[Arsenic contents in soil, water, and crops in an e-waste disposal area].

In order to study whether disposing electronic wastes and secondary metal smelting could cause an arsenic pollution in the environment or not, Luqiao town, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province was selected as a study area. The main purpose of this paper was to characterize arsenic contents in the local environment, including waters, sediments, soils and rice, and to assess the potential risk to humans. Additionally, the arsenic spatial distribution property and arsenic uptake-translocation rule in soil-rice system were also studied.

[Characteristics of six elements contents in human hairs in the vicinity of metal smelting factories].

To assess the impact of secondary smelting activities to the local resident's well beings, the contents of six elements-Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, As, Se-in human scalp hairs of residents in suburb Fuyang, Zhejiang Province, were determined by atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS) and by atomic fluorescence spectrometer (AFS-930), respectively. The results showed that hair elemental contents were markedly higher than those in unpolluted area. The highest hair contents of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd reached 312, 513, 700 and 7.

Racial and ethnic differences in activities of daily living disability among the elderly: the case of Spanish speakers.

Objective: To compare incident disability patterns across racial and ethnic groups.

Design: Prospective cohort study with 6-year follow-up (1998-2004).

Setting: National probability sample.

Relationship of meniscal damage, meniscal extrusion, malalignment, and joint laxity to subsequent cartilage loss in osteoarthritic knees.

Objective: Progressive knee osteoarthritis (OA) is believed to result from local factors acting in a systemic environment. Previous studies have not examined these factors concomitantly or compared quantitative and qualitative cartilage loss outcomes. The aim of this study was to test whether meniscal damage, meniscal extrusion, malalignment, and laxity each predicted tibiofemoral cartilage loss after controlling for the other factors.

[Characteristic of the neurobehavioral functional changes in coke oven workers].

Objective: To explore the effect of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on the neurobehavioral function of coke oven workers.

Methods: 200 healthy adult male coke oven workers were selected from a coke plant of a state-owned steel enterprise in Taiyuan City. 88 controls occupationally unexposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were selected from the same enterprise.

Effects of benzo[a]pyrene on autonomic nervous system of coke oven workers.

Objectives are to investigate the effects of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) on the autonomic nervous system of coke oven workers. One hundred eighty-four coke oven workers were divided into 3 groups according to their working sites (coke oven bottom group, coke oven side group and coke oven top group), and 93 referents were recruited. B[a]P monitored by air sampling pumps as well as urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OH-Py) was determined by high performance liquid chromatograph with a fluorescence detector (HPLC-FD).

SUMO conjugation to the matrix attachment region-binding protein, special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-1 (SATB1), targets SATB1 to promyelocytic nuclear bodies where it undergoes caspase cleavage.

SATB1 (special AT-rich sequence-binding protein-1) provides a key link between DNA loop organization, chromatin modification/remodeling, and association of transcription factors at matrix attachment regions (MARs). To investigate the role of SATB1 in cellular events, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screen that identified SUMO-1, Ubc9, and protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) family members as SATB1 interaction partners. These proteins, working in concert, enhanced SUMO conjugation to lysine-744 of SATB1.

Effects of flame treatment on the interfacial energy of polyethylene assessed by contact mechanics.

The effects of flame treatment of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) on the work of adhesion (W) and energy release rate (G) were assessed by a custom-built adhesion testing device (ATD). The contact area and the vertical displacement between planar LDPE films and PDMS lenses (untreated and UV/ozone treated) were varied as a function of the applied load, P. The adhesion and pull-off forces between the extracted PDMS lenses and the LDPE films were studied as a function of the duration of the flame treatment expressed in treatment numbers.

Influence of EDDS on metal speciation in soil extracts: measurement and mechanistic multicomponent modeling.

The use of the [S,S]-isomer of EDDS to enhance phytoextraction has been proposed for the remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils. Speciation of metals in soil solution in the presence of EDDS and dissolved organic matter (DOM) received, however, almost no attention, whereas metal speciation plays an important role in relation to uptake of metals by plants. We investigated the influence of EDDS on speciation of dissolved metals in batch extraction experiments using fourfield-contaminated soils with pH varying between 4.

Radioiodine labeled anti-MIF McAb: a potential agent for inflammation imaging.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine that may play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammation. Radiolabeled anti-MIF McAb can be used to detect in vivo inflammatory changes. The objective of this study was to investigate in vivo biology of radioiodinated anti-MIF McAb using the inflammation model mice.

Current understanding on biosynthesis of microbial polysaccharides.

The surfaces of almost all microbes are decorated with remarkable variations of polysaccharides such as O-antigen, capsular polysaccharides (CPS), and exopolysaccharides (EPS) in bacteria, lipoarabinomannans (LAM) in mycobacteria and lipophosphoglycan (LPG) in Leishmania. These polysaccharides play important roles in many biological processes, and they can function as the virulence determinants in the pathogens. The basic structures of these polysaccharides are known, but they show species-specificity or stage-specificity.

[Chemical constituents from roots of Ferula sinkiangensis].

Objective: To study the chemical constituents of the roots of Ferula sinkiangensis.

Method: Compounds were isolated by repeated chromatography on silica gel. Their structures were elucidated by chemical and spectroscopic methods.

A field lysimeter study of heavy metal movement down the profile of soils with multiple metal pollution during chelate-enhanced phytoremediation.

The agricultural soils near a copper smelter in southeast China were found to be highly contaminated with Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd. Metal migration from the soil to groundwater presents an environmental risk that depends on the physicochemical properties of the contaminated soils. Soil solution samples were obtained using lysimeters from a loam soil with multiple metal pollutions over a period of about 1 yr.

Age and racial/ethnic disparities in arthritis-related hip and knee surgeries.

Background: Nearly 18 million Americans experience limitations due to their arthritis. Documented disparities according to racial/ethnic groups in the use of surgical interventions such as knee and hip arthroplasty are largely based on data from Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older. Whether there are disparities among younger adults has not been previously addressed.

Residues of DDTs and their spatial distribution characteristics in soils from the Yangtze River Delta, China.

Organochlorine pesticides were used extensively in the Yangtze River Delta, China. However, knowledge about their residual levels and environmental fates in soils of this area is limited. This paper presents the residue isomers and spatial pattern of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) in soils across 17 main cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

Glycopolydiacetylene nanoparticles as a chromatic biosensor to detect Shiga-like toxin producing Escherichia coli O157:H7.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli organisms (STEC) were detected by Gal-alpha1,4-Gal glycopolydiacetylene (GPDA) nanoparticles through the selective binding between Shiga toxin and GPDA nanoparticles. The binding produced a colorimetric change in the absorption wavelength of the GPDA nanoparticles. This method provides a highly selective, rapid, sensitive, and quantitative approach for the detection of STEC.

Characterization of a novel alpha1,2-fucosyltransferase of Escherichia coli O128:b12 and functional investigation of its common motif.

The wbsJ gene from Escherichia coli O128:B12 encodes an alpha1,2-fucosyltransferase responsible for adding a fucose onto the galactose residue of the O-antigen repeating unit via an alpha1,2 linkage. The wbsJ gene was overexpressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase (GST) at its N-terminus.

Racial/ethnic differences in the development of disability among older adults.

Objectives: We investigated differences in the development of disability in activities of daily living among non-Hispanic Whites, African Americans, Hispanics interviewed in Spanish, and Hispanics interviewed in English.

Methods: We estimated 6-year risk for disability development among 8161 participants 65 years or older and free of baseline disability. We evaluated mediating factors amenable to clinical and public health intervention on racial/ethnic difference.

Immune suppression or enhancement by CD137 T cell costimulation during acute viral infection is time dependent.

CD137 is expressed on activated T cells and ligands to this costimulatory molecule have clinical potential for amplifying CD8 T cell immunity to tumors and viruses, while suppressing CD4 autoimmune T cell responses. To understand the basis for this dichotomy in T cell function, CD4 and CD8 antiviral immunity was measured in lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) Armstrong- or A/PR8/34 influenza-infected mice injected with anti-CD137 mAbs. We found that the timing of administration of anti-CD137 mAbs profoundly altered the nature of the antiviral immune response during acute infection.

Baseline health, socioeconomic status, and 10-year mortality among older middle-aged Americans: findings from the Health and Retirement Study, 1992 2002.

Objective: This study analyzed whether socioeconomic status in older middle age continues to be associated with 10-year survival after data are controlled for baseline health status.

Methods: We confirmed deaths through 2002 for 9,759 participants in the Health and Retirement Study, aged 51 to 61 in 1992. We used discrete time survival models to examine hazard ratios over 10 years of follow-up.

Non-cell Corynebacterium parvum generated by nanotechnology: a promising immunomodulator with less side effects.

Corynebacterium parvum (CP), a kind of immunomodulator, has been well documented in immunotherapy to tumor. However, severe side effects, such as intrahepatic granulomas and scleromas in injected areas, restrict its clinical application. To minimize side effects of CP, a non-cell Corynebacterium parvum product (NCPP) was prepared by disposing CP with Nanotechnology.

Racial/ethnic differences in activities of daily living disability in older adults with arthritis: a longitudinal study.

Objective: To investigate racial/ethnic differences in disability onset among older Americans with arthritis. Factors amenable to clinical and public health intervention that may explain racial/ethnic differences in incident disability were examined.

Methods: We analyzed longitudinal data (1998-2004) from a national representative sample of 5,818 non-Hispanic whites, 1,001 African Americans, 228 Hispanics interviewed in Spanish (Hispanic/Spanish), and 210 Hispanics interviewed in English (Hispanic/English), with arthritis and age >or=51 years who did not have baseline disability.

The intrinsic affinity between E2 and the Cys domain of E1 in ubiquitin-like modifications.

Ubiquitin-like modifications, which are carried out by similar biochemical mechanisms, regulate nearly every aspect of cellular function. Despite the recent advancements in characterizing their enzymology, our knowledge about the dynamic processes of these modifications is still fragmentary. In this study, we have uncovered an intrinsic affinity between the SUMO E2 and the Cys domain of SUMO E1.

Calibration of friction force signals in atomic force microscopy in liquid media.

The calibration factors for atomic force microscopy (AFM) friction force measurements in liquid media are shown to be different by 25-74% compared to measurements in air. Even though it is significantly more precise, the improved wedge calibration method using a universal calibration specimen suffers, as all other widely applied methods, from the drawback that friction force calibration factors acquired in air cannot be used for measurements in liquids for the most common liquid cell designs. The effect of laser light refraction and the dependence of the calibration factors on the refractive index of the imaging medium is captured quantitatively in a simple model that allows one to conveniently rescale the values of lateral photodiode sensitivity obtained in air.

Mobilization of heavy metals from contaminated paddy soil by EDDS, EDTA, and elemental sulfur.

For enhanced phytoextraction, mobilization of heavy metals (HMs) from the soil solid phase to soil pore water is an important process. A pot incubation experiment mimicking field conditions was conducted to investigate the performance of three soil additives in mobilizing HMs from contaminated paddy soil (Gleyi-Stagnic Anthrosol): the [S, S]-isomer of ethylenediamine disuccinate (EDDS) with application rates of 2.3, 4.