Enhanced removal efficiency of bromate from aqueous solutions by nanoscale zero-valent iron immobilized on activated carbon

<div><p></p><p>Nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) immobilized on activated carbon (AC) was synthesized via liquid phase reduction route. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area measurement. The effects of bromate () removal in water with nZVI/AC samples were evaluated. The results show that nZVI/AC presented superior bromate removal efficiency, which is contributed to its reduction and synergistic adsorption/sedimentation of . Iron species in nZVI/AC acted as electron mediator and catalyst during bromate reduction, and bromide was the final reductive product. The dosage of nZVI/AC, solution pH, initial bromate concentration, reaction time, and temperature affected the rates of bromate reduction/adsorption. The optimum pH range of bromate removal is wide enough from 4.0 to 9.0. Bromate removal capacity of nZVI/AC was determined to be approximately 25 mg/g. These findings suggest that bromate removal by nZVI/AC can be an effective method for bromate control.</p></div

Long Noncoding RNAs Expression Patterns Associated with Chemo Response to Cisplatin Based Chemotherapy in Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma Patients

<div><p>Background</p><p>There is large variability among lung squamous cell carcinoma patients in response to treatment with cisplatin based chemotherapy. LncRNA is potentially a new type of predictive marker that can identify subgroups of patients who benefit from chemotherapy and it will have great value for treatment guidance.</p><p>Methods</p><p>Differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNA were identified using microarray profiling of tumors with partial response (PR) vs. with progressive disease (PD) from advanced lung squamous cell carcinoma patients treated with cisplatin based chemotherapy and validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Furthermore, the expression of AC006050.3-003 was assessed in another 60 tumor samples.</p><p>Results</p><p>Compared with the PD samples, 953 lncRNAs were consistently upregulated and 749 lncRNAs were downregulated consistently among the differentially expressed lncRNAs in PR samples (Fold Change≥2.0-fold, <i>p</i> <0.05). Pathway analyses showed that some classical pathways, including “Nucleotide excision repair,” that participated in cisplatin chemo response were differentially expressed between PR and PD samples. Coding-non-coding gene co-expression network identified many lncRNAs, such as lncRNA AC006050.3-003, that potentially played a key role in chemo response. The expression of lncRNA AC006050.3-003 was significantly lower in PR samples compared to the PD samples in another 60 lung squamous cell carcinoma patients. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that lncRNA AC006050.3-003 was a valuable biomarker for differentiating PR patients from PD patients with an area under the curve of 0.887 (95% confidence interval 0.779, 0.954).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>LncRNAs seem to be involved in cisplatin-based chemo response and may serve as biomarkers for treatment response and candidates for therapy targets in lung squamous cell carcinoma.</p></div

Deregulated mRNAs detected using microarray in 5 PR and 5 PD lung SCC patients.

<p>*Log2 (PR/PD).</p><p>Deregulated mRNAs detected using microarray in 5 PR and 5 PD lung SCC patients.</p

The expression of lncRNA AC006050.3-003 was validated by qPCR in samples of 60 patients with lung SCC stratified according to the chemo response (PR vs. PD) following cisplatin based chemotherapy.

<p>(A) lncRNA AC006050.3-003 was aberrantly expressed between PC and PD patients. The term 2^-ΔCt was used to describe the relative expression level of lncRNA (ΔCt  =  Ct_target−Ct_β-actin). ***<i>P</i><0.001 for patients with PD versus patients with PR (Student's t-test). (B) ROC analysis of the ability of lncRNA AC006050.3-003 levels to discriminate between PR and PD patients with lung SCC receiving cisplatin based chemotherapy.</p

Effect of Weak Magnetic Field on Arsenate and Arsenite Removal from Water by Zerovalent Iron: An XAFS Investigation

In this study, a weak magnetic field (WMF), superimposed with a permanent magnet, was utilized to improve ZVI corrosion and thereby enhance As­(V)/As­(III) removal by ZVI at pH_ini 3.0–9.0. The experiment with real arsenic-bearing groundwater revealed that WMF could greatly improve arsenic removal by ZVI even in the presence of various cations and anions. The WMF-induced improvement in As­(V)/As­(III) removal by ZVI should be primarily associated with accelerated ZVI corrosion, as evidenced by the pH variation, Fe²⁺ release, and the formation of corrosion products as characterized with X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. The arsenic species analysis in solution/solid phases at pH_ini 3.0 revealed that As­(III) oxidation to As­(V) in aqueous phase preceded its subsequent sequestration by the newly formed iron (hydr)­oxides. However, both As­(V) adsorption following As­(III) oxidation to As­(V) in solution and As­(III) adsorption preceding its conversion to As­(V) in solid phase were observed at pH_ini 5.0–9.0. The application of WMF accelerated the transformation of As­(III) to As­(V) in both aqueous and solid phases at pH_ini 5.0–9.0 and enhanced the oxidation of As­(III) to As­(V) in solution at pH_ini 3.0

Validation of microarray data by qPCR.

<p>The differential expression of 5 lncRNAs (A) or 5 mRNAs (B) in samples of 10 patients by microarray was validated by qPCR. The relative expression level in PR samples was normalized by the PD samples. The heights of the columns in the chart represent the median fold changes (PR/PD) in expression across the patients for each of the validated lncRNAs or mRNAs. Fold changes were calculated by the 2^−ΔCt method. Fold changes  = mean2^−ΔCt (PR)/mean2^−ΔCt (PD), where ΔCt  =  Ct_target−Ct_β-actin.</p

Pathway analysis of the differentially expressed mRNAs.

<p>(A) Signaling pathways of upregulated mRNAs and downregulated mRNAs. The bar plot shows the top ten Enrichment score (−log10 (<i>P</i>-value)) value of the significant enrichment pathway. (B) The "Nucleotide excision repair" signal pathway shows modulation in repair of nonspecific DNA damage and is associated with cisplatin sensitivity. Yellow marked nodes are associated with downregulated genes, orange marked nodes are associated with upregulated or only whole dataset genes, and green nodes have no significance.</p

LncRNA-mRNA-network was constructed based on the correlation analysis between the differential expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs.

<p>In the network, a regular hexagon node represents lncRNA, circular node represents the mRNA. A brown node represents an upregulated lncRNA or mRNA and a blue node represents a downregulated lncRNA or mRNA.</p

Bromate removal from aqueous solutions by ordered mesoporous carbon

<div><p>We investigated the feasibility of using ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC) for bromate removal from water. Batch experiments were performed to study the influence of various experimental parameters such as the effect of contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial bromate concentration, temperature, pH and effect of competing anions on bromate removal by OMC. The adsorption kinetics indicates that the uptake rate of bromate was rapid at the beginning: 85% adsorption was completed in 1 h and equilibrium was achieved within 3 h. The sorption process was well described with pseudo-second-order kinetics. The maximum adsorption capacity of OMC for bromate removal was 17.6 mg g⁻¹ at 298 K. The adsorption data fit the Freundlich model well. The amount of bromate removed was found to be proportional to the influent bromate concentration. The effects of competing anions and solution pH (3–11) were negligible. These limited data suggest that OMC can be effectively utilized for bromate removal from drinking water.</p></div

Deregulated lncRNAs detected using microarray in 5 PR and 5 PD lung SCC patients.

<p>*Log2 (PR/PD).</p><p>Deregulated lncRNAs detected using microarray in 5 PR and 5 PD lung SCC patients.</p