The self-boosting ultrafast removal of Cr(VI) and organic dye in textile wastewater through sulfite-induced redox processes.

The treatment of textile wastewater containing harmful metal ions poses a significant challenge in industrial applications due to its environmental impact. In this study, the use of sulfite for treating simulated dye wastewater containing New Coccine (NC) and Cr(VI) was investigated. The removal of NC was influenced by the redox reaction between Cr(VI) and sulfite, demonstrating a strong self-boosting effect of Cr(VI) on NC removal. Remarkable NC decoloration (95%) and Cr(VI) reduction (90%) were achieved within 1 min, highlighting the effectiveness of the treatment. Quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technology confirmed that singlet oxygen (1O2) was the main oxidative agent for organic dye removal and SO4•-, •OH and Cr(V) were also identified as key contributors to NC degradation. The Cr(VI)/sulfite system exhibited higher efficiency in degrading azo dyes, such as NC and Congo Red (CR), compared to non-azo dyes like Methylene Blue (MB). This superiority may be attributed to the action of Cr(V) on azo groups. Additionally, the COD removal experiments were conducted on the actual dye wastewater, showing the excellent performance of the Cr(VI)/Sulfite system in treating industrial textile wastewater. This approach presents a promising strategy for effective "waste control by waste", offering great potential for addressing challenges related to dye wastewater treatment and environmental pollution control in practical industrial scenarios.

Strictly-controlled techniques are required in laparoscopic appendectomy for elemental mercury sequestration in the appendix: a case report.

Elemental mercury impaction in the appendix can cause subsequent local and systemic complications. We present a case of a teenage boy who ingested approximately 10 mL of elemental mercury, resulting in residual mercury sequestration in the appendix after conservative management. We performed laparoscopic appendectomy to remove the residual mercury. The patient made a complete clinical recovery without adverse events related to mercury poisoning over the 6-month follow-up. We highlight the advantages of laparoscopic appendectomy, abdominal computed tomography (CT), negative pressure operating rooms, and surgeon protection to improve surgical success rates. This case report adds to the literature on the management of elemental mercury impaction in the appendix and provides valuable insights for clinical decision-making.

Fabrication of porous ZnO/Co3O4 nanohybrids for the application of surface enhanced Raman scattering.

With the growing use of various pesticides, it is important to develop facile and sensitive method to detect pesticides residues in food. Here, a semiconductor/magnetic hybrid material was used as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate to detect simulated residues. The representative sample of porous ZnO/Co3O4 nano-cube was fabricated by pyrolysis and calcination of Zn-Co ZIF, successively. The obtained hybrid of ZnO/Co3O4 was employed as substrate to detect of crystal violet (CV) and Rhodamine B (Rh B), and showed remarkable SERS performance. The detection limit of Rh B was 1 × 10-10 M as well as CV of 1 × 10-9 M. The results indicated that it was an ideal choice to improve the SERS property of transition metal oxide substrates by doping semiconductor. The semiconductor/magnetic hybrid material highlighted the obvious characteristics of low cost, facile preparation and ultra-low detection limit in the SERS measurements. The hybrids with the combination of semiconductor/magnetic properties showed a further widely application and development in SERS detection of pesticides residues.

Image of the environmental scientist.

The environmental scientist has been playing an important role in preventing and mitigating environmental pollution. Individuals' images of the environmental scientist will likely impact and meditate their interest and attitudes toward environmental science as well as their willingness to take up an environmental science profession. However, prior studies focusing on the image of a professional are primarily of the general scientist. The environmental scientist and the image thereof remains out of the limelight of environmental science community and has been under-researched. In this article, on the basis of the retrospect on the stereotypical images of the general and environmental scientist and the gaps in previous studies, we attempted to report young individuals' images of the environmental scientist in an alternative context. Drawing technique was employed and administered to 127 junior students aged from 13 to 15 year-old from a junior high school. The individuals' image of environmental scientists can be generally abstracted as a male with environmental protection knowledge and commitment to environmental protection who does work more like a green chemist, ecology restorer, or plant protector and observes or cleans outdoors, primarily in forest, jungle, and/or by riverside.

Graphene oxide and creatine phosphate disodium dual template-directed synthesis of GO/hydroxyapatite and its application in drug delivery.

In this study, graphene oxide and creatine phosphate disodium acted as dual template and was employed to synthesize graphene oxide (GO)/hydroxyapatite (HA) hybrids as drug carriers. In the rapid preparation of GO/HA hybrids, creatine phosphate disodium salt (CPDS) severed as a phosphorus source and graphene oxide acted as a template in aqueous solution. The effects of the reaction temperature, time and pH value of the aqueous solution on the morphology of the product were investigated. The result showed that the hydrolysis of CPDS under hydrothermal condition played an important role in the formation of hierarchical hollow GO/HA hybrids. The GO nanosheets provided reactive sites for the binding of HA nanoparticles and absorbing ibuprofen (IBU) molecules. The GO/HA hybrids had ideal sustained drug-release behavior. It indicated that the prepared GO/HA hybrids may be promising materials for applications in biomedical area.

Nacre-like calcium carbonate controlled by ionic liquid/graphene oxide composite template.

Nacre-like calcium carbonate nanostructures have been mediated by an ionic liquid (IL)-graphene oxide (GO) composite template. The resultant crystals were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffractometry (XRD). The results showed that either 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM]BF4) or graphene oxide can act as a soft template for calcium carbonate formation with unusual morphologies. Based on the time-dependent morphology changes of calcium carbonate particles, it is concluded that nacre-like calcium carbonate nanostructures can be formed gradually utilizing [BMIM]BF4/GO composite template. During the process of calcium carbonate formation, [BMIM]BF4 acted not only as solvents but also as morphology templates for the fabrication of calcium carbonate materials with nacre-like morphology. Based on the observations, the possible mechanisms were also discussed.

Somatostatin receptor-mediated tumor-targeting drug delivery using octreotide-PEG-deoxycholic acid conjugate-modified N-deoxycholic acid-O, N-hydroxyethylation chitosan micelles.

In this study, a ligand-PEG-lipid conjugate, octreotide-polyethene glycol-deoxycholic acid (OCT(Phe)-PEG-DOCA, or OPD) was successfully synthesized and used as a targeting molecule for N-deoxycholic acid-O, N-hydroxyethylation chitosan (DAHC) micelles for efficient cancer therapy. DAHC micelles exhibited good loading capacities for doxorubicin (DOX), a model anti-cancer drug, and the modification of OPD showed no significant effect on drug load while slightly increasing the particle size and partly shielding the positive charges on the surface of micelles. Accelerated release rate of DOX from micelles were also observed after OPD modification and the release profile exhibited pH-sensitive properties. Compared with DAHC-DOX micelles, OPD-DAHC-DOX micelles exhibited significantly stronger cytotoxicity to MCF-7 cells (SSTRs overexpression) but with hardly any difference from WI-38 cells (no SSTRs expression). The results of flow cytometry and confocal laser scanning microscopy further revealed that OPD-DAHC-DOX micelles could be selectively taken into tumor cells by SSTRs-mediated endocytosis. In vivo investigation of micelles on nude mice bearing MCF-7 cancer xenografts confirmed that OPD-DAHC micelles possessed much higher tumor-targeting capacity than the DAHC control and exhibited enhanced anti-tumor efficacy and decreased systemic toxicity. These results suggest that OPD-DAHC micelles might be a promising anti-cancer drug delivery carrier for targeted cancer therapy.

Octreotide-modified N-octyl-O, N-carboxymethyl chitosan micelles as potential carriers for targeted antitumor drug delivery.

Octreotide (OCT) was recently found to have high binding affinity to the positive tumor cells of somatostatin receptors (SSTRs). In this study, octreotide-Phe-polyethylene glycol-stearic acid was first successfully synthesized and used as a targeting molecule for N-octyl-O, N-carboxymethyl chitosan (OCC). Doxorubicin (DOX) was loaded into OCT-modified OCC micelles (DOX-OCC-OCT). The drug-loaded micelles obtained exhibited spherical shape, small particle sizes, and negative zeta potentials. The cytotoxicity of DOX-OCC-OCT micelles against MCF-7 cells (SSTRs expressing) was found to significantly increase with the increased amount of OCT modification, whereas no significant difference was observed against WI-38 cells (no SSTRs expressing). Results of flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy confirmed that DOX-OCC-OCT micelles could remarkably increase the uptake of DOX in MCF-7 cells. All the results indicated that OCC-OCT micelles may be a promising intracellular targeting carrier for efficient delivery of antitumor drugs into tumor cells.

DDSolver: an add-in program for modeling and comparison of drug dissolution profiles.

In recent years, several mathematical models have been developed for analysis of drug dissolution data, and many different mathematical approaches have been proposed to assess the similarity between two drug dissolution profiles. However, until now, no computer program has been reported for simplifying the calculations involved in the modeling and comparison of dissolution profiles. The purposes of this article are: (1) to describe the development of a software program, called DDSolver, for facilitating the assessment of similarity between drug dissolution data; (2) to establish a model library for fitting dissolution data using a nonlinear optimization method; and (3) to provide a brief review of available approaches for comparing drug dissolution profiles. DDSolver is a freely available program which is capable of performing most existing techniques for comparing drug release data, including exploratory data analysis, univariate ANOVA, ratio test procedures, the difference factor f (1), the similarity factor f (2), the Rescigno indices, the 90% confidence interval (CI) of difference method, the multivariate statistical distance method, the model-dependent method, the bootstrap f (2) method, and Chow and Ki's time series method. Sample runs of the program demonstrated that the results were satisfactory, and DDSolver could be served as a useful tool for dissolution data analysis.

[Factors associated plasma B type natriuretic peptide and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide levels].

OBJECTIVE: To identify factors closely associated with plasma B type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels. METHODS: A total of 1983 people (mean 66 years-old and 694 male) underwent annual health check-up in 2006 in Okuizumo district were included in this study. Blood pressure, electrocardiogram, conventional blood examination, plasma BNP and NT-proBNP were measured. RESULTS: BNP is positively correlated with NT-proBNP (r = 0.89, P < 0.01). Multiple regression analysis showed that age, Hb, pulse rate, SBP, TC, gender, TG and creatinine were significantly related to BNP and age, creatinine, Hb, gender, TG, TC, SBP, pulse rate were significantly related to NT-proBNP. NT-proBNP was more easily affected by renal function changes and BNP was more easily affected by autonomic nervous system changes. Both BNP and NT-proBNP significantly increased in proportion to SBP and age. NT-proBNP and BNP were significantly higher in females compared with males (all P < 0.05). NT-proBNP and BNP were also negatively correlated with abdominal circumference (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In this study population, NT-proBNP and BNP were closely associated with age, blood pressure, creatinine, pulse rate, lipid levels, gender and abdominal circumferences.