Prevalence of Opportunistic Pathogens and Diversity of Microbial Communities in the Water System of a Pulmonary Hospital

Objective Our objective was to investigate the occurrence of opportunistic pathogens and characterize the bacterial community structures in the water system of a pulmonary hospital.Methods The water samples were collected from automatic and manual faucets in the consulting room,treatment room,dressing room,respiratory ward,and other non-medical rooms in three buildings of the hospital.Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the load of several waterborne opportunistic pathogens and related microorganisms,including Legionella spp.,Mycobacterium spp.,and M.avium.Illumina sequencing targeting 16 S r RNA genes was performed to profile bacterial communities.Results The occurrence rates of Legionella spp.,Mycobacterium spp.,and M.avium were 100%,100%,and 76%,respectively in all samples.Higher occurrence rates of M.avium were observed in the outpatient service building(building 1,91.7%)and respiration department and wards(building 2,80%)than in the office building(building 3),where no M.avium was found.M.avium were more abundant in automatic faucets(average 2.21×10~4 gene copies/L)than in manual faucets(average 1.03×10~4 gene copies/m L)(P<0.01).Proteobacteria,Actinobacteria,Bacteroidetes,Cyanobacteria,Firmicutes,and Acidobacteria were the dominant bacterial phyla.Disinfectant residuals,nitrate,and temperature were found to be the key environmental factors driving microbial community structure shifts in water systems.Conclusion This study revealed a high level of colonization of water faucets by opportunistic pathogens and provided insight into the characteristics of microbial communities in a hospital water system and approaches to reduce risks of microbial contamination.

Characteristics of microbial community involved in early biofilms formation under the influence of wastewater treatment plant effluent

Effluents from wastewater treatment plants（WWTPs） containing microorganisms and residual nutrients can influence the biofilm formation. Although the process and mechanism of bacterial biofilm formation have been well characterized, little is known about the characteristics and interaction of bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes in the early colonization, especially under the influence of WWTP effluent. The aim of this study was to characterize the important bacterial, archaeal and eukaryotic species in the early stage of biofilm formation downstream of the WWTP outlet. Water and biofilm samples were collected 24 and 48 hr after the deposition of bio-cords in the stream. Illumina Miseq sequencing of the 16 S and 18 S rDNA showed that, among the three domains, the bacterial biofilm community had the largest alpha and beta diversity. The early bacterial colonizers appeared to be ＂biofilm-specific＂, with only a few dominant operational taxonomic units（OTUs） shared between the biofilm and the ambient water environment. Alpha-proteobacteria and Ciliophora tended to dominate the bacterial and eukaryotic communities, respectively, of the early biofilm already at 24 hr, whereas archaea played only a minor role during the early stage of colonization. The network analysis showed that the three domains of microbial community connected highly during the early colonization and it might be a characteristic of the microbial communities in the biofilm formation process where co-occurrence relationships could drive coexistence and diversity maintenance within the microbial communities.

Microbes team with nanoscale zero-valent iron: A robust route for degradation of recalcitrant pollutants

Integrating nanoscale zero-valent iron(nZVI) with biological treatment processes holds the promise of inheriting significant advantages from both environmental nano-and biotechnologies. nZVI and microbes can perform in coalition in direct contact and act simultaneously, or be maintained in separate reactors and operated sequentially. Both modes can generate enhanced performance for wastewater treatment and environmental remediation. nZVI scavenges and eliminates toxic metals, and enhances biodegradability of some recalcitrant contaminants while bioprocesses serve to mineralize organic compounds and further remove impurities from wastewater. This has been demonstrated in a number of recent works that nZVI can substantially augment the performance of conventional biological treatment for wastewaters from textile and nonferrous metal industries. Our recent laboratory and field tests show that COD of the industrial effluents can be reduced to a record-low of 50 ppm. Recent literature on the theory and applications of the nZVI-bio system is highlighted in this mini review.

Nanoencapsulation of arsenate with nanoscale zero-valent iron(nZVI):A 3D perspective

The principal forces driving the efficient enrichment and encapsulation of arsenic(As) into nanoscale zero-valent iron(nZVI) are the disordered arrangement of the atoms and the gradient chemical potentials within the core-shell interface. The chemical compositions and the fine structure of nZVI are characterized with a combination of spherical aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy(Cs-STEM), X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy(XEDS), electron energy loss spectroscopy(EELS), and high-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(HR-XPS). Atomically resolved EELS at the oxygen K-edge unfolds that the Fe species in nZVI are well stratified from Fe(Ⅲ) oxides in the outermost periphery to a mixed Fe(Ⅲ)/Fe(Ⅱ) interlayer, then Fe(Ⅱ) oxide and the pure Fe(0) phase. Reactions between As(Ⅴ)and nZVI suggest that a well-structured local redox gradient exists within the shell layer, which serves as a thermodynamically favorable conduit for electron transfer from the iron core to the surface-bound As(Ⅴ). HR-XPS with ion sputtering shows that arsenic species shift from As(Ⅴ), As(Ⅲ)/As(Ⅴ) to As(Ⅴ)/As(Ⅲ)/As(0) from the iron oxide shell–water interface to the Fe(0) core. Results reinforce previous work on the efficacy of nZVI for removing and remediating arsenic while the analytical TEM methods are also applicable to the study of environmental interfaces and surface chemistry.

氮掺杂纳米铁选择性催化还原硝酸盐至氮气

硝酸盐是造成全球水体富营养化的主要污染物,也是修复污染的湖泊、河流、水库等地表水最难处理的污染物之一.本文报道了一种新型的铁纳米材料用于选择性地将硝酸盐(NO3-)还原至氮气(N2).氮掺杂铁包裹在氮化碳(FeN-NC)壳层结构中制备得到的催化剂具有高的吡咯氮含量(17.4at.%)和大的比表面积(2040m2/g).含硝酸盐污水的脱氮结果展示了高的N2选择性(91%)和硝酸盐去除能力(6,004 mg N/gFe).本文制备的铁基纳米材料不仅消除了贵金属和有毒重金属(如Pd、Pt、Cu、Ni)的使用,而且最大限度地减少了NO3-与纳米零价铁(nZVI)反应产生的二次污染物(如氨).通过改变催化剂NC壳层厚度可以调控催化NO3-还原的多电子转移过程,从而提高N2的选择性. FeN纳米电催化性能优异、成本低、对环境的影响小,在水净化、废水处理和环境修复方面具有广阔的应用前景.

Nanoencapsulation of hexavalent chromium with nanoscale zero-valent iron:High resolution chemical mapping of the passivation layer

Solid phase reactions of Cr（Ⅵ） with Fe（0） were investigated with spherical-aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy（Cs-STEM） integrated with X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy（XEDS）. Near-atomic resolution elemental mappings of Cr（Ⅵ）–Fe（0） reactions were acquired. Experimental results show that rate and extent of Cr（Ⅵ） encapsulation are strongly dependent on the initial concentration of Cr（Ⅵ） in solution. Low Cr loading in nZⅥ（〈1.0 wt%） promotes the electrochemical oxidation and continuous corrosion of n ZⅥ while high Cr loading（〉1.0 wt%） can quickly shut down the Cr uptake. With the progress of iron oxidation and dissolution, elements of Cr and O counter-diffuse into the nanoparticles and accumulate in the core region at low levels of Cr（Ⅵ）（e.g., 〈 10 mg/L）. Whereas the reacted n ZⅥ is quickly coated with a newly-formed layer of 2–4 nm in the presence of concentrated Cr（Ⅵ）（e.g., 〉 100 mg/L）. The passivation structure is stable over a wide range of pH unless pH is low enough to dissolve the passivation layer. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） depth profiling reconfirms that the composition of the newly-formed surface layer consists of Fe（Ⅲ）–Cr（Ⅲ）（oxy）hydroxides with Cr（Ⅵ） adsorbed on the outside surface. The insoluble and insulating Fe（Ⅲ）–Cr（Ⅲ）（oxy）hydroxide layer can completely cover the n ZⅥ surface above the critical Cr loading and shield the electron transfer. Thus, the fast passivation of nZⅥ in high Cr（Ⅵ） solution is detrimental to the performance of nZⅥ for Cr（Ⅵ） treatment and remediation.

Optimizing synthesis conditions of nanoscale zero-valent iron （nZVI） through aqueous reactivity assessment

Nanoscale iron particles （nZVI） is one of the most important engineered nanomaterials applied to environmental pollution control and abatement. Although a multitude of synthesis approaches have been proposed, a facile method to screen the reactivity of candidate nZVI materials produced using different methods or under varying synthesis conditions has yet been established. In this study, four reaction parameters were adjusted in the preparation of borohydride-reduced nZVI. The reductive properties of the resultant nanoparticles were assayed independently using two model aqueous contaminants, Cu （II） and nitrate. The results confirm that the reductive reactivity of nZVI is most sensitive to the initial concentration of iron precursor, borohydride feed rate, and the loading ratio of borohydride to ferric ion during particle synthesis. Solution mixing speed, in contrast, carries a relative small weight on the reactivity of nZVI. The two probing reactions （i.e., Cu（II） and nitrate reduction） are able to generate consistent and quantitative inference about the mass-normalized surface activity of nZVI. However, the nitrate assay is valid in dilute aqueous solutions only （50 mg.L~ or lower） due to accelerated deactivation of iron surface at elevated nitrate concentra- tions. Additional insights including the structural and chemical makeup of nZVI can be garnered from Cu（II） reduction assessments. The reactivity assays investigated in this study can facilitate screening of candidate materials or optimization of nZVI production parameters, which complement some of the more sophisticated but less chemically specific material characterization methods used in the nZVI research.