2D/2D heterojunctions for rapid and self-cleaning removal of antibiotics via visible light-assisted peroxymonosulfate activation: Efficiency, synergistic effects, and applications

Developing eco-friendly and efficient technologies for treating antibiotic wastewater is crucial. Traditional methods face challenges in incomplete removal, high costs, and secondary pollution. Heterogeneous peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation assisted by visible light shows promise, but suitable activators remain a huge challenge. Here, we synthesized cost-effective carbon nitride/bismuth bromide oxide (CN/BiOBr) heterojunctions. Such a heterojunction achieved rapid PMS activation, achieving over 90.00% tetracycline (TC) removal only within 1 min (kobs of 2.23 min-1), surpassing previous systems by nearly 1-2 orders of magnitude and even remarkably superior to the popular single-atom catalysts. The system exhibited self-cleaning properties, maintaining activity after 8 cycles and stability across a wide pH range (3.01 to 9.03). Quenching experiments and theoretical calculations elucidated the exclusive •O2- species involvement and removal pathways. Eco-toxicity assessment and total organic carbon results confirmed simultaneous degradation, detoxification, and mineralization. This system also showed excellent resistance to environmental factors, e.g., coexisting anions, varying pH, and water sources, and demonstrated potential in coking and medical wastewater purification. This study presents a novel technique for rapidly decontaminating antibiotic wastewater through visible light-assisted PMS activation and introduces innovative bionic catalytic oxidation combining light and darkness for practical applications.

Analysis and application evaluation of the flavour-precursor and volatile-aroma-component differences between waste tobacco stems

The development and utilization of waste resources have important scientific significance and social value. As a renewable and clean resource, the flavour components of waste tobacco stems (WTS) make a significant contribution to the development of waste resources. To evaluate the industrial applicability of the different WTS as raw materials, the present study systematically examined the differences in flavour precursors and volatile aroma components in tobacco stems (TS) from typical tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) growing areas in Yunnan Province through HPLC and GC‒MS analysis. Meanwhile, the contribution to improving the quality of cigarette products is discussed accordingly. The results showed that the contents of flavour precursors, carotenoid and hexane degradation products, neophydiene and total volatile aroma substances in TS were the highest in the Dianxi area, Yun 87 variety and the upper part of Yunnan Province, while the contents of Maillard reaction products and phenylalanine degradation products were the highest in the Diandong area and middle part. The aroma components and sensory quality of TS have obvious regional characteristics in Yunnan. Accordingly, the higher flavour components improve cigarette quality. Most importantly, the middle and upper TS should be preferred to use and classified to process according to the tobacco growing areas, which is beneficial for promoting industrial applicability in cigarette preparation. This study provides a theoretical reference for the industrial value-added applicability of TS in the aspects of flavour extraction and cigarette preparation.

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Differences in flavour precursors and aroma components in tobacco stems were systematically studied.

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Flavour precursors and total volatile substances were the highest in the Dianxi area, Yun 87 variety and upper parts.

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The aroma components and sensory quality of tobacco stems have obvious regional characteristics.

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Higher flavour components in tobacco stems provide a better contribution to improving cigarette quality.

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The use of middle and upper tobacco stems are preferred and classify to process to promote industrial applicability.

The preparation of black titanium oxide nanoarray via coking fluorinated wastewater and application on coking wastewater treatment

Coking wastewater is extremely toxic with poor biodegradability owing to the presence of refractory organics. Black titanium oxide nanotube array (BTN), not only photocatalyst but also electrocatalyst, is with definite potentiality in organic wastewater treatment. Here, we firstly developed an electrochemical method, using fluorinated coking wastewater as electrolyte rather than traditional fluorinated ethylene glycol, to prepare titanium oxide nanoarray economically. Unexpectedly, suspended pollutants and ammonia nitrogen in coking wastewater were removed in BTN preparation. Moreover, the as-prepared BTN could be further employed as photocatalyst or electrocatalyst to degrade dissolved organic matter in coking wastewater. As an electrocatalyst, BTN possessed the comparable •OH production activity about 9.9 × 10^-15 M S^-1 to boron-doped diamond, high oxygen evolution potential around 2.75 V, and high selectivity of chlorine production. Moreover, the biodegradability of treated coking wastewater could be effectively improved by using BTN as electrocatalyst in electrochemical oxidation, and the BOD/COD was from 0.19 to above 0.3 in 4 h at current density of 2 mA cm^-2. The energy consumption was about 63-68 kWh kgCOD^-1, lower than that of various reported electrodes. This study provided an economical and environmentally friendly method to prepare BTN, which was with positive application prospect in the field of coking wastewater treatment.

Application evaluation of clinical practice guidelines for traditional Chinese medicine: a clinical analysis based on the analytic hierarchy process

Background

Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) play an important role in clinical practice, and they require appropriate evaluation, especially in application. This study explores the application evaluation method of CPGs for Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM). It uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and clinical cases to evaluate the consistency between CPGs of TCM and clinical practice.

Methods

To evaluate the consistency between CPGs of TCM and clinical cases, a 3-level AHP construction was built. Weightings were calculated by collecting questionnaires according to AHP theory. To test the evaluation system, a retrospective study was performed. The study evaluated the China Association of Chinese Medicine’s Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Common Internal Diseases in Chinese Medicine Diseases of Modern Medicine (CPGs of DTCID) (ZYYXH/T50–135-2008). A total of 150 cases were involved. The evaluation system was used to assess the consistency between CPGs of DTCID and clinical cases of angina pectoris.

Results

The results showed that the overall consistency between CPGs of DTCID and the 150 cases was 42.32 ± 6.94%, ranging from 35.21 to 63.37%. The overall consistency was not affected by age, gender, type of angina pectoris, condition of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), or angina classification as determined by the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. The consistencies of each index were as follows: Diagnosis of TCM, 100%; Diagnosis of Western medicine, 100%; Syndrome classification, 38.25 ± 4.40%; Syndrome key point, 34.17 ± 8.15%; TCM Decoction, 31.08 ± 23.64%; TCM particular treatment, 7.92 ± 19.13%; and Recuperation and prevention, 0. The most frequent syndromes were qi-deficiency, phlegm and blood stasis (n = 124) (82.7%). The overall consistency of qi-deficiency, turbid phlegm and blood stasis was lower than the overall consistency of the group without that syndrome. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). 42 cases (28%) applied the TCM decoction recommended by CPGs of DTCID. Of these, Gualouxiebaibanxia decoction was applied in 34 cases. Wendan decoction, the most frequently used, was applied in 64 cases (42.7%).

Conclusion

This study indicates that the AHP system can perform quantitative evaluation of consistency between TCM CPG and clinical practice. It also found the factors affecting the application of TCM CPGs and might indicate the need for revisions of CPGs.