ABSTRACT This research focuses on optimizing the hydrolysis process for acid-soluble titanium slag in TiO2 production to enhance product quality. Several parameters were investigated including free acid concentration, temperature and initial equivalent TiO2 concentration. Response surface methodology was employed to determine the optimal conditions: 4.2 M acid concentration, 95 g/L initial TiO2 concentration, and 112 °C, yielding a hydrolysis efficiency of 97.1 ± 0.3%. The optimized process produced TiO2 with 99.33 wt% purity, uniform particle size (D50 = 15.2 μm), and spherical morphology. Kinetic studies revealed pseudo-second-order reaction kinetics with an activation energy of 58.6 kJ/mol. The TiO2 exhibited photocatalytic activity of 85.2% dye degradation after 60 min, surpassing a commercial pigment-grade TiO2. Economic analysis indicated a production cost of $1,850 per ton, an NPV of $28.5 million, and an IRR of 25.6% for a 10,000 ton/year plant. The optimized process offers a sustainable and cost-effective approach for high-quality TiO2 production from titanium slag. acidsoluble soluble TiO quality concentration conditions 42 4 2 4. 9 gL g L 11 C °C 971 97 1 97. 03 0 3 0.3% 9933 99 33 99.3 wt purity D50 D (D5 152 15 15. μm, μm , μm) morphology pseudosecondorder pseudo second order 586 58 6 58. kJmol kJ mol kJ/mol 852 85 85.2 min pigmentgrade pigment grade 1850 850 $1,85 ton 285 28 5 $28. million 256 25 25.6 10000 10 000 10,00 tonyear year plant costeffective effective highquality high 0.3 993 99. D5 (D 8 85. 185 $1,8 $28 25. 1000 00 10,0 0. 18 $1, $2 100 10, $1 $

Abstract Two kinds of bacteria, named TDJ-7 and TDJ-9, were isolated from the soil, which could degrade terbutylazine effectively. TDJ-7 and TDJ-9 were identified as Bacillus pumilus and Bacillus subtilis. The degradation efficiency of 10mg/L of terbutylazine by TDJ-7 could reach 95% within 6 days, and the strain TDJ-9 could reach 98% under the same conditions. Both strain TDJ-7 and strain TDJ-7 could also effectively degrade simazine, metribuzin, atrazine and ametryn. In addition, strain TDJ-7 and TDJ-9 had been successfully developed into a live bacterial agent that could be used to degrade terbutylazine residue. These results suggest that strain TDJ-7 and TDJ-9 can be used for the bioremediation of terbutylazine or other s-triazine herbicides contamination.

Abstract Simazine was one of the most commonly used herbicides and was widely used to control broadleaf weeds in agriculture and forestry. Its widespread use had caused wide public concern for its high ecological toxicity. In order to remove simazine residues, 2 strains capable of effectively degrading simazine were isolated from the soil and named SIMA-N5 and SIMA-N9. SIMA-N5 was identified as Bacillus licheniformis by 16SrRNA sequence analysis, and SIMA-N9 was Bacillus altitudinis. According to the degradation ratio of simazine in a certain period of time, the degradation ability of different strains was evaluated. The degradation efficiency of simazine (5 mg/L) by SIMA-N9 could reach about 98% in 5d, and the strain SIMA-N5 could reach 94% under the same conditions. In addition, the addition of Pennisetum rhizosphere soil during the process of degrading simazine by strain SIMA-N9 could effectively improve the degradation efficiency. The strain SIMA-N9 has been developed as a microbial agent for the bioremediation of simazine contamination in soil. The new microbial agent developed by using SIMA-N9 has achieved satisfactory application effects. Based on the research results already obtained in this study, it was considered that strain SIMA-N9 and its live bacterial agent could play an important role in bioremediation of simazine pollution. This study could not only provide a set of solutions to the simazine pollution, but also provide a reference for the treatment of other pesticide pollution.

SUMMARY: This study aimed to investigate the sagittal spinal-pelvic morphological changes, as well as the relationship between pelvic anatomical changes and the spinal-pelvic plane in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), in order to provide guidelines for orthopedic surgery in AIS. X-ray data were collected for retrospective analysis from 30 patients diagnosed as AIS in the Departments of Radiology at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University and the Inner Mongolia International Mongolian Medical Hospital from April 2014 to November 2018, along with 30 normal adolescents as control. Pelvic parameters, including pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), and sacral slope (SS), a spinal parameter, lumbar lordosis (LL), and anatomical parameters, including sacral width (SW) and femoral head- sacrum distance (FH-S), were measured. The spinal-pelvic parameters were compared between AIS patients and normal controls and also between male and female AIS patients. Pearson correlation was performed to analyze correlation between spinal-pelvic parameters and between spinal-pelvic parameters and anatomical parameters in both AIS patients and normal controls. PT was significantly lower in AIS patients than in normal controls (P < 0.05), whereas no significant difference was found in the other spinal-pelvic parameters, i. e. , LL, PI, and SS. There was a significant difference in PT between sexes in AIS patients. SS was significantly correlated with LL in EIA patients (P < 0.05, r > 0.5). SS was significantly correlated with LL and PI, and PT with LL, PI, and SS in normal controls (all P < 0.05), and there was no significant correlation between the other sagittal spinal-pelvic parameters (P > 0.05). FH-S was significantly correlated with LL, PI, SS, and PT in AIS patients (all P < 0.05). AIS affects some of the sagittal spinalpelvic parameters and anatomical parameters. In AIS, there is a significant correlation between the spinal-pelvic parameters, and the anatomical parameter is significantly correlated with multiple spinal-pelvic parameters.

RESUMEN: Este estudio tuvo como objetivo investigar los cambios morfológicos sagitales de la columna vertebral-pélvica, así como la relación entre los cambios anatómicos pélvicos y el plano espinal-pélvico en pacientes con escoliosis idiopática adolescente (EIA), con el fin de proporcionar pautas para la cirugía ortopédica en AIS. Se obtuvieron los datos de rayos X para el análisis retrospectivo de 30 pacientes diagnosticados como EIA en los Departamentos de Radiología del hospital Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University y el hospital Inner Mongolia International Mongolian Medical Hospital, desde abril de 2014 hasta noviembre del 2018, junto con 30 adolescentes normales como control. Se midieron los parámetros pélvicos, que incluyeron incidencia pélvica (IP), inclinación pélvica (P) y pendiente sacra (PS), un parámetro espinal, lordosis lumbar (LL) y parámetros anatómicos, que incluyeron el ancho sacro (AS) y la distancia del sacro cabeza femoral (FH-S). Los parámetros espinalpélvicos se compararon entre los pacientes con EIA y los controles normales, como también entre pacientes con EIA masculinos y femeninos. La correlación de Pearson se realizó para analizar la correlación entre los parámetros espinal-pélvicos y entre los parámetros espinal-pélvicos y los parámetros anatómicos tanto en pacientes con EIA como en controles normales. PT fue significativamente menor en pacientes con EIA que en los controles normales (P <0,05), mientras que no se encontraron diferencias significativas en los otros parámetros espinal-pélvicos, i. mi. , LL, PI y SS. Hubo una diferencia significativa en PT en pacientes de ambos sexos con EIA. SS se correlacionó significativamente con LL en pacientes con EIA (P <0,05, r> 0,5). SS se correlacionó significativamente con LL y PI, y PT con LL, PI y SS en controles normales (todos P <0,05), y no hubo correlación significativa entre los otros parámetros sagitales de la columna vertebral-pélvica (P> 0,05) FH-S se correlacionó significativamente con LL, PI, SS y PT en pacientes con EIA (todos P <0,05). EIA afecta algunos de los parámetros sagitales de la columna vertebral-pélvica y los parámetros anatómicos. En EIA, existe una correlación significativa entre los parámetros espinal-pélvicos, y el parámetro anatómico se correlaciona significativamente con múltiples parámetros espinales-pélvicos.

With the widespread use of high-efficiency antiretroviral therapy (HAART), the life expectancy of HIV-infected patients has been significantly extended. However, the metabolic complications among HIV-infected patients treated with HAART have become the most common problem in the world. It is very important to explore the incidence of dyslipidaemia and studies on the role of potential risk factors in HIV-infected Chinese patients treated with HAART are sparse. Therefore, we designed current study, to investigate the effects of therapeutic intervention and continuous information support on the lifestyle of HIV/AIDS patients with dyslipidaemia. Three hundred and six HIV/AIDS patients admitted to the AIDS clinic in Beijing from January 2016 to January 2017 were recruited and assigned into two groups: the treatment group (n=64) and the control group (n=64). The median age of the participants was 38.8±11.0 years (range 20-75 years). The prevalence of dyslipidemia in control and treatment group was (59/64) 92.2% and (53/64) 82.8%, respectively. In this study, low HDL-cholesterol (HDLC) led to abnormalities 47/64 (73.3%) in the control group and 35/64 (54.7%) in HAART-treatment group. Additionally, HAART group showed higher triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (246.1±171.8, 1.73±1.61 mmol/L, 4.46±1.1 mmol/L, 2.54±0.74 mmol/L). In multivariate analysis, gender, marital status, high BMI, dietary habits and physical activity were potential risk factors for dyslipidemia in HIV-infected Chinese patients. In this study, we reported high prevalence dyslipidemiain two HIV infected groups. We suggest that the appropriate diagnosis should be performed for analyzing the metabolic complications in HIV-infected Chinese patients. Further studies are very important to understand the role of potential risk factors in metabolic complications.

Abstract: The strains CM-Z19 and CM-Z6, which are capable of highly degrading chlorpyrifos-methyl, were isolated from soil. They were identified as Bacillus megaterium CM-Z19 and Pseudomonas syringae CM-Z6, respectively, based on the 16S rRNA and an analysis of their morphological, physiological and biochemical characteristics. The strain CM-Z19 showed 92.6% degradation of chlorpyrifos-methyl (100 mg/L) within 5 days of incubation, and the strain CM-Z6 was 99.1% under the same conditions. In addition, the degradation characteristics of the two strains were compared and studied, and the results showed that the strain CM-Z19 had higher phosphoesterase activity and ability to degrade the organophosphorus pesticide than did the strain CM-Z6. However, the strain CM-Z19 could not degrade its first hydrolysis metabolite 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol (TCP) and could not completely degrade chlorpyrifos-methyl. The strain CM-Z6 could effectively degrade TCP and could degrade chlorpyrifos-methyl more quickly than strain CM-Z19.

ABSTRACT PURPOSE: To investigate the severity of pancreatitis in lipoprotein lipase (LPL)-deficient hypertriglyceridaemic (HTG) heterozygous mice and to establish an experimental animal model for HTG pancreatitis study. METHODS: LPL-deficient HTG heterozygous mice were rescued by somatic gene transfer and mated with wild-type mice. The plasma amylase, triglyceride, and pathologic changes in the pancreas of the LPL-deficient HTG heterozygous mice were compared with those of wild-type mice to assess the severity of pancreatitis. In addition, acute pancreatitis (AP) was induced by caerulein (50 µg/kg) for further assessment. RESULTS: The levels of plasma amylase and triglyceride were significantly higher in the LPL-deficient HTG heterozygous mice. According to the pancreatic histopathologic scores, the LPL-deficient HTG heterozygous mice showed more severe pathologic damage than the wild-type mice. CONCLUSIONS: Lipoprotein lipase deficient heterozygous mice developed severe caerulein-induced pancreatitis. In addition, their high triglyceride levels were stable. Therefore, LPL-deficient HTG heterozygous mice are a useful experimental model for studying HTG pancreatitis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) on mortality in people injecting opioids who receive antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in China. METHODS: The study involved a nationwide cohort of 23 813 HIV-positive (HIV+) people injecting opioids who received ART between 31 December 2002 and 31 December 2011. Mortality rates and demographic, disease and treatment characteristics were compared in patients who received either ART and MMT or ART only. Factors associated with mortality were identified by univariate and multivariate analysis. FINDINGS: Overall, 3057 deaths occurred during 41 959 person-years of follow-up (mortality: 7.3 per 100 person-years; 95% confidence interval, CI: 7.0-7.5). Mortality 6 months after starting ART was significantly lower with ART and MMT than with ART only (6.6 versus 16.9 per 100 person-years, respectively; P < 0.001). After 12 months, mortality was 3.7 and 7.4 per 100 person-years in the two groups, respectively (P < 0.001). Not having received MMT was an independent predictor of death (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.4; 95% CI: 1.3-1.6). Other predictors were a low haemoglobin level and a low CD4+ T-lymphocyte count at ART initiation and treatment at facilities other than infectious disease hospitals. CONCLUSION: Patients would benefit more from both MMT and HIV treatment programmes and would face fewer barriers to care if cross-referrals between programmes were promoted and ART and MMT services were located together.

OBJETIVO: Examinar el efecto del tratamiento de mantenimiento con metadona (TMM) sobre la mortalidad de personas que se inyectan opiáceos y reciben una terapia antirretroviral (TAR) para tratar la infección del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) en China. MÉTODOS: El estudio incluyó una cohorte a nivel nacional de 23 813 personas seropositivas (VIH+) que se inyectaban opiáceos y que recibieron TAR entre el 31 de diciembre de 2002 y el 31 de diciembre de 2012. Se compararon las tasas de mortalidad y demografía, las características de las enfermedades y de los tratamientos con pacientes que recibieron TAR y TMM o sólo TAR y, por medio de análisis univariantes y multivariantes, se identificaron los factores asociados con la mortalidad. RESULTADOS: En total se produjeron 3057 fallecimientos durante los 41 959 años-persona de seguimiento (mortalidad: 7,3 por cada 100 años-persona; intervalo de confianza del 95%, CI: 7,0 - 7,5). La mortalidad una vez transcurridos 6 meses después de iniciar la TAR fue notablemente inferior con TAR y TMM que sólo con TAR (6,6 frente a 16,9 por cada 100 años-persona, respectivamente; P < 0,001). Tras 12 meses, la mortalidad en los dos grupos fue de 3,7 y 7,4 por cada 100 años-persona, respectivamente (P < 0,001). No haber recibido TMM fue un factor predictivo de muerte independiente (índice de riesgo ajustado: 1,4; IC del 95%: 1,3-1,6). Otros factores predictivos fueron un nivel bajo de hemoglobina y un recuento bajo de linfocitos CD4+ al comenzar la TAR, así como llevar a cabo el tratamiento en centros que no fueran hospitales de enfermedades infecciosas. CONCLUSIÓN: Los pacientes podrían aprovechar mejor los programas de TMM y de tratamiento del VIH y no tendrían que hacer frente a tantas barreras para obtener el tratamiento si se promovieran las referencias cruzadas entre ambos programas y se ubicaran los servicios de TAR y TMM en el mismo lugar.

OBJECTIF: Examiner l'effet du traitement de maintien à la méthadone (TMM) sur la mortalité des usagers d'opioïdes par injection, qui reçoivent des antirétroviraux (ARV) pour le traitement de l'infection par le virus de l'immunodéficience humaine (VIH) en Chine. MÉTHODES: L'étude a porté sur une cohorte nationale de 23 813 participants séropositifs (VIH+) s'injectant des opioïdes et ayant reçu des ARV entre le 31 décembre 2002 et le 31 décembre 2011. Les taux de mortalité et les caractéristiques démographiques, pathologiques et thérapeutiques ont été comparés chez les patients ayant reçu des ARV et un TMM ou uniquement des ARV. Les facteurs associés à la mortalité ont été identifiés à l'aide d'une analyse univariée et multivariée. RÉSULTATS: Au cours des 41 959 personnes-années de suivi, un total de 3 057 décès a été enregistré (mortalité: 7,3 par 100 personnes-années; intervalle de confiance de 95 %, IC:7,0-7,5). La mortalité constatée 6 mois après le début des ARV était significativement plus faible avec ARV et TMM qu'avec ARV uniquement (6,6 contre 16,9 par 100 personnes-années, respectivement; P < 0,001). Après 12 mois, la mortalité était de 3,7 et 7,4 par 100 personnes-années dans les deux groupes, respectivement (P < 0,001). Le fait de n'avoir pas reçu de TMM était un prédicteur indépendant de décès (rapport de risques ajusté: 1,4, IC de 95 %: 1.3-1,6). Les autres prédicteurs étaient un faible niveau d'hémoglobine et une numération basse des lymphocytes CD4+ T en début d'ARV, ainsi qu'un traitement dans des installations autres que des hôpitaux spécialisés dans les maladies infectieuses. CONCLUSION: Les patients tireraient meilleur profit des programmes de traitement TMM et VIH et rencontreraient moins d'obstacles aux soins si des aiguillages croisés interprogrammes étaient encouragés et si les services ARV et TMM étaient disponibles au même endroit.

A general symplectic method for the random response analysis of infinitely periodic structures subjected to stationary/non-stationary random excitations is developed using symplectic mathematics in conjunction with variable separation and the pseudo-excitation method (PEM). Starting from the equation of motion for a single loaded substructure, symplectic analysis is firstly used to eliminate the dependent degrees of the freedom through condensation. A Fourier expansion of the condensed equation of motion is then applied to separate the variables of time and wave number, thus enabling the necessary recurrence scheme to be developed. The random response is finally determined by implementing PEM. The proposed method is justified by comparison with results available in the literature and is then applied to a more complicated time-dependent coupled system.