Toward a Better Understanding of Hemiwicking: A Simple Model to Comprehensive Prediction

The hemiwicking state has attracted much interest because of numerous important potential applications in inking, printing, boiling heat transfer, and condensation. However, the mechanism of the emergence of hemiwicking has not been well understood, especially the effects of geometry of patterned surfaces on the hemiwicking state has not been systematically investigated. Here, we presented a new method to study the critical conditions for hemiwicking on patterned surfaces. By minimizing the variation of the free energy, we obtain the corresponding stable height of the hemiwicking film and find that it is easier for a droplet to be in the hemiwicking state if the pillar surface has small spacing, large radius and height, and a small intrinsic contact angle. Our established model is applied to a flat-topped cylindrical pillar-patterned surface, and the modeling results are in well agreement with experiments and other existing theories. Besides, our model is also applied to other kinds of patterned surfaces including hemispherical-topped cylindrical and conical pillars, about which the other existing theories are deficient. Our theoretical results not only are in well agreement with the experimental observations but also provide some important predictions, which implies that the established model could be applicable to understanding the basic physical mechanism of the hemiwicking state and be useful in guiding the design and fabrication of hemiwicking surfaces

Metagenomic and Metabolomic Analysis of the Toxic Effects of Trichloroacetamide-Induced Gut Microbiome and Urine Metabolome Perturbations in Mice

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water have been linked to various diseases, including colon, colorectal, rectal, and bladder cancer. Trichloroacetamide (TCAcAm) is an emerging nitrogenous DBP, and our previous study found that TCAcAm could induce some changes associated with host–gut microbiota co-metabolism. In this study, we used an integrated approach combining metagenomics, based on high-throughput sequencing, and metabolomics, based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), to evaluate the toxic effects of TCAcAm exposure on the gut microbiome and urine metabolome. High-throughput sequencing revealed that the gut microbiome’s composition and function were significantly altered after TCAcAm exposure for 90 days in Mus musculus mice. In addition, metabolomic analysis showed that a number of gut microbiota-related metabolites were dramatically perturbed in the urine of the mice. These results may provide novel insight into evaluating the health risk of environmental pollutants as well as revealing the potential mechanism of TCAcAm’s toxic effects

Evolution Process of Ferroan Brucite under Humid Conditions with CO₂ and O₂

Ferroan brucite, Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 (0.05 x < 0.35) was a common mineral product preserved in serpentinized peridotites. Studying the evolution of Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 with different doping amounts of Fe2+ was beneficial to reveal the role of Fe2+ in forming different kinds of evolution products and the reasonable utilization of Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 resources. In this study, Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 with x being 0.05, 0.1 0.15, 0.2, and 0.3 were successfully prepared, characterized, and structurally refined in detail. The evolution products of Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 in the presence of H2O, CO2, and O2 were clearly investigated to assess the evolution process and the role of Fe2+. The evolution products were mainly CO32– intercalated MgFe-layered double hydroxides (MgFe–CO32–-LDHs) and MgCO3·3H2O. The content of MgFe–CO32–-LDHs in the evolution products increased with the Fe2+ doping content increased. While the content of MgCO3·3H2O changed in the opposite direction and completely disappeared as the doping content of Fe2+ was 20%. Accordingly, the evolution mechanism of Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 was afforded based on various characterization and calculation on the deformation and system energy of the products by molecular simulation. In the evolution process, the oxidization of Fe2+ to Fe3+ in Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 by O2 forced the entrance of CO32– into the interlayers. Meanwhile, high content of doping Fe2+ in Mg1–XFeX(OH)2 resulted in the easy formation of MgFe–CO32–-LDHs. Correspondingly, the change of surface charge, magnetic property, and adsorption ability toward Congo red was tested after evolution

Quality assessment of included studies using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR).

<p>(SR) Systematic review; (M) Meta-analysis; (A1…A11) AMSTAR Items (please find in the AMSTAR Checklist in the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0140426#pone.0140426.s003" target="_blank">S3 Appendix</a>), scored as 0 or 1; (AMSTAR) AMSTAR Score ranging from 0–11; (NA) Not Applicable</p><p>Quality assessment of included studies using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR).</p

Highly Sensitive and Selective Detection of Inorganic Phosphates in the Water Environment by Biosensors Based on Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer

The accurate detection of phosphate in water is very important to prevent water eutrophication and ensure the health of water quality. However, traditional phosphomolybdenum blue spectrophotometry is not sensitive, is time-consuming, and demands large amounts of chemical reagents. Therefore, highly sensitive, rapid, and environmentally friendly Pi detection methods are urgently needed. Here, we developed a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET)-based biosensor, which can detect Pi in water quickly, highly sensitively, and highly selectively. The NanoLuc and the Venus fluorescent protein were selected as the bioluminescence donor and energy acceptor, respectively. The best-performing BRET sensor variant, VenusΔC10-PΔC12-ΔN4Nluc, was identified by Pi-specific binding protein (PiBP) screening and systematic truncation. Single-factor experiments optimized the key parameters affecting the detection performance of the sensor. Under the optimal detection conditions, the detection limit of this method was 1.3 μg·L–1, the detection range was 3.3–434 μg·L–1, and it had excellent selectivity, repeatability, and stability. This low-cost and environment-friendly BRET sensor showed a good application prospect in real water quality detection

Identifying Health Effects of Exposure to Trichloroacetamide Using Transcriptomics and Metabonomics in Mice (Mus musculus)

Microarray-based transcriptomics and one-dimensional proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) based metabonomics approaches were employed to investigate the health effects of nitrogenous disinfection byproducts (N-DBPs) of trichloroacetamide (TCAcAm) on mice. Mice were exposed to TCAcAm at concentrations of 50, 500, and 5000 μg/L for 90 days, and hepatic transcriptome and serum metabonome and histopathological parameters were detected in comparison with those of control. TCAcAm esposures resulted in liver inflammation, weight loss (in 5000 ug/L TCAcAm group), and alterations in hepatic transcriptome and serum metabonome. Based on the differentially expressed genes and altered metabolites, several significant pathways were identified, which are associated with lipid, xenobiotics, amino acid and energy metabolism, and cell process. Moreover, integrative pathway analyses revealed that TCAcAm exposure in this study induced hepatotoxicity and cytotoxicity. These results also highlight the noninvasive prospect of transcriptomic and metabonomic approaches in evaluating the health risk of emerging N-DBPs

Provinces/regions with the highest HIV prevalence amongst key populations in China.

<p>Provinces/regions with the highest HIV prevalence amongst key populations in China.</p

Evaluation of the Toxic Effects of Municipal Wastewater Effluent on Mice Using Omic Approaches

Municipal wastewater effluents (MWWE) contain a lot of trace organic pollutants, which will be a threat to environmental health. However, little information is available for the mixed toxicity of MWWE on mammals. In the present study, male mice were exposed to MWWE for 90 days, and then, histopathology and clinical biochemistry determination and transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling were conducted. The results showed that MWWE exposure resulted in injuries in liver and kidney. Combined transcriptomic and metabolomic data demonstrated that MWWE exposure induced perturbations of metabolism, including lipid, nucleotide, amino acid, and energy metabolism. Furthermore, dysregulation of signal transduction processes were also identified based on differentially expressed genes. These results suggested that chronic exposure to MWWE could induce hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity in mice and omic approaches are of practical value to evaluate the complex toxicity of MWWE

Regression model with the included 6 subpopulations of known size.

<p>Regression model with the included 6 subpopulations of known size.</p

The average estimate number of acquaintances in MSM by respect level.

<p>The average estimate number of acquaintances in MSM by respect level.</p