostwald ripening. Moreover, we incorporate an active process to model the dissolution of transcriptional condensates upon RNA accumulation. Intriguingly, three types of kinetics of condensate growth emerge, corresponding to constitutively expressed, transcriptional-bursting, and silenced genes. Furthermore, the simulated burst frequency decreases exponentially with the local stiffness, through which we infer a lognormal distribution of local stiffness in living cells using the transcriptome-wide distribution of burst frequency. Under the inferred stiffness distribution, the simulated distributions of bursting kinetic parameters agree reasonably well with the experimental data. Our findings reveal the interplay between biomolecular condensates and elastic mediums, yielding far-reaching implications for gene expression., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Quantum-dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs) with memory capability can provide multifunctional integration properties in on-chip and intelligent electronic applications. Herein, memory properties are achieved by inserting a tungsten oxide (WO x ) film between the ZnO electron-transporting layer and cathode. Pentavalent tungsten ions (W 5+ ) in this nonstoichiometric WO x film can be oxidized to W 6+ by storing holes, inducing significant electrons in the adjacent ZnO layer. Hole storage in the WO x layer suppresses electron injection into the quantum dot emissive layer, hence reducing electroluminescence intensity on the onset stage of the QLEDs. This operation-history correlation for the electroluminescence intensity means a memory behavior for the QLEDs. Furthermore, the power efficiency of the devices is greatly improved after inserting the WO x layer due to electrical field-dependent self-adaptive electron injection into the quantum dots (QDs). We anticipate this type of QLEDs have potential applications in on-chip integration applications, such as the optical computing field and storage.

•Dumping of Fukushima's radioactive wastewater raises marine food web concern.•Tritium seems to be the most problematic compound.•Long-lived radioisotopes Biomagnify up to 50,000 folds in marine fish species.•This threatens fragile deep-sea ecosystems requiring immediate action.•Empowered Routine monitoring is crucial to maintain planetary health., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Importance: The safety and efficacy of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma remain controversial., Objective: To compare laparoscopic and open pancreaticoduodenectomy performed by experienced surgeons in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma., Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a noninferiority, open-label randomized clinical trial between September 20, 2019 and March 20, 2022, at 10 hospitals in China. A total of 412 adult patients were assessed for eligibility; 200 patients with histologically confirmed or clinically diagnosed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who were eligible to undergo pancreaticoduodenectomy were enrolled. Study recruitment is complete, and follow-up is ongoing. This article reports prespecified early safety results from the trial., Interventions: Participants were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to undergo either laparoscopic or open pancreaticoduodenectomy, to be performed by experienced surgeons who had already performed at least 104 laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy operations., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point is 5-year overall survival, but the data for this end point are not yet mature; thus, secondary short-term outcomes, including operative findings, complications, mortality, and oncological results are reported here. The outcomes were analyzed according to a modified intention-to-treat and per-protocol principle., Results: Among 412 patients for eligibility, 200 patients were enrolled and randomly assigned 1:1 to have laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy or open pancreaticoduodenectomy. The mean (SD) age was 61.3 (9.3) years, and 78 participants (39%) were female. Laparoscopic procedures had longer operative times (median [IQR], 330.0 [287.5-405.0] minutes vs 297.0 [245.0-340.0] minutes; P < .001). Patients in the laparoscopic group lost less blood than those in the open group (median [IQR], 145.0 [100.0-200.0] mL vs 200.0 [100.0-425.0] mL; P = .02). Ninety-day mortality occurred in 2 of 100 patients in the laparoscopic group and 0 of 100 patients in the open group. There was no difference in the rates of complications of the Clavien-Dindo grades III-IV (n = 17 [17.0%] vs n = 23 [23.0%]; P = .29), comprehensive complication index (median [IQR], 0.0 [0.0-22.6] vs 8.7 [0.0-26.2]; P = .79) or median (IQR) postoperative length of stay (14.0 [11.0-17.0] days vs 14.0 [12.0-18.5] days; P = .37) between the 2 groups., Conclusions and Relevance: Laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy performed by experienced surgeons in high-volume specialized institutions resulted in similar short-term outcomes compared with open pancreaticoduodenectomy among patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03785743.

Advances in many isolation studies have revealed that pure Dehalococcoides grow stably, although the large-scale pure cultivation of Dehalococcoides has yet to be established. In this study, 7 L-culturing of Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain NIT01 was first performed using vessels made of glass and stainless alloy SUS304. All batches cultured in the glass vessel successfully dechlorinated >95% of 1 mM trichloroethene (TCE) to ethene (ETH), whereas only 5 out of 13 batches cultured in the SUS304 vessel did the same. The difference in dechlorination efficiency suggested the possible inhibition of dechlorination by SUS304. Also, the strain NIT01 showed long delays in dechlorination with pieces of SUS316, steel, and a repeatedly used SUS304, but not with titanium. The repeatedly used SUS304 cracked and increased the Fe 2+ concentration to ≥76 μM. Dechlorination by this strain was also inhibited with ≥1000 μM Fe 2+ and ≥23 μM Cr 3+ but not with ≤100 μM Ni 2+ , suggesting that Cr 3+ eluted from solid stainless alloys inhibited the dechlorination. Culturing in a titanium vessel instead of a stainless alloy showed the complete dechlorination of 1 mM TCE within 12-28 days with a growth yield of 2.7 × 10 7 cells/μmol-released Cl - , even after repeating use of the vessels six times., (© 2023 The Authors. Environmental Microbiology Reports published by Applied Microbiology International and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Dehalococcoides is a functional microorganism that completely dechlorinates trichloroethene (TCE). Augmentation with pure Dehalococcoides is important for reducing environmental disturbances that accompany bioaugmentation. However, the applicability of Dehalococcoides-bioaugmentation to contaminated soils is unclear. In this study, seven low-carbon energy sources (methanol, formate, acetate, ethanol, lactate, citrate, and benzoate) were used as electron donors for Dehalococcides to evaluate its applicability in remediating TCE-contaminated soils. Soil microcosms supplemented with ethanol, formate, or lactate showed relatively high dechlorination activity within 111-180 days. The functional gene profiles predicted by PICRUSt2 from 16 S rRNA gene sequences were similar in the proportions of dehydrogenases, which initiate electron donor oxidation, in all soils and did not seem to reflect Dehalococcoides-bioaugmentation applicability. Soils with higher organic matter content (>3.2%; dry weight base) and protein concentration (>1.6 µg/mL) supported complete dechlorination. These results suggest that organic matter and nutrient availability mainly affect successful TCE dechlorination in Dehalococcoides-augmented soils. The study offers significant experimental support for comprehending the suitability of low-carbon energy sources in successful bioaugmentation, aiming to mitigate environmental disturbances associated with the process., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Image 1., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Graphene oxide (GO), a chemically oxidized sheet of graphite, has been used as a conductive carbon carrier of microbes to boost various bioelectrochemical reactions. However, the types of microbes that can reduce GO have rarely been investigated. In this study, a strain of GO-reducing bacteria, named NIT-SL11, which was obtained from a hydrogel of microbially reduced GO and anaerobic sludge that converts sewage to electricity, was phylogenically identified as a novel strain of Geotalea uraniireducens . Considering the current lack of information on the electrogenic ability of the bacterium and its physicochemical and chemotaxonomic characteristics, the polyphasic characterization of the Geotalea uraniireducens strain NIT-SL11 was performed. NIT-SL11 utilized various organic acids, such as lactate, benzoate, and formate, as electron donors and exhibited respiration using GO, electrodes, fumarate, and malate. The strain contained C16:1ω7c and C16:0 as the major fatty acids and MK-8 and 9 as the major respiratory quinones. The complete genome of NIT-SL11 was 4.7 Mbp in size with a G+C content of 60.9%, and it encoded 80 putative c-type cytochromes and 23 type IV pili-related proteins. The possible extracellular electron transfer (EET) pathways of the strain were the porin-cytochrome (Pcc) EET pathway and type IV pili-based pathway.

Purpose: To study the outcomes of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) using a modified technique., Methods: Our center used priority approach of uncinate process and artery in the pancreatectomy and duct to mucosa pancreaticojejunostomy with a single stitch in the pancreaticojejunostomy. Herein, we retrospectively reviewed 346 cases of LPD using modified techniques. Basic characteristics, preoperative outcomes, factors associated with unfavorable postoperative outcome, and mortality of patients undergoing LPD were collected and analyzed., Results: The average operative time was 259.31 (35-425) min. The mean duration of pancreaticojejunostomy anastomosis was 31.97 (16-90) min. The mean intraoperative blood loss was 101.76 (0-1200) ml by estimation. Postoperative complications included 14 cases (4.1%) of bile leakage, 9 cases (2.6%) of delayed gastric emptying, 26 cases (7.5%) of postoperative bleeding, 34 cases (9.9%) of organ space infection, 17 cases (4.9%) of pulmonary infection, and 50 cases (14.5%) of POPF. Three factors including postoperative bleeding (OR = 3.502; P = 0.033), positive lymph node (OR = 3.296; P < 0.001), and postoperative chemotherapy (OR = 0.241; P = 0.008) were significantly associated with death of LPD., Conclusions: The modified technique for LPD presents safety and reliability. Postoperative bleeding and positive lymph node may be associated with worse overall survival, and postoperative chemotherapy may be associated with better overall survival., (Copyright © 2022 Asian Surgical Association and Taiwan Robotic Surgery Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Conductive carbons can boost anaerobic microbial metabolism by assisting extracellular electron transfer (EET), and their chemistry affects microbial metabolism. Graphene oxide (GO), a chemically oxidized sheet of graphite, has been used in various bioelectrochemical systems, although its mechanism is rarely understood. This study revealed specific metabolic responses to reduced GO (rGO) in an electrogenic strain R4 of Citrifermentans bremense, recently renamed from "Geobacter bremensis," in comparison to that with graphite felt (GF). Specifically, the change in growth from planktonic cells to biofilm with an enlarged outer membrane. The mRNA profile supported the fact that rGO upregulated the 14 genes related to the exopolysaccharides (EPS) secretion and biofilm formation, which is more than that in GF (4 genes). While GF upregulated the 35 genes involved in cell motility, which is more than that in rGO (8 genes). The heme protein profile suggested that both carbons induced similar EET pathways involving OmcA/MtrC and OmcS; however, GO specifically induced PilQ. These findings show that the chemistry of conductive carbon differentiates metabolism, especially affecting cellular morphology or living form, rather than electron transfer metabolism., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Breast cancer (BC) is becoming the leading cause of cancer-related death in women all over the word. Identification of diagnostic biomarkers for early detection of BC is one of the most effective ways to reduce the mortality. Methods: Plasma samples from BC patients ( n = 120) and normal controls ( n = 50) were collected to determine the differentially expressed circulating miRNAs in BC patients. Binary logistic regression was applied to develop miRNA diagnostic models. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were applied to calculate the area under the curve (AUC). MMTV-PYMT mammary tumor mice were used to validate the expression change of those circulating miRNAs. Plasma samples from patients with other tumor types were collected to determine the specificity of the model in diagnosis of BC. Results: In the screening phase, 5 circulating miRNAs (miR-16, miR-17, miR-19b, miR-27a, and miR-106a) were identified as the most significantly upregulated miRNAs in plasma of BC patients. In consistence, the 5 miRNAs showed upregulation in the circulation of additional 80 BC patients in a tumor stage-dependent manner. Application of a tumor-burden mice model further confirmed upregulation of the 5 miRNAs in circulation. Based on these data, five models with diagnostic potential of BC were developed. Among the 5 miRNAs, miR-19b ranked at the top position with the highest specificity and the biggest contribution. In combination with miR-16 and miR-106a, a miR-19b-based 3-circulating miRNA model was selected as the best for further validation. Taken the samples together, the model showed 92% of sensitivity and 90% of specificity in diagnosis of BC. In addition, three other tumor types including prostate cancer, thyroid cancer and colorectal cancer further verified the specificity of the BC diagnostic model. Conclusion: The current study developed a miR-19b-based 3-miRNA model holding potential for diagnosis of BC using blood samples., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhao, Shen, Lü, Xie, Li, Shang, Huang, Meng, An, Zhou, Han and Yu.)