Advances in Biodegradation of Aflatoxins

Aflatoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi such as Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. They are one of the contaminants most common in food and feed, with high toxicity and carcinogenicity. Aflatoxins usually enter animal body together with feed and then enter human body by food chain, thereby seriously threatening human health. In recent years, the degradation of aflatoxins has become a hot research topic. This study overviewed the characteristics and detoxification ways of aflatoxins, specifically for the advances in biodegradation and degradation products of aflatoxins.

Preparation of Rice Seedling-raising Substrate with Spent Mushroom Substrate of Pleurotus eryngii

This study aimed to explore the effect of fermented spent mushroom substrate(SMS) of Pleurotus eryngii as a basic material on rice seedling-raising substrate. The physical and chemical indices of the SMS indicated that the fermented SMS was fully composted and was very suitable for preparing rice seedling-raising substrate. The fermented SMS effectively regulated the bulk density, total porosity, aeration porosity and water-holding porosity of rice seedling-raising substrate. With the increased addition amount of fermented SMS, the bulk density of rice seedling-raising substrate was decreased, but the total porosity, aeration porosity and water-holding porosity were increased. Compared with those in the substrates of 100% soil and 100% SMS,the height, chlorophyll content, 100-shoot dry weight, 100-root dry weight, root activity, nitrogen content, phosphorus content and potassium content of rice seedlings in the substrate composed of spent mushroom substrate of P. eryngii and soil were higher.The quality of rice seedlings in the substrate composed of 20% soil and 80% SMS was best, followed by that in the substrate composed of 30% soil and 70% SMS.

Emotional and Behavioral Problems of Left-Behind Children in Impoverished Rural China:A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study of First Grade Junior High School

Objective:To investigate the prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems and related factors of left-behind children in impoverished rural China(mainly in thefirst grade of junior high school).Methods:A cross-sectional survey of rural households in 27 poverty-stricken counties in 12 provinces across China was conducted using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire(SDQ).Results:The prevalence of emotional and behavioral problems in left-behind children was 11.7%,and that of non-left-behind children was 8.9%.There was statistical difference between the two groups(P<0.01).There are no differences between the two groups in terms of the various factors of SDQ.The incidence of insomnia in the left-behind group was 58.3%,which was higher than that in the non-left-behind group 50.9%(P<0.01);loneliness(62.1%vs.51.8%,P<0.01);running away from home(23.1%vs.18.8%,P<0.01),and self-injury behavior(16.8%vs.12.2%,P<0.01).Left-behind children are more likely to have negative psychological feelings including insomnia,loneliness,self-injury,and run away from home.They also experienced more bullying including maliciously teased by peers,intentionally excluded or isolated,physically threatened or intimidated.All of these factors are associated with their abnormal emotional and behavioural development.Conclusion:The incidence of emotional and behavioral problems of left-behind children in rural areas in poverty-stricken areas is significantly higher than that of non-left-behind children;Logistic regression analysis showed that bullying behavior and abnormal psychological characteristics are significantly associated with left-behind adolescents abnormal emotional and behavioral development.

Chinese Society of Cardiology guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of adult fulminant myocarditis

Fulminant myocarditis is an acute diffuse inflammatory disease of myocardium.It is characterized by acute onset,rapid progress and high risk of death.Its pathogenesis involves excessive immune activation of the innate immune system and formation of inflammatory storm.According to China’s practical experience,the adoption of the“life support-based comprehensive treatment regimen”(with mechanical circulation support and immunomodulation therapy as the core)can significantly improve the survival rate and long-term prognosis.Special emphasis is placed on very early identification,very early diagnosis,very early prediction and very early treatment.

A life support-based comprehensive treatment regimen dramatically lowers the in-hospital mortality of patients with fulminant myocarditis: a multiple center study

Fulminant myocarditis(FM) has unacceptable high mortality. This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of a life support-based comprehensive treatment regimen(LSBCTR), a completely novel treatment regimen, for FM. A total of 169 FM patients recruited from January 2008 to December 2018 were divided into two groups: patients receiving LSBCTR(81 cases),which includes(i) mechanical life support(positive pressure respiration, intra-aortic balloon pump with or without extracorporeal membrane oxygenation),(ii) immunomodulation therapy using sufficient doses of glucocorticoids and immunoglobulins, and(iii) application of neuraminidase inhibitors, and those receiving conventional treatment(88 cases). The endpoints were in-hospital death and heart-transplantation. Of all the population, 44 patients(26.0%) died in hospitals. Inhospital mortality was 3.7%(3/81) for LSBCTR group and 46.6%(41/88) for traditional treatment(P<0.001). Early application of LSBCTR, mechanical life support, neuraminidase inhibitors, and immunomodulation therapy significantly contributed to reduction in in-hospital mortality. This study describes a novel treatment regimen for FM patients that dramatically reduces inhospital mortality. Its generalization and clinical application will efficiently save lives although further optimization is needed.This study offers an insight that virus infection induced inflammatory waterfall results in cardiac injury and cardiogenic shock and is the therapeutic target.

Chinese expert consensus statement on the diagnosis and treatment of fulminant myocarditis

Fulminant myocarditis is primarily caused by infection with any number of a variety of viruses. It arises quickly, progresses rapidly, and may lead to severe heart failure or circulatory failure presenting as rapid-onset hypotension and cardiogenic shock,with mortality rates as high as 50%–70%. Most importantly, there are no treatment options, guidelines or an expert consensus statement. Here, we provide the first expert consensus, the Chinese Society of Cardiology Expert Consensus Statement on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Fulminant Myocarditis, based on data from our recent clinical trial(NCT03268642). In this statement, we describe the clinical features and diagnostic criteria of fulminant myocarditis, and importantly, for the first time,we describe a new treatment regimen termed life support-based comprehensive treatment regimen. The core content of this treatment regimen includes(i) mechanical life support(applications of mechanical respirators and circulatory support systems,including intraaortic balloon pump and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation),(ii) immunological modulation by using sufficient doses of glucocorticoid, immunoglobulin and(iii) antiviral reagents using neuraminidase inhibitor. The proper application of this treatment regimen may and has helped to save the lives of many patients with fulminant myocarditis.

Heart-Rate Analysis of Healthy and Insomnia Groups with Detrended Fractal Dimension Feature in Edge

Insomnia,whether situational or chronic,affects over a third of the general population in today’s society.However,given the lack of non-contact and non-inductive quantitative evaluation approaches,most insomniacs are often unrecognized and untreated.Although Polysomnographic(PSG)is considered as one of the assessment methods,it is poorly tolerated and expensive.In this paper,with the recent development of Internet-of-Things devices and edge computing techniques,we propose a detrended fractal dimension(DFD)feature for the analysis of heart-rate signals,which can be easily acquired by many wearables,of good sleepers and insomniacs.This feature was derived by calculating the fractal dimension(FD)of detrended signals.For the trend component removal,we improved the null space pursuit algorithm and proposed an adaptive trend extraction algorithm.The experimental results demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed DFD index through numerical statistics and significance testing for healthy and insomnia groups,which renders it a potential biomarker for insomnia assessment and management.

FMO3-TMAO axis modulates the clinical outcome in chronic heart-failure patients with reduced ejection fraction:evidence from an Asian population

The association among plasma trimethylamine-N-oxide(TMAO),FMO3 polymorphisms,and chronic heart failure(CHF)remains to be elucidated.TMAO is a microbiota-dependent metabolite from dietary choline and carnitine.A prospective study was performed including 955 consecutively diagnosed CHF patients with reduced ejection fraction,with the longest follow-up of 7 years.The concentrations of plasma TMAO and its precursors,namely,choline and carnitine,were determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry,and the FMO3 E158K polymorphisms(rs2266782)were genotyped.The top tertile of plasma TMAO was associated with a significant increment in hazard ratio(HR)for the composite outcome of cardiovascular death or heart transplantation(HR=1.47,95%CI=1.13-1.91,P=0.004)compared with the lowest tertile.After adjustments of the potential confounders,higher TMAO could still be used to predict the risk of the primary endpoint(adjusted HR=1.33,95%CI=1.01-1.74,P=0.039).This result was also obtained after further adjustment for carnitine(adjusted HR=1.33,95%CI=1.01-1.74,P=0.039).The FM03 rs2266782 polymorphism was associated with the plasma TMAO concentrations in our cohort,and lower TMAO levels were found in the AA-genotype.Thus,higher plasma TMAO levels indicated increased risk of the composite outcome of cardiovascular death or heart transplantation independent of potential confounders,and the FMO3 AA-genotype in rs2266782 was related to lower plasma TMAO levels.

A new approach of formation navigation derived from multi-robots cooperative online FastSLAM

A new formation navigation approach derived from multi-robots cooperative online FastSLAM is proposed. In this approach, the leader and follower robots are defined. The posteriori estimation of the leader robot state is treated as a relative reference for all follower robots to correct their state priori estimations. The control volume of individual follower will be achieved from the results of the corrected estimation. All robots are observed as landmarks with known associations by the others and are considered in their landmarks updating. By the method, the errors of the robot posterior estimations are reduced and the formation is well kept. The simulation and physical experiment results show that the multi-robots relative localization accuracy is improved and the formation navigation control is more stable and efficient than normal leader-following strategy. The algorithm is easy in implementation.

High-performance fiber strain sensor of carbon nanotube/thermoplastic polyurethane@styrene butadiene styrene with a double percolated structure

In this work,a high-performance fiber strain sensor is fabricated by constructing a double percolated structure,consisting of carbon nanotube(CNT)/thermoplastic polyurethane(TPU)continuous phase and styrene butadiene styrene(SBS)phase,incompatible with TPU(CNT/TPU@SBS).Compared with other similar fiber strain sensor systems without double percolated structure,the CNT/TPU@SBS sensor achieves a lower percolation threshold(0.38 wt.%)and higher electrical conductivity.The conductivity of 1%-CNT/TPU@SBS(4.12×10^(-3) S·m^(-1))is two orders of magnitude higher than that of 1%-CNT/TPU(3.17×10^(-5) S·m^(-1))at the same CNT loading of 1 wt.%.Due to double percolated structure,the 1%-CNT/TPU@SBS sensor exhibits a wide strain detection range(0.2%-100%)and an ultra-high sensitivity(maximum gauge factor(GF)is 32411 at 100%strain).Besides,the 1%-CNT/TPU@SBS sensor shows a high linearity(R^(2)=0.97)at 0%-20%strain,relatively fast response time(214 ms),and stability(500 loading/unloading cycles).The designed sensor can efficiently monitor physiological signals and movements and identify load distribution after being woven into a sensor array,showing broad application prospects in wearable electronics.

Gene expression and transcriptomic profiles of invasive behavior in extra-mammary Paget’s disease

To the Editor:Extra-mammary Paget’s disease(EMPD)is a rare cutaneous intra-epidermal adenocarcinoma with a controversial origin,and frequently occurs in the penoscrotal region in males.Primary EMPD,which originates within the epidermis or apocrine glands,is usually an in situ disease confined to the epidermis with a good prognosis,while secondary EMPD is considered to be associated with underlying internal malignancy.EMPD in situ has the potential to become invasive EMPD which has a higher metastasis rate and worse prognosis.[1]Thus,it is important to identify transcriptomic profiles related to the biological behavior of invasion to improve the treatment of invasive EMPD in the future.