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Balamuthia mandrillaris amebic encephalitis (BAE) can cause a fatal condition if diagnosis is delayed or effective treatment is lacking. Patients with BAE have been previously reported in 12 provinces of China, with skin lesions being the primary symptom and encephalitis developing after several years. However, a significantly lower number of cases has been reported in Southwest China. Here we report an aggressive BAE case of a 64-year-old woman farmer with a history of skin lesions on her left hand. She was admitted to our hospital due to symptoms of dizziness, headache, cough, vomiting, and gait instability. She was initially diagnosed with syphilitic meningoencephalitis and received a variety of empirical treatment that failed to improve her symptoms. Finally, she was diagnosed with BAE combined with amebic pneumonia using next-generation sequencing (NGS), qRT-PCR, sequence analysis, and imaging studies. She died approximately 3 weeks after the onset. This case highlights that the rapid development of encephalitis can be a prominent clinical manifestation of Balamuthia mandrillaris infection.

DEHP (di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate) is an endocrine disruptor commonly found in plastic products that has been associated with reproduction alterations, but the effect of DEHP on toxicity is still widely unknown. Using DEHP concentrations of 10, 1, and 0.1 mg/L, we showed that DEHP reduced the reproductive capacity of Caenorhabditis elegans after 72 hr. of exposure. DEHP exposure reduced the reproductive capacity in terms of decreased brood sizes, egg hatchability (0.1, 1 and 10 mg/L), and egg-laying rate (1 and 10 mg/L), and increased numbers of fertilized eggs in the uterus (1 and 10 mg/L). DEHP also caused damage to gonad development. DEHP decreased the total number of germline cells, and decreased the relative area of the gonad arm of all exposure groups, with worms in the 1 mg/L DEHP exposure group having the minimum gonad arm area. Additionally, DEHP caused a significant concentration‐dependent increase in the expression of unc-86. Autophagy and ROS contributed to the enhancement of DEHP toxicity in reducing reproductive capacity, and glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase were activated as the antioxidant defense in this study. Hence, we found that DEHP has a dual effect on nematodes. Higher concentration (10 mg/L) DEHP can inhibit the expression of autophagy genes (atg-18, atg-7, bec-1, lgg-1 and unc-51), and lower concentrations (0.1 and 1 mg/L) can promote the expression of autophagy genes. Our data highlight the potential environmental risk of DEHP in inducing reproductive toxicity toward the gonad development and reproductive capacity of environmental organisms.

To compare the risks of adverse events 3 months after Onabotulinumtoxin-A and Lanbotulinumtoxin-A injections in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to identify risk factors and associations.A total of 1037 children (682 males, 355 females; mean age 5 years 2 months [SD 3 years]; age range 2 years-17 years 10 months) with CP underwent 1013 Onabotulinumtoxin-A injections and 418 Lanbotulinumtoxin-A injections from 2012 to 2021. Information was recorded in a purpose-built database.The adverse event rates of Onabotulinumtoxin-A and Lanbotulinumtoxin-A were reported as 13.92% and 11.96% respectively. Most adverse events were mild and self-limiting. Children in Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) levels IV to V had a higher risk of adverse events than those in GMFCS levels I to III (odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval {CI}] = 3.65 [1.56, 5.40], p 0.01). The history of recent illness and higher dose increased the likelihood of adverse events (OR [95% CI] = 2.00 [1.55, 3.00] and 2.20 [1.53, 3.07] respectively, p 0.01). Sex, age, and the number of injections had no significant effect on adverse event rates (p 0.05). The incidence of upper respiratory tract infection and lower respiratory tract infection after injections was weakly correlated with the incidence before injections (r = 0.36 and r = 0.27 respectively, p 0.01).Occurrence of adverse events was similar between Onabotulinumtoxin-A and Lanbotulinumtoxin-A in children with CP. Dose, GMFCS level, and health background were risk factors.The prevalence of adverse events was similar between Onabotulinumtoxin-A and Lanbotulinumtoxin-A in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The prevalence of adverse events increased with the severity of CP and the injected dose. Sex, age, and number of injections had no significant effect on the prevalence of adverse events.

Four types of film forming materials were used in graphene fire resistive coatings to investigate the fire protection, smoke suppression, water resistance and physical properties by corresponding t...

Elevated industrial production and broaden applications of indium oxide materials have increased concerns over the occupational exposure of industry workers. Respirable In2O3 particles have been identified in the workplaces and lung of indium-processing workers. The aim of this study was to assess the indium distribution in vivo and organs injury induced by nano-In2O3 particles. More than 50% of nano-In2O3 particles were accumulated in the lungs after 8-week exposure period and caused serious pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) and pneumonia. The migration of nano-In2O3 particles from lungs to the other organs was very low and dose not steadily increase the indium burden in those organs except kidney and liver. The repeated intratracheal instillations of nano-In2O3 particles into the lungs of Wistar rats were dose-dependent increased the concentrations of serum indium.

In recent years, system maintenance has become a hot topic that has attracted significant research interests from both academia and industry, and has found applications in many areas. A modern system usually consists of many components, among which there may be different dependencies. The maintenance strategy that ignores the dependencies among components cannot meet the actual engineering requirements and may even affect the usability of the entire system. Therefore, in this paper, we study the economic dependence of equipment cost and duration sharing when components are replaced at the same time. By characterizing the relationship between the effective service age and reliability of components using the Weibull distribution, we establish a selective maintenance model of multi-state complex system with economic dependence. The discrete artificial bee algorithm is used as the global optimization method to solve the dual- objective optimization model and obtain the Pareto solution set of the maintenance level of each component. A case study of the Shooman network system is performed to demonstrate the usefulness of the model and the importance of considering the economic dependencies between components in maintenance decisions.

Quantum dots (QDs), with a size of 1-10 nm, are luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals characterized by a shell-core structure. Notably, QDs have potential application in bioimaging owing to their higher fluorescence performance than conventional fluorescent dyes. To date, QDs has been widely used in photovoltaic devices, supercapacitors, electrocatalysis, photocatalysis. In recent years, scientists have focused on whether the use of QDs can interfere with the reproductive and developmental processes of organisms, resulting in serious population and community problems. In this study, we first analyze the possible reproductive and development toxicity of QDs. Next, we summarize the possible mechanisms underlying QDs' interference with reproduction and development, including oxidative stress, altered gametogenesis and fetal development gene expression, autophagy and apoptosis, and release of metal ions. Thereafter, we highlight some potential aspects that can be used to eliminate or reduce QDs toxicity. Based on QDs' unique physical and chemical properties, a comprehensive range of toxicity test data is urgently needed to build structure-activity relationship to quickly evaluate the ecological safety of each kind of QDs.

Occupational exposure to indium oxide and indium containing particles has been associated with the development of severe lung diseases called “indium lung.” According to the survey of occupational hygiene, indium oxide nanoparticles have been identified in the workplaces and the lungs of workers. To date, the potential mechanism of the pneumotoxicity has been poorly understood and no effective therapies are available against “indium lung.” Our present study reported that the exposure of indium oxide nanoparticles damaged lung epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages and induced pulmonary alveolar proteinosis and inflammation in rats. In the 8-week post-exposure period, the indium oxide nanoparticles still mostly accumulated in the lungs and then persistently release indium ions in two months after exposure. In vitro, the epithelial cells show the greater potential for release of indium ions from indium oxide nanoparticles compared with the macrophages. EDTA-2Na, a metal chelating agent expected to remove the indium ions, was found to significantly reduced the cytotoxicity of indium oxide nanoparticles. Herein, the pneumotoxicity may be attributed to the slow and incremental release of indium ions from indium oxide nanoparticles primary dissolved by epithelial cells and macrophages, at least partially. The study may provide some insights to the pathogenicity mechanisms of “indium lung” and some clues against the health hazards of occupational inhaled indium oxide nanoparticles at the workplaces.

A multiplex suspension array detection platform of antibiotics has been developed based on silica-agarose hybrid microbeads (SAHMs). Chloramphenicol (CAP), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), metronidazole (MTZ) and amoxicillin (AMX) were employed as model analytes. The antigens (the antibiotics conjugated with BSA) were immobilized on the surface of four different types of SAHMs. Based on an indirect competition immunoassay, the selected antibiotics are detected through the competition of the specific monoclonal antibodies between the multiple antibiotics and the antigens. Due to high resistance to nonspecific protein absorption of SAHMs, the proposed method exhibited wide linear ranges (0.4˜72.9 ng/mL for CAP, 2.0˜108.5 ng/mL for SMX, 2.6˜142.2 ng/mL for MTZ, 1.0˜63.3 ng/mL for AMX) and low detection limits of 0.09˜0.8 ng/mL. Recoveries for spiked tap water samples were from 82% to 113%, with relative standard deviation lower than 14%, demonstrating the accuracy of the measurements performed with the developed method. This work offered a high-throughput, flexible and accurate tool, which provides a good platform for simultaneous detection of antibiotics.

The rapid industrial development has led to serious cadmium (Cd) pollution. Cd is a toxic heavy metal placing severe health threat to human. Cd can enter the body through the atmosphere, water, soil and food, and has a long half-life (10–30 years), it largely accumulates in kidneys, liver, bone and other organs and causes irreversible damage to the target organs. Cd pollution has also further caused certain carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk. This study summarizes the current situation of Cd pollution, the toxicity of specific target organs, carcinogenic risk and non-carcinogenic risk in the general population, as well as dietary supplements to prevent and mitigate Cd toxication, which aims to focus on the adverse effects of Cd to human from both individual and population perspectives, hoping that not only the health risk of Cd poisoning can be reduced, but also the accurate prevention and control of Cd poisoning can be achieved in the future.

We conducted a cross-sectional study with 395 completely matched student samples enrolled from a public primary school in Nanjing of eastern China, including questionnaires, blood samples, growth indexes and school performances, all of which were used for the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and general linear model (GLM). The results showed that factors, such as gender, age, parents’ education, residential passive smoking and picky eaters, had significant impacts on the blood lead levels (BPbs). As for the linear and non-linear dose-response relationship between BPbs and erythrocyte parameters, we found a positive association between BPbs and red blood cell count (RBC count) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) but a negative association between BPbs and hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH). When BPbs increased by 10 μg/L, the RBC count increased by 0.18 × 1012/L, while HGB and HCT decreased by 1.19 g/L and 0.41% for boys, respectively. As for girls, corresponding increases in RBC count was 0.05 × 1012/L, while HGB and HCT decreased by 0.82 g/L and 0.23%. Meanwhile, for both boys and girls, MCHC increased by 2.55 g/L, while MCV and MCH levels decreased by 0.41 fL and 0.12 pg each. Furthermore, a remarkable adverse effect (p

Concerns have been raised over the safety and health of industrial workers exposed to indium oxide nanoparticles (IO-NPs) when working. IO-NPs were previously shown in vitro and in vivo to be cytotoxic, but the mechanism of pathogenesis was unclear. In this study, the effects of IO-NPs on lung cells associated with respiratory and immune barriers and the toxic effects of intercellular cascades were studied. Here IO-NPs had acute toxicity to Wistar rats over a time course (5 days post-intratracheal instillation). Following treatment epithelial cells (16HBE) or macrophages (RAW264.7) with IO-NPs or IO fine particles (IO-FPs), the damage of 16HBE cells caused by IO-NPs was serious, mainly in the mitochondrial and rough endoplasmic reticulum. The lactate dehydrogenase level also showed that cytotoxicity in vitro was more serious for IO-NPs compared with IO-FPs. The level of In3+ (examined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) in 16HBE cells was 10 times higher than that in RAW cells. In3+ , releasing from IO-NPs absorbed by 16HBE cells, could not only significantly inhibit the phagocytosis and migration of macrophages (P < .0001), but also stimulate RAW cells to secrete high levels of inflammatory cytokines. IO-NPs can directly damage pulmonary epithelial cells. The In3+ released by epithelial cells affect the phagocytosis and migration of macrophages, which may be a new point for the decrease in the clearance of alveolar surfactants and the development of IO-related pulmonary alveolar proteinosis.

In this experiment, the asbestos chinensis was selected as the experimental material, and it was treated with black mulch, straw mulch, horticultural cloth mulch and river sand mulch, and compared with the control group to study the correction of iron deficiency yellowing of the leaves of Huangguogan. The results showed that the application of chelated iron under different mulching materials can significantly improve the photosynthesis index and leaf fluorescence characteristics of leaves, and correct the problem of iron deficiency yellowing of yellow fruit orange. The degree of correction of leaf iron deficiency yellowing by root-chelating iron was different under different mulching materials. In general, the correction effect of river sand mulch treatment was the most obvious, and the correction effect of black mulch was the worst. It was economical, practical, simple and convenient to correct the iron deficiency yellowing of the yellow fruit by mulching the material, and it had certain promotion value.

In this experiment, Huangguogan in Shimian County was selected as the experimental material, and the effects of different treatments on the fruit quality of Huangguogan were studied by mulching treatments with black film, straw, horticultural cloth and river sand. The results of this study showed that the application of chelated iron to the roots under different mulching materials could significantly improve the fruit quality, and the application of chelated iron to the roots under different mulching materials had different effects on fruit quality. The river sand mulching treatment had the highest single fruit weight, vertical and horizontal diameters, while CK had the lowest one. The four mulching treatments all increased the contents of total soluble solids, soluble sugar and sucrose. The river sand mulching treatment had the highest contents, which were 13.96%, 13.09 and 6.93 g.100 mL-1, respectively. There were significant differences in the titratable acid, vitamins C and sugar-acid ratio between the different mulching treatments, and the river sand mulching treatment had the highest effect. In general, the river sand mulching treatment had the best effect on promoting fruit quality, and plastic film mulching treatment had the worst effect.

In this paper, Shimian yellow citrus fruit was used as material to study the differences of HuangGuo citrus fruit strains by sampling, measuring and analyzing the fruit quality according to different shapes and canopy. The results showed that: in the yellow fruit citrus plants fruit quality was better than the performance of the lower part of the upper canopy, appearance quality did not change significantly, little difference; intrinsic quality significantly different soluble solids and sugar content than other obvious difference; round tree fruit quality was better than natural growth happy shape and form.

Elevated industrial production and broaden applications of indium oxide materials have increased concerns over the occupational exposure of industry workers. Respirable In₂O₃ particles have been identified in the workplaces and lung of indium-processing workers. The aim of this study was to assess the indium distribution

With the extending applications, graphene-family nanomaterials begin to enter people's life via various ways, largely increasing the exposure frequencies. In spite of the increasing toxicological studies, the biosafety of graphene-based nanomaterials still remains elusive. Graphene oxide (GO), an oxidation derivative of graphene, is considered as one of the recently-emerging nanomaterials attractive for biomedical applications. Accompanied with the prospect of applications are the great concerns about its biosafety for human and environment. Herein, this review intends to systematically summarize the research on GO toxicity both in vitro and in vivo followed by deep discussions about the toxicological mechanisms. The currently reported toxicity of GO mainly includes inhalation toxicity, ingestion toxicity, dermal toxicity and hemocompatibility depending on exposure routes. The toxicity evaluation of GO using non-rodent organisms (zebrafish, Caenorhabditis elegans and drosophila, etc.) is also summarized, supplementary to in vivo toxicity of GO. Based on the comprehensive summary of the reported GO-induced toxicity, our review suggests considerable emphasis being put on the balance of benefits and risks when employing the nanotechnology.

Currently, cancer continues to afflict humanity. The direct destruction and killing of tumor cells by surgery, radiation and chemotherapy gives rise to many side effects and compromised efficacy. Encouragingly, the rapid development of nanotechnology offers attractive opportunities to revolutionize the current situation of cancer therapy. Metallofullerenol Gd@C82(OH)22, in contrast to chemotherapeutics that directly kill tumor cells, demonstrates anti-tumor behavior with high efficiency and low toxicity by modulating the tumor microenvironment. Furthermore, Gd@C82(OH)22 has been recently reported to specifically target cancer stem cells. In this review, we give a concise introduction to the development of the fullerene family and then report the anti-tumor activity of Gd@C82(OH)22 based on its unique physicochemical characteristics, followed by a comprehensive summary of the anti-tumor biological mechanisms which target different components of the tumor microenvironment as well as the biodistribution and toxicity of Gd@C82(OH)22. Finally, we describe Gd@C82(OH)22 as a "particulate medicine" to highlight its distinctions from conventional "molecular medicine", with considerable emphasis on the advantages of nanomedicine. The in-depth investigation of Gd@C82(OH)22 undoubtedly provides a constructive reference for the development of other nanomedicines, especially in the fullerene family. The application of nanotechnology in the medical field definitely provides a promising and favorable future for improving the current status of cancer therapy.

With the increasing industrial production and the broaden applications of indium tin oxide (ITO) materials, frequent exposure has posed great concerns for people, especially the workers in the indium related manufacturing plants. The exposed-workers have been reported to adverse effect and even die from the ITO-induced pulmonary disorders called "indium lung." In addition to the epidemiologic studies, the increasing animal studies also demonstrated the lung injuries induced by the acute or chronic respiratory exposure of ITO nanoparticles (ITO NPs). They could enter into the cells owing to the small particle size and induce oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, cytotoxicity or even genotoxicity. The indium ions released from the ITO particles via lysosomal acidification considered as the actual entity responsible for the toxicity of ITO NPs. To date, no effective therapies are available against ITO-induced pulmonary diseases, which calls for the full explorations of the pathological factors. Our present mini-review summarizes the current reports on ITO nanoparticles-induced pneumotoxic effect with focus on the indium ion release, which could help warrant the health risks of ITO and other ITO-based materials.

This experiment compared the phenophase, morphological features and fruit quality of the two citrus varieties. The results showed that the whole growth period of Lemon Siranui was about 12 days longer than Siranui. The flowering period, two physiological fruit drop periods and fruit color change period of Lemon Siranui were about 5-7 days later than Siranui. While this study illustrated differences in morphological features that Lemon Siranui tree was stronger than Siranui. And the fruit of Lemon Siranui was heavier than Siranui. It was clear to see that the percentages of soluble solids as well as vitamin C in Lemon Siranui were larger than those in Siranui, which led to better taste qualities. Overall, Lemon Siranui was a new high-quality strain citrus variety with excellent traits which was worth promoting from the analysis of appearance quality and nutritional quality.

In this experiment, 8-year-old yellow fruit citrus trees were used as materials, and the soil nutrients were determined with the combination of Bacillus megaterium, glial bacillus, organic-inorganic compound fertilizer and organic fertilizer, and the conventional application of organic fertilizer as the control. The results showed that the soil nutrients of the treatments of Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus glia and organic fertilizer were significantly higher than those of the control. The treatment of applying Bacillus megaterium and Bacillus glia alone reached a significant level in many soil nutrient indexes. It is suggested that the combination of Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus glia and organic fertilizer should be applied in production.

Cancer remains a major threat to human health worldwide. Cytotoxicity has imposed restrictions on the conventional cytotoxic drug-based chemotherapy. The rapidly-developing nanomedicine has shown great promise in revolutionizing chemotherapy with improved efficiency and reduced toxicity. Gd@C82(OH)22, a novel endohedral metallofullerenol, was first reported by our research group to suppress tumor growth and metastasis efficiently without obvious toxicity. Gd@C82(OH)22 imprisons tumors by facilitating the formation of surrounding fibrous layers which is different from chemotherapeutics that poison tumor cells. In this review, the authors first reported the antineoplastic activity of metallofullerenol Gd@C82(OH)22 followed by further discussions on its new anti-cancer molecular mechanism—tumor encaging. On this basis, the unparalleled advantages of nanomedicine in the future drug design are discussed. The unique interaction modes of Gd@C82(OH)22 with specific targeted biomolecules may shed light on a new avenue for drug design. Depending on the surface characteristics of target biomolecules, nanomedicine, just like a transformable and dynamic key, can self-assemble into suitable shapes to match several locks for the thermodynamic stability, suggesting the target-tailoring ability of nanomedicine.

The defective categories of port crane is studied in details, based on metal structure fault detection, to understand the actual status of a port crane. First the prediction of port crane life based on Paris model is introduced. But, this traditional residual life prediction is not so accurate considering fracture mechanics development. Then, the prediction model based on grey system theory is introduced for the study of port crane, and a grey model GM(1,1) of crack propagation is established. Next, a generic predict formula of life prediction of port crane is constructed. Finally, a case study is confirmed that the prediction has a good agreement with field data, and its relative error is less than 6%, so the proposed model has good precision and forecast creditability.