Study of adsorption of imidacloprid onto two different textures of soils

The main goal of this research is to evaluate the potential for imidacloprid to contaminate water and ground water. For this purpose, the adsorption of imidacloprid on two different soils is investigated. Physicochemical  properties such as texture, organic matter, pH of the two soils are investigated. Both soils have high organic matter and the same pH but different textures. The kinetic study of adsorption on these soils over 90 days yielded a mean half-life of 60 days. Furthermore, adsorption kinetics of imidacloprid was studied and the rate of sorption was found to conform to pseudo-second-order kinetics with 3.10 mg/g/h and 10.204 mg/g/h for soils of banana field and cocoa field respectively. Equilibrium isotherm data were analyzed according to Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich–Peterson equations. The Redlich–Peterson isotherm gave the best correlation for the adsorption of imidacloprid adsorption on soils. The maximum adsorption capacities were determined to be 4.139 mg/g and 5.74 mg/g of soils from banana field and cocoa field respectively.The differences in adsorption capacities may be due to the effect of soils textures.Keywords: Imidacloprid, soils textures, adsorption, Redlich-Peterson model, Freundlich model, HPLC

CORRECTION Open Access

tumor progression enhances the oncogenic capacity of advanced ovarian cance

The incidence of liver injury in Uyghur patients treated for TB in Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, China, and its association with hepatic enzyme polymorphisms nat2, cyp2e1, gstm1 and gstt1.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Of three first-line anti-tuberculosis (anti-TB) drugs, isoniazid is most commonly associated with hepatotoxicity. Differences in INH-induced toxicity have been attributed to genetic variability at several loci, NAT2, CYP2E1, GSTM1and GSTT1, that code for drug-metabolizing enzymes. This study evaluated whether the polymorphisms in these enzymes were associated with an increased risk of anti-TB drug-induced hepatitis in patients and could potentially be used to identify patients at risk of liver injury. METHODS AND DESIGN: In a cross-sectional study, 2244 tuberculosis patients were assessed two months after the start of treatment. Anti-TB drug-induced liver injury (ATLI) was defined as an ALT, AST or bilirubin value more than twice the upper limit of normal. NAT2, CYP2E1, GSTM1 and GSTT1 genotypes were determined using the PCR/ligase detection reaction assays. RESULTS: 2244 patients were evaluated, there were 89 cases of ATLI, a prevalence of 4% 9 patients (0.4%) had ALT levels more than 5 times the upper limit of normal. The prevalence of ATLI was greater among men than women, and there was a weak association with NAT2*5 genotypes, with ATLI more common among patients with the NAT2*5*CT genotype. The sensitivity of the CT genotype for identifying patients with ATLI was 42% and the positive predictive value 5.9%. CT ATLI was more common among slow acetylators (prevalence ratio 2.0 (95% CI 0.95,4.20) )compared to rapid acetylators. There was no evidence that ATLI was associated with CYP2E1 RsaIc1/c1genotype, CYP2E1 RsaIc1/c2 or c2/c2 genotypes, or GSTM1/GSTT1 null genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: In Xinjiang Uyghur TB patients, liver injury was associated with the genetic variant NAT2*5, however the genetic markers studied are unlikely to be useful for screening patients due to the low sensitivity and low positive predictive values for identifying persons at risk of liver injury

Knowledge and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS, and their association with information resource among men who have sex with men in Heilongjiang province, China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Backgroud</p> <p>In Heilongjiang province, the HIV prevalence in men who have sex with men (MSM) is generally lower than other part of China. However, the official perception for their risk of HIV/AIDS infection has been increasing in the province over the years. Moreover, little information on HIV/AIDS was provided to the communities so that we have disadvantage of controlling HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence of HIV among MSM in Heilongjiang province, to assess their knowledge levels and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS, and to explore their associations with information resources.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study using a standardized questionnaire and blood test was administered in 2008 by local interviewers to a sample (1353) of MSM in four cities in Heilongjiang province.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 1353 MSM, 2.3% were identified with HIV infection. About 48.7% of the subjects had multiple male sexual partners and only 37.3% of the subjects had consistent condom use (use every time) in the past 6 months. Most had a fair level of knowledge on HIV/AIDS, with the highest mean knowledge score among the MSM from Jiamusi, those with income 2000-3000 RMB/month, those searching sexual partners via internet and those performed HIV testing over 1 year ago). However, some myths regarding viral transmission (e.g., via mosquito bites or sharing kitchen utensils) also existed. Resources of information from which knowledge and risk behaviors related to HIV/AIDS was most available were television (58.6%) among MSM, followed by sexual partner (51.6%), publicity material (51.0%) and internet (48.7%). Significantly statistical differences of mean knowledge score were revealed in favor of book (<it>P </it>= 0.0002), medical staff (<it>P </it>= 0.0007), publicity material (<it>P </it>= 0.005) and sexual partner (<it>P </it>= 0.02). Press (<it>P </it>= 0.04) and book (<it>P </it>= 0.0003) were contributory to the most frequent condom use (condom use every time), while medical staff (<it>P </it>= 0.005) and publicity material (<it>P </it>= 0.04) is associated with moderate rate of condom use (condom use often).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Although the prevalence of HIV infection is low among MSM in Heilongjiang province, the situation that the risk behaviors were frequent in the population is alarming. The study suggests that some strategies like condom use and education intervention are practical approaches and need to be strengthened.</p

Multi-agent modeling and analysis of EV users’ travel willingness based on an integrated causal/statistical/behavioral model

An electric vehicle (EV) centred ecosystem has not yet been formed, the existing limited statistic data are far from enough for the analysis of EV users’ travel and charge behaviors, which however tends to be affected by many certain and uncertain factors. An experimental economics (EE) based simulation method can be used to analyze the behaviors of key participants in a system. However, it is restricted by the system size, experimental site and the number of qualified human participants. Therefore, this method is hard to be adopted for the behavioral analysis of a large number of human participants. In this paper, a new method combining a questionnaire statistics and the EE-based simulation is proposed. The causal relationship is considered in the design of the questionnaires and data extraction, then a multi-agent modeling integration method is introduced in the EE-based simulation, which enables the integration of causal/statistical/behavioral models into the multi-agent framework to reflect the EV users’ travel willingness statistically. The generated multi-agents are used to replace human participants in the EE-based simulation in order to evaluate EV users’ travel demands in different scenarios, and compare the differences of simulated or measured travel behaviors between potential EV users and internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle users

Phylogeny of the Infraorder Pentatomomorpha Based on Fossil and Extant Morphology, with Description of a New Fossil Family from China

<div><h3>Background</h3><p>An extinct new family of Pentatomomorpha, Venicoridae Yao, Ren & Cai <b>fam. nov.</b>, with 2 new genera and 2 new species (<em>Venicoris solaris</em> Yao, Ren & Rider <b>gen. & sp. nov.</b> and <em>Clavaticoris zhengi</em> Yao, Ren & Cai <b>gen. & sp. nov.</b>) are described from the Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation in Northeast China.</p> <h3>Methodology/Principal Findings</h3><p>A cladistic analysis based on a combination of fossil and extant morphological characters clarified the phylogenetic status of the new family and has allowed the reconstruction of intersuperfamily and interfamily relationships within the Infraorder Pentatomomorpha. The fossil record and diversity of Pentatomomorpha during the Mesozoic is discussed.</p> <h3>Conclusions/Significance</h3><p>Pentatomomorpha is a monophyletic group; Aradoidea and the Trichophora are sister groups; these fossils belong to new family, treated as the sister group of remainder of Trichophora; Pentatomoidea is a monophyletic group; Piesmatidae should be separated as a superfamily, Piesmatoidea. Origin time of Pentatomomorpha should be tracked back to the Middle or Early Triassic.</p> </div

Unique and conserved MicroRNAs in wheat chromosome 5D revealed by next-generation sequencing

MicroRNAs are a class of short, non-coding, single-stranded RNAs that act as post-transcriptional regulators in gene expression. miRNA analysis of Triticum aestivum chromosome 5D was performed on 454 GS FLX Titanium sequences of flow sorted chromosome 5D with a total of 3,208,630 good quality reads representing 1.34x and 1.61x coverage of the short (5DS) and long (5DL) arms of the chromosome respectively. In silico and structural analyses revealed a total of 55 miRNAs; 48 and 42 miRNAs were found to be present on 5DL and 5DS respectively, of which 35 were common to both chromosome arms, while 13 miRNAs were specific to 5DL and 7 miRNAs were specific to 5DS. In total, 14 of the predicted miRNAs were identified in wheat for the first time. Representation (the copy number of each miRNA) was also found to be higher in 5DL (1,949) compared to 5DS (1,191). Targets were predicted for each miRNA, while expression analysis gave evidence of expression for 6 out of 55 miRNAs. Occurrences of the same miRNAs were also found in Brachypodium distachyon and Oryza sativa genome sequences to identify syntenic miRNA coding sequences. Based on this analysis, two other miRNAs: miR1133 and miR167 were detected in B. distachyon syntenic region of wheat 5DS. Five of the predicted miRNA coding regions (miR6220, miR5070, miR169, miR5085, miR2118) were experimentally verified to be located to the 5D chromosome and three of them : miR2118, miR169 and miR5085, were shown to be 5D specific. Furthermore miR2118 was shown to be expressed in Chinese Spring adult leaves. miRNA genes identified in this study will expand our understanding of gene regulation in bread wheat

Differential Proteomic Analysis of Platelets Suggested Possible Signal Cascades Network in Platelets Treated with Salvianolic Acid B

Salvianolic acid B (SB) is an active component isolated from Danshen, a traditional Chinese medicine widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. Previous study suggested that SB might inhibit adhesion as well as aggregation of platelets by a mechanism involving the integrin α2β1. But, the signal cascades in platelets after SB binding are still not clear.In the present study, a differential proteomic analysis (two-dimensional electrophoresis) was conducted to check the protein expression profiles of rat platelets with or without treatment of SB. Proteins altered in level after SB exposure were identified by MALDI-TOF MS/MS. Treatment of SB caused regulation of 20 proteins such as heat shock-related 70 kDa protein 2 (hsp70), LIM domain protein CLP-36, copine I, peroxiredoxin-2, coronin-1 B and cytoplasmic dynein intermediate chain 2C. The regulation of SB on protein levels was confirmed by Western blotting. The signal cascades network induced by SB after its binding with integrin α2β1 was predicted. To certify the predicted network, binding affinity of SB to integrin α2β1 was checked in vitro and ex vivo in platelets. Furthermore, the effects of SB on protein levels of hsp70, coronin-1B and intracellular levels of Ca²+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were checked with or without pre-treatment of platelets using antibody against integrin α2β1. Electron microscopy study confirmed that SB affected cytoskeleton structure of platelets.Integrin α2β1 might be one of the direct target proteins of SB in platelets. The signal cascades network of SB after binding with integrin α2β1 might include regulation of intracellular Ca²+ level, cytoskeleton-related proteins such as coronin-1B and cytoskeleton structure of platelets