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The effect of acidic pH conditions on the physiological response of three typical freshwater algae

Dan Li,1,&ast; Xin Zhang,2,3,&ast; Yunzhong Wang,2 Jian Xue,2 Xueqiang Ji,2 Xuejun Shao,2– 4 Yang Li2– 4 1Department of Clinical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215004, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Laboratory, Children’s Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215025, People’s Republic of China; 3Institute of Pediatric Research, Children’s Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215025, People’s Republic of China; 4Clinical Medical College of Pediatrics, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, 215025, People’s Republic of China&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yang Li; Xuejun Shao Email 11418092@zju.edu.cn; xjshao@suda.edu.cnObjective: To investigate the epidemiology and drug resistance of pathogens isolated from cerebrospinal fluid samples at a children’s medical center in eastern China and provide the basis for anti-infection treatments.Methods: In all, 307 non-duplicated strains of pathogens were isolated from cerebrospinal fluid samples in the Children’s Hospital of Soochow University from January 2006 to December 2020. Mass spectrometry was used for pathogen identification. The VITEK 2 Compact system and Kirby-Bauer method were applied to determine antimicrobial susceptibility.Results: Among the 307 isolates, gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria and fungi accounted for 60.26%, 34.53%, and 5.21%, respectively. The most prevalent pathogens were Streptococcus pneumoniae (26.06%), Escherichia coli (20.20%) and Streptococcus agalactiae (17.26%). The number of isolates was highest in winter. The most prevalent gram-positive bacterium in children < 6 months old was Streptococcus agalactiae, while Streptococcus pneumoniae was the most in children were > 6 months old. The drug resistance of gram-positive bacteria, fungi and Haemophilus influenza were not high. In addition, 35 strains of gram-negative bacteria produced extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) and 6 strains were identified as multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. These strains showed much higher resistance to the antibiotics than other strains.Conclusion: Cases of meningitis among children have increased in the past 15 years and MDR bacteria were also identified. The emergence of MDR bacteria is a cause for great concern and requires further investigation.Keywords: cerebrospinal fluids, infection, children, drug resistance, epidemiology

It is important to analyze the pathogen distribution and drug resistance of critically ill children with bloodstream infection (BSI) to help clinicians choose the appropriate empirical antibiotic therapy for clinical infection control. In the study, 281 critically ill children with BSI were retrospectively analyzed. A total of 328 strains were detected, including gram-positive bacteria (223, 67.99%), mainly including coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS), gram-negative bacteria (91, 27.74%), fungi (14, 4.27%). There were 243 cases of single pathogen infection and 38 cases of mixed pathogen infection. Mixed infection can prolong the hospitalization time of patients. There were significant differences between the death group and the survival group in age, lengths of hospital stay, types of pathogenic bacteria and basic diseases (PStaphylococcus aureus had lower resistance rates to some β-lactamides and sulfonamides antibiotics. The resistance rate of Streptococcus pneumoniae to macrolide was more than 95%. Enterococcus faecium had a high resistance rate to penicillin. Compared with Escherichia coli, the proportion of extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) was higher producing by Klebsiella pneumoniae, and its resistance to some β-lactamides, quinolones antibiotics were lower. The resistance rates of Acinetobacter baumannii to various antibiotics were higher than 75%, but the resistance rates to levofloxacin and minocycline were low. Pseudomonas aeruginosawas 100% sensitive to some quinolones and aminoglycosides antibiotics. A total of 27 common multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria were detected, among which carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) accounted for the highest proportion (13, 48.15%). CNS was the principal pathogen of BSI in the ICU of children, and Escherichia coli was the most common gram-negative pathogen. Low age group, long or short lengths of hospital stay, gram-positive and negative pathogen infection and serious basic diseases were the risk factors leading to the death of patients. It is necessary to continuously monitor patients with positive blood culture, pay special attention to the detected MDR bacteria, and strengthen the application management of antibiotics and the prevention and control of nosocomial infection.

Nonaromatic, cross-conjugated, and highly twisted luminogens consisting of acylated succinimides demonstrate aggregation-induced emission characteristics along with tunable multicolor photoluminescence and afterglows in their single crystals. Effective through-space conjugation among different moieties bearing n/π electrons promote the spin-orbit coupling and intersystem crossing and lead to diverse emissive clusters with concurrently rigidified conformations, thus allowing readily tunable emissions. Derived from it, the proof-of-concept application for advanced anti-counterfeiting is illustrated. These results should spur the rational design of novel nonaromatic AIEgens, and moreover advance understandings of the non-traditional intrinsic luminescence and the origin of tunable multicolor afterglows.

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) appeared more and more frequently in children and caused a great threat to global public health. It is urgent to investigate the carbapenems-resistance and virulence of CRAB for clinicians to choose appropriate antibiotics. A retrospective study for 77 nonduplicated CRAB isolates was conducted. The carbapenems-resistance and virulence genes were characterized by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis. In present study, A. baumannii mainly came from intensive care unit, mostly isolated from sputum samples. The carbapenems-resistant rate of A. baumannii in 2018–2020 increased significantly compared with that in 2016–2017. All isolates had the carbapenems-resistant genes. They were highly resistant to a variety of antibiotics, but were relatively sensitive to fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines. The blaVIM and blaOXA-23 were detected in all isolates, whereas blaOXA-51, blaIMP and blaNDM were present in 98.70%, 67.53% and 31.17% of isolates. Notably, 1 isolate A. baumannii was identified as multidrug-resistant A. baumannii (MDR-AB), and 76 other extensivelydrug-resistance (XDR) isolates were also detected. Virulence genes were present in 100% of all isolates, including genes in iron acquisition system (basJ), secretion systems (ompA, plcD), quorum sensing system (abaI) and biofifilm formation (csuA). adeH, pgaA, ptk were present in 98.70%, 98.70% and 94.80% of isolates. CRAB prevalent in east China carried a large number of drug resistance and virulence genes. Fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines may be effective antibiotics for the treatment of CRAB infection in children. An in-depth understanding of the resistance and virulence of CRAB is conducive to timely guiding empirical drug use and controlling infection.

Compounds bearing aliphatic amines can be emissive under appropriate conditions. However, their ionized counterparts, namely, quaternary ammonium salts (QASs), which are widely used as phase-transfer catalysts, ionic liquids, disinfectants, and surfactants, are known as luminescence quenchers and considered nonemissive. Herein, unprecedented intrinsic fluorescence/phosphorescence dual emissions from various QASs are reported, which can be finely regulated by changing the excitation wavelength, alkyl chain length, counterion, and mechanical stimuli. The bright photoluminescence along with distinct afterglow and tunable multicolor emissions enables the application of QAS solids in advanced multimode anticounterfeiting. This finding refreshes the understanding of QASs and may inspire emerging applications based on the utilization of the intrinsic luminescences of QASs. Furthermore, it opens opportunities for the investigation of QAS-related processes and functions via a photophysical approach and affords strong implications for the fabrication of novel nonconventional luminophores.

Compounds bearing aliphatic amines could be emissive under proper conditions. Their ionized counterparts, quaternary ammonium salts (QASs), which are widely used as phase-transfer catalysts, ionic liquids, disinfectants and surfactants, however, are known as luminescence quenchers and thought to be nonemissive. Here we report the unprecedented intrinsic fluorescence-phosphorescence dual emission from a diversity of QASs, which can also be finely regulated by excitation wavelength, alkyl chain length, counter ions, mechanical stimuli, etc. The bright photoluminescence along with distinct afterglow and tunable multicolor emissions enables advanced multimode anticounterfeiting for QAS solids. This finding refreshes the cognition of QASs and would inspire emerging applications by utilizing their intrinsic luminescence. Furthermore, it opens opportunities for the investigation of QAS related processes and functions in a photophysical approach and affords strong implications for the fabrication of novel nonconventional luminophores.

Nonconventional luminophores without significant conjugations generally possess excitation-dependent photoluminescence (PL) owing to the coexistence of diverse clustered chromophores, which strongly implies the possibility of achieving color-tunable PL and/or persistent room temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) from their crystals assisted by effective intermolecular interactions. Compared with traditional luminogens, however, nonconventional luminophores generally suffer from poor PL efficiencies. Here, inspired by the highly stable double-helix structure and multiple hydrogen bonds in DNA, we report a series of planar or twisted nonconventional luminophores based on hydantoin (HA), demonstrating unprecedentedly high PL/p-RTP efficiencies and p-RTP lifetimes of up to 87.5%/21.8% and 1.74 s, respectively, accompanying color-tunable p-RTP from sky-blue to yellowish-green. These findings will advance the exploitation of efficient nonconventional luminophores and provide deeper mechanistic insights into the origin of color-tunable p-RTP.

It is a textbook knowledge that protein photoluminescence stems from the three aromatic amino acid residues of tryptophan(Trp), tyrosine (Tyr), and phenylalanine (Phe), with predominant contributions from Trp. Recently, inspired by the intrinsic emission of nonaromatic amino acids and poly(amino acids) in concentrated solutions and solids, we revisited protein light emission using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model. BSA is virtually nonemissive in dilute solutions (≤0.1 mg mL-1 ), but highly luminescent upon concentration or aggregation, showing unique concentration-enhanced emission and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. Notably, apart from well-documented UV luminescence, bright blue emission is clearly observed. Furthermore, persistent room-temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) is achieved even in the amorphous solids under ambient conditions. This visible emission can be rationalized by the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism. These findings not only provide an in-depth understanding of the emissive properties of proteins, but also hold strong implications for further elucidating the basis of tissue autofluorescence.

Pure organic luminogens with long-persistent luminescence have been extensively studied, on account of their fundamental research significance and diverse utilizations in anticounterfeiting, bioimaging, encryption, organic light-emitting diodes, chemo-sensing, etc. However, time-dependent color-tunable afterglow is rarely reported, especially for single-component materials. In this work, we reported an organic luminogen with time-dependent afterglow, namely, benzoyleneurea (BEU), with multiple persistent room-temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in single crystals. While the lifetime of TADF is relatively short (~1.2 ms), those for p-RTP are as long as around 369~754 ms. The comparable but different decay rates of diversified p-RTP emissions endow BEU crystals with obvious time-dependent afterglow. The existence of multiple emissions can be reasonably illustrated by the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism. Single-crystal structure illustrates that the combination of benzene ring and nonconventional chromophores of ureide helps facilitate divergent intermolecular interactions, which contribute to the formation of varying emissive species. Moreover, its methyl- and chloro-substituted derivatives show similar multiple p-RTP emissions. However, no time-dependent afterglows are observed in their crystals, due to the highly approaching lifetimes. The afterglow color variation of BEU crystals grants its applications in advanced anticounterfeiting field and information encryption.

In recent years, nonconventional luminogens free of aromatic groups have attracted extensive attention due to their academic importance and promising wide applications. Whilst previous studies generally focused on fluorescence from aliphatic amine or carbonyl-containing systems, less attention has been paid to room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and the systems with predominant oxygen functionalities. In this work, photophysical properties of the polyhydroxy polymers, including microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), and cellulose acetate (CA), were studied and compared. While MCC, HEC, and HPC solids showed bright emission alongside distinct RTP, CA demonstrated relatively low intensity of solid emission without noticeable RTP. Their emissions were explained in terms of the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism and conformation rigidification. Additionally, on account of its intrinsic emission, concentrated HEC aqueous solution could be used as the probe for the detection of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP).

Deciphering the emission mechanism of nonconventional luminogens and achieving persistent room temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) from pure organic compounds have drawn increasing attention due to their significant fundamental importance and promising applications. Previous reports on nonconventional luminogens, however, mainly focus on fluorescence, while advances in pure organic p-RTP are generally restricted to aromatic crystals or host–guest systems. Herein, we report the unique intrinsic emission and moreover p-RTP in amorphous nonaromatic polymers of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), polyacrylamide (PAM) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM). These polymers are nonluminescent in dilute solutions, while being highly emissive in concentrated solutions, nanosuspensions and solid powders/films. This can be rationalized by the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism, as supported by further thermoresponsive emission, cryogenic and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) experiments, alongside single crystal analysis. Furthermore, PAA and PAM solids under ambient conditions, and PNIPAM solids under vacuum or under nitrogen, demonstrate distinct p-RTP, which can be enhanced through further ionization or pressurization. These results not only refresh our understanding of the emission mechanism of nonaromatic polymers, but also enable the facile fabrication and application of pure organic p-RTP luminogens from readily available compounds, thus providing an important step forward in both nonconventional luminogens and p-RTP.

Fabrication of efficient solid luminogens with tunable emission is both fundamentally significant and technically important. Herein, based on our previous strategy for the construction of efficient and multifunctional solid luminogens through the combination of diverse aggregation-induced emission (AIE) units with other functional moieties, a group of luminophores with electron donor-acceptor (D-A) structure and typical intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) characteristics, namely CZ-DCDPP, DPA-DCDPP and DBPA-DCDPP were synthesized and investigated. The presence of twisting and AIE-active 2,3-dicyano-5,6-diphenylpyrazine (DCDPP) moiety endows them highly emissive in the solid states, whereas the introduction of arylamines with varied electron-donating capacity and different conjugation render them with tunable solid emissions from green to red. While CZ-DCDPP and DPA-DCDPP solids exhibit distinct mechanochromism, both DPA-DCDPP and DBPA-DCDPP solids can generate efficient red emission. Owing to their high efficiency, remarkable thermal and morphological stabilities and moreover red emission, they are promising for diverse optoelectronic and biological applications.

Nonaromatic, cross-conjugated, and highly twisted luminogens consisting of acylated succinimides demonstrate aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics and tunable multicolor photoluminescence and afterglows in their single crystals. Effective through-space conjugation among different moieties bearing n/π electrons promote the SOC and ISC transitions and lead to diverse emissive clusters with concurrently rigidified conformations, thus allowing readily tunable emissions. Derived from it, the proof of concept application for advanced anti-counterfeiting is illustrated. These results should spur the rational design of novel nonaromatic AIEgens, and moreover advance the understanding of the origin of tunable multicolor afterglows.

Persistent room-temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) from pure organics is attractive due to its fundamental importance and potential applications in molecular imaging, sensing, encryption, anticounterfeiting, etc.1-4 Recently, efforts have been also made in obtaining color-tunable p-RTP in aromatic phosphors5 and nonconjugated polymers6,7. The origin of color-tunable p-RTP and the rational design of such luminogens, particularly those with explicit structure and molecular packing, remain challenging. Noteworthily, nonconventional luminophores without significant conjugations generally possess excitation-dependent photoluminescence (PL) because of the coexistence of diverse clustered chromophores6,8, which strongly implicates the possibility to achieve color-tunable p-RTP from their molecular crystals assisted by effective intermolecular interactions. Here, inspirited by the highly stable double-helix structure and multiple hydrogen bonds in DNA, we reported a series of nonconventional luminophores based on hydantoin (HA), which demonstrate excitation-dependent PL and color-tunable p-RTP from sky-blue to yellowish-green, accompanying unprecedentedly high PL and p-RTP efficiencies of up to 87.5% and 21.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the p-RTP emissions are resistant to vigorous mechanical grinding, with lifetimes of up to 1.74 s. Such robust, color-tunable and highly efficient p-RTP render the luminophores promising for varying applications. These findings provide mechanism insights into the origin of color-tunable p-RTP, and surely advance the exploitation of efficient nonconventional luminophores.

Pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and luminescence from nonconventional luminophores have gained increasing attention. However, it remains challenging to achieve efficient RTP from unorthodox luminophores, on account of the unsophisticated understanding of the emission mechanism. Herein, we propose a strategy to realize efficient RTP in nonconventional luminophores through incorporation of lone pairs together with clustering and effective electronic interactions. The former promotes spin-orbit coupling and boosts the consequent intersystem crossing, whereas the latter narrows energy gaps and stabilizes the triplets, thus synergistically affording remarkable RTP. Experimental and theoretical results of urea and its derivatives verify the design rationale. Remarkably, RTP from thiourea solids with unprecedentedly high efficiency of up to 24.5 % is obtained. Further control experiments testify the crucial role of through-space delocalization on the emission. These results will spur the future fabrication of nonconventional phosphors and advance the understanding of the underlying emission mechanism.

Pure organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and luminescence from nonconventional luminophores have gained increasing attention. However, it remains challenging to achieve efficient RTP from unorthodox luminophores, on account of the unsophisticated understanding of the emission mechanism. Here we propose a strategy to realize efficient RTP in nonconventional luminophores through incorporation of lone pairs together with clustering and effective electronic interactions. The former promotes spin-orbit coupling and boost the consequent intersystem crossing, whereas the latter narrows energy gaps and stabilizes the triplets, thus synergistically affording remarkable RTP. Experimental and theoretical results of urea and its derivatives verify the design rationale. Remarkably, RTP from thiourea solids with unprecedentedly high efficiency of up to 24.5% is obtained. Further control experiments testify the crucial role of through-space delocalization on the emission. These results would spur the future fabrication of nonconventional phosphors, and moreover should advance understanding of the underlying emission mechanism.

AIM To assess the ability of conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI to accurately identify characteristic imaging findings of Bell's palsy particularly in involved segments. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed on MRI images of patients with Bell's palsy in Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital from January 2015 to July 2019. DCE-MRI analysis was performed on a SIEMENS Workstation Extended MR Work Space 2.6.3.5 and by using the T1-weighted volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) sequence. Statistical analyses were performed by using SPSS v. 19.0. The chi-square test was used to compare the accuracy of conventional MRI versus DCE-MRI in imaging the involved segment of the facial nerve. RESULTS Combined with the results of the surgery, the accuracy of conventional MRI in imaging the involved segments of the affected facial nerves was 38.5% (5/13), but was 92.3% (12/13) for DCE-MRI. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (chi-square value is 8.327, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION DCE-MRI is useful to diagnose the involved segments of the affected facial nerve accurately compared to the conventional MRI. This approach has advantages both for the patient, in terms of safety, and for the physician, in terms of the accuracy of the diagnosis.

Aiming to ensure the quality of final effluent, combined with the existing research reports and similar engineering experience, the process of “Coagulation Sedimentation Contact Oxidation MBR” is selected as the main body to treat the wastewater in this paper. After the wastewater treatment system operates normally for one year, the results show that the removal rates of COD, BOD5, SS and chroma can reach 97.8%, 97.7%, 97.4% and 96.0% respectively, and the corresponding effluent concentrations are 96 mg/L, 25 mg/L, 18 mg/L and 20 mg/L, respectively, which meets and is better than the secondary discharge standard of the Integrated Discharge Standard of Water Pollutants in Haihe River Basin of Shandong Province (DB37/675-2007). The process has certain engineering advantages as the quality of wastewater treatment is high and the total cost of electricity and medicament for the wastewater treatment is low.

In this paper, chemical precipitation process is used for the treatment of the desulfurization wastewater generated by the waste gas treatment system of the limestone-gypsum flue gas desulfurization process of a thermal power plant. After one year of operation, the technology is reliable and stable. The removal rate of suspended matter, COD, fluoride, mercury and sulfate reached 99.5%, 98.3%, 87.5%, 99.8% and 85.6% respectively, and the corresponding effluent concentrations were 54 mg/L, 20 mg/L and 9.6 mg/L, 0.04 mg/L, 980 mg/L. Finally, the effluent quality of the system is better than the discharge requirements of “Discharge standard of wastewater from limestone-gypsum flue gas desulfurization system in fossil fuel power plants” (DL/T997-2006). In addition, the total electricity and chemical charges per ton of wastewater treatment were 6.50 yuan, which is lower than most of the engineering project under the same discharge requirements. Therefore, the process has certain engineering advantages.

A novel heterogeneous copper catalyst has been developed by supporting copper nanoparticles on activated charcoal via in situ reducing copper(II) with aqueous hydrazine as reductant. The characterization of Cu/C catalyst showed that the Cu0 nano-particles were formed on the surface of charcoal. This catalyst displayed good catalytic activities toward the N-arylation of primary amides and lactams with aryl iodides.

Apteronotus albifrons has its cloacal aperture located in the front of the body and on the back of the lower jaw. A. albifrons possess a pair of testes attached on the mesentery below its liver on the back of the abdominal cavity. In the early days of development, the testes are in translucent elongated thin strips in nude colour. As they develop, the testes will grow thicker and become white or creamy white in color. The rear end of the testes will split whereas the front end will merge to form the vas deferens which is connected to the external environment through the cloacal aperture. Testes of A. albifrons are lobular. There are six stages in its development. At 6 months of age, the testis structure shows clear medium with primary spermatocytes and abundant spermatogonia, suggesting that development is into the stageⅡ. At 8 months of age, testes in male A. albifrons are in the shape of a thin rod in white with blood vessels in presence. Germ cells consist of spermatogonia, primary spermatocytes and spermatocytes, indicating stageⅢ development. At 11 months of age, testes in male A. albifrons grow fuller and are in creamy white with apparent blood vessels present. Primary spermatocytes, secondary spermatocytes, spermatids and a small amount of sperms are president, indicating stageⅣ of development. At 15 months of age, testes in male A. albifrons swells and consist of a large amount of sperms, reaching full maturity. This is the stageⅥof development, after which is the stage featured by testes after spermiation.

Nonaromatic luminophores without remarkable conjugates have aroused great attention. Their emission mechanism, however, remains an open question. Meanwhile, previous studies generally focus on aliphatic amine and/or carbonyl-containing systems; those with merely oxygen moieties (i.e., ether, hydroxyl) are scarcely touched. Recently, the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism is proposed to rationalize the emission of nonconventional luminophores, according to which compounds bearing purely oxygen moieties can also be emissive. To check this conjecture, herein, both nonaromatic compound of xylitol and polymers of PEG and F127 are studied, which are found to be emissive in concentrated solutions and solids. Furthermore, cryogenic-persistent phosphorescence of the compounds and even persistent room temperature phosphorescence of xylitol crystals are observed. Additionally, their potential application as Fe3+ sensors is demonstrated. These results not only verify the rationality of the CTE mechanism but also suggest the possibility to discover and design new luminophores according to it.

Along the coast of Shandong Province in China, an extensive hatchery-release programme has been conducted for more than 10 years. However, no information has been reported concerning the long-term effects on the wild population resulting from the release of large numbers of juveniles in Portunus trituberculatus. In this study, sequence variation of swimming crab P. trituberculatus based on the mitochondrial control region was investigated for 946 swimming crabs at the releasing sites from 2012 to 2014. The result showed that the wild P. trituberculatus was characterized by high genetic diversity indices, and not significantly different from the previous study. Low FST values were estimated among the groups of different years and different sites, which suggested no genetic differentiation found in the wild population after the stock enhancement programme. Hence, the long-term extensive hatchery release programme has not affected the genetic structure of wild P. trituberculatus populations along the coast of Shandong Province.

Pure organic persistent room-temperature phosphorescence (p-RTP) under ambient conditions is attractive but challenging due to the slow intersystem crossing process and susceptibility of triplet excitons. Fabrication of pure organic RTP luminogens with simultaneously high efficiency and ultralong lifetime still remains a daunting job, owing to their conflicting requirements for the T1 nature of (n,π*) and (π,π*) characteristics, respectively. Herein, a group of amide-based derivatives with efficient p-RTP is developed through the incorporation of spin-orbital-coupling-promoting groups of carbonyl and aromatic π units, giving impressive p-RTP with lifetime and efficiency of up to 710.6 ms and 10.2%, respectively. Furthermore, two of the luminogens demonstrate intense p-RTP after vigorous mechanical stimulation, indicating their robust nature, which is rarely encountered. Efficient and robust p-RTP even in the amorphous state endows them promising potential for encryption and bioimaging with facile fabrication processes. A bioimaging study with live mice indicates that such highly robust p-RTP is tremendously beneficial for in vivo afterglow imaging with an ultrahigh signal-to-background ratio of 428. These results strongly imply the possibility of realizing efficient and robust p-RTP from pure organics even without meticulous protection, thus paving the way to their promising and versatile applications.

To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of leukotriene receptor antagonist (LTRA) combined intranasal corticosteroids in the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR).The randomized controlled trials (RCT) about the combined therapy of LTRA and nasal corticosteroids from January 1985 to May 2014 were searched in OVID, PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI, WanFang Data, and Cochrane Library. Two reviewers independently screened the literatures, extracted the data, and evaluated the methodological quality. Then meta-ana- lyses were conducted by using RevMan 5.1 software.A total of 5 RCTs were included upon literature search. The results of meta-analyses showed that the efficacy of nasal corticosteroids plus LTRA was superior to nasal corticosteroids alone in total nasal symptom scores and individual nasal symptom scores (rhinorrhea, sneezing) [WMD = -4.49, 95% CI (-4.95(-)-4.03)-, P0.01; WMD = -0.43, 95% CI (-0.78(-)-0.07), P0.05; WMD = -0.10, 95% CI (-0.6(-)-0. 04), P0.01], with significant differences. However, compa- ring the subgroup treated with nasal corticosteroids combined LTRA against the subgroup treated with nasal corti- costeroids alone, we found no significant differences for RQLQ score and for individual nasal symptom scores (nasal blockage, nasal itching) [WMD = -15.19, 95% CI (-55.37(-)-25. 00), P0.05; WMD = 0.01, 95% CI(-) 0.06-0.08), P0. 05; WMD = -0.15,95% CI (-0.43(-)-0.13), P0.05].Based on limited evidence, we preliminary concluded the combined therapy of nasal corticosteroids and LTRA was more effective than nasal corticosteroids alone in the management of AR. Further large-scale, well-designed RCTs were still required to validate the add-on efficacy of LTRA for AR patients.

There are scare data about bacterial etiology and the antibiotic susceptibility, serotype distribution and molecular characteristics of pneumococci in children with acute otitis media (AOM) in China.A prospective study was conducted in Suzhou University Affiliated Children's Hospital. All children under 18 years of age diagnosed as AOM and with spontaneous otorrhea were offered enrollment, and collection of middle ear fluid was then cultured for bacterial pathogens. The antibiotic susceptibility, serotypes, macrolide resistance genes and sequence types of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains were identified.From January 2011 to December 2013, a total of 229 cases of AOM with spontaneous otorrhea were identified; of these, 159 (69.4%) middle ear fluid specimens were tested positive for bacterial pathogens. The leading cause was S. pneumoniae (47.2%), followed by Staphylococcus aureus (18.8%) and Haemophilus influenzae (7.4%). The antibiotic resistance rates of S. pneumoniae isolates to erythromycin were 99.1%, and the nonsusceptible rate to penicillin was 54.6%. The most common serotypes identified were 19A (45.1%) and 19F (35.4%). The coverage against PCV7 serotypes for this outcome was 56.1% and of PCV13 was 97.6%. The macrolide resistance was mainly mediated by both ermB and mefA/E genes (88.6%). The CC271 was the major clonal complex identified.S. pneumoniae was a leading cause for AOM in children in Suzhou, China. Antibiotics resistance rates of S. pneumoniae were high and mainly due to the spread of CC271 clonal complex.

BACKGROUND: Dissemination of antibiotic resistant clones is recognized as an important factor in the emergence and prevalence of resistance in pneumococcus. This study was undertaken to survey the antimicrobial susceptibility and serotypes distribution of pneumococci and to explore the circulating clones in hospitalized children in Suzhou, China. METHODS: The pneumococci were isolated from the nasopharyngeal aspirates of children less than 5 years of age admitted to Soochow-University-Affiliated-Children's-Hospital with respiratory infections. The capsular serotypes were identified by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested by E-test. The presence of ermB, mefA/E genes were detected by PCR and the genotypes were explored by Multilocus sequence typing (MLST). RESULTS: From July 2012 to July 2013, a total of 175 pneumococcal isolates were collected and all strains were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin, about 39.4% strains were non-susceptible to penicillin G. Overall, 174 (99.4%) isolates were resistant to ≥ 3 types of antibiotics. Serotypes 19F (28.1%), 6B (19.7%), 19A (18.0%), and 23F (17.4%) were the most common serotypes in all identified strains. The serotypes coverage of PCV7 and PCV13 were 71.9% and 89.9%, respectively. Four international antibiotic-resistant clones, including Taiwan19F-14 (n = 79), Spain23F-1(n = 25), Taiwan23F-15(n = 7) and Spain6B-2(n = 7), were identified. The Taiwan19F-14 clones have a higher non-susceptibility rate in β-lactams than other clones and non-clone isolates (p

Two highly water-soluble amino acids, which derived from β-CDs, i.e., glutamic acid-β-cyclodextrin (GluCD) and ethylene-diamine-β-cyclodextrin (EDCD), were synthesized and were examined for their effect on solubilization of anthracene (ANT), complexation of cadmium (Cd2+), and elution removal of ANT and Cd2+ in soil. The results showed that GluCD and EDCD were powerful complexant for ANT and Cd2+. In the presence of 10 g/L GluCD and EDCD, the solubilization of ANT increased by 47.04 and 23.85 times compared to the control, respectively. GluCD resulted in approximately 90% complexation of Cd2+ while 70% complexation was observed for EDCD. Simultaneously, GluCD and EDCD could greatly enhance the elution removal of ANT and Cd2+ from soil. GluCD resulted in the highest elution efficiency of ANT and Cd2+. With the addition of 10 g/L GluCD, 53.5% of ANT and 85.6% of Cd2+ were eluted, respectively. The ANT had a negligible effect on the Cd2+ removal due to different complexing sites of ANT and Cd2+, while Cd2+ enhanced the ANT removal under the addition of GluCD because Cd2+ neutralized the –COOH group of GluCD. Adversely, the removal of ANT was decreased with Cd2+ under the addition of EDCD, this was due to the fact that Cd2+ enhanced the polarity of EDCD molecule and inhibited the complexation between ANT and EDCD. The study suggested that GluCD could be preferred and be successfully applied to remediation of heavy metals or organic compounds in contaminated soil.

To investigate the effet of nasal septum operation combined with nasal sinuses on postoperative nasal septum.Sixty-five patients with deflection of nasal septum complicating chronic sinusitis were underwent nasal septum and nasal sinus operations under nasal endoscope. Postoperative nasal septum recover were observed and compared with patients underwent only simple nasal septum operation.Patients underwent nasal septum operations combined with nasal sinus, postoperative symptoms were more serious at early than simple nasal septum operations. At 3 months after operation, satisfactory degree of the former group were higher than the latter, and the former group didn't have complications such as nasal septum infection.Nasal septum operations combined with nasal sinus have no harmful effect on the prognosis of nasal septum, so it was safe and reliable.