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Vascul Pharmacol 2021 Apr 12:106863. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.

Patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) and traditional therapies including statins provide insufficient protection. Impaired removal of apoptotic material is a common pathogenic mechanism in both SLE and atherosclerosis and is considered to be a key factor in the development of autoimmunity. Since oxidized LDL and apoptotic material bind to the same receptors, we aimed to investigate if targeting the oxidized LDL autoimmunity can affect atherosclerosis in SLE. Read More

Environ Technol 2021 Apr 15:1-17. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.

Chlorine and chloramine are widely used to maintain the microbial safety after drinking water treatment plants. Particles existing in the treated water may react with these chemical disinfectants, and impact the efficacy of disinfection. However, the protective effects of particles without-disinfectant demand on bacteria in the chlorination/chloramination are not well known. Read More

J Wound Care 2021 Apr;30(4):284-296

WoundCareSol Consultancy, UK.

Background: Traditionally, infections are treated with antimicrobials (for example, antibiotics, antiseptics, etc), but antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become one of the most serious health threats of the 21st century (before the emergence of COVID-19). Wounds can be a source of infection by allowing unconstrained entry of microorganisms into the body, including antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. The development of new antimicrobials (particularly antibiotics) is not keeping pace with the evolution of resistant microorganisms and novel ways of addressing this problem are urgently required. Read More

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Instituto de Química, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, 70910-900, Brazil.

Sewage treatment and water reuse are, undoubtedly, one of the main points on scientific agenda of the 21 century. Many technologies for sewage treatment are available; however, it is still as an open issue that deserves much attention in order to facilitate their application, develop more effective methods and propose alternative treatment for unusual situations. Developing high performance materials for sewage treatment fits the idea of the development of efficient and alternative methods for microorganism removal and the high organic load of wastewater and is of fundamental importance. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, China.

Packing carriers into the anaerobic side-stream reactor (ASSR) can enhance sludge reduction and save footprint by investigating ASSR-coupled membrane bioreactors (AP-MBRs) under different hydraulic residence times of the ASSR (HRT). Three AP-MBRs and an anoxic-aerobic MBR (AO-MBR) showed efficient chemical oxygen demand (>94.2%) and ammonium nitrogen removal (>99. Read More

J Adv Nurs 2021 Apr 14. Epub 2021 Apr 14.

Clinical Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the level of glass particle contamination from medical ampoules during breakage in nursing practice and their removal by filtration.

Design: Glass medical ampoules were broken-open as instructed and contamination was assessed microscopically.

Methods: Three types of medial ampoules (A, B, C) were used. Read More

Bioresour Technol 2021 Apr 7;332:125113. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

School of Environmental and Municipal Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710055, China.

In this study, fungal pellets immobilized denitrifying Pseudomonas stutzeri sp. GF3 was cultivated to establish a bioreactor. The denitrification effect of fixed bacteria with fungal pellets was tested by response surface methodology (RSM). Read More

Curr Biol 2021 Apr 8. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Center for Cell Clearance, University of Virginia, Jeanette Lancaster Way, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA; Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, Jefferson Park Avenue, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA; VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research, Technologiepark 71, Ghent 9052, Belgium; Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Ghent 9052, Belgium. Electronic address:

Apoptotic cells are quickly and efficiently engulfed and removed via the process of efferocytosis by either professional phagocytes, such as macrophages, or non-professional phagocytes, including epithelial cells. In addition to debris removal, a key benefit of efferocytosis is that phagocytes engulfing apoptotic cells release anti-inflammatory mediators that help reduce local tissue inflammation; conversely, accumulation of uncleared apoptotic cells predisposes to a pro-inflammatory tissue milieu. Due to their high proliferative capacity, intestinal epithelial cells (iECs) are sensitive to inflammation, irradiation, and chemotherapy-induced DNA damage, leading to apoptosis. Read More

Bioresour Technol 2021 Apr 4;332:125106. Epub 2021 Apr 4.

State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, PR China.

The effects of fungal pellets (FPs) dosage on both structural and functional stability of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) were investigated during 200-day operation. Results showed that the AGS induced by low (a dry mass ratio of FPs to seed sludge, 30%) and high FPs dosage (60%) exhibited good morphology integrity during the entire phase of operation, while the filamentous overgrowth and AGS breakup were observed in the control reactor (0% FPs). Moreover, the granules developed at high FPs dosage demonstrated excellent nutrients removal (COD: 93%; NH4-N: 100%; TN: 77%) and stable bioactivity with a maximum specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) of 52. Read More

Bioresour Technol 2021 Apr 7;332:125132. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

School of Marine Science, Yantai University, Yantai 264000, China.

Industries such as oil mining face challenges in the treatment of polyacrylamide (PAM)-containing wastewater produced during petroleum extraction. The feasibility of using revolving algae biofilm (RAB) reactors to treat PAM-contaminated wastewater for simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen was evaluated. The presence or absence of external nitrogen sources had a significant impact on the treatment effect of the RAB system. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2021 Apr 13. Epub 2021 Apr 13.

Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, United States.

Rapid dechlorination and full mineralization of para-chlorophenol (4-CP), a toxic contaminant, are unfulfilled goals in water treatment. Means to achieve both goals stem from the novel concept of coupling catalysis by palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) with biodegradation in a biofilm. Here, we demonstrate that a synergistic version of the hydrogen (H)-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) enabled simultaneous removals of 4-CP and cocontaminating nitrate. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Apr 2;278:130464. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, Semenyih, 43500, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. Electronic address:

Oil pollution which results from industrial activities, especially oil and gas industry, has become a serious issue. Cinder beats (CB), coconut fiber (CF) and polyurethane foam (PUF) are promising immobilization carriers for crude oil biodegradation because they are inexpensive, nontoxic, and non-polluting. The present investigation was aimed to evaluate this advanced technology and compare the efficiency of these immobilization carriers on supporting purple phototrophic bacterial (PPB) strains in hydrocarbon biodegradation of crude oil contaminated seawater. Read More

Water Environ Res 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China.

Phenol and ammonia are common pollutants in many industrial wastewaters. The partial nitritation and anammox process is a very promising technology for treating phenol-ammonia wastewater. This study was the first time to rapidly achieve the start-up and operation of the single-stage partial nitritation /anammox reactor treating phenol-ammonia wastewater. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2021 Apr 12. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon 34141, South Korea.

Remediation of toxic chlorinated ethenes via microbial reductive dechlorination can lead to ethene formation; however, the process stalls in acidic groundwater, leading to the accumulation of carcinogenic vinyl chloride (VC). This study explored the feasibility of cometabolic VC degradation by moderately acidophilic methanotrophs. Two novel isolates, strain JS1 and strain MJC1, were obtained from distinct alpine peat bogs located in South Korea. Read More

J Thorac Dis 2021 Mar;13(3):1445-1454

Division of Chest Surgery, Department of Surgery, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Japan.

Background: We sometimes experience postoperative surgical site infection (SSI) at the chest tube drainage site (CDS) after thoracotomy. The incidence of and risk factors for SSI at the CDS have remained unclear.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study to determine the incidence and risk factors for SSI at the CDS. Read More

Environ Technol 2021 Apr 12:1-30. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Laboratory of Anaerobic Biotechnology - Science and Technology Institute, Federal University of Alfenas (UNIFAL-MG), Rodovia José Aurélio Vilela, 11999, BR 267, Km 533, 37715-400, Poços de Caldas, MG, Brazil.

The competition between sulfate-reducing bacteria and methane-producing archaea has a major influence on organic matter removal, as well as the success of sulfidogenic systems. This study investigated the performance of six batch sulfidogenic reactors in response to different COD/sulfate ratios (1.0 and 20) and electron donors (cheese whey, ethanol, and sodium lactate) by evaluating the biochemical mechanisms of sulfate reduction and organic matter oxidation, as well as microbial structure modification. Read More

J Biol Chem 2021 Mar 4;296:100392. Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Electronic address:

Bacterial biofilms are surface-associated multicellular communities that are highly resistant to removal. Scheffler et al. discovered that Pseudomonas aeruginosa secretes a small molecule that inhibits other P. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 26;782:146742. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 1H9, Canada. Electronic address:

Adopting nature-based solutions for the bioremediation of oil sands process water (OSPW) is of significant interest, which requires a thorough understanding of how bacterial communities behave within treatment systems operated under natural conditions. This study investigates the OSPW remediation potential of delayed petroleum-coke (PC), which is a byproduct of bitumen upgrading process and is readily available at oil refining sites, in fixed-bed biofilters particularly for the degradation of naphthenic acids (NAs) and aromatics. The biofilters were operated continuously and total and active bacterial communities were studied by DNA and RNA-based amplicon sequencing in a metataxonomic fashion to extrapolate the underlying degradation mechanisms. Read More

Bioresour Technol 2021 Mar 26;332:125047. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Key Laboratory of Karst Georesources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Guizhou University, Guiyang 500025, China; Guizhou Karst Environmental Ecosystems Observation and Research Station, Ministry of Education, Guiyang, Guizhou 550025, China.

Methanotrophs can oxidize methane as the sole carbon and energy, and the resulting intermediate products can be simultaneously utilized by coexistent denitrifying bacteria to remove the nitrogen, which named Aerobic Methane Oxidation Coupled to Denitrification (AME-D). In this paper, an AME-D system was built in an improved denitrification bio-filter, to analyze the nitrogen removal efficiency and mechanism. The maximum TN removal rate reached 95. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Mar 31;278:130455. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

School of Bio-Chemical Engineering and Technology, Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology, Thammasat University, Pathum Thani, 12120, Thailand. Electronic address:

Synthetic wastewater containing 1500 mg L of COD was treated in the anode chamber for 5, 10, and 20 d. An anode chamber was conducted under anaerobic conditions with mixed culture bacteria inoculum attached to the anode. Anodic effluent was transferred to the cathode chamber for further treatment for 5, 10, and 20 d as the growth medium of Chlorella vulgaris. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Apr 1;278:130436. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

School of Energy Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China. Electronic address:

To solve the bottleneck of the unstable accumulation of nitrite in the partial nitrification (PN)-anammox (AMX) in municipal wastewater treatment, a novel process called partial denitrification (PD)-AMX has been developed. PD-AMX, which is known for cost-efficiency and environmental friendliness, has currently exhibited a promising potential for the removal of biological nitrogen from municipal wastewater and has attracted much research interest regarding its process mechanisms, as well as its practical applications. Here, we review the recent advances in the PD process and its coupling to the anammox process, including the development, basic principles, main characteristics, and critical process parameters of the stable operation of the PD-AMX process. Read More

Environ Res 2021 Apr 8:111105. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Institute of Zoology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, PR China.

The global escalation and intensification of cyanobacterial blooms require powerful algaecides. This study investigated the algicidal efficacy and mechanism of EA-1 against Oscillatoria. Bacteria EA-1, identified as Enterobacter, was isolated with high algicidal activity against harmful cyanobacteria. Read More

Carbohydr Polym 2021 Jun 16;262:117661. Epub 2021 Jan 16.

Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Food Microbiology, School of Medical Instruments and Food Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China. Electronic address:

In this work, structural characteristics of TSPs treated by high-pressure homogenization (HPH) and their effects on physicochemical properties of corn starch were analyzed. HPH induced monosaccharides change, Gal/Glc ratio decrease from 0.32 to 0. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Apr 1;278:130460. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China. Electronic address:

The autotrophic iron-depended denitrification (AIDD), triggered by microelectrolysis, was established in the microelectrolysis-assistant up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (MEA-UASB) with the purpose of low-strength coal gasification wastewater (LSCGW) treatment while control UASB operated in parallel. The results revealed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency and total nitrogen (TN) removal load at optimum current (2.5 A/m) in MEA-UASB (83. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Mar 31;278:130441. Epub 2021 Mar 31.

Laboratory for Research on Advanced Processes for Water Treatment, Instituto de Ingeniería, Unidad Académica Juriquilla, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Blvd. Juriquilla 3001, Querétaro, 76230, Mexico. Electronic address:

This work proves the feasibility of employing regular secondary activated sludge for the enrichment of a microbial community able to perform the anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to nitrate reduction (N-AOM). After 96 days of activated sludge enrichment, a clear N-AOM activity was observed in the resulting microbial community. The methane removal potential of the enriched N-AOM culture was then studied in a stirred tank reactor (STR) operated in continuous mode for methane supply and semi-continuous mode for the liquid phase. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 17;782:146436. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

School of Environment, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, No 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China. Electronic address:

Anthropogenic nutrients released into water induce eutrophication and threaten aquatic life and human health. In this study, an Fe anode coagulation cell with nitrification and denitrification biocathodes was constructed for power generation and algae and nutrient removal. The nitrification and denitrification biocathodes achieved maximum power densities of 6. Read More

Small 2021 Apr 10:e2100257. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Department of Precision Medicine, Institute for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Therapeutics, Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences (GSBMS), Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, 16419, South Korea.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes diseases ranging from skin infections to lethal sepsis and has become a serious threat to human health due to multiple-drug resistance (MDR). Therefore, a resistance-free antibacterial therapy is necessary to overcome MDR MRSA infections. In this study, an antibacterial nanorobot (Ab-nanobot) is developed wherein a cell wall-binding domain (CBD)-endolysin, acting as a sensor, is covalently conjugated with an actuator consisting of an iron oxide/silica core-shell. Read More

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University of Ouro Preto, Campus Morro do Cruzeiro, Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerais, CEP: 35.400-000, Brazil.

Animal breeding for meat production based on swine, cattle, poultry, and aquaculture is an activity that generates several impacts on the environment, among them the spread of antibiotic resistance. There is a worldwide concern related to the massive use of antibiotics, which causes selective pressure on the microbial community, triggering bacteria that contain "antibiotic resistance genes." According to the survey here presented, antibiotic resistance-related genes such as tetracyclines (tet), erythromycin (erm), and sulfonamides (sul), as well as the genetic mobile element interferon (int), are the most reported genetic elements in qualitative and quantitative studies of swine, cattle, poultry, and aquaculture manure/wastewater. Read More

Clin Orthop Relat Res 2021 04 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

R. Manasherob, D. W. Lowenberg, D. F. Amanatullah, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford Medicine, Redwood City, CA, USA.

Background: The treatment of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is focused on the surgical or chemical removal of biofilm. Antibiotics in isolation are typically ineffective against PJI. Bacteria survive after antibiotic administration because of antibiotic tolerance, resistance, and persistence that arise in the resident bacteria of a biofilm. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Apr 8;11(1):7708. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

School of Life Science, BS Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India.

The continuously increased existence of contaminants such as chemical and biological mainly dye, bacteria, and heavy metals ions (HMI) in water bodies has increased environmental concern due to their hostile effects on living things. Therefore, there is necessity to be developed newer materials that skirmishes such environmental menace. The present works focus on the synthesis of a novel three-dimensional (3D) polymer-metal-carbon (3D-PMC) framework for the exclusion of contaminants (chemical and biological) from water bodies. Read More