Abatement of mercury emission from coal-fired power plants remains a serious task for public health and environmental societies. Selenium functionalized metal−organic framework MIL-101 (Se/MIL-101) was prepared for mercury removal from power plants. The Se/MIL-101 exhibited a remarkable mercury adsorption capacity of 148.19 mg•g −1 , which was about 154 to 705 times larger than that of commercial activated carbons exclusively applied for mercury removal from power plants. The initial mercury adsorption rate for Se/MIL-101 reached up to 44.8 μg•g −1 •min −1 , which was 89to 1659-fold higher than those of mercury sorbents reported in the literature. The Se/MIL-101 maintained an excellent mercury adsorption stability under simulated flue gas atmosphere containing SO 2 , NO, and H 2 O. Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) converted on the Se/MIL-101 to stable and water-insoluble mercury selenide (HgSe), which guaranteed a minimum re-emission even sequestration of mercury. Moreover, the mercury-laden Se/MIL-101 could also immobilize mercury in gypsum and efficiently capture mercury ions from desulfurization effluent to an undetectable level (<0.0035 μg•L −1 ). With these advantages, Se/MIL-101 appears to be a promising material for efficient and permanent sequestration of mercury from power plants.

The semen quality among young Chinese men has declined over a period of 15 years, especially in terms of sperm concentration, total sperm count, sperm progressive motility, and normal morphology.

Globozoospermia is a severe form of teratozoospermia characterized by round-headed spermatozoa with an absent acrosome, an aberrant nuclear membrane and midpiece defects. Globozoospermia is diagnosed by the presence of 100% round-headed spermatozoa on semen analysis, and patients with this condition are absolutely infertile. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in protein expression between human round-headed and normal spermatozoa. Two-dimensional (2-D) fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) was used in this study. Over 61 protein spots were analysed in each paired normal/round-headed comparison, using DIGE technology along with an internal standard. In total, 35 protein spots identified by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) exhibited significant changes (paired t-test, P < 0.05) in the expression level between normal and round-headed spermatozoa. A total of nine proteins were found to be upregulated and 26 proteins were found to be downregulated in round-headed spermatozoa compared with normal spermatozoa. The differentially expressed proteins that we identified may have important roles in a variety of cellular processes and structures, including spermatogenesis, cell skeleton, metabolism and spermatozoa motility.

Mercury emission from industrial activities is a great threat to public health and ecosystems. Developing new strategies and materials to remove mercury still remains a serious task. Herein, selenide-decorated copper foam prepared by a heating-stirring method (Cu-hs) was used as a monolithic mercury adsorption material. The Cu-hs exhibited much better adsorption of elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) compared with the selenidedecorated cordierite honeycomb prepared by the same method (Cordierite-hs). Nearly 100% Hg 0 adsorption efficiency was obtained under a high gaseous hourly space velocity of 6.0 × 10 4 . Excellent Hg 0 adsorption capacity was obtained in a wide range of reaction temperatures from 40 to 120 °C, suggesting the good adaptability of Cu-hs in different operating conditions. The Cu-hs exhibited high selectivity for Hg 0 against H 2 O and SO 2 , which is advantageous for real applications in industrial flue gas. The Hg 0 adsorption capacity of Cu-hs reached 3743 g/m 3 , about 14 times higher than the 243 g/m 3 of Cordierite-hs. The excellent Hg 0 adsorption performance of Cu-hs was attributed to the high affinity of the selenium in Cu 2 Se for mercury, the homogeneous distribution of Cu 2 Se, and the superior fluid characteristics of the Cu foam substrate. The adsorption performance of the spent Cu-hs could be effectively recovered by HCl solution leaching and subsequent reselenization. The utilization of recyclable Cu-hs provides a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method for removing mercury from industrial flue gas.

No abstract

Clinical assessment revealed a significant relationship between UU and MH infections and male infertility. UU was found to significantly affect sperm quality, but this was not the case with MH. Doxycycline and josamycin should be preferred for clinically treating UU and MH infections.

In lately December 2019, a novel coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) outbreak occurred in Wuhan, PR China. It is a high contagious virus that has threatened human health worldwide. SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, termed COVID‐19, causes rapidly developing lung lesions that can lead to multiple organ failure in a short period. Whenever a novel virus emerges, reproductive risk assessments should be performed after infection. In this review, we show that male fertility might be damaged by coronavirus associated with (i) direct cytopathic effects derived from viral replication and viral dissemination in the testis; and (ii) indirect damage to male fertility derived from immunopathology. In this review, we briefly describe the impaired fertility of humans and animals infected with coronaviruses to deduce the impact of the new coronavirus on male fertility. Together with information related to other coronaviruses, we extrapolate this knowledge to the new coronavirus SARS‐CoV‐2, which may have a significant impact on our understanding of the pathophysiology of this new virus.

The present 2-D pattern is a high resolution 2-D reference map for human fertile spermatozoal protein spots. A comprehensive knowledge of the protein composition of human spermatozoa is very meaningful in studying dysregulation of male fertility.