Tetraether-linked membrane monolayers in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ferroplasma</Emphasis> spp: a key to survival in acid

Ferroplasma acidarmanus thrives in hot, extremely low pH, metal-rich solutions associated with dissolving metal sulfide ore deposits. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and thin layer chromatography analyses of F. acidarmanus membranes indicate that tetraether lipids predominate, with at least three core lipid structures. NMR measurements indicate that the cytoplasmic pH of F. acidarmanus is ~5.6. The optimal growth pH is ~1.2, and the lowest growth pH is ~0.0. Thus, these organisms maintain pH gradients across their membranes that approach 5 pH units. Tetraether lipids were originally thought to be specifically associated with thermophiles but are now known to be widely distributed within the archaeal domain. Our data, in combination with recently published results for thermophilic and mesothermophilic acidophilic archaea, indicate that there may be a stronger association between tetraether lipids and tolerance to acid and/or large metal ion gradients.     

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF BENTHIC ALGAL COMMUNITIES IN AN EXTREMELY ACID RIVER1

The composition of algal species and pigments and the structural and functional characteristics of the algal community were investigated in an acid stream of southwestern Spain, the Río Tinto. The algal community had low diversity and showed few seasonal differences. It was mainly made up of Klebsormidium flaccidum Kütz. (Silva, Mattox & Blackwell) that produced long greenish or purplish filaments, Pinnularia acoricola Hust. (producing brown patches) and Euglena mutabilis Schmitz. The algal filaments made up a consistent biofilm that also included fungal hyphae, iron bacterial sheaths, diatoms, and mineral particles. HPLC analyses on Río Tinto samples showed that undegraded chl accounted for 67% of the total chl in the filamentous patches but were a minority in the brown patch (2.6%). The brown patch had a concentration of carotenoids eight times lower than that observed in the green patch. When chl concentrations were weighted for the proportion of the different patches on the streambed, undegraded chl a accounted for 89.2 mg chl a·m ^{? 2} of stream surface area (5.4 g C·m ^{? 2}). This high algal biomass was supported by relatively high nutrient concentrations and by a high phosphatase activity (V_max = 137.7 nmol methylumbelliferyl substrate·cm ^{? 2}·h ^{? 1} 1 Received 15 July 2002. Accepted 17 February 2003. , K_m = 0.0045 μM). The remarkable algal biomass in Río Tinto potentially contributed to the bacterial–fungal community and to the macroinvertebrate community and emphasizes the role that the algae may have in the organic matter cycling and energy flow in extreme systems dominated by heterotrophic microorganisms.     

Fluxes of nitrous oxide and methane from drained peatlands following forest clear-felling in southern Finland

Drainage of waterlogged sites has been part of the normal forestry practice in Fennoscandia, the Baltic countries, the British Isles and in some parts of Russia since the early 20^th century, and currently, about 15 million hectares of peatlands and other wetlands have been drained for forestry purposes. The rate of forest clear-felling on drained peatlands will undergo a rapid increase in the near future, when a large number of these forests approach their regeneration age. A small-scale pilot survey was performed at two nutrient-rich and old peatland drainage areas in southern Finland to study if forest clear-felling has significant impacts on the exchange of nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄) between soil and atmosphere. The average N₂O emissions from the two drainage areas during three growing seasons following clear-felling were 945 and 246 g m^–2 d^–1. The corresponding CH₄ fluxes were –0.07 and –0.52 mg m^–2 d^–1. Clear-felling had impacts on the environmental factors known to affect the N₂O and CH₄ fluxes of peatlands, i.e. clear-felling raised the water table level and increased the peat temperature. However, no substantial changes in the fluxes of CH₄ following clear-felling were observed. The results concerning N₂O indicated a potential for increased emissions following clear-felling of drained peatland forests, but further studies are needed for a critical evaluation of the impacts of clear-felling on the fluxes of CH₄ and N₂O.     

Establishment of hepatic stem-like cell lines from normal adult porcine liver in a poly-D-lysine-coated dish with nair-1 medium

The existence, origin, and bipotency of the hepatic stem cell (HeSC) have been investigated. However, the isolation and culture of HeSCs from adult liver tissue is not yet well established, and the mechanism by which HeSCs differentiate into mature cells remains unclear. On the other hand, the development of HeSC-isolating and -culturing methods and the in vitro clonal analysis of their mechanism of differentiation are required to enable clinical applications of regenerative medicine in the liver. For the purpose of providing HeSCs for these studies, we attempted to establish an HeSC line from a normal adult porcine liver using a unique culture system, a poly-D-lysine-coated culture dish with NAIR-1 medium (the PDL-NAIR-1 culture system). Moreover, we examined the differentiating capacity of HeSCs in vitro. We demonstrated that it was possible in the culture system that immature epithelial cells capable of proliferating grew selectively into aggregates and that two hepatic stem-like cell lines, PHeSC-A1 and PHeSC-A2, were established. The results from our data suggest that these hepatic stem-like cell lines were capable of self-renewing and differentiating into hepatocytes or biliary epithelial cells and show that the PDL-NAIR-1 culture system offers the immense advantage of isolating and culturing HeSCs from a normal adult liver. Furthermore, because of the ability to use a clonal analysis in vitro, these cell lines are useful for the investigation of various mechanisms in which HeSCs seem to participate and their application in the study of regenerative medicine in the liver.     

Advances in biotreatment of acid mine drainage and biorecovery of metals: 1. Metal precipitation for recovery and recycle

Acid mine drainage (AMD), an acidic metal-bearingwastewater, poses a severe pollution problem attributedto post mining activities. The metals usuallyencountered in AMD and considered of concern for riskassessment are arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead, manganese,zinc, copper and sulfate. The pollution generated byabandoned mining activities in the area of Butte, Montanahas resulted in the designation of the Silver Bow Creek–ButteArea as the largest Superfund (National Priorities List) sitein the U.S. This paper reports the results of bench-scalestudies conducted to develop a resource recovery basedremediation process for the clean up of the Berkeley Pit.The process utilizes selective, sequential precipitation (SSP)of metals as hydroxides and sulfides, such as copper, zinc,aluminum, iron and manganese, from the Berkeley Pit AMDfor their removal from the water in a form suitable foradditional processing into marketable precipitates and pigments.The metal biorecovery and recycle process is based on completeseparation of the biological sulfate reduction step and themetal precipitation step. Hydrogen sulfide produced in the SRBbioreactor systems is used in the precipitation step to forminsoluble metal sulfides. The average metal recoveries usingthe SSP process were as follows: aluminum (as hydroxide) 99.8%,cadmium (as sulfide) 99.7%, cobalt (as sulfide) 99.1% copper(as sulfide) 99.8%, ferrous iron (sulfide) 97.1%, manganese(as sulfide) 87.4%, nickel (as sulfide) 47.8%, and zinc (as sulfide)100%. The average precipitate purity for metals, copper sulfide,ferric hydroxide, zinc sulfide, aluminum hydroxide and manganesesulfide were: 92.4, 81.5, 97.8, 95.6 , 92.1 and 75.0%, respectively.The final produced water contained only calcium and magnesiumand both sulfate and sulfide concentrations were below usablewater limits. Water quality of this agriculturally usable watermet the EPA's gold standard criterion.     

先天性心脏病"双期三步法"筛查诊断流程推广应用初探

摘要 目的：分析"双期三步法"筛查诊断流程在西安咸阳地区新生儿先天性心脏病筛查中的推广与应用价值。方法：选取2021年1月1日-2021年12月31日在医院产检的胎儿和出生的新生儿作为研究对象，收集胎儿期、新生儿期和婴儿期的先心筛查数据，将新生儿分为杂音组、经皮氧饱和度阳性组、双阳性组，评价"双期三步法"筛查方法的使用价值。结果：共对12318例新生儿进行了筛查，筛查阳性497例。确诊126例，实际发病率为10.23‰。在确诊的例先心病患儿中，位于前3位的疾病类型分别为房间隔缺损66例（52.38%），室间隔缺损41例（32.54%），动脉导管未闭11例（8.73%）。杂音组184例，单纯心脏杂音筛查检出率1.49%，灵敏度为82.5%，特异度为99.3%。经皮氧饱和度阳性组147例，单纯经皮氧饱和度阳性筛查检出率1.19%，灵敏度为58.7%，特异度为99.4%。双阳性组166例，两项指标联合筛查检出率1.35%，灵敏度为94.4%，特异度为99.6%。结论："双期三步法"筛查诊断流程特别是心脏听诊和经皮氧饱和度联合筛查有利于早期发现新生儿CHD，值得推广应用。     

超声引导下经皮穿刺置管引流治疗重症急性胰腺炎急性胰周液体积聚的临床疗效

目的:探讨超声引导下经皮穿刺置管引流(PCD)治疗重症急性胰腺炎(SAP)急性胰周液体积聚的的临床疗效。方法:收集2009年3月~2013年10月我院收治的经临床确定的SAP急性胰周液体积聚患者51例,按随机数字表法分为观察组(26例)和对照组(25例),观察组患者给予超声引导下经皮穿刺置管引流术治疗,对照组采用剖腹引流的经典引流。比较两组患者血淀粉酶恢复至时间、住院时间、治愈率、并发症发生率。结果:观察组血淀粉酶恢复时间及住院时间均小于对照,差异有统计学意义(P0.05);观察组患者总有效率位96.2%(25/26),高于对照组的68.0%(17/25),两组比较组间差异有统计学意义(P0.05);观察组治疗后病死、腹腔出血、胰瘘发生率高于对照组(均P0.05);两组脓毒症及多器官功能障碍综合症(MODS)的比较差异无统计学差异(P0.05)结论:超声引导下经皮穿刺置管引流术治疗SAP急性胰周液体积聚效果良好,并发症的低,安全可靠,具有较大的临床推广价值。     

经皮椎弓根空心螺钉微创椎体间融合治疗腰椎间盘突出的临床效果分析

目的：探究经皮椎弓根空心螺钉微创椎体间融合治疗腰椎间盘突出的临床效果及安全性。方法：病例来源于我院2009 年12 月~2013 年12 月收治的确诊为腰椎间盘突出症的病患174 例,依据随机数字表法将其均分为观察组与对照组,每组87 例。其 中,观察组施行Quadrant微创通道经皮椎弓根空心螺钉椎间融合术,对照组施行经后入路开放性椎间融合术。评估和比较两组病 患术前和随访结束时的视觉模拟评分系统(VAS)疼痛评分与Oswestry 功能障碍指数(ODI)的变化及术后并发症的发生情况。结 果：观察组治疗前、出院时及随访一年时的VAS 评分与ODI指数与对照组比较差异均不显著(P>0.05)。观察组手术切口长度、术 后住院时间及术中出血量均明显优于对照组(P<0.01),而其手术所需时间明显长于对照组(P<0.01)。对照组患者术后出现20 例神 经根损伤(22.99%),3 例椎间隙感染(3.45%),其并发症总发生率为(26.44%),而观察组患者术后仅出现3 例神经根损伤,发生率为 3.45%,显著低于对照组(P<0.01)。结论：经皮椎弓根空心螺钉微创椎体间融合治疗的临床效果肯定,能减少对病患的创伤,控制术 后并发症的发生,具有较高的临床应用价值。     

输尿管软镜与经皮肾镜钬激光碎石术对肾结石患者肾功能的影响

目的：观察输尿管软镜下钬激光碎石术与经皮肾镜下钬激光碎石术治疗肾结石对患者肾功能影响。方法：选择本院于2012 年5 月-2015 年5 月收治的单发肾结石且结石直径均≤ 2 cm的患者180 例作为研究对象,根据配对分组法分为两组,每组90 例,A组采取输尿管软镜下钬激光碎石术治疗,B组采取经皮肾镜下钬激光碎石术治疗。分别于手术前后测定两组患者尿Kim-1 及血清NGAL、Cys-C水平,评估患者肾功能。结果：两组术前及术后6 h、12 h、24 h、72 h尿Kim-1 水平比较均无统计学差异（P>0. 05）;A 组术后48 h尿Kim-1 水平显著低于B组（P<0.05）。两组术后6 h、12 h、24 h尿Kim-1 水平均高于术前（P<0.05）。两组术后 6 h、12 h、24 h、48 h、72 h血清NGAL水平均高于术前,P<0.05。两组患者术前2 h、术后6 h血清Cys-C 水平均无显著统计学差异 （P>0.05）;术后12 h、24 h、48 h、72 h血清Cys-C 水平均A 组均高于B 组（P<0.05）。结论：输尿管软镜下钬激光碎石术与经皮肾镜 下钬激光碎石术治疗肾结石均对患者肾功能造成损伤,但输尿管软镜下钬激光碎石术对肾小球损伤更为严重,经皮肾镜下钬激 光碎石术对肾小管损伤较为严重,临床应注意。     

PCI治疗糖尿病患者左主干病变的临床研究

目的：研究经皮冠状动脉介入术（percutaneous coronary intervention,PCI）治疗合并冠状动脉左主干病变糖尿病患者的临床特 征及预后。方法：回顾性分析首次冠脉造影并提示冠状动脉左主干病变接受PCI治疗患者共2350 人,其中2 型糖尿病患者692 人,非糖尿病患者1658 人。比较两组患者的基本临床特征、冠脉造影及介入特点、随访结果等。结果：基线资料中糖尿病组患者的 高血压比例、高血脂比例、脑血管病比例、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（high-density lipoprotein cholesterol,HDL-C）与血肌酐（creatinine, Crea）值明显高于非糖尿病组,在造影及PCI资料中糖尿病患者左主干体部病变和全程病变明显高于非糖尿病患者,左主干病变 完全血运重建率以及药物洗脱支架（Drug eluting stent,DES）使用率明显低于非糖尿病组。糖尿病组患者主要心血管不良事件 （Major adverse cardiac events,MACE）发生率和全因死亡显著增高（13%vs 10%,P<0.05;7.7%vs 5.5%,P<0.05）。结论：PCI 治疗 合并糖尿病冠状动脉左主干病变患者存在可能的临床不良事件率增加的风险。